"Kedamono, tell me you're seeing this too."
Ayatsu Shuugouteki knew Kedamono couldn't have said anything to him if their lives depended on it. He also knew Kedamono would've done said it without the slightest hesitation if it saved Ayatsu's life.
The sight was so sudden, Ayatsu needed some confirmation it was real.
A building had sprung out of nowhere in front of Machina Vision headquarters. It was a low, but wide structure a few stories tall. The surface seemed to be made of some kind of reflective dark metal. One had to look hard and squint to see that part of the reflective surface was slightly less dark, indicating rows of windows. The only break in the dark surface was a pair of silvery automated doors facing the entrance to the Machina Vision building.
While Ayatsu watched from his office window, the doors did indeed slide open and a parade of Auto Player androids stepped out and started across the concrete pavilion in front of the building.
He said only two words.
"Stop them, Kedamono."
Ayatsu's gigantic bodyguard immediately walked purposefully out of the office. A minute later Kedamono emerged from the front doors of the office building, clad in the armor of Kamen Rider Buster with the strands of his "blood gang" headband trailing behind him. He planted his feet and started to whirl his chain-whip over his head.
Then all in perfect synch, the Auto Players stopped their approach to the building. Ayatsu almost gaped when they all saluted the Kamen Rider guarding the doors to his tower.
Yet he wasn't surprised to see a smiling figure in a pink pinstripe suit literally form out of the ground and wave up at his window.
Surrounded by new-model Auto Players from storage in his own building, Ayatsu Shuugouteki stepped out of the front doors to see what was going on. He already knew his guest's name, and already had more than enough reason to be worried about him.
"What's the meaning of this?" Ayatsu demanded in his firmest chairman-of-the-board voice.
Hourakou Byougen giggled in reply.
It was infuriating, but Ayatsu couldn't deny to himself the Corrupture mastermind had to know who had the superior position. Which of them could alter reality around him at a whim, or conjure monsters out of nowhere?
Not for long if the new developments were as promising as the lab jockeys said, though…
Throwing his arms wide, Hourakou turned to face the new building. No doubt a creation of his own. " 'The meaning of this' is I'm delivering your company's reward, Shuugouteki-san!" he exclaimed. "A place that can churn out those androids you use to back up your fighters! Think of the options that opens up for Machina Vision's Kamen Riders!"
Ayatsu looked over the shining black edifice now dominating the entrance to his office tower. "I heard the story about what you did to arrange this…playing on the GENM Riders' heroic streak to get them out of the way," he said to Hourakou.
Who just turned around, arms still held up wide and the grin on his face unmoved. "I see you make sure never to miss a detail, Shuugouteki-san! That's truly an admirable trait for a man in your position! I alsolike to make sure to never miss a detail, like how you sent an assassin into the game after GENM!...In fact I can see him right over there!" Hourakou waved to Kamen Rider Buster, smiling like he'd spotted an old friend.
"You've got nothing on me," Ayatsu growled.
"You make it sound like I've come to extort you!" Hourakou said, aghast. "I came to deliver Corsair's reward to your company for winning the last round!"
He inched closer and added. "Well, and maybe to deliver a friendly warning, Shuugouteki-san. I am the game….Don't ever think you're pulling one over on me. Human."
Then Hourakou punctuated his advice by deforming into a cluster of purple cells that oozed away into the ground before Ayatsu had a chance to come up with a defiant retort.
A call to the security team to make sure the building was safe later, Ayatsu returned to the elevator to his office. Kamen Rider Buster followed him in then turned around to face the door. Any threats that came at them would have to go through him first.
That wasn't a prospect Ayatsu would wish on a lot of people.
At least when it would ruin his image.
The elevator hummed as it went into its super-fast ascent to the top floor. Ayatsu was left alone with his thoughts on what the Corrupture had just dropped on him.
In a way, it was the perfect trap, Ayatsu had to admit to himself.
If anyone questioned the building that had suddenly sprung up awkwardly in front of his offices—and they would—the only safe answer was that the Corrupture had given it to him for exactly the reason Hourakou had said. That Machina Vision had won it in their last contest. Anything else would imply the Corrupture had gotten one over on the company.
At the same time, though, that meant that if Machina Vision were to destroy this factory they'd received, then Ayatsu would look paranoid. Like he was afraid the Corrupture might have given him a prize he couldn't control.
