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kamenriderlogik27 · 4 years ago

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Kamen Rider headcanons part 1: Saber meets Ex-Aid!

I've been thinking about this for a while. Not sure why my brain chose Ex-Aid though. Just kinda happened. hehe. It took me a lot longer to write than I was hoping 'cause I ended up getting writer's block somewhere near the end, and didn't entirely know how to end it. Not much action either since I can't write action scenes, but hopefully ya'll will like it!

- It was a bright, sunny day with no sign of megido activity. Touma and Mei were traveling to Tokyo due to Touma having a book reading scheduled at Seito University Hospital. Rintaro, intrigued by the idea of finally being able to visit a grand medical institution, decided to tag along under the guise that it'd be better for him to go as backup just in case something happened.

- Upon arrival, the trio run into Ogami and his son, Sora. Who the latter is scheduled an annual check up at the hospital and was following a nurse.

- After hearing about Touma's book reading, Sora begged Ogami to let him stay so he could join them. Ogami gave no hesitation in giving his son permission to stay after his check up. This actually played in Ogami's favor 'cause he had something to do down the street (probably to get bakery sweets for his son and wife or something.) So he asked Rintaro and Mei to help Sora with his check up, and left before hearing their response.

- A bit dumbfounded but not surprised, Mei quickly told Touma to check in at the front so a nurse could escort him to set up, then she and Rintaro both took Sora's hands and followed the (surprisingly patient) nurse to their assigned hospital room.

- On their way to the room, the nurse quickly stopped near a scale, asked Sora to take off his shoes and started taking his height and weight measurements. Mei had to stop Rintaro from taking off his second shoe (he already had the first one off) as he thought that they all had to get their measurements taken.

- As they waited for the doctor to come, Mei and Sora talked and played while Rintaro took his time looking around the room at all the different equipment and posters with fascinated eyes.

- It wasn't long a wait. However, as the doctor opened the door to enter, he accidentally (somehow) tripped and face planted the floor.

- *Que overly shocked and confused Mei face and sounds, and an unimpressed Sora*

- Rintaro was the only one who asked if the doctor was ok and if he needed help. This caused the doctor to inwardly blush in shame a bit.

- The doctor (if you couldn't tell by now) is Hojo Emu, as said by the patient nurse who sighed "Not again, Emu...."

- Sora took a quick liking to doctor Emu as he was really nice and tried to make the check up feel like a game. However, Emu was a bit shocked to say the least when he tried to bond with Sora over video games and Sora said that he likes reading more. (score one for Touma!)

- As the check up went on, Emu ended up having to juggle with doing his job as well as try to answer the many questions that Rintaro had. (i.e. Is that a stethoscope?! How clear are you able to hear a heartbeat with it? May I perhaps try it out myself? Do doctors really keep a jar of tongue depressors at their desk? That's amazing! you can also use a stethoscope to hear a person's breathing pattern? etc.)

- After the check up, Emu told Mei and Rintaro that Sora was in extraordinary health, especially for such a young child. (score one for the best Kamen Rider dad!)

- Since Emu had no more scheduled appointments for the next hour or two, he and nurse Asuna both ended up escorting the three to the book reading. They were also really curious as to who this 'Touma' person was that Sora and Mei talked excitedly about.

- The book reading was held in a wide open area outside in the courtyard, right next to a huge wall made of windows. Touma had brought a total of 10 picture books to read to his audience; which consisted of mainly hospitalized children, and Sora sitting in the front row.

- Emu and nurse Asuna were both, to say the least, really impressed with Touma's reading skills and interactions with the children. To them, it almost seemed as if Touma was truly taking them on a magic carpet ride or journeying through the decade a jungle.

- Emu mumbled something about looking up Touma's books one of these days, which Mei over heard of course, giving her the opportunity of handing him Touma's business card which had the bookstore's phone number and address printed on the back.

- Just as Touma is about to finish his last book, screams are heard coming from nearby and Mei's white book starts glowing. Nurse Asuna is the only one that notices the book however since Emu is already running towards the chaos, Rintaro and Touma hot on his heels. Nurse Asuna has so many questions, but Mei just awkwardly smiles and runs to Sora so they can help the children and other patients back inside.

- Once Emu gets to the source of the screams, he finds a huge, bug-like monster with a book on its chest attacking people with its long, blood-sucking spear. Emu gets confused at what he was looking at since the monster didn't look or seem like a bugster. Before he could observe further, Touma and Rintaro rushed past him, both putting on their drivers and shouting "Henshin!" before swinging out what seemed like swords and transforming.

- although super confused at these two new Riders, Emu decided to wait to ask questions and jumped into action himself by pulling out his gashats and gamedriver, wanting to transform into Kamen Rider Ex-aid level 2. However, upon further observation of the scene, he could see people kneeling/laying on the ground, groaning in agony and pain. He would have to rely on the strange Riders for the moment as Doctor Emu was needed, Genius Gamer M would have to wait.

- the two SOL Riders noticed the Doctor by now, with Rintaro gasping and trying to tell Emu to get away before he gets hurt. This attracted the megido's attention and it quickly brushed off the Rider's swords, jumped high into the air and aimed it's spear at the doctor who was now trying to help a poor old lady to stand up.

- Before it could hit the doctor though, a very large, heavy sword blocked it's path causing the megido to fall back, clutching it's spear-nose in pain. Emu looked at the huge sword in shock, before glancing at the wielder next to to. Which happened to be an untransformed man with a smirk on his face.

- "Ogami-san! Nice save!" Touma yelled with relief.

"Huh? OGAMI???" Emu said to himself, putting the pieces together "Eh??? Sora-kun's FATHER?!" Noticing that the man he saved was a doctor, due to Emu's white coat, Ogami-san understood what was going on and told Emu to keep doing what he was doing. "Don't worry, I've got your back!"

- While Emu depended on Ogami-san to protect him and the patients, the other Rider doctors had came to help. Kiriya was helping anyone that could still walk, Taiga and Nico were attending to those that couldn't, and Hiiro took the chance to look into and see if the bugster virus was related.

- The megido took account of the situation and, seeing as he could continue his job else where, started to fly away. But not before seeing a curious Sora staring right at him and deciding that "one more couldn't hurt." and dove down to the boy. But before it could pierce Sora's skin, a frantic Mei pushed him out of the way, getting pierced by the megido's spear in the process.

- I think ya'll can imagine the way Touma and, especially, Rintaro screamed Mei's name right at the moment. Gives me chills just thinking about it.

- The megido quickly flew away before the riders could reach them. But Rintaro quickly de-henshined and rushed to Mei's side, quickly, but as gently as possible, picking her up in his arms and checking to see if she was alright. On the outside she seemed fine, there wasn't even an open wound, but then an electric-like ripple coursed through her body and she gasped in pain. Hiiro was at their sides in an instant, using his Game Scope to assess the situation.

- Emu, who was checking to see if Sora was alright, quickly squatted next to Hiiro and furrowed his brows at the screen. there was a new type of Bugster running through Mei's body. In fact, everyone that was attacked by the megido had been infected.

- They took Mei back to the hospital (Rintaro carrying her with the excuse that it'd be faster for him to do it, when in fact he just didn't want anyone else to carry her.) and set her down in the Ex-aid HQ center (I know it's officially called something else, but I'm tired and have no time to look it up at the moment.)

- Now Emu's a bit overwhelmed 'cause there's a very sick Mei, 2 very worried riders asking questions, another rider who's also a bit worried but is also trying to calm his heart down after getting the scare of his life when Poppy suddenly costume changed next to him without warning, and everyone is just super confused about what the monster is. He literally has to yell "shut up!!!" for the room to quiet down enough so he can add "How about we just take turns asking questions, yeah?"

- and that's what they do, Emu starts by asking Touma and Rintaro what the monster is. So Rintaro quickly explains the SOL organization, swordsmen and the megido. Then Rintaro asks Emu what's happening to Mei and if she'll be ok. Emu, along with the other doctor Riders, started explaining Bugsters and the Game Disease. Emu explained that since they've been battling the virus for years now, and have advanced the treatment extraordinarily well that Emu is confident that they'll be able to heal Mei.

- Even though still worried, Rintaro and Touma visibly relax, the latter starting to think about the megido. He had a suspicion of what the megido could be and wanted to go back to the bookstore to check. Knowing it'd be a long drive back however, Ogami quickly pulled out his book-gate WRB and created a doorway that links the hospital to the Northern Base. Touma and Rintaro head through it without a second thought, shocking the doctor Riders.

- At the Northern Base, the duo find Daishinji who's been trying to track the megido for some time now. As they talk, Daishinji cuts off what he's saying halfway and adverts his eyes due to the doctor Riders suddenly appearing.

- Turns out that Parado had come back after playing games with some of the children in the hospital, saw the doctor Riders staring at a door that he'd never seen before. curious, he opened the door (despite Ogami yelling and Emu trying to stop him) which resulted in him and Emu getting sucked into the vortex-like path between the destinations. The other riders too as they either tried to save the duo or they got pulled in by others *cough!* Kiriya *cough!* trying to save themselves.

- The doctor Riders suddenly finding themselves to be in a library of sorts makes them shocked to say the least.

- By the time Ogami catches up, Rintaro is busy explaining that they're now at the North Pole while Touma has gone off back to his bookstore to look for a specific book.

