Through the glass, they watched a plane make its way over to the gate. It was a small, well-used commercial jetliner. Nothing remarkable about it at all.
Although the same couldn't be said for some of the people waiting for its passengers to debark.
Like the one wearing a long neon-green scarf, his hair ending in white spikes. Or the younger man beside him in magenta-colored jeans and a t-shirt showing the mascot of Ju Ju Burger, a hamburger with arms and legs, riding a skateboard. Even the high school student standing with them, the famous game mascot Mighty on his pink collector's watch and ball cap.
Taiga had categorically refused to wear anything with a game logo, which hadn't really surprised anyone. Dominating Kensei Hidenaga's thoughts, though, was the veteran Rider standing nearby. Emu Hojo was smiling, looking totally at peace with the world around him. Somehow it seemed impossible to Kensei that the fresh-faced young doctor was really the most powerful of all the Kamen Riders. Even before becoming one himself, Kensei knew all about the incredible things Emu Hojo had done. All the adventures he'd conquered, lives he'd saved. The powerful villains he'd beaten, or even befriended.
Realistically Kensei supposed he knew that even Kamen Riders were regular people underneath. He was pretty regular, wasn't he? Doku and even Yoshoku were regular too, he'd have said in the end. Somehow it didn't seem like that would still be the case with the big-league Riders…
The three of them waited as the passengers spread out from the gate, headed one way or another through the terminal. One of the last people to get off was an American man with curly ginger hair, wearing a black business suit and a polka-dot bow tie. "Looks like there's some real fans of our work here," he said as he walked past Emu, Taiga and Kensei, eying their logo-spangled outfits.
"The classics never die," Emu answered.
An amused smile turned up the edges of the American businessman's mouth. "Well, maybe you know we're in a little difficulty at the moment. Some input from the fans could be exactly what we need to turn it around."
Taiga nodded, but his expression was neutral as always. "It would be an honor," he said unconvincingly.
They entered a limousine while the American said something to the driver, then seemed satisfied and got in the back with the three Kamen Riders. As soon as the car pulled away from the airport the tinted windows all rolled up along with the barrier with the front seat.
"Gentlemen," the American finally said, and held out his hand. "Thank you for the thoughtful welcome. Philip Howard, rep for GENM of America at your service."
"Are you people really planning on building new offices here?" Taiga asked, cutting right to the point as usual with him.
Kensei couldn't help but smile and shake his head. Emu beat him to reacting first, though, chuckling at Taiga's brusque remark.
Mr. Howard didn't seem surprised at all by the question. "Some of the directors talked about liquidating the company, but a major financier wouldn't allow it," he said, and shuddered. Quietly, he confided, "She's scary."
"Yes, she is," Taiga muttered.
Howard shook his head. "Point being, yes, we are planning to establish new offices in Japan. We managed to get the contract to publish a new Perfuman Tsurugi game that we're looking to have out by the time the new movie goes to theaters. That's probably going to decide the fate of the company…"
"I'm sorry to hear that," Emu replied sympathetically. "It's probably hard attracting the people for these new offices after everything the company's been through."
That, to the Riders' surprise, got a little laugh from Howard. "Maybe not as much as you think. We probably have you and your friends to thank for that, young man," he said, looking right at Kensei.
"Me?" Kensei asked, almost as surprised as the veteran Riders next to him.
"Yes, you!" Howard smiled. "Apparently a lot of people in the programming field saw the new Riders who showed up when the others disappeared, and thought GENM was thinking ahead in case something happened. How serious upper management was about making up for everything that happened under Kuroto and Masamune Dan. We've had a surprising number of applicants talk about one or the other of the new Riders and all you've done as to why they're applying."
Kensei shrugged back, not really how else to respond. "We're not so popular with the kids, the way I hear it. Machina Vision's Rider is a lot cooler, they seem to think."
"Kids aren't the only market, Hidenaga-san," Howard said. "All ages play video games these days."
"Does this mean we still have a supplier for Gashats?" Taiga interrupted. "Things don't look like they're going to get any easier with these…Corrupture."
Howard nodded. "As soon as we're able to get the facilities for that up and running, Doctor Taiga. Something very special should've been sent to Seito University for you, as a matter of fact."
