The empty lot where Machina Vision headquarters had once stood disappeared below them. Walls closed up around the edges of the platform and everything went dark until gradually a ball of light formed over Kensei and Noir then spread until it covered the walls and floor. Kensei had to close his eyes from the intense light but when it faded, there weren't just dark walls around the two of them anymore.
It was the entrance hall to a mansion. Teal-colored wood covered the walls and two staircases led up to a second-floor balcony. Suits of armor flanked double doors that presumably led to the front yard, and light came from a chandelier covered with countless dangling crystals. Kensei jumped out of the way on instinct when a pair of virus-headed maids in black dresses and frilly white aprons ran through the room carrying silver trays with dome covers.
He was a little worried about how they were going to get out of this match. Hiiro and Doku's plan to fight and then have one of them surrender to the other had amused Hourakou the first time. The strange game creature was liable to do anything, it seemed like sometimes. But he'd specifically warned Kensei before going into this Game Area that he wouldn't be letting the Kamen Riders get away with that more than once.
Not to mention, Kensei was more than a little uneasy after finding out Hourakou was specifically trying to get to Kensei. Making him fight his own mind-controlled brother.
Hourakou had to just be waiting to spring something even worse on him.
"Henshin," sounded Noir's gear.
Right. They two Riders weren't getting out of that mansion without some kind of find. Kensei locked his Gamer Driver around his waist and turned back to Noir. "Right…how do you want to do this?" Kensei asked.
Then stopped.
Noir was already in his armor that looked like an old detective's trenchcoat and fedora.
Pointing his gun straight at Kensei.
He didn't even hear the sound of the gun going off before the bullet tore into his body and knocked Kensei off the ground. He didn't see the HIT graphic when the shot hit him. All Kensei could focus his thoughts on was the purple gleam he'd seen run up the eyes of Noir's mask right before he pulled the trigger.
Even though he'd been forbidden from entering the Rider tournament, Emu Hojo hadn't gone far. He was sitting on the hood of a car watching the sides of each floating cube that a match had taken place in.
And he was frozen with horror from what he saw displayed on the sides of this one.
Smoke was rising from Kensei Hidenaga's chest.
He'd just been shot by that out-of-town Rider who'd been hanging around Kensei at the hospital earlier.
Automatically Emu's medical instincts kicked in. He ran up the street back to the empty lot even though he could see the faint purple tinge that showed the barrier was still up. To keep the "pros" like him from interfering in the Corrupture's sick little game.
Hourakou Byougen turned around as Emu came running up, impossible to miss in his bright red jeans and yellow Pac-Man tee shirt.
Even more impossible to miss when he caught his foot on a crack in the road and went flying face-first into the barrier and slid down into a dazed heap on the street. Hourakou was giggling when Emu got back up and started banging on the barrier with his fists.
"Looks like Genius Gamer M isn't in control…" Hourakou snickered.
"Hey! Call this off!" Emu yelled. "Call this off now! I'll fight any monster you can come up with! All by myself! But my patient's dying, let him go!"
Hourakou made a face of dismay. "Doctor Hojo, I am disappointed! I'd think you of all people would appreciate what a classic game trope this is! The death of the celebrated hero who's guided the young protagonists, forcing them to go on and save the world on their own? How can I interrupt that?"
He turned away and ignored Emu's protests. The doctor banged on the barrier a few more times, but knew it was no good. Hourakou was enjoying what was going on too much to stop, even when someone was dying.
But Emu wouldn't let him get away with it.
Kensei was looking straight up into the blinding light of the chandelier. He could see the outline of a butler with a giant purple head hurrying past, carrying bags of something important, Kensei was sure.
It was a bizarre feeling. Kensei knew he should've been panicking in fear of his life. His mind didn't seem to register the horrible pain, though. Was Kensei getting so weak from all the fighting and pushing his limits to survive when he'd been poisoned, he couldn't even work up the energy to be afraid of his imminent death now?
He could see the outline of Kamen Rider Noir's fedora blocking out some of the light from the chandelier. Not enough to stop Kensei from having to squint. Was he really focusing on that? It seemed like it, since he was only barely aware that Noir was aiming his pistol into Kensei's face now.
"I know it's not the dramatic fight to the finish you thought you'd go out in," Noir said, a flash of purple traveling up his mask's eyes again. "But it's you or me."
Noir squeezed the trigger.
