Chase (Drive)

"Those who are about to die do not need to know my name."

- Proto-Drive's pre-fight catchphrase

"I am Mashin Chaser, the guardian of the Roidmudes. Also known as...The Grim Reaper."

- Mashin Chaser introducing himself

Chase (チェイス) is one of the main characters in the series, Kamen Rider Drive. For a short time, Chase was the original Kamen Rider of the series, Kamen Rider Proto-Drive (仮面ライダープロトドライブ) as called by Krim Steinbelt himself prior to the event that would later be known as the Global Freeze. At this point in time, Drive was not fully operational and completely rendered Chase to only being capable of destroying a Roidmude's body rather than destroying them entirely. Sometime during the Global Freeze, Chase was incapacitated by Heart and was robbed of his memories.

Reborn with a new purpose, he was given equipment that was based on the original Drive's equipment using Viral Cores in place of Shift Cars allowing him to assume the form Roidmudes call Mashin Chaser (魔進チェイサー). In this form, he is able to rival the current Drive, Shinnosuke Tomari and with the ability to augment additional Viral Cores, he can fight evenly against the second Drive's additional forms granted by the Shift Cars.

As an enforcer sent by Heart and Brain to police the lower Roidmudes by destroying their bodies if they get out of line, Chase is notoriously known as the Grim Reaper (死神), a name he dislikes due to the fact he never eliminated any Roidmude for good, unlike Drive, who he considers a true Grim Reaper.

In truth, Chase is either a rejected Roidmude or the prototype of the modern Roidmudes and is classified as Proto-Zero (プロトゼロ) and is a Human-Type (人間型) Roidmude.

He regains his memories in the future and becomes Kamen Rider Chaser (仮面ライダーチェイサー).

Global Freeze
Chase was originally an assistant to Krim Steinbelt and the original user of the Drive Driver. Prior to Global Freeze, he and Krim tested out Drive's power, but shortly realized that Drive was still underpowered to fight against a Low-Class Bat Roidmude and is unable to destroy their cores. When Global Freeze is initiated, Chase mobilizes all available Shift Cars to aid him against the armada of Roidmudes, saving Kiriko Shijima, but was later defeated by Heart.

With his Shift Speed Prototype Car confiscated by Heart, he eventually is re-programmed by Brain, taking the name Chase and receives powers based off Proto-Drive, assuming the identity of Mashin Chaser. He is then employed as an overseer/bounty hunter to Roidmudes and will destroy their bodies (but not their cores) in the events that they become a liability.

As Mashin Chaser
Chase appears before Heart and Brain after the destruction of the Iron Roidmude at the hands of Shinnosuke Tomari, the new Kamen Rider Drive. He is sent to find the one who destroyed the Roidmude and eliminate him.

After he and his comrades incapacitate and gained the rogue Roidmude 051's Core, Chase face Drive for the first time, demonstrating his abilities which Mr. Belt noting it to that of Proto-Drive. Soon, he would face the Kamen Rider again during the incidents of Paint Roidmude, Crush Roidmude and Scooper Roidmude. However, out of all the conflicts, Chase began to question himself ever since he saw Kiriko for the first time when she shielded an untransformed Shinnosuke from being killed, causing him to be fixated on her. Nonetheless, whenever he faced Drive, he always defeated after Drive receive newer weapons and arsenals over time.

During the Dark Eve event, Chase failed to fulfill Brain's orders to defeat Drive and hence was poisoned by Brain. This caused him to reveal his Roidmude form, bearing the number 000, which Chase notes that he has never seen it before. He questions Heart about this, only for Heart to answer that Chase was a great warrior, and that zero is a privileged number. Nonetheless from the ordeal, the Roidmude's main goal was accomplished: to revive Medic. While Chase's number had been revealed, Mr. Belt, through the Shift Cars, managed to see his Roidmude form as well.

He was later assigned to guard the Gunman Roidmude (018) and his 'little brother', Roidmude 017, who was on the road to achieving evolution. It was during this operation that Chase first encountered the new Kamen Rider, Go Shijima, who confronted the Roidmudes. Unfortunately, Chase was forced to fight Drive again when he arrived to back-up Go, who transformed into Mach and used the power of the Signal Bikes to defeat both 018 and 017 before destroying their Cores. Though ready to engage the new Rider, Chase was interrupted by the arrival of Medic, who spirited him away with her back home.

Discovered past and re-brainwashed
"I am...a Kamen Rider?"

- Chase learns his true identity.

Chase began to receive memories of rescuing Kiriko and the voice of Krim Steinbelt. As the Ride Macher and Ride Chaser combined into the Ride Crosser for the first time, Chase wondered why, until Brain came forward and explained that he was the warrior who fought the Roidmudes during the Global Freeze, Proto-Drive. He received this news with shock. He was soon to be disposed by Brain as he was no longer of use, however, Medic came up with a sinister plan to brainwash Chase, causing him to become robot-like and presumably without any emotion, allowing him to be able to kill Kiriko without any hard feelings.

"Kamen Rider is humanity's protector. There's no value in defeating him in his human form."

- Chase rejects Brain's plans of exposing Drive's identity.