- Emu had followed after Touma and was amazed by how homey and comfortable the bookstore felt and looked.

- As Emu looked around the bookstore (low-key spazzing about how cool the diorama was), Touma rummaged through a pile of books until he came across a book on insects. He skims through it and confirms that the bug-like megido is a mosquito, which is known to spread viruses like wildfire. Excited, the two go back and inform the others at the Northern Base of what they found.

- Everyone then spends the night doing what they can to help. Ogami found and dragged Ren out to help him look for the megido with Kiriya and Parado offering to help. Parado's involvement caused Nico to see this as a game, so she forced Taiga to help search as well. Hiiro went back to his other patients, checking in every now and then to see if the Bugster in Mei had grown.

- Touma and Rintaro also thought about searching, but then Emu and Poppy mentioned how the Bugster Virus reacts and grows via stress. What stresses Mei the most is 1. Touma not finishing his drafts on time and 2. not seeing her friends. So they decided to stay by her side with Rintaro watching over her, and Touma taking up the nearby desk so he can work on drafts for the next two+ months.

- Seeing Mei so pale and frail broke Rintaro's heart. She looked like a different person entirely, as if her warm smile had been stolen. Somewhat tired and worry clouding his mind, he started speaking his thoughts out loud, so loud that Touma could hear.

- "Why can't I do anything?" "What if we can't defeat the megido?" "What if we DO defeat the megido but can't defeat the virus?"

- Touma has to firmly tell Rintaro that they will save Mei, no matter what. He's so adamant about it that he ends up promising Rintaro that they'll both defeat both the Bugster and the megido.

- Emu, who was observing them from afar, takes note of their promise before heading up to the main office of the ward. There, a new face, Kento, is standing next to the window and gazing down at the trio.

- Alarmed, Emu asks who Kento is and how he got in. But Kento doesn't reply, and instead mentions how this wasn't supposed to happen, that this wasn't something he foresaw. He looks back at Emu before opening a black portal and disappearing through it.

- Sometime during the night, Hiiro checks in on Mei, and has a chat with Rintaro about her. He warns the swordsman about waiting and not taking action before leaving him to his thoughts.

- The next morning, Emu finds Touma and Rintaro both asleep. The latter hunched over the desk full of written drafts and the former upright in a chair with his hand clenching Mei's. Poppy, who had came in right behind him, loudly gasped in delight at the cute scene, causing the two Riders to wake up in alarm. Touma ended up falling from his chair while Rintaro awkwardly jumped with embarrassment after realizing he was holding Mei's hand, especially so tightly.

- Emu checks Mei's temperature and vitals. When she wakes up, he asks her how she feels which she groggily explains that she feels way better than when she was turned into the cat megido. Turns out that the boys staying with her and seeing that Touma got a lot of work done really did help in de-stressing her.

- Just then, they get a call from Ogami, informing them that the megido has been spotted. Quickly reassuring Mei that they'll defeat the Megido, the two left to aid Ogami.

-Them leaving however, caused Mei to grow worried and stressed. Resulting in the Bugster Virus inside of her to grow and finally form outside of her body. The form that the Bugster took, was of her Megido monster form, the cat megido. Which slashed at Emu and Poppy before fleeing from the hospital.

- Emu and the other doctor Riders chased after it, bumping into the SOL Riders on the way. This results in them fighting together AND having the SOL Riders react to seeing the doctor Riders transform for the first time.

- "eh?! you guys are Kamen Riders too?!" "What?! B-but! I thought that only SOL swordsmen can be called 'Kamen Riders'?! I have to ask Sophia-sama about this..." "Oi.... What's with the cartoon eyes...? and... is that HAIR?"

- They also run into more bugsters as well, so they break up into teams to fight them off. Touma and Emu vs the megido, Rintaro and Hiiro vs the cat megido bugster, Kiriya and Ogami vs. a megido bugster, and Taiga and Nico vs. another megido bugster and Ren and Parado vs Bugster mooks.

- After defeating them all, the one behind this mess reveals himself; Dan Kuroto with one of Zoous's Alter Ride Books. (possibly given to him by Storious)

-This leads to another huge battle between Kuroto (who fused with the alter ride book) and the Riders (plus Kento who'd been watching the whole thing), which ends with Kuroto being defeated and disappearing, and Mei with everyone else that caught the megido bugster virus to be fully cured.

- Mei reunites with Touma and Rintaro at the hospital, which Rintaro smiling to himself. (He now fully realizes his feelings for Mei and is planning on confessing soon.)

-Later on, Emu, Poppy and the other doctor Riders visit the Kamiyama bookstore, which results in an amusing event.

#kamen rider #kamen rider saber #kamen rider ex aid #crossover #i tried my best #i still want to try and write a real fanfic about this #head canons

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sailor-cresselia · 6 years ago

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Riders ReUnited: During Zi-O

Hey there! So, Zi-O is ending soon. We’ve only got a few episodes left, and at this point, I have absolutely no idea where the endgame is going, if people are going to get their histories back, or anything of the sort.

I have plans for what I want to do in the Riders ReUnited storyline with regards to adapting Zi-O, since at this point I can’t ignore it like I had intended to.

But with no real way of knowing how it’s going to end, I don’t know if any of the segments I’ve been working on since October are going to still work. I might wind up using them anyway, but it’s up to chance right now.

So, I figured that I ought to put these up somewhere, instead of potentially letting them go to waste.

I’ve repeatedly stated my preference for the riders who ‘forgot’ to have been pretending, and this mostly deals with that.

As such, here are my plans for the events of Zi-O, as they happen to the rest of Phase Two. (Keep in mind, I know next to nothing about Den-O, and half of the ones that involve Decade were written before I had, in fact, seen Decade.)

Hey, so, about the new kid...

It’s a full house at the meetup this month – nearly everyone who was active starting with Double and Accel is present. It’s impressive, really.

The problem starts when the sound of a train carries into the park.

There’s no train station nearby. Or tracks, for that matter. The station’s across the city.

Another train horn sounds, from a slightly different direction.

At this point, both Eiji and Shinnosuke have grown considerably pale.

Takeru looks at them. “Officer Tomari, Eiji, what’s the problem?”

“Remember the first reason I said I hate time travel? Zeronos was stuck in the loop with me.” Shinnosuke gulps.

Eiji’s chanting under his breath. “Please don't be another Shocker timeline please don’t be another Shocker timeline…”

As the trains pull through – slightly distressing everyone who hasn’t seen them before – it’s apparent that something is going on. There’s a large number of imajins with the two riders and…

“We didn’t do it!” Ankh shrieks defensively. “Whatever the hell happened, it wasn’t us!”

The conductor is there.

“I understand your apprehension-”

“I mean it! I’ve only been back a few months! I haven’t done a damned thing wrong and they're all witnesses!” He wildly points at the group.

“We know it wasn’t you, don't worry.”

Zeronos speaks up. “The new guy’s the one causing the problem. Or well, ‘is-slash-will be-slash-has been’ causing the problem. So… older guys, remember Tsukasa?”

“Vividly.” Shotaro darkly answers. “What’s he doing this time?”

“No, no, it's not him – well. Mostly not him. He’s involved. Ish. Actually, we’re all involved.”

“Everyone since Kuuga, actually.” (Den-O) winces. “Apparently, the powers that decide all our fates-”

“I knew someone had to be screwing with us!”

“Meteor, not now. Apparently they’ve decided that just about every ten years is ‘time to have someone go around and screw with all their predecessors’ time. And I’m being really literal here – he’s a time traveler. An annoying one.”

“No. No, no, NO!” Shinnosuke yells. “I’m not doing that again! Ever! You hear?”

“No, so far you don’t seem to have to worry about that…” A distortion appears in the air, Tsukasa walking through, his nose in a book. “Looks like as far as the new kid’s info goes, you don’t meet him… a lot of you don’t, actually, but.” He frowns. “Hey, spooky kid. You can use those forcefields to push things, right?”

“Kind of? Why?”

“Cause you’re going to need to do that. A couple times. It’s pretty impressive to see, actually; I just came from there.” He waves the book. “That’s how I got this. The kid’s stealing my whole gimmick. He’s basically ripping off my ability to copy people, and I just had to give him the ability to copy me copying other people. It’s absurd, and I’m basically stuck playing the bad guy again. But essentially…

“As far as he and his group know, their enemies are turning people into versions of riders that replace the actual riders. But they’re basically monsters, half of them seem to lose their sense of self, certain others go mad with power…” He glances briefly at the doctor group “And basically the powers of the rider they’re copying leave the rider, and go to the monster.”

“Hang on.” Haruto interjects. “If they’re taking our powers, what else…”

“Our memories go with them – but only for the chronological synchronization of when the ‘Another Rider’ exists.” Zeronos shrugs. “Also, our enemies are erased for that period of ‘time’ as well.”

Ankh skips directly from inarticulate protests straight into a flurry of swears. It’s an impressive selection of languages, actually. Japanese, modern German, middle German, a variety of slightly-broken phrases from regions Eiji traveled to in the past handful of years…

Parad lets out a scream of rage. “So, we’re just not going to exist? What the hell?!”

Den-O laughs awkwardly. “Kind of? It’s temporary. You’re temporarily ‘retconned’ out of existence, until the ‘Another Rider’ is defeated. Then everything’s back the way it is supposed to be. Thing is, these guys? The new guys? They think that once they do this, nobody existed. They think that everyone’s past as a rider is completely gone.