Eventually they stopped next to a skyscraper none of the Riders recognized, where a detachment of identical men wearing black suits, sunglasses and earpieces was waiting for Howard. They flowed apart, walked forward to surround him, and then closed up again while leading him inside. With a last wave and smile back at the Riders, he and his new entourage disappeared into the building.
Soon the limousine dropped them off in front of Seito University Hospital. Emu broke away from the others, wanting to check something at the front desk, he said. Kensei and Taiga let him go off on his own and headed down to the CR Ward.
"Did you mean that back there in the car?" Kensei asked on the way down.
"What?" Taiga asked.
"The stuff about needing new games because the Corrupture getting harder to beat all the time," Kensei reminded him.
Taiga surprised him then. The doctor gently thumped Kensei over the heart with his fist. "Strong Gashats are really important for a Rider. But they don't mean anything if you don't have guts."
Kensei looked down at the doctor's arm tapping against him, then up at Taiga himself, who just looked straight ahead. "Oh yeah? Do you think I have that?"
"Do you think you have that?" Taiga replied without moving. He folded his arms in front of him and waited in silence for the ride to end.
They stepped out of the elevator, Taiga going off to check on some reports while Kensei peered into the observation room, where Kiiko was still asleep. Seemed she was still recovering from their adventure to the alternate timeline.
Next he went to the main meeting room. He was expecting someone else to be there, and wasn't disappointed. Yoshoku Kasuga, the school idol, was there like Kensei had thought.
In the corner the DoReMiFa Beat cabinet was blaring music as Yoshoku tapped the controls next to Doku, the biggest gamer among the three of the newer Riders.
There was a faraway look in Yoshoku's eyes, though, and he was missing most of the inputs. The chibi of Poppy Pipopapo dancing to the music on the screen looked much more engaged in the game than the player did.
"Doing okay?" Kensei asked, not sure how else to get Yoshoku's attention with how out of it he was looking at the moment.
Yoshoku looked up as he heard the question, and didn't seem to hear the blare of the GAME OVER screen appearing. "Oh, Hidenaga…didn't notice you come in," Yoshoku said.
"Or much else," Kensei answered. "You seem like something's on your mind. How'd things go with Rei?"
"I don't know," Yoshoku answered, and sighed. "She confirmed all the stuff that weird Kibi guy said, but she hasn't gotten back to me since. Seeing him and having him blab everything about when they were kids, it was probably stuff she didn't mean to tell."
"So you think she's feeling like she was exposed in front of you before she was ready to be?" Kensei observed.
He shrugged. "Yeah, I guess so."
Suddenly the game's screen exploded into a fountain of colors, and Doku fell off his stool with a yell of shock. Poppy Pipopapo, the familiar real version and not the chibi one who'd disappeared from the screen, pinched Yoshoku's cheeks and as pulling them up into a forced smile.
"No frowns allowed!" she declared. "She met her old friend, this is a happy time!"
"MRrmrmmmph! Let GO!" Yoshoku grunted and tried to pull away from the game mascot, but she held onto his cheeks with surprising strength. "Hidenaga, help! Get her off me!"
"That's not something a lot of guys would be willing to say," Doku laughed.
Yoshoku scowled at him, which only made Poppy pull harder, trying to force him to smile. Doku did jump up and tried to pull Poppy's hands away. "Stop it, you'll pull his whole face off!"
"A hero has to smile!" Poppy said, puffing out her own cheeks indignantly. "Or he can't make the people he helps smile!"
All three of them stopped where they heard laughter. Kensei leaned back in his chair, shaking his head at the ridiculous sight. "Oh my good…look at us," he said.
"…what?" Yoshoku asked, his voice distorted by Poppy still yanking his cheeks up.
"Oh, Emu!" Poppy said suddenly, jumping away from Yoshoku. He lost his balance as they moved away from each so fast and fell on his butt. Emu smiled, holding up a package in his hands. The familiar GENM logo was on the label.
"Let's see what they sent us, why don't we?" Emu asked and sat down at the meeting table. He lifted open the box.
Inside was what, after a second's examination, looked like a pair of gunmetal grey Rider Gashats, with a metal connector over their exterior circuit boards. The labels were blank, but Kensei recognized another unusual feature they had: there was a round roller sticking out of the front. Just like on the cartridge for GENM Master Smash, that'd let him choose another game whose main weapon he could copy.
There'd been a few fights where he'd wished that game still worked.
"What is that?" Poppy asked.
