Chapter 04: The Agility of the Azure Dragon.

"Haaa…haaa….haaa…" The sound of a person panting heavily can be heard.

"Uaaa!" A battle cry is heard and so, the sound of rapid steps is also heard!

"Ahhhh!" This scream sounded very human, mainly because the one screaming in pain was a human.

*Spark!*

The sound of sparks was also heard, so it was not really hard to realize who was the one suffering the end of a beatdown.

Sadly it was the hero.

Kamen Rider Kuuga was kneeled in the ground, his breathing was heavy and irregular, and traces of dirt could be seen all over his body.

"Too weak and slow," Mebio said as she was completely fine, without any scratch on her body, since no-one of Kuuga's punches or kicks became even close to actually harm her.

True… the combat quickly became completely one-sided after Mebio used her speed, Kuuga struggled to try to catch her by surprise and connect his powerful Kick to finish her up.

But every time he was close to dealing the damage, Kuuga's somehow failed even for some seconds.

So Mebio quickly took advantage and attacked from various positions, again and again until the point where Kuuga hardly can stand up.

Let's remember out hero is not a fighter, and also he never was very physically remarkable in any way, he was just an average guy.

'No… there is just no way to hit her!' Thought a rather frustrated Kuuga, seeing that maybe it was a rather bad idea picking a fight with an opponent which you know nothing about.

But Dante knew he couldn't run even if he wanted, since the speed of Mebio was just too much for him to handle, if he tried to escape then she will just chase him, and more likely will catch him and then kill him.

So… it was impossible to escape from this situation, it was so simple like that.

"Time to die, Kuuga," Seeing as he can't move to dodge her attacks and that every punch or kick he tried to launch she will dodge, there was no reason to use her speed.

"N-no!" Suddenly Kuuga yelled those words, there was obvious fear in his voice, the fear of death, "I… don't want to die!" Nearly everyone will be feeling exactly the same as him if they were in this situation.

The fear of death, the fear of the unknown is something that makes us human.

And so when you have to go… then is the moment to leave…

But that moment still hadn't arrived to our Kuuga.

"If I want to live… then I need to be faster!" It was the only conclusion that he could reach.

But how he could be faster?

The answer would have been much easier for Dante if he watched Kuuga before all of this, since he will have known how unlock the Form that could get him out of this situation.

But in the end the mere act of doing it wasn't hard at all.

Yuusuke Godai, the original Kuuga was once in a situation like this, with an opponent that the Mighty Form just couldn't reach, and so he just needed to be able to jump higher, and so his powers unlocked and the Azure Dragon was reborn that day.

And so Dante Gonzales, a boy who doesn't know his powers… he is about to unlock one of them.

After all his situation was the same as Yuusuke: Both faced an opponent that needed a different kind of power to defeat.

And both wished to be capable of Jump Higher/Be Faster respectively.

And the powers of Kuuga had the same response.

Give them that power.

The anklets of Kuuga glowed blue for a split of a second.

"Raaahh!" Growled Mebio as she launcher her hand straight to Kuuga's neck, and if connects then it will be a surely fatal wound.

And seeing this Dante (Thanks to Kuuga's boosting his senses)used his remaining strength to try to dodge for one last time.

And he did it.

He moved even more quickly than normally when he was in the suit!

"What!?" Was Mebio's response upon seeing how suddenly her prey just moved quickly enough to avoid her attack, even when it could barely move before.

So she turned her attention where Kuuga's moved.

And he indeed was just some steps to the left, but also he wasn't the same Kuuga she had been fighting (Slaughtering would have been a more appropriated word).

Since… his armor changed!

The Red Kuuga was gone, and now in front of her was a Blue Kuuga, with his armor and insect-like eyes totally blue. The only thing that remained was his bodysuit, which still was black.

Also the armor itself suffered some changes; particularly the protection in his shoulders was gone. And from the looks, it was more suited for speed and agility rather than balanced power like his Red Form.

Kamen Rider Kuuga, Dragon Form has resurrected upon hearing Dante's desires for speed.

As for Dante himself?

He was surprised about being alive, but more when his mind returned to work and he realized that he had changed, that now his armor is blue.

And not only that, his body feels much more… lighter than before, even when his body still was in pain and it was a little difficult to move, Dante still managed to feel as if a weight had been pulled from his body.

"I don't know what just happened," Finally Dante's spoke as he stood up, "But I think I have a new power, and with this I'm going to defeat you!" Yep, the mere fact of unlocking a new power was enough to renew his confidence (Which frankly was very low after Mebio completely overpowered him).

His situation was hopeless (Like Yuusuke Godai when he unlocked the Dragon Form) but now with his new Form he will fight and win.

