writingpaperghost

[writingpaperghost]

The Wind Will Take You Along (Chapter 3)

Chapter 3: Don’t Touch the M/How to Get to Heaven

Akiko investigates a woman who's been acting oddly, joined by Shoutaro.

AO3: https://archiveofourown.org/works/57870910/chapters/164150074

It was a rarity for Phillip to ever actually leave the garage. He had a tendency to get so into his research he rarely had much reason to. But today was one of those days, where he was up in the office proper, making a beeline to the radio to turn it on and change it to a specific station. A familiar jingle comes on, one that Akiko has heard often from when Shoutaro visits.

Healing Princess, and Phillip’s tuned in just in time to catch the start of a new segment.

Shoutaro perks up, turning his attention to the radio.

“Now, everyone,” The voice of Princess Wakana comes through, cheerful as ever, “it’s time for our Fuuto Mystery Tour! Here we read submissions from our listeners and learn about all the rumors in Fuuto. It’s always so exciting.”

For most of the Healing Princess segments, Akiko usually tuned it out, but the Fuuto Mystery Tour could actually come in handy, sometimes. They were easily accessible rumors, even if there was no verification on the radio stations’ end. But it something sounded Dopant related, or relevant to a case, it could be useful. Not that she had any cases, right now.

“Dear Princess Wakana, have you heard about the Million Colosseo? I’ve heard that it’s some special casino, and that the people who go there either get really rich or lose it all. Some even disappear entirely! From D. Morimura.” Princess Wakana read, still cheerful. Then she comments, “Wow, something like that in Fuuto… well, you’d never catch me somewhere like that, but I wonder how it could hide so easily? You’d think something like that would be more talked about.”

“A casino, huh?” Shoutaro said, “It’s a surprise that something like that is only a rumor.”

Akiko rolled her eyes, “You can hide plenty of things if you know what you’re doing,” After all, somehow the organization creating and selling Gaia Memories has managed to keep themselves quite hidden. The only real sight of them she’s ever had was on that night…

The door to the agency opens and in walks what appeared to be a couple. The agency was no stranger to cases brought to them by couples, usually parents concerned in some way about their children – those were usually easy cases, worst case scenario the child had some delinquent tendencies, but very rarely were they ever getting in any real trouble. Sometimes the case would be for a missing child, instead. Those were harder, always made Akiko want to help even more – how awful it must be, to have your child missing and not be able to do much to find them? She made sure to try even harder, on those cases. Still, delinquent children were far more common of a case, so Akiko suspects this will be an easy one.

Thus, she’s a little surprised when it wasn’t quite either, “Our daughter, Yuko, has been acting strange.” The woman said.

“Dressing odd and she doesn’t seem to have any interest in our business anymore, either.” The man added.

Well, that was a bit different, but not too unusual. Sometimes kids lose interest in their family’s business as they get older. Still, it was obvious to Akiko that the two were concerned, so she figured it couldn’t hurt to look into it for the two. “I can try to see if I can find what it’s all about, then.”

---

As Akiko makes her way to the Izumi family’s business, she glances to her side and can’t help but wonder, “Shoutaro why are you coming with me?”

Shoutaro blinked for a moment, like he was surprised about the question, “It’s not that weird.”

“Maybe,” They investigated together frequently enough, sure, but… “Don’t you have work?” It was midday after all and she knows his break time isn’t this long.

“Oh, well…” He makes a bit of a face before answering, “It’s my day off.”

“You get those?” She asks, mostly jokingly. Everyone knew Shoutaro was practically married to his job – all he wanted was to keep Fuuto and its people safe, and in his mind that obviously meant getting Dopants and Gaia Memories off the streets.

This time his face is more of annoyance, “Of course I do.”

She laughed, “I know, I know.”

It’s only a few minutes later that they arrive at the Izumi family’s business, just in time to overhear what sounds like an argument. It seems to be between Yuko and her parents, though Akiko can’t make out too many of the details. Soon enough, they see a young woman, matching the picture that she’d been given of Yuko, hurry out.

“That’s her,” Akiko says to Shoutaro, “Let’s follow her and see what she gets up to.”

Keeping their distance but making sure that Yuko won’t notice them, they follow after her. They make it all the way to some distance, when a bus begins to pull up and Shoutaro grabs her wrist, stopping in his place.

He looks a bit like he’d just remembered something, “Hey… I don’t think you should keep this case up.”

“What? Why not?” Akiko pulled free of his grasp easily, he hadn’t been holding on very tightly.

“It’s, well…” He continued, “It’s just… I’ve heard some things… I think that this could be dangerous.”

She rolled her eyes, “There’s nothing wrong with a dangerous case, I’ve taken them before. Even if there’s a Dopant, there’s good odds that the Kamen Rider will show up and take care of it.”

His frown only deepened, “You could get hurt, and Boss asked me to keep an eye on you-“

At the mention of her father, she pulled out a slipper and gave Shoutaro a good hard whack, “Dad isn’t here right now! I don’t need you acting like I always need your protection.”

She turned to head towards where Yuko had been going, only to find that she wasn’t there anymore, the only thing she could see was a bus pulling away. For a moment, she can only stare in disbelief, before turning back to Shoutaro. “Now look what you’ve done! We’ve lost her!”

Shoutaro looked away, “It’s probably for the best.”

Shaking her head, Akiko began to walk away, “I’ve got other ways of finding her.”

---

“You see, this guy, Murasame, he’s lost an awful lot to the Million Colosseo.” Watcherman told her as they arrive at a house. “Not a penny left to his name. Or anyone he cares about, either.”

“Damn,” Akiko says. She knew people could get into gambling a bit too much, but she didn’t think it could get this bad. Then again, there was no proof that the Million Colosseo was a normal casino, either. “Well, thanks for the tip,”

Akiko knocks on the door, though there’s no response, so she just… lets herself in. It was empty, the only thing she ends up finding is a despaired man – Murasame, she assumes. He really had lost it all, if he was sitting here in a completely empty house.

“Mr. Murasame?” She called out, keeping some distance, “I was wondering if you could tell me about the Million Colosseo? I’m a detective, and I think it has something to do with my current case-“ She cut off by his wailing.

She can only make out some words, but it seemed to mostly support what Watcherman had told her, so she slips back out of the house, giving Phillip a call. As per usual, he picks up and is already ready to tell her all about his research.

“I’ve been reading about card and dice games, apparently they’re games that are commonly used when gambling,” Phillip began, and she can faintly hear him cap a whiteboard marker.

Unable to help herself, she smiles a little, “You’ll have to tell me more about it later, I’ve found some more info on the Million Colosseo.” She suspects that his current interest might have been born from overhearing about it on the Fuuto Mystery Tour, so he’d probably like to hear even if it wasn’t case or Dopant related.

“Oh?” Though she can’t see his face, she’s sure that there’s that glimmer of interest in his eyes.

“Found a guy, Goro Murasame, lost everything from his gambling at the Million Colosseo. Currently curled up in his empty house, though I doubt that’ll last much longer.” She felt a bit bad for him, really. “Guess his family must have left him or something.”

There’s a pause, before she hears Phillip mutter, “Family…”

“Phillip?” It was odd he was so quiet, unless he was looking something up.

She wanders back towards the front door of the house, waiting to see if Phillip would respond. Instead, she hears a commotion from inside, prompting her to flip her phone shut and hurry in. “Mr. Murasame?” She called out.

Instead of Murasame, she finds a rotund golden monster – surely a Dopant. It must have something to do with Murasame’s sudden disappearance. Pulling out the W Driver and placing it on her waist again, she calls out for Phillip but gets no response.

She’ll just have to handle this on her own then.

The Dopant swings at her and she ducks to the side, doing her best to keep up her mental nagging of Phillip. What had caused this, anyway? She retaliates with her own punch, though this Dopant was clearly strong enough that a bare punch wasn’t all that effective. Realistically, she probably just caused more pain for herself, but it would be fine, she could deal with that.

Finally, she hears Phillip’s voice breaking the silence, “Ah, a Dopant.”

“Yes!” She hissed, “Now hurry up!” Quickly, she puts a bit more space between herself and the Dopant, so she could actually have time to transform.

Cyclone!

Joker!

With just a moment more to spare, Akiko feels the wind wrap around her, despite their location in an enclosed space. They dodge out of the way of the Dopant’s attack, then point at it, calling out, “Now count up your sins!”

As Kamen Rider, it’s a lot easier to fight the Dopant and they’re able to move the fight outside. There was more room here, and Akiko would frankly feel a bit bad if more of the house got destroyed than needed. They trade a few blows with the Dopant before Phillip brings them back a bit, pulling out the Cyclone Memory.

Heat!

“I believe this shall work a little better,” He said, inserting the Heat Memory. Whatever had been bothering him before seemed to have worn off, it seems.

Just as they were preparing to finish off the Dopant, though, Akiko feels something hit them hard in the back, sending them down and out of their transformation. Though she tries to turn around to see it, she wasn’t fast enough as it seemed to be long gone. Gritting her teeth, she looked towards where the Dopant was, only to find it gone as well.

---

Akiko had been to the Wind Wave radio station before for other cases, though it wasn’t often. This was… a little more unusual, given she’d arrived to try to get more details on the Million Colosseo. Hopefully someone would be willing to give her access to some of the write ins for Fuuto Mystery Tour, though she somehow suspects it won’t be quite so easy.

“It’s not even all of the letters, I just want to know if there’s anything more about the Million Colosseo,” She said, trying very desperately to convince the person she was speaking with either let her see the letters or bring her to someone who she might be able to convince. Or at least tell her whether any of them even had anything to do with the Million Colosseo.

The person she was speaking with just shook their had, “We can’t do that, miss.”

Unable to help herself, Akiko frowned and let out a heavy sigh, walking away. Okay. Plan B. She didn’t have one but she’d have to come up with one, now. Whatever, she could make it work.

And then she sees a woman, one who she knows she’s seen before. It takes her a minute to recognize her, despite the fact that Shoutaro owns every magazine she’s ever appeared in in the last few years. Well, no one had ever said Akiko couldn’t be bold, so she approached the woman.

“Wakana Sonozaki, right? Host of Healing Princess?” She can already tell Princess Wakana wasn’t very interested in her presence, though she quickly hides it with a polite smile. “I’m Akiko Narumi, I work as a detective and I believe one of my cases has to do with the Million Colosseo, which you covered on your most recent Fuuto Mystery Tour segment.” When Akiko introduced herself, she noticed that Princess Wakana’s demeanor seemed to change, though it was so subtle she’s more convinced she was imagining it.

“Someone did send in a rumor they’d heard about it,” Princess Wakana confirms, “If you’re here, then you think you could learn more?”

Well, this was going better than Akiko expected. She nods, “Yeah, I was wondering if anyone else had sent in any rumors about it.”

Princess Wakana considers that for a minute, then gives a small nod, “We still have the submissions, why don’t we go take a look? They’re sorted through before I ever see them, but I have access to them and would be happy to let you take a look, Ms. Narumi.”

“That would be great.”

Princess Wakana leads her through the building to a room where they seemed to store things, pulling out a box of letters. She gives them a quick look over before telling Akiko, “These should be it.”

“Thank you,” Akiko quickly began to search through them all. Most of them were unrelated, but she did find a few about the Million Colosseo. Those letters all had one new detail in common between them. The way to get into the Million Colosseo was by getting on a bus, one that wasn’t apart of Fuuto’s actual public transit.

Well, Akiko can work with that.

---

Wakana watched as Akiko Narumi left the radio station. Though she’d heard plenty about her before, this was her first time meeting her. It was a bit of a surprise – she’d been annoyed when some detective had approached her, but learning just who she was had changed thing.

Before she heads home for the day, though, Shoutaro shows up. His hair’s a bit messier than usual, despite it being his day off. “I… just saw Akiko leave the radio station.”

“She wanted to know more about the Million Colosseo, and we had some more letters talking about it.” Wakana replied, “Something about a fake bus.”

He sighed, “Figures. Wait, shit, she’s going to try to find it.”

“Is that so bad?”

“Given the sort of person who’s running the Million Colosseo, yes.” Without another word, Shoutaro hurried out. Wakana watched him leave, curious, but figuring that Shoutaro would be fine. She had more important things to worry about, anyway.

Like convincing her father to let her test her soon to be brother-in-law.

---

Using the reports of where this fake bus was spotted in the letters to Fuuto Mystery Tour, Akiko was fairly confident that she’d be able to track down where the bus would stop. Then it was just a matter of getting on. Odds were, solving the Million Colosseo case would solve both her case for the Izumi family and have that Dopant dealt with. She’d just have to get herself to the Million Colosseo.

She sits on the Hardboiler, waiting. Her plan was simple, wait for that bus to come by – likely the one that had been by when Yuko disappeared – and then follow after. That would lead her to the Million Colosseo. She doesn’t have to wait too long, as the bus pulls up, stopping at a place that she knows isn’t a bus stop and letting a couple people on.

As it drives off, she follows suit. Soon enough, she realizes she can make out an awfully familiar looking person in one of the windows, prompting her to move even closer to take a better look.

“Shoutaro?” Not that he can hear her, but still somehow he knew how to look through the window out at her.

He had a smug look on his face, flashing her a thumbs up.

What was he doing there? He told her not to pursue this case and then he goes and does it himself? How hypocritical. She’d have words with him, after this.

Of course, her stewing and annoyance is interrupted by that gold Dopant again, causing her to have to focus less on the bus and more on it. Just their luck. She pulls to the side, the Dopant blocking her way.

She placed the W Driver on her waist, calling out, “Okay Phillip, the Dopant’s here again, let’s get rid of it, this time.”

“Naturally,” Phillip responded, “This time, we’ll just have to keep aware for anyone possibly intervening.”

Cyclone!

Joker!

“Sounds like a plan to me.”

They get off the Hardboiler as the wind wraps around them, facing the Dopant. Akiko runs at it, swinging a punch, though the Dopant seemed prepared for it. She frowned.

“I’ve been thinking about the best way to defeat this Dopant,” Phillip tells her, “Without knowing which it is, it is somewhat difficult, but not impossible.”

They dodge an attack from the Dopant, then block another. “Care to share?” Akiko asks, kicking the Dopant and giving them some space.

“The Metal Memory,” Phillip answers.

Already pulling out the Joker Memory, Akiko replies, “I can do that,” she replaces it with the Metal Memory. If Akiko was being honest, she had the same problem with the Metal Memory that she did the Trigger Memory – it was a bit difficult to use with her left hand, but at least the staff often required the use of both her hands. That seems like it would be worse, since Phillip had quite the control over her right hand, but when it came to the Metal Memory, she and Phillip could often keep on the same page. Not always, but it was generally easier.

“What did you do to Mr. Murasame?” Akiko called out as they swung their staff at the Dopant.

Just when she thought they were gaining the upper hand, the Dopant pulled away, pulling out a coin, “He’s right here. And so is his family.”

At the mention of the word family, she felt something strange. A distance and quiet from Phillip, and the right side of her body tensing in a way that felt almost unnatural. It was Phillip’s doing, not her own, not even unconsciously. Mentally, she nudged him, but go no response, nor a change in the part of her body he controlled.

She tries to take a step forward, and while her left leg will move, her right will not.

The Dopant laughed, “Oh, did I strike a nerve? Well, you look awfully stuck… See ya!” The Dopant launches one last attack at Akiko before he goes, knocking the two out.

---

Shoutaro gets off the bus in a tunnel and, mask in hand, enters the Million Colosseo.

Soon enough, there would be a Dopant here, and if something happened to the Money Dopant or the Money Memory… well, Museum probably wouldn’t be able to trace it back to him. Especially if he makes sure that Mr. Kaga doesn’t talk.

[writingpaperghost]

The Wind Will Take You Along (Chapter 2)

Chapter 2: The W Search/Those Who Make the City Cry

Akiko searches for the identity of the T-Rex Dopant.

As of now, I have finally plotted out this entire AU, yay! I've also made some edits to the first chapter to fix some errors, but by and large nothing major has changed.

AO3: https://archiveofourown.org/works/57870910/chapters/164026927

“I don’t get what you’re still worrying about,” Akiko said, watching as her father reviewed his notes on the case. The case he’d solved – someone’s boyfriend was causing trouble, out to get revenge on some perceived wrong. She hadn’t really been paying that close of attention, more preoccupied with keeping the office some semblance of organized. It wasn’t like he let her go with him on cases, anyway, and this one didn’t seem interesting enough to be worth the trouble of sneaking along on this time.

He glanced up from his notes, “Sometimes, Akiko, a case isn’t over as quickly as it seems.”

“What else is there? You found out who was responsible, right?” She walked over to him, picking up the empty cup on his desk that had once been filled with coffee.

“Sometimes, the seeming victim isn’t as innocent as they seem,” Was his response, standing up from his chair and walking from the desk. He reached for one of his hats from the rack.

Glancing at the notes on the desk, the pictures and evidence that made up his case, Akiko thought she was beginning to see what he meant. Not only were some of the crimes things that should only really have been possible with two people committing them, but they all happened close to where their client had been. At first, it seemed like their client was the target, but now…

Their client was responsible for it too.

She looked back up at her father. “What are you going to do?”

Her father was at the door, now, “Our client and I will have a chat. Don’t stay up for me, Akiko.”

Even though he told her not to, Akiko didn’t go home to her apartment until her father got home that night.

---

While Akiko had technically found Togawa, she’d also found another Dopant. And that brought the mystery as to who that Dopant was and why they bothered taking out Togawa. Obviously they wanted to keep him from spilling something, likely their identity, but who?

“Morning, Akiko,” Looking up from her desk, she smiled to greet Shoutaro as he entered. “You’re up working bright and early, I see.”

“Something’s been bugging me.” She replied, taking a drink out of her cup of coffee. She’d never been much for it and couldn’t tell if the awful taste was because she made it badly or if that was just how coffee tasted. Regardless, she did her best to hide how badly she wanted to make a face.

Shoutaro watched her, “You found Togawa though? By the way, have you told Marina yet?”

“I did, but he was taken away by another Dopant,” She reminded. “And no, I haven’t told her yet, I don’t think this case is over.”

He watched her, for a moment, before saying, “You’re going to try to find out who this other Dopant is, aren’t you?”

She stood up, sighing, “Someone has to.”

“Just be careful, alright? Leave the Dopants to the Kamen Rider.”

Shoutaro wandered over to the radio. Akiko kept it because it was her father’s, and because they didn’t have the room nor the real funds to have a proper TV in the agency. She kept up on the news well enough, anyway, so it didn’t matter much. But usually, when Shoutaro was here, at this time, he used it to listen to…

He turned the radio on, and a cheerful woman’s voice came through, “Welcome to Healing Princess!”

Sighing again, Akiko said, “I know half the population of Fuuto is obsessed with her, but I still can’t believe you’re a part of that half.”

Glancing over at her, Shoutaro responded, “Princess Wakana is… amazing. There’s a reason everyone loves her so much.”

Just for good measure, Akiko sighed once more.

---

“One last letter for the show! Let’s see… Tsuki T. wrote in saying, ‘I love your show so much, Princess Wakana! It always makes me feel better, even when I’m having a bad time. I always have something to look forward to.’ Aw, thanks Tsuki! I’m glad I can help cheer you up!” At this point, the broadcast booth at Windwave Radio had become a second home to Wakana. More so than even her real home, she felt comfortable there. Even if she put on the appearance of a cheerful and lovable girl when she was in there. “Well, everyone, that’s all for today’s Healing Princess! Thank you all for tuning in and for all your love and support, I hope you’ll all listen in tomorrow!”

Another moment and they’re off the air. Princess Wakana fell, and Wakana Sonozaki takes her place, standing up from her seat in the booth. She loved being the host of Healing Princess, and at least it got her out of the mansion – away from her father, Saeko, and Saeko’s new fiance.

God, Saeko’s new fiance. Kirihiko got on her nerves something fierce. He was too goody two shoes, even though he was involved with their family. Marrying her sister. But still, it was all about how much he loved Fuuto and how much he was willing to do for the city.

Wakana thinks he’s in denial or something.

Speaking of Kirihiko… she thinks she’ll have to give him a little test when she got home. She’d love if she could prove him less worthy of the Sonozaki name than her own boyfriend. Just because her family hadn’t felt he’d proven himself… well, she’ll see how Saeko likes having her newest toy on the receiving end of that.

---

If anyone in the city might know just what the deal with the Magma Dopant and the other Dopant was, it was Watcherman. When she was working with her father, he had varying groups of people who owed him favors or such that he would get information from. Akiko had no such things, instead, she stumbled into various unusual members of Fuuto’s populace, ones who were often quite aware what was going on in the city. Especially things that weren’t exactly common knowledge.

And the first step to figuring out who the other Dopant was would be to figure out what their relationship with the Magma Dopant was. Hopefully, that was information that had reached Watcherman.

“Hmm… well, word is that Togawa and whoever’s becoming that T-Rex are partners,” Watcherman tells her as Akiko pays him in exchange.

“Partners, huh,” She hummed. So then, who would be partners with him? “Thanks Watcherman,”

Soon enough, she arrives at the scene of the Magma Dopant’s last crime, where she and Phillip had stopped the Dopant. Though she doubted there would be much, certainly not much that wasn’t related to Togawa, she still hoped that she could find some kind of clue. Anything to lead her to who the T-Rex Dopant could be, and with Phillip’s abilities, it took a whole lot less than what she’d need otherwise.

She scans the area, wandering over to where the T-Rex Dopant had emerged to eat Togawa. If there was going to be anything of note, it would be here. The pavement was still broken up, it would probably take a few days, at least, for it to be fixed. It’s there that something catches her eye, what appears to be a scrap of clothing. It didn’t look like what Togawa had been wearing, so then there was a good chance that it belonged to the T-Rex Dopant instead. She grabs it, turning it around in her hands.

Right, this was something. She spies the Windscale logo on it, which would help narrow down who had gotten it. If she were on her own or apart of the police, she could attempt to search through records to see if it was possible to find who had bought it, if it was recent enough, at least. But Akiko had something better, she had Phillip, and there were few things Phillip couldn’t find with the right amount of information.

Pleased with her discovery, Akiko makes her way back to the agency.

She finds Shoutaro there, firstly. He watches her for a moment, before asking, “Found any clues?”

“Yep,” Akiko grinned, “It should be enough to figure out who the Dopant is.”

He frowned, “You be careful,” he wanders towards the door, “I’m going to meet with Marina for a bit, but if something happens… call me, okay? I’ll come running to help.”

Rolling her eyes, she responds, “I can take care of myself, Shoutaro.” Whether he knew it or not, she was more equipped to stop a Dopant than he was.

“I just don’t want you getting hurt,” With that, he left. Akiko makes her way back into the garage, where Phillip mumbled away about something – Takoyaki, it looked like.

Akiko watches for a moment, Phillip’s marker whipping across the whiteboard as he rapidly wrote notes, both in Japanese and in other languages she didn’t know. Finally, she called out, “Phillip,”

His writing paused for a moment, before he whipped around, “Akiko, I was just researching ‘takoyaki’ – I recalled you mentioned it once from your home and-“

“That’s great, really,” She said, feeling a bit bad about cutting him off, “Hey, I found a clue about who the T-Rex Dopant is.”

He watched as she pulled out the scrap of cloth, “I see… then you think it will be enough for a look up?”

“I’m hoping,” She replies with a small smile. “So let’s see… T-Rex, Windscale…”

“Well,” Phillip began, “I certainly do have a match.”

“Who is it?”