“For some reason, they’re convinced we all wind up with amnesia since ‘none of it ever happened’, so just. Just play along, it’ll be over with soon enough.”

“Question!”

“Yes, Hojo?”

“What if they meet us in the past? You’re kind of implying that’s a thing.”

“We’re actively warning the people we have on record having met them. Also, uh, we. Might be gettin g a few people back from the dead because of all this?” Tsukasa shakes his head as he turns a page. “Gonna have to double check some of this information… Some guys going by Kaixa and Baron might be back to stay? It’s unclear.”

“Huh.” Micchy bites at his lip. “Kaito wasn’t too pleased about being brought back when the Megahex invaded.”

“Yeah, he wasn’t that thrilled at that stunt Genm pulled, either.” Kiriya mutters. “Pretty sure he’s gonna ask to go right back to the afterlife.”

---

I KNEW we were forgetting something!

“Look.” Shinnosuke jabs at the table. “I hate time travel. I don’t like this whole ‘we have to fake amnesia’ situation. But as long as this doesn’t land us in yet another Shocker timeline, we can probably make it through this alright.”

Humming uncertainly, Eiji shakes his head. “I dunno. I mean, I trust Den-O-”

“That’s not even the one we met, where was the purple guy?”

“Pretty sure it was the same conductor, though, so we’re not escaping that triple-consecutive lifetime ban anytime soon.”

“Tch.”

“Anyway.” Eiji continues. “I trust Den-O and that team to not get us into a Shocker timeline. Decade, though?” He laughs incredulously. “We are all. Going. To die.”

“Aw, come on.” Gentaro frowns. “He isn’t that bad.”

Shotaro looks over. “Gen. When you met him? That wasn’t the first time he lead a version of Shocker. Or the first time he erased all of the other Riders.”

“Can I ask a question here? For some context?” Embarrassed, Ryuuga raises his hand, Sento snorting in the background. “Hey, shut up! So, I get that this Decade guy is another Rider, and you’re all sick of him for some reason. But who is this ‘Shocker’ you keep mentioning every now and then?”

The assorted conversations around the room rapidly die down.

Kiriya shrugs. “Gotta admit, I was wondering, too.”

“I don’t know what Shocker is, and at this point I was too afraid to ask…” Parad admits, looking away.

“They had… something to do with that Hero Taisen game? I think?” Biting his lip, Emu rubs the back of his neck. “Maybe? I was ‘busy’ for most of that, so…”

“Oh.” Shinnosuke’s face falls. “Did we… did we never actually tell you guys?”

Shoving his chair back, Gou turns and storms out of the room. “Not it. Not reliving that. Count me out. See ya. Bye.”

Holding his head in his hands, Takeru whimpers. “Mister Hongo is going to be so disappointed in me. Again.”

“No, no, nonono, you’re coming at this wrong, man.” Gentarou shakes his head, grinning wildly. “Takeru. Bud. This? This is our time to shine. We just need to get some things together-”

“Please don’t wear the Stronger costume.”

“Aw, come on, Ryuusei! You weren’t even here for my Stronger costume!”

“I’ve seen the Stronger costume, and I’m telling you. Don’t.”

--- ---

Episodes 03&04, Version One

When the time mazines take off, headed back to 2018, Emu has to hide the sigh of relief… and the burgeoning headache.

He brings the father and his son to Seito university hospital, and the boy is admitted. So they were able to fix something, at least.

It’s not until he leaves, sneaking out a back entrance, and makes it to a nearby park, that he can finally sit down, and it’s just barely in time for him to avoid collapsing.

“Emu?”

It’s really hard to look up, but he has to. “…Hey, Hiiro. This is a heck of a plan we’re carrying out, isn’t it?”

Nodding, Hiiro carefully makes his way to sit next to his coworker. His manager, at least at CR. At least, in their own time. “It certainly is. Are you all right?”

After hesitating, Emu shakes his head. “No… not yet. Probably will be once we’re home. Did you get your end of everything done?”

“Yes. A whole slate of those blank watches, hidden amongst everyone’s personal possessions, with none of us the wiser. Getting the two for Kuroto and Parad into the Genm offices was difficult.” He looks at Emu with a critical eye. “You are certain you’ll be back to normal once we’re in 2018, aren’t you?”

Emu makes a noncommittal hand gesture. “Pretty sure. That’s what Team Den-O told us, anyway. I don’t think this is why Shinnosuke and Takeru hate time travel, but it’s a pretty good reason in my book. Though, they haven’t had to deal with having part of themselves unwritten.” He sags, as if he’s having trouble staying upright, before Hiiro carefully pushes at his shoulder to guide him to lean against the back of the bench. “This temporary erasure thing hurts so much… Sento and Ryuuga are on the same ride as us, right? Gonna have to make sure Ryuuga’s okay…”

Hiiro grumbles. “There you go again, worrying about other people more than yourself.”

Emu manages a weak smile as a set of train tracks unfolds in front of them. “I mean, it’s part of the job description.” He receives a sharp glare. “The Rider one, Hiiro. Besides, we couldn’t avoid this for him or myself, so at least they let us get it out of the way.”

“Come on, you two, get a move on!” (choose an imajin here) yells. “We don’t have all day, if ya don’t want ta be spotted!”

“Right, right…” Emu stands up- or, tries to, anyway. His legs almost immediately give way before he can take more than two steps.

“Emu!” Hiiro catches him around the waist.

“Sorry…”

“Come here, let me help you, alright?” Hiiro’s face softens. “I’m sorry you’re dealing with this.”

“It’s fine, really. History fixes itself once we get back, right?” Emu looks up at (the imajin) with concern. “If the bugsters don’t come back, what do we do then?”

“I dunno. Save that existential stuff for my boss, kiddo. Up ya get.” Grabbing him under the shoulders, he hoists the uncharacteristically limp Emu up onto the train. “Geez, what’s with you, anyway? Ya didn’t look this awful when we dropped ya off. Thought you weren’t one of those bug guys.”

“I’m technically not. ‘m kinda part-way, though.” (Imagin) and Hiiro manage to get him to one of the seats. “It’s complicated.”

“Now leaving 2016, now leaving 2016. Next stop, 2017. Next stop, 2017.”

Slowly, he slumps down, so that he’s laying on the bench. “Let me know when we’re back in the present…” He drifts into an exhausted slumber.

---

“Now arriving in 2018, now arriving in 2018. Please watch your step as you disembark the train.”

Emu stirs, cracking his eyes open. “Are we done?”

(Some rider, whichever den-o's here) nods, offering an arm to help Emu get up. “Right, that’s the four of you set. I’m sorry that you two-” he nods to Ryuuga and Emu ��-had to take so much of the side effects-”

Ryuuga, a blanket wrapped around him, waves it off. “Eh, not the first time I’ve taken a hit for someone else. Only difference is that I’m taking it for past me.” He shivers. “Freakin’ cold on this train, though.”

“It’s not, actually, you’re just not used to feeling temperatures like the rest of us do.” Sento rubs his partners shoulder.

“The… er, biology issues should start to repair themselves when you’re off the train. The re-written timeline should insert itself into your respective memories then, as well.” (Den-o) winces. “The first one might be kind of painful, though. This isn’t exactly… a normal situation.”

“Been there, done that, forced it back into existence one time by punching a jackass.” Ryuuga shrugs. “I’ll cope.”

“As long as everyone else is okay…” Emu stumbles a little as he gets to his feet. “It’s the real bugsters I’m more worried about.”

As the quartet disembark, there’s a handful of people waiting for them. “Geez, ace, you get into a fight back there?” Kiriya whistles as he helps Emu step down.

“…A small one. My powers fizzled out partway through it, so I got sidelined.”

“How are the four of you faring?” Hiiro steps down.

“Eh.” Kiriya shrugs. “Some static for me ‘n Genm, nothing serious. Stung like a son of a bitch, though. Parad and Poppy came through fine.” He grins at the two sighs of relief. “Poppy got hit a little worse, prolly because she doesn’t have a back-up human.”

Emu squints. “That’s rude. And possibly speciesist.” Flinching, he rubs at his forehead. “I… need to sit back down…” Once on a bench, he buries his face in his hands. “You know, if we hadn’t already done enough tests to prove that my genetics have been altered by the virus, this would be a whole lot more terrifying. Is there anything else we have to do?” He directs the last part towards the train.

“Yeah, seriously.” Ryuuga leans heavily on Sento. “I got experience with this regrowing shit, but it sucks way more this time around.” He glances at Emu. “Had that extra bit of time off the train, so I’m already more caught up, but…”

(Train boi) shakes his head. “Nope, that book Tsukasa nicked/duplicated/duped/copied says that you’re set. Genm’s got a trip coming up, though.” He flips through a copy of the ‘Oma Advent Calendar,’ before biting his lip. “How do he and Hino get along?”

“Eh, Eiji’s not exactly fond, but neither is anyone else, so… Zeronos took them a half hour ago, said something about ‘getting there before the first set of revisions kicked in.’” Kiriya gives him an odd look. “You guys said that Fake Fourze and Faiz were the same guy, is there a fake GENM, too?”

“I wish.”

Hiiro rubs his forehead. “Eiji became OOO in 2010, didn’t he?”

“Yup."

