Three days later Dan was in the same play park as the one in which Yuki was abducted, sitting on a bench staring at the desperate ground.
"Why? Why did not I tell him about it?" Dan thought, wanting to find a way to fix everything but not getting there because of the regrets.
Sento, on his side, was walking alone in the shops looking for a sign of Genm's activities. And he saw a complete ray of a game whose vision terrified him.
"It's not true..." says Sento a copy of the game... Kamen Rider Chronicle.
Back to Dan, he left the park and found himself in a tunnel to be greeted by Graphite looking at him with a rarely matched complacency.
"Surprised to see me?" He asked staring at Dan who had a neutral expression.
"Not at all. How does it feel to be level 99 now?" Dan asked, surprising Graphite.
"How can you be..." Graphite can not finish his sentence because Dan runs in his direction and a fight with bare hands without being transformed began.
Dan and Graphite fought hard but Graphite, who usually fights in Bugster, quickly lost the advantage and was pressed against the wall with Dan's arm holding his neck against the wall.
"It's stupid, life. You are too used to transforming yourself before starting the fight. I took classes in club well before I was there. Now you'll answer my question: What did you do to him?!" Dan said before Graphite gave him an eighth foot knocking him to the ground.
"All I have come to tell you is that Kamen Rider Chronicle is finished and in the trade. When you beat the lower and middle Bugsters we will be able to fight in the rules of the art. Graphite said before grabbing Dan by the collar and lifting him up to show him his dominance in the situation. "And I'll kill the keyblade master you called "your wife." Genm told me about it and I'll take pleasure in killing her under your helpless eyes." He threatened to lower it to the ground before leaving.
Dan's eyes turned red before freeing himself from Garphite and attacking him with all his might. He eventually breaks his teeth and makes him bleed in his mouth, catching him and running away. His eyes returned to normal and he looked perplexed at the blood on his hand wondering how it happened.
An hour later Emu and Parad arrive where they received a Bugster alert to see Salty and Bugster henchmen face Kamen rider completely brown without a Game Driver and no sign to differentiate them from each other.
"What's going on?" Emu asked, shocked at what he saw.
"I do not believe it, Kamen Rider Chonicle is complete." Parad asked why he did not feel anything special in this case before realizing what they did. "And they replaced me with Aqua." Parad realized.
For his part, Hiiro seeing what was happening remained puzzled seeing riders kamens like those seen Emu in front of the hospital face Aranbura and henchmen Bugsters.
"Patients are fighting Bugsters. What is going on?" He said in complete misunderstanding.
At the same time Hiiro, Emu and Parad take their Game Driver on their size and use their Gashat.
Taddle Quest!
Mighty Action X!
"Henhsin." They say before putting their Gashat in their Game Driver and open the lever.
Gashat!
Dual Gashat!
Gachan! Level Up! Mighty Jump! Mighty Kick! Mighty, Mighty Action X
Gachan! Mazaru Up! Akai kobushi tsuyosa! Aoi Puzzle rensa! Aka to ao no kousa! Perfect Knock Out!
Gachan! Level Up! (Son de style médiévale) Taddle! Meguru! Taddle! Meguru! Taddle Quest~!
Once transformed into Brave and Ex-aid level 2 and Para-DX level 99 they interfere in their respective battle to keep the Brown Riders away from the Bugsters without success.
Ex-Aid and Para-DX see a civilian pressed twice on a Gashat shocking them that a civilian is in possession.
Kamen Rider Chronicle!
The civilian pressed the Gashat a second time transforming it.
Enter the Game! Ri-Riding the End!
Suddenly the civilian turned into the same kind of rider as the ones they are trying to get away from the more shocking Bugster Ex-Aid and Para-DX.
"How a cheek? There is no tutorial?" Asked the civilian now Rider.
"Hello." Said Poppy appearing from nowhere sitting on a roof attracting everyone's attention.
"What?" Say Ex-Aid and Parad seeing Poppy.
"You called me ?" Poopy asked the Rider. "I'm the navigator of this game, Poppy Pipopapo!" She said to the Rider.
On the side of Dan and by extension Sento they saw while roaming Poppy on all the televisions, each one in a different store and Taiga saw it on his screen the sales figures of Genm Corp soared.
"I do not believe it ... How can Genm Corporation sales grow so fast?" Taiga said stunned before watching the new products on her computer.
Nico came running to the Taiga clinic to show her what she discovered.
"We're bad, Taiga! Look at this! Look!" Nico said, showing him his phone.
"You annoys me. I do not have time for that! Taiga said trying to push her away.
"I'm serious ! Look, quickly!" Nico said holding him by the neck.
"What? But it's..." He said seeing Poppy on Nico's phone.
