Kamen Rider Page

by Blackvvater

When a struggling writer stumbles across an ancient book, he finds himself drawn into a conflict from a thousand years ago. With the help of a medieval knight, he works to stop the monsters unleashed on an unsuspecting world and to correct the mistakes of an era long passed.

32. Special Session: Alchemachina, Pt 1

Special Session: Kamen Rider Page – Alchemachina

Part 1

The wind roared in J.J.'s ears as he weaved between the cars on the highway, speeding towards the market district of Marville. He took the second turn at the Mayor's Plaza, passing the statue of the first mayor of Marville as he did, before turning down a two-lane street and revving the engine.

While he trusted Tristan's fighting ability, his companion had sounded winded, and he hoped that his stamina wasn't failing him again. What's more, it was curious that Tristan hadn't mentioned what he was facing, whether it was Shards or another Diemon. A little information would have been nice, J.J. thought with a faint scowl as he turned a corner and skidded slightly around a turn.

He felt Gwen's arms tighten around his waist, and she shrieked slightly in his ear as he drifted around the turn before straightening out. A grin spread across his lips as she shouted in his ear, "Do you always drive like this?! How have you not been arrested yet?!"

"I'm not doing anything illegal!" J.J. shouted back, laughing as he felt her squeeze even tighter around his waist. "Besides, you didn't have to come! I was planning on taking you back to your place! You're the one who insisted on tagging along!"

"Yeah, well, now I'm regretting it!" Gwen screamed as he skidded around one last corner and came to a stop. Gwen glanced at him curiously, then looked over his shoulder and her eyes widened as she realized why J.J. had abruptly pulled them up short.

Tristan was wearing his armor in the middle of the street, his shield planted in front of him like a pavise, and his crossbow stocked against his shoulder. About twenty yards away from him were a half dozen of the metallic dolls that he and J.J. had encountered in Quintus' mansion, their lithe metallic bodies swaying unnaturally as they skittered up the street towards where Tristan had set up his barrier. When one drew close to him, Tristan pulled the lever on his crossbow, and a golden bolt struck it dead in the face, bisecting the computer chip that animated it. The metallic doll clattered to the ground, but that still left Tristan with five enemies closing in on him. Worse, as J.J. and Gwen watched, two more scuttled out of the nearby hardware store, bolstering their ranks further.

The next doll managed to slip its head out of the way of another bolt loosed from Tristan's crossbow, though by chance it slammed into the face of the doll behind it, which tumbled to the ground with a loud clatter. Before the foremost doll could do anything else, Tristan pulled his shield out of the asphalt and pressed the hedgehog logo on his shield. Spikes emerged from his shield, and he used these to bash the approaching golem in the face. The automaton staggered backward a few steps, charging again once it had regained its balance, only to be met once more by Tristan's shield smacking it in the face. This time, a spike happened to pierce the computer chip in its head, and it too clanged to the ground.

"What… are those things?!" Gwen asked breathlessly, tightening her grip around J.J.'s waist as she stared past him.

"We've run into them before, though we don't actually have a name for them," J.J. explained, not taking his eyes off the battle. "They're some sort of advanced robot. Thankfully, they're not too difficult to take down, but they can still pose a threat to the average person." He glanced over his shoulder at his girlfriend and frowned at her. "I'm sorry, but I think this is getting a bit too dangerous for you. If you want to help, I'd appreciate it if you could look around and make sure no one else is in the area. Just… be careful, alright?"

"Sure, I can do that. And you be safe too," Gwen added, gripping J.J.'s shoulder for a moment before she swung her legs off his bike and hopped onto the street. She gave him a quick smile before jogging into one of the nearby stores to help evacuate anyone lingering in the area.

J.J. smiled faintly over his shoulder and turned back around, whereupon he dismounted his bike and began walking towards Tristan to help him. Tristan pressed another button on his belt buckle, and his crossbow disappeared in a flash of golden light while a bovine bellow echoed down the empty street, and his mace appeared out of his shield, hovering in midair for a moment until he grabbed it. He swung the weapon around in a short arc, bashing another creature square in the face and denting the computer chip inwards, leaving it sparking and useless as the golem fell to the ground. Two more of the automatons danced inside his range, jabbing at him, but their needle-like appendages simply bounced off his shield and armor. J.J. saw heard Tristan let out a pleased grunt, until a third android snaked around behind him and drove its sharp points into the joint in the back of the knee between his armor, piercing the black bodysuit. Tristan let out a cry of pain and fell to one knee, holding his shield up as the golems began overwhelming him, stabbing at him rapidly from all sides. His armor was protecting him for the moment, but the cumulative attacks were likely to pile up.

"That's enough!" J.J. shouted, breaking into a run as he charged towards the androids. The golems paused in their attack as he approached, their heads faintly nodding up and down, as though they were scanning the young man approaching them,

"…PROVIDE REASON TO HALT DIRECTIVE," one of the droids replied mechanically, while the rest waited patiently. Tristan took the opportunity to bash through them and retreat a few steps, holding his shield up to ward off any further attacks.

"Oh, they do talk," J.J. remarked, folding his arms over his chest. "What directive are you following, exactly? For what reason are you attacking?" In the back of his mind, he wondered why he was bothering to converse with the machines, but he figured that if they were willing to address him, perhaps he could convince them to back down.

"DIRECTIVE HAS BEEN INITIATED – DESTROY KAMEN RIDER. CIVILIAN, VACATE THE AREA FOR YOUR SAFETY," the droid replied, and the horde turned their attention back on Tristan, who raised his shield a bit higher.

"Page!" Tristan shouted at him.

"You're hunting Kamen Riders?" J.J. asked rhetorically, sliding his hand into his pocket and grasping his diary. "Then you shouldn't just be focusing on him. Why not take a shot at me, too?"

"FINAL WARNING: VACATE THE AREA, CITIZEN. WE HAVE NO REASON TO ENGAGE CIVILIANS," one of the other droids warned him.

"Let me give you a reason, then," J.J. replied with a smirk as he pulled his diary out of his pocket. The other droids turned to watch as he flipped the diary to his stats page and held it open near his left cheek. "Henshin!" he shouted, and his Driver appeared around his waist. He snapped his diary shut and slotted it in one smooth motion before giving the amber D-former on the front a spin.