“And, technically speaking, we had business in 2010.” Emu half-whimpers. “Or, well, Kuroto and I did. If you guys are taking a human Kuroto back to then, in a time plane that doesn’t have the bugster virus at all, he’d be in a completely different situation.” He looks up imploringly. “Please tell me that he’s not Another OOO.”

“I mean, I could tell you that, but…”

All three of them groan.

---

(Earlier)

“Hey, Lazer, bad news. Gonna need you to warn Ex-Aid when he gets back.” Yuuto/Zeronos/green-train-boy comes up. “I gotta take the next batch down now, before the repairs for your team come through. Turns out I need Genm for a thing with OOO.”

“Eh?” Kiriya looks up from trying to knead away his headache. “Fine, fine. What’s the warning?”

“Since he’s leaving the time plane for a reason, and one tied to the current situation at that, it’s going to take longer for your group to recover. I’m really sorry, but what’s supposed to happen requires Dan Kuroto to be human, and that means lifting him from a point when that’s possible.”

“Meaning, now?”

“Meaning now.”

“Damn.”

--- ---

I wrote a lot of these out of order

Den-o curses. “Guys, we’re going to have to make a detour.” The four passengers look up – well, three look up. Ryuuga seems to be catching back up to normal, but Emu is a wreck. He’s barely awake, and doesn’t spend the energy to do more than open his eyes.

“Build, Cross-Z, I need to set you guys a few weeks earlier than we left from.”

Sento purses his lips. “We have to meet with them again?”

“Rookie has to get the finished watches at some point. And, uh, sorry, here’s your script-”

Reading it, Sento’s face falls. “…Oh, right… because the so-called ‘past’ us took him to Nascita…”

“Course he’d go looking for us there. Damn.” ryuuga grimaces – partly from the headache, partly from the situation. “Fine, fine, if ya say we have ta, we will. Are…” he bites his lip. “Are Misora and-”

“Nobody else is there. They’re actually closed that day – I guess you’ll be faking the place being open.”

“…Fine. As long as the others aren’t there.” Sento stares at the floor.

Hiiro gives them a stern look. “You know how we all feel about this ‘not allowing them to see you’ thing, right?”

“Yeah, and we’ll all just have to agree ta disagree.” Ryuuga huffs.

---

As Ryuuga and Sento re-disembark, Den-o pulls Hiiro aside. “Hey. I should tell you, and I would tell Hojo, too, but he’s still out. You two are going to be on here a while longer. There’s some shenanigans going on, and someone’s getting dragged back and forth to a bunch of different points, and… well, the ‘game disease’ thing needs to be cut off from existence for longer than we thought.”

Hiiro glances at Emu, who’s looking rather pale, actually, which is concerning. “Since the focal point of the timeline alteration is Ex-Aid, Emu has to stay isolated from said timeline, correct?” Den-o nods. “Damn. Being here is supposed to… if not shield him from, at least take off the worst of the effects from the changes, isn’t it?”

“Yes, but… you said that he’s not just using the powers, he’s technically part of where it originates from. Since the real form of the Another Riders is that of the ‘enemies’ – your bugsters, Build’s smash, OOO’s greeed, etc, that is what is being removed from the timeline. No enemy, no riders. But removing the enemy is done by removing their origin – and the origin for you all is the virus he… well, helped form, I suppose.”

“…Hey…” Den-o and Hiiro both startle at hearing the bleary voice from the bench. “Really sick of people talking about me like I’m not around. At least go to the other side of the car to do it.” Emu rolls his eyes, continuing. “The other riders aren’t gonna have to deal with this type of thing, right? Because that’s just cruel. I can understand it happening on my end… but it wouldn't be fair to them.”

“No, no, they should all be fine.” Den-o looks aside. “Well, I mean, Ghost might have some problems, but I’ve looked ahead, and his might be more flashback related than whatever’s happening to you.”

Hiiro crouches down next to Emu. “Are you doing alright? I can’t imagine this is easy.”

“…” Emu hesitates before answering. “…Don’t want to worry you…”

“Which means you’re not alright.”

“…It hurts. It shouldn’t, I can tell it shouldn’t, but whatever is going on hurts so badly…” He shivers a little before continuing. “It feels like having part of me torn out, and like when my infection flares out of control, and it doesn't make sense!” He chokes off a small cry. “But if it’s this bad for me… I can’t help worry more for Poppy and Parad, because they might- they might not even exist right now, and that’s- that’s awful, it’s too-”

Hiiro places his hand on Emus, cutting him off. “You need to listen to me, okay? You’re getting caught in a spiral, and have to get out of it. Just calm down for me.”

It’s a few moments before Emu can respond. “…Right… thanks… When did you learn to talk to people again?”

Hiiro allows himself a smile. “Well, my manager has repeatedly shown that his methods are more suited to certain situations. I’ve simply learned from the best, that’s all.”

“…Wait… was that a compliment?”

“He has excellent powers of observation, as well,” is the dry reply. “A bit lacking in self-awareness sometimes, however.”

“Okay, see, that’s just rude.”

--- ---

Episodes 01 through 04, Version Two

Gingerly lowering himself to the bench, Emu closes his eyes against the quickly growing headache. It makes sense – the time travel at work is rewriting some aspects of history, after all. …He hopes that in the slightly altered future they’re making, that they save Keisuke.

But this was going to happen, and he went in knowing that full well. The changes can only take effect once their enemies have… vanished, and although the time travelers reassured everyone that they come back after… what, an hour? Two? Well, not long, anyway.

Knowing that they’ll be fine doesn’t make this any easier, though.

Not when part of having the bugsters semi-vanishing means part of him is in flux, too.

It feels like… well, he usually hates to use this analogy, but it’s almost as though he’s been hit by a car. And seeing as he has experience with that, it really means something.

…This might count as worse, actually, because he doesn’t get to be unconscious for this.

“How are you holding up?”

The only reply he gives Hiiro is a groan.

“Hey, I need you to answer me, Emu.”

Yeaaah, true. He doesn’t need to look up to picture the cross expression that must be on Hiiro’s face.

“Can’t let myself think about it. If I think about it, that’ll just make it worse.” Against his will, a pained whimper manages to escape him. “This hurts so much, Hiiro. I need a distraction. Something, anything, right now…”

“What type?” Hiiro’s voice is… gentle, almost. That’s nice. He’s learning how to socialize.

“Just… help me stay awake, and not thinking about this whole thing.” Emu makes a distracted, floaty gesture at himself that he hopes is enough to indicate his infection and the assorted issues it’s bringing up right now. “If I think about it too much, it’ll get more potent, and we can’t afford that right now. If I fall asleep or pass out – which sound really appealing right now – then odds are we’re going to get called in on ourselves, and that’s just a whole mess of trouble that I don’t think we want to get into.”

There’s a sigh, and a shifting of fabric, and then something drops onto Emu’s head. “Wha-”

“I borrowed one of Nico’s hats before we left. I know how you tend to get light-sensitive when your infection acts up.”

“…Oh. Thanks.”

“It’s not a problem.” There’s a pause before Hiiro starts speaking again. “Those two… what were their names, again?”

“Sougo and Geiz.”

“They’re… they’re just children, aren’t they?” There’s a noticeable waver to Hiiro’s voice. “I know, intellectually, that they’re not the youngest to have gotten involved, but…” he trails off.

“I get where you’re going with this. It was one thing when we met Takeru, when he was already done. It was another when we heard about Philip and Gentaro, and how young they were. But seeing people so young coming after us?” Emu frowns. “It doesn’t feel right. I hate that this is all we can do to help them. What’s the point of the group if we’re not allowed to-” he cuts himself off. “New topic. Please. Something else.”

“Our ride’s here.”

Emu huffs. “Good. It’s about time.”

He doesn’t need to look up to see the glare he’s definitely getting from the time joke. Worth it. “Do you think you can walk?”

Emu twitches his legs experimentally. “…I don’t know. Definitely not on my own, maybe not even with help.”

“All right then, hold on.”

Emu opens his eyes a little – enough to see where they’re going, but not enough to let too much light in. Hiiro has him sling one arm over his shoulder, helping support most of Emu’s weight.

It’s not quite enough, though. They make it up to the train before Emu’s knees refuse to hold him up any longer.

“Geez, thought you new riders were made of sterner stuff than this!” A strong, pointy pair of arms hoists Emu up. “A little time distortion never hurt anyone.”

“Shut it, peachy…”

---

“What the hell was that?”

“Look, I panicked, okay?”

“You said you were Katsuragi. Dude.”

“Well! They said that in the ‘altered timeline’ none of us ‘ever became riders,’ so if that were the case, then ‘I’ wouldn’t exist, now would I?” Sento throws his hands in the air, before dropping them back down to cover his face. “Ugh. Let’s just get to the meeting point and get home already.”

“Y-yeah…” Ryuuga stumbles a bit. “Right.”

Freezing, Sento turns back around. “Ryuuga?”

“Just… feelin’ off. That’s all. Prolly the whole ‘time taking out the bad guys’ deal.” He waves Sento off. “Stupid space… Just gotta power through this. I’ll live.”

Sento’s expression goes soft. “Hang on, here…”

“Wha-”

“Here, you can lean on me until we get there, then you can sit down.”

“…Thanks, man.”

“So, feeling ‘off’ how?” Ryuuga glares at his partner. “Well, they’re picking Emu and Hiiro back up first, aren’t they? Better to figure out what to say now.”

