(3rd Person PoV)

"CLEO! GET OVER HERE TO CLEAN THIS MESS OR YOU'RE FIRED!"

Cleo, a woman with orange, curly hair and has stitches on her face that gave her a bit of a zombie like look, gave out a long and tired sigh as she grabbed the mop and trudged over where her boss was standing.

The floor around him was a mess. Syrup and cheerios were spilled everywhere. There was orange juice lying there and blueberries were spread out.

"Clean it!" Her boss yelled and he left.

Some of the customers gave her a sympathetic look as Cleo dropped the mop onto the soapy water before pulling it up and placing it on the floor, scrubbing it so the mess wound go away.

This was her current life in a nutshell.

Getting yelled at by her boss at work. Oh great, she doesn't get paid enough to deal with this.

Cleo tighten the white, linen bandanna scarf that came with their work uniform. She has to clean the mess up as fast as she can before the boss comes and yells at her again.

Working at the diner sucked but they needs the money. How else can she provide for her kids?

Right that. Cleo let a deep sigh as she continued to mop the floor.

I wonder how Bdubs and Scar are doing at school? I'm sure that Bdubs was ranting about the Language Arts tests that he's taking today and Scar has his science presentation to do. I bet both of them will do great on it, she thought to herself.

After a while, they finished mopping the floor and placed the mop back in the soapy water and pushed it away towards the kitchen to place it in its corner.

She went over to wash her hands when someone called over to her.

"Cleo, the trash is overflowing. Can you go and put it in the back!" One of their co-workers called out.

"Alright. Give me a second," Cleo called out and looked for the trash.

Yep, it was overflowing alright. One singular basket couldn't hold the heaps of trash bags that were piling up.

They grabbed the ends of a bag with one hand and grabbed another one with the other hand.

They walked out into the back and tossed the bags in the garbage. Cleo leaned on the wall and took a deep sigh.

No time to complain, I need to keep this job to provide for Scar and Bdubs. I need it, she thought.

They then looked up at the skies as soon as a flying vehicle went whooshing by.

Past the dinky side of the city where the diner was and through tall and shiny buildings of the city, the flying car dodged pedestrians and other vehicles. It might have broken a few laws, who knows.

The city had large buildings with a futuristic design and robots were on the streets, helping some people on the streets. The flying car flew past all of it.

It arrived at a tall, white, shiny building where a huge crowd of people were waiting there.

The car's doors open and a man with fiery yellow hair and reddish brown eyes got out of the car.

"President Tango! What are your thoughts on the current malfunctioning of the robots produced by Life Industries?" One reporter asked.

"A-and what are your thoughts on the robots meshing with stuff in nature like that rock one that's now under your custody?" Another asked.

The questions came and gone but Tango didn't answer to any of them as he walked through the crowd and into the building.

Before Security held back the crowd as he entered the building, he paused and turned around to look at them.

"I will make an announcement about it soon so sit tight," Tango said and walked into the building, ignoring the protests of the reporters as Security held them back.

He walked towards his office where there were two people waiting for him.

"Tango, you're here! We need to discuss it with you," a man with brown hair and wearing a black shirt with a yellow i icon on it.

"I'm aware," Tango said and turned on the news.

A reporter with orange hair and wearing overalls was speaking.

"As you saw it here folks, the president of Life Industries said that they will make an announcement about it soon. As you also saw it, many people are disappointed with that response. After all, it's been two months since the robots were beginning to malfunction and a week after the RockBot," the reporter said.

"Geez, it's already been a week?" A man wearing a tuxedo noted.

"That's why we need to discuss it! We have to decipher what Etho left for us before he died. We know that he was working on something in case this happened," the brown haired man said.

Tango said nothing at first before turning off the TV, walking towards the door, opening it to peek through it, closed it and locked it. He also shut the blinds so bits of the sun was peeking out.

"Impulse, Skizz. We need to make sure that this information doesn't go out to the public. They'll skin us alive for it and would take away what Etho has been working on or worse, rip it to shreds. It's careful research that he put into," Tango explained.

"Yeah and they'll take the context of the animals and take it the wrong way, calling us murderers when that isn't the case," Skizz added on.

"True," Impulse nodded and Tango reached under his desk and pressed a button.

The walls on the right side flipped backwards to reveal two laptops and a bunch of papers scattered across them.

