G A L : GAME ALL LIFE (G A L ：ゲームオールライフ) Chapter 4: Level 4, a Kamen Rider + Date A Live/デート・ア・ライブ Crossover fanfic

「 Date A Live is a Japanese Light Novel series that was written by Koushi Tachibana, illustrated by Tsunako, published by Fujimi Shobo under the label Fujimi Fantasia Bunko, and is source of the whereabouts and background of this story originates. 」
「 Kamen Rider is a series of manga, television shows, and films originally created by Shotaro Ishinimori. Currently, the television shows are run and owned by Toei Company, and have been ongoing for over 50 years. The entry utilized for this crossover story, Ex-Aid, was written and scripted by Yuya Takahashi. 」
「 This story will, and is intended to, have original elements of its own based on ideas set into side/film stories that are from both series. 」

"Approaching the site of the reading, Kusakabe-taichou."

Origami's trigger finger twitched at the sound of that. Slowly, she would turn her attention to the wall of the aircraft she stood in alongside a fraction of her squad mates. Mounted on it were several copies of each of the weapons she and the rest of the AST would take out on their missions.

Though, with how jumbled her thoughts were, that wasn't what she saw.

On the wall she saw a reflection of Shido as she thought back to a very thought-provoking conversation they had.

"Yatogami Tohka is dangerous. Stay as far away from her as you can, Shido." Origami would order, her stance and gaze both firm.

Shido would sigh, rubbing his temple softly, "No, Tobiichi. I'm not going to do that. She's my friend. I could never abandon her like that and leave her to be killed by you and your team."

"You say that because you are a naturally kindhearted person. This I'm well aware of..." Origami would then step forward, pushing against his shoulder to pin him to the wall. "But. I cannot let that change the circumstances here. She is a Special Designation Disaster Being. Or, by what you seem to prefer to call her, a Spirit. Do you know why she is given that classification?"

Shido would give a silent gulp in response.

"It is because their presence alone is dangerous enough to cause this Earth to rupture from an unknown force that we can't even begin to comprehend. Their mana is on a whole different level to ours. They lack the need to use technology to achieve the same feats that we have trained for years to accomplish." Origami narrowed her eyes. "I refuse to allow anyone, not even you, to distract us from that fact simply because there's a chance, they may be benevolent. That puts your and all of Japan's lives at risk for a gamble I personally am far from willing to wager."

"Then..." Shido lifted his hand softly, firmly grasping Origami's hand as he removed it slowly. "I'll have to respond in kind." He would then narrow his eyes as well, "From what personal experience I have with them, the Spirits, or SDDBs if you will, are only targeted because their power goes berserk for a brief period when they arrive in this world. I'll admit I don't know where they come from or even how they exist. But I do know that they don't mean any true harm to us. They're simply trying to live their lives: same as you and me."

Letting go of her hand once he moved it to her side, he would clutch his fists briefly before beginning to turn away, "And if no one else will support them on that front.. I will."

Origami now had the same puzzled expression on her face that she did back then.

What did Shido see that she simply could not? Did he not understand what they did to the both of them in the tragedy five years ago? Origami only had to think of the word Spirit and the memories of the flames mixed with the screams of her dying parents came flooding into her mind. Perhaps it was the trauma that made her remember and Shido not. It could be possible that the ways they viewed the experience caused their minds to approach their recollections differently.

For Origami, the anger and rage she felt five years ago not only caused her to remember what happened much more clearly each passing night but miniaturized her need to openly express any other emotion until vengeance was fulfilled. Until the one that hurt them would be screaming in the same manner her parents did.

But perhaps for Shido, it was very different. He didn't even recall who she was. Despite him being the one to save her from jumping into the fire to go to whatever place her parents were now. She could recall the fear in his eyes despite him trying to reassure her that day. She wouldn't even be surprised if that were enough for his brain to lock as many memories away as possible to keep him from being driven mad.

