Kamen Rider Zero
CH 4: Missing Trust
Arata heard muffled murmur around him as he slowly came to. As his eyes slowly drifted open, a blurry, white mass was all that came into view. He blinked several times in order to clear his vision, and he eventually saw a ceiling. He stared up at it for a moment, unsure of how to react. His body stung all over, and his fur felt matted and ruffled, as though a cream of some sorts had been rubbed into it. He shifted around a bit, only to cause sharp pains to spike up all over him. He grunted in surprise and held still. Slowly, he lifted his head up from his pillow.
He was lying on a bed, well, strapped down to the bed more like. While it wasn't too constrictive, it made sure that he wouldn't be going anywhere any time soon. The loops around his wrists were loose enough to leave his stinging flesh be, but tight enough to ensure that he couldn't just slip his paws out. He looked down at himself and found himself in a hospital robe. He looked up a bit more to find the source of the commotion around him and saw several morphs running past his room at a hurried pace. He looked a bit more to his side, spotting a silver tray which held an open container of some white cream aside a decently emptied bandage roll. It didn't take him long to realize that he was in a sort of medical facility, though not the hospital he knew.
Suddenly, he caught movement from the corner of his eye. He turned to look and saw a gray furred wolf-morph walk into his room. He wore a simple black shirt along with a pocket heavy pair of pants and boots that made a soft thud with every one of his steps. Around his neck, he wore a silver dog tag with a large number 7 etched into it. Arata probably would have smirked at the uncle-esque joke he had thought of about the canine and his dog tag if not for the serious and intimidating aura that emanated from him.
Once he was close enough, he reached for a stool at the edge of the panther's bed before sliding it over to him and sitting down in front of him. Once he got himself comfortable, he clasped his paws together and locked gazes with Arata. When he realized that he was waiting for him to say something, Arata spoke up.
"Um…" he began hesitantly, "…where am I?"
"You're under our custody," he answered with a deep, firm voice, "After your little tussle with that sharp shooter and his Magma Dopant, you were out like a light." The canine sat straight but kept his gaze. "So we took you in. Made sure you were nice n' secure before we airlifted you back to our place." Arata looked back down at himself, glancing at the straps around his wrists and ankles. "You did need a bit of treatment, though," the wolf-morph continued, catching his attention once more, "First degree burns…dislocated joints…and several fractured bones." The wolf tilted his head at him, reaching into his pocket before pulling out a familiar Memory. "Of course, we had to pop you out of your little costume first." Arata's heart sunk at that and he tore his gaze away from the canine.
"You know," he continued, waving the Freeze Memory in front of his face, "it was surprisingly difficult to pull your Memory out of you. Seems you learned how to put a lock on your Driver. But of course, being our equipment, it didn't take long for our techs to figure out how to disable it manually." Arata continued to hold his silence, turning his head completely away from the wolf and resting his head against the pillow. The wolf unclasped his paws before resting his muzzle against one of them. "So speaking of which…would you mind telling me exactly how it is you came across that stuff?" Arata didn't reply, only continuing to look off to the side. The wolf frowned. "Look… I know you're a smart guy, so I know that you know that having those kind of items in your possession is illegal." He leaned in slightly. "You do realize that, don't you?" Arata merely nodded his head in response. The wolf sighed slowly, sitting back in his seat again. He looked back at the Memory, inspecting it curiously.
"It is interesting though," he continued, twiddling with the device a bit, "I'm curious to know how you got this thing purified. Heck, if I didn't know any better, I'm sure I would've mistaken it for one of ours." He glanced over to Arata, who was still holding his tongue. "Unless…it's not purified…" He leaned in again. "Tell me, are you part of The Earth's Tree?"
Arata shook his head. "No. I'm not part of them…"
"Oh, an answer for once," the wolf said with surprise, "I wonder how long we can keep this up." He chuckled a bit and leaned forward. "So, if you're not part of The Earth's Tree, then I'll take it that you were the one that made this Memory?" For yet another moment, Arata didn't respond. Eventually though, he nodded his head, leaving that as his only response. The wolf frowned again, letting his paws rest at his sides. "You know…for some…odd reason…I'm having a hard time believing you…" As Arata continued to hold his silence, his ears flattened against his head, and he pressed deeper into the pillow. Letting out another small sigh, the wolf slipped the Memory back into his pocket.
"Alright, listen," he continued, "It's clear that you want to help. That's a given. So far, you haven't shown any signs of ill will against the people of Jinsoku." Arata still didn't speak, but he stopped tensing his body as he listened. "But you've gotta remember that you've committed some very serious crimes. It's bad enough that you've stolen Amnesia property, but you've also grown your own Memory to top it all off. You're already at risk of being sent to prison, possibly for life." And yet again, Arata held his tongue. The wolf leaned back again, sighing deeply this time. "Well…either way, you aren't the one at full risk." Arata's eyes widened and his ears perked up slightly. "In fact, we have reason to believe that all you've done is use this equipment. We did a bit of a background check on you, and we can safely say that it's not you that took our stuff, or grew this Memory."
Arata's heart began to race, but he tried his best to remain still. He heard the wolf stand from his seat. Expecting to see him walk over to the other side, Arata was surprised to hear his footsteps lead out of the room. After a couple of seconds, he looked up to see what was going on. Looking through the door, he saw the exact same sight he saw the first time he looked, just the inside of the facility with a couple of morphs running around here and there. For a moment, he was about ready to convince himself that he had simply hallucinated the entire thing from the shock of waking up and not knowing where he was, or from whatever treatment he went through to treat his wounds.
But that illusion was soon shattered as the wolf came from around the corner and walked back into the room with a manila folder in paw. Stopping at the foot of the bed, the wolf-morph opened up the folder before slipping out a photo and tossing it onto Arata's chest. Glancing down at it, his heart skipped a beat upon seeing a familiar feline in the photo.
"Erika Mori," the wolf read off of the folder, sitting back down on his stool, "does that name ring a bell?" Arata only continued to stare down at the photo, still holding his silence but not as voluntarily as he had before. "Because it seems very well likely that it does…" The wolf closed the folder and set it aside, resting his paws on his knees. "You see, after we found out who you were, we looked into everyone you were associated with. We noticed that you tended to be around her the most." The canine tilted his head at him before continuing on. "And you know what's interesting? As it turns out, she just happens to be connected to The Earth's Tree's first attack with their Bullet Dopant, which is strange in it of itself. I mean, she was shot, despite the area being locked down."
The wolf flicked his tail behind him, sitting back slightly. "Also, while we don't have any actual eyewitnesses of the incident of her being shot, we do have members of ours that clearly remember seeing you alongside her at the time she was being taken in for treatment. They even noticed that her injury appeared rather fresh, almost perfectly timed to have taken place just moments before Zero…well, you rather, had made your first appearance." He rested his chin against his paw again. "Let's face it, there's no point in denying anything. We know who you are, we have your bike in our possession, and we have a solid amount of evidence against you. It's only a matter of time before we collect enough evidence against your friend."
