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THE HOUSE OF HARDCORE: SHADOW OF THE STRIDERS

FADE IN...

What has gone before:

The House of Hardcore is a group of freedom fighters that have sworn to protect Moralos Island from evil. During the past two years, they've been fighting a war against an army attempting to take over Moralos. This army is led by two men known only as "the bosses". Conventional methods have failed, and the "bosses" have been turning to other means to dispose of the HOH. They had hired the most skilled mercenary group in the world, Wolfpack, only to watch them be utterly defeated by the HOH. During the final battle with Wolfpack, their commander attempted to destroy the island with an extremely powerful bomb. However, through the efforts of Rob and his ship, the Vic Viper, Moralos was saved - but Rob was not so lucky. He and the Vic Viper were destroyed.

One month after the battle with Wolfpack, the HOH has been lured into a trap. A machine capable of creating dimensional portals had been built by the "bosses". Rather than letting the "bosses" use this machine to gather unheard-of armaments and god knows what else from other universes, Kazekage (aka Kaze) - the leader of the HOH - had led the team to the abandoned warehouse where the machine had been constructed, knowing full well they were walking into a trap. Sure enough, one of the "bosses" was there and had activated the machine in hopes of trapping the team in another universe. The machine created a dimensional portal, out of which flew the Vic Viper... the Vic Viper from a parallel universe. No one could tell at this point who was piloting it, though. Several alien ships flew out of the Vic Viper, but they were all destroyed by it.

However, the power source that powered the machine was unstable. The machine started to go haywire, shooting out bolts of energy that transported whatever they touched into other universes. One by one, almost the entire team had been transported into other universes, with the exception of Scion, who had not been in the warehouse with the rest of the team. Right after that, the dimensional portal collapsed and destroyed the machine completely, taking the entire warehouse with it. Scion followed the Vic Viper back to base and confronted the pilot, who was indeed Rob. Once Rob and Scion realized what had happened, they began to work on getting the team back from whatever universes they had been thrown into.

Kazekage had been the first to be hit by a bolt of energy, and now finds himself in a familiar, yet very different universe from his own.

* * *

Kazekage slumped to the ground. Wisps of blue energy flickered weakly over his body, then faded away. Slowly he got to his feet.

The warehouse was gone.

In fact, the whole city was gone!

He was alone in a forest. Disoriented, he looked around. It was night, and up in the sky, the moon was shining brightly. As he looked at the moon, he suddenly realized that there was another moon in the sky as well!

"What the hell..." he started to say, then shook his head at the impossibility of the sight. Completely baffled, he began walking.

* * *

Dawn.

Kazekage had reached a small village. As he walked through the streets, he could see people peering out at him from behind closed curtains. They would glance out, then quickly vanish.

Odd behavior, he thought. What's going on here?

"Stop where you are!" came a voice from behind him. Kazekage turned, hand on his sword - ready to draw it if necessary. In front of him was a small squadron of soldiers, rifles aimed directly at him. They were dressed in uniforms that Kazekage had never seen before.

"Surrender your weapon and come with us!" their leader ordered. Kazekage glared at him.

"This is your last warning! Surrender your weapon and come with us - or you will be killed!"

Kazekage took a step backward... and without warning, launched himself into the air and toward the soldiers! The soldiers opened fire.

Kazekage landed among them, sword drawn, his eyes narrowed. With a shout, he swung his sword at the nearest soldier...

In a few minutes, it was all over. The soldiers lay dead at Kaze's feet. He sheathed his sword, then heard movement behind him. He spun, prepared for another attack... but it was just an old man.

"Incredible - you've defeated the Master's soldiers!" he said.

"Where am I?" Kaze asked.

"The island of Moralos."

"This isn't Moralos," Kaze countered.

"But it is," the old man said. "We thought that your group had been wiped out by the Master, but here you are."

"What are you talking about?" Kaze asked.

"Come with me - we must get off the street," the old man replied. Kazekage hesitated for a moment, then followed the old man.