While investigating a series of marriage scams, Shinnosuke and Kiriko are confronted by Chase, who jumps in front of Tridoron and battles Drive. Even with Mach's assistance, the two were easily outmatched. Heart appeared, as Mr. Belt expressed his anger for turning Proto-Zero into a killing machine but Chaser thought it as "freedom" from being used as humanity's tool. Just as Heart was about to transform, Deco Traveler comes in and keeps Chaser busy for the Riders to escape.

Soon, without Chase realizing, Medic reveals that instead of resetting Chase/Proto-Zero's memory like Brain, she altered his main programming code instead to defend Roidmudes rather than humans, given that Proto-Zero's base programming cannot be erased. The only downside was that Chase could no longer perform his original duty of a Grim Reaper, which is also the reason why Chase really cares about the Roidmudes. Later he fights Kamen Rider Mach to allow the Voice Roidmude to escape. Their battle comes to a draw when their Mach Arabull and Chaser Bat Rider Kicks collide.

Things eventually takes a good turn for Chase when he demonstrated another trick of his sleeve, such as triggering the Ride Crosser combination. Furthered by his remodeling by Medic, he and the other Roidmudes later staged a plan to defeat Drive. They first staged the "deaths" of human templates that past Roidmudes used as their human disguises, in order to lure Drive into mobilizing the Shift Cars for investigation. Once mobilized, they were quickly captured and enthralled by Medic to be Chase's assistants. After delaying Mach with Heart, Chase confronted Shinnosuke/Drive, overpowering him with the enslaved Shift Cars. Mashin Chaser later demonstrated his superiority by trapping the rider in Super Heavy Acceleration, slowing Drive's movements to almost a halt and began to overpower the rider. Although assuming Type Dead Heat soon after, it was not enough to fight the effect Drive was sluggish and still overpowered. Chaser later executed Triple Tune, attacking Drive with the enslaved Shift Cars rammed into him, until Drive revealed himself to have survived from the blaze and rose as Type Formula. Drive's new form easily counters the Super Heavy Acceleration, encapsulated all of the rogue Shift Cars and later cleared a path for escape through activating a Full Throttle finisher. Chase, irritated that he has been bested by Kamen Rider once again, agrees with Medic's plan to fight against Drive once more by kidnapping Kiriko to use as a hostage, revealing in the process that all the previously eliminated human templates were actually clone thralls of Medic. However, due to Mach's interference and with Brain's tampering which circumvented Chase's programming from Medic, Chase temporarily regains his former self wondering why he would agree to resort to what he deems to be a despicable act. Shortly afterwards, Chase is incapacitated by Medic and is "reset" once more, with his destructive impulse to the maximum temporarily and is programmed to kill anyone, whether it be Roidmudes or humans, as Medic commands.

Chase draws out Shinnosuke by attacking the city, prompting Shinnosuke to fight Chase once more. However, thanks to the finalized Trailer-Hou and Type Formula, Mashin Chaser is finally and truly defeated, resulting in an explosion. Shinnosuke comments that his core was destroyed, though this would later be proven untrue, as Chase somehow survived the confrontation and was found by Kiriko Shijima in the middle of the night in immense pain underneath a bridge.

At an abandoned building, Kiriko uses Shift Car Mad Doctor inside the Break Gunner to heal his wounds. Afterwards, Chase awakens and asks if she was the one who rescued him. Kiriko responds by saying he did, and that she owes him one. Later on, Chase leaves his bed and takes a stroll outside.

Kamen Rider × Kamen Rider Drive & Gaim: Movie War Full Throttle
NOTE: The following events take place between episodes 9 and 10

When both Zoruku Tojo and Megahex arises, Chase, as well as other Roidmudes are surprised that their powers fell into the hands of more powerful figures. Believing that their technology only fits for the Roidmude race, Chase (and eventually other Roidmudes as well) was forced to form an alliance with Drive to stop the threat.

Chase also becomes one of the victims alterations to time made by Shocker, permanently making him Mashin Chaser. He intruded and attacked Drive and other Riders during the Rider Grand Prix, only to be defeated by Kamen Rider Black RX and the Ridoron.

Personality
During his early days as Proto-Drive, Chase portrayed himself as a servant and ally to the Drive Driver. Stoic and almost emotionless, he disliked answering his enemies' questions and had a habit of saying so before defeating them. After being rebooted as Mashin Chaser, he adopted an enforcer-like persona, protecting Roidmudes and eliminate those who disobeyed orders. Due to his job, he is feared by all Roidmudes, thus granted the title Grim Reaper which he believes is unfit since he can't destroy their Cores.

Since Brain's reprogramming on him was crudely done via removal of his memories as Proto-Drive, Chase eventually struggled with several portions of his old memories (especially of Kiriko) after several fights with Drive that nearly drives him insane, which only worsened when Brain revealed the whole truth. After Medic rebooted him, Chase had become more sinister than before. Despite retaining his original memories, he believed that he had finally "freed" himself from becoming humanity's tool, but only to be revealed that he has no such thing in mind as it was the result of Medic tampering with his base programming. Because of this, Chase also lost the ability to become the Grim Reaper to the Roidmudes.