“Marina Tsumura,” With that, Akiko felt her heart drop. Oh boy, not just her client, but Shoutaro’s friend…

Wait, Shoutaro said he was going to meet with Marina.

Turning around, Akiko hurried towards the door, “I’ve gotta go find Shoutaro!”

 Phillip watched her leave, “How come?”

“He’s going to see Marina!” She’s out the door before she can hear his response.

---

By the time Akiko finds Shoutaro and Marina, things seem so normal that she almost wonders if maybe she was wrong. Maybe Phillip had found the wrong book. But she knows better than to assume that – Marina just wouldn’t have any reason to feel threatened by Shoutaro.

“Shoutaro!” Akiko calls, catching his attention.

He looks over at her, surprised, “Akiko, what are you doing here?”

Standing by them, she looks between him and Marina, then answers, “There’s something we need to talk about.”

Frowning, he asked, “Can’t it wait?”

“No,” She shook her head, “Because Ms. Tsumura here… is the T-Rex Dopant!”

“What?” Shoutaro whipped his head to look towards Marina.

Marina frowned, “They fired me, I just… wasn’t sure what else to do.” Her remorse seemed off, not quite real. Akiko doubts she was really that regretful of seeking revenge.

Shoutaro takes a step towards her, “Then turn yourself in, Marina. Stop using that Memory.”

As he spoke, Akiko catches sight of the arrival of the Fuuto PD. “I already called to let them know. So just make it easy on them.”

Marina’s remorseful expression morphed into a scowl as she produced the T-Rex Memory. Activating it, she pulled down the collar of her blouse and inserted the Memory. Akiko and Shoutaro jump to the side, away from the T-Rex Dopant. Her focus first lands on the police, attacking.

Shoutaro calls out to Akiko, “Akiko! Get out of here!”

Akiko would, sure, but it would be so she can avoid being seen transforming. She slips away, cringing at seeing the destruction that the T-Rex Dopant had brought. They’d just have to try to keep her from causing more.

She places the W Driver on her waist, already pulling out the Joker Memory. “Let’s stop this dinosaur, Phillip.”

Phillip puts his book away, into his pocket and pulls out the Cyclone Memory, “Of course. I’ll have to remember to research dinosaurs after this…”

Cyclone!

Joker!

With the two Memories slotted into the Driver, they transform. They’re quick to intervene, attacking T-Rex so that it would stop attacking the police. They were far from equipped to deal with a Dopant attack. Hurrying over, easily making up the lost distance, Akiko grabs onto T-Rex, pulling her away with a heave.

Now aware of the presence of the Kamen Rider, T-Rex changing once more, now growing into quite the large T-Rex, more like what a real one might look like, rather than the monstrous form Dopants generally took. That was going to make things more complicated, they didn’t have a whole lot of practice fighting a Dopant this size. “Got any ideas?” Akiko asked Phillip, hoping he could have something to work with. Brute force would probably work, but that was sometimes a bit more difficult than coming up with a plan, Akiko had found.

Without another word, Akiko’s right hand takes out the Cyclone Memory, replacing it with the Heat Memory instead. That side of her body changes from green and yellow to red and orange. “Perhaps turning up the heat will make her change her mind.” Phillip finally said.

“I didn’t think you made jokes,” Akiko observed, dodging past the jaws of the T-Rex Dopant.

Punching T-Rex, flames arcing across Akiko’s right fist, Phillip comments, “It’s merely a coincidental turn of phrase.”

“If you say so!” Finding that this alone wasn’t quite working, Akiko pulls the Joker Memory out of her side of the Driver, replacing it with the Metal Memory. “I think I’ve got a way to make this work even better!” The black and purple of Joker gives way to the grey of Metal, providing Akiko with a handy staff to better hit this lizard with. More range would make it easier to avoid the T-Rex Dopant’s jaws.

They spin the staff as flames surround it, then land a strong hit on T-Rex. Akiko had never thought of herself as one who was much for a fight, but becoming Kamen Rider had… accustomed her to it, she supposed. Shoutaro had taught her how to fight, while her dad was still alive, but she’d only really started needing it since meeting Phillip. Since she became Kamen Rider.

Focusing now, she feels a brief moment where she and Phillip are on the exact same page – the T-Rex Dopant has been weakened, now. Just one more strong attack and they could destroy the Gaia Memory. With flames licking the end of their staff, they throw all their might into hitting T-Rex with it.

Marina falls to the ground, the T-Rex Memory shattering beside her.

Akiko huffed, but seeing the police making their way over, she knows she doesn’t need to worry about Marina trying anything else. Not that she was likely all that dangerous without a Gaia Memory. Then, it’s time to slip away and head back to the agency.

“Revenge is such an odd thing,” Phillip noted, “Perhaps I will have to research it.”

She scoffed a little, slipping into an alley way and becoming herself once more. Since she still had the W Driver on, she could still hear Phillip, and he her, though Phillip himself was once again in his own body. “Good luck with that,” She said, “I don’t think I’ll ever understand it.”

---

Akiko wasn’t all that surprised when Shoutaro showed up at the agency again, that evening. She glanced up from her case report, watching him for a moment. He didn’t seem to bothered, and Shoutaro was never that good at hiding his feelings. “How are you holding up?”

He sighed, sitting down, “It’s… a bit hard to believe Marina was also a Dopant.” He said, “I know I haven’t seen her much since we were kids, but…”

“People change, I guess.” Akiko knows she is hardly the sort of person she was when she was a kid. She’d changed even just since coming to Fuuto.

“I guess,” He watched her, almost mindlessly.

Tilting her head, she asks, “Is something else bothering you?”

Snapping out of it, he shook his head, “What? No, not me.”

Unable to help herself, Akiko laughs, “Are you sure? Maybe you had a crush on Marina.”

“Marina? No!” Shoutaro seemed flustered by that comment, and Akiko laughed again. It was fun to get him worked up, in part because it could, at times, be rather easy to do. “Hey! Don’t laugh!”

“Sorry, sorry,” She attempts to reign it in, though she isn’t all that successful. “You just make such funny faces! And anyway, it’s not like it would be a big deal if you did. It’s not like you’re dating anyone.”

Again, he shook his head, “Marina and I were never anything other than friends, and I’ve never felt any other way about her. I wasn’t even thinking about that when we were kids.”

Still smiling, though her laughter had calmed, Akiko props her chin in her palm, “So, have you ever had a crush on someone? You definitely have. Other than Princess Wakana, that is.”

“I don’t see why that’s important,” Shoutaro answered almost too quickly.

“It’s nothing to be ashamed of.” She continues, “I had all sorts of crushes growing up.”

He regards her for a moment, before asking, “Yeah? Well what about now?”

She shrugged, “No one in Fuuto has caught my eye.” And truthfully, since becoming the Kamen Rider, the idea of trying to date anyone hadn’t felt right. It would be putting them in danger, getting them involved in something they didn’t have to be. It just wasn’t on the table, not until this organization creating the Gaia Memories was dealt with.

Now, she understood why her father had done what he had even more. It was just that instead of being too careful to form those sort of relationships, he had no choice but to cut off the ones he already had. Akiko was ten when it happened, how different things might have been if it hadn’t. But that was far in the past and there was no changing it.

“Maybe you’ll find someone on one of your cases.” Shoutaro comments, absentmindedly.

Akiko snorts, “Maybe, but I’m not too worried about it.”

[writingpaperghost]

As I still slowly watch through Faiz (nearly a year after I started), at 34 episodes in I've been thinking about why I sometimes am not excited to watch another episode, especially compared to W and Fourze where I could easily watch two episodes a day. I've been more excited for Gavv than going through Faiz, and usually I don't like interrupting watching one show for the currently airing one.

I think it's just... Faiz is so unfun. Like, I don't think I've actually laughed at all while watching. I don't know if it just genuinely fails at any of it's attempts at humor, it used to or would be funny if I remembered the year 2003, or if it's just not funny to me specifically, but like. I've gotten more second hand embarrassment than anything.

And so the end result is it feels like there's never a real chance for a breather. I think that's why Kaido and Keitaro get misadventures here and there, sometimes, but. It just doesn't work for me. So I'm sitting here as something really dramatic or big happens and I'm just like. The tension has been up for several episodes and it isn't really build up at this point. I think the only things that get a reaction out of me at this point are really out of pocket shit (Kusaka declaring that Mari was the only one who could take the place of his mother and fix him) or the end of episode 34 (which was less because I was surprised about what was revealed and more because of the way it was revealed).

Don't get me wrong, I don't dislike Faiz. I'd say it is Good*, overall. I just can't watch more than maybe one episode a day, and honestly sometimes that feels like too much.

*excluding the women, but that's pretty normal for Kamen Rider and I pretty much always have a complaint of some kind

[writingpaperghost]

It's been several months but it is still insane to me that the conclusion of Spanner's... well everything really does just end up on "agree to disagree". Like, sir. You had beef with a seventeen year old, and sat through the entire plot of the show and went. Yes. I will still hold the same beliefs that are also shared by villains in certain Pokemon games. But it's okay because you've decided you just won't be constantly beefing with a teenager over it.

Like, okay, sure. He doesn't hate Lachesis by the end. Congrats, bare minimum. Hell, it's even reasonable to say that that the whole "destroy all the Chemies because without them Riders wouldn't be needed" thing was also super recoverable from. But he just... doesn't? He goes through everything and just decides that he'll start being more normal about how he behaves in relation to Hotarou's actions. That's it. Spanner, the difference between a Chemy - especially the more human-like ones like Zukyunpire and X Wizard - and your not quite girlfriend are negligible, one of them just has human DNA.

[writingpaperghost]

Linking With the Only One Called You (Chapter 2)

Chapter 2: Space Superiority

While the search for the Switcher continues, Nozama tries to help Ryuusei understand Utahoshi a bit better, and Ryuusei tries to get back on Utahoshi's okay side.

AO3: https://archiveofourown.org/works/56095588/chapters/162998731

It was Ryuusei’s second day at Amanogawa High School and he’s not even to the gate when Nozama approached him. She had a serious expression on her face, book clutched to her chest.

“Orion’s still out there,” She said.

He frowned, “Orion got a bit blown up.”

“Utahoshi told me that the only way to really defeat a Zodiart is to deactivate or destroy the Switch that transformed them,” She explained. So there were switches of some kind involved. He’d have to see one for himself to know if it was the same as what Jirou had…

Sighing, he responded, “I don’t think Utahoshi wants me involved any further.”

She scowled, “You’re the only one who’s been able to use the Fourze Driver. We need your help, whether he likes it or not…” She shook her head. “For now, focus on trying to find the Switcher. It’s likely to be someone at the school.”

Well, Ryuusei could play detective.

Another few days pass, and despite Ryuusei’s best efforts, he can’t exactly find a lot of leads. No one really knows much about the monsters that have been appearing, and even less about who might be the monster. But Orion hadn’t appeared again yet, either, so that was good. If he wanted to, he could try to go after Ryuusei, and without the Fourze Driver, it would be like their first encounter.

As the end of the day drew, the seat behind him was empty – Utahoshi was gone, probably down at the nurse’s office, as usual. Or at the Rabbit Hutch. Probably for the best, Utahoshi was ignoring him, and if they talked, as things were, it would only be trouble. He and Utahoshi had opposing personalities. Jojima seemed to notice Utahoshi’s absence, too.

“Utahoshi’s always so sick…” She frowned, “I wonder if the stress of school is getting to him?”

That prompted Ryuusei to look over at her, curious, “What do you mean by that?”

She laughed a bit awkwardly, “Well, I remember last year, he wasn’t so sick… actually, I think it only really started sometime this last summer?” She frowned a little in thought, “Maybe around the time he and that Nozama girl started spending time together. Honestly, I’m worried she could be putting something in his food…”

Nozama poisoning Utahoshi? It didn’t seem impossible, but she didn’t seem to dislike Utahoshi so much, not enough to purposefully poison him. On accident didn’t seem impossible, he’d glanced over to her at lunch sprinkling god knows what into her food. Still, it could be a coincidence. And who was to say if it was piloting that mech or a preexisting condition that left him so strained.

He shook his head, “I really don’t think that’s what’s going on, Jojima…”

“Still, it’s really weird…” She shook her head and her smile returned, “So! How have you been liking Amanogawa?”

Bright and loud? Awful? Well, awful would be a bit of an exaggeration. He hadn’t had a lot of time to focus on that outside of class due to his investigation into who was Orion. Outside of trying to look for Orion, he really hadn’t done much around AGHS. He had no desire to join any club, and he wasn’t here for friends.

“It’s… fine, I guess. Teachers aren’t awful.” He finally answered.

“Only fine,” Jojima pouted, this almost exaggerated pout, “It’s Amanogawa High School! How could it just be ‘fine’?”

He sighed, “I never wanted to go here in the first place, it was my parents’ idea.” He shrugged, “Maybe it’ll warm up to me.”

“Give it some time, I’m sure you’ll learn to love it here,” Jojima’s smile returned, before she glanced back at Utahoshi’s seat. “I really am worried about Utahoshi though…”

“I’m sure he’s fine, he’s the loner type, anyway.”

Jojima hummed, thoughtfully, standing up and swinging her bag onto her shoulder, “I wonder if Chairman Gamou realizes that he goes to school here…?”

“Chairman Gamou?” The name wasn’t unfamiliar, and as Jojima said, he was the chairman of Amanogawa High School. It’s founder. He used to work with JAXA and that was how he allowed students so many opportunities in aerospace and related skills.

She smiled a little, “He used to work with Utahoshi’s father, you know.”

That was news, Ryuusei didn’t even know anything about Utahoshi’s father, so he couldn’t exactly say if what Jojima said made sense or not. But, it wouldn’t be a stretch that Utahoshi, who somehow got the highest grades in class despite being gone so much, inherited his smarts from his father. He’d consider bringing it up with Utahoshi, but given they didn’t get along, he’d probably have better luck with Nozama.

With her peace said, Jojima skipped off, singing a song under her breath, “My name is Hayabusa-kun,” he’d heard her sing it a few times. Some song about the Hayabusa satellite. She sure did love space.

He sighed and shook his head, he had to focus on finding Orion, someway, somehow. So he stood up, lifting his bag onto his shoulder, and left the classroom.

Ryuusei only makes it halfway down the hall before he’s cut off by another student dancing into the space in front of him. He skidded to a halt, startled by the student. His uniform barely resembled the Amanogawa High School uniform, the jacket more the style of a hoodie jacket, filled with pins and colorful patterns, bangles all over his wrists. His hair was a bit longer than most, still stopping above his shoulders, a sort of bleach dyed lighter brown, with a few colorful streaks and hair clips.

“Yo,” He said, “I hear you’ve been looking around for a troublemaker.”

Ryuusei blinked, surprised at the student’s younger appearance, “What… who are you?”

He smiled, throwing an arm around Ryuusei. Ryuusei stiffened, though the student started talking. “You can call me Jay-Kay, pronounced ‘Jake’.”

Grabbing JK’s hand and pulling it off of him, Ryuusei rolled his eyes, “Do you need something?”

“Maybe I can help you find who you’re looking for, right? Someone’s after the football players, that monster that showed up the other day.” JK went on. He must be talking about Orion, it seems some knowledge of that had made it to at least some of the student body.

“Do you have someone in mind?” It was worth a shot. Maybe if Ryuusei could find the Switcher, Utahoshi might give him another chance as Fourze…

It’s the only way to save Jirou. Surely one of these Zodiarts might give him some solution to Jirou’s predicament. Surely one of them could wake Jirou up. Maybe that wasn’t something Utahoshi would agree with, but Ryuusei didn’t care. They all had their own motivations, their own fights. Utahoshi could deal with it.

JK looked a little sheepish, “Well not someone specific, perse, but I’ve got a few ideas where you could find some leads.”

That was… something, at least. “Lead the way, then.”

“You got it!” He spins around and begins to walk down the hallway, “You won’t regret it.”

“I wasn’t thinking I would…” Until you said something.

Still, Ryuusei followed after JK, unsure where he’d lead him, but any leads were better than nothing. There were a few head turns from the handful of students still in the halls, but most were absorbed in themselves. JK chattered as they walked, mostly about things going on at the school, even if Ryuusei didn’t pay it all much mind.

Though it seemed JK was the kind who kept up on school gossip – it would make sense why he might have some idea as to a lead on Orion. “You know a lot about what’s going on around the school, don’t you?” He asked.

Glancing back, JK grinned, turning to face Ryuusei, “Of course. If you want to know about anything going on at Amanogawa, I’m your guy.”

He backs into someone, “Already bothering the new student, JK?” Nozama said, voice as quiet ever, though there was an annoyance to it.

Jumping, JK spun back around, hands raised placatingly, “Hey, hey, I’m not bothering him…”

Nozama didn’t look convinced, so Ryuusei added, “He says he might know where there are some leads on Orion.”

With a sigh, Nozama walked around JK, grabbing Ryuusei’s wrist, “Come on, Sakuta. I have something to show you.”

“What?” What could she have to show him? Why now?

“Just come along,” Ryuusei figured it was best to go along with it, he could track down JK later.

She leads him to the Rabbit Hutch, Utahoshi thankfully not present. That meant he was probably down at the nurse’s office, at least right now. This couldn’t be what she wanted him to see, though.

Opening a door, she revealed spacesuits, pulling two out and handing one to him. “Put it on,” She said, “We’re going out.”

“Out onto the moon?” Ryuusei couldn’t help the disbelief in his voice.

“That’s what the space suits are for.” Nozama replied. He still didn’t understand what she was trying to do, but he followed her lead and put the spacesuit on. And then he followed her out, onto the moon.

The moon was broad and empty, each step feeling different. The rational part of him said that it was just the difference of gravity. The part of him that, like every child, once dreamed of the stars said that it was the beauty of the moon. Of a place so few had ever seen, and even fewer while still so young. On the moon, it was quiet, empty, and in its own way, serene.

It took him a little bit to get the hang of movement, but he was a fast enough learner, and Nozama guided him. Then, not too far from the Rabbit Hutch, they stop at the edge of a crater. They just stand there, for a few moments, only the sound of their own breathing.

Then Nozama says, “This is where Utahoshi’s father died.”

“What?” Ryuusei says, as equally confused as before, though now because that was quite an out-of-pocket thing to say.

“Eighteen years ago, this is where Utahoshi’s father died.”

Ryuusei considered that, “In a crater on the moon,” What a way to go.

“This crater only appeared eighteen years ago,” Nozama told him. That… said a lot about how Utahoshi’s father died. Just what had happened?

He glanced at Nozama, who stared out at the crater, “Why are you telling me this?”

She looked over at him. “So you can understand him a bit better. So you can understand why he’s so protective of the Fourze Driver.”

So he could understand… Ryuusei had his parents. He grew up with them, with no real responsibility or legacy to carry. But Ryuusei did know what it was like to cling to something or someone important. For Ryuusei, that was Jirou. For Utahoshi, that was the Fourze Driver and the Switches. The work of his father, now in his own hands. The work of his father, which Ryuusei had used and in moments, had little care for or for Utahoshi’s opinion.

“I… think I understand. Not perfectly but…” He thinks he knew how to get off of Utahoshi’s bad side. Or at least try.

---

Utahoshi was at a dirt track, riding a motorcycle around and around. It was pretty impressive that someone prone to getting so sick could manage so well. But Utahoshi probably knew his limits well, or at least Ryuusei would hope as much. Nozama had told him that he was here, so Ryuusei set out to walk there, though it thankfully wasn’t far from the school.

“Utahoshi!” He called, standing to the side of the track as Utahoshi approached.

To his surprise, Utahoshi did stop, pulling off his helmet to glare at him. “What do you want?”

“I think we got off on the wrong foot. A couple times, really.” Ryuusei said, “I’ll spare you the boring mushy feelings things, but the simple way to say it is… we can help each other.”

“I really don’t think you can.” Utahoshi said, shaking his head.

“Maybe you don’t really need my help, but I need yours. So I’m offering my help, one more person to try to find the Zodiart, someone who can fight with you.” Ryuusei sighed, “I’m not saying we have to be friends or anything. I’m not saying you even have to like me.”

The glare from Utahoshi didn’t weaken in the slightest, “Maybe I don’t want your help.”

It wasn’t a surprise that Utahoshi wasn’t budging so easily. Ryuusei was prepared for that, “You need someone to be Fourze, whether you like it or not. It’s the best way to stop a Zodiart. So let’s try it again, I know how to fight, but not anything about Fouze or those Switches. So I listen to you, properly. We’ll do it right, this time.” He held his hand out, “Let’s give it another shot, Utahoshi.”

Utahoshi stared at the outstretched hand, still frowning, but now seeming to consider what he said. And then, Utahoshi took it. “Fine, one more shot. But we have to find the Switcher first.”

“The stadium,” Nozama said, appearing from… somewhere. It startled Ryuusei, but Utahoshi didn’t seem bothered. “The Switcher is a football player. Toshiya Miura. He’s got something against the football team, and they’re going to be at the stadium right now.”

Pulling the helmet back on, Utahoshi got back on the motorcycle, “To the stadium, then. Get on, Sakuta.”

While Ryuusei had no helmet, they wouldn’t be going far and he figured Utahoshi would be particularly trying to kill him. “What about Nozama?”

Nozama shook her head, “I’ll catch up, focus on stopping Miura.”

Utahoshi got them to the stadium quick enough, and they headed for the locker room. That was their best bet for finding Miura. Then all they had to do with get the Switch away from him, though Ryuusei was sure it wouldn’t be so easy. They found the football team quick enough, though their presence obviously drew attention.

“What are you two doing here?” Someone asked.

Ryuusei spoke up, “We’re looking for Miura? Think we could steal him for a minute?”

And then all heads turned to look at one student, who was in the midst of cleaning something up. The student – who Ryuusei assumed must be Miura, looked up. And then his eyes narrowed at Ryuusei – if he was the one who’d become that monster, surely he’d have seen Ryuusei before he’d transformed and recognize him.

Miura reached into his pocket, pulling out a Switch, different from the ones that worked with the Fourze Driver, but not so different that it seemed like something else entirely. Ryuusei had seen it once before, briefly.

Last One

Those words were still burned in Ryuusei’s mind. As Miura gripped the Switch it morphed, covering itself in spikes and overall, just being more… menacing. This one… this was the sight that Ryuusei saw whenever he relived that night. Just in his memories, it was Jirou, not Miura.

“Don’t do that,” Utahoshi called out, but Miura ignored him. He clicked the Switch.

Orion

And with that, Miura morphed into the monster that Ryuusei had fought before, except instead of becoming the monster… his body fell to the floor, wrapped in something like thick spiderweb. The football players, thankfully, had the sense to get out of there when they realized what was happening – it was tight, but they all were able to push past Ryuusei and Utahoshi. It helped that Miura was in no hurry to attack.

Utahoshi shoved the Fourze Driver at him, Switches already inside. “Do it properly this time, Sakuta.”

“Leave it to me.” Ryuusei placed the Driver on his waist once more, straps coming out to wrap around him. Quickly, he flipped the Switches.

3…

2…

1…

Pulling the lever, he called out, “Transform!”

Fourze’s suit was an unusual but not unwelcomed feeling, this time. This time, Ryuusei at least had a better idea what he was doing. “Now, you and I are going to settle this.”

As Ryuusei fought Orion, Utahoshi set his briefcase down, typing away quickly at the computer in it. Beside it was a strange mechanical device, which greatly resembled a hamburger.

After a few moments, Utahoshi calls out, “I’ve found where the Switch is in his body, you’ll have to get it in order to get rid of this Zodiart.”