Arata kept his eyes glued to the photo, almost as though it was the only means of defense he had left. The wolf shook his head. "Listen, it's Amnesia's job to protect the people, not yours. We simply cannot have citizens needlessly risking their lives in place of us. It's up to us, and only us, to protect Jinsoku of any possible threat." Taking his chin off of his paw, he leaned forward. "And now…you and your friend have been deemed threats." Hearing this, Arata's heart skipped a beat. Taking his eyes away from the photo, he met the wolf's gaze. "Your intentions are still not clear to us. Judging from how things have gone, it is still possible that you two could be part of The Earth's Tree in some way, shape, or form. If not that, you could easily be part of some other organization."
Arata quickly tore his eyes away from the wolf's, and looked back down at his chest. "Wh-why is it that you're so suspicious of us anyways?" The wolf suddenly leaned forward even closer, heavily placing his paw on Arata's shoulder and causing him to snap his gaze back to the canine.
"You ran," he stated, the small amount of friendliness that had been in his voice before now having vanished completely, "And it wasn't just once. So far, every time we've come into contact with you, you've run away." He tightened his grip on his shoulder, eliciting a small cry of pain from the panther. "And the innocent have no reason to run." A heavy silence hung between the two of them. Arata opened his mouth in an attempt to try and speak, but found that the one time that he wanted to say something, he just couldn't. The wolf narrowed his eyes at him before releasing his grip on his shoulder and settling back in his seat. "I believe I've spent enough time here," he declared as he stood up, making his way towards the door, "I'll be seeing you later. You'll be staying here for a while it seems, so I hope you don't mind me comin' in here every once in a while." He chuckled slightly. "Not that you had a choice in the first place." At that, he slipped out of the room and finally left the panther be.
His head slumped back onto the pillow from emotional exhaustion. He let out a breath that he had apparently been holding in. His eyes drifted closed as he muttered a single word under his breath, "Dammit…"
Meanwhile, as the trooper with the 7 on his tag walked away from the room, another trooper with a similar tag met up with him, walking alongside him.
"So what's the plan?" the other trooper asked the wolf, keeping pace with his hurried strut.
"My plan," he began, "is for us to do our job." He looked over to his fellow trooper. "It's time we restored Amnesia's credibility."
"With the attackers still being at large," Brenda Illwood went on with her report of the day, "the citizens of Jinsoku remain fearful. Many people are concerned over the fact that both Amnesia and the individual known as Kamen Rider Zero were unsuccessful in bringing down the attackers. There is much controversy over the matter, and it has only grown in size following Zero's capture. Many people have been theorizing and speculating over possible ties between Zero, Amnesia, and even the mysterious organization known as The Earth's Tree."
"Ha!" Crosshair laughed at the statement, "People these days overthink things far too much in my opinion." The wolf glanced over to a male shepherd-morph seated at the opposite end of his table. "Wouldn't you agree, Mr. Magma?" The fellow canine merely grunted in response, keeping his eyes on the screen before them.
The two of them, along with Daiki's sister, were seated at the table in their private suite, one granted to them as courtesy of The Earth's Tree. Each of them were dressed formally, and the two males had wine glasses in paw.
Daiki suddenly raised his glass. "How's about a toast?" Magma glanced over to him. "To an outstanding victory." With a bit of a shrug, the shepherd leaned in and tapped his glass against Daiki's with a resounding cling. At that, the two of them sipped at their drinks, with Daiki letting a loud sigh of satisfaction afterwards.
"Tell me something, Crosshair," Magma spoke up, setting his glass down on the table before grabbing up the glass bottle set at the middle of the table, "Why is it that you chose to not bring actual wine to this occasion?" Daiki laughed, but his sister merely looked off to the side and chuffed.
"Personally, I've never touched the stuff as a child," Daiki answered, "but I always considered cider as a close second. Plus, I'd rather be sober during business anyways."
"Such a child…" his sister muttered under her breath, to which Daiki paid no mind. Magma let out his own chuff, rolling his eyes. Daiki merely shrugged it off and took another sip from his glass.
"So you plan to attack again, correct?" Magma asked, moving on to a different subject. Daiki smiled and nodded.
"But of course," he replied, "I did say that we needed to make an impression, did I not?" Magma nodded.
"And you still wish for me to take part in this next attack?" Again, Daiki nodded.
"It is part of our agreement after all." The wolf reached over to pick up the bottle of sparkling cider and refilled his glass. "Remember, if you wish to keep that little trinket of yours, then you must comply with my demands." He set the bottle down and took another sip. "Besides, it's not a very difficult task, especially considering how little of a threat Amnesia is to us, alongside the fact that Mr. Cape man has been more or less taken care of."
Magma nodded slowly, swirling the drink in his paw. He looked up in a brief moment of thought before returning his gaze to the wolf-morph. "You don't think…that the two of them will ever join forces…do you?" Daiki raised a brow in interest, pondering the question.
"An interesting possibility, I'll give you that," he replied, "but I find it unlikely." He smirked slyly. "Besides, even if they did, it wouldn't make that much of a difference, considering what little they can accomplish already." The shepherd shrugged at that before taking another sip.
"That reminds me," Magma went on, "out of curiosity, how exactly did you come across your equipment?"
"Pardon?" Daiki asked with a tilt of his head. The fellow canine pointed a finger at him, aiming at where his belt would have been.
"The Driver and Memory," he explained, "It just seems to me that a Dopant Memory salesperson would have used a Memory from his own company."
"Oh I assure you, the equipment I use is courtesy of The Earth's Tree," he told him reassuringly, "But unfortunately, I cannot share anything beyond that." Again, the shepherd shrugged.
"Fair enough, but what about the Memories you used for your guns?"
"Those are just ammo clips," Daiki explained, "They're just weaker Memories that don't have enough energy to produce a proper Dopant. Added to that, they don't naturally recharge like other Memories."
"Is that why you didn't bother to pick them back up?" Magma asked curiously.
"Correct," Daiki replied with a nod, "Even if someone were to pick them up, Amnesia included mind you, they would have in their possession the equivalent of an empty box. A box that cannot be recharged in the first place. They were older models anyways."
Magma raised a brow. "Are you not concerned about the possibility that Amnesia might trace the Memories back your source of production?" At that, Daiki laughed.
"Not exactly, considering that it's in a place out of the jurisdiction of the government." And at that, Daiki earned a sharp pinch to his side from his sister. He looked to her and was met with a death like glare from the female. Magma simply smiled and sat back in his seat, taking another sip from his drink. His smile faded, and he set his glass down.
"I still would have preferred actual wine," he muttered, to which Daiki merely shrugged.
"Can't be helped. Besides, it's like I said. I prefer to be sober during business. I need to keep a professional air after all." His sister rolled her eyes at this, but the wolf paid no mind. Instead, he set his own glass down before resting his elbows on the table and clasping his paws together. "And speaking of our business, hows about we discuss our plan of attack…"
Back in the Amnesia facility, a group of twelve or so morphs were gathered in a single meeting room. All but one of them wore a dog tag, each with a large number engraved into it. The one that wasn't wearing one was a fox-morph dressed in a lab coat. The pair of glasses resting on her snout reflected the light coming off of the screen in front of her.