Ah yes, control…
…control was the most valuable commodity of all for a CEO.
And it was a commodity that had been rapidly slipping through Ayatsu's fingers.
"This Byougen character knows too much, we'll need to deal with him quickly, and harshly."
The Corrupture weren't the only problem that was getting too big to carry anymore, though. "We'll need to step things up," Ayatsu said. Kamen Rider Buster didn't say anything in reply, but Ayatsu wasn't looking for acknowledgement, mainly voicing his thoughts to reassure himself. "With Ex-Aid back, GENM's Riders are competition we can't afford to keep around anymore. He'll need to be dealt with. Or rather, the other one he depends on to transform."
Again Kamen Rider Buster said nothing.
This time, Ayatsu didn't let the silence be his only answer. "Deal with it, Kedamono. Don't let it be traced back to the company, but get rid of Kamen Rider Utsura."
Buster turned around and bowed to his boss.
The key was in the lock, but Kensei didn't turn it yet.
"Look," he said over his shoulder. "I need you to promise me again."
"I already promised," Kiiko told him.
"Again," Kensei insisted.
Kiiko sighed. "I promise not to tell your mother we've been combining," she said and bowed placatingly. "I still don't know why that would bother her so much."
"Maybe after you've been around people a little longer," Kensei shrugged, not wanting to get caught explaining the implications when his mother was probably about to burst through the door and welcome them in.
Which, predictably, was exactly what happened next.
"KENSEI!" The word almost knocked Kensei down as his mother suddenly flung the door open and in the exact same motion somehow threw her arms around Kensei in a crushing hug. He squirmed and gasped for breath before she finally let him go and dropped, panting desperately for breath, on the porch again.
"Hello, kaa-san," he wheezed. "Yoy act I don't live here…!"
His mother didn't reply, though. She was giving Kiiko an odd look to see the girl there, like Kensei hadn't called and told her to expect it. "Well…glad to have you, Mishiranu-san," she said. "There's enough food for three people…hope you're both hungry."
She wasn't joking, Kensei saw after they were in the kitchen. Kensei wouldn't have thought pots that big were even sold to private citizens. The column of steam from the curry stretched all the way up to the ceiling.
"Uh, mom, are you sure that much curry is…safe?" Kensei asked uncertainly.
Kiiko nudged him in the back with her elbow. "You're scared of dinner?"
"Monsters and evil Riders, I'm used to by now," Kensei muttered.
"Last time we made this much I had all my friends over," Emi Hidenaga said wistfully. "I know how much you like your curry, so we'll have lots of leftovers to reward you for all the hard work you're doing as a Kamen Rider!"
A subtle tap on his shoulder from Kiiko got his attention, and she pointed at a frame picture set up in the corner of the kitchen. It was of Kensei in his Utsura armor, the new one that looked like a white version of Ex-Aid's famous suit. His mother had always been his biggest supporter since she found out about him becoming a Kamen Rider, it didn't surprise him at all to see her putting up a memento of his victory alongside a famous hero.
Well, most enthusiastic supporter, anyway, Kensei thought as he glanced back at Kiiko. Who was pointing surreptitiously at something else, and Kensei followed her finger to see another frame holding the same picture sitting in another corner of the kitchen.
And another corner. And another one. He counted six pictures of him and Ex-Aid in all.
"Yeah, I guess so, huh kaa-san? Ex-Aid's actually a really normal guy, that kind of blew my mind. He's actually just like every game otaku you can think of," Kensei mentioned.
His mother sipped some of her curry from a ladle. "Hmm?" she replied. "Oh, that's nice? I like your new suit! It's really cool! You should advertise something with that!"
"…hmmm," mumbled Kensei.
The day before had been kind of a new experience for him, actually getting some positive attention from the media for a job well done. That always seemed to go to Machina Vision, with their photogenic CEO and Corsair with all his youth appeal of great big guns and shiny swords.
If Kensei's side could make the time for more good PR, maybe they wouldn't need to wait for Machina Vision to slip up and give them an opening…
Insistent as the drumming on the door was, Kensei didn't answer until he was good and ready to leave the bathroom. Surviving so much curry had been an endurance test, even for a Kamen Rider.
