(3rd Person PoV)

"Ok class, today we will be learning about the history of Arcana City," the teacher said and pulled down a screen to project the slideshow that she was going to show. "Boooring!" Someone called out and the kids around them giggled.

"Now now, learning about our history is important. After all, those who fail History are doomed to repeat it," the teacher explained.

"My mum told me that History doesn't repeat itself, it rhymes," Scar could hear Jimmy whisper to Joel who nodded. "We will begin with the founder, Allie Himawari," the teacher started and some people took out their notebooks to write in their notes.

The teacher began to explain who Allie was (granddaughter of a street musician and idol) when Scar heard some people whispering behind him.

"Did you see that Masked lady on the news? She took down the RoseBot and Life Industries applauded her for that," someone whispered. "Yeah and she rode away on a Motorcycle! How awesome is that?" Someone whispered back.

Scar was curious about the vigilante on the news that Grian showed him last night before his mom came into the house. People were calling her the Masked Lady although the more popular name was Masked Rider or Kamen Rider.

I wonder who she is? He thought and looked out the window.

(Opening music:

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<>

"Achoo!"

"Bless you," Skizz told Cleo as she wiped her nose. "Thanks, must be the dust that's gathering around," they said and Skizz nodded.

"Sorry to make you do all of this," Skizz apologized as Cleo was dusting some shelves. "Eh, it's whatever. I mean, new job and everything," she said, gesturing to the bright yellow cart in the corner of the room that carried buckets, a mop and a broom.

"Still, I feel bad for you. You risk your life to fight the Bots and yet here you are, at this mundane job?" Skizz sighed. "Eh, it'll make do since this job pays well," Cleo assured him.

It didn't make him feel any better though.

Cleo stacked up some boxes into a shelf before bending down to pick up a fallen piece of paper. "...hey Skizz?" She asked and he looked up from neatly placing some textbooks in alphabetical order. "What's up?" He asked.

"Two things. One, you guys mostly use digital products and yet you continue to use paper like textbooks and paper files. Why?" Cleo asked.

"Life Industries was built with the forethought that we can have technology help us but it can't do everything for us which is why we don't have humanoid robots. But some people tend to forget that which is why a lot of those files have been here for a while and would be rotting if we didn't have a custodian to tend to them," Skizz explained and Cleo turned around.

"Ok...and two, why is there a treasure map here?" They asked, holding the paper up.

"Oh that's ea-WAIT WHAT?!" Skizz cried out in shock.

(Later)

"...a treasure map?" Tango asked, resting his chin on his fist. He was sitting at his desk with Impulse next to him and both Cleo and Skizz standing in front of the desk.

"Yeah, we found it or rather Cleo did. This map is of Arcana City or at least before it was Arcana City," Skizz explained. "But why does the storage room have this treasure map?" Impulse asked and Tango shrugged.

"Dunno, probably some old employee left it there," he said. "Mmm, doubt it. It's faded but in the corner, it has the signature of Arcana City's founder, Allie Himawari," Cleo said and pointed to where she was talking about.

This perked Tango's interest as he said, "Himawari? Well this makes sense considering the rumor." Cleo tilted her head. "What rumor?" They asked.

"They say that Allie's grandfather left behind some kind of memento for someone to find. A memento of power. No one knows what it was except his granddaughter but she kept it a close secret. Hoping that one day, someone worthy will come along and use the power similarly to her grandfather," Tango explained.

"Huh, well in that case, we should probably not tell anyone about this or it will fall into the wrong hands," Skizz said and everyone nodded. "I'll have some people scout out the area though just in case. I'll make up some excuse or whatever," Tango sighed, waving his hand around.

"You can be a prick sometimes, you know that?" Cleo deadpanned, making Skizz and Impulse panic but Tango didn't seem to care. "Oh by the way, how's your training going?" Tango asked with a sly grin, making Cleo want to punch his teeth in.

"It's...going," Cleo replied, gritting her teeth.

(Flashback)

"Not elegant enough!" Xiu shouted and smacked Cleo's elbow with a ruler. "Ow! Did you really have to hit me every time I get it wrong?" They snapped.

"Every time you get it wrong, there's a chance that an enemy will take advantage of it! You must be prepared for anything. I am your teacher of the art of the Mantis and you must get it right," Xiu explained.