"It's confirmed," she declared to the rest of the group, "those Memories that Trigger dropped are duds now. They seem to just work as ammo for him, which would explain why he carried so many on him."
"Interesting…" the husky-morph with a 6 etched into her dog tag commented, swishing her tail gently behind her in thought, "This is the first I've ever heard of Memories being used exclusively for weapon use." A black furred lab-morph with an 11 on his tag raised a paw.
"Hey tech, do you think we can use any of those Memories at all?"
The vixen now identified as their tech shook her head. "Afraid not. The things are completely burnt out now."
"Well can we use them to track down The Earth's Tree?" a puma-morph asked, one with a 3 on his tag, "Since they weren't naturally grown, it should be an easy task to find out its point of origin." The tech nodded at this.
"We're already working on that," she explained, "but it'll still be a while before any of us get any results."
"What about Trigger's Driver?" 6 asked, "Did you finally figure out anything about it?"
"I did as a matter of fact," the tech replied, swiveling her chair to face her screen again, "At first I thought it was a replica of our Drivers, but I looked closer and realized that it's a completely different design inside. Plus the thing has several exposed wires and cords if you look close enough." She turned to face the group again. "So you could say that it's a bootleg Driver."
"What about Zero's equipment?" a jaguar-morph with an 8 on her tag asked, "Is it the same for him?"
"That's what I thought initially," the tech replied, "But after running several tests on the thing, I confirmed that it's the Driver that went missing during the Weather Dopant attack from a while back."
"Well what about his Memory? Do you have anything on that?" A sudden slap of papers being plopped onto the desk at the center of the room grabbed everyone's attention. They looked over and saw 7 standing at the desk, having come back from his talk with Arata.
"There's your answer, 8," the wolf began, slipping out Erika's file and holding it up to them, "This girl is the one that is most likely responsible for growing Zero's Memory. I'm almost certain that she's the one who's produced a Gaia Garden."
The vixen tech raised a brow at this. "Oh? Blaming her for that now, are we? I thought we agreed that the energy readings were coming from a completely unrelated event." 7 shook his head, placing the sheet of paper back down on the large desk.
"I looked a bit more into her," he explained, "and I noticed that she's studied a lot of subjects that leaned towards the creation of Memories in some way. I checked on Zero's background as well, and it's highly unlikely that he could've made Freeze. He's just a friend of Erika that probably wanted to protect her during the attack."
A Doberman-morph with a 4 on her tag raised a paw. "Wait, to be clear, this Erika chick is the one that was shot in the leg during Zero's first appearance, right?" 7 nodded his head in confirmation.
"So…what do you plan to do with her then?" asked a lynx-morph with a 12 on her tag, "Are we gonna take her into custody too?" Again, 7 nodded in response.
"Hey 7," 4 spoke up, "do you think that Erika's part of The Earth's Tree?"
"Gonna have to say no to that," the tech answered her, "From what we've read on her, it seems fairly unlikely. Other than the subjects she's been studying, she's had a relatively normal history so far, and we've been able to keep her under the radar for most of her life." The vixen removed her glasses to point them at 4. "On top of that, it seems that she's a victim of Day Zero, so it's possible that she just wants to get rid of Dopants in general. She's probably just trying to find a way to take them down, just like us."
12 tilted her head. "Well, going off of that, it doesn't seem like she's really that much of a criminal." 7 shot the lynx a look.
"Look 12," he began, "I know you're one of the newer members, so you're not as informed as us, but you should realize that Erika's still committed a crime punishable by law. We can't have people creating and using Memories for the sake of revenge." He reached down and held his tag up. "It's what we're for in the first place." Several of the troopers in the room nodded in agreement to his statement, and 12 held her tongue. 7 then let go of his tag and looked to everyone else. "Anyways, how about we get back to focusing on the problem at hand; how to deal with the two criminals that are still on the loose." He looked around at the group. "Anyone have any ideas on how to fight them?"
"Well," the tech spoke up, "it's clear that using the city's water supply isn't effective at all." She placed a finger to her chin thoughtfully. "It seems that Zero's Maximum seems to be the only viable counter to Magma at the moment…"
8 furrowed a brow. "Then…should we try to use Zero's Memory?" At this, the tech shook her head.
"We've already run tests on the Freeze Memory," she began, "but it doesn't seem to respond to any of our equipment. It's possible that it will only work for Arata due to being a naturally grown Memory." She sighed a bit, flicking her tail behind her. "We did try to use it on one of our drivers, but nothing happened. Same thing when we tried to use Zero's Driver. Nothing."
A bulldog-morph with a 9 on his tag chuffed. "So what do you suggest then? Have Zero help us take them down?" Several of the troopers began to laugh, but the tech kept a straight face. Noticing this, 9's smile faded. "Hey…you're not serious, are you?" The vixen merely shrugged.
"I'm just saying that we can't use Freeze." She glanced over to his direction. "Why? Are you against the idea of him helping us?"
"Why would we not?!" an artic fox-morph with a 2 on her tag said ecstatically, "He's practically a criminal!"
"A criminal that saved and defended a lot of lives," 6 retorted.
"Which is supposed to be our job," 9 snapped back. And with that, an argument broke out between the group, with several troopers voicing their standing on the issue, while others, the tech included, simply held their tongues as they waited for the dispute to end.
And end it did.
A loud slam of a fist against the wall silenced everyone, causing everyone to turn and look. Standing at the doorway was one final trooper, a male komodo dragon-morph with a 1 on his tag, and a scar running down his neck.
"I don't know…how this subject came about," he began in a low voice, moving to the center of the room, "But you people should know by now that ALL possible actions are on the table." He crossed his arms across his chest, giving off a powerful aura of authority. "But until then, we shall do things our way." He looked around the room, locking gazes with each trooper one by one. "Why? Because that's who we are. It's what we're meant for." He whipped his tail against the ground with a loud smack. "NOW is NOT the time to be fighting amongst ourselves. The only ones we should be fighting with is the ENEMY." He stopped as caught movement out of the corner of his eye. Turning to look, he saw another morph standing at the doorway with an urgent look on her face. Quickly realizing what this meant, he nodded to her before turning his attention back to his troopers once more. "Suit up everyone. It's time we prove our worth as Amnesia."
Flames continued to consume the streets of Jinsoku city once again. With the amount of fire around the area, the only two people crazy enough to still be around were the two that had caused the destruction in the first place. Magma and Trigger. The both of them continued to add to the fire in the simplest way possible, that being to simply shoot more fire. They did so indiscriminately, scorching the walls, alighting the trees, setting the plants of the park nearby almost ablaze. If it was flammable, it was on fire.
Several citizens screamed out in terror as their door was blasted open. Through the clouds of smoke, the family caught sight of the blue armored gunner responsible and immediately fled out the back door. Chuckling slightly, Daiki raised his other pistol and fired off several orbs of energy, circling them around before allowing them to burst in front of the citizens' feet, frightening them and causing them to run the other way. But Daiki wasn't done playing with them. He fired several more shots from his pistol and launched several more orbs at them. They scrambled around in terror and confusion as the orbs followed them around until landing near their feet again. Daiki laughed openly at this and continued to fire off more and more orbs. It wasn't until he had emptied his Luna Memory that he finally allowed the poor furs run away to whatever safe haven was left.