That must be why he could forgive them. Because he couldn't recall the grave sin their kind has done to the both of them. Her family went from three to one in an instant. In fact, she was even sure a few months back Shido himself was another statistic. If that were the case... Then she'd simply have to wipe out every Spirit before Shido could remember that pain.

Before she could lose herself to that pain.

"All units, gear up!"

Origami would be snapped out of her thoughts by a command from her captain, walking over to the wall and grabbing her one each of a mana revolver, plasma blade, and guard brace. Once strapping those onto her armor, she would grab a grenade pack which would contain 5 frags and 6 standard-issue territory grenades.

Turning back to the door, she would come to quip a brow at the screams that would pick up from her ear com.

"What the hell?! Argh-!"

"HIROKAWA! Tch... Damn it! What is that thing?!"

"I don't know, Kusakabe-taichou! We can't pinpoint its exact reading, but it does match that of a Spirit!"

"Tch...! Alright, all ground units surround the target and overwhelm it!"

"Ryokai!"

Her lip twitching slightly, Origami would tighten her grip on the edge of the doorway. Then, with a small huff, she would leap out from the helicopter despite the screams of detest from her peers.

As she began dropping down toward the earth below, the pitch armor over her body expanded to form red wings and a red guard over her upper legs as the silver booster that appeared under the wings would fire on with a roar. Drawing the energy blade from her side, she would let out a roar as she rained down from the heavens.

"GAAGH!" Stepping back, Hiro would look down as he saw the life-bar on his chest dropping down towards the edge.

Looking forward, he would watch the world upturn as he fell onto his back. Grunting, he would hear the sounds of Ruka's screams for him to get up in his mind. Then, these sounds in his mind would sharpen.

Looking downward, he would see the wheel flying toward him, coated with dark green energy that released sparks outward. There was no time for him to escape.

"If that life bar drops to zero: that's it. You'll die." Ruka crossed her arms, sitting on the steps in the room they took base in the Ratatoskr. "Are you sure you want to do this?"

"Don't worry, Ruka." Hiro waved his hand, focusing his attention on the hologram in the center as he poked it lightly and watched with mesmerisation as it dissolved into pixels and reformed to its original circular shape. "I couldn't possibly lose a game. I'm a genius gamer, remember?"

"Hmm..." Ruka would let out a sigh, shrugging as she placed her chin in her palm.

Hiro cursed upon himself. He was wrong. He lost this game. This survival game. He was supposed to be the best of the best, but he lost. Lost to a doppelganger none the less.

This couldn't be it... No way... He had to take down the Bugster virus. He had to beat the game!

"Are you alright?!"

Was he alright...? No. Far from it. He was on the verge of death. The wheel before him would swing in a circular motion, carving against the ground and expanding its veil of energy as an explosion that would shroud around his body.

Hiro would scream out in pain as he was flung into the air. His screams were muted, however, as the sounds of the energy violently clawing at the surrounding space would overpower any sound he could produce.

This was it. It was over. He reached out toward the sky as he found himself falling. The clouds above only became farther as he was dropping toward the ground below.

After the sound of a massive breeze, it would be followed by the sounds of crashing tides. Realizing what the sounds was, he would widen his eyes with a sharp inhale before it all went to black.

. . .

"Excuse me! Are you alright?!"

The sound erupting him from the darkness, Hiro would scream out as he sat up quickly, coughing out a few pours of water as the breathes he took after were sharp and fast. Examining his surroundings, he would notice that he was sitting on a patch of sand among the shore of Tengu Beach.

Turning toward his left, he would see the girl he encountered before school earlier. Noting how her attire had been drenched save for her socks and shoes which had been discarded not far off, it was clear to Hiro that she was the one responsible for saving his life.

"Oh, thank goodness you're ok. It was a stroke of luck that I was staring off into space before I found you." She brushed back her brown locks as she offered the boy a sweet smile.

Taking a moment to stabilize his breaths, he returned the smile. "Yeah. It definitely was."

