Touto Harbor Natsu Docks, Docking Pier 4
It was quite late at night, the glow given off by the giant wall separating the three regions was bright red and seemed more intense than normal.
A young woman stood next to a bald fisherman, in front of his small boat, she handed him a sealed envelope while bowing to him. "Please prepare this for us." The fisherman nodded and walked inside his boat.
It was the reporter Sawa Takigawa. She bowed again as the man disappeared but then looked to her right, slightly startled. A bent over figure was starting to approach her and the boat.
It looked like a hunched up old woman approaching. The bent over figure called out to Sawa in a gravelly voice.
"Sorry young lady, I guess I'm late."
"Haha...Oh! Grandma!" Sawa stifled a laugh and went forward to meet the old lady.
"...You got it wrong. That's grandpa to you." The bent over figure straightened up and was suddenly much taller than Sawa. It was Ryuga, dressed like an elderly.
"It is?" Sawa tried hard not to laugh at his disguise.
"Come on, it should be obvious!"
Sawa looked him up and down. Ryuga was wearing a grey wig, glasses, a flowery collared shirt and a flimsy white cardigan. The cardigan looked like it was made out of something you would cover your table with.
"I don't see how it isn't 'grandma'..."
"Very funny..." Ryuga shot her a disdainful glance and walked past her to check out the dock.
"...More importantly, how are we getting into Seito?"
Sawa caught up to him and pointed to the boat that the fisherman had went into.
"This boat here does smuggling runs into Seito."
Ryuga looked surprised. "You're kiddin' me...We're getting smuggled in?!"
Sawa knocked Ryuga on the head lightly several times with her hand.
"You're a fugitive Ryuga, you can't just take a regular ferry...It's already hard enough to get any sort of authorization to travel nowadays."
A handful of flashlights suddenly lit the duo up. Several guardians had spotted them!
"Oh shit! Come on, let's go!"
The guardians started hurrying in their direction. A raspy metallic voice belonging to one of the machines rang out. "Ryuga Banjo located."
They picked up their pace, hurrying to get close to their target. Ryuga quickly moved himself in front of Sawa's position, ready to defend himself and her.
"EEK!" Sawa screamed and picked up the duffle bag full of things that she had placed down near the boat earlier. She stepped beside Ryuga and swung it at one of the guardians, knocking it back.
"Hey, not bad! Take this!" Ryuga ducked one of the guardians incoming blows, landing a blazingly fast right hook as he rose back up, he sent the machine stumbling back several yards and carried his momentum with a left hook into the next bot that stepped up to him, performing a Dempsey roll on several of the machines as they stepped towards him.
It sort of looked like an elderly person was beating the hell out of a gang of uniformed hoodlums.
Ryuga ducked and swiveled over and over again, landing blows left and right. He was really showing off his skills and the footwork only a seasoned boxer could posses. As he swiveled yet again, the cardigan he was wearing was seized by one of the guardians and another took the brief moment to land a shot in Ryuga's gut, sending him flying.
"Oooof!"
"Ryuga!" Sawa rushed over to where the young man had ended up landing, bending over to see if he was okay.
"Stay away! Get back Sawa!" Ryuga waved her away and she moved back. Just in time too, Ryuga pushed himself away from where he was laying on the ground and narrowly avoided a stomp.
The wig he was waring was caught underneath the machines foot. Ryuga rolled backwards and sprang back to his feet.
He paused for a moment as the guardians rushed forward again. His pants pocket felt hot. He reached inside his right pocket as they rushed forward and grabbed the bottle Sento had given him. It started glowing in Ryuga's hand.
He lashed out with a centerline type punch, bottle in hand, when the blow landed, a massive surge of energy, accompanied by a blinding blue shockwave was emitted at the epicenter of his attack!
The guardian was blasted away with so much force it was almost impossible to follow it's movement with the naked eye.
Ryuga paused again. His mouth was hanging open. He was shocked at what he had just done.
"W-What's with this power...?
He held up the blue bottle, with the dragon insignia etched on it and examined it for a moment, it smoldered in his hand.
"It must have been shaken up a bit in my pocket during the scuffle..." Ryuga began to vigorously shake the bottle, just as he had seen Sento do previously.
"This'll make it easy to beat them down..."
As he prepared to confront the remaining four guardians, Ryuga found himself encircled by two dozen more emerging from the shadows. He stood motionless, frozen in his combat stance.