* * *

Inside the old man's house, all was quiet. Kazekage paced back and forth, waiting for the old man to return from the kitchen. The old man appeared, carrying two steaming cups of tea. He handed one to Kazekage, and then sat down.

"I can't believe that one of you survived -" he started, but Kaze cut him off.

"Look, I appreciate your hospitality, but I need to know what's going on here. What's happened here? Where did the city go?"

The old man looked at him curiously.

"Why is there a second moon on the sky?" he asked, slightly frustrated now. The old man slumped back in his chair.

"That is where the Master dwells. He rules the Earth now."

"What Master?" Kaze demanded to know.

"Grand Master Meio," the old man replied. "What you see in the sky is his headquarters, the Third Moon."

"Grand Master Meio," Kaze echoed. "Sounds like a bad brand of mayonnaise."

"Several months ago, he arrived from a distant galaxy and attacked the Earth," the old man continued. "Every military force on the planet was defeated by his minions. He established himself as the ruler of Earth."

Kaze's eyes widened in shock. It all makes sense, he thought. That machine - it really could create a dimensional portal!

I'm in another universe, he thought. Now how do I get back to my universe? There has to be a way.

The old man regarded Kazekage curiously.

"Surely you know all of this. Why else would you be here?"

Kaze looked down at his cup of tea. "It's a long story," he said with a sigh. "Frankly, I don't think you'd believe it."

"You mean you haven't arrived to avenge your fallen comrades?"

Kaze looked up at him.

"What comrades?"

"The other Striders, of course. You are one of them, aren't you?"

Kaze looked puzzled. The term meant nothing to him.

"Just what is a Strider?" he asked, even more puzzled. The old man stared hard at him for a long moment.

"You really don't know, do you?" he finally said.

"No."

"But you must be one! You must be!"

"I'm not. I'm just... a traveler," Kazekage said. "What happened to these... Striders?"

The old man seemed to age ten years before he spoke again.

"Moralos was the secret training location of the Striders," he said heavily. "They could have defeated Meio... but he attacked without warning and caught them completely by surprise. He showed no mercy, and did not leave until they were all dead. Then he left a garrison here... it's like he knew what kind of threat they could have been to him."

Kaze listened in silence.

"There was one Strider that Meio wanted in particular - one named Hiryu," the old man continued. "What Meio did to Hiryu when he found him... I can't describe it, nor can it leave my memory." A shudder passed through the old man's frame as he spoke.

"I'll take that image to my grave," he finished darkly. Then he brightened.

"You must be here to defeat Meio," he said. "The way you defeated his soldiers - only the Striders possess that kind of skill."

Kaze stood up.

"I'm sorry," he said. "This isn't my fight."

"What other reason could you be here for?" the old man asked.

"I have to find a way home," Kaze said. "I have to get back - I'm needed there."

"Meio controls everything - surely your home has been conquered by him," the old man said.

"I don't think so," Kaze said under his breath. The old man didn't hear him.

"Meio will be hunting for you - he has eyes everywhere. He already knows what has happened," the old man continued.

"I'll take my chances, thank you," Kaze grumbled.

"You will not be safe anywhere! Meio will hunt you down!"

"I've heard enough," Kaze said.

"You are our last hope!" the old man cried.

Kazekage walked over to the front door and pulled it open. He stepped outside... and froze. Directly in front of him was a giant mech, shaped like a gorilla. Soldiers surrounded it, rifles aimed directly at him.

"FIRE!" the lead soldier yelled.

The soldiers opened fire! Kaze twisted to one side, dodging the hail of bullets! Drawing his sword, he ran directly for the cluster of soldiers! The soldiers continued to fire at him, but he dodged every bullet that came his way... and then he was on top of them!

Within a few seconds, it was all over. As the last of the soldiers fell, Kaze turned toward the mech - and was met by its fist! It slammed into his chest, knocking him backwards! Kazekage slammed into the side of the old man's house! He slid to the ground, dazed. He glanced up... the mech was advancing on him.