"Get to work and quickly. I received reports from Mr. Yu that the room where we're keeping the RockBot isn't going to hold much longer," Tango told them.

"Yessir!" Impulse and Skizz nodded and went to grab the laptops and began to type furiously while taking quick glances at the papers.

Tango then pulled out his phone and began to text the head scientist.

Down at a lab where a huge room was being supervised by soldiers and scientists, a man with bright green hair, brown eyes and wearing green glasses huffed to himself as he stared at the head soldier barking orders to the rest of the soldiers and scientists.

That fool. Barking orders to his soldiers I understand but scientists under my watch? That's bullsh*t, he thought.

"Yu! Don't just stand there, you're the head scientist! Aren't you supposed to be doing something?" The head soldier shouted.

"With all due respect Mr...f*ck what was your name again, anyways! I'm currently receiving text messages from my boss about the current situation and sh*t so I have to respond to them," the scientist stated.

"It's Dennis Chiko, got it! And why would you be texting in this situation? Don't you see the problem that's going on?" The head soldier snapped.

"Right, right, well to put it in the most simplest terms, if the RockBot gets out, we're all f*cked. President Tango has only been CEO of Life Industries for three months and he spent most of it cleaning up after the old CEO's mess which would include this. God if only I had scientists who didn't major in astrology instead of other science course," the head scientist rolled his eyes.

"Toshino Yu, as leader of my own team, I find it disrespectful that you would talk to your own scientists like that!" Dennis snapped.

"Tell that to the old CEO. Oh right, he died so you can't. But that aside, the room isn't going to hold for much longer so the President is telling me what to do in case the RockBot gets out," Toshino stated.

"I already have my own orders. Shoot on sight," Dennis said.

Toshino rolled his eyes again before pointing to a man with a blonde hair that sticks up, defying gravity and wore a badge pin with a duck on it.

"Princeton, get ready to pull the lever. Things are about to get ugly!" He shouted.

"Yes sir!" The man stood up and bowed. Dennis could see his name tag on his coat.

Brad Princeton.

"What kind of name is Brad?" Dennis murmured.

"Don't disrespect my best scientist. Now brace yourself," Toshino said. He kept glancing up and down from his phone and whenever he would look up, his face would sweat a little as he looked at the cracks that were forming in the room where the RockBot was being kept in.

Dennis grabbed his gun and held it up. Brad had his hand on the lever as they all waiting for the inevitable.

(Later)

Cleo face planted the couch as they was were done with their shift for the day. Their kids were still at school and they'd figure that they would take a nap before going to pick them up.

The rumbles of the garage truck that went by lulled her to sleep as she was used to hearing it before taking a nap on Fridays.

Little that she knew that her nap was going to get interrupted by something or someone...

*KNOCK KNOCK*

Cleo lifted her head up and stared at the door.

Who's there? Oh god, please don't tell me that rent is due! I don't have enough to pay it off today! She thought in a panic and got up immediately.

They cautiously walked over to the door to look through the makeshift peek hole.

It wasn't the rent collector but it was some people that were equal as bad.

Cleo opened the door and said in a disgruntled voice, "what do you want?"

Skizz looked at Impulse before looking at Cleo. "Can we come in? We just want to talk?" He asked.

Cleo glared at them before stepping aside to let them in.

They all sat down at the table with Tango in the middle, Skizz on his left and Impulse on his right, while Impulse was clutching onto a briefcase.

Cleo sat across from them with their arms crossed. She didn't seem amused nor pleased by this visit.

"Care to share why you're here?" She asked.

Tango took off his sunglasses before saying, "well we have something to give you. Something that...Etho had made before his passing."

"Something that Etho made? Really? It's been nearly three months since he passed away and since his funeral. You think now is that time to give me something of his?" Cleo asked.

"Well, the thing is...remember how vague his will was?" Skizz asked.

Cleo rolled their eyes. How could they not? Etho's wording was so vague that many people dismissed it and wrote him off as a madman.

Even if Cleo didn't agree to those claims, they still found it rather strange that Etho would word his will that way. Even if they didn't get along very well as a married couple, Etho was never vague on his words for better or for worse.

"Well we have decided to decipher what his will could mean especially since the news of the robots malfunctioning and the appearance of the RockBot if you have heard of it," Skizz continued.