But the shot went wide and blew up a Corrupture Cell maid running past, leaving only a purple cloud. Kensei's quivering fist was wrapped around Noir's wrist and forcrf his arm to the side. Noir tore his arm free from Kensei's feeble grip, but it had bought a few seconds for Kensei to act.
"Demon Ninja!" A flash of indigo light. Kamen Rider Utsura jumped up, the kusarigama chained to his back already pulled into his hands and ready to fling. He didn't dare give Noir a chance to aim another shot, even if they were both armored now. Utsura's body was running on pure instinct, and soon, he was dimly aware, he wouldn't have the strength to even rely on that.
Both blades HIT Noir's arm holding his gun, but he must've guessed what Utsura was attempting and managed to hold onto his weapon. He raised it and took another shot but Utsura had started a counterattack of his own, clutching his hands in front of his chest and suddenly splitting into three purple ninja Riders.
Noir fired but already the three were leaping and somersaulting out of the way in all directions. One grabbed the railing above them and flipped up to the second floor balcony. The other two ran low past Noir, slashing him across the back with their ninja-tos as they went by. The detective Rider ignored the pain and the HIT graphics that appeared on the edges of his vision.
The powers of his detective game made it easy for him to spot things others missed. In this case the faint sheen around the Kamen Rider Utsura running along the balcony and jumping to the chandelier to swing down and attack him.
Noir's shot wasn't as painful as the first, or as precisely aimed. It still tore Utsura off the chandelier and made him crash through the bannister on one of the stairways and roll all the way to the bottom. His copies had disappeared well before then.
"Nothing personal, Kensei-chan," Noir said. "But I'm planning to be on the winning side when this is all over."
"These virus monsters lost once," Utsura croaked.
"Yeah? Well it seems like they learned a lot from the first time!" Noir shouted. Utsura didn't answer the taunt with words. Instead he grabbed his Sensou Chambara Gashat, but it only made Noir laugh. "You think Hourakou didn't make sure your little friend couldn't help you for a reason? We both know you can't use your full power by yourself!"
"Do we?" Utsura asked. Then switched out his games and slammed his fist down on top of Sensou Chambara. "HENSHIN!"
The bulb on the end of Hourakou's arm opened and fired a bone spear at Kamen Rider Paradox. He readied his two-toned self to block it, planting his feet and lifting his axe. Before he could swing a wall jumped up between the two combatants like a shield and Hourakou's spear stopped halfway through it. Paradox let out a breath, imagining for a second it how far it would've gone through him.
Hourakou took advantage of that second of indecision to start whirling the bone-flail connected to his new form's other arm. While he built up momentum to crush Paradox something else was happening: another wall forming out of the ground behind him. Just when he started his swing the wall fell over right on top of Hourakou.
"Why didn't you grab Taddle Legacy?!" Paradox yelled back at Kiiko.
"I thought it'd be fun to try one of those Game Area Control Gashats?" Kiiko replied with a question. Paradox grunted but turned back to where the monstrous avatar of their enemy was pulling itself out of the rubble.
"You want to help, use that thing to make me some power-ups!"
She stared straight through him. "I can do that with this game?"
Hourakou exploded up out of the piled of broken stone then, his ugly faces twisted in annoyance.
"You better figure it out fast!" Paradox yelled at Kiiko before he charged at the Corrupture leader. Hourakou shot another bone spear from the bulb in his hand but Paradox flipped back and it became stuck at an angle in the ground where he'd been. Suddenly Paradox sprinted up the bone spear like a ramp and jumped off, delivering a powerful overhead strike that left an even bigger than usual GREAT graphic floating in the air and Hourakou growling in pain. "Not bad for the unevolved type, is it?" Paradox challenged Hourakou.
"It is if you think one hit proves anything, Bugster!" Hourakou laughed from both heads at the same time. One dagger-filled mouth open and a tongue like a bullwhip lashed the axe out of Paradox's hands.
Kiiko screamed as the weapon came spinning at her. It wasn't until the Parabragun bounced off the bubble around her that she remembered a Game Area Control Gashat protected their use from—she hoped—all possible danger. But Kiiko wasn't the one Hourakou had grabbed by the waist with his giant tongue and slammed into the ground.
But Paradox was right, wasn't he? If she had control over the rea, then she should be able to spawn some Energy Items for him. Then his power over those would let him call them to him from anywhere.
She just had to figure out how to do that…
It was impossible.