"I'm coming, I'm coming!" he called as the door bounced against the lock again. Kensei opened the door to find an anxious Kiiko waiting for him on the other side.
"Can we please go now?" she asked, looking down the hall to where the kitchen was and they could hear his mother doing the dishes.
"Just go?" Kensei asked, surprised. "No video games or 'training' or anything tonight? Isn't that what we always do when you come over?"
But Kiiko shook her head and folded her arms across her chest. "I don't really want to hang around. Your mom was looking at me even weirder than usual."
"Hey mom, I'm gonna walk Kiiko home now!" Kensei called down the hall, obligingly took his friend to the front door where they put their shoes on and stepped outside.
Kiiko sighed in relief as soon as the door closed behind them. "I'm glad that's over. She kept looking at me like she didn't really want me there, or something."
"Oh, maybe she was just really proud of what we did yesterday," Kensei said gently. "I mean, the new game I got was pretty cool…wait a minute, do you think she could tell? About us fusing together when I fight?"
"I still don't know why you acted like you were worried about her finding out," Kiiko replied.
Suddenly she grabbed his hand. They walked for a while without saying anything. A car passed them going the other way. A man jogged by with his dog on a leash. The dog turned to look at the two teens before they were just dark shapes disappearing into the darkened city night.
Kiiko, maybe not surprisingly, was the one to break the silence. "Kensei-kun, what do we do when this is over?"
"Oh, thinking about that now, huh?" he smiled at her, but Kiiko didn't look reassured. "Well, maybe we'll get jobs at GENM. Yoshoku could be in charge of sales or something, and Doku would be a designer, and you Kiiko…you could be in charge of quality control or something like that."
"What would you do?" she asked.
"Errand boy?" Kensei suggested. "Coffee pot cleaner?"
Kiiko shoved his shoulder, but she was chuckling and shaking her head. "No," she vetoed him.
"Complaints department, maybe," Kensei went on. "You're thinking about it now, huh?"
"Kind of," she replied. "Things are getting tougher for the heroes, but the heroes are powering up…it's like when things are building up to the climax in a game. But…I don't want it to be the end of the story when we beat the bad guys."
He put his hand on her far shoulder. "Kiiko-chan, don't worry. I'm not going to just make you figure things out for yourself when this is over. You were always there, how could I do that?"
A minute passed and Kiiko didn't say anything. Another passed and Kensei glanced over at her to see if everything was all right.
The tense look on her face told her that things weren't.
"Kiiko," he whispered. "Do you see anything?"
All of a sudden she shoved him away from her and sprinted the other way. A split-second later something huge came down out of the sky on where they'd been standing.
Kensei braced himself as he landed and rolled with the impact, reflexes he'd been developing since all the fighting started already taking over. Without even needing to think he took out his Driver and locked it onto his waist, while his conscious mind analyzed their attacker. The huge arms and legs, bulging with muscles that looked like they were straining the black undersuit, and the spikes of flame adorning the head and fists, could only belong to Kamen Rider Buster's new form.
Silently Buster rose to his full, inhuman height. Kensei hit the trigger on his new Wighty Classics Gashat and locked it into the slots in his Driver.
"Let's play."
Buster said nothing. He took a swing at Utsura's head, leaving a trail of fire in the air that sizzled across Utsura's back as he rolled underneath the attack. Utsura came out of the move punching an icon and pulling his arm back with a Gashcon Breaker held tight in his fist. His giant attacker turned around and threw another punch at Utsura who was still in a crouch, but swung his hammer at Buster's fist.
Both attacks met and a dull BOOM was the result. Utsura and Buster both slid backward from the recoil of the intercepted blows, Buster a lot less out of the two of them.
Immediately Buster pressed his attack, swinging his wrecking ball-like fists and feet, leaving streams of flame behind them that left burn marks on Utsura's armor if they came anywhere near the smaller Rider. It felt like fingers of ice were closing around Utsura's mind when each attack within barely inch of scoring a hit. Desperately he rolled and dodged out of the way of each attack, just barely staying ahead of his opponent but feeling the searing heat.
He managed to flip backwards far enough to put himself out of Buster's reach for a few seconds. His backpack opened, ejecting colorful bombs with kiss marks on the front.