Gathering his wits, Kaze stood up. He leaped into the air, and landed right on the mech's back! He scrambled up to the back of the mech's neck and plunged his sword down into it! Electricity arced out of the damaged mech as Kaze yanked his sword free and jumped! Kaze hit the ground and rolled away from the badly damaged mech.

The head of the mech exploded! The body toppled over and hit the ground with a resounding crash! After a few seconds Kaze stood up and regarded the destroyed mech.

"Meio sure makes some cheap shit," he said, shaking his head.

* * *

He walked back into the old man's house... and stopped in his tracks. The old man was lying on the floor, blood spilling from multiple gunshot wounds. Kazekage ran over and kneeled down next to him. With an effort, the old man raised his head.

"You must... defeat Meio," he said, his voice a whisper.

"Save us..."

With that, the old man died. Kaze straightened. Meio had now pegged him as a threat, judging by what had just happened. He realized he'd be fighting off Meio's minions at every turn until he could return to his own universe - if he ever could. If he couldn't go back, he certainly didn't want to spend his life on the run. In his eyes, he now had no choice.

Meio must die.

"I will," he vowed.

"Then I'll find a way home..."

With that, he left the old man's corpse behind and began his journey.

* * *

Several days later, Kazekage stood on the surface of the Third Moon.

It had been a long, hard battle to get here, and had taken him halfway around the world. After defeating a giant insect-like mech in the Amazon, he had been transported to the Third Moon, which had turned out to be a giant space station. Huge satellite antennas covered its surface, and in the distance, there was a tall, spiderlike structure - the tallest structure on the station.

Kaze pulled his sword out of its sheath. Even now, red alert sirens were blaring, alerting Meio's guards to his presence. Behind his mask, he smiled - then ran towards the first of the oncoming guards.

* * *

Sometime later, Kazekage found himself in the depths of the station.

He had just fought a giant orb that had nullified all of the gravity in the room - at the same time, it had created its own gravity field and pulled Kaze into an orbit around it. A few well placed sword strikes, though, and the orb had exploded. He had barely made it out before fire engulfed the entire chamber... he had almost fallen down a bottomless pit in the process. He had managed to grab one of the walls and had pulled himself up into another chamber, where he had destroyed a laser cannon and several small mechs.

Then it was quiet.

Kaze's eyes narrowed, and he drew his sword.

Something was very wrong here.

Suddenly he heard the sound of a jetpack behind him! Kazekage spun around. In front of him was a floating spectre, cloaked in armor and carrying two giant rifles! A featureless faceplate covered his face. He pointed one of the rifles at Kaze. Kaze had met and fought him once before, on a mountainside in Siberia. The last time he had seen him, he was spiralling out of control, heading toward the ground at an incredible speed.

He was surprised... but recovered quickly.

"Solo!" he shouted.

"Did you really think you'd defeated me before?" Solo sneered. "It's going to take more than that to defeat me, Strider."

"I took you down before - I can damn well do it again!" Kazekage shot back. "There won't be any snow to break your fall this time, though!"

Without another word, Solo opened fire! Kazekage jumped backward, just out of Solo's range. Solo flew forward, firing as he came! With amazing speed, Kaze circled to the right. Before Solo could swing around and track him, he had hidden himself in the shadows.

"Come out!" Solo yelled, his voice echoing through the chamber. "Meio's paid me quite a bit to bring him your head! This is one bounty I'm not losing!"

Solo flicked a switch on his helmet, turning on his infrared scanner. Just to the left, he picked up a blur of heat. He spun around, rifles at the ready.

There was a blur of motion to his right. Solo started to turn in that direction, his finger tightening on the trigger of his right hand rifle.

Without warning, Kazekage was on top of him! With a quick thrust, Kazekage buried his sword in Solo's chest! Sparks started to shoot out of the wound that Kaze had inflicted on him. He dropped to the platform, twitching, as Kaze jumped backwards, landing a couple of feet in front of him. Solo shakily pointed one of his rifles at Kaze.

"You will die with me, Strider," he rasped as he struggled to clear his head.