With a satisfied sigh, he turned around to watch Magma shoot jets of flame at the buildings around them. He looked around at just how much fire the two of them had caused. Looking up, the sky was barely visible through the thick, black smoke created by their fires. The entire place had an orange glow to it now thanks to the fires as well. Daiki smiled under his mask.
Now I wonder where Mr. Cape man is… he thought to himself before chuckling, if he's even going to show up at…all… He paused in his thoughts, looking up as he caught on to an additional sound, a familiar one at that. He chuffed, it wasn't the sound he was hoping for.
The sound of a copter.
It was difficult to see through all of the smoke, but he could eventually make out the outlines of Amnesia's copter. Then, three shapes fell from the copter itself. It didn't take a lot of thinking to realize that the shapes were some of Amnesia's troopers. And indeed they were, Daiki saw, as the shapes passed through the clouds to land before the two of them. The troopers quickly straightened before taking aim at them with their magnums. That wasn't the end of them though, as Daiki quickly caught movement out of the corner of his eye. Turning to look, he saw three more troopers making their way through the buildings before all of the present troopers surrounded him and Magma. But it didn't end there either, Daiki judged from the sound of motorbike engines fast approaching the area. Turning towards the noise, the armored morph saw three more troopers riding in on specialized bikes, each one mounted with a cannon of sorts at the front. They all screeched to a halt, keeping their cannons aimed at the two of them.
At that point, the other troopers moved around so that the two morphs were completely surrounded, with their only real exit being through the passage the riders were now occupying.
Or through everyone else of course, Daiki thought with a chuckle, casually twirling one of his pistols around his index finger. He glanced upwards as he heard the copter back away from the area.
"Surrender now!" a deep voice caught the wolf's attention, making him turn away from where the copter had been, "Put your weapons away, drop your Memories, and come with us quietly and peacefully!" Daiki nearly broke down laughing upon hearing this, partly due to lack of trying not to.
"Are you being serious right now?" he taunted them, "As I recall, this didn't go well for you guys the last time!"
"I SAID DROP THEM!" the commander demanded again, firing several warning shots at their feet. Daiki glanced over to Magma. A moment passed, and they both broke out into laughter. With a shake of his head, Daiki emptied his pistols before loading in two new Luna Memories. "OPEN FIRE!" The commander shouted out, prompting everyone to let loose a storm of bullets. Daiki and Magma quickly shielded themselves with their arms, being held down but receiving little to no damage. The riders soon opened fire as well, unleashing heavy blasts from their cannons. The shots impacted the two of them, causing them to skid back slightly and causing the occasional grunt of pain.
Pain?! Daiki thought to himself in confusion, Are we actually taking damage right now?! Shouting back to Magma, the two of them began to counterattack, with Daiki firing off a cluster of energy orbs and the Dopant sending out several waves of fire. The attacks impacted the Amnesia team hard, causing several to be knocked off of their feet and the riders knocked off of their bikes. However, they soon recovered and returned fire with as much force as before. Daiki clenched his teeth under his mask. He was beginning to genuinely panic. He shouldn't be hurting. He should be fine. He shouldn't feel a thing. But he was.
And it hurt.
Desperately, the two of them looked around for a place to take cover. However, they were boxed in. There was no cover. The two of them went back to back, firing off as many attacks as they could and as quickly as they could. After dodging a fireball from the Dopant, the commander pressed his fingers into a pad at the side of his helmet.
"Snipers, open fire now!"
"Yes sir," said one of the snipers. Amongst all of the chaos, the three of them were safe to take their positions and set up. And now that the two attackers gone defensive were huddled up, they just had one big target now. Making sure that their guns were propped up properly one more time, they took aim and began to open fire as well, shooting them with special armor piercing ammo. Their effectiveness was immediately evident, with sparks flying everywhere and signs of pain being portrayed by their targets' body movements.
"DAMMIT!" Daiki cursed loudly, glancing over to Magma as he desperately tried to shield himself from the onslaught, "Magma! Make an escape route! NOW!" Magma needed no further instruction. He turned to what appeared to be the weakest link in Amnesia's circle and shot a focused concentration of fire toward it. The troopers were blasted away, leaving an open path towards the park. The two of them wasted no time in breaking for it, continuing their counter fire and making sure to keep the recently downed troopers on the ground. However, the sniper crouched atop the building nearest to the two of them wasn't about to just let them off so easily.
"Tossing the flash bangs," she declared over their com link before unstrapping several grenades, pulling their tabs and hurling them over towards the general direction the two runners were headed towards. They went off, and a blindingly bright light stopped the Dopant and shooter right in their tracks. They hastily shielded themselves from the light; Daiki was the first to recover. He quickly turned back, having seen movement from the roof above.
There's the last one, he growled to himself before pressing down on the bottom half of one of his pistols.
LUNA: MAXIMUM DRIVE!
He held down the trigger and swept his arm across, sending a row of energy orbs outwards. He directed one towards the building nearest to them, striking the first sniper and forcing a hasty retreat. Catching a flash of light from further away, he sent several more orbs there. Once again, a sniper was knocked off. A loud bang sounded out, and a sniper shot struck Daiki in the shoulder. He looked to where the shot most likely could have come from and easily spotted the barrel of a gun with the aid of his scope like eye. He sent the last of his orbs toward the final sniper and knocked him off of his perch.
"Snipers," 1 spoke through their com link, continuing to direct their team to focus their fire on the two morphs, "status update. Over."
"2 here," she said in a hurried voice, "repositioning. Heading down the stairs. Over."
"5 here, doing the same. Moving to new building. Over."
A groan was heard. "This…this is 11. Took a lot of damage from that one. But repositioning. Over." With the snipers sprinting to their next post, the rest of the troopers continued their assault on the two morphs. And as the troopers closed in, and as the counter attacks came less and less, Amnesia's victory began to feel ensured.
However, a sudden bright light blasted the illusion away, both metaphorically and literally. They soon realized this as the light became an intense and nearly overwhelming wave of fire. The fire blast swept through the team, knocking all nine of them off of their feet and sending them back several feet. A brief moment of silence filled the air, only to be cut off yet again by the sounds of the snipers taking their shots, having arrived at their new posts. Daiki growled as the bullets pelted and staggered him, with several shots piercing through his tough armor. Shielding himself with his arms, he looked around and scanned for movement. He spotted all three snipers and pressed down on the bottom panel of his other pistol.
LUNA: MAXIMUM DRIVE!
"RrrAH!" he growled out as he thrust his gun out and held down the trigger, launching energy orbs in rapid succession. The orbs shot towards their targets, sweeping over to them as they tried to evade before bursting on their bodies and knocking them down. One was knocked down from a building and hit the ground hard, causing his armored form to shatter from all of the sustained damage. The second one flew straight into the wall behind him, and his form shattered as well. He fell to the ground like a rag doll, having been knocked out cold to match with the first sniper's condition. The last sniper was blown back quite a bit, but still held firm. Gritting her teeth under her mask, she rushed around the building she had been hiding behind. She screeched to a stop as she spotted one of the sniper's unconscious bodies. After checking for vitals, she moved him away to a safer spot before kneeling down and taking her new post.