"He seems peaceful. A pleasant dream, I wager."

Hiro's eyes shot open. For real, this time. Quickly, he sprouted up, sitting up on what he found to be a hospital bed. Getting into a soft fit of harsh breaths quieted by his confusion to his locale. Looking to either side, he was met wtih a cold stare from Reiko Uehara. To him? A stranger.

He nearly jumped at the eyes piercing into him but was able to steel himself before he overreacted. Taking a deep breath, he made a small smile.

"I... You saved me, right...? Thank you."

"You're welcome." Reiko pushed up her glasses, raising her tablet softly. "Now, before we continue: I'd like to get something clear for all of us. You are Hiroki Takahashi, or more notoriously known on the internet as Genius Gamer Blank/[_] correct?"

"Uh-" Hiroki's eyes shot wide at this, he never recalled linking any information that made it apparent who he was to any of his game accounts. "I-"

"C'mon! We already know the answer, yes he's Blank. Let's just get onto the more important thing." Sitting in the chair next to the bed was Katsuyuki Okamoto, who leaned his head back, looking to Hiro with a smirk. "So, I dunno how you got your hands on Console 01, but I'm impressed you did."

"Well-" Hiro sweatdropped, getting the feeling he was being interrogated.

"Worry not. We are aware you aren't the one who stole the console." Reiko gave a small chuckle to his reaction, "..neither are we affiliated with the police. You do not need to worry."

A sigh of relief escaping from Hiro's lips prompted the woman to present her tablet to the boy.

"If you would please, our president would like to deliver a message to you. Unfortunately, he had business to attend to, so he was unable to be here in person."

Before Hiro could question the words such as president and business, his answers were soon questioned by the logo that appeared on the screen once it got into his hands.

'Genm Corporation.' He repeated what he read in his mind, watching as Hiroyuki's face appeared on the screen.

Satoshi would be sitting back in his chair, staring at his laptop as he flipped through the images he presented to Kazuya.

"He called them fairy tales huh.." He sighed, tossing them down on the part of the table beside the laptop.

"Hm? Why are you so bummed out? Isn't it normal for Aragaki-san to not believe you?" Asuka took a pause in her typing, looking up toward Satoshi with a brow raised.

Returning her gaze, Satoshi would let out a soft sigh. "Yeah.. But, this time I actually have some solid evidence and he decided to just brush it off." He sat back, staring at the ceiling. "Really sucks, ya know?"

"Man, I never knew you to be the type of guy to just give up." Asuka would return her attention to the screen in front of her. "I'm sure there's more to this we don't know yet."

[...is what she said. But that much was pretty damn obvious.]

Satoshi would step out of his black Toyota Prius, walking from the parking lot of a neighboring shop to a set of apartment buildings just a few meters north. Reaching his destination soon, he would make his way to the doorstep of the center building.

Examining his surroundings, he would let out a soft whistle to signify that he felt safe on his path, despite the darkness of night surrounding. Far above, the crescent moon would gleam over the two clouds that shielded its edges from view.

[Yeah, I got kinda unlucky. I'm smack dab in the center of one of the loudest apartment complexes in the city. If I could, I would move out. But. Since money's getting kinda tight at the moment, I can't exactly do that. The landlord never believes me when I try to give 'em noise complaints, anyway, so I guess I'll just have to endure it.]

Fiddling with the key a bit, he would manage to turn it inside the hole after 2 brief trial-and-errors. Extracting the key, he would lift his hand slightly to turn the knob, stepping inside.

After two clicks of his heels notified him that he was fully within the building, he closed the door behind him. Letting out a sigh of relief, he would crouch down, carefully removing either shoe and setting them aside.

"Feels great to be home."

He would quietly mutter to himself, removing his S.I.C. Jacket and placing it over the top of the hanger next to him. Afterwards, he would draw his phone out from his pocket and blink, seeing a plethora of notifications awaiting his attention. Scrolling through them all as he began to walk into the hallway, he would notice one from a contact that read Miyoko Harada, causing him to raise a brow.