Kazekage stepped forward, and with a wicked downward slash, cleaved Solo in two! The two halves of Solo's body fell backwards, into the bottomless pit that Kaze had barely escaped falling into earlier.

Kazekage watched him fall in silence, until his body was lost from sight... then he turned and headed deeper into the station.

* * *

A short while later, Kazekage was standing on one of the vanes extending out of the tall spiderlike structure he had seen earlier. He had a clear view of the Earth right above him... below him was nothing.

It had not been easy to reach the structure. After defeating Solo, he had had to destroy another ape-like mech, a Tyrannosaurus Rex, another insect-like mech, and then he had to cling to the back of a centipede-like mech, called a Uroborous, just to make it to the structure. After defeating the Uroborous, he had completed the climb to the top.

No one was there.

"Meio!" Kazekage shouted. "Come out, you coward!"

Nothing.

"I've traveled a long way just to kick your ass! Now show yourself!"

The hair on the back of his neck suddenly stood straight up. He looked around. He sensed a presence nearby...

Lightning struck the vane right in front of him! Kazekage jumped backwards as a billowing form floated down in front of him, laughing.

"So, you are the last of the Striders," Meio sneered. "You've caused me quite a bit of trouble... but at least I don't have to pay Solo now."

Meio laughed for a minute. Kazekage stood on the vane, coldly regarding him.

"You know, you Striders were the only thing that could have defeated me. I thought I had wiped you all out, but apparently I was wrong. I don't know how I missed you. I will rectify that error now, though."

"You want to know how you missed me?" Kazekage asked. "The answer's simple - I'm not a Strider."

Meio laughed again. "Inconsequential... you dared fight me, and for that, you will die!"

An evil grin spread across Meio's face.

"Come, Hiryu!" he shouted. Hiryu? Kazekage thought. Why does that name sound familiar?

A shadow moved behind Kazekage. He spun around - and stopped dead in his tracks. In front of him was a man... or what used to be a man. Empty eyes stared at Kazekage. A mechanical arm that been crudely grafted on to his right side in place of the man's real arm clutched a cypher. His features had been hideously twisted.

He advanced toward Kazekage, snarling like an animal.

"Do you recognize him, Strider? Your former comrade, Hiryu, is now my newest pet."

Hiryu stopped, but continued to glare at Kazekage.

"What did you do to him?" Kazekage said, appalled. He remembered what the old man had said about Hiryu now. Now he knew why the old man took the image of what Meio had done to Hiryu to his grave.

"That's not important. What matters is that what could have been my greatest enemy is now my greatest warrior. You see, Strider, before I invaded Earth, I received a vision. In it, I had invaded the Earth, but not long after I arrived, I was defeated by a Strider - Hiryu."

Meio paused for a second, then continued.

"It was a simple matter to send advance scouts here before my invasion and locate the Striders. When I arrived here, I launched a surprise attack on Moralos Island and obliterated all of your comrades - except for Hiryu here. He had a strong will, but even he couldn't hold out forever."

Meio laughed. "He is now mine - body and soul."

Kazekage said nothing. Meio made the tiniest gesture with his hand - and with an inhuman roar, Hiryu sprang at Kazekage!

* * *

Kazekage raised his sword and deflected Hiryu's attack!

Hiryu aimed a series of deadly blows straight at Kazekage' head! Kazekage barely deflected them... but he was slowly being driven towards the end of the vane. Hiryu growled... and aimed a quick stab at Kazekage' midsection! Kaze stepped backwards quickly... right to the edge of the vane!

Without another moment's hesitation, he leaped forward, over Hiryu's head, and landed behind him! Hiryu spun around, snarling like a wild beast. Kaze swung at him! Hiryu raised his cypher and blocked, then started to advance on Kazekage again!

Kazekage raised his sword as Hiryu struck at him again! They continued to duel, evenly matched, as Meio's voice came down from overhead.

"You'll never defeat him! He is the perfect killer!"

Kazekage ignored him, and continued to fight off Hiryu's attacks.

