Life as an elementary school student was easy and carefree. Most kids started extracurricular activities after school.
Basketball clubs, football clubs, and more were the favorites of American boys. Even Ned and Peter secretly dreamed of showing off on the court and attracting the attention of girls.
"Zed, what club are you planning to join? Maybe the three of us can go to the same one," asked Ned, the little chubby one, licking his ice cream.
"I'm going home to learn watchmaking from Uncle Charlie."
I'm not really an elementary school student, Zed thought to himself. I have so many things to do. Just the practice of the Demon King's Power, Second Uncle's combat training, the making of basic blank watch faces, and the planning for future Marvel storylines took up a lot of his time. There was no way he could integrate into normal school life.
Peter looked at the two of them and said, "Zed, you're amazing! Ned, let's go to the science and technology innovation exhibition. I think it's very interesting."
"Alright. Peter, I don't have any better options," Ned said helplessly.
Zed's watchmaker life began with getting to know the parts. The dense, tiny gears made Zed's eyes spin.
This is a real headache!
From then on, Zed spent his classes daydreaming and sleeping. In reality, he was practicing his Demon King's Power, studying the divine skills and secret manuals from martial arts novels, trying to open his Ren and Du Meridians, and running a few Major Heavenly Cycles. Basically, he was circulating his power throughout his body.
Every afternoon, he studied watchmaking with Charlie. In the evenings, Zed also had to endure beatings from his Second Uncle, all in the name of learning how to look cool and act tough quickly and effectively.
During his free time, he had to recall the plots of Marvel movies and comics. Because, according to Zed's understanding, Mutants existed in this world, but the Mutant-related incidents weren't that big. Zed couldn't determine whether the Mutants had been weakened by the cosmic will or if the American government had suppressed all the Mutant affairs.
The discrepancies between the real plot and Zed's memories were very important to him. After all, he couldn't just hand a Rider Watch Face to someone and say, "Hey, take this, and press it."
Zed's life was very structured, without wasting any time or energy.
The Demon King's life was that simple, unadorned, and boring.
"Zed! You missed a part!"
"Zed! You put the gear in the wrong place!"
"Zed! Where's your second hand!"
Old Uncle Charlie's strict demands on watch craftsmanship had given Zed a hard time, but his skills had clearly improved.
After five years of studying, Zed had completely mastered the art of watchmaking. Although it was still a bit rough, Zed was still very happy. After all, with a blank watch face, would a Rider Watch Face be far behind?
At the age of thirteen, the hormones of the young boys and girls at school were gradually
"Hey! Zed! You're here! Peter's so dumb, he doesn't even understand that. Does your house have…"
Zed was speechless. Hanging out with these kids was usually relaxing, even if they were a bit childish.
But he was completely focused on training, consumed by his desire for power. He hadn't paid attention to anything else. The teenage angst of these kids was far removed from Zed's reality.
Zed said awkwardly to Ned, "No, I don't. Aunt Emma is strict."
"Oh! No! You must be kidding, right? Zed!"
"Zed, are you coming to my birthday party this weekend? Aunt May's making a lot of good food. You've turned down everyone else's invitations. We're best buds, you have to come, right? Ned, you tell Zed, he can make watches anytime, he should take a break once in a while. Ned and I have holidays in the science group, although I have to go and mow the lawn for the neighbors." The little Spider-Man Peter unleashed a verbal barrage.
Zed felt that after so many years of training, the only things that could mentally attack him were the smell of alcohol and Peter's mouth.
"Alright! Alright! I'll go!"
"Mrs. Megan is very generous, always giving me… Wait, you agreed! You really agreed! Oh! This is great! Uncle Ben and Aunt May will be so happy you can come."
"Shut up!"
Back at Charlie's house, Zed finally relaxed and began to think about Peter's birthday party this weekend. Already accustomed to planning ahead, Zed started scheming again, thinking about how to benefit from it.
After some thought, Zed turned his gaze to his watch cabinet. He stood up, picked up the only prototype watch face, and caressed it for a while. He then picked up his tools, made a cover for the watch face, added a chain, and sprayed paint to make it look old. A classic pocket watch was complete.
It sounded simple, but it took Zed a whole night to do it. Staying up all night was still quite a drain for Zed, who hadn't awakened yet. Just as he was about to rest for a while, Aunt Emma entered the workshop with breakfast.
"You shouldn't stay up all night, Zed," Aunt Emma scolded.