"Well according to this," Emu said, reading off a note lodged in the foam padding, "It's some kind of experiment. If Hidenaga-san and I can activate these, they think maybe we can anchor a Gamer Driver that I'm wearing to the one he's wearing. And then I could transform again!" Emu's face lit up as he finished reading. "This is what Kiriya-san meant when he said they were working on something special!"
Kensei picked up the pair of games. "Does it say how we activate them?" he asked.
Emu looked again, and he shook his head. "It doesn't sound like it. Actually all it says is 'we hope this will allow you to rejoin the fight'…they aren't even sure this will work."
"Well, Hojo-san…it's not exactly like this is a condition anyone's ever seen before," Doku replied, his voice faltering like he was afraid of insulting the doctor.
"Yes, you're right," Emu agreed. "I've never seen a condition quite like Hidenaga-san's either. It's like Patient Zero status, but not as developed. This might work, if we can figure out how to spark those games."
His condition was one of a kind, it was true, they all thought. A Bugster created from his own infection, Parado, had been the key to Emu being able to transform into a Kamen Rider. With Parado still missing, it was almost like Emu had never been infected at all. None of his Gashats had worked since he'd been freed, while Parado was still gone.
Poppy grinned at him and put her hands around her shoulders. "That's great, Emu! You can finally turn into Ex-Aid again! You look so sad without that!"
"No, I'm glad I can help people as a doctor still," Emu replied, but there a flatness to his reply that he failed to hide.
"Emu," Poppy said and shook him once lightly. "Doing something important like doctor's work is wonderful. Heroes don't deny that they're needed when evil's around, though."
"That sounds kind of familiar," Doku muttered, giving Kensei side-eye as he did.
Kensei ignored it, and held out the joined Gashats. "Doctor Hojo, I think you'd better hold onto these. I have a feeling we'll need these soon."
For a moment Emu looked down at the offered games, then straightened his jaw and took them.
He smiled.
Poppy smiled.
And Kensei smiled back at both of them.
After that, the group split up. Yoshoku was the first to go, leaving without a word, and Kensei found himself wanting to respect his fellow Rider's space, but also wanting to know what he was thinking.
Emu went back upstairs to make his rounds, Poppy going with him, after changing into her nurse disguise, of course. Kensei hoped the doctor really had been reassured by the chance to be part of fighting the Corrupture. He hoped the new games would work like GENM had suggested. It would mean a huge boost to their power to have Ex-Aid back again.
When Kensei was heading out, Doku stopped him. "Hey, Hidenaga. You heading home?" the other boy asked.
"…yeah. It looks like Kiiko's still in recovery so I was going to leave and check in tomorrow," Kensei answered him. "You got something else in mind?"
Doku nodded, hesitantly. "Mind if we talk on the way?"
"No, of course not," Kensei answered, and hit the button for the elevator. It closed behind them and started the ascent into the hospital.
Things were quiet. Holding his hands behind him, Doku looked up at the ceiling, then down at the buttons. He coughed. Kensei looked ahead, trying not to make this any harder when Doku seemed to be working up the nerve to say anything.
But he said it. "So everybody's up to like Level 50 now?"
"I am, Yoshoku is. I think Doctor Taiga and Kagami are with that game they both use, yeah."
"I see," Doku answered, even though he'd clearly already known. "I'm kind of far behind that."
"Isn't your strongest game a strategy one, though? Can't you figure out tricky stuff to do with that?" Kensei answered.
Doku sighed. The doors opened as they got to the ground floor and found a pair of nurses waiting to use the elevator, so they stepped out and the nurses stepped in. Kensei started to walk and Doku went after him. "I probably could if it was one of my own decks," he explained, "but there's no way to change out what the Gashat lets me use. There's only so much you can do against things so much stronger than what the game lets you build up to."
Kensei shrugged. What was he supposed to say? He'd made a Gashat with these new "powers" Emu had described to him, but it'd burned out after just one use. Besides, from what he'd heard from Emu's own experiences with those kinds of games, any Gashat he created would probably only be safe for Kensei himself to use.
"Well, we had a meeting with some big boss from GENM this morning. They're planning to set up offices here again, and they're making Gashats for us again. If we talked to them about it—"
"That's not it!" Doku interrupted suddenly.
Right away Kensei stopped in his tracks. "What is it, then?" he asked.