"...Or not..." The guardians and Ryuga stood still and quiet for a few seconds, just staring at each other.
Bang Bang Bang Bang Bang Bang Bang Bang Bang!
The light and sound of a gatling gun broke the moment of silence!
Sento leap down from a nearby container, landed on one knee beside Ryuga and then straightened back up.
"Why are you here?!" Ryuga yelled at him, his tone a mix of anger and relief.
Sento looked around at all the guardians surrounding them.
"Get down."
He then swung his hand, the one holding the gatling gun pistol, towards Ryuga's head in a wide arc, prompting the other man to duck down for cover. Sento pulled the trigger as he swung.
Every single guardian was blasted, they turned into a sparking circle of fireworks! Each one exploded after it was hit.
Sento turned back towards Ryuga, raising an eyebrow at him. "So...How do you like my badass new invention?"
Before he could get an answer, another wave of those guardians showed up as backup.
"Sawa ducked into that building over there when I was being attacked...let's go!"
Ryuga had noticed where she went earlier and urged Sento to follow him there to retrieve her.
Sawa had taken refuge in a nearby warehouse, Sento followed Ryuga in, guardians hot on their tails.
As soon as they made it through the doors, they noticed that she was hiding behind one of the structural pillars inside the mostly empty building. Both sprinted towards her, able to find cover before the guardians found them.
The guardians started walking forwards, these ones had automatic weapons with flashlight attachments; they were looking around, splashing light on every corner as they went.
"Apparently, the people behind the human experimentation are called Faust." Ryuga whispered over to Sento as both stayed crouched.
Sento nodded. "I know, Misora told me...Are you serious about going west?"
Ryuga gained a determined look on his face. "Don't bother trying to stop me...I'm gonna save Nabeshima's family from Faust."
The guardians were starting to get close to their positions.
Sento stared at Ryuga for a few moments. "Well, let me tell you one thing, then...It makes me crack a smile."
His lips raised and he continued. "When I'm able to help someone...It makes me so happy, I can't help cracking a smile."
Ryuga was now locked onto Sento, paying full attention to what he was saying.
"Not that you can see my smile, not with the mask on...If you expect a reward, then it's not about doing the right thing..."
Sawa and Ryuga thought about the numerous occasions they had observed Sento vanquish a Smash in his role as Kamen Rider Build. It did seem that he would let out a small chuckle following each foe's defeat, particularly when he witnessed the thankful and joyful expressions on the faces of those he had rescued.
BANG!
Several of the guardians flew past the concrete columns and barrels they were hiding behind!
A Smash had decided to crash the party, it crashed into the remaining guardians, engaging them in hand-to-hand combat.
Sento peeked over his top of the cover he was hiding behind and observed the new monster for a moment.
"I'll take care of the Smash...Get going, now!" With that he leapt over his hiding spot and rushed towards the messy melee.
Ryuga glanced back and forth between the charging Sento and the exit behind Him and Sawa. He grabbed her hand and together they rushed for the door.
Sento smacked a guardian's incoming fist away, blasting it with his weapon and then swiveled and swept his arm to shoot another one.
He ducked another incoming blow and then pistol whipped his attacker, following up by firing a multitude of bullets into that guardian's face at point blank range. The automaton was shredded into pieces and fell over, completely broken. Sento looked at his weapon and grinned.
"Nice! Things are starting to get wild! Bring it on so I can test out this little beauty some more!"
...
Ryuga and Sawa reached the boat, pausing at the front of the vessel, hands on their knees, panting from the relentless sprint they had just completed.
As they straightened up to stand properly, the boat's captain vaulted over the side and landed on the dock before them, blocking their way.
"I'm sorry, but I can't take you folks onboard...It'd put the other customers at risk."
The pair were both shocked. They had made it this far just to be rejected. The man had already taken Sawa's money too!
"But...!" Sawa started to protest.
Ryuga started to get angry and reached out for the man's arm to pull him back.
"Hey! Hang on a minute!"
The captain tried to take his hand back from Ryuga but the grip of the boxer was much too powerful.
"I said no! Now let me go..."
Ryuga loosened his grip a bit but didn't let go.
"Please! You gotta let us go...We gotta get to Seito!"
Suddenly, a mysterious feminine voice sounded out from behind them.
"Give them a lift..."