Blocking a punch from Orion, Ryuusei asks, “And how am I supposed to do that?”

“Enough damage to the body should cause the Switch to be ejected, for a time. If you can turn it off then…”

That was enough explanation for Ryuusei, at least. “So just give him a few good hits,”

Closing his briefcase, Utahoshi adds, “It would be best to do it somewhere a little safer.”

Right now they were fighting in far too narrow of a space. The best and safest place would be up. “I can find that.” Flipping the Rocket Switch, he braced himself for the incoming thrust.

Rocket on!

Soon he was blasting out of the building, Orion Zodiart in tow. He tosses Orion, then kicks him, letting the rocket push them even higher. Once the rocket’s thrusters died down, he switched one of the other Switches out for a different one.

Parachute on!

At a quite reasonable pace, Ryuusei floats down, finding the Switch having landed in around the same spot, still intact despite the height that it fell from. Curiously, he picked it up. Utahoshi said that he had to turn it off and it should… fix this, he supposed. He pressed the button on the Switch once more, and a moment later it disintegrated, leaving not even a residue in the white of Fourze’s suit.

Leaving the transformation and removing the Driver from his waist, Ryuusei made his way back to Utahoshi, Nozama having finally arrived. Miura was still unconscious, but the webbing is gone.

“Sakuta, you did it,” Nozama said, “Like a real Kamen Rider.”

Utahoshi rolled his eyes, “Enough with that nonsense,” He squatted down, checking over Miura. “We should take him to the nurse’s office and they can get him to a doctor.”

Ryuusei couldn’t help but keep his eyes on Miura. It felt… too familiar. Was this… common? Did using the Switches really have this much of an effect on people? Or did it have something to do with the way the Switch changed? – Utahoshi had seemed a bit surprised by that.

Was Miura doomed to become like Jirou? Or… was this different? Would he wake up? Would Jirou ever wake up? Ryuusei couldn’t let his mind stay on that thought too long. He’d find a way to wake Jirou up – especially now that he knew more about the Switches. It was only a matter of time.

[writingpaperghost]

Without You (Chapter 31)

Chapter 31: Defeat the Deadmans, Capture Giff!

There's a plan and though Fenix gets something they want, they also lose something they want. In the meantime, Makoto gathers a couple more puzzle pieces, but a lot of people seemed to be in the dark as well.

Hello. I'm back. After like. Ten months. Whoops. This chapter really didn't want to come out. But here it is. Hopefully it won't be quite so long between now and the next one. We'll see, inspiration is wild and crazy. And also evil, sometimes.

AO3: https://archiveofourown.org/works/43371954/chapters/161892307

About a week or so after Vail had made his first appearance, Mr. Buu came by Happy Spa. Though neither Makoto nor Yukimi knew for sure, they suspected he might have been looking for Genta. Or, if Vail had relinquished control of Genta, been trying to make sure Vail didn’t get out again. Seeing him at Happy Spa was a good enough sign, at least. It meant, if nothing else, Vail hadn’t killed him – then again, Vail didn’t show much interest in fighting anyone other than Jeanne and Revi, before.

Mr. Buu smiled, the sort that was polite, though a bit awkward and nervous. “Makoto, is Yukimi around?”

“She just came back from the store, so she’s in the kitchen putting things away.” Makoto answered, “Do you know if papa is alright?”

He seemed a bit surprised by Makoto’s question, though he likely didn’t know that Makoto knew anything about Vail or Genta’s past. Still, he recovered fairly quickly and answered, “He’s alright, for now at least.”

Makoto took that to mean that Vail had left for the time, though that wasn’t likely to last. Unfortunate, but it meant they’d have a bit of time to try to come up with a solution before Vail appeared again. Not that Makoto had any idea what their solution might be – Vail was too strong for them to fight, and there was no telling if him being caused differently than other demons they’d faced would affect anything.

As Mr. Buu went to speak with Yukimi, Makoto got a call on his phone. Tamaki, who’d otherwise spent the time since Vail’s appearance avoiding and ignoring him. Most likely, he was only calling because the Deadmans were in the middle of trying something. He wasn’t exactly in the mood for fighting, but he never really was and didn’t exactly have much of a choice. Fenix was far more of a headache.

Before he can even get out a hello, Tamaki said, “Seems like Jeanne’s showed up, get over here.” Gave him the minimum amount of information required for Makoto to know where “here” is, and then hung up. Well, he was still pissed at him, it seemed. Hopefully it wouldn’t get in the way of fighting Jeanne – though given Tamaki was probably still upset about Yusuke, Makoto really doubted it. He sighed, but hurried out the door.

Upon arriving, he found… very little. Just Tamaki, Tabuchi, and some Fenix soldiers. Which struck him as odd, as Jeanne, generally speaking, wasn’t much for subtlety. So then, what was going on? Sticking his hands in his pockets, settling on the Driver and the icy Anomalocaris Vistamp, he commented, “I sure don’t see Jeanne around here.”

“Igarashi,” Tabuchi turned his attention to him, “Yes, it seems she has since left. We’re checking to see if she’s left anything.”

Showing up and then leaving before Fenix could even arrive didn’t make much sense. Not unless Jeanne was up to something more unusual than what she would usually be trying. But that raised the question of what?

Not that they were left to ponder long, as an annoyed and familiar voice rung out, “Don’t point a gun at me! What do I look like, some kind of monster?”

Undeniably, that was Hana – right down to the indignation. Tamaki’s ears perked, a surprised but wary look coming across his face. “Hana?”

Glancing over at him, Tabuchi asked, “Your sister?”

“Yeah,” Makoto answered, narrowing his eyes as the Fenix soldiers led Hana closer. She was dressed in her usual sort of clothes, not her Aguilera outfit. Other than looking a little disheveled, though, she appeared fine. Why was she here though, and why not acting as Aguilera?

Hana pushed past the Fenix soldiers, sprinting at Makoto before hugging him, tightly, “’Koto! I missed you!”

Something was definitely up.

“Hana…” Tentatively, he hugged her. Though now was not the time, Makoto might be willing to admit that he’d missed Hana’s hugs. She was always a bit more physically affectionate than he and Tamaki, and that made her absence more noticeable in another way. He missed her as a whole, really. But there was a nagging feeling that he knew something was going on here, even if he had no clue as to what.

She sniffled, just a little. Hana never cried, she refused to let herself, at least when others could see her. “It was so scary…” She said.

Tamaki watched them, clear confusion written across his face, “What is going on…?”

“Ms. Igarashi,” Tabuchi said, “The Deadmans had kidnapped you, hadn’t they?”

Hana lifts her face up from Makoto, looking vaguely over in Tabuchi’s direction. He probably couldn’t see her face that well. “Yeah…” She responded, and her hands clutched Makoto’s jacket just a little tighter. He was beginning to feel it through the layers of his jacket, sweater, and shirt. “I… I was supposed to meet with Sakura, but Jeanne was there instead.” Sakura, who at this point, even Tabuchi likely knew was Jeanne.

“Did they do anything to you?” Were the circumstances different, Makoto would probably snark at Tabuchi about interrogating his sister here and now. But something wasn’t right here, and while he didn’t think Tabuchi would get much in the way of answers, there might be something there to explain even a little.

“No…” Hana answered, “They just… kept me there.”

Tabuchi frowned, “Then how did you get free?”

“Jeanne wanted to… I dunno, use me as bait or something?” She shrugged a little, “I got away, though.”

After clearly thinking on that, for a moment, Tabuchi asked, “Then perhaps you can tell us something about where their base is.”

“I could just show you,” Hana said, like that wasn’t a big deal.

Holding back his shock, though it was still evident in his somewhat choked voice, Tamaki repeated, “Show us?”

“Yeah, duh. I saw where it is and how they get in and out.”

The fact that Hana was offering this information was very suspicious. Either she was betraying the Deadmans, or… she was in some way lying. There was no way she’d simply just show them where their base was, that was too easy, too unlike Hana, given how much she seemed enamored with Jeanne. Then again, it wasn’t impossible Jeanne had somehow betrayed Hana’s love… but that she was here without Hikaru, and that Jeanne had supposedly been here before…

Something was certainly up, and Makoto didn’t trust this one bit.

Makoto narrowed his eyes, pulling Hana off him, though perhaps a bit roughly as she made a face. “You seem awfully calm about all of this.”

“Oh,” Hana’s face contorted into something of annoyance, for just a moment, before it quickly became cheerful, “That’s because I know I’m safe with my big brothers here.”

“Right…” Tamaki intoned, glancing between her and Makoto. He was clearly trying to make sense of this situation, just as Makoto was. He probably saw that Hana was acting off too. “Are you feeling okay?”

“Of course, why wouldn’t I be?” She frowned, eyeing the two carefully.

Tamaki barely held back from rolling his eyes, “Because you’d rather die than imply that you couldn’t handle protecting yourself?”

She laughed a little, “Well… even I can admit when I someone’s out of my league…”

“You can?” Makoto remarked, unable to help himself. He just couldn’t shake the nagging feeling in the back of his mind.

“She’s lying. We know she is. She’s up to something, and she wants Fenix to believe that she’s just an innocent girl.” His demon reminded, “They don’t know she’s Aguilera, but we do. She joined the Deadmans willingly.”

Such stinging words. Not that Makoto ever considered himself the greatest brother, but to think such things about Hana, even if they were true… He hated thinking poorly about her. All three of them had rough childhoods, even if that might not excuse… the Deadmans. Even Makoto knew that.

Hana had aided horrible things, but… Makoto wanted to convince himself that it wasn’t true. Or that she was just… tricked. Misguided. He wanted to convince himself that it wasn’t all her fault.

“She’s made her choices.”

Even if Makoto wished she hadn’t.

“Fine,” Hana pouted, just a little. Far more in character. “I won’t help you.”

Tabuchi stepped in, “If you are able, we would like you to show us where the Deadman’s base is.”

A little smile came to Hana’s face, “That’s easy, yeah.”

---

As if Makoto’s secrets and lies weren’t bad enough, now there was Hana. God damn Hana. She could be sweet, when she wanted to be, but the honey exterior was really only there to hide the stingers underneath. Makoto has always been more sharp words and sarcasm, even if he wasn’t afraid to fight if he had to (those years on the streets had taught them this well, even if Makoto wasn’t very good at it). But Hana… Hana was a shoot first, ask questions later sort of person. She was always ready to fight, her gaining the ability to summon kunai more recently has only really compounded that.

Hana had always been the least secretive about her past – there wasn’t really much to hide. Where Tamaki and Makoto kept quiet about their lives before running away, likely due to wanting to leave those memories behind, Hana was fairly frank on the matter. She hadn’t left much behind, as she’d never had much to begin with. An orphan with no family and no real friends. It was hard to say how much of that shaped the person she turned out to be.

She and Tamaki were prone to butting heads. While all three could be fairly stubborn, Makoto tried to avoid conflict, or perhaps just felt he had to take the role of mediator. Thus, the arguments came from Tamaki and Hana. There was always something, it seemed, though it rarely mattered much. Once they’d started karate, they’d settle their disagreements that way, though to Hana’s dismay, Tamaki always won. When he’d first joined Fenix, Hana had declared she’d one day get strong enough to beat him.

Was that what drove her to become Aguilera? It had to be. She had said something about showing them how strong she was, when they first saw her transform into Aguilera.

Still, there was no denying that Hana was up to something, that was the only thing that could explain why she was leading them to the Deadmans base. If that was even where she was really taking them to. Tamaki really should speak up, say something about how Hana was Aguilera… yet even now, he sort of hoped that maybe she wasn’t doing this of her own accord. That she’d been fooled, or somehow brainwashed, or that it wasn’t her at all, that it was like the Chameleon Deadman. Hana, for all her flaws, wasn’t a villain.

Then again, he was beginning to have his doubts about Makoto, as well. When had all the lies and secrets started? Was it with the Anomalocaris Vistamp? Earlier? Maybe when they met Weekend…? Tamaki needed to know more about Weekend, actually. But then... Weekend wouldn’t explain the outbursts of ruthless violence that Makoto had, the ones that he claimed not to remember. How could he not remember doing those things?

Just where did he get the Smilodon Vistamp from?

It wasn’t Karizaki, like he initially claimed, and his later answer of “a ghost” made even less sense. Who out there was capable of creating Vistamps? Not knowing certainly brought Tamaki some wariness when using it, though he thankfully didn’t suffer the same side effects Makoto had from using the Anomalocaris Vistamp. The burning wasn’t too severe, and it didn’t seem all the consistent, either. Manageable, even if something of an annoyance.

Hana led them to a club. It was closed, wouldn’t be open until the evening. For a second, Tamaki had to wonder if she was pulling some kind of joke on them. “This is a club. It’s not even open.”

She laughed a little, “Well, you wouldn’t expect anything suspicious about it.” She pushed the door open, strangely unlocked despite it being closed. “Doesn’t that make it a good place to hide? In a way, at least.”

Inside was eerily quiet, just the hum of the building’s ventilation, the outside coming through the walls, and their own footsteps. As Hana checked her phone, the phone she strangely still had, she led them into the main room of the club. The walls were painted black, so was the floor and the stage, red curtains adorning it. Reminiscent of the stage that the Deadmans filmed their livestreams on, but not quite the same. Slowly, almost deliberately so, Hana leads them up a set of stairs, onto a raised catwalk that went around the room. She paused at the top of the stairs, once everyone had walked up them.

“Now… I… uh, don’t remember which one, but… it was one of these walls. Somewhere.” She said, tapping a finger against her lip.

“A wall?” Captain Tabuchi asked, glancing around.

She nodded, “Yeah, it like… how to describe it… well we just sort of… walked through it. That really stood out.” She laughed a little awkwardly, “I just… don’t remember which wall or where on the wall.”

“Seriously?” Tamaki grumbled. Well, there was only four walls, so it could only take so long. He walked over to the nearest wall and placed a hand against it, then began to walk. It was the best way he could think of.

Again, Hana laughed sheepishly, “Sorry…” She took a step closer to the stairs, “Ah, well, I don’t really want to go back in there, so… I think I’m just going to… head home.”

“Thank you for your help, Ms. Igarashi.” Captain Tabuchi said, before too turning his attention to the walls.

Makoto glanced over at her, showing no interest in the walls and instead leaning against the railing, “Walk safe, Hana,” He said, though the there was something else in his expression. Skepticism.

She gave a smile, “Of course!” with that, she weaves between Fenix soldiers and climbs down the stairs. Makoto watched her go, and though Tamaki himself didn’t pay her much mind, visually, he kept an ear out. He didn’t hear anything unusual. Then again, Hana would know better, she had a pretty good idea as to how far away she had to be before Tamaki could no longer hear. If she was going to anything even slightly suspicious, she’d wait until she was out of his earshot.

 As the soldiers continued to search the walls, Makoto continued to watch, still leaning against the railing. Tamaki couldn’t help but roll his eyes. Figures Makoto wouldn’t even help, right now. Finally, Tamaki’s hand enters the wall, as he felt it. This must be the wall that Hana was talking about.

“Over here!” He called. Makoto pushed himself off the railing and walked over, Captain Tabuchi and the other soldiers close behind.

Makoto stared at the wall, “Huh, guess Hana was right. Just sorta goes through…”

“So it seems.” Tamaki turned his attention back to the wall.

As Makoto came up beside him, he said, “After you,”

With a sigh, Tamaki walked up to the wall, and then through it. On the other side were even more black walls – a but this area Tamaki recognized. This was where the Deadmans’ live streams took place. The Smilodon Vistamp seemed to burn in his uniform pocket. Soon, Makoto arrived beside him, then Captain Tabuchi and the soldiers. It wasn’t too cramped, here, but it wasn’t the most open, either. Tamaki didn’t like the idea of having so many soldiers present.

It was… strangely quiet, but somewhere here had to be at least one of the leaders. The question was simply where.

He hears footsteps, fairly hurried, before into the room comes Hikaru, carrying bags in his hands and arms. He freezes, then looked over at them, eyes widening just a little and frowning. “Uh… you’re… early.”

“Early?” Makoto echoed, just a bit sarcastic.

Hikaru looked down at the bags in his hands. “Uh… yeah. Listen, could you just… like, wait here another… five minutes?” He shifts the bags, “I’ll let Revi and Jeanne know you’re here.” He didn’t say anything about Evil and Aguilera. Aguilera, Tamaki could understand, but… there hadn’t been a sign of Daiji since.

Captain Tabuchi took a step forward, raising his gun. Hikaru seemed to shrink, obviously wary of the action. “We aren’t letting you-“

“Captain,” Tamaki isn’t sure what possessed him to cut off Captain Tabuchi. Now that he had, he had to continue. “Maybe… it would be best to let him go. He’s not that big of a threat, and anyway…” His eyes landed on the bags Hikaru carried.

Food, containers, dishes and utensils. Why was he carrying them, and where to? Hikaru’s wings fluttered just a little as he felt everyone’s gaze on him.

“I think it’s fairly important he make his delivery.” Tamaki finished. He couldn’t say exactly why he thought that, but… it was this feeling in his gut. Hikaru gave him a small smile.

Makoto nodded, crossing his arms, “I think Tamaki’s right. I doubt there’s much harm, anyway, and surprise won’t do us much good.”

“If we let him go, we’ll lose any surprise,” Captain Tabuchi reminded, clearly not convinced.

“And,” Makoto said, “We’ve already caught them off guard, and I don’t believe there are that many people here we’ll have to worry about fighting. After all, it’s only ever been Revi, Evil, Jeanne, Aguilera, and occasionally Papillion.”

Frown deepening, Captain Tabuchi said, “We can’t let him walk free…”

Rolling his eyes, Makoto took a step forward, “Then I’ll go with him.”

All eyes were on him in surprise, but Makoto seemed unbothered. Hikaru eyed him with a new wariness.

Finally, Captain Tabuchi relented, “Fine.”

Unsurprisingly, there was a satisfied little smile on Makoto’s face. He walks up to Hikaru, taking a couple bags from him. “Lead the way.”

A little stunned, Hikaru nodded, and the two left.

---

Makoto and Hikaru walked through the halls of the Deadmen’s base, Hikaru in the lead, still clearly unsure about everything. Makoto eyed the contents of the bags, figuring there must still be civilians – or at least non combative members of the Deadmen, here. That was the only real explanation.

“Is this the last of what you need to deliver?” He asked, shifting his hold on the bags.

Hikaru’s wings twitched, just a little, and he glanced back at Makoto, “Uh… yeah. There’s just a few people left and once we get these to them, they’ll be out…”

As Makoto expected. He wonders how Tamaki might feel to learn that, or others at Fenix. “Jeanne certainly seems to value civilians.”

He can’t see Hikaru’s face, but his tone seems a bit sullen, “She doesn’t want anyone to else to get involved if it can be avoided.”

“I assume your involvement, then, was because of your injuries?”

“In part,” Hikaru answered, shifting his bags and sighing, “But I wanted to help. Be there for Hana.”

That was about what Makoto had expected the answer to be. But no one had really had much of a chance to talk with Hikaru since he became Papillion. He was always with Jeanne or Aguilera, or there were members of Fenix around, or there just wasn’t a good opportunity. There were other things Makoto wanted to ask Hikaru about, though, things that were frankly more important and more interesting.

He glanced at the dark walls, somehow brightly lit despite their black color. “Tell me about Weekend, Hikaru.”

Hikaru visible stiffened, even his wings seeming to freeze in place as opposed to their usual bobbing and fluttering. “I… well, I take it you’ve went and talked to them…”

“Your parents are cagey and Mr. Karizaki even cagier, unless I practically force them to tell me about something.” They didn’t trust him, which he couldn’t exactly blame them for. He probably trusted them even less. “I doubt they’d tell me what I want to know.”

Glancing back at him again, Makoto can see Hikaru’s face scrunch up, just a little, “I can’t promise I can tell you either.”

“I think you can answer this one, at least. How did you become involved with them?”

Hikaru sighed, “It’s nothing all that interesting. When my parents died, Weekend took me in, and I would eventually become a part of their attempts to be close with your family. That’s all there is to it.”

“Did… you want to join Weekend?” How young had he been? How long had he been apart of Weekend before they met him?

“Not really, but I was… too young to really understand. And scared. It had been a demon that killed my parents, and Weekend… just assumed I’d want back at the Deadmans for it.” There’s a certain tenseness in Hikaru’s voice, an annoyance and an uncaring. He didn’t like Weekend much, it seems. Not that Makoto was all that surprised.

Still, the fact that Hikaru was made to join Weekend, regardless of his feelings on the matter, made Makoto… angry. Not that it was a surprise to Makoto. “You shouldn’t have been forced to join them.” Despite his best efforts to sound calm, there was a tightness in his voice.

He doubts that Hikaru didn’t notice it, “It is what it is,” He responded, then stopped, holding out for the bags. “This is it. I’ll take them in, then I’ll take you to Jeanne.” Makoto handed over the bags and Hikaru slipped into the room for a few minutes.

Soon enough he was back out, leading Makoto back the way they came. The building was a maze of halls, really, but Hikaru seemed to know them well. Finally, Makoto notes, “You said we were early. That meant you were expecting us. And given you’re so loyal to Hana…”

Again, Hikaru’s wings seemed to freeze, “It’s… complicated.”

“I really doubt it is. If she was betraying the Deadmans, you would have gone with her. You all wanted Fenix – Tamaki and I, at least, here.” Makoto narrowed his eyes, watching as Hikaru grew even more uneasy.

After a few more moments of walking, where Hikaru doesn’t respond, they finally stop, outside a door. “Here. Jeanne’s, um, in here.”

“It would make more sense to get everyone else.”

Hikaru glanced at him, “Maybe… but you don’t really want them here, do you?”

Looking at the door, Makoto replied, “No, I suppose I don’t.”

“Go on, then. I’ll make sure the others get here… at some point. I doubt they’ll be too suspicious.” With that said, Hikaru takes off, though he showed little urgency, walking at a leisurely pace. Makoto paid him little mind.

He opens and door and walks into the room. The first thing that greets him is what must be Giff’s coffin – it made him uneasy, something sinking into his bones. Not unlike Giff’s stamp. In front of the coffin was a coffee table with two sofas on each side of it. Jeanne sits on one, tense shoulders betraying her relaxed posture.

She turns to look at him and smiles, “Olteca. Just who I hoped to see.”

He rests his hands in his coat pockets, one hand on his Driver and the other on the icy Anomalocaris Vistamp. “It would be either me or Tamaki. And I can’t imagine you and Tamaki being in the same room together and alone would go well.”

“He’s got quite the temper, doesn’t he? Almost reminds me of Daiji…” She shakes her head, “I’d say we have a few minutes, Hikaru is wonderful at stalling. Sit down and let’s talk.”

He doesn’t, instead walking to behind the couch opposite of her, “I think I’d rather stand. And I doubt we really have that much time to spare.”

“You’d be surprised,” The smile she wore, faded. It didn’t suit her, like this, anyway. Makoto knew as well as she did that it was fake. “We have things that we really should talk about.”

He studied her. Jeanne was a wonderful actress, but in times of duress the cracks showed up quite easily. Right now, he’s not entirely sure that she’s even really trying. Something was bothering her, and somehow he thinks it’s only partly to do with this whole set up. “Like what?”

“Your father, for one.” She said, then her gaze moved to Giff’s coffin, “Our own, for another.”

Of course she’d have questions about Vail – he’d attacked her and Revi, after all. And as for their father… “I suppose it would be odd for him not to have a hand in all this. The director of Fenix and… what? The true leader of the Deadmans?”