As she did so, the ground troopers picked themselves off of the ground. Some staggered, and some needed assistance from the others. But they stood, ready to continue the fight. Daiki shot Magma a look, but the Dopant didn't need further instruction. He crossed his arms in front of himself as he gathered energy within himself. Once he was done, he rushed forward before stopping abruptly and unleashing yet another powerful fire blast. The attack impacted the troopers, and four of them were broken from their armored forms. They hit the ground hard, each breathing heavily and unable to get back up. The two morphs smirked, encouraged by this.
Gritting her teeth, the remaining sniper took aim and fired a shot. The bullet pierced into Daiki's armor, prompting him to turn abruptly to the direction from which the shot had come from. He quickly exchanged one of his spent Memories for a fresh one and pressed down on the bottom panel of his pistol.
LUNA: MAXIMUM DRIVE!
He held down the trigger and unleashed a cluster of energy orbs. He sent them all straight at her, forcing a hasty retreat from her. But try as she might, she simply couldn't avoid them all, and the homing orbs slammed into her before exploding on impact. The force of the consistent blows broke her out of her armored form as well, causing her to fall to the ground and knock out cold.
As the remaining five troopers staggered back to their feet, their commander glanced around the area in an anxious and almost panicked manner. He motioned for all of them to back away, clearly in need of time to regroup. And the same held true for the two morphs, both of which were beginning to fatigue.
"Crosshair," Magma panted, backing away step by step, "I…will need time to recharge." Daiki nodded in acknowledgement.
"Agreed…" he began, panting between words, "It's time for…a tactical retreat…" The two of them turned tails and broke for the opposite direction. Seeing them on the run, Amnesia's commander shouted out orders.
"9! You're with me! The rest of you get the others to safety!" With their orders set, the three assigned troopers pressed on their com pads as they went to collect their allies while 9 and the commander ran after the two runaways.
Outside of his room, Arata watched as morphs frantically hurried about the facility. He caught site of a couple of knocked out troopers being wheeled in on a bed similar to his own. Others limped forward with the assistance of the other morphs. It didn't take him very long to realize what exactly was going on. Clearly an attack had occurred recently, and by the looks of things, Amnesia's retaliation hadn't gone well. The question was who exactly was attacking? The Magma Dopant came into mind, soon followed by the mysterious gunner that had appeared soon after. The sheer thought of him made him feel uneasy, and the fact that he had a Driver of his own only added to that feeling. He furrowed a brow; it had to be them. He was sure that he had seen singe marks on the clothes of the troopers. So caught up was he in his thoughts that he failed to notice the vixen Tech slink her way into his room. By the time he did notice, she was already taking a seat next to him.
"Another attack I'm guessing?" Arata asked, dismissing the fox as just one of the caretakers, "You should probably be tending to them instead of me then." He briefly gestured towards the bustling crowd with his head. Tech shook her head.
"I'm no doctor, hun," she answered him with a flick of her ears, "and I'm no nurse either, but you're right about the attack. The two guys that took you down before are back on the offensive. We responded…but…" She glanced over to the commotion. "Well you can guess what happened from there…" Arata looked over as well, simply allowing silence to hang between the two of them. The vixen smirked and glanced back at him. "I can tell that you still wanna help out."
"That obvious, huh?" he replied with a slight smirk, keeping his eyes on the exit, "Though it's kind of a given for me anyways. I don't exactly like the idea of sitting around when there are people in danger."
"Which is no doubt why you became who you are now," she stated with a bit of coyness, "So what, do you not have faith in Amnesia then?"
Arata hesitated for a moment. He thought for a bit before responding. "Well…everyone needs a bit of help at one point or another." Tech smiled at this.
"Hmph, good point," she said with a flick of her tail, "We have been having a difficult time dealing with these newer Dopants." A moment passed between them, silence hanging once again. Arata flicked his ears once before finally speaking up.
"So…will everyone be alright?" He glanced over to her. "I mean, your members?" The vixen nodded almost nonchalantly.
"I wouldn't worry. We've got a special treatment that gets 'em right back into fighting shape." The panther shot her a shocked look. She looked back at him and smiled. "We've got a Memory specially designed to heal the body. It's why we're able to re-deploy so easily and so quickly. They just call it the recovery Memory, but I just like to call it our Deus Ex Machina." She tilted her head slightly. "Though…considering the circumstances, I guess the name doesn't entirely fit anymore, huh?" Arata wasn't sure of how to respond. He was still surprised over the fact that such technology existed already. However, something else confused him.
"Wait a minute…" he began, "…why are you telling me all of this? I'd think that info like this would be confidential or something…so…why?" The vixen took in a breath and held it for a moment before letting out a long sigh.
"Because I'm about to do something that's both illegal, and honestly pretty stupid…" Arata blinked in confusion, merely lying there silently as he waited for an explanation. And get one he did…just not verbally. Without warning, the vixen moved to the front end of his bed and tugged at it, pulling it along with the aid of the wheels that were apparently part of the bed. Arata began to stammer in confusion as she wheeled him out of his room and weaved them through the rushed crowd. As she walked, Arata saw several looks of shock and confusion on the faces of the various morphs. He then looked forward to try and figure out where the fox was taking him.
He had to lean a bit, but he was able spot an entrance to a room guarded by two furs dressed in tactical attire. The guards spotted Tech, then spotted him. And once they saw him, they stepped forward and blocked their way, preventing them from entering.
"Sorry ma'am," said one of the guards, "but we can't let you through with the captive."
"Excuse me," Tech said in an authoritative tone, "but you realize I'm one of the heads here."
"We are aware of who you are," said the other guard, "but we are under direct orders from 1 to not allow the captive to enter the Q recovery room."
"What are you even doing with him anyhow?" asked the first one.
"Come on guys," said Tech, ignoring the guard's question, "We're running low on options here. 1 and 9 are risking their lives right now by going out on their own."
"That's true," said the first guard, "but it won't be long before the team's back in fighting shape. It'll only be a matter of time before we re-deploy."
"Yes, re-deploy and be taken down again." She ran a paw down her head in a stressed manner. "Guys, can't you see that we're not going to be able to take these guys down in the condition we're in right now? Those two are too strong for us, despite our specialized equipment that I designed mind you."
"Look ma'am," said the second guard, "even if we wanted to let you through, our hands are tied. You really should just put the captive back in his room. It's bad enough you took him out in the first pla—"
"YES I know how badly I've stepped out of line," she cut him off, "and I DON'T care right now. What I do care about is trying to keep everyone on the team safe, and preferably ALIVE. Why can't you guys just see that and let me do my—" She was cut off as the door behind the guards swung open, with two morphs, both bearing tags, standing at the door way. Both of them looked rather beat up, and one of them had to lean against the door.
"I was wondering what all of the commotion was about," said the husky with a 6, "and I gotta say, not really surprised at what I'm seeing right now.