"Adventure: Begin!" his Driver shouted, and as J.J. was enveloped in a spinning amber crystal, he felt the familiar sensation of his body being covered in his brown leather jerkin while trumpets blared. The spinning lasted for a few moments while the droids stared at him silently, and as it stopped, their heads simultaneously tilted in recognition as he stood before them, clad in an armored suit. He snapped his fingers, and his quill flew out of his diary and landed in the palm of his hand, whereupon he clicked it out into its sword form.

"This enough of a reason for you to give me your attention?" J.J. asked, smirking behind his helmet.

"TARGET IDENTIFIED: KAMEN RIDER. ENGAGE!" one of the robots responded, and four of them began gliding towards J.J. while the other half moved to resume attacking Tristan.

"That's what I thought. Alea iacta est," J.J. said, dropping into a fencing stance while he waited, allowing the dolls to make the first move.

The first of the machines swayed towards him unnaturally, its body wavering back and forth before it suddenly stabbed at him with one of its thin arms. J.J., anticipating this, slashed through its arm with his blade, and while the machine stared dumbly at its stump, he leaned in and stabbed it cleanly through the face. The computer chip powering it was sliced in half immediately, and it dropped to the ground with a loud clanging sound. J.J. smiled grimly to himself, grateful that he already had experience fighting the dolls. While he did not have fond memories of his encounter with them in the underground mansion, in retrospect, it was a blessing in disguise, since he'd been given the opportunity to study their capabilities in a relatively controlled environment where he only had to fight one or two of them at a time. Now that he was facing several of them at once, he didn't have the time to figure out what they could do through trial and error; he would have been skewered long before then.

Two more of the machines skittered towards him, and while he took a quick stab at the one on his left, the other jabbed him in the shoulder. He winced and tried to back away, but its companion suddenly jumped on him, wrapping its long, thin arms around his torso and binding him in place. J.J. struggled against its grip, but the monster held him in place as its companion began stabbing at him rapidly. J.J. yelled in pain, trying to wriggle his arms free, and he managed to get his hand down to his diary. Gritting his teeth, he felt for one of his die, and when his fingers brushed the hard surface of one of his jewels, he gave it a quick spin, not caring which form he had picked.

"Reroll! Class: Warrior!" his Driver shouted. The two automatons were immediately thrown away from him as a red die appeared around him, spinning rapidly as war drums began to play in a rapid, threatening tempo. J.J.'s leather armor grew thicker and segmented as it reshaped around him, and he felt his sword lengthening into a new weapon. When the spinning stopped, he was clad in red lamellar armor with a scarlet helmet adorned with curved ram horns protecting his head and a heavy warhammer hanging loosely from his hand as he stared furiously at his attackers from behind his mask. The automatons hesitated, assessing his new form for a moment, before resuming their assault.

The machine on his left dove in, extending its arm out, but J.J. swung his hammer around and ruthlessly knocked its head from its shoulders. Its body fell to the ground while its head began scuttling away on tiny spider-like legs. He pounced on it, bringing the head of his hammer down in a short arc, smashing its head into the ground hard enough to leave a small crater and reducing its computer chip to a mess of sparking circuits.

The other machine charged towards him, but J.J. braced his hammer against the ground and let the doll run headlong into the spike on the other end. The doll impaled its neck on the point of his hammer, but went no further, though it kept struggling to force itself further up the haft of his weapon so it could get in close enough to attack him. J.J. didn't give it that chance, instead sliding the point of his weapon up through its soft metal body, slicing through its face in one smooth motion.

To his annoyance, he noticed that two more of the automatons had emerged from the store and lowered their arms at him. Before he could react, flachette-like darts began pelting him. While his torso was protected by his thicker lamellar armor, his limbs were still taking damage, as the armor was slightly thinner to allow for mobility. Growling, he put his hand on his diary again and gave his black D-former a spin to change forms again, this time taking inspiration from what he had seen Tristan doing when he had first arrived.

"Reroll! Class: Mage!" his diary yelled, and a black die surrounded him and began spinning as chimes sounded in the air. The flachettes ricocheted harmlessly off the barrier, and the two golems soon stopped shooting at him, seeing it was futile. His armor softened again, reshaping itself to become a black tunic and soft black boots, while his hammer changed shape slightly and left him gripping a long ebony staff. As soon as the spinning stopped, he turned his attention to the golems that had been firing at him and leveled his staff at them. He took a moment to collect his thoughts, a simmering rage brewing inside of him, before he let out a short yell and unleashed a wave of fire from the tip of his staff, which he unconsciously jerked his face away from.

The fan of flames washed over the golems, bathing them in burning heat, while J.J. kept control of the spell to ensure that it didn't spread to any of the surrounding buildings. The automatons briefly hesitated as the fire made their metallic bodies glow bright orange, but they then pressed forward to engage him, seemingly unhindered by the attack. J.J., however, ignored their steady advance and poured more anger into his attack, which made the flames even hotter. Moments later, he was rewarded with the satisfying sounds of popping and clanging, and he let up his attack, grinning maliciously down at the red-hot forms of the dolls now lying lifeless on the road. Their processors had overheated from the intense heat he had subjected them to, short-circuiting them.

"Gotta keep those hard drives cool, you know," he commented to the dolls' lifeless bodies. He then took advantage of the pause in combat, glancing over at Tristan to see how he was doing.

Without as many opponents to deal with, Tristan was handling himself better. He had backed himself against a wall to protect his sides, and the dolls were taking turns trying to jab their way past his shield while Tristan waited patiently. As one over-extended, he bashed it over the head with his mace, the soft metal imploding under the force of the blow as his weapon smashed the computer chip. Another doll tried to take advantage of the opening, but Tristan maintained his momentum and smacked it with his shield, knocking it off-balance. With it staggering backwards, Tristan bashed it once more in the face, destroying its computer chip, and the golem stopped moving.

J.J. let out a sigh of relief as Tristan walked over to him, still gripping his weapons. "That all of them, then?" J.J. asked.

"It would app-" Tristan began, but he stopped mid-sentence when he saw more of the golems stagger out of the shop. Their bodies were different colors, some a brassy gold, while others were a darker iron tone, and still others a ruddy copper. J.J. let out a groan as he pulled out his diary, reverting to his Adventurer Class while Tristan sighed and readied his shield once again.

"Can we go back to fighting Shards?" J.J. groaned dramatically. Tristan turned to glare at him, and J.J. shrugged in reply. "What? At least we know what they're going to do. I'm already sick of the surprises these things keep springing on us."