“It seems kind of unfair that he has his hands so deeply in both, right?” She tilted her head, her smile something more of a grimace. “Playing some game we’re not privy too in the slightest.”

With a huff, his hands tightened into fists, “Then I suppose you don’t have too much useful to tell me.”

She laughed, “I didn’t say that.”

“Then out with it, Jeanne.”

“First… tell me what you know about that… you said it was your father’s demon?” Jeanne watched him closely. He wouldn’t be surprised if she suspected he might try to lie to her.

Just a little, he hummed. “It was, as far as I can gather. I don’t know much more about it, or why it targeted you and Revi.”

“I’m afraid I can’t give you much more about our father, either. Just that he seeks to retrieve Giff’s stamp, so I suspect he has a bigger plan that has led you here.” Again, she glanced at Giff’s coffin.

Makoto followed her gaze, unable to shake whatever it was about this coffin that perturbed him. “The stamp is in Fenix’s possession.”

Finally, Jeanne stood, “It would be suspicious if it simply disappeared, and we’ve run out of loyal moles to steal it, anyway. If he were to take it himself… it would risk certain people becoming too suspicious.”

“Certain people?”

She doesn’t respond, the sound of fighting soon reaching their ears. “It seems that Hikaru’s run out of time to stall. Well, let’s give them a good show.” She pulled the Cobra Vistamp out, quickly stamping herself. Makoto supposed he didn’t have much choice but to follow suit, pulling out his Driver and the Anomalocaris Vistamp and transforming.

Jeanne wastes no time in leading him out into the bigger room they initially encountered Hikaru in, which seemed to be where Hikaru was fighting Tamaki, as well as the Fenix soldier, though clearly he wasn’t paying them much mind. No other demons, though, and no Revi. Hana makes sense, it might be a bit difficult for Aguilera to slip in without Fenix noticing, but why wasn’t Revi here? Was he still too shaken from Vail?

---

“This is quite the plan, Ikki. I’m honestly surprised you went along with it.” Hana shoved her hands into her pocket, her Driver and the Bee Vistamp a comfortable weight.

Ikki glanced around the painfully white hallways of Fenix. His unease is palpable, a hand reaching up to pull his hat further down his head. The faint outlines of his horns protruded from the top, not enough that anyone seemed to notice. This hallway was empty, anyway, they’d passed few people, though their presence did clearly garner some attention in those they did.

The director’s eldest son and two of the Kamen Riders’ sister were a notable pair, after all. Ikki especially, given the scene Daiji had made before he left. But no one would risk crossing the director, either.

“It’s not exactly like I have much choice,” Ikki’s voice is hushed, obviously wary of being overheard. There was an unspoken “you know how father is”. Hana knew enough, at least, to know that Ikki was right about that.

They arrive at a particular door and Ikki stops. He hesitates for a moment, before fishing out a card – Daiji’s old Fenix ID. He swipes it in the card reader, puts in some code Hana doesn’t pay much mind to, and the door opens.

Glancing to Hana, he tells her, “Wait down the hall a bit. I’ll be out in only a few minutes, but if someone comes…”

“I’ll come up with some excuse,” Hana grinned. As Ikki entered the room, she wanders down the hall, coming to a stop at an intersection between it and another hallway. Boredly, she pulls out her phone to pass the next few minutes. Obviously Sakura, Hikaru, and her brothers were busy, so she couldn’t really bother them.

She opens a game on her phone, though she doesn’t get very far before she hears footsteps coming down one of the halls. Deciding that it was better to appear distracted, she didn’t look up from her phone. Of course, the footsteps came to a stop when they reached her.

“Well, well, Karate Girl.” Just her luck, it was someone who actually recognized her. That was probably worse than someone who didn’t. “Neither of your brothers are here, so why are you?”

“Ah, Mr. Kari. Well…” There was no way she could use either Makoto and Tamaki as an excuse. She’d need something else… “Well, I was going to go visit Sakura, since, you know, it’s been so long since I’ve seen her, but then I ran into Ikki and he asked me to come with him and then we were here.”

“…Akaishi?” Mr. Kari looked at her like she was crazy.

She tilted her head, giving her best confused pout, “Of course, who else? Sakura’s my girlfriend and Ikki’s her brother.”

He narrowed her eyes at her, “Did no one tell you about Daiji Akaishi’s grand reveal?”

Obviously he wasn’t quite believing that no one had told her – though no one had. Her brothers knew that she knew anyway. “Um… no? What happened?”

“He-“ Mr. Kari was barely even able to start his sentence before the sound of the Revice Driver and T-Rex Vistamp echoed down the halls. Ikki must have finished up, and he must have noticed Mr. Kari was here. Then Revi comes barreling into Mr. Kari, knocking him over, while Vice scooped Hana up.

Unable to help herself, Hana yelped, “Hey! What are you doing!?”

“We’re getting out of here,” Revi answered, Giff’s Stamp clutched in one hand.

The pair continue running through the halls, no doubt making quite the scene. Hana gave Vice a solid whack, “Put me down.”

“Sorry,” Vice said, sounding not the slightest bit sorry, “This is quicker!”

[writingpaperghost]

The Reason Half the Riders Don't Answer Their Texts

Takes place sometime after the events of There Is a Me Who Can Become Strong. At least for now I'd say somewhere in How Do You Measure a Year In the Life?

AO3: https://archiveofourown.org/works/62107192/chapters/158852008

CyberCat has added BraveKnight, TigerCat, Paradox, Motorcycle, M, DragoKnight, PipopapoPanic and ZombieLoser to Virus Exterminators CyberCat: welcome everyone Motorcycle: yo Paradox: isn't there like. a better name for this? DragoKnight: Four of us here are Bugsters, after all. CyberCat: you got any better names? Paradox: uh... ZombieLoser: May I suggest "Saiba Name Me Something Like This Again and You Will Regret It"? M: I don't think anyone here is good at naming things. Maybe graphite is, actually CyberCat: i don't fear you CyberCat: zombieloser ZombieLoser changed their name to Kuroto Kuroto: Very funny. Motorcycle: lol Paradox: let's not get on anyone's nerves more than needed... M: Kuro looks... really annoyed CyberCat: kuro? you never call him that M: It's just. Easier. Kuroto: You can't see, but Graphite is sighing right now. Paradox: how is it that everyone here is an adult and there is. this. DragonKnight: Snipe is why. TigerCat: So this is why my phone is dying? Really Nico? TigerCat: And what is this name? CyberCat: after everything, I thought it would be good to have CyberCat: we're all friends now CyberCat: and you're tigercat because your name sounds like tiger and we can match like this Paradox: I feel bad for Saki's phone. PipopapoPanic: Shouldn't some of you be working? PipopapoPanic: Emu, Graphite, and Nico might not have be things to be knowing, but I know the rest of you do. Kuroto: If I find one more segfault in this code I am going to die. M: don't be so dramatic Kuro... M: i'd also be really sad if you died. Paradox: to be fair, Saki is probably busy working and that's why we haven't heard from her Paradox: I'm on break rn Motorcycle: im watching kuroto suffer rn Motorcycle: which is kinda like a job DragonKnight: I'm no where near her, but I'm certain Poppy has sighed heavily just now. Motorcycle: lol TigerCat: I'm going back to work. CyberCat: you're so lame Taiga! CyberCat: this could be lots of fun DragonKnight: Or chaos. Kuroto: Or my personal hell. M: i've never been in a group chat before... M: mostly cause i never really had friends Paradox: Honestly I barely even use my phone most days Motorcycle: well now yall can have lots of texts to make your phone explode Motorcycle: and then you can ask kuroto to fix it Kuroto: As if. MightyActionµ has joined Virus Exterminators MightyActionµ: HIIIIIIIIIIII!!!!!!!!!!! Paradox: what M: ??? Motorcycle: huh MightyActionµ: I MU! HERE! Kuroto: ...Mu? CyberCat: wtf MightyActionµ: WANT FOOD MightyActionµ: HUNGEE Kuroto: Oh really? MightyActionµ: FOOD WANT MightyActionµ: VRY HUNGEE Kuroto: Graphite has dragged Emu off to eat. MightyActionµ has left Virus Exterminators Motorcycle: that kid...

[writingpaperghost]

Who Gave These Guys a Group Chat??? Chapter 2

I wasn't planning on doing this but I had some time and felt like doing something so I grabbed and old draft and here we are.

AO3: https://archiveofourown.org/works/35667571/chapters/154167352

Mighty Action: today I have gotten a very special gift from Rhythm Bugster Poppy!

Cyan: ...Mighty. What did you do?

Mighty Action: don't assume that I did anything that I wasn't supposed to!

Muteki: Muteki finds that hard to believe.

Mighty Action: I was given it fair and square! It was a gift.

The Best Bonker: Alright, I'll bite. What was it?

Mighty Action: I have... a cupcake!

Mighty Action: or well, I had a cupcake. then I ate it because

The Cool Doc: mighty logic

Mighty Action: Yeah!

The First: Aw, sounds yummy...

The Crazy Doc: Excuse you, why didn't I, the Greatest and Smartest of All Mightys, not receive a cupcake?

The Crazy Doc: And why is my name this?

The Cool Doc: because you suck

The Best Bonker: That's the answer to both questions, by the way

Cyan: Guys... play nice, remember? Mighty Action: Playing nice is boring! Cyan: We don't want to upset Emu do we? Or Rhythm Bugster Poppy! The Best Bonker: You always ruin all the fun, Cyan Cyan: More like keeping peace... The First: Does anyone actually want to deal with Black when he's... you know...? The Cool Doc: no, 'cause he sucks The Crazy Doc: You withdraw what you've said about the Greatest and Smartest of All Mightys, Black! The Cool Doc: no The Best Bonker: No Mighty Action: No. Muteki: What squabbles. Muteki would never get into such- Mighty Action: ! The Cool Doc: ! The First: Oh god. The Best Bonker: Ha! Now he's done it Cyan: ... is... is Muteki... The Best Bonker: Totally wrecking Black's ****? You bet! The Best Bonker: Hey, why can't I say ****??? The First: Profanity censor. All Gemn games rated for children under sixteen have them. Cyan: Figures it would effect us. The Best Bonker: Mighty's the only one who even has a published game! Why can't I swear!? **** **** **** **** god ******* **** it Cyan: Orange, chill out. The Cool Doc: uh... Mighty Action: Yeah, that's maybe a bit much... The First: Did anyone just see Black get thrown out a window by Muteki? Should we be concerned? Cyan: He should be fine. I don't think we can really... die or anything.

[writingpaperghost]

Blur the Line (Chapter 4)

Chapter 4: Who's the Real Reaper?

Medic modifies Roidmudes to "aid" Shin's duties. Shin is less than thrilled about this. And when Shin is injured, some painful truths come out.

Hello, hi, it's me. Back after… *checks watch* uh… almost two years exactly. Whoops. I've been working on this chapter off and on since I finished the previous chapter, but finally managed to get it finished in time to post something for Drive's 1oth anniversary. There's like, no way I'll finish this fic before the end of the year, even if that would be cool, but that's fine. We've got this at least, I think it's the longest chapter so far. Hope it was worth the wait!

AO3: https://archiveofourown.org/works/42588966/chapters/153164719

“Mr. Heart, Shin,” Medic called, “I have something wonderful to share with you.”

Shin plopped a milk candy in his mouth before looking over, while Heart turned his attention much quicker. “I recall you were working on something new, Medic,” Heart said.

The smile on Medic’s face was… strange. Off. Shin didn’t like it. “Yes, I’ve modified Roidmudes to create the Reaper Legion – they can take over Shin’s job, much more easily going after rogue Roidmudes, as there are more of them.” She seemed incredibly proud of her creation.

Heart seemed interested. Shin was not. Shin was… upset, he decided that was the proper word. “You want to replace me?” He asked, his voice sharper than usual.

“Not at all,” Heart was quick to reassure, “Think of it this way, a job is easier the more people you have doing it.”

“You both just don’t want me fighting,” No matter how much either tried to say, Shin was not going to believe that the creation of these modified Roidmudes weren’t simply just to keep him from fighting – or at least get him to fight less. “So, you’re trying to get them to take my place.”

“Shin,” Medic began, her voice almost loving, “You know we care about you; we want you to be safe.”

He crossed his arms, “You’re trying to coddle me.” Like he was still some child. “I’m not that- that small and helpless anymore.”

That version of him was long gone, burned away with everything else, that night. Even before that, it had been slowly replaced, piece by piece, but whatever was left burned when the world froze. He wasn’t a helpless child who sobbed and hid behind Heart. He wasn’t a helpless anything and he didn’t need Heart or Medic to protect him.

---

Of course, Masanori showed up while both of the “Kyus” were present. He stands in the doorway, staring at the two with confusion, lips turning slowly into a frown. “Why… are there two… Saijos?”

Both of the Kyus stare at him, startled. His question is answered by Gou, though, “One of ‘em’s a Roidmude, we just don’t know which.”

“Oh…” Masanori looks between the two. “Well, they both seem like Kyu, so the Roidmude’s… probably… decently friendly?”

“What kind of deduction is that?” Gou huffed, “Obviously the Roidmude’s just acting, honestly big bro, you’d be terrible at this detective work.”

Kiriko sighed, “Sorry, Masanori, but it’s probably better you come back later.”

He doesn’t respond right away, seemingly in thought. She could see the ideas turning and spinning in his mind, though she wasn’t sure what they were about. Finally, he pulled Kiriko aside, “Have you considered testing to see which is more athletic?”

“What?”

“I mean, we both know Saijo doesn’t really… exercise, but a Roidmude would be naturally quicker. So then all you’d have to do is give them the right motivation… er, Saijo really likes that one anime, maybe something from that but a bit fragile, so they have reason to go after it.” Listening to Masanori’s idea, Kiriko found that it seemed… good enough. But she’d also feel bad if something got broken.

In the end, she uses Colorful Commercial to make a hologram of a Murmur Mansion plate, then dropped it. She hoped that Masanori was right about this. One of the Kyus, the one in white, leaped forward and caught the plate, while the other dawdled behind.

Masanori smiled, “I think that answers it for you,”

Gou looked between the Kyu in white, Masanori, and Kiriko, “Okay, so maybe I stand corrected and you’re decent at this, Nori.”

“Such a vote of confidence,” Masanori mumbled.

Now that they know which is the real Kyu and which was the Roidmude, 072 got a scared expression before running off. Worried and defeated, Kyu explained how he and 072 met. Chase had stayed just long enough to hear that story before hurrying off to go after 072. Masanori left right after himself, saying that he should probably leave them to their jobs.

---

When Shin finds 072, he also finds Proto Zero, though thankfully untransformed. 072 was explaining to Proto Zero as to what had happened earlier, ending by begging to get to stay with Saijo.

He had a human he also wanted to stay with, Shin felt… something about that. Something kind of nice, he thinks. No matter what Proto Zero and Krim chose to do, he was going to make sure that 072 survived this – though that wouldn’t really let him continue to be with Saijo, but that was a different problem.

To Shin’s surprise, Proto Zero seemed to be considering letting 072 go. Then, to Shin’s further surprise, though he probably shouldn’t have been, Medic arrives, with her legion of replacements, but neither 072 or Proto Zero saw her.

The moment she went to attack 072 – and she was surely going to try to kill him – Shin rushed forward, blocking her attack. Now, surely both of their presences were known.

“T-The Grim Reaper?” 072 hurried to hide behind Proto Zero.

“Shin,”

“Shin! Why did you do that?” Medic frowned, “That was dangerous, you could have been hurt.”

Taking a slow breath, Shin asked, “Why were you trying to kill 072?”

Carefully, she answered, “You know what your and the Reaper Legion’s duties are. To deal with rogue Roidmudes,” she looked past Shin, over his shoulder and back at Proto Zero and 072. He didn’t like having his back to Proto Zero, but for this, he’d take the chance.

“Last I checked, my duty was to bring rogue Roidmudes back so they could be reprogrammed,” He said, voice firm, “Not killed.”

“That’s because you can’t destroy their cores,”

“That’s not my point! Are you trying to tell me 072 deserves to die for- for being friends with a human?” He keeps his tone sharp, glaring at her, “If that’s his crime, then aren’t I guilty of it too?”

Something in Medic’s expression wavered, her determination to go through with this. She studied Shin, like she was trying to determine if he was really going through with this. At what point would he give up, decide that this wasn’t worth it?

Except Shin didn’t think that point existed. If it was truly so wrong to be friends with a human, then he should be punished too. He kept his glare steady, waiting for Medic to make her move.

“Fine,” she sighed. “But we’re going to talk about this later.” ‘we’ certainly included Heart in that matter.

But Shin felt good at her agreeing, he had kept 072 both free of being reset or dead. Able to have the chance to be Saijo more, with his friend. He smiled, before Medic left, leaving him with just 072 and Proto Zero.

He turned to face them as 072 spoke, “You- you saved me?”

“Yes,” Shin said, “You seem surprised.”

“You’re the Grim Reaper. You don’t- save Roidmudes.” 072 creeps out from behind Proto Zero, “Are you really friends with a human?”

In that moment, Shin thought of Kiriko’s smile, nodding, “Of course,”

Proto Zero takes a step forward, “That is why you don’t go out of your way to attack humans, correct?”

“No, I just don’t see the point in fighting people who aren’t involved.”

“Then what about Kiriko? When she stood in your way, you stopped yourself from attacking her.” He takes another step towards Shin.

“She wasn’t a part of the fight,” Shin answered quickly, “So even though she put herself in the way, I wasn’t going to hurt someone just because of it.” He turned, quickly leaving.

---

It had been decided that 072 would continue aiding the SIU as he had been under the guise of Kyu previously. Gou… didn’t like that, much – in his eyes working with Chase had obviously been bad enough, but now having another, he was pretty annoyed. When he heard he got all silent, and Kiriko was surprised he didn’t leave the room right then and there.

“What do you know about Shin?” Krim asked, while they were in the Drive Pit and Rinna was doing some tests to see if there was anything strange about 072. Though they didn’t think there was anything unusual, it was a good way to see if it was possible that 072 was somehow unique compared to other Roidmudes. Kiriko just thought that he was further proof that humans and Roidmudes could get along.

“He’s Heart and Medic’s favorite, for one,” 072 answered, “that’s why he was tasked to be the Grim Reaper – he wanted to help but they don’t want him too near to danger. So they let him deal with Rogue Roidmudes or something, though now he’s obviously fighting you guys.”

Gou rolled his eyes, “So why’d he keep Medic from scrapping you?”

Chase answered that one, “He said that he was friends with a human too, and that if it was reason enough to kill 072 then he should be punished too.”

“Like I said, he’s treated differently. He’s… special, more human than the rest of us can ever be.”

“So still not very?” Gou commented. “You’re machines, you can’t be humans.”

“Gou,” Kiriko scolded, though he was unbothered.

---

“He’s getting in the way again,” Shin overheard Brain say as he approached the room that Heart, Brain, and Medic were in. “Heart, you need to keep him under control.”

“He’s not getting in the way, Brain,” Medic hissed, “He’s just… been misguided by that human.”

That’s when Shin reached the room, entering. He looks between the three, waiting for one of them to say something. It’s Heart who speaks first, “Shin… I believe we need to discuss recent events.”

With confidence, Shin said, “072 doesn’t deserve to die just for being friends with a human.”

“Humans just get in the way of our plans, they don’t care about us,” Brain scowled.

“Then what about me?” Shin scowled back, “Do you think I should die for being friends with a human?”

Brain pushed his glasses up, causing a chill to run down Shin’s spine, “Perhaps we should do something about that. You have been rather rebellious lately, maybe we should finally reset you.” Shin’s eyes widen in disbelief at Brain’s suggestion, the room suddenly a lot colder.

Medic turned to Brain, “Absolutely not!”

“Why? Sooner or later, he’ll stop listening to either of you entirely!”

That wasn’t true. They were his family, just because Shin didn’t always agree with them didn’t mean he wouldn’t ever listen to them. It hurt that Brain would even dare to suggest that he might leave them.

Heart steps between the two, “No such measures need to be taken,” he looks at Shin, “though I will have to ask that you not do something like this again, Shin. 072 may not be much of a threat to us, even if he joins the humans, but the same may not be true in the future.”

While Medic’s quick defense of him and Heart keeping Brain from pushing the thought of resetting him further made Shin feel a little better, something didn’t feel quite right after that suggestion. He takes a step back, feeling almost overwhelmed by a feeling of… fear. Numbly, he responded, “Yeah, sure,” before turning and hurrying off.

They wouldn’t reset him, right? They- if they did, he could get seriously damaged, right? So they wouldn’t- Heart and Medic wouldn’t risk something happening to him. Right? Right? He didn’t like feeling this scared for his life, again, it brought back too many painful memories…

“Stay away! Please- please don’t hurt me…” Shin cowered against the wall of the room he was in – some kind of lab filled with all sorts of machinery and tools. There was a table in the center. Shin knew the table was bad – that the last time he’d been on it had hurt so much. He didn’t want to go back there, so when the monster with the numbers 004 on its chest tried to place him there, he hurried away.

Besides 004 was the man who hurt him, appearing completely human but Shin had only seen people so terrible in books and on TV and movies. There weren’t many things Shin knew about the man, but one of them was that he was quick to anger – he saw, earlier, as he hurt 002, how he was so angry. He doesn’t even think 002 had done anything to really make the man angry. He just… hurt him.

As 0014 reached for Shin, he screamed again, but it didn’t matter.

Shin wouldn’t be so afraid again, he wouldn’t let himself be. It was bad, that fear let him be hurt and he wouldn’t be hurt again. Heart and Medic wouldn’t let Brain try to reset him, and Medic would never do so herself. He was safe. Safe. That’s what Heart always tells him.

And Shin refuses to believe that Heart is wrong.

---

Medic had some plan, she’d begun to modify her Reaper Legions even more. Shin still didn’t really see the point to their existence, but he ‘politely’ tagged along. He had no intention of helping – if Medic was going to complain about him fighting and try to replace him with a bunch of other Roidmudes, then he wasn’t going to fight. Mostly, he just wanted to watch and see as these garbage replacements would surely get overwhelmed by Drive and Mach.

Slowly, she’s been capturing the little cars that aid Drive, the Shift Cars. He didn’t really get why she was, but they were at least cute, a little neat. Medic’s already tampered with them, taking control over them, but he still idly poked one – who angrily honked something to the effect of “hey stop poking me”.

When finally, the Riders appear, Medic asks Heart to keep Mach occupied while she has one of her Reapers deal with Drive. Without the Shift Cars, the slowdown effected Kiriko, though Proto Zero, as a Roidmude himself, was unaffected. Two of the Shift Cars end up with them, though, which allowed freedom from the slowdown, and Proto Zero the power to transform. He and the Reaper fight for a bit, until the Reaper pulls out something new.

A stronger slowdown, clearly slowing Drive down, despite being transformed. Shin was too far to risk being affected by it, but he could see it. Suddenly he was concerned for Kiriko again – having a Shift Car wasn’t enough, now, this slowdown was too strong. He resolves to keep an eye on her to make sure she stays safe.

Mach arrives using Deadheat, which seems to have given him just enough speed to traverse the stronger slowdown. He passes the power off the Drive, though begrudgingly. Still, that wasn’t enough, the Reaper was still too strong.

Then from somewhere some new power came, another Shift Car. A new form. Shin groaned to himself – Drive just keeps becoming more of a pain. As he hurries to defeat the Reaper – at least for now – the Reaper still succeeds in one last attack. It misses Drive, but it’s headed straight for the still slowed Kiriko.