Poppy appeared in all the places where there were brown Riders and screen of the city surprising all the Rider who thought she was missing and Miku who saw her from the CR screen.
"In this game, the Players turn into a hero called Ride Players who face the Bugsters in reality! This game is called..." Before continuing she took a turn on herself as the title screen of the game appears next to her. "Kamen Rider Chronicle!" She finished.
"Impossible..." Dan says afraid that the worst fear he has had since Aqua left is realized.
"The new generation of video games has arrived! Kamen Rider Chronicle is the ultimate fighting game where the virtual world mixes with reality! Buy it today! You too can become a hero!" Poppy says while Taiga is speechless.
"Kamen Rider Chronicle?" He said thinking about what Dan had said after their fight showing that Aqua betrayed them.
Flashback
"It's a survival game in which players battle the Bugsters in the real world." Dan explained.
"He's right. Kuroto has been doing this for years and it would surprise me to stop it so easily." Parad said confirming Dan's words for the doctors.
"Then we can not do anything to stop him?" Emu asked.
"Seen how stubborn he would be to kill him to stop." Sento replied knowing how true all of this is.
End of flashback
"It's a joke?" Ex-Aid said.
Dan's mother saw the same thing on the screen of a hospital room.
"Are you worried?" His patient asked him.
"Yes, my son knows every corner of this game and with what happened I'm scared for him." She replied.
"Do not worry he must be able to cope if he knows this game as well." The patient said trying to reassure her about it.
She pretended to believe it but knows that with Aqua's "betrayal" and Yuki's kidnapping it's only a matter of time before the inevitable happens to her son.
"In the levels you will find 14 Bugsters. If you beat all the Bugsters and you win all the trophies by finishing the game, the Ultimate Bugster's door, that is to say the final boss, will open to you!" Poppy explained.
Dan had more than enough left him to the premises of Gemn Corp to go and see Kuroto and force him to explain. Once there, he pushed back the secretary who was trying to prevent him from seeing the boss and entered his office and pushed away the staff who were congratulating him on the sales that still did not stop in front of his desk.
"I have two things to tell you, Gemn." Dan said clearly.
"Yours, G Wizard. Do you come to claim my divine forgiveness?" Kuroto asked proud of his success before Dan took him by the collar and took him out of his chair to flatten him against the table on the side with a force surprising everyone on his part having a normal build.
"I come to order you to return to normal Aqua again. It's inevitably you who are behind it. So you better do it because otherwise you will see that I can be less nice than the last time we fought." Dan said, letting go.
Kuroto took Dan's threat lightly and just put the parts of his wrinkled suit back on by Dan.
"Leave us please." Kuroto asked the staff who came out of his office. "I propose a compromise. Did you have to see Poppy's announcement?" Kuroto said.
"How could I not have? She was on all the TVs in the city." Dan replied, suppressing his urge to swing Kuroto through the windows of his office.
"This is what I propose you brings 6 Trophies and comes to bring them to me. Once done you will be able to face Aqua although it is part of the High Level. And if you win I'll do everything in my power to bring it back to normal." Kuroto offered.
"And I guess there is a "but"." Dan says finding this market too easy.
"Of course. The fight will be broadcast live on all social networks. That way at the time of your defeat knowing that you are one of the most powerful Riders, they will see that they can not do anything against me anymore." Kuroto said.
Dan knew why Kuroto was so sure of his defeat and could not do anything for Aqua, but he did not hesitate for a second.
"I accept, Kuroto Dan." Dan said before heading to the exit of the office.
"I gave up the name of Kuroto Dan..." Kuroto started as Dan turned to face him and see him admire the city from the windows of his office with his hands behind his back. "Now I am ... Shin Kuroto Dan!" He finished as he spread his arms up to his shoulders.
Dan looked in the direction of a wall to see a locked safe.
"He's been preparing Kamen Rider Chronicle for years as well as the Gashats..." Dan reflected before realizing what could be in this chest and out of the office.
He went to the hospital and saw his mother wait in front of the door of the CR.
"You were waiting for me?" Dan asked, drawing his mother's attention.
"Yes, I was afraid you'd make a dumpling." She replied.
"Well, you're not far off the mark." He said.
"Why?" Mai asked.
"I'll explain once in the CR I have something urgent to do." Dan said.
Dan used his card to open the door to enter the CR and continued on with his mother to the main hall to see Emu, Parad, and Hiiro getting disinfected and healing some wounds by Sento and Miku.
"What happened ? Any Ride-Players have you on it or what?" Dan asked even though, he already knew the answer.
"That's exactly it. He uses us as part of Gameplay to steal our Gashats to use our weapons." Explained Parad. "And not that I want to do it. But it's easier to kill them than just trying to stop them even if they attack us. I am a lover of the difficulty but I have my limits." He said.