"Wh-what are you two doing?" the vixen blurted, "Neither of you have gone through with your treatment yet. You shouldn't be up right now!"
"Last I checked, taking the captive out of his room wasn't what anybody should be doing," the husky retorted, "Lemme guess. You wanna send Zero out to help us fight?"
"We overheard everything," the lynx with a 12 said before turning to the guards, "and I think we should give him a chance. I trust in him, and I think we could really use the help right now."
A sudden loud thump startled the group and everyone turned to see another trooper, 7, making his way over to them. The difference with him and the other two troopers was that he didn't look hurt in the least, clearly having gone through with the treatment.
"What the hell are you doing?" he growled lowly, "Why is the captive here?"
"Step OFF 7," 6 growled back, "this doesn't concern you!"
"LIKE HELL IT DOESN'T!" he shouted, baring his teeth, "Do you realize the consequences you all will receive by doing this?"
"I know that 7," 6 growled, not intimidated by the other canine in the least, "I'm sure we all know that, but I also know that 1 and 9 need help right now. They need his help! Don't you care about them?"
"Don't pull that on me," he replied bitterly, "I trust them to make it out alive. The both of them are strong. They're skilled enough to do this, and they're skilled enough to return safely."
"So you're okay with just leaving them as they are?!" 6 snapped, "You're okay with leaving them weakened and with only a few of us ready to support them?!" 7 opened his mouth to speak, but quickly realized he had no comeback. He hesitated on what to say, leaving silence to hang amongst the group.
"…Um…" Arata finally spoke up, having simply watched the various arguments break out without leaving him any chance to chime in, "listen…I…I'm not sure whether or not you all will believe me, but…I want to help out just as much as you guys do…" Another moment of silence passed, and 7 closed his eyes. "I know that you guys don't trust me, and I'd be lying if I said that I have the utmost faith in your abilities…but there's more at stake here right now. Jinsoku is in danger, guys. If those two monsters are allowed to run wild for any longer, a lot of people are going to get hurt… So please…" At that, everyone turned to 7, whose eyes were still closed. It took a while before he said anything.
"We aren't allowed…to just let you go like that," he said stoically, causing 6 and Tech to speak up in protest. "But," he added, silencing the two of them, "we aren't expecting you to break loose on your own…" Everyone exchanged confused glances at that. Before anyone could stop him, 7 moved beside Arata and heavily planted a paw on his shoulder. He knelt down slightly so as to get to his level and looked him straight in the eyes. "Right now," he began slowly, "you've broken out of our facility…and you've stolen back your equipment." The three girls began to smile as they caught on. 7 ignored them and kept going. "You then broke into our garage and stolen your bike back. You left without doing any harm on the personnel present." With a smirk, Arata nodded in understanding, acknowledging the wolf's words.
"Listen up," he went on, "you make sure that 1 and 9 make it out of there alive, otherwise I will never forgive you. Understand?"
Arata nodded again. "I will. Don't worry." 7 nodded back before standing straight and stepping back.
"Let them through," he said to the guards, keeping his eyes on the panther, "I don't care about what 1's orders. We're under abnormal circumstances, so I overrule his order." The two guards looked to each other, unsure of what to do. One of them shrugged before stepping back and leaving them passage. With broad smiles across their muzzles, 6 and 12 eagerly led Tech as she wheeled Arata through the recovery center.
The sounds of explosions filled the air, and bright lights flashed from the grounds below. Huddled behind a broken down wall were two Amnesia troopers, 1 and 9, both grounded in their spot thanks to the barrage of fire balls and blasts from the other two individuals on the opposite side of the courtyard. Daiki and Magma took no cover, not needing any due to the lack of counter attacks the troopers were making.
"I'm getting…really sick of this," 9 panted, popping his head up only to have to immediately withdraw so as to not take a fireball to the face, "We can barely even…attack back."
"Just…keep pushing," growled 1, "We've…still got them on the ropes. They can't keep going on like this… It's already clear that they're fatigued." The commander stood abruptly and let out several shots, only to withdraw as the wall was pelted with more fire attacks.
Daiki clicked his tongue as he realized that his gun was fresh out of ammo. He emptied the pistol, allowing the spent Memory to clatter to the ground before loading in a new Memory. "So how's it going on your end, Magma?"
"A couple of cracks and bruises, but otherwise fine," he said as he hurled another barrage of fireballs at the troopers' hiding spot.
"Heh, same here," replied Daiki, "I'll be honest; I was getting worried for a bit. But as it turns out, I was just stunned from the fact that I was taking damage. Low and behold, the damage they were dealing…wasn't much." He chuckled. "A little more than I'm used to, that being none, but that's it really." Smiling behind his mask, he fired several energy orbs and directed them around the wall.
As soon as 1 saw the orbs of light arc around the wall and into their enclosed space, he knew he had little time to react. He charged past 9 and spread his arms out, taking the brunt of the blows and shielding him from the onslaught. As the last one exploded off of his body, his armored form shattered away and he collapsed to the ground unconscious. "Commander!" 9 shouted in shock. He started for his side, only to catch the sight of more orbs coming their way. He growled and ran in front of his downed commander, raising his gun and shooting at the orbs. While he was able to destroy a few of them, he wasn't fast enough to destroy them all. As a result, he was forced to endure the rest of the attacks. He gritted his teeth and continued to 1's side, ignoring the pain and aches in his muscles as he tried to pull 1 out of the wrecked building to a safer area.
"Argh, Winged Salvation, come in!" 9 said with clenched teeth, using one paw to tug the commander along and the other to hold down the pad at the side of his helmet, "I'm conducting an emergency retreat! Going to drop point eight!" He released the pad and dragged his commander with both paws. Suddenly, the wall they were hiding behind was blown apart, leaving them with no cover. He looked up to see the two morphs approaching them. Hastily, 9 grabbed several flash bombs from his back pouch and tossed them forward, triggering them and causing a blindingly bright light to flash out. The two morphs were stunned, and they stepped back several steps as they tried to recover. Using this opportunity, 9 frantically dragged his commander along.
However, the bomb expired before he had the chance to get very far, and the two attackers recovered soon afterwards, looking up to see that the trooper had barely gotten more than a meter further. Chuckling, the two of them began to close in on the troopers, leaving 9 with little hope of escaping.
But he refused to go down without a fight. He un-holstered his magnum and held down the trigger, pelting them with as many bullets as he could. Unfortunately, just like all of his others, his bullets did nothing to stop the two of them. But he refused to close his eyes. If he was going to meet his end, he was going to meet it with dignity. He kept the trigger held down, and he kept firing at the two of them. And then suddenly, the two morphs were blow off of their feet. 9 blinked in surprise, had his gun suddenly acted up? It was only when he heard the sound of an engine did he finally understand. The reinforcements were here. He looked back in joy, expecting to see his fellow troopers come to back him up. But instead, he was greeted with a different sight, the sight of a masked man, riding his snow white bike, armed with one of Amnesia's magnums in his free paw, coming in at an incredibly fast pace as his cloak fluttered behind him in the wind.
Zero.