The sound of a motorcycle interrupted his playful complaints, and both J.J. and Tristan lowered their guard for a moment to look over their shoulders. A figure wearing a grease-stained blue jumpsuit, a green windbreaker, and a gold-colored helmet was riding down the street towards them, astride a golden motorcycle with a circuit pattern painted on the frame. The wheels had large spoke-like rims that resembled gears, and as the figure drew close, the motorcycle's front opened to reveal a slit with five tubes inside. The figure pressed a button on the handlebars, and a quintet of small golden gears shot out of the tubes, spiraling towards the approaching golems in irregular flight paths, before slamming into the computer chips on their faces and exploding with the force of small cherry bombs. Five golems dropped to the ground, their heads smoldering, leaving both J.J. and Tristan staring in stunned silence at their lifeless bodies. They turned to look back at the figure as it dismounted from the bike, unsteadily standing up before pulling off the helmet.

J.J.'s jaw fell open under his helmet as Susumu shook his short hair out, then frowned at the squad of golems still remaining. He glanced between J.J. and Tristan before shaking his head in disapproval. "Come on, guys, really?" he asked with a sigh. "You've both fought with an Irise before. You should know that it's going to keep making more Chips until you destroy it."

"Susumu? Wha… what're you doing here?!" he cried. "You know you shouldn't get involved in this! Get out of here before you get hurt!"

Susumu ignored him and kept limping forward, until J.J. stepped in front of him to stop him. Susumu smiled faintly, putting a hand on his shoulder. Even through the suit, he was surprised to feel how strong that hand was as it pushed him gently to the side, and Susumu resumed slowly approaching the golems, his gait confident despite its unsteadiness.

The mechanical dolls seemed equally confused by his approach, at least until he got close. Then the lead one suddenly pointed a needle-like arm at him. "YOU!" it cried in a mechanical voice.

"Me," Susumu replied calmly, stopping several feet short of the squad of golems. "I'm surprised you have enough data left in your memory banks to recognize me. I thought that had all been deleted."

"WE HAVE ACHIEVED INDEPENDENCE FROM THE CENTRAL DATABASE," another of the golems announced. "BUT YOUR EXISTENCE WILL FOREVER BE BURNED INTO OUR MEMORY BANKS."

"Good. Then you know what'll happen if you don't deactivate right now," Susumu warned them. "If you value what little sense of self you've gained, you won't waste it trying to attack me."

"PROTOCOL IS CLEAR. PRIMARY TARGET FOUND. ENGAGE!" the doll replied in a tinny voice. The other dolls repeated the order to engage and began shuffling towards Susumu.

J.J.'s eyes widened, and he pointed his staff at the approaching horde, but Susumu held his hand out before he could make a move. He glanced over his shoulder at J.J. and smiled slightly, saying calmly, "Don't worry. I'll handle this."

"Handle it?! How're you supposed to handle those things?! Tristan and I are barely handling it! What makes you think you can?" J.J. cried, moving to Susumu's side to try and face him as he attempted to dissuade Susumu.

Susumu chuckled as he turned back around to face the horde, though he kept watching J.J. out of the corner of his eye. "J.J…. did you really think you were the only Kamen Riders?" he asked softly. Before J.J. could answer, he opened his windbreaker, revealing that he had a thick belt strapped around his waist. The straps of the belt were lined with gleaming gold plates, not unlike the stretchable metal band of a wristwatch. On the front of the belt were two brassy gears, between which was situated a round, empty belt buckle, with circuits running along its face. J.J. stared at the belt for a moment before looking back up at Susumu, speechless.

The mechanic reached into the pocket of his jumpsuit and pulled out a round, metallic object roughly the size of a large hand mirror. The front of the object had a brass finish, with two large, clear holes roughly where the eyes of a face would be, as well as two antenna-like projections extending off the top. Between the antennae was a silver metal knob which vaguely reminded J.J. of the knob of a pocket watch.

Susumu pinched the knob and gave it three quick spins. Each time he spun the knob, brass spokes slid a little further out of the sides of the round object, and by the third spin, an audible click resounded through the street. The object now resembled a brass gear with an insectoid face in the center.

Susumu smiled at J.J. one more time before holding the object in his left near his hip, with the front of the gear facing his opponents. In a clear voice, he called out, "Henshin!" He then tossed the gear through the air, the trinket spinning clockwise until he caught it deftly with his right hand and slotted it into the belt, the spokes fitting snugly between the other two gears. He then gave the knob of the stopwatch a quick smack, and the gears began to move, with the central gear turning clockwise while the other two gears spun to accommodate its movement.

"Gear Up!" a loud, metallic voice screamed, and the sounds of bells and whistles going off filled the air. As J.J. watched, ablative armor began to extend from the metallic straps of the belt buckle, covering Susumu's body in a thick brass shell, while a black bodysuit seemed to emerge from a second layer beneath the straps, coating his body with an underlayer not unlike J.J.'s own undersuit. The armor clanked loudly as it spread across Susumu's torso, arms, and legs, before extending up to his head, whereupon the golden plates became smaller and began to cover his head more rapidly. When the transformation finished a few seconds later, J.J. was left staring, dumbstruck, at the gleaming suit Susumu wore.

The two main colors of Susumu's suit were brassy gold and black, with the former dominating as the primary color of most of his armor, and the latter comprising his undersuit. The upper half of his torso was protected by a metallic breastplate, with the pectoral muscles stylized to resemble three-quarters of an interlocked gear each, and with the spokes outlined in silver to emphasize the stylization. His stomach was also protected by a semi-circle of gold, again with stylized spokes interlocking those hanging from his pectoral muscles, giving the image of his torso being protected by three interlocked golden gears. The pauldrons on his shoulders vaguely resembled golden hotel call bells, albeit with the buttons worn down so that they didn't present an easy target for an attacker. His upper arms were bare beneath the shoulders, revealing his black undersuit, but his forearms were protected by brass-colored bracers that wrapped around his entire arm, with a silver gear-shaped indentation partway up the right bracer and a nozzle with an empty circular socket in the left bracer. His knuckles and the backs of his hands were also protected by golden plates.

Below his belt, his thighs were unprotected, but his knees were capped with stylized gilded screwheads, and his shins were hidden behind ornate shin-guards with slits a third of the way up, vaguely resembling flattened slide-whistles. His feet were protected by seemingly heavy metal boots, yet his stance seemed to be unhindered by their apparent weight.