"What could Harada want? Usually she's always clinging to that Haruhiko guy."

When the two were in High School, Satoshi knew Miyoko as the girl every girl sought to be. She was popular, had been practically friends with everyone, and had been very talented. It honestly surprised him when he found out that her fiancé was.. Well.. The opposite.

The guy shook like a leaf whenever the lone wolf, Isamu Bito, attempted to flick him upside the forehead for annoying the latter.

Well, whatever. It wasn't his place to judge if she finds herself happy with him. Following through with this mindset, he decided to examine the message she left him; it could have been important.

{Onozuka-kun! I heard you were down about Kazuya-taichou disapproving your case. Don't give up, though! Onozuka-kun can do a lot when he puts his mind to it! I've seen you do a lot of cool things back in High School ya know!}

After finishing his read, he smiled a bit. Knowing he's got some support was helpful. Though, he was curious as to what cool things she was describing. Deciding to let that thought pass, he returned his phone to his pocket and proceeded onward to the kitchen just up ahead.

[Oh well. I'm sure Sakura'll have something more for me tomorrow.]

Turning towards his left, he would face his white fridge with some additions of silver on the handles and edges. Grasping onto one of these handles, he would open the right door. Examing the shelves that decorated the back of the door, he would reach downward towards the third and final shelf. Once having reached his target, his fingers coiled around the handle of a milk carton, which he would draw out softly which made a soft rustle at its departure from the storage space.

Turning a bit, he would let out a breath, noticing a puff of bright grey escaped from his mouth.

[It was then that I noticed.. It had gotten significantly colder than when I first arrived..]

The silence that followed after would be suddenly shattered at the sounds of music playing from a close proximity, followed by the sounds of two voices that seemed hazy. Satoshi easily recognized this was from his television, on the channel that he often turns to once the others have no entertainment left to offer to him.

Slowly, he would make his way towards the living room to investigate the living room. Stepping forward into the room, what he would soon.. Come.. To find.. Was..

Eyeing a figure he had not been expecting to see, Satoshi let out a small shriek as a mass of chills had went up and down his spine. Though, after his body relaxed post-adjusting to the bitter conditions, the male would blink at who the figure was exactly.

"What the- . . . Wait. Aren't you that kid from the other day?"

Yoshinon, who had previously been entranced by what had been playing on the television set before her, had turned her head slowly. Her motion would stop once her gaze met with Satoshi's. After realizing who it was, her eyes widened slightly before she pulled her hood over her head a bit.

『 Opening Cue:
EXCITE「Daichi Miura」』

「 I Gotta Believe! 」
A mass of DNA strands would be shown, all of them seeming to static with pixels of different colors, before they would all glow a bright orange, Bugster symbols flying out from them.

「 [Instrumental] 」
The Bugster virus bits would all soon blur, colliding with one another to form ten Gashats, one of which including Mighty Action X. The ten cartridges would soon all float downward, spinning in a circle for a brief moment until they had been blown away by an explosion of white light, it breaking into pixels and forming a selection screen.

「 I Don't Wanna Know.. Beta na shinjitsu nara.. 」
Coming from the first panel would be Hiro, who had looked to the screen with a blink as he tried to jump toward it, Ruka pulling him back, a cutout of Ex-Aid Level 2 form behind them. The next panel had featured within it Toshiki with his hands in his pockets. Turning toward his front, he would raise his hands slowly as a cutout of Brave appeared behind him.

「 I Don't Wanna Know.. Shira nai kurai ga yoi noni.. 」
Within the third panel had been Shido, who had adjusted his wrist for a moment, emerging from it ten small figures, nine of them being silhouettes while the first had been a chibi version of Tohka, who blinked and looked around as ten more shapes had appeared as the cutout behind him, one of which being Tohka's sword. Then, upon the panel turning again, it would be another blur that had kicked forward, behind it being a cutout of a yellow game themed motorcycle.