“…‘kay, you’re not wrong…” Ryuuga slumps down, letting his head hang. “Kinda… sick to my stomach, I guess? It’s… I mean, last time I got the space junk pulled out, I kind of had that happen, too, but. I dunno, I guess I chalked it up ta being disgusted that the bastard would use you like… like that.”

“Hmmm…” Sento nods. “That’s fair, I suppose, but he wasn’t able to remove those genetics from your body all the way back then. This time, it’s the fabric of the universe itself trying to delete them. It stands to reason that any side effects would hit you harder.”

“Existing has it out for me, gotcha.”

“That is not what I meant, and you know it.”

---

(on the train ride back)

Sento sighs, turning the cup of coffee around in his hands. “You know…”

“Mnuh?”

“I don’t like it. That they’re so young, I mean.”

“Dude, is this the ‘feeling old’ thing again, cause let me tell ya, that’s-”

“That’s not it. It’s that those three… they’re practically children. Intellectually, I know that a lot of our friends here were even younger, but still…”

“It’s messed up, isn’t it?” An exhausted voice comes from the bench across the aisle.

“Hey, thought you were sleeping.”

“Tried. Can’t. Everything hurts too much.” Emu lifts himself up a little, enough to look at Sento and Ryuuga, staunchly ignoring Hiiro’s stern look. “It’s just wrong that teenagers keep getting dragged into these things.” He winces, and leans back down. “Ow… wow, I hope we can get this over with soon. Another thing is… I told one of them, Geiz, that he was kind of cold, but… that’s not it, really. It’s that he’s hardened. The look in his eyes…” Biting his lip, Emu seems to be trying to choose his words carefully.

“It was like the one you two had, when you arrived here for good.” Hiiro runs with the idea. “I… suppose I noticed it too, but I was trying to focus on the task at hand… I didn’t even think to say anything.”

“…Which look?” Ryuuga huffs. “The ‘super lost’ one? The ‘tired of the nightmares’ one?”

Emu shakes his head, flapping a hand in the air loosely to give the message, in case they can’t see him. “No, not those. The same one that the Zawame contingent gets sometimes, and Eiji, too. The one where…” he hesitates. “The one that says you’ve been in a war.”

Ryuuga breaths out a curse. “Didn’t see ‘im long enough to catch that. He’s the one with the red suit, yeah? That Sougo kid was pretty peppy, though, so I doubt he has.”

Sento absently fidgets with the hem of his shirt. “I think I can safely speak for all of us when I say this is terrible, right?”

--- ---

HeiGen Forever

When the crowd of riders detransform, Zi-O and Geiz are nowhere to be seen. Several people look over at Sento and Ryuuga.

Ryuuga spreads his hands defensively. “What?! We’re not in charge of ‘em! If they’re gonna run off and do whatever, I’m not gonna try and stop the kids!”

Shotaro scoffs. “Hey, didn’t we mention something about taking responsibility for guiding the next- ugh…” Cutting himself off, he rubs at his head. “…The hell?” Leaning on the Hardboilder, he squeezes his eyes shut. “The hell is all this…?”

“Shotaro?!” Emu goes over, helping his senior sit down. “Are you alright?”

Sento looks nervous. “Ah. They. Uh. Zi-O used the Double watch earlier. I think this is you getting hit.” He winces. “But you’re not nearly as tied into your power source as certain other people are-”

Shotaro grits his teeth. “KADOYA! Can you get me to where Philip is?!”

“Uuuugh.” Tsukasa rolls his eyes. “I wanted to see the sights, but noooo-”

“Get. Me. To. Him.”

“Alright, alright, already. I’ll be back for everyone else in a little while, seeing how the Denliner’s up and left us behind.”

A wave of rippling air moves past him, Shotaro, and Emu, and they vanish through it.

Wataru shudders. “Think we can find a different way home? I hate those things.”

Haruto glances at him. “You mean you hate him.”

“He’s a complete tool! Just because you met him later-”

“It’s called growth!”

“It’s called ‘dying barely taught him his damned lesson!’”

“I’m sure he’s better about the whole world-ending thing than he was when you met him.”

“You weren’t there for the third Daishocker stunt, either!”

“Wait, hey, third Shocker ‘stunt’?!” Takeru pipes up.

Kazuma scoffs. “Yeah, Decade’s a real winner. Guy led a branch of Shocker, got the shit kicked out of him and lost his memory, and then immediately went back to leading it when he got his memory back. Not to mention his literal existence was disintegrating the multiverse.”

---

“PHILIP!”

“Sh-Shotaro? I can’t – what’s going on, the library, I can't get there-” Philip looks briefly up, wide-eyed and panicked, before focusing back down on his book. “If- if I try harder, maybe I can just-”

Shotaro grabs him around the shoulders. “Philip, hey, it’s okay, you can stop, it’s…” he flinches. “This sucks so much.”

“What’s going on, I’d look it up but I can’t, I-”

Emu kneels down in front of them. “Hey, focus, okay? It’s going to be a little while. I can’t say for how long, but this is the history alterations in effect. It’s just for a short time.”

“The- what? From- from Zi-O?”

Emu nods. “Yeah. Sento and Ryuuga said that he used your watch for the first time today. Sometimes it takes a while for the effects to kick in. I guess since reality needed you two to be Double shortly after, it took a bit longer than it did with Ryuuga and myself.”

Shotaro groans. “Why am I getting hit, too? It didn’t hit anyone else’s teammates.”

Philip answers quietly. “Sorry. Since we’re so closely tied together, it might be from that – from our connection. So, it’s my fault…”

“Okay, neither of you should start with the blame-game, because I already went down that path when he got mine.” Emu carefully reaches for the book, resting a hand on one side. “May I? if you aren’t as tempted, it’ll probably help you cope better with not having access.”

Slowly, Philip nods, and Emu gently closes the book, setting it next to the pair. “I hear people are doing sightseeing while we wait for the time train team to give us the all-clear to head home. Think you two are up for it?”

--- ---

Episodes 13&14

(some time after the events, once people are back together.)

“Where’s. Decade.”

That simple statement has multiple people back away from Takeru as he stalks up to Tsukasa. The steely glint in his eye doesn’t help matters.

“You-! You could have given me a better warning than that! ‘Oh, hey, might wanna get to perfecting that force push’ is not the same!”

“Look, kid-”

“I barely had time to- Sougo could have died! Damnit, Kadoya, this isn’t-argh!” Infuriated, Takeru rears back

And decks Kadoya Tsukasa across the jaw.

Tsukasa falls to the ground, but Takeru freezes. his breath hitching for a moment.

--- ---

Episodes 9&10

“I don’t like this plan. I don’t like it at all.” Hina frowns. “You hate your father, and politics, and now you have to masquerade as… as what, his successor?”

Eiji shrugs minutely as he straightens his tie. “It’s fine. It’s to keep up appearances. Our names are similar enough that it’ll work, and I can can get this over with that much sooner.” His shoulders sag as he looks at himself in the mirror.

The suit fits perfectly – he wouldn't expect any less from Hina having chosen it. He managed to talk her into letting him wear a tie that matches his aesthetic, at least. But still.

Hina matches his slightly confused expression. “This doesn’t feel finished. Something’s missing, but I can’t figure out what.”

“Hey!” Ankh calls out from where he’s been watching. “As far as this kid knows, none of our stuff ever happened, right?”

“Yeah, why?”

“That means that I never existed in his so-called past.” Stepping forward, he unfurls his wings, a small shower of curled red feathers fluttering with them. He bends down to pick one up, his wings fading back out of sight. “And you guys are supposed to have been ‘drawn together even without the original history’ or whatever BS they’re sticking us with feeding him, so…”

He turns Eiji around, a little gentler than would be expected. “Here’s your finishing touch.” Quietly, he carefully sticks the feather into one of the suits button holes. “There. Hina, what do you think?”

She grins. “I think it’s perfect. Mind if I get a picture?”

“Aw, Hina, come on-” Eiji winces.

---

Hina has uploaded a picture to “Nice Looks”

Hina: Turns out Eiji looks good in a suit!

Date: :thumbs up emoji:

Akiko: I love it <3

Shinnosuke: Very nice!

Ryuuga: Is that a feather?

Hina: It was Ankhs’s idea. Really pulls it together, don’t you think?

Date: :eyes emoji:

Eiji: Come on, guys…

Yuuto: As much as I am, in fact, liking this outfit, we’ve got places to be, you two.

Eiji: Coming

Hina: coming!

---

Chat: EiAn pool

Gouto: So. Ankh suggested the feather.

Akiko: I knew they’d get it together.

Hina: Wanna know what’s better? His reasoning for it.

Hina: He said that since on record, he never existed, but me and Eiji were still somehow drawn to meeting, it only makes sense for him to have something to represent himself.

Sento: relatable.

Emu: Can I move my date up by a week?

Emu: I want to move my date up by a week.

Gouto: That is one of the single most saccharine things I have ever heard someone say.

Date: and with the hidaris and teruis around, that’s saying something.

Akiko: I’d be insulted if it weren’t true

Shotaro: and it’s coming from Ankh

Shotaro: I’m raising my bet

Yuuto: Same. This is tooth-rottingly sweet.