"Boy, you sound angry! Here's a present to help you feel better!" Utsura taunted,
Utsura danced backward and hit the first bomb at Buster with his hammer as it came down. The bomb turned over and over as came down from its arc and went off when it hit Buster in the chest. He stomped through the cloud of smoke, showing nothing from the explosion but a thin coating of soot.
Another bomb came down and Utsura hit it with his weapon like a baseball. Again it hit Buster and again it exploded, but again he came right through it with no sign of damage.
Of course he didn't, Utsura thought. The day before he'd surrounded Kamen Rider Buster with an entire circle of these bombs, and there he was showing no signs of even being wounded from the previous fight.
Then again, Utsura wasn't trying to bring him down with the bombs now. Just buying time until he came up with a better plan. But the gigantic Kamen Rider seemed unstoppable…
Kamen Rider Buster jumped forward and held out his heavy fists in front of him. The fireballs gathered in front of his knuckles grew even bigger as he came down and hit Utsura across the chest with them. The Rider didn't even get the chance to scream in pain. The air had been knocked out of his lungs by Buster's awesome punch.
Marks were still disappearing from Utsura's health bar when Buster grabbed his legs, forced Utsura upside down with his head pinned against Buster's shoulder armor. Buster crouched and jumped higher, higher, and higher into the air. They were going so fast Utsura could feel wind-burn through his armor.
That cold, cutting pain was what dragged Kamen Rider Utsura's dazed mind back to full awareness. As soon as he realized what was happening—that Kamen Rider Buster had gotten him into a wrestling move—his thoughts started racing in panic about how to escape. He struggled but Buster's grip held him down totally immobile. It felt like trying to push a mountain off of him.
Utsura's back and shoulders were pushed hard against Buster's too. The hatch on his backpack couldn't open like that, and that meant there was no hope of blowing them away from each other like he had in their fight the day before. Utsura's thoughts of escape shattered as he heard a voice over the rushing of the air.
"10-Count Critical SLAM!" The temperature around Buster's hands soared as the fire around them got even thicker.
Buster was going into a finisher.
And they were a hundred and fifty feet in the air, easy.
Utsura's throat tightened as he knew…
He would never survive the impact.
Around them, Kamen Rider Buster and his opponent still trapped upside down against his shoulder, the rushing wind stopped.
In the next instant it started again, cutting the other way as they started going back down.
Flames from around Buster's hands were blown back and burned against Utsura's shins. He groaned from the burns and struggled harder but it was no use, Buster's strength was too far beyond his own.
Over the wind he could hear a distant sound like something popping. Two small lights formed near the ground then as they fell Utsura saw them getting bigger, and bigger, like the headlights of an oncoming truck.
Next thing he noticed was the sound of an explosion next to him and the feeling of being ripped violently out of Kamen Rider Buster's grip.
Utsura tucked himself into a ball while he tumbled through the air until he was sure he was a safe distance away from his attacker. The world seemed to shake in his sight, him coming down faster and faster.
But he concentrated on one thing he remembered seeing online, of a longplay of one of the Mighty games. His backpack popped open on top, expelling a parachute showing Wighty standing on top, making ^^-eyes as he held a huge blue gem in his hand.
Just like the gems in the parachute drop level Utsura had been thinking of, that the player was supposed to catch as many as they could on their way to the bottom. Utsura heaved a sigh of relief. He was safe for the moment.
Still, though, fighting Kamen Rider Buster reminded him of something else from one of those Wighty games, the boss fight against the Ancient Stone Wok in Wighty Treasure X. It was one of the things he'd run into as part of Kiiko's training, taking him eight tries to figure out the trick. Even then it'd taken him upwards of half an hour to beat that boss.
The point was he'd had the option to come back fresh and start the fight over like nothing had happened whenever he lost, though. There'd be no second chances if Buster won their fight.
On the other hand, maybe the fight was already over. Drifting further down he spotted who had fired the shots that knocked his enemy away. It was the dark-armored figure of Kamen Rider Snipe standing on a street corner, only looking a little silly with the giant battleship formed into heavier armor all over him, and the naval officer's cap so white it almost sparkled.
Utsura scanned the area under him trying to see where Buster was coming down anyway. The fight wasn't really over until that juggernaut was run off…and the huge cloud of concrete dust erupting out of the side of a building was a dead giveaway.
