KR Gaim - Tru Heart: Chapter 10

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第10章：ああ、もう！バロンもライダーを持って？！ / Chapter 10: Geez! Baron has a Rider, Too?!
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A few days had come and gone and the RV had been fixed up to Jiro's preferences. He and Yori drove to the Kirra Clover station and moved all of their personal decor out of the old bullet train and gave it a last look before moving on. The two dropped off whatever wouldn't become a permanent part of the RV at their apartment, then Jiro waited for his teammates to regroup at the old location. Rei and Doki eventually found themselves face to face with their new Beat Rider headquarters.

"Wow, nice new coat of paint." Rei complimented.

The RV had been painted a light purple to match their team colors. Along with that, the team emblem had been placed onto the side of the vehicle. Jiro slid open the passenger side door and welcomed them to the interior, which had been just big enough for all three of them, and for all they knew, enough for a couple more people on top of that.

"This is so cool!" Doki plopped down on the couch, "How'd you manage a TV?" He sat there, with a TV on the wall opposite of him.

"Yori called in a favor. I'm surprised it was done on such short notice too." Jiro explained. "But now we've got a really good base. And if we keep up the victories, that prize money can help pay for gas. Works out perfectly."

"So, where do we go from here?" Rei asked, sitting beside Doki.

"Well..." Jiro thought for a second. "Might as well see how well the TV works."

Doki grabbed the remote from the couch and turned it on, which had been set to the Beat Riders Hotline during installation. It had started as DJ Sagara was making a new announcement.

"--two biggest teams are goin' at it at the West Stage, Gaim and Baron! Kaito's aiming to take back first place, but he's got one heck of a challenge with Armored Rider Gaim! Don't miss it!"

"Dude! Jiro, we NEED to see this!" Doki exclaimed, "There's no way Kaito's gonna be able to take down Gaim!"

"I do like the idea of seeing Baron getting their asses handed to them." Jiro remarked. "On it."

Jiro closed the RV door and moved to the front seat. He used the GPS to find the West Stage - He'd planned ahead and had time to mark the four Stages.

"I saw a comment on the Hotline that Gaim took out four Inves at once in one of his matches! Four!" Doki said excitedly.

"Has anyone even summoned that many at once before? That seems like a lot to control." Rei thought aloud.

"If Kaito can handle three at once, I believe it." Doki tried to back it up.

"It'll be interesting to see first hand what this Armored Rider guy is capable of. I missed his fight when Invitto's girl fought Jiro." Rei said.

"Not my shining moment." Jiro said with a hint of sarcasm.

"It's unprecedented. I honestly wasn't expecting Invitto's girls to be so.... fierce." Rei commented.

"You mean you couldn't see the outcome with your psychokinesis?" Doki asked.

"What? Well, first of all, it's not called that, and..." Rei looked to the front seat, "Second of all, did you...?"

"Huh?... Oh. Right. Sorry." Jiro took a moment to process. "It kind of slipped."

"Well, if it anyone had to know about those visions, Doki is safe to tell." Rei shrugged. "I didn't really get any strange feeling from that girl. Although, Jonouchi, he's..." She trailed off.

Back at the apartment, Yori sat in his recliner, listening in on the conversation to test the transmitter. The audio was faintly muffled due to its location, but so long as they were speaking in the RV, everything came in loud and clear.

"He's what? Hunky?" Doki teased.

"... Not my type." Rei decidedly concluded.

"Visions?" Yori asked himself. He shrugged it off and decided to switch the application off for now. "At least I know it works. Hopefully I won't really need it if Rook stays true to his word."

Yori sighed and laid back now. He was idly holding onto a Coconut Lockseed. He'd picked this up during one of his ventures through the Helheim Forest, and had been seemingly stuck on it. He remembered the visions - no, hallucinations - of the girl in white.

He never did hear any details about the hallucinations the other two testers of the Driver had experienced - were they seeing exactly what he saw? As far as he'd been concerned, the girl was not based on anyone he knew, met, or had seen, and there was something... eerily specific about the way she spoke.

Yori's eyes rose as he saw something from the corner of his eye. Was it something white passing by? He sat up in his recliner to look around - Nothing. Yori ignored it and decided to put the Lockseed in his briefcase where it belonged - It'd be better if Jiro didn't spot it around the apartment.

. . .

"Hey, c'mon! An Inves Game is happening!"

Many people gathered around the fenced balcony overlooking the West Stage. Tru Heart's RV stopped by and they joined the crowd, trying their best to get a front row view.

"Have they started yet?" Doki asked.

"Looks like we got here just in time." Jiro answered. "They haven't got any Lockseeds out yet."

Rei looked around - There were members from Team Gaim and Team Baron surrounding them, with the former having mixed looks of excitement and the latter having looks of cocky expectation in their leader.

"Baron's leader picked a fight with the Armored Rider guy!" One of the people in the crowd explained to their friend.

"Seriously?" The friend replied.

"I wonder if Kaito got some new Lockseed he wants to show off." Doki pondered. "Maybe it's a really good Class A. Or better, an S!"

"Do those even exist?" Jiro questioned.

"It's a net rumor, no one's ever had proof. But Kaito must have somethin' good if he's going up against Gaim!"

Kaito Kumon stood firm against Kota Kazuraba, who put on a strong front. He was determined to put Kaito in his place over whatever dispute they had earlier.

"Bring out all the Inves you want, you won't beat me!" Kota proclaimed.

Kaito scoffed. "I'm afraid we're beyond that in this duel." He reached into the inside of his coat.

"What's that?" Jiro leaned in to see what Kaito had pulled out.

"Is that another belt?" One of Baron's members spoke up near Tru Heart.

Kaito placed the beltless Driver to his waist. A yellow belt strap materialized and latched itself to Kaito, with a subtle glow coming from the Driver itself. He then pulled out a Lockseed, which had not been seen in his arsenal until now.

[BANANA!]

A portal opened above Kaito and from it drifted a large, metallic banana fixture. Kaito placed this new Lockseed into his belt and the air was soon filled with the sound of medieval fanfare emanating from the belt. The crowd started to show mixed reactions of gasps and excited whoops.

"So this means he's Armored Rider Baron, right?!" Someone in the crowd asked.

[C'MON - BANANA ARMS! KNIGHT OF SPEAR!]

The now named Armored Rider Baron had transformed. He was dressed in red and silver with a knight-like appearance, and armor that was of course reminiscent of...

"A B-Ba-Banana?!" One of Baron's members shouted in surprise.

"This is unreal..." Jiro commented.

"Where are people getting these belts?" Rei asked confused. She had a hint of concern in her tone for some reason.

Their attention was soon brought to Kota who'd now summoned a metallic orange - Just like the footage on the Hotline. He raised the Lockseed into the air then placed it on his belt, immediately transforming.

[SOIYA - ORANGE ARMS! TAKE THAT SPOTLIGHT ON STAGE!]

Gaim had now appeared in his iconic deep blue and gold with Orange Arms. There was just as much of a reaction from the crowd due to his publicity so far. But two Riders facing each other, this was new... The two readied themselves to start the attack...