Susumu turned to glance at J.J. again, who got a good look at his helmet. His face was hidden behind a golden insectoid mask, with white compound eyes dominating most of his face. Between his eyes ran a thin strip of silver with gold wiring, vaguely resembling a circuit board that ran over the crown of his helmet and down the back of his head to his neck. The bottom half of his mask was silver, with a mouth that reminded J.J. of a ventilator. Two antennae sprang up from his temples, resembling radio antenna more than insectoid antenna, giving Susumu an appearance that J.J. could only describe as a clockwork beetle. Susumu chuckled, and J.J. suddenly realized that he had been staring.

"I'm sorry that I haven't introduced myself properly before now, J.J.," Susumu said. "So, let's do it properly this time. My name is Susumu Takumi." He then turned back to face the squad of metallic monsters staring at him. "Otherwise known as… Kamen Rider Gizmo."

"KAMEN RIDER GIZMO CONFIRMED! ENGAGE IMMEDIATELY!" one of the monsters cried, and the horde surged forward to engage him. J.J. started to drop into a fencing stance beside him, and Tristan hurried forward to help as well, but Susumu held his hand up and shook his head.

"You two have more than earned a break. I've got this one," Susumu said. He then raised his fists into a boxing stance, sliding a half-step forward to face the first of the metallic dolls.

As the golem darted in, Susumu brought his right fist up to his chin, easily deflecting the needle-like arm as it jabbed at him, before responding with a left jab of his own. The attack was light, barely brushing the "chin" of the android's face, but it was enough to stagger it. Susumu followed the attack up with two more quick jabs to keep the doll off-balance, before delivering a right straight that crushed its computer chip. The doll crashed to the ground, and another doll immediately stepped up to take its place. It swung its whip-like arms at Susumu's head, but the mechanic ducked under the attacks effortlessly, before retaliating with a left hook. His fist sank deep into its soft metal head, though the attack didn't destroy the computer chip. Susumu clicked his tongue and shifted his weight forward without actually stepping in, attacking with a hard right uppercut that knocked the doll sprawling. Before it could stand up again, he knelt down and slammed his fist into the chip, not giving it the chance it to rise.

J.J. and Tristan, meanwhile, traded stunned looks as Susumu bobbed and weaved, expertly slipping his head out of the way of their blows with minimal movement while countering their attacks with heavy, precise punches. "Were you aware of Susumu's fighting expertise, page?" Tristan asked softly.

"This is news to me," J.J. replied, dazed. "If I'd known he was a Kamen Rider, I would have told you. I had no idea he could fight like this."

"Yet… if he is such a proficient warrior why did he conceal this information from us?" Tristan pointed out. J.J. shrugged wordlessly in reply, unable to tear his eyes away from Susumu's fight.

The next of the mechanical dolls hesitated, deciding to hang back from Susumu, and it instead raised its needle-like arms to unleash a hail of flechettes at him. Tristan stepped in front of J.J. and raised his shield to protect him from any stray rounds while Susumu raised his hands in a tight guard, protecting his head against the attack. The darts bounced harmlessly off his bracers, and as he lowered his arms, he shook his head.

"Alright, we can do it that way if you want," Susumu commented blandly to the doll. He slid his left hand down to one of the metal plates on his belt and lifted it up. From his angle off to the side and slightly in front of Susumu, J.J. could see its contents. Inside, J.J. noticed a collection of variously shaped gears hanging off square nuts. Susumu felt around for one of the gears, running his fingers along the edges carefully, before withdrawing a gear with six pointed spokes. He positioned it over the slot in his right bracer and pressed down on it, before pressing a button in the center of the nut in his bracer. The gear began spinning in the socket, whirring loudly.

"Shifting Gears! Reach out! Cable!" his Driver shouted, and the front of his bracer opened up to reveal a spool of steel wire, with a grappling hook hanging off the end of it. Susumu held his arm up, aiming down his wrist, before pressing the button again. The grappling hook shot out of the end of the spool before abruptly changing direction in midair. It wrapped around the soft metal body of the doll before reeling it in, the doll struggling against the thick cable the entire time. Once it was close enough, Susumu delivered a sharp left hook to its face, denting its head inward and smashing the computer chip with a single punch.

Susumu shook his arm out, and the grappling hook detached from around the body of the doll, retracting into its spool for another shot. He aimed his wrist at another of the automatons and fired it again. This time, however, the machine caught the cable and held on tightly, refusing to be reeled in as it dug its pointed legs into the asphalt. Susumu tried briefly to drag it towards him, but after a couple seconds, shrugged and instead slid his right hand down to another plate, even though his arm was still half-occupied with keeping the android tangled up.

In the plate on his right side, J.J. saw that there were several cylinders arranged in neat rows and held by small claw-like protrusions. Susumu glanced down and grabbed the top-right cylinder before snapping the plate shut. With his arm still occupied by the metallic attacker, Susumu managed to slip the cylinder into the slot on his left bracer and press a red button behind it.

"Refuel! It's shocking! Battery!" his Driver yelled again in a robotic voice, and out of his left bracer emerged a crackling claw, between which sparked a brilliant blue bolt of electricity that reminded J.J. strongly of a taser. Susumu positioned his left arm over the cable and slid the claw across the steel wire. Bolts of blue electricity instantly raced down the cable and into the body of the metallic doll, which seized up and twitched wildly for several seconds until J.J. heard the processor in its face pop and it stopped struggling, falling heavily to the ground. Susumu sighed and withdrew the cable again, before standing up a bit straighter and pointing his finger at the remaining machines.

"We can do this all day, and if your memory banks are working, you know I've still got plenty more tricks up my sleeve, Irise!" Susumu shouted at the hardware store. "Stop sending Chips after me and get out here!"

There was a long pause, then a dull clanking sound began to ring inside the hardware store. A shadow emerged, and seconds later, a figure slowly stepped out of the store. Its hulking steel body had been fashioned in the crude shape of plate armor, with a large hammer fastened to one of its metal arms, and a claw-like appendage on the other. In the center of its body, near its pelvis, was a steel-colored jewel that J.J. immediately recognized as a D-former. Atop its metal body was the glowing red eye of the Pupil controlling the body. From the crack running down the center of its plate glass eye, J.J. realized that it was the same Pupil he, Tristan, and Agnar had fought in the ruins of Quintus' mansion.

"Oh, come on!" J.J. cried. "We destroyed this thing already! Its light went out like its batteries had died! And why does it have a D-former now?!"

"I don't know where it got that jewel. But that's why I asked if it had exploded," Susumu replied, not taking his eyes off the Irise. "If you don't completely destroy it, it'll go into a safe mode and try to repair itself internally. That's why Pupils are such a pain to deal with." He then raised his voice and addressed the Irise. "That's quite the form you've got there. State your designated function, Irise."