Doku opened his mouth, then realized a nurse and an orderly were staring at them. A few sick kids being walked back to their rooms even stopped and stared at the two of them. "Let's discuss this someplace without an audience," Doku said and hurried down the hall. A few twists and turns later, Kensei realized they were heading to little café the hospital had for visitors.
"If you don't want an audience we could go back to the ward," Kensei tried to suggest.
"I don't want the doctors listening in," Doku replied.
Kensei heard that and raised an eyebrow dubiously. "But you want me to hear it?"
"Isn't that obvious?" Doku said over his shoulder. Kensei didn't need to reply, it spoke for itself. He smiled a little at the underlying message of trust.
They went up to a cooler, got bottles of juice, paid for them and sat down at the farthest table. When Doku seemed sure nobody else was paying attention to them, he put a Gashat down on the table. Its label said Monster Zoo.
"When did you get that?" Kensei asked. "I don't remember that one."
"We got it in a challenge from Hourakou. It was when you were…busy, doing that stuff," Doku replied, but quickly changed the subject. "After we won, he gave me this. Said it was a reward for beating the game."
A little cautiously, Kensei picked up the Gashat and looked at it closely. "You think it's some kind of trap?" he asked, then put it back down.
"Kind of," Doku admitted. "I mean, I got it from the bad guy, you'd expected him to give us bad stuff. But the way he told me…he's right. You beat a quest, you get loot. It's how you get stronger in games. That's just how it works."
"Speaking of traps…" Kensei muttered, and tilted his head toward the window behind them looking out on the street below.
Both of them looked, and a clown in a yellow costume with red polka dots and a huge rainbow-striped wig smiled up at the window under his huge red nose. He even waved with a big gloved hand holding a cluster of balloons.
And all around him was a light purple glow nobody walking past or any of the kids stopping their parents to get a balloon seemed to notice.
"Are we going down there?" Doku asked.
"Do you think things might be a lot worse if we don't?" Kensei asked back.
When he spotted them, the clown's grin brightened. He handed his last balloon to the little boy who'd been waiting for it then turned to Doku and Kensei. Out of nowhere he had a bike horn in his glove that he honked in their faces, showering them with rainbow confetti.
"Bet you can't catch me!" he taunted in Hourakou Byougen's unmistakable voice and scampered away on his huge shoes.
The two Riders ran after him, already going for their henshin gear. Hourakou led them around the corner to an almost empty street, but as soon as they turned there he wasn't in sight.
"Boo!" came a voice from behind them and the clown was standing there, making a face and sticking his thumbs up the corners of his mouth. "I scared you! Don't deny it!" he grinned.
"What do you want?" Kensei asked, not hiding his suspicion.
The clown's face fell in an exaggerated expression of dismay. "Is that any way to treat your beloved quest giver?" he bawled. "You talk like I stiffed you last time!"
"Gonna have to do better than one reward before we start trusting the somebody like you," Doku scowled.
"Exactly what I came to talk about!" Hourakou laughed, his giant bowtie spinning like a propeller under his chin. He held his hands above his head and an explosion of confetti erupted upward. It hung in the air, an image slowly forming in the middle of all the shredded bits. "Behold, brave heroes! The Holy Tetra!"
"What?" Kensei asked.
"Tetra. It means four," Doku answered.
"Oh. Of course."
In Hourakou's image, a Rider Gashat took shape in each corner, games the two young Riders recognized as being used by their predecessors. A dark blue one with a yellow knob on the front and labels saying Perfect Puzzle and Knock Out Fighter on its different sides. A white one that said Taddle Legacy.
Above those two were a pair of cartridges that were even more eyecatching. One was a mixture of black and grey with the familiar pink and green mask of Kamen Rider Ex-Aid peeking out of the top. Next to it, a Gashat that was a dazzling gold, its circuit board a spike pointing off to the side, the label showing a golden version of Mighty under the name Hyper Muteki.
They gasped.
"Oh you're paying attention now, huh?" Hourakou literally shook with laughter even through his baggy clown costume. "Let's start playing for big prizes, kiddies! How does that big blue one up there look to you?! The one who wins enough missions gets that!"
It wasn't a question of whether they wanted to, as soon as Hourakou said that. If they could win that Gashat, and it worked like the other ones they'd been recovering, then they could free Parado, the last of the veteran GENM Riders. Emu would be able to henshin again, and CR would have two powerful new Riders in its ranks.