"If I were to get it right, what would it look like?" Cleo challenged and Xiu merely smirked. She folded three fingers down, got into a fighting position before smacking Cleo multiple times with the tips of her palms before jumping in the air and slammed one of her legs into Cleo which they thankfully blocked with their arm.

"Umm, ow!" Cleo complained before Xiu backflips away. "One of the greatest strengths of the Mantis style is speed which you need to work on. You can make a perfect plank but you're bad with your speed. You need to work on it," she explained, dusting her dress.

"Alright then, then show me," Cleo placed her hand on her hips. "Here, you'll need these," Xiu tossed them a roll of something. Cleo looked at it and examined the yellow paper.

"What's this?" They asked with Xiu responding with, "Sticky Fly Traps." Cleo nearly dropped the roll in surprise. "Excuse me?" She asked and Xiu plopped down on her couch.

"You heard me. Sticky Fly Traps. You wrap them around your fingers and you will try to catch flies with them. As everyone knows, catching flies with your bare hands is hard which is why people resort to using fly traps or fly swatters. You will train up your speed to try and catch all the flies using what you have learned," she explained, tapping two fingers on the right side of her head.

"Ah, makes sense but uhhh," Cleo looked around, "where are you going to get the flies from?" She asked and Xiu merely smirked. "I have my ways," she said, mysteriously making Cleo sweat drop at this.

(Flashback over)

"And I have been hit with a ruler every time I fail speed training. It doesn't leave bruises but it still hurts," Cleo ranted to Skizz as they walked back to the storage room to continue sorting files.

"Yeah, Etho never told us much about the animal's human personalities. You may get stuck with a couple of teachers like her," Skizz admitted. Cleo sighed before wondering about what he just said.

"Wait, just how many animals were there like Xiu?" She asked. "Hmm? Oh let me think," Skizz hummed as he thought about the notes, records and research papers left behind by Etho.

"100."

"Hmmm?" Cleo slowly turned their head at him, their eyes widening, "repeat that again?" They asked, looking like they wanted to burn something down.

"100 animals but don't worry, we actually have an idea on how much you're going to take. You're not really going to be trained by 100 animals," Skizz explained. "...wait, just how is that possible in the first place?" Cleo asked.

"The Keys, technically. I'm no expert but it relies on science, fantasy and souls. Something like that and the Driver brings out the power. You can ask Toshino about it if you're curious," Skizz explained. "...souls huh? Damn it Etho, just what were you doing back then?" Cleo asked, exasperated.

(Meanwhile)

In a dark lair that smelled like cake, a cloaked figure was typing away at a computer. The RoseBot was sitting on a crate nearby and was fiddling with a spoon.

"When will I get back into action?" He asked, his speech getting better and better. "Soon but for now, you'll be getting new companions. Can't afford to lose you this early especially after I saved you," the cloaked figure explained and the RoseBot crossed his arms.

"And how will I get new companions? Bots like me are formed when a Life Industry Bot malfunction," he said. The cloaked figure stopped typing for a moment to look at him and glare. "I have my ways. Now sit tight as you'll be getting one soon," she explained. The RoseBot sighed, "better be good." The cloaked figures laughed at this.

"Oh it will," she said before looking back at her computer screen and seeing a message pop up in the corner. The corners of her mouth twitched into a smile.

(Later)

"I'm home!" Cleo called out as she entered her house. The two boys were in the kitchen together and were watching something on Scar's phone.

"Hi Mom," Scar waved before looking back at the cracked phone screen. "Mom, I have something to show you," Bdubs said and grabbed his backpack. He took out a wrinkled piece of paper and handed it to Cleo.

They sighed, "Bdubs, how many times do I have to tell you not to stick pieces of paper in your backpack or else they're going to get messed up like this?" "Sorry but I was in a rush," Bdubs explained and Cleo took a look at the paper.

"Oh, a field trip to the aquarium! How fun, I remember that Scar went on this field trip too. Right, Scar?" Cleo asked and he nodded. "We got to dissect a squid," he said and Bdubs gasped loudly.

"Really?! Awesome!" He exclaimed, with stars in his eyes. Cleo chuckled and ruffled her youngest son's hair. She went to grab a pen to sign the permission slip and returned to the kitchen to see both boys huddled in a corner again.