Kamen Rider Zero.
Zero continued to fire off shots at the two attackers, repelling them and forcing them to back off. As they backed off, 9 noticed thin sheets of ice forming on the two of them. Daiki shook his head and raised his gun up. But 9 acted quickly, raising his own magnum and shooting at his hand. The blast knocked one of his pistols out of his paw and sent it flying back. Daiki reeled back in surprise, giving Zero another opening to shoot at him. He landed several shots, and the armored wolf-morph backed off along with the Dopant. Zero closed in the space between them and his bike dispersed into a cloud of snow before flying off, leaving him to stand between them and the troopers.
"Are you guys alright?" Zero asked 9 without looking at him, keeping his eyes on his opponents. 9 hesitated before responding.
"I-I'm fine," he stammered, "but my comrade is in need of treatment."
"Get to safety then," Zero replied as he fired off more shots to keep the two attackers at bay, "I'll cover you guys." Again, the trooper hesitated. It took a moment before he finally responded.
"Th-thank you for this," he said before finally lifting 1 onto his shoulders and hurrying out of the area. As they left, Daiki stopped his approach and placed a paw on his hip.
"I must say," he began, holding out a paw to prevent Magma from advancing as well, "I didn't expect you to recover so quickly. And I'm very impressed over the fact that you were able to escape Amnesia's facility in the condition you were in." Arata was thankful that he had a mask on at the time, otherwise he wouldn't have been able to conceal the smirk that he would have had on.
"…Right…" he replied, "I definitely broke out of there. No questions asked." The wolf tilted his head at this, but paid no mind to it.
"Regardless, it was pointless of you to come," Daiki continued, "Amnesia did such a little amount of damage to us that they might as well have not come." He pointed his remaining pistol at Arata. "And it'll be just as easy for us to defeat you as it was the last time."
"For some reason," Arata replied, keeping his magnum aimed at the two of them, "I'm having a hard time believing that."
"Really now?" Daiki laughed. "Well, would you mind sharing why? Because I'm having a hard time seeing why." Arata glanced back and forth between the two of them, noticing Magma's lack of glow to him, and Daiki's shortage of usable Memories.
"Because from the looks of things," he explained, "the two of you seem to have exhausted your energy and resources." Daiki growled at this and tightened his grip on his pistol. "Meanwhile, I'm here fully recovered and back to fighting strength." He then took on a less tense stance and twirled his magnum around his index finger. "Now I'm going to take the both of you out, with both my power AND Amnesia's! Wh-which I stole." He added at the end.
"Well unfortunately for you," Daiki growled, "I don't see that HAPPENING!" The two attackers then shot off several blasts of fire at him, and he jumped to the side to evade.
"Then count on it!" he shouted back as he let loose his own barrage of attacks. Whilst Daiki was able to evade, Magma wasn't so lucky. He took the blows to his chest, and the sheets of ice on him began to thicken. As Daiki took cover, he looked to Arata and realized something. His Memory was absent from his Driver.
But if it's not there…he thought to himself, then…then it must be in the magnum! He withdrew as several blasts of ice pelted his hiding spot. The bastard's using it so he can attack at long range!
Magma got up from his own cover to try and hurl a fireball at Arata, only to be pelted more and more with his icy attacks. Seeing this, Daiki used the opportunity to break for his other pistol and grab it up. Before Arata could stop him, he loaded one of his last Luna Memories into the gun and fired off several orbs of light. With no time to evade from the speedy orbs, Arata grabbed up his cloak and shielded himself with it. This left Daiki with enough time to load in a fresh Heat Memory into his other gun.
"Don't just stand there!" he shouted at the Dopant, "Attack!" With no reason to argue, Magma joined him in barraging Arata with fire, attacking in unison. Keeping his cloak over him, Arata withdrew to take cover behind a building. He didn't stay there for long though. Soon afterwards, he jumped from his cover and let loose several shots, focusing on Magma. But none of the attacks ever reached him, for Daiki fired off more light orbs to block all of Arata's attempts. Before anyone could continue, they all paused as they heard the sound of several engines. They all turned to look and saw two Amnesia troopers speeding towards them on their bikes.
Blasts were shot from their bikes' cannons that impacted the two morphs, forcing them to shield themselves and withdraw. With their attention to the troopers, Arata took the chance to let loose several shots of his own at the Dopant. Daiki reacted quickly to this, but was unable to stop enough shots in time due to the troopers' heavy fire. Magma grunted as he was pelted again and again, and the sheets of ice began to thicken more and more. He stepped back and tried to charge his body with more if his inner flame, only to find that he couldn't even so much as spark it. His body was just too frozen over to do so. To make matters worse, his molten-like skin had already begun to crust and crystalize into volcanic rock, making him rigid and hindering his ability to move.
The two morphs backed away to cover, and the two troopers rode up to Arata and dismounted from their rides. As the first one removed a hose from their bike, the other ran over to take place aside Arata. "I'm gonna hook this up to the nearest hydrant!" shouted the first one before running off. Recognizing her voice, Arata realized that she was 6.
"Alright, hurry then!" shouted the one next to him. He recognized this one as 7. He wasn't left with much time to think about this though as Daiki burst from his cover and fired several shots at the pair. They reacted quickly and evaded before taking cover behind the remains of a wall. As they skidded to a halt and knelt down, Arata turned to the trooper.
"So you're not concerned about the fact that you'll be seen working alongside an alleged criminal?" he asked in slight amusement, though he made no effort to show it. The trooper chuffed.
"Not really," he answered, "The only publicized camera is on our copter, and right now, it's flying off to drop off the injured.
"Heh, fair enough," Arata replied, popping his head up to check for clearance. He immediately went back down and whipped his cloak across his body, getting in front of the trooper. Before he could question, Arata was assaulted with several orbs of light, the force of each impact making him slide back ever so slightly.
"You alright?!" the trooper shouted in concern. Arata lowered his cloak slightly.
"I'm fine," he assured him before signaling for him to move. They jumped out of the way as more light orbs shot towards them, barely missing them and instead impacting the ground in front of them. Now forced out into the open, they immediately went from defensive to offensive, opening fire on the two morphs. They shielded themselves from their attacks with their arms, giving Arata a chance to charge forward. He focused his fire on Magma as he ran at him with the intent of fighting him head on.
"Shit!" Daiki growled as he realized his intentions. Before he could even so much as attempt to intercept, the two defenders focused their fire on the wolf-morph and kept him in place. Now home free to attack, Arata closed the space between him and the Dopant and led with a strong forward punch with his free left paw. Magma hastily guarded with an arm, which quickly began to crust and harden as soon as it came into contact with his fist. Arata followed up with several more hits before shoving his magnum into Magma's chest and blasting him at point blank. The resulting blast blew the Dopant back while merely staggering Arata. As Magma hit the ground, Arata was pelted with several orbs of light and fire to his back. He hit the ground rolling and saw Daiki aiming at him.
eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!
