Chapter 1
Leo was twenty-four and stuck in a dead-end job until a freak accident involving a distracted driver and a glowing rift sent him tumbling through the fabric of reality.
He woke up face-first in the grass of Windrise, the massive oak tree towering above him.
Before he could even process the lack of skyscrapers, a neon-green interface burned into his retinas.
[SYSTEM INITIALIZED: RIDER ROULETTE]
[HOST: LEO]
[LOCATION: TEYVAT - MONDSTADT]
[RP: 0]
"Rider... Roulette?" Leo groaned, pushing himself up. "Is this a Gacha? Don't tell me I'm rolling for my life now too."
[EMERGENCY ENCOUNTER: Eye of the Storm nearby!]
[INITIALIZING FIRST DRAW... COMPILING DATA...]
A blur of silver, gold, and crimson icons spun rapidly in his vision—Kabuto, Den-O, Zero-One, Kuuga. The icons slowed, clicking past one another until they landed on a vibrant, segmented yellow-and-black design.
[SYSTEM UNLOCKED: KAMEN RIDER ZERO-ONE!]
[EQUIPMENT MATERIALIZING: ZERO-ONE DRIVER / RISING HOPPER PROGRISE KEY]
A high-tech, fluorescent belt snapped onto his waist with a digital shwing. In his hand, a heavy mechanical key flickered into existence.
Above him, the wind began to scream. A massive, core-like entity of pure Anemo—an Eye of the Storm—descended, its outer rings spinning with enough force to uproot the nearby bushes.
"Okay, okay! I get it!" Leo shouted over the wind. He pressed the button on the key.
[JUMP!]
The sound of a mechanical grasshopper chirping echoed through the clearing. A massive, metallic yellow hopper materialized from a digital rift, slamming into the ground and crushing a nearby rock.Leo swiped the key across the face of the driver.
[AUTHORIZE!]
"Henshin!"
He flipped the key open and jammed it into the slot.
[PROGRISE! HOPPER'S ABILITY! RISING HOPPER!]
[A JUMP TO THE SKY TURNS TO A RIDER KICK.]
Yellow armor plates flew from the giant grasshopper and slammed onto Leo's body, locking into a black undersuit.
His vision shifted to a tactical HUD, highlighting the Eye of the Storm's core as a structural weakness.
The monster lunged, a localized tornado forming beneath it. Leo didn't run; he jumped.
The strength in his legs was terrifying. He cleared fifty feet in a single bound, soaring over the monster's swirling rings.
"My turn!"He landed on the side of the oak tree—defying gravity for a split second—and launched himself back at the core. He struck with a barrage of high-speed kicks, his movements so fast they left yellow afterimages in the air.
The Eye of the Storm shrieked, its outer casing cracking. Leo landed, his boots sparking against the stone, and slammed the top of his belt.
[RISING IMPACT!]
He took off again, but this time his right leg glowed with blinding yellow neon.
He pierced through the center of the hurricane, his foot connecting squarely with the core.CRACK.the entity shattered into harmless wind.
Leo skidded to a halt, the grass around him scorched in the shape of a stylized grasshopper.
[MISSION COMPLETE]
[REWARD: 500 RP]
[NEW ROULETTE SPIN AVAILABLE: 400 RP]
Leo breathed hard as the armor dissolved into pixels.
"That was... intense."From the shadows of the trees, a pair of red bunny ears poked out.
"Hey! What was that big yellow thing?!" Amber cried out, racing toward him with her bow drawn.