#kamen rider zi o #kamen rider ex aid #kamen rider build #kamen rider ooo #riders reunited #i will ride this inspiration train until it runs out of track #sailorcressy says #:)#we've got two episodes left and i needed these out here asap #it's an hour and a half until episode 48 airs

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theheartsofheroes · 5 years ago

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Band Verse Muse Info

[Under the cut is a list of muses involved in Band Verse and their relationships with others in said verse. This list goes in order of how they appear on my regular muse list page.]

Black Woz - Wasou Zenigata. One of three members of the boy band Trinity [Along with Geiz and Sougo] under the management of Cronus Records. He is in charge of writing the lyrics for their songs.

Emu Hojo - Older brother to Kei “Pallad” Hojo, he works for Cronus Records as Pallad��s manager.

Geiz Myoukouin - One of the other members of the boy band Trinity managed by Cronus Records. He provides the choreography.

Jun Hoshikane - A manager for Yggdrasil Records, she is the girlfriend of CEO Takatora.

Kosuke Nitoh - A rock artist for Remnants Studio who has only released two songs. He performs under the stage name “Beast” and does archaeology in his spare time.

Misora Isurugi - Performs as internet idol Mii-tan. She has a massive online following. Nobody knows her real name except for a select few people. She is currently dating Ryuga Banjou of Dragon Storm.

Mitsuzane Kureshima - Younger brother of Yggdrasil CEO Takatora, Micchy is a member of the boy band Baron along with Zack and Kaito.

Oren Pierre Alfonzo - A choreographer for Yggdrasil Records, he mostly works with Baron.

Pallad - Kei Hojo, also known as DJ Pallad, is the younger brother of Emu Hojo and writes music for himself and many other artists including Mii-tan, of whom he is a childhood friend.

Abigail Philips - Abby is an American pop artist who recently finished a tour in Japan and decided to stay after a bad breakup with her boyfriend James. Her manager Anton helped her get signed to a new Japanese label. She is in an on-again-off-again fling with Gentoku.

Avira - Avira is a retired aerospace engineer. She is the mother of Hiroki and step-mother to Misora. She helps Soichi run a bar that is popular with up-and-coming artists.

Hammie - Hamiko Kakusu is a pop idol signed with Cronus Records. She is dating Kuroto “Dangerous Zombie” Dan and is a huge fan of Masamune’s.

Hiroki Jumonji - Son of Avira and her ex-husband Geki, Hiroki is a member of Remnants Records’ most popular band, Dragon Storm.

Sao Kéntavros - A retired concert pianist from a now-defunct company, Sao simply wants to live her life in peace, away from the spotlight. However, when you’re friends with Kuroto Dan, life is never peaceful.

#v: band verse #[please do not reblog]

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writingpaperghost · 3 years ago

Text

There is a Me Who Can Become Strong (Chapter 20)

Chapter 20: Like a Puzzle Falling Apart into Pieces!

Life must go on, but for Parad, that isn't easy. How can he fight Emu, knowing now that's who Ex-Aid is? And that new Gashat Kuroto gave them has a few more drawbacks then they realized.

AO3: https://archiveofourown.org/works/32857183/chapters/84288139

It was early the next morning when the CR called Director Hinata, the only ones present being Asuna, the director, and Saki. Emu – Parad, rather, had yet to come in and wouldn’t for another hour, assuming he came at all – after the events of yesterday, no one would blame him if he didn’t. Nico said she’d been planning to drag Taiga somewhere for a while and so she wouldn’t be there unless they really needed her.

“Director Hinata,” Saki begins, “After the events of yesterday… We have much to report.”

Haima and Asuna are quiet while she continued, “Kuroto Dan is dead, despite our best efforts, he was infected and disappeared.” She takes a deep breath, “We now also know the identity of Ex-Aid, who has escaped. Though… though his identity is connected to one of the CR.”

At that, Director Hinata queried, “Who?”

“Emu,” Asuna answered. Though the three presents in the room were already aware of everything, there was still a tension in the room. It was no secret that Director Hinata was fond of Emu, nor was it any secret that Parad, at least, still felt strongly about him. How the real Emu felt about Director Hinata was still unclear.

“The Emu Hojo who we have been working with… Is not the real Emu Hojo. He’s his Bugster, Parad,” Saki explained, “Sixteen years ago, Emu was infected with Game Disease and Parad was born, ten years later they were separated by Zaizen. Parad had thought Emu had died, so he chose to become Emu. But now…”

She sighs, “Now we know that’s not the case. Emu is… Ex-Aid.” She shakes her head, “We don’t know his motivations, nor do we know what he’ll do next now that Kuroto is gone…”

“He seemed pretty shaken up after infecting Kuroto…” Asuna noted, “And… And we know now that he was the one who infected Hiro during Zero Day…”

For rather obvious reasons, Haima was visibly uncomfortable, though he did a decent job at pretending he wasn’t bothered. “It seems, perhaps because he’s Patient Zero Emu is capable of infecting people, though we’re not entirely sure how much he can control it…”

“Given his reaction to infecting Kuroto, it seemed like it was an accident.” Asuna added, “That truly seemed like a genuine reaction.”

Saki continued her thought, “It also appears, based off of both Hiro and Kuroto’s infections, that when Emu infects someone, their infection progresses at a rapid pace, regardless of whether they are stressed or not.” It had been terrifying to see the same thing that had happened to Hiro happen again, even if Kuroto had technically been their enemy. Knowing now the reason why those infections were so different than the one’s they’ve otherwise dealt with. “Even though we defeated Kuroto’s Bugster, he still disappeared.” Which implied that perhaps Hiro would have died too, even if Taiga had defeated Graphite six years ago. Though there was no way of knowing for certain, since there was the possibility that Emu’s Game Disease had mutated or changed in some capacity since then.

Finally, Haima adds something, “Since we’ve only seen two cases like this, it means that he’s at least not going around and infecting people on purpose.”

Director Hinata frowned, “If you’re correct and Emu can infect people… Then that means he’ll need to be found, before more can be infect, intentional or otherwise. He’s obviously not done it much, we only have two cases that are six years apart, but there’s still the possibility it may occur again.” He sighed, “The Ministry will most likely begin a search for him. If you find him… Try to bring him in. Whether he means to be or not, he is a danger.”

Once the call ends, Saki sits at the table, closing her eyes with a sigh. In the span of less than an hour, so much had changed. They knew Ex-Aid’s identity, knew that Emu was alive and working against them, capable of infecting people despite not being a Bugster. Kuroto had died and now they weren’t even sure if whatever Kuroto and Emu had been trying to do would continue.

Then there was Kuroto’s strange behavior. The sudden change from being ready to kill Emu to almost seeming… remorseful. Like he regretted having to do that, even though before he hadn’t seemed to mind. Perhaps Kuroto was just a very good actor. He knew, that even if they defeated Charlie, he would die. Which meant he must have known what he was doing when he got infected. He’d seemed to have accepted that he would die from the moment he was infected. But why?

We’re all pawns in a game that we don’t have a choice in playing.

Kuroto had said that, but what had he meant? It wouldn’t have been the first time that Kuroto had referred to the Riders as being some kind of players in a game, but he’d never counted himself in that.

Just know I didn’t have a choice in this.

Though it seemed hard to believe, Saki supposed that she could understand how it would be possible Kuroto didn’t have a choice in at least some of his actions. But he wasn’t very specific about what he’d meant when he said “this”. Did he mean all his actions in regard to Game Disease, his actions as Gemn, or him attempting to kill Emu?

You need to find him.

Why had Kuroto urged them to find Emu? Why would it matter to Kuroto, who would be dead mere moments later?

Before… find Emu before he does.

Who was “he”? That was probably the most important question. Who was this other person that Kuroto didn’t want finding Emu? Could there be someone else involved? But then why would Kuroto be so worried about that other person finding Emu? There were too many questions about it and not enough to try to find answers.

Please, just… just try to help Emu, He doesn’t know the truth of what’s going on. He doesn’t understand the stakes of the game – not as well as he thinks he does.

Saki couldn’t help but come back to Kuroto’s plea. To help Emu. She wasn’t certain the reasons why he wanted them to help Emu but… But Saki could tell that whatever was going on with Emu, he needed help. He needed someone to show him the truth that he obviously hadn’t known. There was no reason for Kuroto to lie about what Emu thought he knew.

If Emu doesn’t know what’s really going on, then everything he’s done could have been done under a false pretense. Or – the more painful option – Emu knew entirely and just chose to act anyway. While Emu clearly cared more about what happened to the people infected by Game Disease than Kuroto had, it didn’t change the fact that he’d interfered with their operations more than once.

But Saki knew one thing: it was best that the CR find Emu before the Ministry.

---

When Emu awakes in the nest, though he doesn’t precisely remember getting into it, nor does he remember getting back to the hideout at all. There’s something holding him tightly, something warmed curled around him. It was nice and comfy, if a bit heavy, but it was a nice weight, like a nice, comfortable… something. Emu wasn’t really sure how to describe it.

Then the warm thing hugs him tighter, letting out an almost content grunt. That was when Emu realizes who it was wrapped around him, though perhaps the mismatched sleeves, one green and one red and stopping at his elbow, should have told him. Or perhaps the mess of brown hair that certainly isn’t Emu’s, that Emu can barely see. Graphite was holding him tightly, which certainly made Emu feel better.