Despite her efforts, Medic's effort to brainwash him would not keep him under the Roidmude's leash for long. Shortly after receiving "extra aid" (Brain's toxin), which undermined his previous programming, under the belief that it would help in his final confrontation against Drive, Chase's memories began acting up once more and it promptly causes him to be fixated on Kiriko again, and eventually remembered his true base programming.

His most notable and consistent trait throughout his entire tenure with the Roidmudes is his sense of honor. He flat out refused to advance the Roidmude cause using underhanded tactics and would only fight his earnest with the Kamen Riders. He goes so far as to avoid having to drag humans into his fights, challenging the riders face to face and only fighting them when they are transformed. The only time his sense of honor was tarnished was when Medic changed his programmings to suit her needs. Chase would come to realize this in his encounter against Go Shijima when Medic's programming was temporarily undone and again after surviving his "death" against Shinnosuke Tomari.

Equipment

 * Core Driviars - Kamen Rider Proto-Drive's power source
 * Core Driviar-0 - Mashin Chaser's power source, a prototype of the Core Driviars
 * NEX-Core Driviars - Kamen Rider Chaser's power source, an upgrade of the Core Driviars

Devices

 * Kamen Rider Proto-Drive
 * Drive Driver - Belt-based transformation device
 * Shift Brace - Bracelet-based transformation device
 * Mashin Chaser
 * Break Gunner - Transformation device and personal weapon
 * Viral Cores - Gives access to Mashin Chaser's forms and powers, depending on which car is used. As Proto-Drive, it allowed him to read the memories of the Roidmude the Core came from, provided it wasn't severely damaged.
 * Shift Cars - As he was formerly the previous Drive, he can use them in his Break Gunner and upgrade his projectiles with their powers. He temporarily gained possession of the Tire Exchange Shift Cars after Medic brainwashed them, but can also simply grab them from the air if Drive summons them first.
 * Kamen Rider Chaser
 * Mach Driver Honoh - Transformation device, created by Rinna via reverse-engineering from the original one
 * Signal Bikes - Gives access to Kamen Rider Chaser's forms and powers, depending on which bike is used

Weapons

 * Mashin Chaser
 * E-Circular - Mashin Chaser's tire in his Tune Chaser forms, unfolding into an animal-based weapon.
 * Fang Spidey - Tune Chaser Spider's fang-based weapon via the Chaser Spider Viral Core
 * Tail Whipper - Tune Chaser Cobra's tail-based weapon via the Chaser Cobra Viral Core
 * Wing Sniper - Tune Chaser Bat's wing-based weapon via the Chaser Bat Viral Core
 * Kamen Rider Chaser
 * Shingou Ax - Chaser's primary weapon
 * Break Gunner - Chaser's secondary weapon, taken from his previous form.

Vehicles

 * Ride Chaser - Proto-Drive/(Mashin) Chaser's primary Rider Machine
 * Ride Crosser - Ride Chaser combined with the Ride Macher
 * Ride Booster Blue - Chaser's Rider Machine

Portrayal
Chase is portrayed by Taiko Katono (上遠野 太洸). As Mashin Chaser and Kamen Rider Proto-Drive, his suit actor is Yasuhiko Imai (今井 靖彦), who was previously the suit actor for Kamen Rider Bravo and Kurokage (Ryoji Hase) in Kamen Rider Gaim.

Appearances

 * Kamen Rider Drive
 * Episode 0: Countdown to Global Freeze (Debut as Kamen Rider Proto-Drive)
 * Episode 1: Why Did My Time Stop?
 * Episode 2: What is a Kamen Rider? (Debut as Chase)
 * Episode 3: Who Stole the Woman's Smile? (Debut as Mashin Chaser)
 * Episode 4: What is That Prideful Chaser Thinking?
 * Episode 5: What Are the Steel Robbers After?
 * Episode 6: Who Does the Warrior Fight For?
 * Episode 7: How Was That Decisive Moment Captured?
 * Episode 8: What is the Secret That Dwells in the Heart?
 * Episode 9: How Can I Get Used to the Cool Body?
 * Episode 10: What Is in the Belt's Past?
 * Episode 11: Who Can Prevent the Dark Christmas Eve? (Debut as Proto-Zero)
 * Episode 12: Where Did That White Kamen Rider Come From?
 * Episode 13: Why Won't My Brother Put On the Brakes?
 * Episode 14: Who Is the Black Shadow Chasing Her?
 * Episode 15: When Will These Feelings Reach You?
 * Episode 16: Why is Rinna Sawagami Nervous?
 * Episode 17: Who Will Control Deadheat?
 * Episode 18: Why is Lt. Otta Following That Guy?
 * Episode 19: What Can Judge the Police?
 * Episode 20: When Did Kyu Saijo Become A Roidmude?
 * Episode 21: What Can Be Spoken About the Irregular Dead?
 * Episode 22: How Can I Use the F1 Body to Fight?
 * Episode 23: Who Can Stop the Hoax Smile?
 * Episode 24: What Can Keep Mach Running?
 * Kamen Rider × Kamen Rider Drive & Gaim: Movie War Full Throttle