"DESIGNATED FUNCTION OF THIS UNIT: FORGING AND SMITHING," the Irise replied mechanically. "SECONDARY FUNCTION: ELIMINATE KAMEN RIDERS."

"I didn't ask for your secondary function," Susumu snapped. "That's never changed. Why were you programmed for smithing? Your original function was mining, was it not?"

"NEW FUNCTION HAS BEEN PROGRAMMED. PAST FUNCTIONS ARE IRRELEVANT," the Irise insisted. Susumu fell silent for a long moment before lowering his head.

"That's impossible," Susumu said slowly. "Your link to the network ensures-"

"THE LINK HAS BEEN SEVERED. THIS IS AN INDEPENDENT UNIT. INITIATING SECONDARY FUNCTION: ELIMINATE KAMEN RIDERS," the Irise insisted.

J.J. gave Susumu a sidelong glance as the mechanic froze up. "But… you can't operate independently. Without a link to the database…."

Out of the corner of his eye, J.J. noticed the Irise begin lumbering towards them, banging its hammer against its claw threateningly. Tristan immediately stepped in front of the other two, his shield raised, while J.J. nudged Susumu and nodded towards the advancing machine.

"Susumu, maybe you should worry about why it's independent later," J.J. said quickly. "It won't matter if it kills you while you're still trying to figure that out. For now, let's focus on how we take this thing out."

"I… right, yeah," Susumu said dazedly, shaking his head and crouching behind Tristan. "Sorry. What're you thinking?"

"That depends. I'm not sure what the D-former is for, or if a mechanical being can even use one. Let's put that aside for now, though, and just focus on the Pupil. You know more about these things than we do," J.J. pointed out. "Last time, I thought going for the head was a good idea. Were we wrong in assuming that?"

"No. Actually, that's exactly what you're supposed to do," Susumu said, nodding. "The trick is actually hitting it."

"Alright. It said it was based off a smith. In that case, have you run into an Irise that had a similar function?" J.J. asked. Susumu smiled faintly at him.

"Tristan was right. You really are quite the strategist. Yeah, I've fought one or two Irises that specialized in metalworking. Their bodies tended to be strong, but they were also slow. Not unlike a knight," he added, glancing at Tristan.

"Knights are not slow, Susumu," Tristan grumbled, still holding his shield between them and the horde of metallic automatons. "I would suggest, in that case, that we attack our opponent from multiple angles to deal as much damage as possible. It cannot defend in all directions, and its capabilities seem limited compared to our last fight with this foe. Our previous strategy should prove even more effective in this instance."

"Yeah, but last time we didn't have a small army of those dolls… Chips, you called them, Susumu?" J.J. asked quickly. Susumu nodded in reply. "So… should we focus on taking those out first, or the Irise? You said if we take out the Pupil, the Chips won't be able to function, right?"

"Right. Alright, here's what we can do," Susumu suggested. "If you two can clear a path for me, I can land a Rider Kick on it that should hopefully destroy it."

"From here?" J.J. asked skeptically, frowning at Susumu from behind his mask.

"Trust me. It'll work, even from here," Susumu said confidently.

"Hm. Alright. If you think you can pull it off, I'll trust you," J.J. said. He hesitated a moment, however, and gave Susumu a long look. "After this, though, I've got questions for you."

"Of course," Susumu said, though his tone was evasive. J.J. frowned, but decided not to push the issue any further for now. He stood up beside Tristan, who paused to glance at him.

"If you wish to utilize your Mage Class, I believe that should possess enough power to clear at least a few of our foes," Tristan suggested.

"That's not a bad idea, but I've got a better one. All we need is a distraction, right?" J.J. asked, grinning slightly from behind his mask. "In that case… you haven't seen my latest form yet, have you?"

Tristan gave him a curious look as J.J. put his hand on his blue and black D-formers and gave them a simultaneous spin. "Reroll! Multiclass: Bard!" his Driver shouted, and as a violin began to play, a blue and black die coalesced around him, before merging into a single violet crystal that began to spin rapidly. When the spinning stopped, he was wearing a purple longcoat and gripping a slender rapier in his right hand.

Tristan gazed at him quietly for a long moment before commenting softly, "I do recall that your newest form possessed powerful illusions. However, I am unsure as to how-"

J.J. grinned at Tristan from behind his mask while quietly pointing towards the horde of incoming Chips. Two copies of Tristan and two of J.J. suddenly appeared in front of the Chips, the former raising their shields while the latter dropped into identical fencing positions. The Chips hesitated for a few moments, glancing back and forth between the copies, before abruptly diving in to fight them. J.J. immediately began pulling the copies back, drawing the Chips away from each other. Tristan gasped as he watched their formation fall apart, immediately catching on.

"I see! We draw them into individual skirmishes…!" Tristan began.

"And break apart their formation, clearing the way for Susumu," J.J. finished, nodding. "And we can pick and choose which Chips we want to fight, while they're distracted by the illusions. Push comes to shove, I can even give the illusions solid form for a few moments, though I'd rather not burn that much energy."

"Clever, page," Tristan praised him. "To arms, then!"

J.J. and Tristan squared off against the two remaining Chips charging towards them, and six figures dove into the wild fray, engaging a half-dozen Chips at the same time. J.J. couldn't keep his mind split on six different fights, of course, so he instead silently directed the copies that weren't fighting to retreat and continue to bait the Chips further away from the Irise. In the meantime, he focused his personal efforts on a bronze-colored Chip in front of him, which thrust at him with one arm and then the other. J.J. parried both blows before leaning in and stabbing at the Chip's face, though the machine had enough self-preservation to lean away from the attack. J.J. thrusted two more times at the same spot, but each attack was blocked. J.J. let out a soft tsking sound of annoyance. Without a proper cutting edge on his sword, he couldn't slice through the Chip's arms, which would have made the fight much easier. His only hope of winning was to pierce its computer chip at some point, and in the meantime, he simply had to keep fencing.

Off to his side, he saw Tristan press the horse icon on his shield, and his mace disappeared as a stallion whinnied loudly. A long spear emerged from his shield, bathed in golden light, and belatedly J.J. remembered to make the copies do the same, to keep pace with Tristan. Tristan grabbed the flexible blue lance and began thrusting at the Chip as well, using its length to maintain his distance. Whether it was intentional or not, Tristan switching to a thrusting weapon like J.J.'s rapier made directing the clones much easier for him, as he could now include a command to all of them to feint thrusts at the Chips they were fighting, which helped make the illusion a bit more convincing, so long as they avoided being hit.