「 Why? Why? Why? Why...? Kizukeba I Came Too Far..! 」
The panel would soon turn again, revealing Sho and Asuna, who would both slowly look upward as they stood back to back, the cutouts behind them being blurred out. This time, the panel would be shot through, which Sho and Asuna both jumped in time to dodge as a navy blue and yellow Rider had stood, a navy and white gun in his hand as in the cutout behind him had been a figure that in its pose showed that it had its backed turned, looking out toward what had been beyond the panel.

「 Tomaranai kanjiru kono yokan wa.. 」
The first and third panels would shake lightly, pixels writhing from their edges. Inside, Hiro would stand from the ground slowly, looking upwards as he did. Soon, it would transition to Shido doing the same, just facing the opposing side, before the panels crossed one another, showing that both of their irises had a brief glow to them at the moment they did so.

「 The New Be~gin~ning! 」
Inside of the dark room from the video, the same three figures stood, all facing different directions, it first showing Genm facing forward, a green vapor breezing over him and changing him into his Shakariki Sports form. The panel would begin to slowly rotate to Parado, who raised his hand toward his front, the touch making a ripple that sent off pixels of blue and red color. Finally, it would turn to Graphite, who would raise his hand, nudging his fingers in a taunt. After the rotation ended, Genm would fade into purple pixels, and Graphite would be overshadowed as he turned away. The panel would then ripple, showing Parado sitting in a corner, hugging his knees.

「 Michi no ryouiki ima wo kirihirakun da.. 」
Hiro would step forward, exiting from the panel. After taking a look around, he would find himself on a circle that would begin rotating; he would see that the first figure was Toshiki, who shone a bright blue; the second figure to appear was from the fourth panel, emitting a bright yellow glow; the final figure was from the sixth panel, glowing a navy blue.

「 I Gotta Believe! 」
Hiro would then look upward, a determined look on his face, his body being encapsulated in a pink glow before they would all emerge in what seemed to be Level 1 forms, as Hiro threw his right arm to the left.

"Dai Henshin!"
「 (Turn It On!) 」

「 Soutou EXCITE! EXCITE! Takanaru..! 」
Brave would throw their sword outward with a thrust of their arm, flames emerging from the blade, before he would then spin, slashing again as a wave of ice covered over the area. A few holes would then burst through the ice, it shattering as behind it had been the navy blue rider, who had fired across his front.

「 EXCITE! EXCITE! Kokoro ga! 」
Ex-Aid in his Level 1 form alongside another Level 1 Rider with a yellow mask had been charging forward, soon the both of them had been overtaken by an explosion. Emerging from this explosion had been Ex-Aid Level 2, riding atop the yellow motorcycle from the fourth panel.

「 Mi.. chibiku, ano basho e.. 」
Shido had stood from the ground, looking upward as he saw that before him had been Tohka floating above, wearing what seemed to be a dress completely made of purple battle armor as she stood prepared against a wave of similarly combat ready girls, though their suits had been much more revealing, and of higher technologies, as they would fly toward her. Beside her a girl wearing a green hood over her dress from what could be seen of her turned back, her sitting atop a large white rabbit-like construct.

「 Ka.. kenu.. keteku dake..! 」
Sho would be watching the sunrise off the roof of the hospital, it transitioning with a flash of light to the masked male who had now been the one to hold the console-like armament, throwing his arm to the side as from it would fire an array of golden particles that would spread toward the city below.

「〔HEY!〕 I'm On The Mission Right Now! 」
The navy rider had raised his gun, turning slowly as the girl in the red dress would be standing behind him, a wide grin on her face as she had raised her gun, it transitioning to her standing on the rooftop of Shido's highschool, though in a much darker attire and a sadistic grin on her face as she would click the trigger.

「〔HEY!〕 I'm On The Mission Right Now! 」
Genm had been standing before Ex-Aid, the two staring each other down before they would charge forward, going to clash fists.