With this is demonstrated that Dante really had what it takes to be Kuuga as he now is unlocking the other Forms.

(Opening: Kamen Rider Kuuga. By Masayuki Tanaka).

We can see various images related to Kuuga: His Belt, his Bike, and his mark. And lastly we can see Dante falling from the sky and landing in a town destroyed by the Neuroi!

Karappo no Hoshi Jidai wo ZERO Kara Hajimeyou (In this empty planet, a new era begins from zero).

Dante's resting in a wall of the desolated town looking sadly at the destruction… however then from the ruins appears various Grongi! And they clearly want to attack Dante!

Densetsu wa Nurikaeru Mono (The Legend will be repainted)

Then the image changes to the Sky. And then show various Witches flying in their Strike Units, suddenly all of them look bellow to see Dante and the Grongi in the destroyed town. Dante simply look at them and gives a Thumb Up. Which they respond by give a Thump Up at him as a response showing trust in Dante.

Ima, AKUSERU wo Tokihanate! (Right now, it's the time to let go the accelerator)

Then the scene changes to Kuuga at the top of a cliff, he is looking at the Witches who fly trough the Sky to protect people from the Neuroi. His red eyes flashed with determination to protect them as the Grongi start to running at him.

Kuuga Atsuku Yomiagere (Kuuga! Revive impetuously!)

Now we can see Kuuga in his Mighty Form launching punches and kicks at the air. Then we see his Dragon Form attacking with his Dragon Rod. Next his Pegasus Form he shoots an arrow from his Pegasus Bowgun. And finally his Titan Form as he practices with the Titan Sword.

Kuuga Hokori no ENAJII (Kuuga! Energy made of Pride)

All the Kuuga's forms appear behind Dante and bow before him. A second after that they jump at his body leaving Dante's alone, but then he summons the Arcle and prepares to transform.

Kuuga Tsuyoku Aru Tame ni (Kuuga! In order to become stronger…)

And behind Dante's various Witches appear to give him a smile from protecting them from an enemy they could not face.

No Fear! No Pain!

Kuuga is riding with his TryChaser 2000. He does it from different roads, and in each one a different group of Witches fly over him.

Ai no Mae ni Tatsu Kagiri (Protect love to the very end)

But now the scene changes at the Witches fighting the Neuroi and defeating then, and nearby is Dante watching over them, he knew that can fight and handle themselves against the Neuroi so he only will act if a Grongi appears to attack them.

No Fear! No Pain!

The scene changes to Kuuga in his Mighy Form fighting the Grongi with punches and Kicks.

Osoreru Mono wa Nani mo Nai (You're not afraid of anything)

And it ends with him giving a Rider Kick to the Grongi, Zu-Gooma-Gu.

Kanzen Doku Sou! (Leave all of them behind!)

But then we see N-Daguva-Zeva, the leader of the Grongi looking at Kuuga from the top of a mountain while the skies are dark and there is rain and lighting falling.

Ore ga Koete Yaru! (I will surpass all of them!)

From the top of other mountain Kuuga is glaring at Daguva as he closes his hand in a punch, showing that even then he will fight him.

Chou Henshin!

In a final scene we see Kuuga and the Witches together; each of the Witches is smiling, proving that Kuuga managed to protect their smiles.

Kamen Rider Kuuga!

The last we see is Dante resting over a meadow in a peaceful sunny day, watching with a smile as how everything turned in the end.

(End of the Opening)

(Battlefield)

"Gaaao!" Is heard as Mebio launches some slashes at her opponent.

"Too slow!" Is the response she receives as the one Mebio was fighting dodged her slashes.

Even when Mebio could run at incredible speeds, right now she isn't running, and her arms didn't have the same speeds that her legs had when she was running.

A battle that seemingly was decided from the start suddenly was turned around by Kuuga and his new Form.

The Blue Form was far more agile than the red form, and so Dante was able to dodge the attacks before they even could touch him.

"What happened?" Taunted the Blue Kuuga, "Too fast for you?" It's seems he thought that a little of psychological combat could become handy in this situation, so his opponent could make a mistake.

The response he got was Mebio's running very fast in all directions and then running straight at him to ram him with her body.

Even when her speed was superior, Kuuga was more agile and managed to do small jumps to the right or the left to avoid being hit.

But also that gave Kuuga the chance to do a counter.

"Now!" Seizing his chance, Kuuga gives a punch one the stomach to Mebio when she was running straight at him, since he knew where she will be.

*Punch!*

Is heard as his punch collided with her stomach, also she stopped running upon feeling the impact, which for some reason feel weaker than the surprise punch that Kuuga's connected when he attacked her in his Red Form.

