Joe's Note: This was quite possibly the shortest of the original chapters when I found this story and decided to breathe new life into it. I tried to flesh it out as best I could for the sake of a consistent chapter size but at the end of the day, I was largely limited by the existing chapter flow. Meaning I couldn't expand the story too much further into the events of the episode without disturbing the start of Chapter 4 and setting off a chain reaction of rewrites. So basically… it's a shorty but bear with me. It'll get better - and longer - from here, I promise.
Dedications & Thanks: To Howard, Nicholas, Alonsis2, Cyle, Marika, Tibor, Adrien, Arkantos59, bloodylord, Charles, Crygon20, DireSquirrel, Edward, enygma, Fablesrogue, George, Gerald, Glenn, Joseph, Kentucky Fried Dragon, Koby, MJ, Morgan, mpotato, PbookR, Roofcrawler, Wil, William, Ziryo, Beeknees, Darrell, David, erlking, Haematite, HaunzGruber, TheTenthAncestor, UncreativeName01, Zordmon, Abby, Lookshy, Roman, Warren, and Wesley for sponsoring me on P-treon, and making it easier for me to spend more of my time writing.

Sighing, Willow toyed idly with the black plastic Rider Pass in her pocket as she roamed the streets of Sunnydale with Xander in tow. Still no sign of Buffy… and still no clue how everyone in town had managed to turn into their costumes. 'Some kind of magic, obviously. But who? And how?'

'Is magic that common that it's the first thing you think of?' For the first time that evening - and uncommon for his presentation on the show - Urataros actually sounded genuinely curious rather than manipulative with his question. 'That being said, I'm reasonably certain that this isn't the work of one of my kind. Reasonably certain rather than completely so because while I'm not sure how this could be the work of an Imagin, after seeing what Ryutaros and Sieg can do… just because you see one fish in the pond doesn't mean there isn't a bigger, tastier fish hiding in the waters.'

The little Ryutaros-inhabited corner of her mind perked up at the mention before settling back down into inactivity, and Willow considered it for a moment before dismissing it. 'Imagin work in the present to go back to the past, right? How could they have turned us into our costumes? Xander's not old enough to even be in the Army yet, so it's not like the Imagin changed things so he enlisted a few years ago or something.' She nibbled on her lip as she thought before letting out a sigh of resignation. 'Even with you in my head, we just plain don't know enough about what's going on to figure it out on our own. We need to talk to someone who knows more about this kind of stuff. We need Giles.'

Momotaros let out a grunt. 'I still think it's suspicious that you know anything about this, even if you don't know exactly what's going on. So I still don't trust you, even if you were willing to let me take over your form to fight those… things. I don't know about the others, but I haven't had time to go digging deep into your memories to see what makes you tick. You could still be the one behind this and just playing dumb.'

"I'm not… why would I… you know what? Fine. Read my mind, then. Go through all of my memories until you're satisfied. I don't have anything to hide because I didn't have anything to do with this! I'm just as much a victim as you guys!" The outburst earned her an uncertain look from Xander but before he could open his mouth to respond, Willow reached up and tapped her finger against her temple. "There's a party in my head right now and everyone's invited."

Realization dawned on Xander's face, and then a pitying look. "They're all in there, aren't they? Momo, Ura, Kin, and Ryu?" Willow nodded and Xander sighed before throwing one arm over her shoulder. "We'll find a way to get them out. Giles is good at this kind of stuff. I'm sure he knows something we can do."

Willow found herself pondering what would happen if Giles really did know how to solve their problem. Namely, what would become of the Imagin currently possessing her body if Giles could find a way to remove them. Was there a real Ryotaro floating around out there who was wondering where is companions were? In some alternate world where Kamen Rider was real and maybe her adventures were fiction? Or were had they been realized by whatever spell turned her Terminal Buckle into the real thing and exorcising them would just send them off into the void somewhere. Or worse, what if it killed them? She didn't necessarily want to spend the rest of her days with four demons living in her head, but they were relatively benevolent demons and so she wasn't really looking to kill them either.

Before Willow could articulate any of these thoughts so that she could get Xander's perspective on the matter, a shrill scream cut through the unusually quiet Sunnydale night. Looking around around wildly, it took her but a moment to spot a brunette in a very familiar red dress racing down the sidewalk. Well, racing was a comparative term. Willow was pretty sure that even she could have run faster than Buffy was moving at the moment. Barefoot. On broken glass.

But Buffy wasn't alone. Close behind the brunette in hot pursuit were a pair of large, slobbering, dog-like demons. They almost reminded Willow of how she thought a werewolf might look if they were real: humanoid but decidedly animalistic at the same time. But it wasn't a full moon, so they couldn't possibly be werewolves… which also meant there was no moralistic debate to be had about slaying something that was still human most of the time. If werewolves were even real. Were werewolves real? She should look into that at some point. The real question of the hour, though, was why was Buffy fleeing from them? It was only two demons. The Slayer probably could have taken them out with one hand tied behind her back.

The brown hair streaming behind Buffy like a comet's tail caught Willow's eye again and then she grimaced as the truth hit her. Buffy the Vampire Slayer could have taken both of the demons without a problem. Whatever medieval lady was currently possessing her best friend's body… considerably less so. Unless she was being possessed by a medieval Slayer. Judging by her behavior, though? Probably not.

That realization came at the same time as the demon catching up with the fleeing Slayer. With a mighty roar, it lashed out with one massive arm, catching Buffy and sending her flying through the air. She hit a nearby car with an almighty thump and slid to the ground sobbing.