Before Shin can even think of what he’s doing, he’s running towards her.

---

Kiriko isn’t entirely sure what happened, at first. There was an even stronger slowdown, one that their Shift Cars couldn’t nullify, but everything else is happening too fast. At least, until she’s in someone’s arms and suddenly the world is moving at the correct speed again.

All she sees is black armor, just like before (it feels warm and cold at the same time, a hum under the armor, and a rhythm like a heartbeat). He holds her in his arms, tumbling to the ground and clearly trying to protect her from it. When he finally stops, he gently lets her down, careful. By the time she looks up…

Shin. The one who saved her was Shin. His black and red armor disappeared, there’s a terrible gash across his side and… she knows that face. She’d never seen Shin up close before, never quite could make out his face when he was in his human form.

His face was the same as Masanori’s.

“Kiriko? Are you okay?” Even though he was injured, he still asked if she was okay. Even though he had Masanori’s face – no, that wasn’t it. He was Masanori. He had always been, hadn’t he? That’s why Masanori was so strange – because he was a Roidmude.

But Roidmudes didn’t grow like she’d seen Masanori had. He’d gotten taller – but how?

He seemed worried by her silence, taking her hand carefully, “Kiriko?”

Then Gou called, “Kiriko!” And next thing she knows Shin’s been shoved to the side, yelping. “Get away from her!”

“You seriously think I’m going to try to hurt her?” Shin hissed, pulling himself up. “Why the hell would I hurt Kiriko?”

For a moment, Gou stared at him, before realization came upon his face. He takes a step back, “No way… Masanori?”

Briefly, for a mere fraction of a second, something soft came to Shin’s face. It disappeared as quickly as it had appeared, and he turns away. “See, Kiriko. I told you. You didn’t really mean it.”

Before either of them can do much else, he takes off. Angrily, Gou called after him, “You’re running away like a coward!”

“He’s injured, Gou,” Kiriko said, and she felt so terribly sad. Like her heart had been torn in two. Masanori was her friend, but how much of that had been a lie? Had they ever really been friends at all? “Let him be.”

“He lied to you, Kiriko!” Gou growled, “He’s just one of those monsters, too!”

Kiriko stands abruptly, “He’s not a monster, Gou!”

“Yes he is,” He said, “He’s just been using you.”

“For ten years?” She turns towards the direction Shin went. “I don’t believe that.” She begins to follow after him.

Gou called after her, “You’re not seriously going after him, are you?” When he doesn’t get a response, he tries again, “Big sis, he could kill you!”

Kiriko doesn’t care. She knows, deep in her heart, that Shin would never do that. So she was going to see if she could find him – his injury was pretty bad, and while he was able to walk away, how long would that be true? Where had Medic gone and would she find him in time? The rational part of her told her he would be fine, that if 072 was right, Shin was perfectly safe and sound.

After a while, she stops to catch her breath. Maybe there was no point of this, Shin was all okay and she was just wasting her time. A noise in an alleyway catches her attention and she warily creeps over. A person, it was too dark out now to make out much more, but a person, certainly.

Carefully, she called out, “Are you okay?” The person looks up, and just barely she can make out Shin’s face. “Shin?”

He looked away, and now she can see his hand clutching his side, where he’d been injured. “I’m fine, go away.”

“You’re still injured,”

“Medic will fix me,”

“Then where is she?” His shoulders slump at her question.

Slowly, he answered, “She just… hasn’t… found me, yet.”  He sounded very tired, in that moment. “So… so… go away…” He slid to the side, before falling to the ground.

Hurrying over, Kiriko finds that he’s passed out. Given his injuries, it seemed like a terrible idea to leave him here, but she wasn’t sure what she could do. Was taking care of the injuries of a Roidmude like taking care of a humans? When Chase was injured, usually Rinna took care of it.

She drags him back to her apartment, doing her best to at least stop his bleeding, though unsure if it would do much in the long term. Maybe she can get Mad Doctor’s help, it wouldn’t be the most pleasant experience, but it would be better than bleeding out. Than dying.

Shin bled – and she knew that Chase, at least, bled, but there was something about Shin that made it feel… different. He’d been more injured than she’d originally thought – more scrapes and bruises, probably from hitting the ground, and the gash was bigger than it had seemed before. Still, she refused to let that deter her and did her best to take care of it.

There were scars on his chest, more than a few. She wondered too if Roidmudes scarred. Again, she wasn’t sure if Chase could get scars, she’d never really paid attention to that. But now that she was looking at Shin… for some reason those scars stood out to her.

In the end, she gets Mad Doctor’s help – asking him to not tell Chase or Krim, not yet, at least. She isn’t sure if he actually agreed, but he went about helping fix Shin, anyway. He endured the treatment with little sound, despite the pain he was surely in.

It’s then that Kiriko has calmed herself enough to question if she really should have brought Shin back to her apartment. It wouldn’t be the first time that Shin had been there – though the previous times were few. But this felt… different – as sure as she was that Shin wouldn’t hurt her, there was some part of her that still… worried.

Maybe that worry was just for Shin’s wellbeing.

---

When Shin wakes up, he hurts, greeted with a ceiling he doesn’t think he’s seen before. He stares and stares at it, until he finally sighs and gathers the energy to sit up. His side hurts – he had a gash there, right, the injury was probably still a bit present – even Medic couldn’t always fix all of it.

When he sits up, he can see more of the room he’s in, though it’s dark, and that’s when he realized that he was in Kiriko’s apartment. That… wasn’t right. His heart jumps into his chest and quickly stumbles off the couch he’d been lying on. Why was he here?

If he was here, then someone had to bring him here. Someone – Kiriko? And they were the one who bandaged his injury – his jacket and shirt had been torn by the Reaper’s attack, so he could clearly see his bandaged side. But why? Why had she taken him back here? Why take care of his injury?

“Masanori?” He looks to the side, where Kiriko stands, looking tired. It was the middle of the night, he reminded himself. After a moment, she seems to realize that he’s awake. “Are you okay?”

“You…” Looking around the room once more, he can only feel confusion. “Why?”

She seems to contemplate for a moment – why, shouldn’t she know the answer? Or was she only debating as to whether or not to tell him? “You were hurt because you protected me, and I wasn’t going to take the chance as to whether or not Medic would find you in time.”

He was a Roidmude to her, why would she care? She knew that Roidmudes could always come back, as long as their core wasn’t destroyed, and as far as she knew the same applied to him. That he could just be given a new body. That didn’t mean it was true, but as far as she knew, it was. None of his injuries should really have mattered to her, certainly not now that she knew he wasn’t human.

Looking away from her, he scoffed, “I’m a Roidmude. It doesn’t matter what happens to our bodies, so long as our core survives.”

“Maybe so but…”

“It doesn’t matter. I should go.” He stumbles towards the door, internally cursing at how unsteady he was. “Medic will take care of me.”

Grabbing ahold of his jacket, Kiriko tugged him back, “Masanori, wait,”

Spinning back to face her and throwing himself off balance, Shin snapped, “That’s not my name!” his sudden change in balance and unstable movement causes him to fall into her, the two of them supported by back of the couch. He braced his hands against the back, sticking Kiriko between the couch and him. “Masanori was never real, I’m Shin. I’m the Grim Reaper.”

Seeming startled by his outburst, Kiriko said with wide eyes, “That couldn’t all have been an act.”

“Who lies for ten years, Kiriko? No one you should want to be around, that much is certain.” Shin pushes himself off of her, away from the couch.

“Then why did you spend time with me for so long? What would Shin, the Grim Reaper, gain from being around a human like that?” He can’t help but hear desperation in her voice, pleading for answers.

Maybe he did owe her those answers, but… he couldn’t give them here and now. The swirling storm of emotions that he can’t chase out of his chest were making it impossible to sort through his thoughts properly. To try explain to her why that night ten years ago, she became the only good human in his eyes, for reasons he couldn’t entirely even understand.

Good human or not, it didn’t matter. He’d surely lost her now, she shouldn’t want anything to do with him. A Roidmude, her enemy. Whatever friendship they had would be gone now, as much as it seemed to tear at Shin’s very being, to the point he could feel it in his core. Maybe this was why Heart, Medic, and Brain hadn’t wanted him to be friends with her. Because sooner or later she’d find out the truth and it would hurt, would cut through him worse than any injury he’d ever had, than the terrible pain of what that man had put him through.

 He turned around again, walking towards the door once more.

“Shin! Please!”

Despite his better judgement, Shin takes one last look back at Kiriko. She stared back at him with pleading eyes. He shouldn’t just leave her like this, should give her something. Or maybe he should just put an end to it all now. “Kiriko…”

“You saved me, ten years ago, didn’t you? Was that why you kept seeing me?”

“I did save you, that night. Because I didn’t want more people getting hurt. After that… it doesn’t matter after that.” Shin saw no reason to try to explain the feelings he didn’t understand. It would only complicate things, anyway. With that, he finally looks away and leaves.

From there he stumbles from Kiriko’s apartment, intent on making his way back to Heart and Medic. Once he was there, Medic could take care of the rest of his injuries, though somehow Kiriko had done quite a lot for them already – he knew they should have been far worse and he really isn’t sure how she managed to pull that off. But it was enough that he should be able to make it back without trouble, and the likelihood of him running into anyone who might cause some, such as Proto Zero or Gou were low.

He doesn’t make it far, though, barely out of the building before he spots what he knows without a doubt will be trouble. They might not have noticed him yet, but there were Proto Zero and Krim Steinbelt. What were they doing here at this time of night? Surely not to see Kiriko, it was too late for that.

Though he tries to quietly duck away so they can’t see him, he stumbles and knocks into the wall, causing a loud enough sound to catch Proto Zero’s attention. Shin cursed to himself, knowing there was enough light that even his dark clothes wouldn’t be enough to hide him from Proto Zero’s notice or recognition. As he and Krim Steinbelt approached, Shin catches sight of one of their little cars on Proto Zero’s shoulder, as well. Was that why they were here?

The Shift Car, looking like an ambulance, honked. “See, he’s here,” it said, “she had me fix him.”

Oh, this was why Shin’s injuries were as healed as they were. It must have been the power of this Shift Car. And then it’d gone and tattled on it to Proto Zero and Krim Steinbelt.

“It seems Mad Doctor was correct,” Krim Steinbelt noted, “Kiriko did aid Shin.”

Grimacing, Shin asked, “What, are you here to finish the job that the Reaper started? Ready to kill me and get it over with?”

“Mad Doctor reported that Kiriko requested his aid in repairing you,” Proto Zero answered.

“You didn’t answer the question,”

Proto Zero’s gaze raked over him, before his eyes settled on Shin’s injury. Though it was healed to the point it no longer bled, the evidence of what had happened before was still visible, more on Shin’s tattered clothes. There were scars there, too, though they likely weren’t as visible in the low lighting. Then again, he wasn’t familiar with the extent of Proto Zero’s vision.

Finally, Proto Zero said, “You were smaller, once. And you have scars.”

“Don’t have a number, either,” Shin responded, his heart thrumming in his chest an ever constant reminder that he wasn’t a real Roidmude, not like the others. Not even like Proto Zero.

Something akin to a curious look came to Proto Zero – not that he was capable of emotions. “You lack a number?”

“Clearly, 072 didn’t tell you much about me.”

“He told us you were Heart and Medic’s favorite,” Krim Steinbelt said.

Any Roidmude knew that. Then again, 072 likely didn’t know much more – he was far from important, and Shin’s true nature was kept secret from most. Only Heart, Medic, Brain, and a few of the Roidmudes that acted as that man’s lackies knew. Thus, there was no way that Proto Zero or Krim Steinbelt could learn about it. But that didn’t stop them from putting two and two together.

They and Kiriko were the only ones who’d seen him during the Global Freeze. They clearly had figured out he’d grown – something no ordinary Roidmude should be capable of. The only thing that might truly tip them off as to what was up with him was if they saw his true Roidmude form. He had no intention of letting them see that.

Krim Steinbelt continued, “But we can gather that you are unlike most Roidmudes, even without knowing your number or your power.”

Shin let out a bitter laugh, “I’ve already let you in on a secret, like I said, I don’t have a number. I never have.” He took a step, wincing. Despite the Shift Car’s effort, his injury still pained him. It likely would until he could get Medic to take care of it. “What are you after? Like this, I wouldn’t be much of a fight.” He was giving them the opportunity. They could easily kill him and shatter his core.

“The Roidmudes can’t be allowed to reach the Promised Number,” Krim Steinbelt declared in a matter of fact tone. “That means no Roidmude can be left behind.”

“I don’t really count towards that,” Shin took another step. Maybe he could get pretty far just by keeping them busy. Though he doubted they’d let him go, not without a fight. “And what about Proto Zero, he’s a Roidmude too?”

Krim Steinbelt’s face switched to a frown, “Chase knows his purpose,”

Unable to help himself, Shin slammed his fist against the wall he leaned against, “You mean to play dutiful soldier until he’s the only one left? And then what? You’ll probably shut him off, dismantle him, destroy his core too. Right? Because the Roidmudes are the problem.” He spat his words, anger palpable in each one. “Somehow, even our creator’s flaws are our sins.”

“That isn’t true,” Obviously, his words struck a nerve in Krim Steinbelt, as he spoke with a simmering anger.

“I don’t believe the words of someone like you.”

Proto Zero took a step towards him, speaking, “How did you grow?”

He knows better than to say what he’s thinking, but at this point he doesn’t really care. He’s not even entirely sure if he’ll make it out of this encounter, even after the work Kiriko did to help him. Not without catching them off guard, at least. So, despite his better judgement, he says what he thinks, “That’s what children do.”

“Children?” Proto Zero intoned.

“Roidmudes can’t be children,” Krim Steinbelt said, again in that confident and certain tone.

It seems he’d truly forgotten about what had happened to Shin. “Who said I was always a Roidmude?”

He stumbled away, leaving the two in something like a stunned silence.

---

It was always fascinating, in a morbid way, to watch Medic’s power heal him, to fill and meld the damages to the parts of him that were metal, to stitch back together the synthetic skin that had replaced most of his original skin. Though she had a less easy time repairing the damages to the parts of Shin that were still organic, though thankfully much of that damage appeared to have been repaired by the Shift Car earlier.

“That was reckless of you,” Medic said, concern audibly lacing her voice.

His chest heaved a heavy breath, “I couldn’t let Kiriko be hurt.”

“If she hadn’t found a way to heal you, you would have died. If the still human parts of your body fail, I can’t fix that.” She sets a hand gently over where he’d been injured, her gloves too thin to block out of sensation of how cold her hands were. “No human is worth your life.”

He looked away, some terrible feeling hanging heavily over him. Maybe she was right – after all, now that she knew what he was, he doubted Kiriko really, truly, wanted anything to do with him. Still, she was the one good human, and even if she hated him, he wanted to keep her safe. And… she had saved him, too. He’s sure that Krim Steinbelt would not let her off easy for helping him.

Out of his vision, he hears the door open, and who he’s certain is Heart come in. As if to confirm that, he hears Heart speak, “How is he, Medic?”

“He’ll be alright,” She said, though there was a clear hint of frustration in her voice. “The human used one of Drive’s Shift Cars to heal the worst of the damage, particularly to his human organs.”

Heart hummed, “How curious… a human showing a Roidmude kindness.”

Shin turned his gaze over towards Heart, whom Medic had joined the side of. “She’s a good human. Better than the others.”

“So you keep saying, yet I have to wonder what she thinks of you now?” Heart mused. Shin knew that he wasn’t being malicious, but it was another attempt at convincing him to abandon Kiriko. Even now, it wouldn’t work.

It didn’t matter what happened, what Kiriko thought of him… even if he could never see her again, never see her smile… he’d protect her. No one made him feel the same strange feeling she did.

He leaned back, letting out a breath. “I don’t intend to find out.”

“Get some rest, Shin,” Medic tells him, “You’ll feel better once your human parts have finished recovering.”

[writingpaperghost]

As From the One, All Things Are Born (Chapter 1)

Chapter 1: Goodbye Gold, Graduate to Grasshopper

Ten years ago, Geryon betrayed the Alchemist Association, taking off with the work of another alchemist and the one hundred Chemies in the Association's possession at the time. Now, ten years later, the Chemies have appeared again, and so has the Gotchadriver, in the hands of three dolls created by Geryon. The situation is far from ideal, but Fuga Kudo has no choice but to place some trust in the creations of his former associate. With another trio seeking out the Chemies and after the Gotchadriver, it's more important than ever to find the Chemies. What really happened ten years ago? Who are Mary, Anselm, and Agatho, the three after the Chemy cards, and why?

AO3: https://archiveofourown.org/works/59460031/chapters/151640380

Grey skies, as usual – the weather here, in the Ouroboros Realm, could be nothing else, the snake in the sky consuming its own tail, darkness seeping out to darken the sky. It was a bold place to hide, especially for so long, below the door that sealed the darkness away. But there were few places they could go that they would not be easily found and this was the best, ultimately. Lachesis had grown bored of this world, really, but she wouldn’t leave her master or her sisters, either.

On the other side of the warehouse they had transformed into their home, for the time, Master Geryon and Atropos worked, their voices quiet and unending. They would regularly talk for hours at a time on their work, tinkering with that silly Driver that they’d taken when they fled ten years ago, alongside the Chemies. Truthfully, Lachesis had never known for certain what Atropos’ purpose was, but if she had to guess, she’d say to be Master Geryon’s assistant. Though it wouldn’t explain why he chose to make her look like a child.

Between the three of them, Clotho sparred with Wrestler-G – she didn’t tend to fight in the style of wrestling, but he was one of the Chemies that she would spar with. Practice, she would always say, to make sure she stayed ready for whenever they were found again. They had been here for a while, years having passed since they’d last been found… still, no one trusted that to last.

“Clover…?” From Lachesis’ lap, Happyclover peered up, clearly aware she was losing herself in her thoughts. Happyclover was one of the Chemies that Lachesis had always preferred the company of, not that she was particularly fond of most of them. They were why they were hiding here, after all. Why they were always skirting danger…

Lachesis shook her head, “It’s nothing,” She said quietly, making some attempt to not catch her sisters’ or creator’s attention. Clotho continued her spar, and Master Geryon and Atropos continued their work, so they must not have heard her.

There’s a certain clinking sound that Lachesis knows is Master Geryon cleaning up, meaning he and Atropos must be done with their experiments. That was quick, Lachesis was fairly certain they had only been at it a few hours, at most. Usually, they spent most of the day working, or at least, the Ouroboros Realm’s equivalent of the day.

“I believe we have finished our adjustments,” Master Geryon said, handing the Gotchadriver to Atropos. Of course, they had finished their adjustments more than once before, over the past ten years. But Master Geryon spoke with a certain confidence, every time, that Lachesis could never help but believe him. In all reality, they’d probably be back at it in a day or two.

Atropos returns the Gotchadriver to where they kept it, kept close in case they were found and had to make a quick exit. One day, Lachesis would hold the Gotchadriver for herself, become the one to use it… but that day, at this rate, wouldn’t be for a long time, and Lachesis didn’t mind.

Somewhere in the distance, Lachesis thinks she hears the crackle of fire.

---

Fuga always looked forward to when his students arrived at the Alchemist Academy. He found great fulfillment in nurturing the future of alchemy, even if there was there was always… challenges. Not always bad challenges, but challenges nevertheless. And given the small nature of the Furasu branch – at present, there were only two students – it allowed him to make sure his students got the help they needed.

Despite being on two very different ends of a personality spectrum, Icho and Tsuruhara got along swimmingly. Icho could be loud, often boisterous and excited about her alchemy. Tsuruhara, on the other hand, was quiet, often relying on his tablet to talk, though he too could get quite excitable when it came to alchemy, and especially Chemies.

They were fairly good students, occasionally they got into some shenanigans, but rarely did they ever really find trouble. Of course, nowadays, trouble was hard to find, especially at a school this small. The worst that could really happen was a transmutation gone wrong.

Today though… something was off. It wasn’t his students, it was something in Fuga’s gut that told him that something wasn’t right. But everything seemed to be in order at both schools, and Icho and Tsuruhara were both accounted for. So then, what was it? Or perhaps Fuga was just becoming paranoid.

“Y’know,” he hears Icho say to Tsuruhara, her voice hushed, like she was trying to be subtle. “I always wondered why someone like Mr. Kudo ended up teaching.”

Tsuruhara glanced at her, then back to his alchemy, “Does it matter?” He responded in his usual whisper.

“And at a tiny little school like this,” Icho continued, almost like Tsuruhara had said nothing at all. “Aren’t cha a little curious?”

“Renge…”

Fuga figured it was a good time to get their attention, “Icho, Tsuruhara, how has your assignment been going?”

Icho answered first, a little sheepish, “Well… it’s gettin’ there.” Which Fuga knew by now was Icho for she had hit a slight roadblock and didn’t quite want to admit it yet.

---

“I heard something,” Clotho said, ceasing her movements. As soon as she spoke, the Chemies all fled.

Master Geryon quickly retrieved the Gotchadriver, handing it to Lachesis, to her surprise. “Lachesis, it’s time.”

She looked down at it, “Is it… really ready to face him?”

“It will have to be,” He responded, pushing Atropos behind himself. “I suspect our time of running has come to an end.”

Swiftly, a young woman dressed in black and white landed beside Clotho, swinging her leg up and kicking Clotho in the chest. “He’s right.” She said, eyes still locked on Clotho.

A moment later, black flames erupt around Lachesis, prompting her to hold the Gotchadriver close. “Just hand over the belt and make this easy,” A man dressed in black and purple with a frightening, almost mechanical looking mask, emerged, his hand engulfed in the same black flames.

Then in came a young man, dressed in teal and black, with goggles covering his eyes, though failing to hide the bandages over his left eye. He looked around, seeming just a bit unsure of what to do. His gaze landed on Master Geryon and Atropos.

These three were… new. In the ten years they’d been on the run, they’d never seen them before.

The young woman called out, “Agatho, help Anselm get the Gotchadriver!”

“Right!” The young man, Agatho, responded, hurrying over to Anselm and Lachesis.

He’s cut off by a golden rod speeding past him, between him and the other two. Master Geryon was rushing over now, attempting to intervene. Atropos stayed where she stood, out of the way of the fight. Agatho seemed surprised by the sudden disruption, before reaching his hand out and transmuting a staff out of a nearby poll.

Lachesis dodged out of Anselm’s grasp once more, ducking beneath his arms and braving the flames and rushing through them. They burnt at the ends of her clothes, and she could feel the heat against her skin, but better on the other side of them than stuck in the ring with Anselm. She fought better with a weapon, after all, and the Chemies were too far away for her to use the Gotchadriver.

The young woman pushed Clotho back, causing her to stumble beside Lachesis. They’d never seen someone who could match Clotho’s bare strength, was these three really alchemists? Agatho must be, or at least capable of alchemy, but these flames and that woman… it was hard to say what they were.

Agatho’s staff broke under the force of a swing from Master Geryon’s own. Master Geryon began to swing again, this time nothing to stop his attack from hitting Agatho, when flames erupted around him, Anselm turning his attention to Master Geryon.

The woman hurried over, “Agatho, are you alright?”

“I- I’m fine, Mary.” He seemed to glance at the broken pieces of pipe that had once been his staff, “I guess I still need to work on-“

“Later,” Anselm hissed, then turned his head over to Lachesis and Clotho, “Hand over the Gotchadriver or your creator will burn.” The flames seemed to encroach closer to Master Geryon.