Kamen Rider Utsura rose over Noir in the heavy red armor of his Sensou Chambara form. The war banners reading "Gamer Warrior" fluttered from his shoulders and his powerful naginata held tight in both hands.
And he used to hit Noir with a mighty blow that knocked him clear through the back wall and crushing a grand piano on the other side.
When Kamen Rider Utsura stepped through the hole his armor was flickering, showing the vulnerable teenager underneath before solidifying again. Noir pointed his pistol but Utsura batted it out of his hand, and the detective Rider clenched his aching fingers. "Heh…bet you're wondering why I teamed up with the Corrupture," Noir said, hoping to buy enough time for Utsura's strength to give out so Noir could attack him safely.
"Not really," Utsura said before he unleashed another swing that knocked Noir off his feet and through another wall. Noir was aware of a tank full of exotic fish shattering against his face before he plowed through an antique down-stuffed sofa before he came to a stop. The Corrupture Cells dressed like maids and butlers who saw him screeched in terror and ran for any door they could reach.
None were coming to help him. He should've expected that. Hourakou Byougen had offered Noir a chance to join in when the Corrupture took over, but now he was obviously expecting Noir to prove he deserved it.
Which was fine. He'd been making sure to hide a trump card in case of an emergency like this, after all.
Utsura stepped through the hole, looking every bit an unstoppable juggernaut out of samurai times. Noir managed to roll onto his back and pulled a pair of neon green boxing gloves with pink cuffs over his hands. One already had a Gashat sticking out of it: "Fists of Meteor", showing a boxer throwing a fiery punch. "Level UP!" Noir chuckled when the henshin gear did its work. "Ladies and gentlemen, Kamen Rider Noir! Uppercut! Right cross! Body blow! Put 'em away!"
Noir's detective armor disintegrated, giving him green shorts with a yellow stripe up the side and armor showing exaggerated musculature along his abs and arms. The boxing gloves themselves turned red and grew to the size of a person's head. Spikes sprouted from the knuckles and then from his shoulders and kneepads. Noir hadn't been expecting that, but gave a fiendish chuckle to see them anyway.
"Here I come!" Noir laughed and dashed at Utsura. The first punch hit Utsura's thick armor dead-on and bounced with a heavy clang. Noir went for a headshot next.
Right as Utsura's armor flickered away again.
An avalanche of colorful coins and their shadowed emblems raced across Kiiko's mind. All of it vanished when Hourakou whipped out his giant tongues and smacked Kamen Rider Paradox against her bubble shield, shattering her concentration again.
Through the giant eyes of his mask Kiiko could almost see him pleading to figure something out before he was beaten into paste. Kiiko squeezed her eyes shut and tried desperately to focus, but knew it was no good. The Machina Vision guys who'd invented these games had trained to use them. Probably taught themselves how to filter out distractions and only focus on the things that mattered the most. Of course they did. They were the best employees at a big corporation, weren't they?
Then a surprising thing happened. Kiiko reached up and pinched her temples, digging her fingernails into the skin.
All of the reasons why she couldn't do this disappeared in that quick flash of pain. Instead she thought of the Energy Items she'd seen in the past and thought of one in particular: the pale green one with the man on it finding a four-leafed clover.
She focused on the blocks she could control with her game and one popped out of the ground right where Kamen Rider Paradox was being smashed into the ground again. His body shattered the block and the Energy Item that Kiiko meant to hide inside floated up and spun a few times before disappearing with a happy little twinkle sound.
His Parabragun had been lodged blade-first in the roof of a convenience store when it went flying out of his hand before. Now it wobbled from the force of Paradox hitting the ground, came loose, bounced off the asphalt and came to a stop within easy reach of the Rider, thanks to the luck Energy Item.
Even though he was half-unconscious from being bashed into the ground multiple times, Kamen Rider Paradox grabbed his weapon and hacked into Hourakou's giant tongue right where it looped around his waist. Hourakou growled from the pain and retracted his tongue. Paradox took the moment to get to his feet and went into a fighting stance, even though he was panting for breath.
He'd need help, and Kiiko had an idea what to give him.
More colorful blocks popped up around the street where Rider and Corrupture boss were fighting. Paradox flipped his axe's blade around to change it to its pistol form and blew up three whose colors he seemed to recognize. First exploded into a yellow coin showing a man running. Second was a dark red coin showing a man flexing his biceps. Third and last was a dark purple coin, showing the man with question marks swirling around his head.