“You’re up,” Graphite grunts, extracting himself mostly from Emu, though he still had his hands on Emu’s arms. He sits up, bringing Emu with him, “When you came back… Masamune was with you, but Kuroto wasn’t.”

Then it came back to Emu, everything that had happened the day before. What he’d done to Kuroto, intentional or not. Masamune may not have been upset but Emu… Emu was.

Emu had killed his brother, whether out of fear or not.

“Kin?”

Keep calm, Emu chants to himself, despite the way he begins to shake again, Keep calm you can’t freak out.

Graphite reaches around Emu again, this time pulling him close once more. He holds Emu tightly, “Kin, what’s wrong? What happened?”

“I…” Deep breathes, Emu, it should keep you calm, “I killed him.”

He can’t see Graphite’s face, which almost is worse than seeing it. He doesn’t know if Graphite is disappointed in him, or upset with him. He can’t tell if Graphite will leave him too, if he can’t see what his reaction it.

So Emu turns around, seeing the slight but startled expression on Graphite’s face. It could be worse, he reminds himself, and continues, “I… He said he’d kill me and so I panicked and then- and then I infected him.”

“He threatened you,” Graphite said, “You did what you had to.”

“I killed him.”

Hugging and holding Emu close, Graphite responds, “It’s not your fault. You didn’t want to infect him, but you were left no choice.” He huffs, “Clearly, Masamune is not upset, isn’t that strange? His son is dead, but he made sure you made it back here, even though you were at least partially responsible for Kuroto’s death.”

“He said that he wasn’t upset. That Kuroto didn’t give me a choice and he didn’t blame me,” Emu quietly tells Graphite, “I… He told me to get my stuff and head to Gemn Corp, after I wake up.”

At that, Graphite grumbled, “Of course, you shouldn’t keep him waiting.” Though there was something in his tone that sounded irritated. Maybe he was actually upset with Emu and was just hiding it. Maybe he didn’t want to hurt Emu’s feelings too much.

Hesitantly, Emu extracts himself from Graphite, “I don’t have much to take,” he said as he grabs a bag, already beginning to place some items in it. He places a small, blue camera in, alongside his Gemnboy. Walking over to the couch, he reaches under it and pulls out a couple photo books. “Can’t forget these.”

Almost sounding amused, Graphite comments, “So that’s where you’ve been keeping those.”

“You know that Kuroto always gave me a hard time about them,” Emu reminded him, though he quickly frowned, “I don’t… I don’t want to leave them.”

“Of course you don’t,” Out of the corner of his eye, Emu can see that Graphite has a small smile, “I doubt you’ll need to worry too much about them.”

Emu pauses, “Graphite…” He quietly began, “Are… are you upset with me?”

“Why do you think that?” Graphite’s eyes narrow, “I have no reason to be upset with you.”

At his answer, Emu looks down, his shoulders sagging, “I’m sorry I just… I don’t know what to think of myself after yesterday…” After a moment, he looks up again, “So… Do you still not want to tell anyone you’re… around?”

Graphite nods, “For now, I think it’s best that Masamune doesn’t know.”

“I wish you’d tell me why,”

“Just know that I may not be able to help you as much, if Masamune chooses to keep more of an eye on you…” Warily, Graphite sighs and gives Emu a worried look, “Be careful.”

With a small quirk of his lips which might constitute as a small smile, Emu answers, “I will.”

---

“Why are we here?” Taiga groaned, Nico leading him about an amusement park.

Nico rolls her eyes and answers, “Because way too much shit has been happening and I need to do something fun before I commit a crime.”

“You do that anyway,”

“That’s not my point,” She’s dragging him by the arm. Her eye catches an attraction and she gleeful pulls Taiga that way, “Now come on, Taiga! The haunted house!”

Which was enough to prompt Taiga with a very startled and perhaps even violent reaction as he jerks away, “NOPE!”

“Why not?” Nico whines, “What, are you scared?”

Then she recalls his reaction to learning that Takeru had been a ghost. “Oh, right…” She cheekily grins, “You’re scared of ghosts!”

Taiga hushes, “Don’t be so loud!”

“It’s not like anyone here knows you,” She scoffed, “Seriously though? You’re that scared of ghosts?”

He scowls, “I just don’t like ghosts, or the concept,” He was very pointed about his statement, “Okay? I’m not afraid of them. I just don’t like them.”

“Sure,” Nico rolled her eyes, “You don’t like them.”

Though she ultimately doesn’t drag him on the haunted house ride, she’s about to drag him off somewhere else, figuring she can get him to go on a different ride. At least, that was the plan, but then she notices some poor sap who looks absolutely terrible. Normally, Nico would just ignore him… But for one reason or another, she had a bad feeling.

She pulls Taiga down a bit, so she can say to him, “Hey, hey, Taiga. What do you make of that guy?”

Taiga just frowns, “Looks like he’s sick,” He glances at her, “Why?”

Like the choreography in a theatrical performance, the boy began to glitch. Nico looked between him and Taiga and groaned, “Okay, that one’s on me. I should have known that would happen.”

---

When Parad arrives at the CR, he’s simply grateful that he doesn’t have to keep up his appearance as Emu. Before, he’d sometimes wish that he didn’t have to be Emu, but now, now that he knew that Emu was still alive.

It felt so terribly, terribly wrong, more than ever before. He wasn’t just pretending to be his dead best friend; he was pretending to be his best friend who looked at him with eyes that held not an ounce of the care that they once held. Not that his eyes looked anything like they had.

He wasn’t really sure what he was feeling, even after having time to think on it. Some part of him still couldn’t believe that Emu was still alive. It felt… really surreal, he guessed. Parad was just. He didn’t know anymore.

His entire world had been turned upside down and he didn’t know what to do. So he just wanted to try to go through everything like before. But it was so hard, it felt so wrong. He’d be fine enough, but then someone would say his name – say Emu’s name – and then… Then it’d all come crashing back. Over and over again.

At the CR, the only ones there were Saki and Poppy, to little surprise. Poppy was fretfully rearranging the stuffed animals and various decorations in the corner where her cabinet is. Saki sits at the table, eating a slice of cake.

“Em- Parad!” At his arrival, Poppy’s attention immediately turned to him.

Saki turns in her seat to face him. Hesitantly, she says, “I’m… a bit surprised that you’re here,”

“What else would I be doing?” Parad tries not to fiddle with his sleeves, “I have a job here, after all and…”

She stands, walking over to him, “Parad, you just found out someone very important to you, someone who you thought had died, was still alive. That you have to fight him.” There’s something terribly sincere in her tone, “No one expects you to just recover from that.”

Whatever composure Parad had managed to gather since the night before came crumbling away. He looks down, clenching his fists as his shoulders tighten, “I… I don’t know what to do, Saki,” He whispers, “Everything I’ve done in the past six years… For what? For someone who wasn’t even dead? For a dream that he seems to have forgotten?”

“We don’t know much about what’s going on with Emu, we don’t know why he’s doing this,” Saki reminded him, “But Parad, everything you’ve done, it hasn’t been for nothing. Thanks to you, so many people have been cured of Game Disease. Your skills at games and your compassion, you desire to see those people smile, have saved people, have made their lives better. That was you, even if you were simply doing it because you thought it would be something Emu would do, you were still the one doing it.��

“Maybe…”

Poppy hops over to his side, “There’s no maybe about it, Parad. You helped all those people. Without you, we’d have been in a pi-pa-po-pa-panic a long time ago!”

He takes a deep breath, even though he doesn’t really need to – he’s become so used to it while pretending to be human. Shaking, he tells them, “I don’t know if I can fight Emu, now that I know it’s him.”

Pursing her lips, Saki says, “You won’t have to, I’ll do it if it comes to it,” She places a hand on his shoulder, though she removes it when he flinches, “Parad… We’ll find Emu and we’ll do everything we can to help him, you know that.”

“I know…”

Reaching her arms around him, Saki wraps him in a hug, prompting him to stiffen, “We’re here for you Parad, you don’t have to face this alone. You don’t have to be alone anymore.”

He hesitates, but returns the hug, shakily, resting his head on her shoulder, “I’m scared that we can’t… that he won’t listen…”

“We’ll do all we can,”

“But if it’s not enough?”

“It will be.”

Parad doesn’t answer, unsure of what he could even say. Saki’s words feel so hopeful and certain, but after everything that happened the day before, he finds them hard to believe. He wants to, he dearly wants it all to be true, to be more than wishful thinking but… the possibility that it’s not true alone is enough to shake him.

How much had Emu changed? Was the one who had once been Parad’s best and only friend long gone, replaced with someone with very different values? Parad could never imagine Emu as the person he seems to have become, yet Parad is still faced with the harsh reality of the situation. Emu wasn’t the person he’d known six years ago, which only made Parad wonder. Who was he now?

Someone willing to work with the Bugsters and Kuroto to complete some so-called game, but if Kuroto’s words are true, Emu doesn’t know the truth about it. In that respect, Parad could understand why Emu might do all this, if he thought that it could perhaps help people. Maybe he feels there’s no better solution. But Parad wasn’t sure how much he was willing to trust Kuroto’s words, either.

The ringing of the CR’s phone snaps Parad out of his thoughts and he quickly removes himself from Saki. Her gaze lingers on him, before turning to the phone, which Poppy had already answered.

“Okay!” Poppy says to the person on the other end, “We’ll be right there.”