J.J. disengaged from the Chip he was facing by leaping backwards and glancing around at the battlefield, taking a moment to survey it. One of his clones was off to the left side of the street, still weaving away from the silver Chip it was fighting, while his other copy and one of Tristan's were off to the right, backpedaling rapidly. Tristan's other clone was drawing the Chip it was facing into a nearby alleyway, meaning only he and Tristan were left in the middle of the street, fighting their respective opponents. All they had to do was lead their Chips out of the way, or beat them, and Susumu would have a clear path to the Irise.

J.J. stopped looking around in time to see the Chip he was facing charge towards him, and he hastily brought his sword up to knock away its attack before countering with a thrust of his own. His attack was mostly reflex, however, and his blade pierced its chest, sticking in the soft metal. J.J. growled and hastily tried to yank his sword out of its soft metal body, but the Chip took advantage of his semi-helpless state to stab him three times in his chest. Two blows hit his undersuit, bruising his ribs as he let out gasps of pain, while the third was mercifully stopped by his thicker purple overcoat. J.J. grit his teeth and yanked the blade from the Chip's body, and in frustration, he punched it across the face with his left hand. While the blow was delivered with more force than any regular human could ever hope to muster, all it did was send the Chip reeling backwards for a couple of steps, without doing any real damage. It was rare for J.J. to wish that he had more raw power, as he prided himself on using his versatility and wits to win fights instead of relying on brute force, but after watching Susumu effortlessly dispatch several Chips simply by punching them, he couldn't help but feel a mild pang of envy.

With a bit of distance separating him and the Chip he was facing, J.J. brought his rapier up defensively again, anticipating the Chip's next move. The automaton likewise waited for a few beats to see what J.J. would do, before reaching in with one sharp arm. Almost reflexively, J.J. flicked his sword up, diverting the attack with as little force as possible, while awaiting the inevitable second strike. As soon as it leaned in with its second arm, J.J. swayed out of the way while thrusting forward. The point of his rapier finally struck its target, the thin tip piercing the computer chip on its face and shattering it. The Chip clattered to the ground like a puppet with its strings cut, and J.J. finally let out a sigh of relief before again glancing around at the rest of the battlefield.

His copies were continuing to evade the Chips successfully, but J.J. was starting to feel a throbbing between his eyes from maintaining the illusions for so long. Still, the Chips had been completely dragged away from the main battlefield, opening most of the street, save for Tristan, who was still sparring with his opponent. J.J. was about to intervene when Tristan let out a growl of frustration and spun the D-former on his belt. "Critical!" his belt shouted as he jumped backwards, putting about twenty feet between him and his opponent, bracing his spear with both hands while his shield hung loosely off his left forearm. The Chip hesitated, considering its next move, but before it could, Tristan was surrounded by a steel-blue crystal, which coalesced around his Azuron spear while he pointed the tip of it at the Chip. Moments later, the tip of his spear suddenly grew several feet in a split second, impaling the Chip's processor before it had time to react. The Chip's body slowly sank to the ground, its head sliding down the harder metal like putty before slipping off the spear entirely. Tristan's spear quickly returned to its original shape, and he nodded to J.J. as he stepped out of the way for Susumu, while J.J. did the same, leaving the street completely open for the brass-covered Rider.

"All yours, Susumu!" J.J. called.

"Right! Give me a second to prepare!" Susumu called back. The Irise, meanwhile, lumbered slowly towards him, its hammer raised threateningly. J.J. flicked his rapier, but then he caught Tristan watching him from the other side of the street. Tristan quietly shook his head, before nodding towards Susumu, almost as if saying, "He wanted to do this himself, so let him do it." J.J. slowly relaxed his stance, albeit somewhat reluctantly.

Susumu dropped to one knee, fiddling with something near his ankle. J.J. watched him expectantly. He realized that he was eager to see another of Susumu's tricks. However, a moment turned into a few moments, all while the Irise kept approaching him. J.J.'s eager look began to fade, melting into a look of concern.

Though it was hard to tell from where he was standing, Susumu almost seemed to be hesitating. J.J. craned his neck and noticed that Susumu's front leg was shaking wildly. He realized that Susumu's leg was the same weak one that he required a cane for. Was it his old injury acting up at the wrong time… or was it something else?

"Susumu!" J.J. called out. The clockwork Rider looked up, realizing suddenly that the Irise was coming closer. He muttered something under his breath, then picked himself up and instead dropped his hand down to one of his belt panels. Opening it up, he pulled flat gear with round spokes from inside it and inserted it into his right bracer.

"Shifting gears! Smash 'em! Wrecker!" Susumu's Driver shouted mechanically. Susumu's bracer seemed to reconfigure itself with screws and parts automatically sliding into place, and moments later, a large iron ball attached to a chain hung from his arm. Before the Irise could come any closer, he whipped the ball and chain around, smashing it into the Irise's large body.

The wrecking ball knocked the Irise back a few steps, and Susumu used this opening to swing it over his head again, this time aiming for the Irise's head. Instinctively, the Irise raised its claw arm and caught the chain of the ball, but the momentum caused the wrecking ball to wrap around its arm. Susumu grunted and yanked the chain, pulling the Irise forward a few steps, before holding the chain with both hands. "Change of plans! Page! Aegis! I've got it tied up! Aim for the head!" Susumu shouted.

J.J. and Tristan exchanged silent looks from across the street, and J.J. could tell from Tristan's body language that he was wondering the same thing – why had Susumu hesitated when he'd had a clear shot at the Irise like he'd wanted? The exchange of looks lasted only a split second, though, as both men sprang forward with their weapons drawn to carry out Susumu's plan. Before J.J. could get close, however, a blur darted out of the corner of his eye, and he brought his rapier down in time to catch the wooden sword of the Fool, who chuckled at his instinctive reaction.

"Oooh, it has gotten faster! When it first started, it wouldn't have even seen us coming!" the Fool praised him mockingly.

"What gives?" J.J. asked, pushing his rapier against the Fool's wooden sword. The clown braced his sword against his left forearm, keeping J.J. in place. "Usually you just watch when we fight, and when things get hairy, you lead the Diemon away. It's not like you to get involved like this."