“Take it and run,” Master Geryon called, “Atropos, set the Chemies loose.”

Freeing the Chemies now, they’d flee to who knows where, open a gate to the real world… but better they be scattered than in the hands of these three, certainly. Atropos eyed the ever-closer flames, “Master Geryon…”

“I’m entrusting this to you three,”

Mary frowned, watching as Atropos hurried off, surely to where the Chemies were kept so that they could be freed. Her eyes narrowed, and not taking her eyes off of Atropos she said, “Anselm, make the traitor burn.”

Seeming surprised by that, Agatho looked at her, “Wait, we’re not really going to-“

The flames were on Master Geryon now. He didn’t scream, not quite, but the sounds of his pain would stay in Lachesis’ mind for a long time. Mary and Anselm seemed unphased, but Agatho, even with his eyes obscured, had this distinct look of horror on his face.

“Master Geryon,” Lachesis took a step towards him, before Clotho grabbed her arm, tightly.

“You know what we have to do,” She said, then began pulled Lachesis away. “We have to protect that belt and the Chemies. That’s what Master Geryon wants.”

Pushing past Agatho, Mary began to run towards them, her arm already pulled back in a punch. Before she could hit either of them, she was stopped by a shimmering fog. That was Atropos, returned from freeing the Chemies.

“Atropos!” Clotho called, “You can get us to the human world, right?”

“I can, but…” She glanced over at Master Geryon, a brief moment of seeming distress on her face before she turned her back to them, and a portal to the human world appeared.

Hurrying forward now, still gripping Lachesis’ arm, Clotho grabs Atropos’ wrist and rushes them through the portal. Atropos spares one last glanced at the black flames, which had now consumed Master Geryon.

It had been ten years since the sisters had been in the human world. The portal had brought them out on a rooftop, from there they could still see Chemies fleeing the Ouroboros Realm. Chaos. The alchemists would hate how much Chemies were being seen right now. The sisters would need to find the Chemies first, make sure there was no way for them or the Gotchadriver to fall into the wrong hands.

“We need to find the Chemies,” Clotho said. Despite all that had happened, she still seemed to remain calm.

Relaxing her grip on the Gotchadriver, Lachesis responded, “That’s easier said than done. The alchemists will notice this soon, too…”

“Lachesis,” Atropos turned to face them. In one hand, she held two Chemy Cards, in the other, she held a golden cube. It had been Master Geryon’s, but she must have picked up at some point during the commotion. Atropos holds the Chemy Cards out to Lachesis, “These will allow you to use the Gotchadriver.”

Lachesis took them, staring intently at the two Chemies. Hopper-1 and Steamliner, two Chemies she wasn’t the most familiar with, but she’d take Atropos’ word that they’d allow her to use the Gotchadriver. They seemed… less than thrilled about her, but most Chemies felt that way with her and her sisters, at first. They knew they weren’t human, but something far worse, for a Chemy at least.

“Let’s head there,” Clotho gestured to nearby, where a commotion was obvious. “There’s clearly a lot of Chemies there. Lachesis and I will deal with any Malgams that might appear, but let’s focus on trying to gather as many Chemies as we can.”

Despite it being Clotho who had made the suggestion, Lachesis took the lead. She was a Kamen Rider now, after all, the fate of the Chemies and who knows what else in her hands. She couldn’t let her younger sister show her up. If there was a Malgam… it was Lachesis’ responsibility, even if Clotho might help.

Most of the humans had run far away by the time the three sisters arrived. Most of the Chemies had left, too. They were too slow, it seemed, despite the commotion just a couple minutes before. Still, something didn’t feel quite right… It was eerily quiet and empty, too much so.

Then footsteps, and out from behind a pillar comes Mary. “We won’t let you get away with the Gotchadriver so easily,” She appears to be alone, right now.

Scowling at her, Clotho called, “Then why did you come alone?”

“Because now, I have this,” Mary holds up a Chemy Card, the cries of Kamantis ringing out. The Alchemist Ring on her hand glowed, engulfing the Chemy, and then her. The monster that emerged wasn’t a Malgam though – while there was certainly malice, that wasn’t what had taken over the Chemy. That was alchemy. Mary had transmuted herself and the Chemy.

Perhaps she was human after all.

Taking a step forward, Lachesis placed the Gotchadriver around her waist, a belt appearing from it so it could secure itself. She then held up Hopper-1 and Steamliner’s Chemy Cards, giving each a quick kiss before slotting them into the Driver.

Hopper-1! Steamliner! Gotchanko! Steamhopper!

The two Chemies emerged from the Driver, appearing around her. While Lachesis had experienced the power of Chemies before… it was never like this. This was different, not filled with malice or any other dark emotions. Instead, there was this new… hot and bubbly feeling. Lachesis didn’t know what it was, but it felt like it burned within her. Maybe it was Steamliner’s steam.

This armor that formed around her… this was Kamen Rider Gotchard.

“This is the power of the Gotchadriver…” Mary seemed to examine her closely, for a moment, “It doesn’t matter. I’ll take it.” She then rushed forward, swinging her bladed arm.

Lachesis dodged to the side, Clotho doing the same to stay away from the attack. Clotho then ran and punched Mary, though she was unphased. Atropos, it seemed, had the mind to get away from the fight, though Lachesis couldn’t see where she had gone.

It was time to find out just what Gotchard could do.

---

“Mr. Kudo, look!” Tsuruhara called, voice ringing out from his tablet, Issac. He did something, and then on one of the screens in the classroom, a video appeared. A portal in the sky, on the other side another world could be seen, with hanging flasks and a snake eating its own tail in the sky. And from that portal, one after another, came out Chemies.

After ten years, the Chemies had appeared again. Something told Fuga that Geryon hadn’t let them go for no reason.

With all the Chemies out now, presumably, that meant there were suddenly a hundred Chemies loose in the city. It would be a doozy to clean up all the memories of this, but worse would be the chance of a Malgam. That was something his students certainly weren’t prepared to handle, yet.

“Tsuruhara, Icho, stay here.” He turned towards the door, “I’ll investigate.” Without a word more, he hurried out. They needed to get a handle on the Chemies before someone got hurt. Before there was suddenly a Malgam loose in the city and not enough trained alchemists around to safely deal with it.

If only Geryon hadn’t taken off with the Gotchadriver too… and who knew where that could be now. Still in his hands? Or in someone elses? There were too many things they didn’t know yet.

He managed to seal a few Chemies, erasing the memories of any civilians he found who had saw them, along the way. Then he hears the sound of a fight, leading him to a plaza. Below him, there was a fight – someone using the Gotchadriver, accompanied by a woman in black and gold, fought what must have been a Malgam, though from here Fuga couldn’t sense any malice. That might have just meant that the Malgam wasn’t very strong.

To see the Gotchadriver in action – to finally, after all these years see Kamen Rider Gotchard, was… something, certainly. A powerful alchemy, and he didn’t even know who was using it.

There’s movement beside him, and then a young voice, “Such amazing alchemy. To think this is only a fraction of what the Gotchadriver is capable of.” Now standing beside him was a girl, with short black hair and a black and gold dress. There was something… familiar about her.

She looked up at him, and then he realized. This girl… she was one of Geryon’s dolls, the first he thinks, despite her young appearance. Surprised, he said, “Atropos?”

“It’s been a while, Fuga Kudo,” She responded. She held a gold cube in one hand, Fuga recognized it as being Geryon’s. Why did she have it and not him? She looked back out on the fight, “Aren’t my sisters doing well? Even with that girl having become such a strange Malgam…”

He followed her gaze back to the fight. “Strange Malgam?” From here, he couldn’t find anything too unusual about it.

“It wasn’t malice that created it… no, it was alchemy, I’m sure of it.” She rotated the cube in her hands, piece by piece. Since all the sides were gold, the rotations made little difference in its appearance. “It’s almost a match for my sisters.”

A Malgam created from alchemy and not malice? It wasn’t impossible, certainly, but few alchemists would choose to transmute themselves and a Chemy like this.

Now that Atropos has identified Gotchard and the woman as her sisters, Fuga can determine the woman is Clotho, based on what he can see of her appearance. That meant Gotchard must be Lachesis. He’d admit, he didn’t know much about them, having rarely interacted with any of the three, back before Geryon betrayed the Alchemist Association.

Gotchard jumps into the air and kicks the Malgam. It separates the Chemy, which Fuga quickly seals. It brings the two sisters and the young woman who had once been the Malgam’s attention towards him. Seeming annoyed, though, the young woman ran off and disappeared. Lachesis and Clotho ran up the stairs.

“Atropos!” Clotho called out, then glared at Fuga as she’d gotten closer, “Stay away from her.”

Fuga held up his hands, still holding Kamantis’ Chemy Card in one hand. “I don’t intend to hurt the three of you.”

“We’ll see about that,” Clotho didn’t take her eyes off him as Atropos walked over to join her sisters.

Once she’d returned to her sisters, Atropos said, “You remember Kudo.” Less so a question and more a statement. As though they’d surely remember him.

Lachesis, taking the Driver off her waist and holding it up, responded, “He made this, ten years ago.”

“I did,” Fuga confirmed, though he knew it was unnecessary. “Where’s Geryon?”

That caused a strange reaction in the sisters. A dour expression on Atropos’ usually neutral face, a stiffening and slight frown from Lachesis. Clotho remained the most neutral, answering, “He’s dead. That girl, Mary, and the two others that had been with her killed him.”

“They’ll pay for it,” Atropos added, more than a hint of anger lacing her voice.

“But,” Lachesis added, “Our first priority is to keep this and the Chemies as far away from the three as possible.”

The three had been hidden for ten years, along with Geryon. But the Association knew them and would likely interfere if they found them. Fuga didn’t know how much he trusted Geryon and the sisters, but he knew in this instance, he trusted the Association not to misuse Gotchard’s power even less. Even with three of them, gathering all of the Chemies would be difficult, on their own.

But with help… “Let me help you,” Fuga said, “You can come join the academy, and we can help you find all the Chemies.”

That elicited suspicious looks, the three sisters’ attention on him once more.

Pursing her lips, Lachesis asked, “Why should we trust you? You’re an alchemist, and perhaps you’ve forgotten, but our master betrayed you.”

“I worked with Geryon, ten years ago. And while I cannot deny the evidence that was found against him… I also doubt that his ‘betrayal’ was what it was made out to be. He had no reason to abandon his research.” And if Fuga were being honest, he had always held out hope that he and Geryon might be able to work together again, towards a future where Chemies and humans could live together in peace. That had never quite been Geryon’s goal, to Fuga’s knowledge, but they goals had aligned close enough that it made sense to work together before. He never wanted to believe that things had changed that much.

Still, the sisters didn’t seem convinced, Clotho’s hands tightened into fists, Lachesis bringing the Driver back down towards her waist. But again, it was Atropos who approached him. “I assume, then, that neither you nor your students would tell the Alchemist Association about us?”

Neither Tsuruhara nor Icho would have any reason to think they should, but even if they realized what the sisters were, Fuga was confident he could convince them not to report it. “It’s a small class, they wouldn’t. And I wouldn’t be offering if I intended to report you to the Association.”

“Sisters,” Atropos looked back at Clotho and Lachesis, “I believe that the aid of Kudo and his students would greatly increase our ability to gather the Chemies.”

Lachesis looked between Atropos and Fuga, clearly contemplating. “Well, if Atropos thinks so…”

Clotho moved closer to him, still glaring, “Don’t try anything.”

“Of course not,” Fuga agreed, giving them a warm smile, “I have no intention of tricking or harming you.”

“Lead the way, then.” Lachesis responded, “It’s better than standing around here.”

---

“That Kamen Rider is strong,” Mary said.

“But not stronger than you, right?” Agatho replied, his goggles now pulled up, though his right eye was still bandaged.

Mary frowned, “I wasn’t prepared for her, this time, but… we’ll see.” She glanced to where Anselm worked, tinkering away at something they couldn’t see. “I might need Anselm and his flames, next time.”

Anselm grunted, ��The sooner we can get that Driver, the easier it will be to gather the Chemies.”

“Of course,” Mary agreed.

Quietly, Agatho added, “I wonder what will happen then…?”

[writingpaperghost]

A couple bits of my Kamen Rider Gotchard Roleswap AU

To see the Gotchadriver in action – to finally, after all these years see Kamen Rider Gotchard, was… something, certainly. A powerful alchemy, and he didn’t even know who was using it.

There’s movement beside him, and then a young voice, “Such amazing alchemy. To think this is only a fraction of what the Gotchadriver is capable of.” Now standing beside him was a girl, with short black hair and a black and gold dress. There was something… familiar about her.

She looked up at him, and then he realized. This girl… she was one of Geryon’s dolls, the first he thinks, despite her young appearance. Surprised, he said, “Atropos?”

“It’s been a while, Fuga Kudo,” She responded. She held a gold cube in one hand, Fuga recognized it as being Geryon’s. Why did she have it and not him? She looked back out on the fight, “Aren’t my sisters doing well? Even with that girl having become such a strange Malgam…”

He followed her gaze back to the fight. “Strange Malgam?” From here, he couldn’t find anything too unusual about it.

“It wasn’t malice that created it… no, it was alchemy, I’m sure of it.” She rotated the cube in her hands, piece by piece. Since all the sides were gold, the rotations made little difference in its appearance. “It’s almost a match for my sisters.”

A Malgam created from alchemy and not malice? It wasn’t impossible, certainly, but few alchemists would choose to transmute themselves and a Chemy like this.

Now that Atropos has identified Gotchard and the woman as her sisters, Fuga can determine the woman is Clotho, based on what he can see of her appearance. That meant Gotchard must be Lachesis. He’d admit, he didn’t know much about them, having rarely interacted with any of the three, back before Geryon betrayed the Alchemist Association.

---

“That Kamen Rider is strong,” Mary said.

“But not stronger than you, right?” Agatho replied, his goggles now pulled up, though his right eye was still bandaged.

Mary frowned, “I wasn’t prepared for her, this time, but… we’ll see.” She glanced to where Anselm worked, tinkering away at something they couldn’t see. “I might need Anselm and his flames, next time.”

Anselm grunted, “The sooner we can get that Driver, the easier it will be to gather the Chemies.”

“Of course,” Mary agreed.

Quietly, Agatho added, “I wonder what will happen then…?”

[writingpaperghost]

Apparently I made this blog five years ago. Man time flies.

In other news, I finished Gotchard! Or well, the series proper (ignore where I failed to keep up with it after March, I didn't have the motivation, I am not surprised by this). I'm not going to bore anyone with any real opinions on it, you can find those all over Tumblr. The main thing is I overall enjoyed it, even if I wasn't super into it for like, half the show.

And I already have a Roleswap AU started (as you can all see, I seem to have a favorite genre). Still working out the details, but I'll probably post a snippet of the first chapter soonish.

[writingpaperghost]

The Wind Will Take You Along (Chapter 1)

Chapter 1: The W Search/Two Detectives in One

Having recently taken over her father's detective agency, Akiko Narumi finds herself with a lot to worry about. Her best friend, Shoutaro, who doesn't even know of her father's fate, the mysterious boy she now has to protect, Phillip, who aids her on her cases, and the ever looming threat of Dopants and the organization that creates them. Will Akiko be able to make her father proud and not only solve her cases, but protect the city of Fuuto as it's Kamen Rider too? Or will she find herself crumpling under the pressure and the circumstances? As everything changes too much and too fast, Akiko can only hope to keep up.

AO3: https://archiveofourown.org/works/57870910/chapters/147303886

Her father falls to the ground and there’s blood, a wound in his shoulder as he tumbles. Above him floats that horrible monster, appearing almost like a woman, but with not quite. To her side is another monster, black and purple, equally inhuman. The one that was responsible for the wound in her father’s shoulder.

Uncaring of the monsters still in sight, Akiko rushed to her father’s side on the ground, forgetting all about the boy they’d come here to save. “Dad!” she can see blood staining his white suit jacket, all she can think in that moment is that it’ll never come out.

“Akiko,” her father said, and she stopped just short of touching him. As much as she wants to, she knows she can’t, and it makes this all worse. He doesn’t touch her, either. “protect the boy…” The boy. The damned boy.

Even while dying, his priority was still on his case. Normally, that determination to see things through was something Akiko could at least understand, but now… now Akiko hated it. His dying breaths and all he’ll do is give her a task, not a word of love or anything else. “I…”

Weakly, he reached up, taking a hold of his hat, placing it on Akiko’s own head. It’s lopsided, not quite in the right spot, but she doesn’t bother fixing it. “Becomes someone fit to wear it.”

As his hand falls, Akiko’s heart dropped, “Dad!” wailing, she throws caution to the wind, grabbing her father.

Nothing happened.

He was dead. Never coming back. Again, Akiko wailed, tears in her eyes as she cried and cried, the world around her unimportant.

Then she’s pulled away from her father’s body and suddenly it’s all there again. The people with guns, the monsters, the boy and the briefcase. He was the one who pulled her away, briefcase still in hand.

“Let me ask you a question,” he began, unclasping the briefcase and opening it, once more revealing the strange device and USB sticks within. “are you ready to ride with the devil?”

Later, Akiko would attribute the decision in part to shock over her father’s death, but in the moment… she could only nod and take the device and three of the USBs, while the boy took the other three. Placing the device on her waist, another identical one appeared on the boy’s.

He clicked the button on one of the USBs, and Akiko did the same.

Cyclone!

Joker!

He slots the USB into the right slot of the device on his waist. Then it appears in the same spot on Akiko’s, and she decides not to question it in the moment. She follows suit with the USB in her hand and the other slot, then pushes the two sides of the device apart. Wind whips around them, spinning, as Akiko’s overcome with a strange feeling, like electricity in her veins and the boy falls to the ground unconscious.

Even as strange green and black armor appears on Akiko’s body and she becomes aware of this other presence in her mind, the wind around them doesn’t die down. If anything, it only becomes stronger until it lifts them off the ground.

“Akiko,” a familiar voice snapped Akiko out of her memories, bringing her back to the present. “Are you staring off into space again?” Standing in the front of her father’s – her desk, was Shoutaro Hidari, Akiko’s close friend, and he had been for most of the now two years she’d been in Fuuto. He leaned over, bracing a hand against the desk, watching her.

“I… was just thinking,” She couldn’t tell him that she was remembering that night, nearly a year ago, when her father died. Shoutaro didn’t even know Sokichi Narumi was dead, let alone any of the details of how it happened. Akiko felt a bit bad about it, she wanted to tell Shoutaro, he was probably as close to her father as she’d been, maybe even closer, but… She didn’t want to risk dragging him into the world she was now in, he was in danger enough with his job with the police putting him near Dopant attacks. “And anyway, I’m out of cases, found the last lost dog like an hour ago.” Never mind that the dog had tried to bite her.

Shoutaro shook his head, “A detective who makes a living off of looking for lost pets…” His gaze wandered, landing on the shelf still filled with her father’s old detective books, their pages worn. Akiko had skimmed through a few, she always wondered if they were where her father got his idea of what a detective was from, an idea that Shoutaro picked up, even if he wasn’t so good at being.

“It pays the bills,” Akiko said as she stood up, picking up the casefiles from the day to file away. “Besides, we take other cases. It’s just that lost pets are more common than much else.”

Hands on his hips, Shoutaro considered it for a moment, “Well, I’m sure the boss will be proud of you either way, when he gets back.”

Things like that weren’t uncommon to hear, since so few people really knew that her father was dead. It didn’t make them hurt any less, though. She knew Shoutaro meant well, but the words still made her hurt, made the guilt bubble up again. But she had to keep it together, she couldn’t bring herself to break the news still.

“So!” Akiko wanted to change the subject, anything but Sokichi, “Anything interesting happen today?”

Sighing, Shoutaro answered, “Not yet.” Then, looking a little more hopeful, he added, “But there’s still time left in the day, who knows.”

The last thing a police officer should really be hopeful for is a case. But Akiko knew Shoutaro, he didn’t feel that way out of some desire for thrill or fame, he felt that way because he wanted crimes to be reported to the police, so their perpetrators could be found and dealt with accordingly. He wanted nothing more than to protect Fuuto, even from the things he could do little about directly, like Dopants.

No, the only one who was capable of fighting back against Dopants was the Kamen Rider. A pair Akiko was intimately familiar with. It wasn’t even really that big of a secret that Akiko somehow knew him, Shoutaro and others on the police force she worked with, like Jinno and Maki, knew that well. If you needed the Kamen Rider, or to get a message to him, then you could probably tell Akiko and she’d find a way.

Yet the only thing the police could reasonably do against the Dopants was to arrest the users of the Memories after the fact. Unless they could somehow track down and arrest the members of the organization that was responsible for making and distributing the Gaia Memories, but Akiko didn’t think that was likely. She had more to work with than they did, and she and Phillip still hadn’t learned much more than they’d known a year ago.

“I wouldn’t get your hopes up,” Akiko shook her head, “we haven’t even had much of interest here, and usually people bring some interesting cases.”

“Not with you,” Shoutaro countered, “You spend more time chasing lost pets. And you don’t have the same reputation that Boss did, so that probably doesn’t help either.”

Frowning, Akiko countered, “We still get interesting cases,” Then, she gestured towards the door, “I bet one will come in before you leave!”

Shoutaro rolled his eyes, “Sure it will, just face it Akiko, you’re still working up to being a detective like-“

The door opened, and in walked a woman.

Glancing between her and Shoutaro, Akiko noted an odd expression on his face. Then he seemed to smile and said, “Oh, Marina! It’s been a while.”

The woman appeared surprised, “Shoutaro? I didn’t think I’d see you here, I heard you’d join the police.” She, Marina, paused in the doorway.

“I did,” Shoutaro grinned a little, “But Akiko here’s a friend so I like to stop by the agency and see how she’s doing.”

“And because you’re bored,” Akiko grumbled beneath her breath, before brightening up and turning her attention to Marina, “So, what can the Narumi Detective Agency do for you?”

“Ah, yes, you see… I’m worried about my boyfriend,” Marina said, any happiness at seeing Shoutaro fading away. “He seems to be missing.”

A missing boyfriend. Not the most unusual, but certainly far more interesting than a missing dog. “Alright, do you know if something happened that might have caused him to disappear? Any strange behavior or big occurrences?” There were a few things they’d have to figure out before she started her investigation.

“Hold on,” Shoutaro interjected, “If your boyfriend is missing, Marina, shouldn’t you bring this to the police?”

She shook her head, “I have, but I’m not sure that they’ll be of much use… I’d rather have even one more pair of eyes looking for him.”

Glancing at Akiko, Shoutaro frowned, “I suppose so, but…”

Marina continued, “I don’t know much. He’d recently been fired, but I only learned that after he disappeared. He had been going to work that day, I think it might have been when he found out? I haven’t seen him since the day before.”

“Do you know where he was last seen?” That would be where Akiko investigated first. Narrowing down the start would make it a lot easier.

They discussed the case for a little while longer, Marina doing her best to answer Akiko’s questions. Shoutaro assured Marina that the police were surely doing their best to find her boyfriend, which Akiko knew meant that he’d be digging around a bit in his free time. Since he was a part of the unit that dealt with Dopant attacks, he wouldn’t otherwise be anywhere near a missing person’s case. Unless it was thought to be connected, but as it was, there didn’t seem to be a Dopant active currently.

The three part ways, Shoutaro likely to go back the police station, Marina to wherever, and Akiko to begin her investigation. She’d picked up a fair amount from her dad in the year or so that she’d been working with him at the agency, and since the night that she’d met Phillip, she’d only learned more. It made no guarantee that she’d find any clues, but it at least made her a bit more confident in the endeavor.