Ending the call, Poppy changes to her Asuna persona with a loud “costume change!” and then turns her attention to Parad and Saki. “Taiga just called,” She began, “He and Nico found a patient at the amusement park.”

“The amusement park?” Parad echoes, then shakes his head, “Right, right, let’s go.” Beside him, Saki nods.

---

It wasn’t like it had been a long time since Emu had been in Masamune’s office, though the number of times had certainly decreased after the incident with Lazer – he wasn’t even sure if Masamune knew about that or if it was just a coincidence. It was just odd, because he’d certainly be spending more time here, now that Masamune wanted to keep a closer eye on him.

That shouldn’t make him so anxious, he’s been around Masamune for six years, the man choosing to keep an eye on him shouldn’t bother him. Maybe it was just because of how little supervision he’d seemed to have kept over Kuroto and Emu for the past six years.

Obviously, his mind tried to rationalize, Masamune was just worried after what happened with Kuroto. He didn’t know that Graphite was around to help if Emu really needed it. So, Masamune just didn’t want something bad to happen to Emu, just like when they’d first met.

He stares at one of his photobooks for a moment, then flips it open to a random page. Greeted with a picture of him and Graphite in the nest, he smiles, terribly small but present. Then his eyes drift to the next picture, one of him leaning on Kuroto’s shoulders, looking over his head at whatever project Kuroto was working on at his computer. Emu closes the book, the smile falling, then quietly sighs.

Looking up at Masamune, he asks, “Should… we be worried? Certainly, the Riders got the Gashats that Kuroto had… And that means they have access to two different Level 50 forms…” Emu wasn’t very worried about Dangerous Zombie. They wouldn’t really be able to use it, so it wouldn’t do them much good. But the dual Gashat? That was a worry.

“Don’t worry about that, Mu, none of them are used to using such a strong Gashat,” Masamune answers, “Perhaps if Hanaya was acting as Snipe, I’d be worried, but a Level 50 form is hard on most people’s bodies. It will be a while before they can use that Gashat to its full power… By then, it won’t be much of a worry.”

“Ah,” Emu blinks, “If… if you say so.”

Looking up from his computer, not unlike Kuroto would – though with far less care in his eyes – Masamune notes, “I believe a Bugster will be appearing soon. You’ll want to head to the amusement park, to ensure that the data is captured.”

“O-okay!”

---

When they arrive at the amusement park, they’re easily able to find where Taiga and Nico are, if only because Taiga greatly stands out in a crowd – and there wasn’t even a lot of people around them. Nico already had her Driver out, fiddling with the Bang Bang Shooting Gashat.

“Took you guys long enough!” She huffed when she noticed them, crossing her arms, “What if the Bugster showed up? Then I’d have to deal with it all on my own.”

Parad sighed, once again in his Emu disguise, “We got here as quickly as we could, Nico,”

Rolling her eyes, she responds, “Whatever, let’s just worry about this guy,” She gestures to who must be the patient, “He’s infected with Jet Combat. Not that I know why he’s at an amusement park.”

“Aren’t you also at the amusement park?” Asuna asked, “Are you really one to talk?”

Nico sputters something before huffing and turning her attention back to their patient. The patient’s infection flairs up, prompting the appearance of Vernier, the Jet Combat Bugster.

Saki takes out the Taddle Fantasy Gashat and prepares to transform, while Nico does the same. Behind them, next to Asuna, Parad hesitates. He pulls out his Gashat but… All he can do is stare at it.

He wanted to transform; he really did. He didn’t want Saki and Nico to have to fight Vernier alone but… It wasn’t like he’d have to face Emu… But he also knew that there was plenty a chance that Emu would appear and… And… Wasn’t he a bit of a hypocrite? To be fighting these Bugsters despite being one himself?

“Parad?” Asuna calls.

Despite everything that he wanted to do, Parad couldn’t transform. He just couldn’t. Tightening his grip around the Gashat, he quietly answers, “I… I can’t…” He looks down, shaking his head, “I can’t fight right now, Asuna.”

Asuna frowns, but quickly assures him, “That’s okay,” She says, “I’m sure Saki and Nico can handle it.”

Taddle Fantasy!

Bang Bang Shooting!

Dual Up! Tadoru Meguru RPG! Taddle Fantasy!

Level Up! Ba-Ba-Bang! Bang-Ba-Bang! Bang Bang Shooting!

As Bugster grunts appear around Saki, quickly going after Vernier, Nico fires several shots from the Gashacon Magnum at him. Sword in hand, Saki rushes towards Vernier and slashes at him. Clearly, Vernier wasn’t nearly as strong as Charlie had been, not that it was a bad thing. It made him easier to fight, especially operating with only two Riders.

Soon, Vernier had taken too much damage, returning to hide in their patient. They’d have to defeat him some other time. Still, Parad couldn’t shake the feeling that they were being watched, or something similar. But he couldn’t understand why. Everyone not involved with the CR had fled when Vernier appeared, so who could still be around…?

Nico untransforms, but Saki remains in Level 50. Giving her an odd look, Nico asks, “Uh, why are you…?”

Saki turns to face a nearby building, calling out, “Emu, I know you’re there!”

Slowly, Emu walks out from behind the building. His bangs are clipped to both sides of his head, revealing both his eyes. He doesn’t have his hood pulled up and his jacket is unzipped, revealing a Mighty Action X shirt underneath. Though he has a mostly neutral expression, there’s a small frown tugging at his lips. For the most part, though, he looks… empty, a sort of neutral expression that told nothing about what he was thinking or feeling.

He stares at them, not saying anything.

Continuing, Saki declares, “I have a challenge for you,” Her tone is serious, despite how out of character her words were, “A… game, if you will.”

That prompts a change to Emu’s expression, something curious as he asks, “A game?”

“Yes,” She confirms, “A fight will be our game, now that we’re both evenly matched at Level 50. If I win, you’ll come with us back to the CR and tell us about this… game you’re working on.”

There’s an excited twinkle in Emu’s eyes when he inquires, “And if I win, Brave?”

She takes a deep breath, then pulls something out, “I’ll give you these,” In the hand not holding the Gashacon Sword, she holds Kuroto’s Bugvisor and the Dangerous Zombie Gashat, alongside Giri Giri Chambara.

Though Emu’s eyes widen for a moment, he quickly shakes his head in a small motion. “I don’t know…” He hums, “Gemn’s stuff won’t do either of us much good. I don’t think I really want it…”

Before Saki can say anything, he continues, “But! I think I’d like a challenge, now.” He pulls out his Gamer Driver and Gashat, “Just remember Brave… I’m Genius Gamer M, I won’t lose to you so easily.”

“I’d be worried if you did,” Saki responded.

Mighty Brothers XX!

Double Up! Ore ga omae de! Omae ga ore de! We are! Mighty! Mighty Brothers! Double X!

Returning the Bugvisor and Gashat to where they belonged, Saki turns her attention to both halves of Emu, who were already rushing at her. Cyan has the Gashacon Keyslasher, leading Saki to assume that was the one Emu was controlling. She didn’t know how the damage to the Mighty Brothers was distributed, but she thought it would be safe to assume that attacking the one that Emu was in control of would probably be the most effective.

Blocking the attack of the Gashacon Keyslasher, Saki knocks Cyan off balance and slashes at him. The blue Rider didn’t react terribly, though he stumbled away, raising his weapon and firing a beam from it. So it was also a gun, that was good to know.

Something crashes into her back and knocks her down, then she sees Orange, landing in front of her. Cyan tosses the Gashacon Keyslasher to him and Saki figures that orange must be the one that Emu’s in control of right now. She stands, slashing at Orange, though he blocks it.

There was a strange aching growing through her body. At first, it was dull, but with every second it got worse. Now, it was becoming distracting, but she couldn’t afford to lose focus. She had to win this, so they could bring Emu back. If they could learn what he thought he was doing, they might be able to show him the truth. They could help him, they just had to get him to let them.

Cyan kicks her this time, reeling her focus back in. He laughs a little, “Hah! Brave, did you really think I’d make it easy? I can tell that you’re trying to figure out which one I’m controlling.” Then Orange slashes at her again and she doesn’t have time to block it. She falls to the ground, Kuroto’s Gashat and Bugvisor clattering beside her.

Trying to pull herself up again, Saki gasped when pain coursed through her body again. It was much worse than before, though she’s still transformed, she couldn’t bring herself to get off the ground. It just hurt too much.

Orange stares at her. He leans down, picking up Kuroto’s items, “You’re not used to the strain from Level 50,” He tells her. Then he pulls the double Gashat out of her Driver, tossing it to the side, “Level 50 is very hard on the human body. That’s a part of why Gemn never used it himself.”

“You can use it without problem,” Saki gasped.

“I’m used to pain,” He answers, then turns away, “I think I’ve won this game, Brave. Next time, you might not be so lucky that your opponent will let you leave.”

Emu leaves and Nico strolls over and picks up the Level 50 Gashat. Parad and Asuna are over with the patient. Before Saki can say anything, she passes out, prompting Nico to sigh.

She calls over to Parad and Asuna, “Taiga and I’ll take care of Saki, you worry about the patient.”

Taiga grunts, “Why are you volunteering me?”

“Because you can carry her, old man,” She answers, “Besides, I can already see you’re worrying.”

#kamen rider ex aid #kamen rider exaid #kamen rider #my writing #there is a me who can become strong

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