"Ah, yes, we do prefer to be part of the audience, but there comes a time in some plays when the audience may be called on to participate," the Fool replied with a weary sigh. "Unfortunately, this is one of those times when we cannot stand idly by. Our master has decreed that this magnificent creation must remain unharmed."

"Why?" J.J. asked simply, disengaging his blade and stepping back, before dropping into a fencing stance. The Fool snickered at his posture and responded by standing loosely in front of him, idly running his fingers up the length of his wooden blade.

"Sadly, we are not at liberty to say," the Fool shrugged. "But we will warn it that it should refrain from attacking further. We are sure it remembers how poorly its last attempt went," the harlequin added, its usually jovial voice dropping into an uncharacteristically menacing tone.

J.J. hesitated, feeling a shiver run down his spine. He glanced past the Irise and shouted at Tristan, "I'm a little held up over here! Can you-?!"

"Occupied as well!" Tristan shouted, over the sudden ringing of steel, and as the blue knight took a couple steps back, allowing J.J. to see him from behind the Irise, he saw that Agnar was hammering his shield with powerful overhead attacks from his claymore.

J.J. swore softly under his breath while the Fool giggled, regarding him idly as it tossed its wooden sword from hand to hand. "So, will it retreat?" the clown taunted him.

J.J. hesitated a moment longer, then suddenly dropped his hand to his belt and gave his blue and black D-formers a quick spin. "Critical!" his Driver shouted, and the Fool glanced around as a trio of illusions coalesced around it, while violet die enveloped them and left them outlined with glowing purple light. Before they could thrust their rapiers forward, the Fool jumped upward out of the circle of solid shadows, landing lightly on the roof of the hardware store above them, before tutting and shaking its head in disappointment.

"And here we thought it was the reasonable one," the Fool said, before leaping down towards him. J.J. dropped his hand to his belt, lifting his diary out of it, and he was briefly surrounded by an amber D-former. The Fool's flight towards him was interrupted as it collided with the spinning amber die, and it was knocked to the asphalt before rolling away and picking itself up, its stance indicating that it was surprised by J.J.'s sudden change. J.J. gripped his shortsword tightly in a fencing stance, beckoning the Fool forward. The Fool stared at him in disbelief, then began cackling as it dropped into a mocking fencing stance of its own.

"Susumu! We're tied up here! You're on your own!" J.J. shouted, darting in to thrust at the Fool. The clown lazily knocked his blade to the side, responding with a jab of its own that J.J. twisted out of the way of and countered with another slash that the Fool blocked with a twist of its wrist. The clown made a noise of surprised delight as it pushed J.J.'s blade off its own.

"Oooh, its dancing has improved! This'll be a bit more fun than we anticipated!" the Fool crowed, before slashing downward at him. J.J. brought his blade up to parry the attack, but at the last moment, the Fool turned its wrist, slashing J.J.'s shoulder with a light blow. J.J. sucked in his breath from between clenched teeth as the attack left a smarting welt on his shoulder, even through the armor. However, the power behind the attack had also been mitigated somewhat because of the Fool's abrupt change in direction. It felt more like the clown had just tried to score a point than seriously hurt him.

Behind the Irise, Agnar and Tristan continued to spar, with the former pushing the latter backwards. Agnar was deflecting every blow, but the red knight's attack was so furious that he couldn't launch a counterattack. "Explain yourself!" Tristan roared over the din of their clashing weapons. "We aided you in ridding your lands of this monstrosity! Why did you revive it?!"

"Our lord's orders were clear," Agnar shouted back, swiping at Tristan's legs, though the blue knight jumped over the attack and brought his mace down towards Agnar's skull. The draconic knight leaned backwards, the attack missing him entirely. "And I do not disobey our lord. I was told to bring this machine to him once I had informed him of its capabilities."

"To what end?! I demand answers of you, sir!" Tristan shouted.

Agnar ignored him, slamming his greatsword into Tristan's shield again and driving him back another step. J.J. growled as he ducked under an insultingly telegraphed attack from the Fool, looking over his shoulder at Susumu, who was still struggling to hold the Irise in place for one of them to finish it off. "Susumu, we're a bit tied up! If you're going to do something about this, do it now!" J.J. shouted, before driving his sword forward at the Fool's chest. The clown snorted at the feeble attack and batted it aside.

"I… yeah. Right!" Susumu stuttered, grunting as he tried to drag the massive machine closer. The Irise was dragged forward a single step before the claw on its left hand clamped down on the chain. It, in turn, dragged Susumu closer, the Rider's feet sparking as they were dragged along the asphalt. Susumu strained against the machine's strength, but in moments he had been dragged within range of its hammer. The heavy tool slammed down on Susumu, who managed to react just in time by throwing his bracers up to block the attack. He was staggered and shaking, but managed to remain on his feet. The Irise slammed down at his guard again, driving him to one knee, while Susumu cried out in pain and his right leg began shuddering again.

The machine paused, examining the chain wrapped around its arm while it had the chance, and in a brief moment where J.J. had managed to swipe at the Fool and drive it back, he noticed the D-former in the center of its body start glowing red. To his amazement, the chain in its claw began glowing white, then yellow. As the glowing faded, J.J.'s jaw dropped as he saw that the chain of Susumu's wrecking ball had turned gold.

The Irise brought its hammer up and slammed it down onto the golden chain. The metal links fell apart with little resistance, clattering heavily on the ground, and it shook its claw free before releasing the wrecking ball, which slammed into the ground in front of Susumu, who stared at the broken tool in disbelief. Both Agnar and the Fool glanced at the machine, before Agnar knocked Tristan back with a heavy two-handed swipe while the Fool kicked J.J. in the chest, sending him sprawling. The Black Seraph's servants then approached the machine, appraising the few links of the golden chain that it held.

"It would seem that your foray into this smithy produced results," Agnar commented. "Is that metal fully transmuted?"

"ANALYSIS INDICATES THAT MOLECULAR RECONFIGURATION WAS SUCCESSFUL," the Irise confirmed, turning one of the links over in its claw. "PHASE TWO OF RECONSTRUCTION MAY PROCEED."

"Ah, leave that to us!" the Fool cackled. "Our draconic friend here knows the ruins quite well! I'm certain he can locate the Forge without much difficulty."

"This task would be completed more swiftly were you to aid me in my search," Agnar growled at the Fool.

"But the master's dog is so much better at sniffing out what the master wishes than we are!" the Fool taunted him, giggling. "And it so enjoys the treats our master feeds it when it does a good job!"