"What are you boys watching?" They asked. "The news," Scar simply said. "Didn't know that you watched the news now," Cleo said, confused. "They're talking about the Kamen Rider that fought the RoseBot! She's so cool, of course I would watch the news!" Bdubs cheered, excitedly and Cleo almost choked on her own spit.

"Hu-wha?! K-Kamen Rider?" She coughed. "You don't know? She was also there when she fought the RockBot that was near our school. People have been calling her the Masked Lady, Masked Rider and/or Kamen Rider. I heard some of my classmates talking about her," Scar explained.

"That's...nice," Cleo said with a strained smile. "She's like a real life superhero! I want to meet her one day!" Bdubs cheered and Cleo awkwardly walked into the kitchen while saying, "I'm going to make you guys lunch now."

She opened the fridge with shaking hands and immediately wanted to scream out loud. Maybe it was too much wishful thinking that her kids would have zero clue on what she's been doing. I mean, the chances of them hearing about it on the news are low! Maybe they would have heard about it from their classmates...good lord, I hope they never find out that it's me, she thought.

They took out the bread and the cheese before closing the fridge. The stove was finally working so might as well use it to make grilled cheese sandwiches. Cleo, bregrungedly admitted that maybe it wouldn't be too bad working for Life Industries like this.

Does...that make me selfish? She thought and glanced at her kids. Scar and Bdubs were now arguing over whether strawberries were better toppings on cake than sprinkles. Admittedly, they took up being a Rider mostly to protect their kids at first but had then gone out of their way to stop the RoseBot. Cleo finds this all confusing as they set the bread and cheese on the counter.

She then felt a buzz from her pocket and took out her phone. Tango had sent her a message.

Tango: Swing by tomorrow before your shift. We need to talk about some new Keys for you

They merely sighed.

(Much, much later)

A couple of Life Industries employees were walking around a beach with some having some kind of monitor on a rover. A small beige robot occupied them.

"Ok, President Tango said that we should scout the area here. He said to bring back anything interesting," one of them said. After he said this, an employee snorted and rolled his eyes. "You don't suppose he means seashells or crabs?" He asked and everyone groaned around him.

"Knock it off. You know that President Tango doesn't kid around with these sorts of things," a third employee stated, placing her hands on her hips. "If he doesn't kid around, then why did he send us here without a particular reason?" The second employee asked. A fourth one shrugged.

"I worked for this company ever since it got started and Mr.Tango wasn't the first oddball that this company had as CEO's," he was an older employee and was close to retirement. "But still! Really, really suspicious and don't get me started on the robots!" The second employee said and glared at the beige robot who was scanning the beach.

"Yeah, that's one thing that I'll agree with you. No one knows why some of our robots are malfunctioning. We even have some of the best mechanics and engineers and still have no clue as to why," the first employee nodded. "Plus that Kamen Rider...where did she even come from?" The second employee sighed.

"Well standing around here chatting won't answer any of our questions. Let's just get our work done and over with," the fourth employee said and the rest nodded. However, one employee (who was the fifth one there), stiffened up as she was staring at the beige robot who stopped in place and looked over at another robot who was on its side.

The beige robot slowly approached the other robot and tapped its head with a claw hand. Then the other robot split open and began to absorb the sand around it. The beige robot screeched and began to roll away. The fifth employee fell and scooted away from where she fell. "Ms.Fujiwara?" The first employee asked, reaching to comfort his frightened co-worker when a large sandy shape appeared from where the broken robot once was.

The sandy robot, now more monstrous, reached its hand out, clenched its fist and summoned up a rope of sand that wrapped itself around the first employee's neck, choking him.

The third employee screamed and the sandy robot slowly turned its head towards her, reached its other hand out, clenching that fist and summoned up another rope of sand that also wrapped itself around her neck.

Ms.Fujiwara's eyes widened with terror and the other employees screamed out in fear.

Only one of them survived the encounter.

(Next day)

"Have a good day at school," Cleo said as she quickly waved at her kids who were walking towards the entrance of their school. After they were out of her view, Cleo immediately ran back home.

Scar poked his head out of the doors as he saw his mom running. I wonder why she's in a hurry? He thought before greeting the BadBoys.