Sobbing?

Oh. Well. At least the demon problem was going to be taken care of shortly.

It was a decidedly odd sensation to feel different parts of your brain reacting to a situation. Even as Willow processed the crying form of her friend slumped against the car, she could feel the other Imagin in her head backing out of the way. Mostly because they all knew what was coming. 'Nakeru?'

As much as Willow disliked being possessed and wanted to keep her visiting personalities under control, she also knew that she couldn't handle the demons on her own without becoming Den-O. Given that she didn't really know how to fight? Tackling them herself in Plat Form was out of the question. And Kintaros wouldn't let anyone else get involved as long as Buffy was crying. 'That's right. They made her cry.'

'Nakeru! Nakeru ze!'

Lady Elizabeth Summers sniffled as she cowered back against the strange object she'd been thrown into, back and head burning with pain. Why was all of this happening to her? Had she somehow offended the Lord and this was His form of divine retribution? That must be it. Otherwise, how would she come to be in this strange and uncivilized land, when last she'd been safely ensconced in her bed at home?

There was a loud roar and Elizabeth looked up, far up, at the strange dog-like beasts standing over her. So, this was it then. She'd never get to marry, or have a child, or even host her own dinner party. Some noblewoman she'd turned out to be.

Suddenly, the dog creatures' heads whipped around to stare at an approaching figure. It reminded Elizabeth a tiny bit of the knights of old, from the storybooks her father read to her before bed. Encased in yellow and silver armor was a person holding a large axe in one hand. "My strength will make you cry." There was a burst of wind, and pieces of white paper fluttered around them, a few landing at Elizabeth's feet. "Wipe your tears with this."

"Aroo?" The dog creatures looked at each other and gave very human-like shrugs before turning to face the newcomer. The knight reached up and gripped his own jaw, jerking his head to the side with a noisy pop before making a beckoning gesture at the two beasts. The creatures gave each other another look before charging into battle.

The dogs had large, drooling mouths full of sharp teeth, not to mention very sharp claws and strong arms. Elizabeth knew firsthand how sharp said claws were, and how strong the wolves were from her rather impromptu flight into… whatever this unholy horseless carriage-like object she was resting against was.

The knight was armed solely with an axe, his rather unimpressive body covered in black, silver, and yellow armor that didn't seem especially sturdy or thick.

It was no contest.

The first dog was felled with a brutal horizontal slash of the knight's axe. There was a moment in which the head spun in midair, propelled forward by the monster's own speed, before it hit the ground with a wet splat and rolled to a stop. Elizabeth fought the urge to vomit at the sight.

Her other tormenter faired no better against this odd knight. Each lunging bite or swipe of claws was met with the now-silent knight's axe, leaving small slashes all over the wolf's body as he whittled away at the monster. The dog seemed to get angrier or more desperate with each failed strike, lashing out harder and faster, but the knight showed no signs of panicking. Each attack was calmly met with a sharp clang of fangs or claws against a metal axe.

Finally, the knight seemed to grow weary of the game. Pulling out a black object the size of his hand, he dipped it over his belt buckle. The buckle flickered with golden light and a strange, inhuman voice came out of nowhere. "Full Charge."

Letting out a grunt, the knight tossed his axe into the air. The silver blade glinted in the glow of the street lamps as it spun end over end and then its owner leapt skyward after it. Wrapping his hand around the handle, he brought it down with a thunderous crash and an explosion of yellow energy. "Dynamic Chop."

The final dog didn't die so much as explode in a shower of fur, blood, and gore. Elizabeth let out a shriek as her expensive dress was covered in filth, clapping her hand over her mouth as the unknown knight turned to regard her. After a moment of inspection, he popped his neck again and then reached to unclasp his belt.

A bright flash of yellowish light had Elizabeth blinking spots from her eyes. The scene she found herself with had her blinking again. The knight's armor was gone, somehow, and she discovered that what should have been a gallant gentleman was actually a woman. A woman in a shirt that was far too small for her, and britches of all things!

This was all too strange for her. Strange places, stranger creatures, and now a mysterious knight who was actually an indecently-dressed woman. There was only one way a woman of her stature and breeding could handle such a situation.

Elizabeth's eyes rolled back into her head and she passed out.

Willow let out a little curse as Buffy slumped over against the car that she'd been thrown into, clearly unconscious. Revello Drive was within walking distance, sure, but was it within carrying an unconscious Slayer distance? Probably not. Especially given that she couldn't ask Xander to do it; she wanted him on protection duty because his gun could more easily - and sanely - scare off demons both real and possessed than her transformations could.

Making her way over to where Buffy was laying, she slid her arms under the Slayer and then grunted as she tried to hoist Buffy into the air. Crap. Was Buffy heavier than she looked or was she really that weak? 'Kintaros? A little help?' Soft snores greeted her request and Willow let out an annoyed sigh. 'Momotaros? Urataros? Someone? Anyone?'

There was a strange rushing sensation and then Willow found herself in the passenger's seat of her own body, watching as she hoisted Buffy into the air with apparent ease. 'I'm only doing this because we'll get answers faster if we're not standing around here all night staring at this worthless girl.' Okay but did Momotaros really need to insult Buffy? If he had been looking through her memories as she'd instructed him to, he should know how important she is. 'She may be important in the grand scheme of things but right now is all that matters and right now she's useless.' Fair. 'Now where are we going? The sooner we get her to safety, the sooner we can get back to figuring out what's actually going on around here.'

Wow. Since when was Momotaros the reasonable, logical one out of the bunch?

'Hey! I heard that!'