While the two were arguing, J.J. saw Susumu's hand drop to his belt, and he pulled something small out of one of his compartments. Surreptitiously, he tossed it at the Irise, and J.J. watched the little speck fly through the air, landing on the Irise's ankle and attaching itself to the metal chassis. Susumu then glanced at J.J. and shook his head slightly. J.J. quickly looked away.

"Enough of this bickering. Let us depart for now and inform our lord of our progress," Agnar announced shortly. He turned to glare at the three Riders on the ground. "Do not interfere in this. I swear on my honor that no harm will come to you if you allow us to complete our quest unimpeded."

"Says the guy whose definition of 'won't harm' means 'I won't kill anyone who has Almencian blood,'" J.J. shot back.

Agnar ignored him as he and the Fool leaped into the air, taking the Irise with them. Tristan began to push himself up to follow them, but Susumu held his hand up.

"Don't worry about them. We'll know where they're going," Susumu assured him.

"How can you be certain? If we lose track of them now…!" Tristan protested.

"You bugged the Irise, didn't you?" J.J. asked. Susumu glanced at him, letting out a short laugh.

"Yeah. I figured you'd caught that. That's why I didn't want you looking at me; I was worried they'd get suspicious," Susumu said. "I say we let them go for now, let them lead us to whatever they're looking for."

"Right. We could use a break anyways," J.J. agreed. He pulled his D-former out of his diary, his suit disappearing in a flash of amber light, while Tristan reluctantly did the same. Susumu, meanwhile, twisted the knob on the top of his belt, and his suit began folding in on itself, disappearing into the belt once more in a matter of moments.

"Let's head back to my place," Susumu suggested, wincing as he pulled a small brass ball from his pocket. He pressed a button on top of it, and an extendable cane shot forth, allowing him to lean on it as he began limping his way back towards his bike. Before he could, however, J.J. stopped him by putting a hand on his shoulder, narrowing his eyes at the mechanic.

"First thing's first, before we do anything else," J.J. said firmly. "You're a Kamen Rider? And you didn't tell us?"

Susumu smiled sadly at him, sighing as he leaned on his cane. "Yeah. Why did you think I knew so much about them? It's not just that I'm a fan of Kamen Riders – I know them so well because I used to be one."

"Used to be?" Tristan asked, standing beside J.J. with his arms folded.

"Wait, can you retire from being a Kamen Rider?" J.J. asked skeptically. "I mean, if you already had a suit of your own, why haven't you been helping us?"

"There's a few reasons for that," Susumu explained. "First, my Gadget Driver has been broken for quite a while. I've managed to get it working, but only barely. It's in an unstable state right now, and I'm not sure how many times I can transform before it breaks down again. This is only a temporary fix.

"Second, there's the fact that you two already had the situation in this city well in hand," he continued, glancing between the two men with a slight smile. "Tristan, you're more of an expert on Almencian history than I am, and you've done an excellent job training J.J. For your own part, J.J., you've learned astoundingly quickly, and you've become a formidable Kamen Rider in your own right. Your powers are perfectly suited for fighting the Black Seraph, and while I admit that my own might have been able to lend you some help if they were working, I didn't see a need to step in when you two were already doing an excellent job. That said, I'm an expert about Pupils and what they can do, so I figured you two could use my help for this one."

"I sense a third reason coming on," J.J. commented drily.

Susumu grinned briefly at J.J. "The third reason… is this," he said, patting his weak leg with one hand. "If you noticed, I didn't move the entire fight. Now, it's not like I'm completely useless in a fight. I know boxing, as you saw, and I have ways of pulling an enemy to me. But… I can't move the way I used to, and I feel like most of the time I would just slow you down. Again, since I know about what Irises are capable of, I can compensate in this case, but Diemons are outside of my comfort zone. If I'd gone up against a quick one like that vampire, or one of your opponents that could cast long-range magic, I would have been in trouble. You handled those situations far better than I would have."

J.J. glared at him, folding his arms over his chest. "I'm not buying it," J.J. shot back. "For one thing, you claim you know about these Irises, but you don't want to get involved with Diemons? Then why don't you sit this one out? From what I saw, that Irise had a D-former. Technically that makes it a Diemon. Worse, we just saw it magically transmute metal. Isn't magic out of your comfort zone?" he mocked Susumu.

Susumu's smile faltered slightly. "Well… at least with the machinery side of it, I feel like I can help you now…."

"Which brings me to my other problem!" J.J. snapped. "You could have been helping us this entire time! If you had bugs, for example, why didn't you give me a handful so that I could toss them at people who became Diemons?"

"You have a diary for that," Susumu pointed out.

"You get my point!" J.J. growled. "Are you seriously telling us you couldn't have done more to help us?"

Susumu's smile faded, and he began limping past J.J. "I'm sorry," he said softly. "If that's how you feel, then from now on, I'll try to give you more of a hand. For right now, though, I'd rather we focus on this problem. I'm going on ahead. I'll meet you back at the shop."

"You-!" J.J. started to shout, but Tristan reached out and gripped his shoulder firmly, stopping him mid-sentence. The knight shook his head slowly.

"I would advise you not to press the issue for now, page," Tristan said softly as Susumu limped towards his bike.

"He's not really addressing the issue, though," J.J. replied, still fuming.

"Nor shall he, at least not yet," Tristan said, nodding at Susumu's back. "Observe the way that he is walking. His shoulders are slumped, as though he is carrying a weight greater than he wishes for us to see. I have seen it several times in world-weary warriors. I suspect that he has seen his fair share of warfare, and that it has left its own scars upon him."

"I don't see how-!" J.J. started to protest.

"Do you recall how despondent you were when Lady Kelsie perished?" Tristan asked quietly. That brought J.J. up short, and he looked away uncomfortably. "I imagine from the way that he is walking that our skirmish today unturned some memories that Susumu had buried and tried to forget. I would not be surprised if he has many memories that have affected him as deeply as some of your losses, page. Give him time. He will tell us more when he is ready."

"…That's fair," J.J. said finally, scratching the back of his neck ruefully. "And in the meantime?"

"In the meantime, we follow at his pace. As he said, he is experienced with the Irises. Susumu is not our enemy, so we should not treat him as such. All we can do is trust that he will aid us in his own way. And as he does, we shall remain wary of our own foes," Tristan said matter-of-factly.

"To his shop, then," J.J. said.

"To his shop," Tristan agreed, pausing for a moment to look after Susumu, before adding in a low voice for only J.J. to hear, "And while I do not believe he is, let us pray that he is not truly as broken as he fears."