Right, the RockBot. When she first saw that on the news, she made sure that whenever they walked home from school, that Scar and Bdubs should never separate from each other and to run as fast as they could if they're ever in danger.

"What does this have to do with Etho's will?" Cleo asked.

Tango gave Impulse a nod and he placed the briefcase on the table.

He flicked the switches and opened it up. Impulse turned it around to reveal something odd:

"What's this?" Cleo asked.

"It's what we call a Driver Belt and that's the Key to activate it. Whoever is bonded to it, transforms into this soldier called Kamen Rider. This is what Etho left behind for the situation like the RockBot," Tango explained.

"Wait so you knew that something like this would happen?" Cleo asked.

"Yes and no. Etho had stumbled upon some top secret documents that foreshadowed the malfunction of the robots and the creation of what we now call NatureBots like the RockBot. He kept this from us until the day before he died where he has been working on this. He told us to decipher his notes and to find the person whom he deemed as worthy to become the Kamen Rider. The Proto-Rider, he called it," Tango explained.

"What does this have to do with me?" Cleo asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Cleo, your name was repeated over and over in his notes. I think...," Impulse trailed off, waiting for Cleo to connect the pieces.

"...oh no! No no no no! I refuse! I can't do it, I won't do it," Cleo made an X with her arms.

"Cleo, Etho has deemed you worthy of becoming the Proto-Rider for this event. It means that he trusts you enough for this responsibility," Skizz pointed out.

"I already have too much responsibility on my plate. I have to work to provide for my kids, raise Scar and Bdubs and pay the bills. Do you know how many jobs that I had to take after Etho died? I can't do it! I'm sorry but I can't," Cleo stated.

"Cleo, our whole city will be in danger if we sit and do nothing! You saw how it took the whole police force plus the military to lock up the RockBot. It's not even destroyed!" Impulse shouted.

"And you think this Kamen Rider can help? More importantly, you think I can take down the RockBot!" Cleo slammed their hands on the table.

"ENOUGH!" Tango shouted which made everyone quiet.

"It's clear that we no longer have business here. Let's leave," he stood up.

"Just a moment, Tango," Impulse started but Tango's glare shut him up.

He closed the briefcase and the three of them stood up to leave.

Tango opened the door to let Impulse and Skizz through and before he left, he turned to Cleo.

"I think you'll find the news interesting today," he said as he placed his sunglasses on.

"Huh?" Cleo looked confused but Tango just waved goodbye and shut the door.

Then Cleo heard the loud clash of someone tossing some trash cans around.

She peeked through the blinds to see Tango tossing the trash cans while Impulse and Skizz try to calm him down.

To the left, they could see the heads of a brown haired man wearing a blue cardigan and a brown haired girl wearing a blue coat.

The Nosey Neighbors, Scar dubbed them, BigB and Pearl Moon. No one really knows what BigB's real name is, not even Pearl and she's his roommate. Or maybe she does know and just refuses to tell.

Speaking of Scar, Cleo looked for the clock to see what time it was. She should be ready to pick her kids up.

Only...she faltered. Something about what Tango had said.

The news...what could be interesting about the news? She thought and turned on the cable tv.

She switched to the news channel which is one out of two channels that they could see without any interference.

The same reporter with ginger hair and blue overalls showed up and she looked like she was in a panic.

"Unbelievable! The RockBot, which was said to be locked up in a vault in Life Industries, is going through a rampage between Hierophant and Empress Street! All the schools in that area has been on lock down and the police is trying their best to qualm the Bot but to no avail!" The reporter cried.

"Hierophant and Empress Street? That's where Scar and Bdubs' school is!" Cleo cried.

She raced out of the house and hopped on her rusty blue bike. She peddled as hard and as fast as she could.

Meanwhile, in the same flying car, Skizz looked over at a now calm Tango.

"What do we do now?" He asked.

"We head to where the RockBot is," was all that Tango said.

This isn't going to go well, Skizz thought as he disagreed with Tango's methods on trying to do good out of a bad situation.

(Later)

Cleo arrived at the scene and saw how many people were being held back by the police.

"Let us get our kids!" Someone screamed.

"Madam, we're trying our best here," a police officer said.

"At least save the kids!" Another person shouted.

"We're trying but that thing isn't letting us," another police officer explained as the RockBot, a white humanoid robot with bulky rocks forming its arms and legs and a rock like mask on its mouth, began to slam its arms on the ground which made the police cars go flying into the air and crashing into other flying cars.