Cleo, after returning home, hopped on her rusty bike and peddled all the way to Life Industries. There was already a crowd of people there so they pushed their way through it. After apologizing to the familiar orange haired reporter whom Cleo bumped into, they made it to the front of the crowd.

"Sorry, no unauthorized entry," a security guard said and Cleo grabbed a name tag from her pocket. "I work here," they simply said and another security guard whispered to the first one, "she's the new worker." The first security guard sighed before allowing Cleo inside the building.

Cleo raced up to Tango's office where he, Impulse and Skizz were already in there. "Get straight to the point," she said once the three of them saw her. "SandBot at the area where I sent five employees to investigate the area that we talked about yesterday. Only 1 survived," he explained and Cleo winced at this. "We have given her the day off so she could recover but she fears that the SandBot will come after her. Thankfully, we know where the SandBot is," Impulse added.

"Alright...so where is the SandBot?" Cleo asked and Skizz pulled up a screen from his watch. "At the beach. That's where it was first spotted as well and hasn't moved from there," he explained. Cleo placed a finger on their cheek, confused. "You think that's important to it?" They asked.

"That's where the treasure map leads to. Whatever you do, don't let the SandBot get to it. Defeat it," Tango said and Impulse reached over to Tango's desk. "Here," he handed her a small cassette-like object like her Key but it was white and black with a picture of a crane on it.

"New Key?" Cleo asked, tilting their head. "Toshino and another scientist, Brad Princeton, created two yesterday. The Crane one and the Monkey one. We're giving you the Crane one as it may be the more useful one for this fight," Tango explained. "We'll be giving you the Monkey Key later though," Impulse added.

"Alright...should I use it now or...?" Cleo asked and all three shook their heads. "Use it once you feel like it's necessary for the fight. Try using your regular one before transforming into the Crane form," Skizz suggested. Cleo clenched the Key before pocketing it.

"Ok, go fight the SandBot," Tango started before pressing a button on his desk which opened a window, "and after transforming, be sure to quickly get your motorcycle out," he said, slowly.

Cleo raised an eyebrow but said nothing. She took out the Driver and placed it on her waist. She took out her regular Key, held it up before saying,

"Henshin!"

They placed the Key in the middle and a voice came out of the Driver.

"Newly formed Wishes shine again!"

A beam of indigo light came down, surrounding Cleo. Parts of green snaked up them and formed the base of the suit as Cleo had their arms outstretched to their side, their wrists making their hands point at a 90 degree angle. And then the indigo light dissipated into the missing parts of the suits, making the suit more mantis-like just like how the Key set it up to be.

Once there was no light, all that stood was Cleo in her Kamen Rider suit.

"Alright, I'm ready!" Cleo pumped out her fist in the air. "Good!" Tango appeared behind her as he had walked towards her as she was transforming and placed his hands on her shoulders, scaring her. "This is a quicker way," he then grabbed onto their shoulders and threw them out the window.

"TANGO!" Impulse shouted while Skizz's jaw dropped in disbelief. Tango shrugged with a grin on his face. "She won't die, I already told her to get the motorcycle out," he explained, cheekily. Both Impulse and Skizz face palmed at this.

Meanwhile, Cleo was falling and she didn't look all too happy. She quickly double tapped the belt where the motorcycle appeared. She got on it and revved it up, twisting it to aim at the side of the building so it would ride down smoothly before hitting the ground.

Once it did hit the ground, Cleo revved it up some more and drove away towards the beach, some of the people noticing them. "Kamen Rider!" One of them cried and they attempted a chase.

Later at the beach, the SandBot was digging up holes and giving up when it didn't find what it wanted. It stepped over a crushed crab that the SandBot stepped on earlier and some dried blood from the employees that it killed in the night.

It dove down and began to dig once again, rapidly moving its arms around, flicking the sand into the air. After digging itself deep, it looked around before huffing in disappointment. It jumped out of the hole before moving on to the next spot.

As it started to dig, the SandBot heard noises coming towards it and coming in fast. It stood up and turned around to see Cleo riding towards it. They stopped their motorcycle, got off it and faced the SandBot.

The SandBot tilted its head and scratched its chin with a long, thin finger. It then pointed to Cleo as to ask who they are?