Dan then uses CR TV to communicate with the Minister of Health.
"Who is Mr. Kasumi?" Asked the Minister of Health.
"I ask Mai Kasumi to be part of the nurses caring for patients with Bugster Virus." Dan said surprising his mother.
"Why do you want this to happen?" Asked the Minister of Health.
"Because she's already infected, she knows what the patients are going through and can be as supportive as Asuna who's under enemy control." Dan said.
"I see, I grant you this but it is as a tentative time that Miss Asuna has not returned." Said the health minister before cutting off the communication.
"Why did you decide to do that?" Hiiro asked.
"She's the only person I care about being safe right now. So I want it to stay that way." Dan said before leaving the CR leaving everyone alone.
Dan went home to see Aqua looking at a picture of her and Dan in the City Park's Rollercoasters, where they both seemed to be having fun.
"Aqua..." Dan says before Aqua speaks.
"I can not believe I could fall in love with you. With what you wanted to do to me I finally know that humans do not deserve the light but only the darkness. You did not accept me as I am." Aqua said coldly.
"No Aqua, you're wrong, I want to give you the choice. My reprogramming will only serve to turn into human those who will be resurrected since the Proto Gashats. You and the other bugsters you will have the choice. You have my word. But I beg you do not do that. Stay with me... you represent everything for me." Dan pleaded unable to contain his tears.
Aqua approached him and gave him a colder look than winter.
"It's too late. Kuroto told me about your market. Gather the requested number of trophies and fight me to see if you deserve or not that I forgive you." She said before going out the door, jostling him voluntarily, making her hear a phrase nowhere spoken by Aqua. "Nobody can save you. And nobody has the will. Especially not Dan." Said the voice as Aqua left the apartment.
Dan stepped into the room he shared with Aqua without saying a word and sees lying on his bed a young woman with long red hair wearing a ponytail and red eyes, wearing "clothes", if we can call this way, leaving very little room for imagination (look Kasumi Konuichi 2 on Google image, the first 2 results will show you what it looks like).
"Who are you and what are you doing in bed?" Dan asked coldly.
"That's how we welcome a woman who has come to help?" The woman asked.
"If she breaks into our room." Dan answered.
"I am Kasumi." The woman stood in front of the bed and stood in front of Dan, showing that she is more of a head than he is. "And I came to offer you a power allowing you to recover faster your sweetheart." She said seductively moving her fingers over Dan's chest, which removed them as soon as she finished.
"What would you bring?" Dan asked wearily.
"The satisfaction of helping a handsome young man like you." She replied, showing in her hands a Bugvisor and Bugster Buckle. "With this and the contents of Genm's vault, you'll get enough power to defeat the Bugsters and get your sweetheart back in no time." She explains before putting them in Dan's hands and leaving the house, moving her hips seductively, thinking that Dan's attention was on her.
But Dan stared at what she had given him before he threw them into the closet mirror he shared with Aqua, breaking the mirror at the moment of the impact and knocked a cardboard box into it. a package in the color of G Wizard Level 2. Dan looked at the box before removing the package and opening the box revealing a Wayfinder like the one Aqua had made for her and her friends in Kingdom Hearts Birth By Sleep, but red with a letter inside inside that he hastened to read.
(A / N: it's the words of "Kingdom Hearts - "Dearly Beloved" Vocal Cover (FULL) | AmaLee worm" so if you want to listen to it and zap the text version go for it)
"One day, you will realize
The stars that you pursue shine in the depths of you
But will you let them shine?
And put all your fears aside
You will see the light, but until that day comes...
My dear beloved
Be strong, I'll be there
Always here by your side
So keep your head up
The darkness of this world will try to steal you in their arms
But I belong to yours
We are one in a dream
So stay with me
All our memories scattered
I will find the pieces, one by one
The waves of the ocean drift on me
I will keep you in my memory
This dream that lives in your eyes
I wish to see it become reality
A thousand blades to the sky
Hold your hand and connect our worlds, yours and mine
Let the tide rush on you
And one day, I know we'll meet again,
My dear beloved
In spite of all that you have done for me, I can only offer you this and my love for you. Do not forget to stay who you are.
I love you Dan Kasumi
Aqua"
Reading this letter is just filling Dan with sadness, despair, and determination as he finally decides what to do.
At the same time, the Riders trying to prevent the Ride-Players from fighting fail by being repulsed or trying to steal their Gashats and the Ride-Players end up being beaten by the Salty Bugster.
"I will try again !" Said one of the Rider-Player turned civilian before he and the others saw the Bugster Virus manifesting itself on them. "What? What happens to us?" He asked.