"Where's the military?" Another person asked but the answer fell on deaf ears.

Cleo and some of the other people (mostly parents) began to push through the crowd as the police held them back.

After a short while of doing this, someone's elbow went and hit Cleo on the side and she stumbled backwards.

Someone caught her and dragged her away from the crowd before she could get hurt by the pushy crowd.

As they were struggling to say thank you or to be mad at them for dragging them away from the crowd, Cleo looked to see who dragged them away.

"Skizz? What are you doing here? I just saw you not too long ago," Cleo stated.

"Well...Tango's orders," Skizz admitted and he did not look too happy.

"Tango's orders...? Wait-," before Cleo could finish, both Tango and Impulse showed up, Impulse still holding onto the briefcase.

"You see what I meant by Arcana City being in danger?" Impulse asked.

Cleo looked at the briefcase that he was holding. It was the same one.

"Cleo, you're seeing what's going on. Nothing is working for the police and the RockBot is going to cause more problems. We need your help, he seemed you worthy to be the Proto-Rider. If it's not for the city, then do it for your kids," Tango explained.

Cleo glanced at the school where the RockBot was just one turn away from noticing. She wonders what Scar and Bdubs are doing to hide in the school.

Are their teachers keeping them safe? Are they hiding in a quiet classroom? If the RockBot does notice the school, will they evacuate? Is that even the best option to go with?

So many questions in her head and that worried her.

"...give me the Driver," Cleo said and Tango smirked at this. He nodded at Impulse who walked up to her.

"Make sure that no one else sees you. Here," he opened the briefcase and Cleo took the Driver and the Key.

"Place it on your waist like a belt. Hold the Key up and say 'Henshin.' Then place the Key in the middle," Impulse instructed.

Cleo nodded and placed the Driver on her waist. It made a click noise and she held up the Key.

"Henshin!"

She placed the Key in the middle and got surrounded by a beam of indigo light.

In that light, Cleo could see the outline of a person. The person appeared to be sitting on a couch of sorts.

Eventually, Cleo saw the person better and it was a woman with grass green hair in a bun while wearing an Indigo Chinese dress that was decorated with images of small praying mantises.

"Ah, so you finally got the Driver. I see, Etho told me it was only a matter of time," the woman said.

"Who are you?" Cleo asked, confused.

"You may call me Xiu Ai and I'm the first you're going to see. Now we don't have much time to explain as time has momentarily slowed down for you but will pick up again after 5 real world seconds. You're going to gather knowledge on how to fight from me and you will do it very elegantly," the woman explained.

"I guess that should be useful," Cleo murmured.

"As it should. Now let us begin with the basics. Art of the Mantis," Xiu stated and snapped her fingers.

"Huh-?" Cleo didn't get time to ask before a projector appeared and flashed its light onto her.

"You will be given basic instructions on how to fight like a movie. Once you have disposed of the RockBot, you will return to me to hone your skills before moving onto the next step. Good luck, you'll need it," Xiu stated and that was the last thing Cleo saw before she reappeared in the real world.

(Meanwhile)

In a classroom full of fourth graders, the teacher, a short purple haired woman by the name of Ms.Grape, was trying to calm the students down.

"D-don't worry, help is on the way. We'll be fine, don't worry," she said but some of the kids kept on crying.

A small boy wearing a dark green hoodie and had brown hair was hiding in a cubby as he stared at his class.

I hope Scar is ok, Bdubs thought.

In another class room full of sixth graders, a tall boy with scars on his face and had light brown hair was huddling by three other boys.

"It's still not safe out," a boy with blond hair, a black leather jacket and wore sunglasses on his face, said.

"We'll be fine as long as they don't find us," another boy with brown hair, a matching leather jacket over a red sweater and had his sunglasses on his head, assured them.

"Hopefully," the last boy who had brown hair and a green streak in it and wore a matching leather jacket, sighed.

Scar couldn't help but agree.

Outside the school, the RockBot continued to toss rocks at the police officers and one of them tried shooting it with a weak bullet.

It didn't do anything but it made the RockBot look around it's surroundings and finally noticed the school.

An idea formed in its head. Maybe if they take the school hostage or cause destruction there, maybe they'll understand that there's no way that these puny humans could take it down.