「 EXCITE! EXCITE! Kotae wa.. 」
The ground would rumble a bit below them, it shattering into glass pieces as each piece would show off a reflection before dissolving into pixels. The first shard showed Sho throwing a Treasure Chest at a pistol shaped Bugster Union. The second, Satoshi handing the girl with the green mantle a candy apple. The final shard, navy Rider in Level 2 pointing his gun toward Genm. The last, in contrast to the others, would shatter before dissolving.

「 EXCITE! EXCITE! Kotae wa..! 」
Returning to the selection screen, all of the panels would soon be writhing with glitches. The entire selection palette would begin to shake before it would come to fall apart, revealing Ex-Aid Level 2, once again atop the yellow motorcycle.

「〔1!〕 Kono teno naka! 」
The navy Rider would then slowly turn as he would point his gun to his front, raising up his hand to reveal that within it had been an orange Gashat.

「〔2!〕 Susumu beki Life! 」
Brave would slowly raise his sword, flames amassing over it. With a swift motion, his hand slammed downward, the flames rushing forward.

「〔3!〕Iki teku dake! 」
Hiro would throw his head upward, seeming to be in pain as a mass of pink energy would explode from his body. The energy would then retract, transforming him into Ex-Aid. After a brief glow in his eyes, he would strike his usual Level Up pose.

『 Opening END 』

『 G. A. L. : GAME ALL LIFE
( G. A. L. ：ゲームオールライフ ) 』

【 Level 4 : A Hero's Start Line.
( レベル4：ヒーローのスタートライン。) 】

Satoshi would raise a brow to her response, but nonetheless asked another question, "How did you even get in..? I coulda swore I just walked in." He then placed a hand on his hip, puffing his cheek a bit, "I know you're small, but I'm more than sure I'd be able to hear you if you came in."

"M.."

Satoshi would then pause, looking toward the girl with a brow raised. Fiddling with her fingers under her sleeves, the girl would struggle to form the words she meant to convey.

Though, after a bit of courage was thrown into the mix, she would look up to Satoshi. Softly, the words she needed to say would escape from her throat and seemingly fly across the chilling air, "Mister.. I need help."

"Help? What kind of-"

Before he finished, Yoshinon would lift her sleeve slightly. Upon doing so, she would showcase to Satoshi her arm, which had been riveting with orange pixels that would multiply and evaporate in rapid succession.

"Oh.. That looks pretty bad.."

"Pretty bad isn't enough to describe it, Mister!" Turning his head a bit, Satoshi would meet eyes with the puppet that inhabited Yoshinon's other hand, which had been twitching in response to the orange pixels emulating from its host's body.

"Uh huh.." Satoshi sweatdropped, before looking back to Yoshinon. "Come on, let's get you to a hospital."

As he reached for her hand, Yoshinon would pull back, looking to him with pleading eyes. Softly, she would shake her head.

"If we go, then those mean chicks'll come after us again!" The puppet would chime, which caused Satoshi to raise another brow.

"Mean chicks?" Satoshi would tilt his head slightly. He didn't understand what she meant exactly, but he could tell someone was after her. "Ok, then. You can stay here for tonight, but tomorrow we're finding your parents."

"Eh?!" The puppet would shout a bit, tilting its head slightly.

"What's that reaction for?" Satoshi looked toward Yoshinon with a brow raised.

"I.. Don't have parents." She would say softly.

"Eh.." Satoshi would sweatdrop to this.

『 B.G.M. Cue: Kindness「 Takehito Shimizu 」』

"Looks like you made it out okay." Shido smiled a bit, turning to face Hiro behind him, who gave a swift shrug.

"If by okay you mean almost drowned by water you weren't even supposed to land in, then yeah, I'd say so." Hiro was quick with his reply, taking a bite of the Sushi packed in his Bento soon afterwards. To be honest, it was completely lucky he was forced out of the stage by him falling unconscious, otherwise he wouldn't have made it out okay. Not to mention alive.