"I couldn't help it. I was making a birthday present for Peter, and I just couldn't stop. Before I knew it, it was morning," Zed could only shrug helplessly at Aunt Emma.
"Ugh, this bad habit must be from Charlie."
At that moment, Uncle Charlie sneezed in the garden.
After resting for a while, Zed returned to his workshop, toying with the pocket watch he had made. Looking at the finished product cabinet Charlie had specially crafted for him, most of the items inside were ordinary watches, along with four failed Rider Watch Faces.
Zed shook his head, making sure Charlie and Aunt Emma were out and Joey was still goofing off at university. He then began to inject power seeds into the Watch Face. Zed didn't have much power to use at the moment, and the intricate internal structure of the Watch Face was difficult for even Zed, the creator, to perceive every detail with ease.
It was like when Zed practiced energy circuits in class. A large amount of energy flowed from his palm into the Watch Face, surging along its internal structure. The loss of energy from his body and the consumption of his mental power gave Zed a splitting headache.
The little power Zed had in his body was nearly depleted. And the Watch Face was still devouring Zed's power relentlessly. Zed didn't know if he could stop halfway, so he could only grit his teeth and persevere.
Zed slumped to the ground, "Almost a waste of effort. Making a Watch Face before awakening is still too much of a burden. I'll have to wait until I awaken before making any more."
After getting up, Zed took out the four failed products from the cabinet and began to disassemble and destroy them.
The Zi-O Watch Face and the Ziku-Driver were hidden in the toy box under the bed. This pocket watch was with Peter, temporarily safe.
The plan written in Chinese in the desk drawer must be destroyed immediately after successfully transforming.
Zed could sense that after the successful creation of this Rider Watch Face, the day of his awakening was not far off, and preparations in all aspects needed to be accelerated.
On the weekend, Zed rode his small bicycle towards Queens. Along the way, Zed hummed "Climax Jump."
He hadn't really explored New York City much. Although this time he had a specific objective, the non-urgent nature of the task allowed him to relax a bit.
In Chinatown, Chinese immigrants were arguing about the freshness of meat, speaking either broken Mandarin or the Minnan dialect that Zed couldn't understand. Black taxi drivers were parked at the side of the road, rapping and soliciting customers. Of course, there were even more white people crammed into the subway that Zed couldn't see.
How many of these people were ordinary citizens, and how many were agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., who claimed to be omnipresent? Zed didn't know, and didn't want to know.
And these people similarly didn't know that Hulk and Abomination would have a great battle here; nor did they know that the Chitauri army would open a large hole in the sky above their heads; nor did they know whether they would survive the Snap.
This world had far too many forces that ordinary people couldn't resist. Zed wasn't willing to die like this, and he also understood that he wasn't a docile sheep.
In the first conflict with Flash, Zed found that he enjoyed fighting, a kind of excitement and joy surging from his bones directly into his brain, making him more and more excited. More importantly, Zed understood that this wasn't the influence of the Demon King's Power, but his own suppressed nature.
Good, evil, protection, destruction – these are all parts of myself. Chaotic neutral is my true alignment.
He hefted the gift box in his hand. Each blank base Rider Watch Face was identical; attaching different powers would manifest the corresponding Watch Face. Zed's intuition told him this one would definitely be Ryuki.
A hero who fights to stop fighting… that's too far removed from me. Peter Parker, once he truly becomes Spider-Man, will definitely be able to activate this Watch Face.
Snapping back to reality, the bicycle had already reached Peter's house. Ned was already there. "Zed, you're almost late."
"I call it punctual! What do you know?"
Uncle Ben and Aunt May came out to greet Zed as well. They were very impressed with Zed and Ned, who had protected Peter. "Come in, Zed. Come try the pie I made, you'll love it."
"Hello Uncle Ben, hello Aunt May. I brought you some small gifts. These are two handmade watches, a couple's set. They're not expensive, but I hope you like them."
Uncle Ben and Aunt May, taking the couple's watches, were a little shy. "Thank you so much, Zed."
"And Peter, I brought you a birthday present too."
"What is it? Zed!"
"A pocket watch!"
(To balance the plot and prevent the Watch Face from seeming too abrupt, it will be smaller than the one in the Zi-O series, with a futuristic, non-plastic appearance. The Ziku-Driver, which has a tendency to be used to make the enemy get destroyed, has also been appropriately scaled down.) Climax Jump is the theme song for Kamen Rider Den-O. The specific visual image is referenced from Momotaros humming while walking in Heisei Generations FOREVER.
(End of this chapter)