His punch was, weaker.

"TAKE THIS!" But Dante didn't notice it and started to give a barrage of punches, and since his Blue Form was faster, he connected far more punches he could give if he was in his Red Form.

Yet, Mebio didn't even flinch as she feels the little amount of damage his opponent is making to her.

So after around then seconds Dante realized that something was not right. His punched seemed not really have any effect in Mebio, even when he launched many of them at a superior speed than his Red Form.

"Eh!? What is happening!?" He yelled, after all from the Kamen Rider Series he had seen, whenever a Rider got a new form in a situation he would have been defeated otherwise… then the Rider should have an easy time defeating his opponent!

But as he said those words… he leaved himself nicely exposed to Mebio.

"Raaah!" And she kicked him in the stomach as a result.

"Guuuh!" Cried Kuuga as the pain flowed through his stomach.

The force behind the kick was enough to send him crashing to a wall.

*Smash!*

If the suit was not protecting his body, then the impact should have leaved at last some broken bones. Because some cracks could be seen in the wall.

"I… must have missed something about this power…" Right now his mind frantically was trying to use his knowledge of Kamen Rider to discover what he is overlooking of his powers.

This form was more suited for speed but had less attack power than the main form (Like Kiva Garuru and OOO'S RaToraTah combo), and those forms had… weapon!

"Of course! I need a weapon!" Dante's realized he still could get out of this.

But of course nothing was so easy, as usually in Kamen Rider the alternative forms came with the weapon included.

Yet he had nothing….

Using his will to not get killed, Dante's tried the first thing that came to his mind.

He put his hand in front of his belt, specifically in front of the huge blue stone…

He had seen in Kamen Rider Agito how Shouichi was capable of pulling out weapons from the stone in his chest whenever he was in his Flame or Storm form.

So maybe Kuuga could do the same…

But sadly for him nothing happened.

"No!" Yelled Kuuga's in frustration.

"Die," The unmistakable voice and language of Mebio made herself known, as she prepared to use her speed to finally deliver death to her opponent.

With her speed she only will have to wait a second before catching Kuuga and slash his neck…

And if by instinct… pure survival rooted deep in the human's nature… Dante jumped quickly enough to avoid being hit.

*Crack!*

Is heard as Mebio's body impact against the wall of that house, with such force that she leaved an imprint of her body in the wall… oh, but just a little more and she would have broken the wall.

As for Kuuga?

He was up in the air, high enough to manage to match a building…

"Woah!" Yelled a surprised Dante, as he used his inner strength to try to not panic in this situation… but still… it's just too high…

So, not only his speed and agility are increased, but also his jumping power.

A very useful power set if one wanted to escape quickly from a place.

But soon he falls to the ground and landed in his feet, a fact that Dante was most grateful, since he didn't wanted to know how much it would hurt an impact with the ground from that distance.

But even then, his troubles still were there, as Mebio was ready to continue her attack.

"In that case…" Mumbled Kuuga as he kneeled in the ground, seemingly signaling he had… given up on this fight, "Then I give up… even another Form wasn't enough to defeat you…" He sighed, maybe finally the realization of how outclassed he was made him just give up?

And it seemed that Mebio understood the message, as she prepared her claws to finally kill Kuuga.

But she didn't realize that his left hand was in the ground, and was clenched in a fist… like he just had something in his fist.

What could be…?

"Finally, you will die, Kuuga!" Shouted the Grongi with the conviction of her victory in her voice.

"Now!" And so Dante did something that not everyone with a sense of heroism will even do.

He launched sand from the ground in her eyes

"Gyaaa!" Screamed Mebio's as she covered her eyes with her hands, this will give few seconds at best to our Kuuga.

And he will use them to end this fight!

"Now I need to be Red!" Kuuga's yelled, and if his words did the trick, his Form changed from Blue to Red.

"This is the end!" He had a clear chance to land a kick that Mebio's couldn't dodge, and shame on him if he ever missed it.

*Kick!*

And so, Kuuga's foot impacted the stomach of Mebio.

Then a light started to appear where the foot impacted, following by a symbol and then cracks in the Unidentified Lifeform's body.

*BOOOM!*

Mebio's exploded when the cracks reached her belts.

Another victory for our Kuuga!

"Good!" Exclaimed Dante's with happiness in his voice, but as his opponent finally died… he suddenly started to feel very tired and hungry.

Soon he de-transformed and returned to his normal form, but he couldn't care less about that, since his priorities have just switched.

"Food…" He murmured as he started to feel the effects of fighting without have eaten anything for quite some time.