Kamen Rider Buster himself coming shooting up out of it like a missile right at Utsura was another. He seemed to become a giant fireball, holding his fists in front of himself and the flames around his gauntlets billing out to cover his entire body.
"Not tonight, pal!" Utsura yelled. With a pull to an emergency cord Utsura's parachute tore away from his back and he fell the last few stories to street. There wasn't time to properly angle himself so Utsura landed painfully on one foot and staggered before he fell to one knee.
A shadow fell over him and Utsura tensed at the fear of Kamen Rider Buster having landed next to him. It only lasted a second as he recognized the familiar pink armor and curved quills on the head. It was Kamen Rider Ex-Aid.
Wielding a pair of pink tennis rackets?
A pair of missiles arced down at Ex-Aid who swatted them off in another direction, hitting a red dot in the sky. There was a terrific explosion and the dot seemed to disappear.
"Nice moves," Utsura coughed while he got up. "You guys got here just in time."
"My Driver reacted suddenly," Ex-Aid explained and patted his fellow Rider on the shoulder. "I guessed it was you transforming with the new game that connects us, so Taiga and me got over here as quick as we could."
"Kind of surprising, with what I heard about that Taiga," Utsura muttered.
Ex-Aid nudged his shoulder. "He's come a long way since then."
"That's really good to know," Utsura said and pulled the game out of his belt. His armor faded until he was back to plain Kensei Hidenaga. Ex-Aid did the same, and the shirt he had on underneath his doctor's smock answered the other question on Kensei's mind.
It showed Mighty and Flighty, unmistakable with her bright blue color and pigtails, on opposite sides of a tennis net. Flighty's racket even had a trail of her trademark hearts in the air behind it.
So that was the game Emu had been using back there. Mighty Net X.
In Kensei's panic when he'd been caught in the sudden attack, he'd overlooked the gimmick of their new games: having weapons or powers from different Mighty games across all kinds of weird genres.
Maybe if he'd remembered that, Buster wouldn't have come so close to finishing him off.
"Let's get out of here, Kensei-san," Emu said and interrupted his thoughts. "We need to get someplace safe and figure out what's going on."
Kensei didn't argue.
It had been awkward, when Emu examined Kensei's injuries and bandaged him up after pronouncing there was nothing serious. Kiiko stood by and watched the whole time, covering her mouth and examining Kensei up and down, over and over, with a look of concern in her eyes.
"I wish I had proof," Kensei muttered. "Something I could actually show to the media or somebody to prove everything I saw about what Machina Vision's really up to. They've got us in a really bad spot, though; it would just sound like something we made up because they've gotten more popular."
"Even though one tried to kill you tonight, Kensei-san?" Emu asked him.
"People would probably just say we set it up, or it was a Corrupture and we doctored the footage to look more like a Rider," Kensei grumbled.
"Maybe it's time to improve our image, then," Emu suggested.
"What?"
Emu waved off the question. "We'll discuss it when I'm back. I had to run over to help right in the middle of doing my rounds." He got up and walked back to the elevators before Kensei could press the issue.
Kiiko disappeared into the DoReMiFa Beat cabinet in the corner. Taiga seemed to have nowhere else to go, with the way he sat at the meeting table, one foot up on the seat in front of him. He leaned back in his chair, idly watching the CR screen saver piece itself together and then fly apart again on the monitors. On the other side of the table Kensei just unpacked is PortPlay and fired up that new Salty Jr. game he'd gotten, hoping it might offer some ideas for his new Gashat.
He'd been playing for a few minutes and was getting into the rhythm of a new level when something surprised him.
"Do you really learn how to fight that way?"
"Huh?" Kensei asked, totally unprepared. The audio of his character meeting an unfortunate demise coming from his handheld system sounded like it was coming from down the block. "What did you say?"
"I said, do you guys really learn to fight from those?" Taiga repeated, pointing at the PortPlay in Kensei's hands.
"Well…sort of?" Kensei shrugged. It was something he'd never really thought of before, but yeah, he kind of had learned better what to expect from Corrupture since Kiiko had started making play games as "training". He put the game down and settled his gaze on Dr. Hanaya. "I mean, I was into kendo before this started. I like to think I was pretty good for my level…"
Taiga shrugged back at him. "I guess you can't argue with the results, but I never really believed Emu got to be so strong just because he played all those video games."