"I'm the Rider who's going to take you down!" Cleo declared and got into a fighting position. The SandBot then snorted and spoke perfectly, "I'd like to see you try." Looks like it masted speaking overnight, Cleo thought.

The SandBot then twirled its pointer fingers around and created a sand tornado from the tips and shot them at Cleo who promptly jumped out of the way but she fell front face though. The SandBot then held its left hand and clenched its fist, forming up a sand rope which had wrapped around Cleo's ankle.

The SandBot grabbed the rope and raised it up in the air, taking Cleo with it before slamming her down to the ground. Cleo tried desperately to claw it off her but the sand dissolved in her hands and more replaced it. The SandBot then tossed Cleo towards it and punched them right in the face.

Cleo shouted in pain and rolled away from the SandBot. She stumbled to get up before the SandBot tugged at the rope hard, toppling her down as it was still connected to her ankle.

"I need to free myself from that rope," they muttered before an idea popped into their mind.

(Flashback)

"One of the most powerful attacks you can do is your Finisher. I didn't show it to you last time because you were still new but I'll tell you right now. It's what we call a Rider Kick," Xiu explained as Cleo was sitting on the floor, crisscrossed while removing the Sticky Fly Traps from her fingers.

"Rider Kick?" They asked and Xiu nodded. "It's a kick attack, usually reserved for Finishers as it's one of the most powerful. It takes a lot of energy to pull off though so I recommend doing that when you absolutely need to," she explained and Cleo flicked a Sticky Fly Trap away.

"Hmmm, I'll keep that in mind," Cleo said.

(Flashback Over)

I guess I got to try, they thought as they felt themselves being lifted into the air by the SandBot. Cleo positioned themselves into a kicking position and twisted their body to aim at the SandBot as it brought the rope down.

As soon as Cleo came into contact with the SandBot, it split itself apart in order to avoid being destroyed by the kick. Cleo came crashing into the sand.

The SandBot merely shook its head with a smug expression on its face but then fell to its knees while clutching onto a solid piece of its side that wasn't made out of sand.

"Hmmmph. First lesson that I learned was once you start to gloat that you've won, doesn't matter if you say it or not, you already lost," Cleo explained, getting up with more ease. She shook her leg to show that she was free from the rope.

"You dare make a mockery of me?!" The SandBot shouted and Cleo rolled her eyes behind her helmet. "Oh please, you've already done that yourself," she said.

The SandBot roared in anger and slammed its fists onto the ground, creating ripples in the sand before tossing some of it in the air. That was followed by pillars of sand sprouting up. The SandBot flicked its wrists towards Cleo and the sand soon followed.

Cleo did a couple of backflips to dodge the sand which angered the SandBot. "Stop moving, you human filth!" It shouted. "No I don't think I will!" Cleo shouted back before doing a cartwheel to avoid the sand.

This isn't going anywhere. I think I have to use that now, she thought and tapped the edge of the Driver. It opened up and Cleo took out the Crane Key. She closed the Driver and placed the Key in the middle. The same voice came out of the Driver but said this,

"Quickly dashing through the Fluffy Clouds."

A beam of white light came down, surrounding Cleo and making her vision go white. When they came to be, they saw a young girl with short black hair that was covering one eye and wore a pink sleeveless turtleneck over a white, feathery jacket. She had a pink, floppy hat as well.

The girl looked over and gasped, "you're here!" She got up from her couch and walked around Cleo, excitedly. "You're here, you're finally here!" She repeated. "Umm, yeah...are you going to teach me new techniques?" Cleo asked, confused.

"Yep, don't worry. I'm going to make sure you learn them all but first the basics. Oh, I'm Tsubasa by the way," the girl explained. Cleo had just enough time to think that Tsubasa spoke rather fast when she snapped her fingers and once again, a light projected onto her and she started to learn the basics.

When they came to be, they were back to the beach with the SandBot. They looked down at their Rider Suit. "Whoa," Cleo said.

The main parts were still green but the indigo parts were replaced with white parts with marks of black. Her gloves were more feathery and, looking closely, saw that she had wings now.