She missed investigating with her father. It felt so… isolating, being alone. She doesn’t know how he did it for so long. Though she’d never tell Shoutaro, she appreciated being able to investigate with him, if only because it made her feel a bit like her father was still around. Of course, Shoutaro didn’t usually try to correct what she was doing like her father did, and though he tried to emulate the hard-boiled image her father put up, Shoutaro cared too much, no matter how much he tried to pretend he didn’t. Though she often wasn’t working on a case alone, she did the footwork by herself, especially when she wasn’t receiving help from one of her informants or Shoutaro.

Marina’s boyfriend used to work at Windscale, a mid-end clothing store that Akiko was mostly familiar with because Shoutaro liked to frequent it when he needed new clothes. She didn’t really see the appeal, even with some of her attempts to emulate her father’s style of dress. Still, it would be good to ask around with the employees, see if they knew anything further about Marina’s boyfriend.

That drummed up something of a lead. The employee she was talking to told her that Marina’s boyfriend had been pretty angry about being fired. While that didn’t point her towards any answers, it could be a reason. His disappearance could have something to do with the anger, but that alone wasn’t quite enough. She needed more, though she wasn’t entirely sure yet where to look.

She’d go back to the agency, then, and see if Phillip could be of any use. Provided she could get him to pay attention and stop being absorbed in whatever newest topic had taken up his attention. Sighing, she got on the Hardboiler and pulled her helmet on. If someone had told her, a year ago, she’d be riding a motorcycle around Fuuto, she’d have probably called them crazy. But a lot had changed. She had changed, at least she liked to think so.

It's not even halfway back to the agency when she’s forced to stop, several police cars blocking off the road just at an overpass. And with good reason, she figures, given the smoke she can see. Hopping off the Hardboiler, she pulled her helmet off and placed her fedora on her head. Having gotten a bit closer, she can see Shoutaro, Jinno, and Maki, which meant that whatever happened here was no accident.

“A Dopant?” She called to them.

“Bright, glowy, and hot,” Answered Jinno, “Burned a hole straight through the overpass.” He gestured to a clearly still hot and smoking piece of rubble. She could already tell whatever Dopant had caused this was going to be causing a lot more property damage.

Still, the location was kind of odd. Was it destruction for destruction’s sake or something else? “Why the overpass though?”

Shoutaro crossed his arms, “We chased it here. It had been attacking a Windscale store.”

Windscale? She knew there were several locations in the city, but it certainly was an odd time… The question then being, was it a coincidence or not? That’s what Akiko had to figure out, and while she could probably make an educated guess, she’d feel a lot better if she could consult Phillip about it. The last thing she needed was to come to the wrong conclusion.

“We’ll be keeping an eye on other Windscale stores,” Jinno said, “In case it strikes again.”

“And when it does,” Maki added, “We’ll be ready to show it why you don’t mess with the Fuuto PD!”

They all knew that the police couldn’t really fight a Dopant. Guns weren’t usually all that effective, and even Maki knew that. But Akiko couldn’t blame him for hoping they could. Nothing was worse than feeling like you were helpless, and the Dopants brought that to the people of Fuuto more than she liked.

“When did you find it?” She asked. It was possible it was still nearby, or at least the Memory’s user.

“About fifteen minutes ago is when we lost track of it,” Shoutaro answered, obviously knowing what Akiko was thinking. Sometimes, he knew her too well and she worried she wouldn’t be able to keep from him the things she needed to.

Was that a recent enough time to be worth it to try to hunt it down? It was presumably on foot in some capacity and likely had only lost the police because of the damage it had caused. On the Hardboiler, she might be able to catch up with it, depending on just how fast it was. It would be better to stop it now than give it another chance to cause damage. But it wasn’t impossible that whoever was using the Memory had already stopped and was laying low.

She frowned, before turning and heading back to the Hardboiler, “I’m heading back to the agency, I have some leads to look over.” She took her hat off and pulled her helmet on, “You know where to find me.”

It was mostly true, she was going to go back to the agency. It was just also true that she was going to see if she could find anymore sign of the Dopant first. If she was lucky, she could find it and stop it from destroying anything else. She wasn’t looking particularly hard, going at a slower speed and looking around at her surroundings. Just seeing if she could find it, and if she could, she could deal with it, if not, she’d just head back to the agency. Simple.

Down at the end of an alley, she sees something glowing, and even from here she can tell it was orange and hot. Just like the debris she’d seen earlier. The Dopant had definitely been here, though how recently was hard to say. She parked the Hardboiler, taking of her helmet and went to investigate. Upon getting closer, she could more easily tell that the burning chuck of cement was nestled in an intersection between two alleys. Even closer, and she could tell this molten cement must be recent, given how strong the heat is, keeping her from getting too much closer, even with its small size. Still, she stood in the middle of not one, but two alley ways, and that left her unsure just which direction the sudden thudding sound was coming from.

With back, forward, left, and right out of the question, as she could tell by how much louder the sound was becoming that she didn’t have time to determine the sound’s location, that only left up. Pulling up her sleeve, she pointed her arm up and let the SpiderWatch launch its grappling hook out and pull her up. It was never the most pleasant experience to be pulled up by something attached only to her arm, but she’d learned how to get used to it for a short while. Long enough that she can get high above and dodge the Dopant that charged through where she’d once been, leaving a trail of molten lava behind it.

Glowing bright orange, hot, and molten, this had to be the same Dopant that the police had encountered earlier. It didn’t double back, thankfully, so it must not have realized that she had gone up and either thought it had bowled her over and likely burnt her or that she’d somehow run off without it noticing. Which it thought didn’t matter, only that she’d managed to keep herself out of harm.

Still, as she lowered herself back to the ground, she found it odd that it seemed to set a trap like that. Why go through the trouble? And just who or what was it hoping to lure in? The police? She certainly didn’t look like a police officer, though she couldn’t rule out that it was simply hoping to just find someone to hurt.

Well, with more knowledge of the Dopant, it was probably better to head back to the agency and see if Phillip could give her any information that would help with fighting it. And, of course, she still had Marina’s missing boyfriend to worry about, though something told her these two things were more connected than they at first seemed.

Upon her return to the agency, she bypassed hanging up her hat and instead pulled the door that the hat rack sat upon open, climbing down the stairs to the garage. Most didn’t know the room existed, and she’d only been in there a few times when her father had still been alive. He’d told her that there was usually someone in there who liked their privacy, so she could only ever go when he knew that person was gone. And there was rarely even really a reason for her to go in, he’d mostly just asked her to go and clean up on those rare occasions. Since her father’s death, she hadn’t found anyone in there other than Phillip, like this mysterious person left with her father, or never existed to begin with.

Now, the garage was Phillip’s place. The entire upper railing was covered in whiteboards that were usually covered in his notes about whatever his newest interest was. As she reached the end of the steps, Akiko could see him, pacing across the railing, whiteboard marker in hand as he muttered to himself. Despite his movement, he’d simply memorized the layout of the railing and was, in reality, lost within his thoughts and probably entirely unaware of what was going on.

“Phillip,” She called, and when that didn’t elicit any response, she tried again, “Hey, Phillip!”

Finally, that seemed to break him out of his thoughts, “Ah, Akiko, perfect timing. Did you know that Mount Fuji-“

She waved her hand, “I’m sure it’s very interesting, but I need your help with something, so you can come back to that.”

“Ah, but-“

“I need you to look some things up for me. We’ve got another Dopant running around.” She placed a hand on her hip, “I think I have a pretty good idea as to what’s going on, but I want to make sure.”

Though Phillip frowned for a moment, he closed his eyes, “Very well.”

Something about him seemed to shift, a breeze ruffled his hair and his clothes as lights almost seemed to shine on him, giving him some strange, inhuman feel. Akiko was long used to it and about every other odd thing about Phillip. “Windscale,” she began, “Yousuke Togawa,”

Phillip hummed, and then a moment later said, “The Magma Memory. Angry at being fired, Togawa began to attack Windscale locations using the Magma Memory.”

“I figured as much,” Akiko frowned, “I don’t look forward to telling our client about this… but that’s for later.” She turned around, beginning back up the stairs.

Though she couldn’t see it, Phillip rolled his eyes, before turning back to the whiteboards. “Now where was I…?”

She makes her way back to the Windscale location she’d been at earlier. It was a surprise that Togawa hadn’t attacked there first, since it was where he’d been fired from. Regardless, he’d surely make it there eventually, and she was confident it would be soon.

Sure enough, it doesn’t take much searching around the store to find a man who matched the picture Marina had given her. “You know,” She said, “I’m not the biggest fan of Windscale either, but trying to turn them all into molten lava isn’t exactly the greatest plan.”

“That isn’t what this is about,” Togawa said, pulling out a USB stick. Without another hesitation, he pressed the button and inserted it into the port that appeared on his arm.

Magma!

Akiko dodged out of the way of the glob of magma that was hurled at her, the top of her fedora just barely getting singled. She frowned, knowing there was no getting around a fight. She’d known from the start, but some part of her had been hoping.

“Fine then,” She pulled out the W Driver, placing it on her waist. “Two can play at that game.” Feeling the connection to Phillip begin, she pulled out the Joker Memory.She knows, back at the garage, Phillip does the same with his own Memory.

Cyclone!

Joker!

The Cyclone Memory appeared in its slot in the Driver and she quickly adds her own Joker Memory into its own. Then, activating the Driver, she can hear Phillip echo her own words, though spoken at the same time. “Transform.”

Wind whipped around her, lights and circuits forming around her body into green and black armor. It settled against her, the weight and tingling feeling long since having become a second skin to her, even when it bites at her. Another mind sat next to her own, a presence that wouldn’t go away as long as they were like this. She was used to him, too.

Pointing at the Magma Dopant, she and Phillip both said, “Now, count up your sins.”

This is when the battle really starts. They’ve got plenty of practice at this point, after having been the Kamen Rider for nearly a year, and having fought plenty of Dopants. This one would be no different, even if it may be constantly molten hot. They could work around that. They dodge out of the way of a hurdling glob of magma.

“May I suggest a change?” Phillip intoned. Though he had control over a part of her body, it was a struggle to make it do anything she really didn’t want him to. Even now, she wasn’t always the most comfortable with someone else having any say over what she physically did, but she’d grown used to the nagging influence of Phillip. In a fight, at least, she didn’t always have the attention to try to stop him, and it usually worked out well enough.

As her right hand removed the Cyclone Memory from the right side of the Driver, she asked, “You got something in mind?”

The Cyclone Memory was quickly switched out for the Luna Memory, as Phillip answered, “Getting close is dangerous, obviously the Dopant is quite hot. Likewise, Heat isn’t likely to be of much use.”

Akiko’s left hand, the one she had complete control over, pulled the Joker Memory out of its slot, replacing it with the Trigger Memory, “I see what you mean. Don’t get hit and attack from a distance.”

Where previously her right half had been green with yellow accents, and her left half black with purple accents, each side had now changed. Her right half was now yellow, and her left half blue. Using Luna’s ability to extend the limbs on her right side, Phillip guided them out of the way of the Magma Dopant’s attacks. With her left hand, Akiko did her best to aim her gun.

The flaw in using the Trigger Memory with a Memory like Luna, one that kept her right hand preoccupied, was that Akiko was right-handed. And even with the practice she’s had as Kamen Rider, her aim with her left hand still left much to be desired. Add in the constant swinging and yanking that her right arm was doing, and it was going to be a miracle if any of her shots even landed close to the Magma Dopant.

“I’m finding a flaw in your plan,” She grumbled as they landed across from the Magma Dopant once more. For the moment, at least, they were holding still, and she had time to actually aim.

Finally, she managed to get a few good shots in on the Dopant. “Is it a flaw?” Phillip asked in that somewhat smug tone he often used when he knew that he was right.

As she slotted the Luna Memory into its slot, she responded, “There’s no way you could have planned for this.”

Just as she was about to fire, the ground shook, then opened up beneath the Magma Dopant. Out came jaws, which swallowed up the Magma Dopant.

Akiko couldn’t help but stare at where the Magma Dopant once was. “So… there’s another Dopant.”

And still no clue as to who was making all of the Gaia Memories in the first place.

---

Settled into his apartment for the evening, Shoutaro pulled out his cell phone and dialed a number he called so much, it was on speed dial.

The phone rang once, then twice, and then a voice answered, “Shoutaro,” in a fond tone, “I can’t tell you how nice it is to hear you after today.”

“It’s been a long day, then?”

The voice on the other end scoffed, “It’s been more than long. All day, preparing for the wedding. And he’s so annoying.”

“He’s not a bad person,”

Though he couldn’t see her, he knew she rolled her eyes, “Good people don’t get involved with us.”

A frown came to Shoutaro’s face, “What about me, then?”

“You’re the exception, not the rule.”

“It won’t be for long-“

“I know.” She laughed a little, “You may both care about the city, but you have something he doesn’t. That’s why I like you so much.”

Sheepishly, Shoutaro responded, “Well…”

“Now enough about my day, how was yours?”

He shrugged, even though he knew she couldn’t see it. “Fine. We had a Dopant case, but it got wrapped up pretty quickly…”

“I suppose if you can give him one thing,” She said, “it’s that the Kamen Rider has gotten quite good at dealing with weak Dopants.”

“It keeps people from getting hurt,” Shoutaro said.

“Of course.”

He sighed, “Better something than nothing.”

“I know,” She sounded sympathetic, “I just… don’t think there’s much he can do in the grand scheme of things. Maybe there isn’t really anything for him to do.”

Frowning again, Shoutaro said, “I don’t believe that.”

“I know you don’t.” Again, it was spoken with a fond tone. “I’d love to keep talking, but I’m afraid I have to go.”

The frown lessened, more into something neutral, “I’ll listen to you tomorrow.”

“My number one fan,” She said in response.

[writingpaperghost]

Linking With the Only One Called You (Chapter 1)

Amanogawa High School was for those who wanted to reach the stars. Ryuusei Sakuta wanted to be anywhere but, yet he finds himself transferring there anyway. After a whirlwind of a first day, Ryuusei finds himself as a member of the newly formed Kamen Rider Club, as Kamen Rider Fourze. As the Club gains new members and investigate the Zodiart appearances at the school, it becomes clear that not everyone at Amanogawa are what they seem, and even fellow students may turn out to be their enemy. Can friendship really endure when most of the Club has no interest in it?

And just what is the space loving Yuuki Jojima always up to?

AO3: https://archiveofourown.org/works/56095588/chapters/142483234

Everything about Amanogawa High School was too bright; its students, its faculty, even its uniform, with its bright blues and reds. Amanogawa was where you went when you wanted a bright future – when you wanted to go to the stars. In that regard, Ryuusei Sakuta was horribly out of place, he had no desire to go to the stars, and his new uniform felt more like a prison compared to his old, dull, uniform back at Subaruboshi. Though he’d shed Subaruboshi’s brown uniform for Amanogawa’s bright blue and red, he wasn’t happy about it.

Amanogawa was a step towards the stars, and Ryuusei wanted nothing more than to stay on Earth.

Where Jirou was.

As he walked past the gate of Amanogawa, his new school, he checked his watch. He still had plenty of time, but he couldn’t help but feel a bit anxious. His parents thought that a change of scenery would be good for him, leave behind his problems at Subaruboshi. Ryuusei begged to differ, though, as now he had to start at a new school and deal with the fact that his best friend was in the hospital showing no signs of waking up.

“Make sure to make a few friends,” his mother had told him when she’d seen him off that morning. The last thing Ryuusei wanted to do was make friends, at Amanogawa of all places. Not when he was more worried about the friend he already had.

The homeroom teacher of class 2B seemed nice enough, Ms. Sonoda. He didn’t get to talk with her much, before class, not that he particularly cared to. He wanted the next year or so to go as quickly as possible, so he could go back to Subaruboshi. The bell rang and the class began to quiet down.

“Everyone, we have a new student, through the exchange program with Subaruboshi High School.” Ms. Sonoda introduced Ryuusei, and now all eyes were on him.

It was fortunate, or unfortunate for Ryuusei, that Subaruboshi had recently begun an exchange program with Amanogawa. That program was the only reason he’d found himself at a different school, now. He had the grades for it, but it was his parents who’d practically forced him to apply. It was just his luck that Ryuusei was the one chosen.

“I’m Ryuusei Sakuta,” He hated that he had to be here. “Let’s get along.”

“You can take the empty seat there in front of Utahoshi.” It wasn’t like Ryuusei knew who that was, but it was easy to tell where she was referring to. There was only one open seat in the classroom, after all. He supposed that made the grouchy looking boy behind it Utahoshi. Not that it mattered much, Ryuusei figures as he heads to sit down. He’s not here to make friends.

The girl beside him smiles, “I’m Yuuki Jojima,” she seems too friendly for Ryuusei’s liking. Ms. Sonoda begins to talk, though Jojima doesn’t seem to pay her much mind. “I can show you around-“

“Please pay attention, Jojima,” Ms. Sonoda called out. Jojima winced a little, but turned her attention towards the front with a small frown.

The next few hours went by quickly enough, Ryuusei let the instruction hold his attention more than much else. It was still far too long for his taste, and he was relieved when lunch finally came. He had intended to make a beeline for the cafeteria, but was stopped by Jojima.

“Let me show you around,” Jojima insisted.

Ryuusei hid his grimace with a polite smile, “No thank you, I’ll be alright.”

She frowned just a little, before that smile returned, “Amanogawa’s got some interesting groups, you’re new here, so you’re probably not going to fit in with anyone…”

“I’m not too worried about that,” Friendship isn’t needed here anyway.

“Come on,” Jojima grabbed his wrist and began to drag him out of the classroom, barely giving him any time to protest further. He sighed, deciding it would probably be best to let her do what she wanted.

At the very least, she waited until he had gotten lunch to launch onto her explanation of Amanogawa’s cliques. “You’ve got the popular kids, the football jocks, the nerds, the delinquents, the occult goths…” She listed, gesturing to each group. “And then you’ve got groups like them. I don’t even know what their deal is. Just that Utahoshi probably spends more time in the nurse’s office than in class…” She gestured to where Utahoshi sat with another girl, who appeared to be something of a goth.

“All schools have their in groups of some kind,” Ryuusei responded. That was true even of Subaruboshi, though perhaps not as noticeably as here. Amanogawa appeared to allow a lot more leeway in their dress code. Well, Ryuusei had read the handbook, he knew for a fact their dress code was very lenient, not even requiring the school uniform. His parents had simply insisted he had to wear it, to his own dismay.

“Maybe…” She frowned a little again, before looking at the time. “Ah! Sorry, I have to go, I’m supposed to meet with someone!”

Ryuusei shrugged, “It’s fine.” He wants her gone, anyway. Something about her smile was starting to get on his nerves. She was way too earnest.

Oh, and that odd pair of Utahoshi and the goth had disappeared. They, like Yuuki, must have had somewhere else they’d rather be. Then again, so did Ryuusei, unfortunately for him, he just couldn’t go to where he’d rather be.

The rest of the day passed at about the same speed as earlier. Ryuusei didn’t mind per se, the lectures and assignments were a distraction from his worry. Still, he was relieved when the final bell rang for the day. He needed to try to figure out more about what happened to Jirou, he doubted Amanogawa had any information. He would head back to Subaruboshi to investigate further.

Along the way, he passed by where the football team was practicing, and he heard a commotion. It sounded… an awful lot like a fight, but not any kind of fight he was familiar with. He ducked behind a building and looking around the corner, he saw some monster attacking the football players. What the hell was that?

He might not care for the football players, but he couldn’t allow them to simply be attacked. Tossing his bag aside, he ran at the monster, kicking it away from one of the players. When his feet land back on the ground, he focuses. He has plenty of practice for this, and while the monster was clearly not all that hurt by his kick, he could be enough to hold it off until the all the players were able to escape.

As Ryuusei fought off the monster, he noted it had a weird pattern on it. Something about the locations and arrangement of the circles and lines felt… familiar, though he couldn’t place where.

His fist fight with the monster was interrupted by a bright yellow blur, knocking it away and sending Ryuusei awkwardly tumbling to the ground to avoid the blur. He blinked, and then he could see that the blur that had knocked the monster away was some kind of robot.

“Careful, Utahoshi,” A voice called out, “You’ll hit your new classmate.” Ryuusei glanced in the direction of the voice, finding the goth girl who had been with Utahoshi at lunch as the source.

From the yellow robot came a scoff, the only response to the goth girl’s observation. Frankly, Ryuusei would appreciate it if he – presumably Utahoshi in there – showed a little more concern about not hurting him. There were a lot of questions on Ryuusei’s mind, but he pulled himself up and hurried off to hide behind the corner of a building. He watched as the robot fought the monster, the goth girl watching as well.

She spoke again, “That seems to be the Orion Zodiart,” She glanced at the pages of a book, though Ryuusei couldn’t say as to what the book was about. “A hunter… and he seems to be hunting the students.”

“Now’s not the time for theories,” From the yellow robot came a voice, presumably Utahoshi’s. He sounded strained and out of breath.

It seemed piloting that robot took its toll on Utahoshi, as his movements became more sluggish, and soon the monster was able to get away. Out from the robot came Utahoshi, looking exhausted.

The goth girl hurried over to him, “Utahoshi,” She didn’t seem surprised, but certainly concerned. “Did you overdo it again?”

Utahoshi shook his head, “I’m fine.” Still, he was out of breath, and the goth girl didn’t even seem to believe him.

“Let’s get the Dizer back, then you can get some rest at the Hutch.” The goth girl helped him up.

“Yes… where’d that Sakuta go?” Utahoshi looked around, prompting Ryuusei to duck out of sight, hidden behind the building. He could still faintly hear the two.

There’s a moment of silence, and then the goth girl responded, “He ran off. Probably far away from here.”

“If he’s smart,” Utahoshi’s voice sounded almost dismissive. “But then again, he tried to fight a Zodiart, Nozama, I doubt he’s that bright.”

The goth girl, presumably Nozama, said, “Let’s just get going. It’s better not to linger here.”

Ryuusei waited a bit, until the sound of footsteps and machinery was fading. Utahoshi and Nozama obviously knew something about that monster – a Zodiart, Utahoshi had called it – and Ryuusei wanted to know more. He couldn’t be sure, but it wasn’t impossible that this monster, and by proxy Utahoshi and Nozama, were connected to that night with Jirou…

He’d know for sure if he saw one of those switches.

Carefully, he followed Utahoshi and Nozama. They stored the robot machine, the Dizer, away, and then reentered the school. This part of the school didn’t seem like it was often used, especially given the storage room that the pair had entered. When Ryuusei caught up, he found the storage room empty, no sign of Utahoshi and Nozama.

He investigated the room, though it wasn’t big. There wasn’t really anywhere for anyone to hide, save for a locker. And a locker wouldn’t be big enough for two people to comfortably, if fit at all. Still, there could be a sign of them in there, maybe their bags or something…

When Ryuusei opened the locker, he was met with a bright, blinding white light.

What was this?

He then realized that the white light appeared to be some kind of hallway. He thinks, at the very end, he can see some kind of door. Taking a breath, he stepped in, tightly holding the strap of his bag, and he shut the door of the locker behind him. Step by step, he traversed through the tunnel, seeming to be endlessly white in every direction, save for in front of and behind him.

Finally, he reached the door. It wasn’t like the locker door, or even a regular door. This one was metal, seeming almost like a hatch. Reaching out, he grabbed the handle and turned it, opened the door.

