I woke up to the cold, hard floor beneath me, the sterile smell of particleboard and plastic filling my nostrils. Blinking against the harsh fluorescent lights above, I sat up and looked around, trying to make sense of my surroundings. Endless rows of meticulously arranged furniture stretched out in every direction, disappearing into the horizon. It was an IKEA—but not like any I had ever seen.

The silence was deafening, broken only by the faint hum of the lights and the occasional creak of a settling shelf. As I stood up, the enormity of the situation hit me. This wasn't just a large store; it seemed infinite, a labyrinth of showrooms and storage areas with no end in sight. Panic bubbled up inside me as I realized I was alone, trapped in an endless maze of stylish yet affordable Scandinavian furniture.

I had only one thing on me: a Ziku-Driver. What the fuck is this? I didn't like Zi-O; I couldn't get past the first two episodes on YouTube. The Ohma Zi-O stuff was so dumb. But somehow, in some inexplicable way, I ended up in the classic fanfic isekai situation. Unlike those other fanfics where the chosen driver becomes real, my favorite driver—the Double Driver—turned into my least favorite. When I brought out the belt, it made that annoyingly loud driver announcement.

"ZIKU-DRIVER!"

Thank my stars I'm in a seemingly abandoned IKEA. I've been wandering through it for hours, yet it never seems to end. The endless aisles and towering shelves are disorienting, and the silence is unnerving. I haven't found any sign of life here.

Just as I started to wonder if I'd ever escape, I heard a noise.

Shuffle. Shuffle. Shuffle. CRASH! The sound of shelves falling jolted me, making my earlier thoughts seem null and void. I quickly turned in the direction where I thought the noise had come from.

When I arrived at the scene, I saw two people: an Asian woman who looked like she was in her early 20s clinging to a black man, a fellow brother, fighting this weird spindly, Slender Man-looking thing wearing an IKEA employee uniform.

"HEY, you guys need any help?" I called out to the couple. It was obvious from the way she was clinging to him.

"Yes, whatever you can do to help, PLEASE," the woman said. The man was unresponsive because he was busy taking mad swings at the damn thing.

He fell to the floor, taking his girlfriend with him after he took a step back from the staff thing. At that moment, I knew what I needed to do.

I took out the driver, and it made the damn announcement again, which didn't go unnoticed. Then I quickly got the Zi-O Ridewatch. Wait, where did that even come from? No, this is not the time for that.

[ZI-O]

I slotted the Ridewatch. I have to remind myself I'm doing this at max speed. I posed. Wow, that clock is big.

"Henshin!"

I spun that damn driver, and the belt proudly sang out {Rider Time, Kamen Rider Zi-O}. The armor quickly materialized. The kanji, or whatever, that spelled out "Rider" slammed onto the mask as I was running to punch the damned thing, whatever it was.

My fist quickly made contact with what I assumed was its head, and it became mush. It wasn't much, which was nice; I'm not dealing with more riders or Dopants. I'd rather take Dopants if given the choice.

"Yo, you guys good?" I tilted my masked head. With my enhanced sight and futuristic GUI, I spotted something familiar, but I ignored that to see if they were okay.

I walked up to them, took out the Zi-O Ridewatch from the driver, detransforming, and knelt down.

"Hey, I don't think I've caught your names yet. What are they?" I asked, looking between the two of them.

"We should be asking you, Kamen Rider or whatever. That belt is quite loud," the woman said very snappily. They're both on an adrenaline high.

The man had yet to let his fist unclench.

"Well, since you asked so nicely, ma'am, my name is Derrick Lambdaster. Don't you forget that!" I punctuated the "don't forget the last name" bit—I was nagged about it for years.

The woman, who I am now designating rude lady number one, looked—no, it was more like glared at me for a second before opening her mouth to speak.

"Its Yoko Smith and this is my boyfriend Tom." she then pointed at the man.

I then stood up to shake the man's hand luckily he accepted the gesture of comradery.

"I don't if you noticed yet but you have something important on you Tom."

"What do you mean?" he asked I chuckled a little bit because strapped to his ass was a driver I loved.

"Check your ass and your jacket pockets," I said with dead seriousness in my voice, and to my absolute surprise he did it without questioning me for a second.

"What is this thing it looks like a toy" he then pulled out some of the memories from his pocket and examined them.

"I have a theory put that driver around your waist if something happens ill instruct you on what to do next ." i want to confirm if fate cucked me which knowing my luck yeah.

The sound of metal clicking around his waist took me out of my thoughts my head quickly turned to Yoko and My head quickly turned to Yoko, who was now looking at her waist with wide eyes.

I then took the two memories out of his hands for a proper first henshin.

"Now," I said, holding up one of the Gaia Memories he had pulled from his pocket, "you two transform you have two press the buttons near the bottom of the USB."

I handed Tom the Joker Memory and Yoko the Cyclone Memory. "Yoko, you insert the Cyclone Memory into the left slot and say 'Henshin.' Tom, you do the same with the Joker Memory but on the right side."

"CYCLONE!

JOKER!"

They both looked at each other and then back at me, nodding in unison.

They took their positions, and with a deep breath, they both shouted, "Henshin!"

Yoko passes out as the cyclone memory transfers to Tom's driver i see him worrying a little bit it's understandable so I encourage them.

"Quickly do what I said trust me alright!" I shouted.

Tom quickly inserts the Cyclone Memory into the left slot and the Joker Memory into the right slot of the Double Driver. He then opens the driver into its iconic W shape. The familiar sound of the Gaia Memories fills the air.

"CYCLONE JOKER!"

The transformation was instantaneous. In a flash of green and black, Kamen Rider Double stood before me, a perfect fusion of the two.

To be continued