"Not bad, girl," Paradox called over his shoulder while he held out his hands and whirled them around. The yellow and red coins floated over to his body and shimmered before disappearing into him.
Hourakou wasn't as impressed, sneering at the two of them with both faces. "You think a few little power-ups make you a match for me? And that last one? Think you're gonna use that on me, I suppose!"
"There's more to beating a game than power," Paradox retorted. He glanced over his shoulder at Kiiko and asked, "How about we clear this with super co-op play?"
"…huh?'
"Time to get crushed, Bugster!" Hourakou giggled before he lifted his foot to stomp Paradox into the ground. Except Paradox wasn't there. He'd become a colorful streak zipping out of the way, the blue combined with the curved quills on his forehead reminding Kiiko of some video game hero she couldn't quite place. Instead Kiiko held up her hands and a block column rose up under Hourakou's descending foot so high he was thrown onto his back.
It took a few seconds for the heavy monster to get to his feet. When he did, Kamen Rider Paradox zipped to a stop in front of him. "Not bad for a couple of Bugsters, huh?" the Rider taunted.
"You've mildly inconvenienced me! Truly you are the legendary heroes!" Hourakou said, then kept his twin mouths out and whipped two giant tongues at Paradox from both sides, while he swung his bone-mace down in the middle. Kamen Rider Paradox braced himself and deflected the mace with a giant GREAT graphic thanks to the extra muscle of the power-up he'd absorbed. Then he held out his arm, grabbed both incoming tongues with his increased strength, then turned into a blur when he tied both tongues into a double helix.
And as a finishing touch two block walls exploded out of the ground and closed with the ends of Hourakou's tongues stuck between them.
The Corrupture leader pulled back with his whole body and the walls started cracking. They wouldn't hold long, but they didn't need to. Paradox whirled his hand and the last Energy Item he'd revealed dropped out of the sky and right into both of Hourakou's heads at the same time. His eyes spun crazily in their sockets and his huge body went limp. He was completely confused, thanks to the Energy Item.
"Perfect…Critical…Combo!" Kamen Rider Paradox took off at blinding speed. He hacked at Hourakou's trapped body so fast he left streaks of light in the air. He skidded to a stop, smoke coming from his shoes from going so fast. And a massive cluster of stone blocks fell and crushed Hourakou's avatar.
"Not…bad…girl," Paradox panted. He pulled the Gashat out of his belt and walked over, unsteadily, but put a hand on her shoulder and patted it a few times.
"You were pretty good too," Kiiko smile as she took Block Panic out of her belt. "Let's get the game and go help."
Parado gave her a strangely friendly smile and nodded.
Ironically, it was Kensei's weakness that saved him.
His strength left his legs and he fell onto his hands and knees. Noir's punch went over his head and shattered an antique painting of a waterfall into a hundred pieces. A few shards of frame and ancient paint dug into his bare hands but Kensei gritted his teeth and ignored the pain as well as he could before he found the strength to get to his feet and stumble-ran his way out of the room.
As he crashed down the hall, Kensei's instincts told him to slow down. Stop fighting it. He was only a teen, there was only so much abuse a person could take. If Kensei gave up, he'd be reunited with his brother. Hadn't it been great, that time Kensei met a version of Yuuma who was a Kamen Rider too? All the exciting battles they'd gotten to have together…
…they'd ended. Because Kensei had learned he couldn't just give up. People depended on him, even if they didn't know it. He was a Kamen Rider. Kamen Riders had to keep fighting, no matter what.
Kensei stumbled around a corner and pushed open a pair of swinging doors. A kitchen was on the other side. Not many places to hide among the racks of pans and utensils. He tried to think of where Energy Items that might give him an edge, and where in the room they might be hidden but stopped. And asked himself if those would even work if he couldn't hold his Rider form together.
He threw himself behind the luxury-size range in the middle of the room. Behind him the doors were pounded off their hinges and Kamen Rider Noir stomped into the kitchen, looking for his prey. Noir walked in a circle around the edge of the room. Kensei was surprised not to hear Noir making taunts asking him to come out or if he was afraid of his imminent death. Weren't Noir's powers based on old movies? Wasn't that how the villains in those things acted?
Again Kensei made himself focus on a simple fact. He was a Kamen Rider. If he didn't figure that out and get his form to stabilize by the time Noir made it around to the side of the range where he was hiding, he wouldn't be anything.
The word formed in his mind as Noir spotted him and started charging over to finish him off. Maybe it wouldn't make any practical difference, but Kensei needed all the help he could get.