"…and what are we supposed to do to get it?" Kensei asked, eying the clown sharply.
"Stop being so suspicious, for starters!" Hourakou frowned and waved a reproachful finger at them. "This is a game! Games are fun!"
Doku scowled even harder than before. "Games don't hold people's families hostage."
Hourakou just giggled. "You want to talk about really big prizes, I see!" He snapped his fingers despite the cartoon gloves on his hands. "Well, you'll have to devote yourselves to mastering the game to win those!"
Kensei canted his head and looked at the Corrupture clown even distrustfully.
"Ah, still don't think I'm playing fair, I see," Hourakou sighed and shook his head, but as he looked back up at them his eyes visibly darkened. "I know exactly where we have your big brother stored, Hidenaga-san…the one you were so happy getting the chance to go on adventures with," he said, his smile turning menacing. "Would you like it if I wrapped a monster around him and sent him down to fight you, over and over and over again? Knowing that he was the one you were obliterating in fight after fight?"
"If that's the other choice, let's hear the rules of your little game," Kensei replied.
The Corrupture mastermind clapped his giant cartoon fingers to his cheeks and giggled. "Oh goody! We'll meet this afternoon. I want to see how you play the game, Kamen Rider Utsura. Pick any two of your little friends to help you."
"What are we supposed to do? How will I know what to pick?"
"What you're supposed to do…" Hourakou said threateningly, then his face broke out into a grin. "Is play the game!"
He shoved a map into Kensei's hands, then his body seemed to explode in a blinding blast of confetti.
A trail of confetti spilled onto the floor of Ayatsu Shuugouteki's office as his youngest song entered, brushing the mess off his hair and shoulders with one hand.
In the other, he was holding a rolled up map.
"Let's see that, Suihei," Ayatsu ordered, the CEO holding out his hand for the paper. Suihei pushed the paper into his father's waiting hand, and leaned against the wall to wait for the response without a word. Ayatsu sat in his chair, surprised into silence by his son's forcefulness for a few seconds, before he said, "What did he tell you?"
"That he's challenging us to a contest," Suihei said. "I said we'd be there."
Ayatsu slammed his hands down on his desk. "You don't speak for me, Suihei."
But Suihei didn't react at all to the angry assertion. Instead he replied, "I assumed you wouldn't want us to give GENM another chance to make us look like fools by being the only ones to show up," he replied, all of his usual deference missing. "How's progress on your groupmind coming, father? Running up against a shortage of Corrupture subjects, wasn't that what the researchers were saying?"
"You will not speak to me in such a way," Ayatsu said, drawing himself up to his full height.
Once again, Suihei didn't flinch. "No," he replied, "I suppose I can't, I better get going or GENM will be the only one to show up for this contest. Don't worry about me, I'll round up those new Auto Players and be on my way."
"Not so fast," Ayatsu Shuugouteki snarled, and Suihei stopped. He only looked back over his shoulder, but there was a trickle of sweat that ran down his neck. "I am still in charge of this company, and you owe all your power to me. You'll go out and meet this challenge, yes, but you won't go alone, and I don't mean a few Auto Players. Kedamono's going with you to keep an eye on things."
The CEO could actually see his son bristle as Suihei realized what he was hearing. "You're willing to send him away?" Suihei asked. "After GENM managed to break in—"
"Our security's even tighter since then," Ayatsu retorted. "And with your insubordinate attitude, clearly I can't trust you to represent this company's interests by yourself for now. Kedamono I trust with my life…and to secure my interests. And he's going with you and that's the end of it."
Ayatsu seated himself at his desk again, giving Suihei a cold glare. "Never forget who secured all this power from a maniac. Never forget all the good this will do for humanity. No more secrets. No more lies. All aligned toward one great goal. That's Machina Vision."
Faster than the last time, Doku twirled his new Monster Zoo Gashat over his fingers. It stopped its spin against the crook of his thumb where he could hit the trigger as soon as he was ready. It was the only thing going on in the empty lot near the edge of town where they'd been told to go.
"You're getting better at that," Kensei said with a smile.
"Thanks," Doku replied, but didn't smile back. "Are you sure about picking us for this, though? I mean, after what I said before…?"