"Hello ! You called me ? I am the "navigator" of this game Poppy Pipopapo! When a Player loses a fight and gets a game over, he dies"! Poppy said in her happy tone that the Riders know so well that they were shocked at what they heard except for Parad.
"We are going to die ?" A shocked civilian says to hear it as he and the others start to disappear. "No... I do not want to die!" He said before disappearing with the other civilians pleading for his life.
"There is "no continue" in this game! You only have one life so take care of it! Aim for the title of number one hero in the world! Let's game!" Poppy said as the civilians had just died before disappearing.
All the Riders as well as Nico who attended the stage watched the floor regretting not being able to save them.
Several hours later, as night fell on the city, in the basement of Gemn Corporation all the Bugsters of Kamen Rider Chronicle are gathered savoring this first victory on the Riders. Graphite him on the other hand was less it is seen with its frowning and bandage that it has on the nose. While Aqua mocks him.
"You're really telling me that Dan broke your nose when you were not transformed." Aqua mocked before Graphite grabbed him from the top of his clothes.
"Calm down Graphite." G Wiseman in plainclothes wearing a white suit with his hair styled back as he held Yuki's hand to reassure her because of the number of Bugster's in the room with no human appearance. "Dan Kasumi may be tenacious. But we have what he likes most. The woman he loves." He said pointing to Aqua. "This is the only person whose loss will make him emotionally unstable, the only one here who has a chance to kill him. And he and this Sento are the only ones with the best chance of stopping us." He reassured.
"Anyway, we Bugsters, will become the masters of the earth in no time." Said Graphite sure of his victory.
"But I want our Players to have fun again!" Poppy said.
"I agree." Kuroto said entering the basement and the discussion. "Too easy a game would not be worthy of my talent. What's more, G Wizard must be dragged lower than land for what he has tried to do." He said gaining Aqua's interest.
"And what are you going to do? After all, you made a deal with him." She said.
"A market that my share if it wins against you can not be done because I can not make you become ignorant of what he wanted to do to you again." Kuroto said.
"And with Kuroto's permission otherwise he was going to sulk..." G Wiseman said pulling out a blue Gashat from his pants for the given to Aqua. "Here's a little present for your debut in this game." He said as Aqua took the dark blue Gashat to see him.
The Gashat represents the Bugsters, facing a warrior, whose appearance is impossible to guess being wrapped in an aura darker than darkness with the name "0.2 Birth By Sleep - A Fragmentary Passage -".
"Master Aqua... show us your strength." G Wiseman said before Aqua kisses her.
Kuroto gave Poppy a silver and green Bugvisor with the red A button and the light blue B button and a pink Gashat with the white back representing a schoolgirl in the same style as Poppy with the name "Toki Meki Crisis".
A few minutes later G Wiseman and Kuroto arrive in his office to see the open trunk door as if it had been cut in half, the contents stolen and a broken window. Kuroto rushed to the safe as if he had stolen the contents of a lifetime while G Wiseman looked out the window wondering who could do that with a serene look as if he already knew the answer.
In one of the neighborhoods of the city a man wearing a long black hooded coat walked in the city a black Gashat in his hand and was stopped in his march by a gang of teenagers looking at what he has in hand.
"You took that from a Kamen Rider." One of the band members guessed. "Give it to us and we'll let you go. The heroes of this game will be us." The member tells him as he and the others each pull out a Gashat Kamen Rider Chronicle and snap it into action.
Kamen Rider Chronicle!
Band members once again relied on their Gashats a second time turning them into Ride-Players.
Enter the Game! Ri-Riding the End!
The hooded man raised his arm showing the Gashat revealing a hand covered with purple crack and the Gashat who is a Proto Gashat Kamen Rider Chronicle that he interlocked in his turn.
Kamen Rider Chronicle!
A dozen seconds later the Ride-Players are on the ground back in civilian clothes but starting to disappear.
"Please, help us. We do not want to die." Begged the one who obviously is the leader of this band.
The man only went on his way without saying a word, abandoning them to their fate. Without knowing it Kasumi and a man in a suit with a black Fedora hat with a blood red band, wearing a belt with a slot for visibly a USB key have watched the scene.
"Do you really think it's a good idea to do that?" Kasumi asked.
"We need the girl to be normal for the success of the plan. Moreover, the awakening of the god is approaching just like the new war. It's only a matter of time and everything will be ready..." Before continuing, the man held out his hand to Kasumi as behind them a gate opens. "Ready to go home my queen?" The man asked.
"With great pleasure my dear husband." Kasumi answered before taking the man's hand and crossing the gate hand in hand.
(A / N: as correction and retranslation (because it's basically French) take more time than expected here is one of the chapters I wrote in advance if you want to see the other chapters that I wrote in avnce say it in the comment and do not forget to give me your opinion on the chapter that I really enjoy.)