"Henshin!"
He punched down on Sensou Chambara as Noir came in for the kill fist-first. Kensei reached up and grabbed his wrist, but as he stood up to look the evil Rider in the eye it was as Kamen Rider Utsura again. With a punch whose power could've rivaled the boxer's own, Utsura knocked him off the floor and down on top of the range, which Noir flattened as gravity took control of him again.
Noir somersaulted backward and got onto his feet again, raising his fists to continue the fight. "You can't keep this up, Utsura," he taunted. "Joe was an idiot, but when we worked together, nobody we went up against could stand up to his power. The power I have now.
"But look at you," Noir went on. "That game you have might be even stronger, but you can barely hold it together."
It wasn't something Utsura needed his opponent to remind him. His helmet disappeared for a split second but Utsura focused all his thoughts and made his armor reform. In the same flash his naginata was whirling in his hands. "I don't need to hold it together long. Just enough to beat you."
"Let's see if you can, human!"
"That's all you see in me now, huh?" Utsura replied. But he didn't have time or energy for this conversation. Only for finishing the fight. "Sensou…Critical…Finish!"
"Fists…Critical…Flurry!" Purple fumes erupted from his back as he unleashed his full power, exposing the Corrupture he'd let within.
Naginata swung out, blade glowing like the sun. Noir's fists flew at blinding speed. Both attacks met in a furious blast of light and energy. Kitchen utensils were blown off the walls, then through them as the ceiling and the entire room around them disintegrated from the force of the attack. Light spread through the whole mansion and obliterated anything it touched. Corrupture maids and butlers made pathetic shrieks as they popped and floated away to reform.
It felt like hours before the light finally cleared, leaving nothing but a scorched patch of ground in the middle of a manicured lawn. A strand of purple fumes was already spinning away, Kamen Rider Noir's remains going to regenerate along with the rest of his infected kind.
In the middle of the blackened dirt was Kensei Hidenaga on his hands and knees, breathing hard, all his strength spent. He'd done it. He'd won.
What good would it do him, though?
He asked himself that again when purple slime fountained up out of the ground and solidified into a grinning Hourakou Byougen.
"What's going on?" Doku Dasao demanded as the walls of the cube where the match took place went totally blank. "Isn't it supposed to disappear when the fight's over?"
Hourakou waved a finger at him. "You kids have had your fun, but nobody gets to meet and make up cute plans to get out of fighting each other. We've got the main event up after this, and I refuse to let our audience down with a lame spectacle!" the Corrupture leader chided.
His smile reappeared, with a hint more menace than usual in it. "Speaking of which, it's time for your elimination match, Rune-san!" Hourakou glanced over at where Kedamono was waiting, silent at as always, eyes hidden by his mirrored shades. "If you both won't mind stepping up, please, we can see who's going to be going home with those FABULOUS PRIZES!"
Doku gave him an angered glare but started up to the last platform anyway. Across from him, Kedamono seemed to be growing a few inches with each stair he climbed, and Doku gulped. Kedamono had always seemed unstoppable, even before getting his games combined. But Doku had earned a game forged from the experiences he'd provided of all the CR Riders. That was unbeatable.
Wasn't it?
Not all of the CR Riders had stuck around to see the tournament play out.
Across town, Taiga's clinic had gone totally dark except for the flickering light of a monitor in a back room.
Sitting in front of it, fuming in silence, was Taiga Hanaya.
The Corrupture Riders had batted him aside like he'd been nothing.
He'd accepted there were certain lines even a Kamen Rider was never meant to cross. He'd accepted that others could share his burden.
But that didn't totally erase the sting of making no difference at all and being taken out in less than thirty seconds.
On the monitor he was watching Chibi Gamer footage from a recent battle, trying to see if there was anything he could do to get better results. At least without having Kuroto Dan around begrudgingly helping them against a greater evil again.
Then he saw it.
Taiga paused the recording, of a recent encounter with Tousen Kedamono, or Kamen Rider Buster. Just before he put his visor on to transform, he'd taken off his sunglasses, and Taiga saw a faint ripple of purple there.
It all made sense. Kedamono had been injected with the Corrupture virus, and somehow, been able to keep from being taken over. Just like when Parado had become partly human, and gotten a Level 99 form by combining his games too! That was how Kamen Rider Buster got so powerful!
That was how…
…Taiga would do it.
See You Next Game