"He's thinking about your smile," Emu Hojo said. Doku straightened his glasses as he looked over at the doctor, as if that might help him understand the statement. Emu chuckled, and went on, "Hidenaga-san saw you're having a problem right now, and he wanted to show you he still believes in you."
Kensei coughed into his hand. "You're very perceptive, Emu," he said. "I think."
Emu got out a pink Gashat of his own. "You don't have to hide it Hidenaga-san," he said, then added. "Let's see if I can still do that." He spun his own game over his fingers and it landed against the crook of his thumb just like Doku had done. "You're worried about your friend and you're giving him a chance to help."
"Well, Emu, if we're going to be working together," Kensei replied, "Why don't you just call me 'Kensei' instead?"
Immediately Emu was shaking him by the hand, the pink Gashat still clutched it. "Pleasure to be playing the game with you, Kensei-san!"
A whistle from Doku caught their attention. All three Riders looked across the empty space, where a young man that Kensei and Doku easily recognized as Suihei Shuugouteki was approaching. With him were a few Auto Player androids, another man with a wispy beard, but also a huge man broad shoulders and a round, bald head.
Suihei folded his arms. "Looks like you made it after all," he called out. "Almost thought you might not."
"We're not scared of you," Doku yelled back. "You just watch!"
"I never doubted it!" said a voice as someone suddenly rode between the groups on a unicycle. Upside down.
It was Hourakou Byougen, in a new purple clown costume with giant plastic ears and buck teeth, a two-foot-tall Mohawk sprouting from his head that almost brushed the ground. He was juggling lit cherry bombs even though he was hanging off some kind of invisible track, wheeling in figure eights around the two groups.
"Very interesting choices, Utsura!" he grinned. "Friend to the downtrodden, like those two! That's how you tell a real hero!"
"What do you expect us to do?" Suihei interrupted.
"Play the game!" Hourakou laughed. Before Suihei had a chance to make an angry comeback, the Corrupture continued, "More specifically, to find the prize!"
He whipped a flower out of his sleeve, one with a bloom of long curling petals, the color of molten amber. As Hourakou spun around in place to let them all see it left a trail of yellow dust in the air behind it.
"A flower?" Suihei asked, sounding disgusted. Doku snickered.
"Yes, a flower!" Hourakou said. "Whoever finds it first is the winner, and one step closer to getting their hands on one of those classic Rider Gashats!"
Suihei's face hardened as Hourakou reminded them of that. Hourakou himself whipped the flower into the air and it spun through the air. He wasn't looking where it might come down.
"Game: Start!" Hourakou declared.
Suddenly he lobbed the cherry bombs he'd been juggling at both groups. They recoiled as huge pillars of sparks erupted from the tiny explosives, but the fiery storm only lasted a minute.
When they looked back, the Corrupture boss was gone.
In the distance a tiny droplet of gold fell from the sky and disappeared behind a building. The Machina Vision war party grabbed for their equipment.
"Now!" Doku said and triggered the Gashat in his hand for the first time.
"Spider! Cyclops! Kraken! Creeper! Viper! Jelly! Giant! Sweeper! It's a DAY! AT! THE ZOO!" it enthusiastically responded. He slotted it into the back of his Gamer Septa, having no idea what to expect.
Immediately the device seemed to take on a life of its own. It swung into both of his hands, and almost feeling an obligation Doku wrapped his fingers around it. He realized it was like a control yoke a second before power exploded into his entire body.
It was as if his eyes had been opened for the very first time. A giant grid was laid out over every inch of ground, every structure. Every square hummed with life, just waiting for a signal from him to come to life.
Doku looked over for the rest of his team, but Kensei and Emu were already running off to where they'd seen the light of their goal fall.
They were already moving out because they trusted him to handle his job, Doku told himself.
And as Machina Vision's fighters ran after them, he hoped they knew what they were doing.
"Do you see it anywhere?"
"I don't think he'd make things that easy for us, Emu."
"You learn not to dismiss the simple ideas," Emu replied. "You don't want to spend all day trying to figure out a problem only to realize you could've just walked right in."
Stopping behind a brick wall, the two of them went quiet until a pair of Auto Players ran by at angle going the other way. Emu glanced back and whispered, "Should we do it now?" Emu got out the two linked Gashats from GENM headquarters out of his jacket. "Probably, but I mean, how do we do this? Do we both think of a game we want to play as a Rider or something?" Kensei asked.