What he didn't know is that nearby certain girls where flying trough the sky, and their destination just happened to be this place.

(With the Strike Witches)

"Major Sakamoto, we are about to arrive," Says Perrine as she finally could see the town.

The rest of the girls had their own weapons prepared for the fight with the Unidentified Lifeform N9.

"Don't let your guard down around this one," Says Mio, this time it will be different, and those monsters will be eliminated.

(With Dante)

And so, he was about to start walking to one of the empty houses, then he would get to the kitchen and take what he could and so he finally will have some food on his stomach, it's doesn't matter if is not right, that is something that must be done.

"I risked my life fighting those Monsters," He said to himself as he tried quickly to enter before the people started to come back after they realized the Leopard Monster was finally dead, "I deserve that food," There was no doubts or regrets into his voice, as he really believes his actions fighting those Monsters will justify what he will do.

However… sadly the effects of the battle and unlocking his Dragon Form were too much for his untrained body to handle…

If he indeed consumed some food before his fight with Mebio, then he would only have been mildly exhausted, but also could have managed to get away from this place with his own strength.

But fight such a battle, with a Form that required various movements at an accelerated speed and agility… that just depleted his energy even more.

"Food…" I the only thing he said before unconsciousness took over his body. First he saw everything blurry, and then just blackness.

However, the only lucky thing about this situation was that no-one saw him.

And since this area was where the Unidentified Lifeform attacked, and this young and bruised man was unconscious on the ground surrounded by the bodies of the killed soldiers… one could assume he survived his encounter with an Unidentified Lifeform. Something that practically one or two people in the world could say without being a Witch.

Five minutes pass, and a sound coming from the sky is heard.

The Strike Witches arrived; they had their weapons ready to fight against the Unidentified Lifeform N9 that started killing various soldiers.

But they arrived too late, as Kuuga already defeated the opponent they come to face.

"Where is the Unidentified Lifeform!?" Asked Gertrude as she looked but saw nothing resembling to their enemy.

"It could have escaped," Suggested Erica, as the soldier that communicated with the base and managed to escape death informed the Unidentified Lifeform N9 could move very quickly.

And what they didn't know is… that soldier also omitted a rather important detail, even when it could have got him in trouble.

He didn't tell them about the N11 and how he saved his life and apparently could talk; he just did it as his own form of thanks the N11 for saving his life.

"Sakamoto-san! There is a person here!" Yelled Yoshika as she saw Dante a few feet from an open door.

"Another victim… and he was just a civilian…" Those words where from Minna as she looked sadly at how another innocent live had been taken away by those monsters.

From the looks of the scene, Dante's appeared be a young man who tried to get to his home before being killed.

More guilty looks appeared into the faces of the Witches, not only for the fallen soldiers (They were informed that the N9 targeted them specifically in revenge from being hurt in an eye… and the Witches know that a soldier can die in battle) but for a person who wasn't involved at all in this fight.

They were about to leave since there was nothing they could do anymore… until Mio's recognized those clothes…

Upon seeing them she immediately touched the ground and went running towards the young man, action that surprised the rest of the girls since it was unexpected.

"Hey you!" Mio's exclaimed as she approached him, and there was a bit of worry in her voice, since this man saved her life, and she owed him her life.

So when Mio arrived in front of the unconscious Dante, she immediately noticed he was breathing, albeit a little slowly.

"He is alive…" She sighed in relief, she may not really know anything about him, but his words the day he fought the Unidentified Lifeforms and saved her life made quite an impact on her.

But also… now she finally managed to found him…

She will get answers about him and his powers.

Notes:

Sooooo!

Kuuga Dragon had made his debut, Mebio was defeated but now Kuuga must face a really troublesome situation... but one the Brightside, he finally will get some food.

And so, Dante's showed that he can compensate somehow his lack of power and ability to fight by simply using some dirty tricks, after all when your life is at stake and you don't have a sense of honor to worry about.

So as you could see the lack of food finally made his effect by having our hero to pass out and being found by the girls.

Still… I wonder how I should proceed with the next events?

After all there is the option that Dante simply could speak with them and made them understand he is not an enemy.

So I could have him join as a 'Janitor' so he will not raise suspicion.

The option of having him join also could help him to get stronger by training with Mio (And having Sword lessons by Mio once he unlocks his Titan Form,).

Also, unlike Yuusuke, Dante will use more his Dragon Form, as he feels safer by having a weapon to help him to fight. (And frankly being bad in hand-to-hand combat, so the Mighty form doesn't really suit him when talking about an appropriate form to fight).

Or simply having him to escape and appear to help the Witches when the Grongi decide to attack them.