On the other side, the first thing Ryuusei registers is a lot of white. Not as blindingly as the tunnel, but certainly white. He could spy some English text on walls and machinery, but he doesn’t get a chance to try to make out what it says. Instead, he feels the eyes of Utahoshi and Nozama on him.

“What are you doing here?” Utahoshi is quick to ask, standing up from the table, where his briefcase was opened.

Ryuusei turned his attention to them, for now. “I followed you,” He answered plainly.

“Followed us…?” Nozama mumbled, a book clutched to her chest, her fingers covering the lower part of her face.

“That monster, what was it?” He leaned against the wall beside the door, eyes still trained on Utahoshi and Nozama.

“That’s none of your business,” Utahoshi answered, almost as soon as Ryuusei had finished his question. Obviously, he wouldn’t be all that forthcoming with answers. Still, Ryuusei wouldn’t give up so easily.

He frowned, “You know what it is, I heard the two of you talking about it.”

“It’s none of your business,” Utahoshi repeated, this time more forcefully.

Nozama watched them, carefully and curiously. She seemed mostly willing to let this conversation stay between Ryuusei and Utahoshi, and Ryuusei was fine with that. Utahoshi likely had more answers, based on what Ryuusei had seen so far. Though she obviously knew something about what was going on.

Recalling that fateful night, Ryuusei remembered the device in Jirou’s hand… “Does it have something to do with… switches?” That was the best way to describe the device.

That elicited a slight change in expression from Utahoshi, “How did you…?”

“I’ve seen it before, Utahoshi. And it wasn’t here.” While it wasn’t entirely true, Utahoshi’s reaction said enough that his hunch that the incident with Jirou and this monster at Amanogawa were somehow connected.

That statement seemed concern Utahoshi, who took a step back and paced just a little, in thought. “I hadn’t thought any Zodiarts had appeared outside of Amanogawa…”

“Maybe,” Nozama spoke up, taking a few steps closer to Ryuusei, examining him, “this is a sign, a fate that brought Sakuta to this school. Drawn to the Zodiarts.”

Her statement was… odd. Ryuusei wasn’t entirely sure what to make of it, though judging by Utahoshi’s expression, he was somewhat used to it, though still not particularly thrilled. “I doubt that’s the case…” He then turned his attention to Ryuusei, “You need to forget about all of this. It under control.”

“I’m not so sure about that,” Ryuusei had seen their solution for that, hitting the monster – Zodiart – with that mech. It wasn’t an awful solution, but it clearly wasn’t the most effective, especially seeing how awful it left Utahoshi. He seemed better now, but it was obvious that piloting that thing left him very drained. It couldn’t be the most viable solution.

“Like you would know,” Utahoshi scoffed.

Looking between Ryuusei and Utahoshi, Nozama wonder aloud, “Maybe he’s the one who could use…” Her gaze then wanders over to a desk, where a strange belt sat.

“No,” Utahoshi shut down that thought before Nozama could elaborate any further. Ryuusei got the impression that, despite the amount of time that they spent together, Utahoshi and Nozama didn’t appear to be all that friendly with each other. “We don’t need anyone-“

Ryuusei decides he can’t upset Utahoshi any more quickly, so he asked, “Just what is that?”

“You ask too many questions,” Utahoshi snapped. “Leave.”

Now that Ryuusei knew the way into their little base, there was no harm in waiting until they were gone to take a closer look. It might even let him get a closer look at that odd belt. As it was, it didn’t seem likely he’d get any more answers from Utahoshi and Nozama, at least with how annoyed Utahoshi seemed.

“Fine then,” He shifted his bag on his shoulder and then turned and left. He’d come back later, when they were gone.

Once back at the school proper, Ryuusei situates himself in a nook by the hallway leading to the storage room, from here, he should be able to see Utahoshi and Nozama leave. Now it was just a matter of killing time, waiting until they finally left. Hopefully, it would be before it got too late, though Ryuusei could always tell his parents he was practicing, surely they’d believe at least one familiar routine was good for him.

Even if, truthfully, he’d kept her practice to places where he was alone and out of the way. He felt too uneasy practicing around others, since that night. A repeat wouldn’t even hurt that much, he just… couldn’t shake the feeling. The memory of that night stays with him, and all Ryuusei can hope to do is find a way to fix what happened. To wake Jirou.

His gaze fell to the watch that Jirou had given him, now a reminder of why he had to find a way to save him. And if that meant figuring out what was going on at this school with Utahoshi, Nozama, and these Zodiart creatures, then so be it. He wasn’t certain there was any connection with what happened to Jirou, but Utahoshi’s reaction gave him the most evidence he’d had yet, and he wasn’t letting go of a lead this easily.

His opportunity arose quick enough, as only about half an hour or so later, Nozama and Utahoshi appeared out of the storage room. Much like after fighting that monster before, Utahoshi looked worse for wear, Nozama helping him along. He can just barely hear Nozama mumbled, “You really are prince of the nurse’s office,” as they pass by. Based on that comment and Jojima’s earlier one at lunch, Ryuusei gets the suspicion that Utahoshi’s poor health was a repeating occurrence.

Regardless of the regularity, as soon as the two were out of the hallway, Ryuusei had a chance to examine their little base more closely. He slips out of his hiding spot and back to the storage room. With no hesitation this time, he opens up the locker and enters the white tunnel. Wherever this led, it certainly wasn’t in the school, he could gather that much even from his first visit. That, and the odd white tunnel certainly helped that theory.

On the other side of the door in that tunnel was where he’d previously spoken with Utahoshi and Nozama. Now that they weren’t here and he could get a closer look, he could see the words “Rabbit Hutch” written on the wall in English. The machinery that was present along the walls appeared very scientific, not something you’d find in an average high school – or even one like Amanogawa. Something about it seemed very… science fiction, in a way. The sort of thing you only saw in regard to space and such.

He didn’t know how much time he had, though. Nozama may come back once she’d gotten Utahoshi to the nurse’s office. He’d have to either be out of this place by then or find somewhere to hide away and avoid notice. So he turned his sights to the belt from earlier. Whatever it was, Utahoshi was adamant that it wouldn’t involve Ryuusei, and frankly, Ryuusei wasn’t sure why Nozama would even suggest that it might.

The belt was… odd. It looked a bit like a kid’s toy, in a way, a light blue color with a lever on the left side. There were four slots, two on each side of some kind of display that maybe showed the silhouette of a person, but it was hard to tell with the screen dark. He picked up the belt, and though it appeared light, there was a certain weight to it that half surprised Ryuusei. It was no kid’s toy, that was for sure.

No, there was this certain… sensation pulsing through it. The casing blocked a lot of it, but every few seconds, Ryuusei felt a tingle, a little jolt as if it was trying to tell him something in it was more than just a strange device. In some ways, it made him want to drop it, end any and all contact with it, but in others… in other ways, he felt like it was trying to tell him something. Trying to reach out and…

The door opened, snapping Ryuusei out of his thoughts. In walked Nozama, who didn’t show it if she was surprised to see him. “Sakuta.”

“Nozama,” He said, quickly setting the belt back down, the odd sensation ceasing. A phantom of the feeling still lingered on his fingertips.

She regarded him for a moment, her gaze once again covering him, searching him, like she was trying to find something. It made Ryuusei uneasy, prompting him to cross his arms. Her lips curved into a smile, “Welcome to the Rabbit Hutch, Sakuta. Something has brought you here.”

“Something has brought me here?” He was unsure what she meant.

“Yes… a cosmic fate, I believe, has brought you here. Your seeking answers, and the moon surely holds them.” She responded, showing him the cover of her book. The title read Astral Moon, the cover depicting a moon surrounded by odd symbols. It appeared to be some kind of fiction book, though knowing so little about Nozama it was hard to say much more. He was beginning to think she fell under the category of occult goth, though.

He blinked, realizing that she was just exaggerating. Of course she was, there was no way she could know anything about why he was so interested in this all or anything about a… a “cosmic fate”. Amanogawa High School is full of characters, it seems.

“That’s…” He struggled to find the words to respond to her with.

She walked over to a lever, “Let me show you where we really are.” She pulled it up, and the shutters that previously covered the windows along the top of the ceiling pulled up, revealing the outside. The very dark and star filled outside – and most notably, the Earth.

He could see the Earth.

“…What the hell?” If he could see the Earth, then he wasn’t on the Earth. The Rabbit Hutch was not on Earth. How? How could two high schools students be hanging out on something in space?

Nozama had an amused smile, “The Rabbit Hutch is a moon base,” She said, “Utahoshi’s father used to work here.”

“Utahoshi’s father?”

She nodded, “He was a scientist. He created that device,” She pointed at the belt he’d been holding, “The Fourze Driver.”

That explained why Utahoshi reacted so oddly. He was probably protective of his father’s work. But just what even was this… Fourze Driver? He looked between the window and Nozama, “Why are you telling me about all this?”

“Neither Utahoshi nor I can use the Fourze Driver, he says it must take a certain person…” Her smile faded, just a little, forming into a small frown.

“And you think I might be that person?” Ryuusei couldn’t imagine why she’d think that. They’d just met and have interacted only twice now. He hadn’t even really known about the Zodiarts until an hour or so ago.

Nodding again, Nozama said, “Your arrival is a sign from the stars-“

He shook his head, “I really don’t think that’s the case.” The stars were sending no signs, and certainly not about him. She’s way too into that occult stuff.

“And yet… you’re one of the few to know about the Zodiarts, and on your first day…” While he might have been one of the few to know what they were called, he doubted so few else had seen them. Even the one earlier would have been seen by the whole football team, and if there had been more of them before, they certainly would have been seen by at least a few more people.

Before they could continue the conversation further, one of the computers beeped, pulling both of their attentions. The screen turned on, displaying that Zodiart from before, seemingly attacking students again.

“The Orion Zodiart,” Nozama observed, eyes darting between the screen, Ryuusei, and the Fourze Driver.

It didn’t seem to be outside this time, so it must be a different attack, one occurring now. “That’s the school’s hallways…” He said, then dashed out the door. Utahoshi’s mech wouldn’t be able to fight inside, and it seemed he didn’t exactly have a plan for that. If it took a certain kind of person to use the Fourze Driver, then they were better off just finding another way to deal with the Zodiart.

And maybe it knew something about what happened to Jirou.

“Sakuta!” Nozama called out, but Ryuusei was already out the door. He was wasting no time in finding where that Zodiart was.

He ran through the halls of Amanogawa, searching for the one from the video. That, and for the fleeing students. Whatever direction they were going, he knew Orion must be in the opposite. When he finally found Orion, he kept behind a corner, watching. It seemed like Orion was after something – maybe the football team? Or his previous attack on them could have been coincidental. It was hard to say yet, but figuring it out might give an advantage against Orion.

While he was watching Orion, Nozama caught up to him, holding the Fourze Driver. “Sakuta,” Her voice was quiet, clearly aware that it was possible for Orion to hear them. “If you can use the Fourze Driver, you’ll be able to fight Orion.”

“If it’s so picky, then it probably won’t like me either,” He responded, looking away from over the corner and over at Nozama.

She held the Fourze Driver out to him anyway, “There’s only one way to know for sure.” There were devices slotted into the holes now, seeming like some kind of switches, but different from the one he’d seen Jirou with. Orange, blue, yellow, and black. She practically shoved it in his hands. “Flip the switches in the belt, then pull the lever. If it doesn’t work, nothing will happen.”

He takes it, begrudgingly, “And if it does?”

“You’ll know,” She smiled, taking several steps back.

Ryuusei sighed, but she wouldn’t be happy until he gave it a try. He placed the belt on his waist, straps coming out and locking around him, fitting perfectly. Then, going across, he activated each switch.

3…

2…

1…

It was quite noisy, a glance around the corner shows that it caught Orion’s attention. “Nozama,” He said, hurriedly.

She smiled, almost disturbingly, “It’s working. Pull the lever and say transform.”

“What?”

“Do it!”

With little else to do other than run, Ryuusei complies. He reached down for the lever and pulled it, “Transform.”

And a sudden burst of steam appeared from the Driver, obscuring him. Then armor appeared, most of what Ryuusei can make out is white. Somehow… it seemed Nozama was right, the Fourze Driver did work for him, though how she knew that was beyond him. It must have been a coincidence.

“So this is Fourze…” Nozama breathed, amazed.

He glanced back at her, “Fourze?”

She nodded, “Yes, Kamen Rider Fourze!” There was an unusual excitement in her voice.

Kamen Rider Fourze, huh? Well, Ryuusei could work with that. If what Nozama and Utahoshi had implied was right, then he should be able to deal with Orion easy. The armor still felt strange on him, pulsing and jolting just as the Fourze Driver had, but he could ignore it. He had a Zodiart to deal with, after all.

“Right, then,” He turned his attention to Orion, “This is between you and me.”

Ryuusei ran at Orion. Fighting wasn’t a new thing to Ryuusei, but this was different than anything before. Spars weren’t intended to be full out fights, weren’t intended to be stopping someone from hurting others. This was a fight, between Fourze and Orion, one that Ryuusei wouldn’t lose. The armor might be new, but the movements needed weren’t, they were practiced, like second nature to him.

His first order of business was to get Orion out of the halls and into somewhere more open. That would be tricky, even with windows, he’d still have to get Orion through…

“Fighting in here will be too hard,” Nozama called out, “Use the Rocket Switch to get him outside!”

She said that like he had anyway of knowing which of the Switches in the belt was which. “A little more description would be useful!” He called back, blocking a swing from Orion.

“The one on the far right,” He ducked to the side and flipped the Switch she said to.

Rocket on!

Out from the Switch came a bright orange rocket that attached itself to Ryuusei’s right arm. “Is this actually-“ Before he can finish his question, the rocket’s thrusters activate. Though it took him a moment to get it under control enough, the rocket gave him enough force he could grab on to Orion and let the rocket take them through the ceiling and out of the building.

They land roughly on the ground, the rocket still blaring. The momentum keeps pushing Ryuusei, forcing him to keep moving around. Maybe he could use it to help him fight, though. After weaving through a few attempts at attacking him, he manages to land a hit on Orion and gets a moment to turn off the Switch. His arm hurt from having a rocket on it, even if the effect was lessened by the suit.

He and Orion resumed their fight. While the rocket was helpful and all, Ryuusei was far more comfortable using his fists, it’s what he knew best. They trade blows until they push each other back, giving some space, and the Switch on the far left began to flash and beep. He wasn’t sure what it was, but he flipped it on anyway.

Radar on!

From his left arm came a panel and a satellite dish. Out came an annoyed voice, “Use the other Switches, for goodness sake.”

“Utahoshi?” Sure enough, that was Utahoshi’s voice, and on the screen was him, seemingly in the Rabbit Hutch once more. He must have hurried there when he realized Orion had appeared.

“Yes,” He said, still sounding annoyed, “If you use Radar, this Switch, together with Launcher, the one on the middle right, you’ll be able to aim missiles at Orion.”

Utahoshi would probably know how these Switches work best, and given this is a fight, Ryuusei figured it would be best to listen to him. “I’ll take your word for it.” He reached and flipped the blue Switch on the middle right.

Launcher on!

He pointed the dish on his arm towards Orion, watching as the screen changed until it seemed to have found its target. He planted his right leg down and the blue apparatus that had attached itself there fired missiles at Orion. Each landed on him, just as Utahoshi said they would.

“Good,” Utahoshi said, “Now you can go back to close combat. Change the Launcher Switch for the other one you have.”

“The other…” Sure enough, he found a Switch of a lighter blue than the Launcher Switch. “Alright, then.” Again, he’d have to take Utahoshi’s word on it. It flipped off the Launcher Switch and swapped it out for the lighter blue one, activating it.

Chainsaw on!

Replacing the launcher on his right leg, now a light blue chainsaw appeared. At this point, it wasn’t even a surprise. It wasn’t exactly Ryuusei’s style, but he could make it work. Now his kicks with that leg would simply… have a bit extra blade to them. Though he attempts to kick Orion, Orion blasts at him, keeping him from getting close.

What a pain. He deactivated the Chainsaw Switch, it wouldn’t do him any good if he couldn’t get close. Well, he’d just have to be faster…

Rocket on!

With the Rocket Switch, he had both more speed, as well as the ability to take to the sky, allowing him to weave between Orion’s blasts. Now how to deal with Orion… he recalls the one Switch he hasn’t used yet, the yellow one. “Let’s see what this one does.”

Drill on!

From the Radar, Utahoshi called out, “What are you doing? Don’t-“ but Ryuusei just rolled his eyes and flipped the Switch off. Utahoshi’s advice was helpful, sure, but Ryuusei could handle it from here. He knew what each of the five Switches he had did, now it was just a matter of using them to defeat Orion.

“Let’s end this fight,” Using the rocket to speedily propel him towards Orion, Ryuusei held the foot that the drill was on out into a kick. He flew through Orion, causing an explosion as the drill dug itself into the ground.

Turning to look at where Orion once stood, he couldn’t see anything. Maybe the Zodiarts weren’t related to that switch Jirou had…

“You did it!” He heard Nozama call out, finally catching up to him. “The first Zodiart defeated by Kamen Rider Fourze…”

Ryuusei sighed, “I guess… what even is a Kamen Rider?”

“Well, urban legends but… they’re heroes who fight for justice!” Nozama quickly pulled something up on a tablet she held, showing him videos of various masked and armored people fighting monsters.

“Heroes who fight for justice…” Well that was not how Ryuusei would describe himself at all. Then again, it seemed likely Nozama had given Fourze that title herself.

Before their conversation could proceed, along came Utahoshi in his mech, “Ryuusei Sakuta.” He said, voice dripping in anger.

It seems Ryuusei had really pissed him off. Not that he thought it took a whole lot to get on Utahoshi’s nerves. “Utahoshi, it seems we’ll be working together from here-“

Utahoshi cut him off with a vicious “No,” and grabbed him by the waist, lifting him up.

“Utahoshi!” Nozama called out, obviously not pleased by this turn on events.

“I’m not working with you, nor am I letting you be Fourze.” Utahoshi said, the mech yanking the Fourze Driver off of Ryuusei as it set him on the ground. Ryuusei stumbled, but was thankful Utahoshi at least wasn’t trying to hurt him. With that mech he certainly could.

Talk about grouchy.

As the mech took off, Nozama called out Utahoshi’s name again, but he obviously wasn’t listening. Her frustration with his actions was evident.

Ryuusei turned and began to walk away. He’d figure something out, he knew how to get to the Rabbit Hutch, after all. Utahoshi would have a hard time keeping him from the Fourze Driver, and Ryuusei didn’t really care all that much what he thought of him.

What an exciting first day at his new school.

---

“So Fourze has appeared at my school,” A man with red eyes sat in a dark room, pondering the most recent events. Mitsuaki Gamou was a patient man, his plan had been in motion for eighteen years, he could wait a while longer. Especially as Fourze’s appearance would surely usher his plan along faster than he could ever otherwise dream of.

And, of course, he had his Horoscopes to aid him. Leo, Virgo, and Libra stood waiting for instruction. And though Scorpio had yet to be graced with his presence, he was being instructed by Libra. There was another he had high hopes for, but the time hadn’t come to give her a Switch, yet…

Yes, his plan was coming along wonderfully.

[writingpaperghost]

Though none of these are the ones I ended up going with, have some of the ideas I threw around for a Fourze Roleswap AU.

First:

We've got Gentaro as the scientist, Kengo as Fourze, Yuuki as Meteor, and Ryuusei as the person who's helping Gentaro at the start.

This one would have required some personality changes to really work, and it felt a bit... boring.

Second:

Gentaro in Kengo's role

Kengo in Yuuki's

Yuuki in Gentaro's

Miu in JK's

JK's in Miu's

Shun in Tomoko's

Tomoko in Ryuusei's

Ryuusei in Shun's

This one could have worked, but definitely would have been complicated. Though it would have been cool having both the Riders as women.

Third:

This is just the first one but with everyone, so.

Gentaro in Kengo's

Kengo in Gentaro's

Yuuki in Ryuusei's

Ryuusei in Yuuki's

Miu in Shun's

Shun in Miu's

Tomoko in JK's

JK in Tomoko's

Honestly, this one just didn't vibe with me as much as I'd have like. It was hard to find an idea that wasn't too different but also still really worked.

Fourth and final:

Just swap Gentaro and Ryuusei.

[writingpaperghost]

Here's a little bit of my W roleswap AU

“Akiko,” a familiar voice snapped Akiko out of her memories, bringing her back to the present. “Are you staring off into space again?” Standing in the front of her father’s – her desk, was Shoutaro Hidari, Akiko’s close friend, and he had been for most of the now two years she’d been in Fuuto. He leaned over, bracing a hand against the desk, watching her.

“I… was just thinking,” She couldn’t tell him that she was remembering that night, nearly a year ago, when her father died. Shoutaro didn’t even know Sokichi Narumi was dead, let alone any of the details of how it happened. Akiko felt a bit bad about it, she wanted to tell Shoutaro, he was probably as close to her father as she’d been, maybe even closer, but… She didn’t want to risk dragging him into the world she was now in, he was in danger enough with his job with the police putting him near Dopant attacks. “And anyway, I’m out of cases, found the last lost dog like an hour ago.” Never mind that the dog had tried to bite her.

Shoutaro shook his head, “A detective who makes a living off of looking for lost pets…” His gaze wandered, landing on the shelf still filled with her father’s old detective books, their pages worn. Akiko had skimmed through a few, she always wondered if they were where her father got his idea of what a detective was from, an idea that Shoutaro picked up, even if he wasn’t so good at being.

“It pays the bills,” Akiko said as she stood up, picking up the casefiles from the day to file away. “Besides, we take other cases. It’s just that lost pets are more common than much else.”

Hands on his hips, Shoutaro considered it for a moment, “Well, I’m sure the boss will be proud of you either way, when he gets back.”

Things like that weren’t uncommon to hear, since so few people really knew that her father was dead. It didn’t make them hurt any less, though. She knew Shoutaro meant well, but the words still made her hurt, made the guilt bubble up again. But she had to keep it together, she couldn’t bring herself to break the news still.

“So!” Akiko wanted to change the subject, anything but Sokichi, “Anything interesting happen today?”

Sighing, Shoutaro answered, “Not yet.” Then, looking a little more hopeful, he added, “But there’s still time left in the day, who knows.”

The last thing a police officer should really be hopeful for is a case. But Akiko knew Shoutaro, he didn’t feel that way out of some desire for thrill or fame, he felt that way because he wanted crimes to be reported to the police, so their perpetrators could be found and dealt with accordingly. He wanted nothing more than to protect Fuuto, even from the things he could do little about directly, like Dopants.

No, the only one who was capable of fighting back against Dopants was the Kamen Rider. A pair Akiko was intimately familiar with. It wasn’t even really that big of a secret that Akiko somehow knew him, Shoutaro and others on the police force she worked with, like Jinno and Maki, knew that well. If you needed the Kamen Rider, or to get a message to him, then you could probably tell Akiko and she’d find a way.

Yet the only thing the police could reasonably do against the Dopants was to arrest the users of the Memories after the fact. Unless they could somehow track down and arrest the members of the organization that was responsible for making and distributing the Gaia Memories, but Akiko didn’t think that was likely. She had more to work with than they did, and she and Phillip still hadn’t learned much more than they’d known a year ago.

[writingpaperghost]

I can't believe I have to be Normal about my DND character for like. Two weeks. I can't. I don't think I'd be able to keep normal about her for one week, after last session.