"What about you, with your gun?" Kensei asked. "Were a cop or something before you were a Kamen Rider?"
"No," Taiga said simply.
"Oh…JSDF?"
"No," Taiga said.
Figuring that was probably all the doctor was likely to give him, Kensei let it drop. "What about your clinic? Is it okay if you just hang around here like this?"
Taiga shrugged again and looked around. He'd probably come a long way since all the in-fighting between the early days of fighting Bugsters, but being dismissive seemed to still be hardwired into his nature. "Emu said there's something we need to talk about when he gets back. Honestly, though?" he asked after a little while. "There's a lot of work for doctors like us to do with this new type of the virus running around now. After we stopped Masamune Dan, that just kind of became normal for us. Plus with you kids around handling fighting for so long, I don't know…just being a doctor's starting to seem kind of normal."
"Hey, don't talk like that. We'll need all the help we can get."
"You don't get to tell me what to do, kid," Taiga retorted.
"So what are we then?" Kensei asked. "Replacements? Partners? Subordinates?"
Taiga shook his head and looked hard into one of the monitors again. "Whatever, kid," he replied. "Play your game."
Kensei looked down at his PortPlay, a continue screen still playing, and Salty Jr. looking up at the player in annoyance and starting to tap the glass with how long it was taking to get a response. "In a minute," he said. "I should check up on the others…been a while since I heard anything." He got up from the meeting table and went to an isolated corner near the examination room before he dialed Doku's number.
One more time, his phone rang.
Doku ignored it and let it go to his messages.
He put the phone away, and it shifted in his pocket, pressing the other thing in there against his side. The Monster Zoo Gashat, the item he'd been using in his last battle to try to give Kensei and Emu an advantage against more highly-trained opponents.
He'd saved their lives with it in the end, Kensei insisted. Saved those guys from the laundry company in the process.
Was that all he was going to be from now on, though? The guy who sent out monsters to do his dirty work for him? Yeah, there was more than one way to help in a dangerous situation. The ones charging up to the front lines weren't the only heroes, the people who worked behind the scenes to make what they did possible had a vital role to play too.
It wasn't right, though.
It wasn't right for him to sit safely a mile away from whatever was going on, sending disposable game sprites out to do all his work for him. Doku just couldn't accept a belief like that. Not anymore.
Doku stepped out of the front door to his house, locked it behind him and started down the street into the gathering darkness. It was a weird thought, but he had a lot on his mind. He'd learned a long time ago that if he stayed inside like that, it would feel like the walls were keeping his thoughts boxed in and he wouldn't be able to figure himself out.
Outside was the only place for him to unpack everything storming around inside his head.
He could only feel like he wasn't trying as hard as the others by hanging back safely when a fight was going on. The others were out there right in the middle of things, taking hits but doing what had to be done anyway. Kensei was doing that. Emu was doing that. Even Kiiko was doing that, being fused into Kensei's body to let him use some of her powers.
Doku, though, the only thing he had the power to do anymore was send monsters from a silly kids game out to do everything for him.
Suddenly filled with anger, Doku yanked the Monster Zoo Gashat out of his pocket. A loud voice told him to throw it away. He'd gotten it from their archenemy, after all. It had been an insult from the Corrupture. A way to mock Doku for falling further and further behind the rest of the Kamen Riders.
The only way he could be effective anymore was with this, a gift from the villain.
Growling, he cocked back his arm and was about to throw Monster Zoo as far down the street as he could.
"It sounds like you're dealing with a serious problem," a man's voice said suddenly. Doku stopped and slid the game back into his pocket as fast as he could. He'd been so wrapped up in his self-pitying thoughts he hadn't even noticed another person around?
"No, I'm fine, mister," Doku said and tried to hurry away down the street. It was then when he realized they were standing right in front of him, and he jumped back in alarm.
The shadowy figure chuckled and tucked his hand against his chin. "Is that so, Taiceranego?" he asked. Doku stopped in his tracks, and stared hard at the person in front of. It still wasn't that dark out, and the man was even standing close to the edge of a streetlight's glow. Nonetheless, Doku couldn't seem to make out anything about the man's face. It was as if there was some kind of dark…static.