"How did you do it before?" Emu prompted him with a friendly smile.
"Well I was thinking of the train that was gonna get me back, and—"
ZAP.
Tiny shards of brick showered down on Emu's shoulders. Both of them glanced over their shoulders to see one of the Machina Vision Auto Players stalking over to them, the barrel of a cannon locked over one hand. Its bore was starting to build up a red glow.
"Guess we have to do it now!" Kensei shouted. He held onto one of the Gashats and pushed the other side out for Emu to take. Emu grabbed the other side.
Another laser ripped through the wall, singing the hair on the back of Kensei's head. His eyes went wide, but he forced himself to focus. Focus on the games he knew from the Mighty series. Like Station X, that really game where you had to pick out a broadcast schedule of insane shows. What about Mighty Board X, where all the characters became cardboard cutouts?
Suddenly he saw something that snapped him out of his concentration. It was a stupid thing to let distract him, Kensei realized that even then.
But Emu was staring right into Kensei's eyes, a look of concern on the young doctor's face. Did Kensei really just see a flicker of doubt there? Was Emu thinking Kensei couldn't handle this?
There was an angry buzz of power from where the two games were joined, then an electric shock blew Kensei and Emu onto their backs.
"Damn, what happened?" Kensei gasped. There was no time to look for an answer. Behind Emu, the Auto Player charged through the brick wall with his shoulder. His hands were still shaking from the shock, but Kensei had out his Dual Gashat.
"Demon Ninja!"
Leveling his gun, the Auto Player fired straight at Kensei just as his armor finished forming, and he once again became the powerful Kamen Rider Utsura. The shot screamed at Utsura, who held his hands together and shot a jet of flames that intercepted it. Both attacks pushed against each other for a few seconds until the Auto Player's laser cut through Utsura's fire and exploded as it hit him.
The straw dummy that hit the ground a second later had a hole burned right through its torso.
And the Auto Player didn't even get the chance to look around for his target before the blade of a ninja-to burst out of his chest. Utsura grunted and pushed the blade even further through the android.
Sparks popped out from the Auto Player's wound. Still he managed to turn and fire a weaker blast from his cannon, catching the Rider in his shoulder. Utsura was knocked back and let go of his sword. Just a second later another Ninja-Rider erupted out of a concealed pit behind the Auto Player. His twin kusari-gama flew out on their chains, sliced and lodged into the Auto Player's armor and he jumped over the android's head. Utsura finished the fight by pulling on the chains, sending the Auto Player into an arc over his head and smashing it to pieces on the ground.
He was shaking a little still when he pulled the Gashat back out of his belt and fell down onto his hands and knees next to Emu. "Those things are tougher than before," he panted. "Used to be we could just rip right through a bunch without taking a scratch!"
Emu gripped his shoulder. In the doctor's other hand were the linked Gashats. "We need to need to keep moving," he said simply.
"I know," Kensei nodded and got back up with an effort, still almost numb from the shock from their failed attempt to active the games. Together they ran further into the fringes of the city.
Doku Dasao could see them running, two tiny white wireframe shapes, over a landscape covered in squares, toward a shining golden dot off in the distance.
"Amazing, isn't it?" asked the bearded man from Machina Vision. "I remember the first time I took control of the Game Area…," he with a sigh, as if it was pleasant memory for him. Senjou Shuugouteki tensed and a shimmering blue force field formed around his body.
And Doku realized what it meant. Senjou was about to take control of the area where the Riders were. To attack his allies with any number of enemies and traps.
Not if Doku claimed the territory first.
He held onto his controller. All of a sudden images flooded the teen's mind.
Monsters in cages and pits. Huge hairy monsters with red fur and arms that stretched down to their feet. Flat rubbery monsters with tentacles and ten eyes each on their own stalks lying in the bottom of pits. Green pterodactyl-like creatures with fiery tails who perched on a huge tree inside of a transparent dome. A web full of purple spiders, blue tube-shaped creatures with ten legs on a side, some that were nothing but clusters of bouncing furballs with eyes mouths, and countless others.
All of the beasts smiled and waved as they circled through his mind. They were from Monster Zoo, the first video game Doku ever played. All the monsters were friendly, and the point of the game was using the abilities of a group of different monsters in every area to solve some kind of problem.
And he had control over every single one of those creatures.
It was going to be a wild afternoon.
See YOU next game