* * *

Kazekage was slowly being worn down. Hiryu's mind, as regressed as it was, still retained all of the skills he had learned as a Strider. Since Hiryu had been an A-grade Strider, those skills were rather formidable.

With a particularly vicious attack, Kazekage was disarmed! As his sword went skidding away, Hiryu aimed a kick at Kazekage's chest! It connected, and he went flying backwards... landing on the very end of one of the vanes. Hiryu stood over him, grinning ferally, preparing to strike.

Kaze thought fast. There has to be some way to reach him... some way to get to the human being buried inside of him...

"Hiryu," Kazekage suddenly said. "Hiryu, listen to me!"

Hiryu looked down at Kazekage, a faint look of puzzlement on his face.

"Hiryu, this is wrong... Meio is the enemy, not me! Hiryu, come on! Listen to me - hear what I'm saying!"

Hiryu tilted his head, puzzled.

"Kill him!" Meio shouted.

"Hiryu - do you want to serve the monster that killed all of your comrades and took over the Earth?" Kaze said quickly. "Come on, Hiryu, think!"

A faint flicker of humanity suddenly flared in Hiryu's eyes...

"KILL HIM!" Meio roared.

Hiryu raised his cypher... then Kaze played his final card.

"Hiryu - I'm a Strider!" he shouted. Hiryu looked at Kazekage, the faint flicker of humanity in his eyes blossoming into a full flame.

"S- Strider?" he rasped. Suddenly Meio swooped down and violently smashed Hiryu to one side. Hiryu landed and was still. Meio's face was twisted in a look of pure hatred.

"I'll destroy you myself!" he cried. Bolts of energy started to gather at Meio's fingertips...

Kazekage braced himself for the end.

Suddenly a roar came from behind Meio! Meio spun around... just as Hiryu barreled into him! Bolts of energy lashed out in all directions as Hiryu continued his assault on Meio! Kazekage crawled over to his sword and picked it up. Meio sent a bolt of energy flying right at Hiryu - who took the blast head on!

It didn't even slow him down.

With one final thrust he slammed into Meio, driving his cypher right through Meio's chest! His momentum carried them both out into the air... and together, they dropped into the abyss!

Meio's scream echoed through the air, then faded away.

Kazekage scrambled over to the edge of one of the vanes and looked down into the space where Meio and Hiryu had disappeared. There was a flash of light that came from far below... then there was nothing. He stood up, exhausted. He sheathed his sword.

All was quiet. He began walking. After a minute he reached one of the maintenance ladders, and he started to climb down it. If he could find his way to the spaceport, he could commandeer a shuttle and get back to Earth.

As he reached the bottom of the vane, he felt a brief tremor rumble through the Third Moon. He looked up at the Earth - and realized that it was slowly coming closer! Without Meio's power keeping the station in orbit, it was starting to fall to Earth!

"Shit," he whispered... then he started running. The Third Moon was breaking up as it entered the atmosphere. I've got to find something... a shuttle, even a hanglider, I don't care, he thought as he ran, the shaking getting even worse as bits and pieces of the station broke away faster and faster.

The heat was getting to be almost unbearable... then suddenly the Third Moon shook violently, and it split in two with a roar! Kazekage was knocked off his feet by the shockwave. As he tried to scramble back up, he felt a strange tingling start to spread throughout his entire body. He looked down and realized that a wave of blue energy was flowing over him. It engulfed his entire body... and he vanished.

The Third Moon disintegrated! The people of Earth watched in amazement as an almost neverending shower of shooting stars blazed through the atmosphere, signaling the end of Meio's reign.

* * *

Thanks to the efforts of Rob and Scion, Kazekage had been returned to his home universe. Rob and Scion had rebuilt the machine, connected it to a stable power source (in this case, the Vic Viper's onboard power plant), then used it to locate the rest of the team via their specific quantum signatures and return them home, one by one. Kaze would carry the memory of his brief time in the other universe with him forever, and he never forgot the bravery of the only Strider he ever encountered... the Strider he knew only as Hiryu.

FADE OUT...