As the RockBot began to form a massive stone from its hand, something or someone jumped in the air and kicked it in the back of its head which made it stumble and the stone went rolling to a tree instead of the school.

The RockBot looked around to see who kicked it and then the RockBot saw who it was.

The RockBot tilted it's head in confusion like the RockBot wanted to ask who is that person but sadly didn't fuse with enough material to speak.

The police however, did ask.

"Who are you?" One of them asked.

"I'm the Rider who's going to take you down!" Cleo stated and jabbed her pointer finger in the direction of the RockBot.

The RockBot just stared at her before forming up more rocks and tossing them at her.

Cleo jumped out of the way in a roll movement before using her left hand to push herself into the air before twisting her body to once again kick the RockBot.

This took the bot by surprise and Cleo began to punch on the parts that weren't covered in rocks. She did a left hook and knocked the RockBot away.

The RockBot then extended its rocky arm to knock Cleo down. Cleo went flying and winced to herself.

I can see why these are the basics, she thought.

Cleo got up as the RockBot jumped in the air with its fists aiming towards her. Cleo moved swiftly out of the way of most of the RockBot's attacks before delivering some punches of her own.

She then kicked the sides of the RockBot before delivering another left hook on the RockBot which made it stumble back.

The RockBot then slammed its arms on the ground, creating what felt like an earthquake. Cleo heard the cries of the people around her.

If this keeps up, it's not going to look pretty, she thought.

"Use the Mantis Claw," a voice coming from her helmet yawned.

"Huh, Xiu? How am I hearing you?" Cleo asked.

"Through your Rider suit, obviously! Now call onto the Mantis Claws. It's a weapon that comes with this suit, I think it'll do well for this fight," Xiu explained.

"Huh...alright? Mantis Claws!" Cleo shouted and pressed the button on her belt. Her hands then gained two scythe like claws.

Cleo didn't get time to look at them further as the RockBot then raised its leg and slammed against her side.

Cleo however, slashed one of the claws at the RockBot which made it stumble and she saw electricity coming out of it.

"I guess these weapons are strong," Cleo murmured before raising the claws again. She slashed at the RockBot who continued to stumble as it couldn't fend off against the attacks.

The rocks on it began to crumble and as the RockBot raised one arm to slam against it to the ground, Cleo felt her thumbs press a button on the claws and felt an energy pulse through it.

Words began to form up as Cleo raised the claws again. "Time for the final attack!" The claws flowed green and she slashed both of them in the same direction and a green energy slash appeared out of them.

It slashed the RockBot who exploded after coming into contact with it.

Cleo turned away from the explosion so it happened behind her. Everyone was in awe or confused on what just happened.

(Later)

It was safe for the kids to come out and they all rushed to their parents and guardians.

"Mom! Mom!" Bdubs and Scar ran out and looked for Cleo who welcomed them with open arms.

"I'm so glad that you're ok," she said and hugged them tightly.

While this was happening, Tango was on a phone call with Toshino.

"Are you sure that you can make more Keys for the Proto-Rider?" Tango asked.

"Yep. Now that we have the Mantis Key, the other ones will be a piece of cake," Toshino replied, his head all bandaged up.

"I see. Well that's one problem down," Tango sighed.

"And another comes into question. Are you going to ask her about the job proposal?" Toshino asked.

"Maybe not now and besides, I don't think she would willingly join us. Seemingly the only reason that she even became the Proto-Rider was because of her kids being in danger. You think she'll do that for the rest of Arcana City?" Tango asked.

"Don't ask me, I don't really know her. Look what I can guarantee you is that I'll get the other Keys made. You have to do what your job tells you to do," Toshino pointed out.

"...if only it were that easy," Tango admitted.

A/N: new book time, yay! I was not expecting it to take this long in writing this chapter. I promise the next one won't be as long (I hope).

Yeah, let me know what you think. Also I will allow you, yes you the reader, to add some oc's to this story. Probably no Rider oc's though but you can add oc's for teachers, neighbors, co-workers, scientists or even people like Xiu although they'll have to have some connections to animals.

Let me know if you're interested. I can promise speaking roles to your oc's. I will also add some of mine alongside some MCYT people.

If this story seems similar to Kamen Rider Zero-One, that's because I'm taking inspiration from it. I was literally watching it when I thought, 'hmmm, what if I make a Kamen Rider fic.'

That's all for today!

Cya in the next one -Flare

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