Just as Arata was about to get back up, a loud ringing that made him cringe filled his ears. Dammit! he cursed inwardly, Not this again! Daiki quickly took notice of the Rider's vulnerability, similar to how he had been the first time he had been taken down. Not wanting to waste such an opportunity, he fired off more orbs of fire and light. But Arata wasn't about to allow him such an easy victory this time around. Seeing the attacks coming, he counter fired the light orbs before rolling off to the side to avoid the fire orbs. Ignoring the screeching only he heard, he rolled to a crouch and blasted Daiki in the head, staggering him and forcing him to take cover. With him gone for the moment, he returned his attention to the Dopant, who had caught up to him and greeted him with a heavy strike to the head. The blow sent him tumbling back, and Magma merely followed close behind. Once Arata had barely gotten back on his feet, Magma swung at him with a flaming right hook. Arata hastily brought up both of his arms, blocking the attack but staggering back from the force of the blow. Despite the flames being significantly weaker, he could already feel the heat beginning to affect him.
As he thrust his arm out to take aim, the Dopant struck the magnum out of his paw before following up with several flaming blows to his head and torso. At the final blow, Arata staggered and fell onto his back. Magma stomped towards him, intending to finish the job, only to be stopped by a sudden torrent of water. Confused, Arata turned to look and spotted 6 blasting pressurized water at the Dopant with her hose. Using this opportunity, he scrambled to his feet and made for his magnum.
Daiki, bursting from his cover, charged as well with the intent of stopping him, only to be stopped as 6 changed her target from the Dopant to him. Now with nothing to stop him, Arata dove and rolled as he grabbed up his magnum before taking the slanted part of the barrel and straightening it.
FREEZE: MAXIMUM DRIVE!
He took hold of the firearm in both paws and braced himself as energy began to surge and gather inside. "Frozen…uhh-c-CRASH!" He pulled the trigger and an overwhelming blast of ice and snow burst forward, instantly freezing the two morphs in place. Arata slanted the barrel again before removing his Memory and slotting it into the side of his belt.
FREEZE: MAXIMUM DRIVE!
He tossed his magnum aside as he whipped his arms out to his sides, his body immediately dispersing into a raging blizzard and enveloping the area.
The blizzard condensed and formed Arata's body once more. "FROZEN BREAKER!" he cried out as he slapped the pad on the side of his belt. His Memory responded and a sudden wind shot him downwards. "HAAAAAAAA!" He thrust his foot out in a mid-air kick as energy gathered at his heel. He smashed though the Dopant's frozen body, and it burst into a cloud of neon green smoke and snow, leaving behind the unconscious form of the Memory user in its place. The Memory itself suddenly shot out of his body and clattered onto the floor, displaying no evidence of damage whatsoever. Arata sighed, shaking his head as he stood up.
It's getting harder for me to believe that I'm too weak to break them, he thought to himself, walking over to the Memory and kneeling down in front of it, The user seemed pretty drained, so shouldn't the Memory have been as well? He shook his head again; Erika was the one with knowledge on Memories, not him. He was sure that she could figure it out if she had this one.
…One…
His head darted up, and his fear was confirmed. The second attacker's body wasn't here. The only evidence of him being here left was the cracked shell of where he had been frozen in place.
He must have slipped away when I used my second Maximum… he thought to himself, glancing around the area in hopes of catching a glimpse of him. He growled to himself lowly; he had escaped.
Meanwhile, a fair distance away, an unarmored Daiki was limping away, clutching his shoulder as he walked. Rest assured you caped bastard, he growled in his head, clenching his teeth tightly, you have not seen the last of me. And YOU can count on that.
Despite the knowledge of the shooter still being on the loose, Arata let out a sigh of relief. At the very least, this bout was finally over. He glanced up and stood up, catching the sight of the two troopers approaching him. He turned to face them, and they nodded to each other in acknowledgement. Before he could say anything though, the sound of a copter approaching coaxed one of the troopers to speak.
"That's ours," said 7 with a bit of urgency, "You should get out of here while you can." But Arata didn't move. Instead, he placed a paw to his chin in thought. The two troopers exchanged glances upon seeing this. "Wh-what are you doing?! Go before they see you!"
"Not…just yet," Arata replied, turning to face him again, "Bear with me; I've got an idea…"
"CLOSING IN ON SIGHT," the pilot of the copter spoke through the com link, "6 AND 7 STILL HAVEN'T RESPONDED. PREPARE FOR DROP." The recovered troopers didn't waste time in following directions, removing their magnums from the copter's compartments and activating their Drivers. With their preparations all set, all eyes were turned to the screen up top. The fact that 6 and 7 hadn't been seen after their re-deployment after the captive had broken out of the facility hadn't exactly set everyone's minds at ease. They all waited with held breaths as they fast approached their destination. When they finally did arrive, multiple gasps sounded out at the sight that greeted them all.
The area was wrecked with scorches, dying flames and thick blocks and sheets of solid ice. 6 and 7 were there, completely safe and setting their minds at ease at the very least, but Zero was there as well. He was knelt down in front of them, paws up, armor blackened with burns and ashes. His shoulders seemed to heave with every breath, showing signs of heavy fatigue. Off to the side, an unconscious morph lied in the center most area of the ice. Whilst 6 kept her magnum aimed at Zero's head, 7 went over to the unconscious morph and cuffed him up before picking a Memory off of the ground. Once he was done with that, he went over and cuffed Zero as well, 6's magnum still aimed at his head.
The troopers began to talk amongst each other, clearly caught off guard with the sight that had greeted them. The only trooper that held his tongue was 1, who kept his eyes glued on the screen. Something was off, that much was clear.
"PREPARE FOR DROP," the voice of the pilot snapped the commander out of his thoughts. Shaking his head, he made his way through the troopers and stood at the front of the now opening gate. He crouched slightly before taking the lead and jumping down, with the other troopers following suit. Once everyone was down, they scrambled around and got to work. They surrounded Zero and the unconscious fur. Some called in for transporting the two captives away, whilst others called to cancel the lockdown on the area, and the rest crowding around Zero.
7 and 6 waved to 1 as he approached. "So what happened here?" the commander asked, "and why weren't you two responding to our calls?"
"Well, we were way too occupied with fighting these guys, so we didn't get the chance to do so," 7 explained, "but after we took down Magma, Zero didn't put up much of a fight."
"So what do you think, commander?" asked 6, "we gonna take him in again?" 1 didn't say anything for a while, keeping his eyes on Zero who was now in cuffs. He looked up for a moment, looking around the battlefield and at the shards and blocks of ice littered around the area.
"Uhh…sir?" asked 7 hesitantly, "…your response?"
When 1 finally looked up, he turned to the other troopers. "All of you not already occupied with an objective return to base." With a wave of his hand, 1 dismissed the other troopers aside from 6 and 7. The two troopers exchanged glances before meeting the gaze of their commander. "The three of us will be taking Zero in by ourselves." He knelt down to Zero's level, and the two of them met gazes, much to Zero's surprise. "I'd like to have a couple of words with our…'escapee.'"
6 nearly tripped over her own words before she spoke to respond. "…So…wh-what is it that you have planned for him?" 1 stood and smirked under his mask, hidden from his fellow troopers.
"I have plans of my own on what to do with him…"
END OF ARC 1