He leaned over and said something to Doku.
Doku's went limp, and he followed the straneg when he walked away down the darkened street.
"Just let us know if anything big happens, okay? Have a good night," Kensei said, and hit the end call button on his phone.
It was decent timing because then they could hear the sound of the elevator coming down to the CR Ward. Emu stepped out, and next to him were Dr. Hiiro Kagami—expressionless as always—and nurse Asuna Karino. Who, as she walked down the hall beside the pair of doctors, did a little twirl and in a burst of pastel colors changed into the gaudy mascot Poppy Pipopapo once more. Her serious expression turned into a grin and she skipped ahead of the two doctors into the meeting room.
"Good evening!" she exclaimed. Kensei managed an awkward smile in reply to her overflowing enthusiasm, but Taiga just made a "tch" sound and looked away. Poppy ignored him, probably used to it, danced over to the DoReMiFa Game, and knocked on the glass. "Time to come out, Kiiko-chan! Big meeting tonight!"
A cloud of pixels flowed out of the screen and formed themselves into Kiiko. "I'm not a little kid, onee," she grumbled. "I don't need you to babysit me. Right Kensei-san?"
He chuckled, but uncertainly. "Does that mean I'm supposed to babysit you?" She shoved the back of his head in reply, but sat down next to him and put her hand over his on the table. "What do all of you need to tell us?"
"And where's Kujo?" Taiga asked.
That was met by a shrug from Emu. "He didn't answer his phone."
"Seems like that's contagious right now," Kensei mumbled. "I couldn't get Doku or Yoshoku to answer…" Kiiko put her hand on his shoulder.
"Emu says he wants to be a mascot," Hiiro said stoically.
"Eh?!" Taiga squawked, dumbfounded by the blunt statement.
Poppy giggled. "What? Are you going to wear a big pink Mighty costume or something?"
Emu waved the comment down. "…kind of, I guess?" he admitted. "Tonight after Kensei-san was ambushed by Machina Vision's Rider, he was complaining they seem to get all the good publicity, since they were around when we weren't. I thought he and I could start making appearances so we can fix that. Sort of a real life Mighty Bros."
"That's gonna get us ahead of Machina Vision?" Taiga asked.
"They're doing horrible experiments on people they kidnapped," Kensei spoke up. "But everyone thinks they're doing an important job fighting the Corrupture. If any of us tried to just bust in there, they'd hide all the evidence and have us arrested."
Taiga scowled hard at him, and Kensei couldn't help recoiling into his chair a little. "I'm not stupid," he growled, standing up. Hiiro put a hand on his shoulder and sat him back down. "But how is making a few goofy public appearances supposed to change that?"
Emu replied patiently, "We need to make people take us seriously if we speak out against Machina Vision. They've been developing their reputation while we were trapped, Taiga-san. They're doing horrible things, and need to be stopped. It's time we made that a serious priority."
"They stuck us in a cage and were gonna dissect us," Kiiko affirmed, looking over at Poppy, her mouth turning nervously downcast.
"Now they've even had one of their Riders make an attempt on Kensei-san's life," Emu finished.
"It all sounds very serious," Hiiro said. "Where do you suggest we start?"
"I say we start with the obvious," Emu replied.
"Ready?"
"Shouldn't I be the one asking you?"
"Fair enough," Kensei answered. "Henshin!"
Emu grinned and lifted his own game. "Henshin!" he echoed.
Light, swirling pink and white, filled the elevator, then cleared.
"You know, I haven't really done something like this before," Ex-Aid said.
"My mom made me do it. Once," Utsura answered.
His predecessor turned to toward him. "That means—"
But Utsura laughed. "It means I know about the same as you, sempai."
Ex-Aid clapped him on the shoulder. "Sounds like we'll make a great pair, then!"
Two Kamen Riders stepped out of the elevator. Patients turned and stared, but most of the Seito University staff just kept pushing wheelchairs or walking to the room of their next patient. They'd heard what was going on.
A couple more surprised looks came their way from parents walking children in, but were followed by nods when the Riders stopped outside a particular door. One full of kids and toys to keep them occupied.
"…and today we have some very special guests who've come to make sure you get better. A couple of real life heroes! Guys?" Poppy Pipopapo prompted them from inside.