"So this is a new form. I'm calling this Crane form," Cleo declared. "Crane form! A-maz-ing! I never thought of that one before!" Cleo could hear Tsubasa in her head. "Huh? Oh I guess I could have seen this one coming but what about Xiu?" Cleo asked, remembering her first teacher and no longer hearing her.

"Hmm, Xiu, Xiu, Xiu? Oh, she's the mantis right? Yeah when you take a different form, you can only hear that form...is what I think because I don't remember much of my creation. No one does, don't worry," Tsubasa explained.

Before Cleo could say anything else, the SandBot summoned more sand tornadoes and shot them at Cleo. Cleo skidded back, almost getting knocked off balance. "I forgot I was fighting. Oh well, time to get destroyed," Cleo pointed towards the SandBot.

"Human filth, you are no match for me. In fact, I was holding back," the SandBot explained. "Holding back? You called that holding back?" Cleo asked, surprised.

"Yes but you will not live long enough to see. I give it 5 seconds of life before I suffocate you with my sand," the SandBot explained and clenched its fists and shook tremendously. It let out a yell before raising its hands up and the entire sand on the beach bursted up into the air.

Cleo got hit by the intense wind coming from that attack and spread her arms out to glide away using the wings. "Uh yeah, there's no way I'm going to beat it if I keep dodging like this. I need to get closer," Cleo murmured. "You can glide to dodge the sand and get close to it. Just a suggestion," Tsubasa explained.

"Honestly, not a bad idea," Cleo said before jumping into the air and spreading her wings out. The sand was shot at them so Cleo had to swerve out of the way.

"Damn it! Stop moving!" The SandBot shouted, sounding more and more frustrated. Cleo could tell due to even more sand getting in her direction, she was glad that she had a helmet on.

Then Cleo swooped down and slammed their head against the SandBot, toppling it over. She landed on her feet and whirled around to face the SandBot who immediately got up and began to shoot blows. Cleo flattened her hands and began to move them in circular motion to deflect most of the blows.

The SandBot raised a fist to smack Cleo but they raised an arm to block it. Cleo snaked that arm around the SandBot's arm, twisting it down. The SandBot howled in pain and tried to claw Cleo's arm off but then they jabbed their free hand at the SandBot's face, causing it to lose its balance and fall towards the ground before Cleo kneed it in the face.

That's where she finally let go and the SandBot went rolling away. Cleo chased after it and flew into the air. The SandBot managed to get up to its feet before a shadow flew over it. It looked up to see Cleo gliding down and they flapped their wings, dusting off the sand off it.

"Gliding Rider Kick!" She shouted and positioned herself into a kicking position. Her foot went through and Cleo skidded away from the SandBot.

An explosion could be heard and Cleo turned around to see that the SandBot had blown up. "You did it, hurray! I knew we could count on you!" Tsubasa cheered. "We?" Cleo asked. "Me and Xiu. I think she'll be happy to hear that you defeated that Bot," Tsubasa explained. Cleo rolled her wrists around, hearing a satisfying pop from them. "If she doesn't smack me with a ruler," they said and went towards their motorcycle that somehow survived the fight.

Before they could get on it though, a small brown, sharp corner that was sticking out caught their eye. Cleo tilted their head at this.

(Timeskip)

"Well first of all, good job on defeating the SandBot," Tango started and Cleo leaned back on their chair. "A Tango compliant. How rare," she said with a smile. "Sure, sure," Tango waved her off and didn't catch her rolling her eyes at him. Skizz snickered behind his hand and Impulse just sighed.

"Second of all, you think this is what the SandBot was looking for?" Tango asked and tapped the treasure chest that Cleo brought back with a pen. "Considering it was digging around and causing holes everywhere, it's more than likely especially since the map was marked at that beach," they explained.

"Alright, we'll have our best scientists examine it," Tango said and nodded at Impulse who placed on rubber gloves. "I'm letting him know that he has more on his plate," Cleo could hear him murmur as he took the chest and left.

Cleo tapped Tango's desk and gave him a Cheshire Cat worthy grin. "You think I can skip out of work for an hour so I can rest?" She asked as she was already feeling very sore from the fighting.

Tango let out a humorless laugh. "Yeah, no. There's been a spill on the eighth floor. Skizz, go show her the way," he said.

"Oh what the fu-!"

[Ending song:

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