That was their cue. Ex-Aid jumped into the room, spun in midair and landed in a crouch with his arms held out parallel to his side.
Utsura was a little unsure about his part. Still, this had been his idea, and Kamen Riders weren't supposed to just back out. He jumped into the room next, summoned his Gashacon Breaker and hit the button on the side just before he landed. The weapon's blade extended and left a shimmering trail as he swung it backward, letting go and catching the weapon so it stopped in a reverse grip.
"Unbelievable!" one little boy yelled.
A few more jumped back in surprise. One heavy kid who'd been standing by the door tried to grab Utsura's weapon and he had to stand up and lean it against his shoulder to keep it out of reach.
"Isn't this exciting?" Poppy asked. "Real Kamen Riders came to see you!" She did a little jump, thrust her arm into the air and clapped, trying to get the kids to join in with her.
Some of the kids clapped too. Some got up, leaving their chairs and toys, to get an up-close look at the pair of Riders. One boy said exactly what Utsura had been waiting for someone to say.
"I thought Kamen Rider Corsair would be coming."
Poppy's smile almost faded, and Utsura made a note to commend her restraint later. "Oh? Poppy asked. "You like pirates, do you?"
"High Seas Scourge is the best game!" the boy affirmed. "All my friends play it! The VR is amazing! I wanted to meet the hero who uses that game!"
"You know," Utsura replied calmly. "Kamen Rider Corsair might be cool, but he isn't very nice."
The boy sneered. "You work for the company they're beating! Of course that's what you'd say!"
Utsura stood his ground. He spun his weapon leisurely above his head a few times before resting the blade across his shoulders again. "Maybe. Did you ever hear about him showing up to meet the fans and take selfies?"
"No…"
"Do you know who Kamen Rider Buster is, kiddo?" Utsura asked too.
"Buster? That's a stupid name for a RIder," the boy replied.
Utsura handed his Gasachon Breaker to Poppy, who squeaked in surprise and almost dropped it. The Rider sank to his knees to get to the kid's eye level. "We've met the Riders from Machina Vision, and yeah there's more than just Corsair. They keep secrets. They aren't nice. But we're here…" He turned and looked up at Ex-Aid.
The pink took a step forward, eagerly taking over. "We're here to let you kids know, you're the future! We fight to make sure you'll be able to reach for your dreams!"
"Never short on enthusiasm, is he?" Utsura whispered to Poppy. "I kind of wish I could be like that. Maybe I would've thought of this sooner."
She smiled softly. "All Kamen Riders are passionate, in their own way. There's only one Ex-Aid, but there's only one Utsura, too."
"You're sounding a lot Kiiko," Utsura said.
"Well, I guess she learned something from her onee," Poppy said with a little knowing smile.
"Who wants to see a trick?!" Ex-Aid exclaimed. He held up a bowling ball. "Utsura, would you care to join me?"
"Duty calls," Utsura said. He took back the Gashacon Breaker from Poppy, and the patients were already chattering to each other with expectation.
Stealth, he was forced to admit, was not Yoshoku Kasuga's strongest suit.
For that, he was grateful for the assortment of unusual Chibi Gamers that Rei had given him access to for their stake-out. She hadn't answered him when he asked where she'd gotten them, but Yoshoku suspected they were from the same boy they were trying to locate.
The one who'd made all of Rei's Rider stuff…
Couldn't let himself think about that. He glanced from screen to screen, where what the Chibi Gamers he had sent out to spy in the Machina Vision building was relayed back to him. The tiny sprites would have a much easier time of sneaking around unnoticed, but their entire operation would still be ruined if he let any of them be spotted.
For now, while he was still mastering controlling multiple sprites at a time, they were sticking to observing the outside of the building. Security cameras seemed to cover every inch of the parking lot, which was surrounded by a ten-foot concrete wall. Even if they did climb that they'd be noticed right away, and get to deal with whatever was hidden inside. After the last time it'd been invaded, Yoshoku expected that to be even nastier…
That was when he noticed something in one of the screens that seized his attention. It was a familiar man walking down the street right at one of the Chibi Gamers. Young-looking, smiling confidently, wearing a loud Hawaiian shirt.
"Hey there, little one," said Kiriya Kujo. "Room for one more in your little conspiracy?"
SeE YoU NeXt GaMe