"Ehe." Shido scratched the back of his head, before looking to either side to ensure none of their classmates were paying attention. "From what Reine and Kotori are saying, the thing that came out of the Spiri- Er, Yoshinon, is only growing stronger the longer it's out and about."

"..."

Hiro would look down a bit, softening his grip on his chopsticks slightly. Putting the interference from Genm aside, he simply wasn't strong enough, not on his own anyway, to beat that Bugster. There was something about it, it was just too fearsome for him to even contend with. And that was before it gained Yoshinon's powers, which he couldn't even understand how that happened.

"I'm totally stumped here. I didn't even know Spirits could get infected with such a thing." Shido would place a hand on his cheek, tapping the desk impatiently. "There's no way Kotori's plan is gonna work if the target's sick, right?"

"Yeah." Hiro picked up the next sushi, placing in his mouth, lifting his hand and placing two fingers on his chin as he chewed the piece softly. "Well. For now, we should try and see if we can find her again today. If we manage to, we might be able to figure out what stresses her out."

"That's probably a good idea." Shido would nod, who knows what could happen in her state. If the AST got to her before they could... Could she even escape in her state...? He didn't want to consider that possibility. He had to make sure she was ok.

"Speaking of finding people.. Where's Ruka? I haven't seen her at all today." Hiro questioned with a brow quipped. Shido responded with a shake of his head.

"She hasn't come to school since that fight." Shido looked away with a frown, beginning to clutch his fist over his chopsticks. Hiro noticed this, but kept that notice silent. "When we confronted her about what happened, she said..."

『 B.G.M. PAUSE 』

A beam of light shot up from the ground in the extra room of the Ratatoskr, Ruka emerging from it. As she did, she turned to her left with her arms crossed. Her eyes darting across the room as she contemplated the previous events.

"Damn it..!" Her fist met the wall hard with a slam of her knuckles against it.

"Hey! What happened out there?!" Shido emerged from the opening door behind her, a grimace on his face as he examined the room. Seeing she was alone; he clenched a fist. "Damn it.. So, Hiro really...!"

"Yes. He failed me." Ruka clicked her teeth in annoyance, turning to walk past Shido.

Spinning on his heel, the blunette shot a glare in her direction and quickly pursued. "Where are you going?!"

"I shouldn't have trusted that fool to do this. Now not only have I lost my advantage in this battle, but the console I stole to turn the tables.." Shaking her head, she continued her march forward.

"Wh- Wasn't Hiro your friend?!" Shido let out a growl as he barked his question, the girl turning to him with a brow quipped.

"Friend? Is that what you thought he was...? He was a means to an end, Itsuka. And he failed at his purpose. Therefore, he is of no further use to me." Ruka turned away, letting out a huff before continuing on her march away.

『 B.G.M. RESUME 』

"So that's what she said, huh?" Hiro took a sip of his juice, "Hm. Well, we can't focus on that now. We've gotta save that Hermit girl." Placing the box down, he looked to Shido with a stern gaze.

The other teen looked to him for a moment, then gave a nod. "Right."

Hiro paused at a chime emerging from his pocket, looking down to it. Reaching for the storage space and drawing what inside caused the sound, his now vibrating phone.

"Uh, sorry, Shido. I'm gonna have to take this." Hiro let out a sheepish chuckle as he got up from his seat, walking off.

Shido quipped a brow as he watched him leave. "O...k...?"

『 B.G.M. END 』

【 4 - 1 】

"Don't jump into danger like that again." Genm's gaze on Parado made latter infer that behind the mask was a glare, his tone having an edge to it reminiscent of a scolding parent. On that note, Parado huffed, turning away from the rider with his arms crossed.

"...fine."

Satisfied with his answer, Genm only gave a nod before turning toward Graphite. "What's our progress Archael Bugsters 4, 7, 8, and 10?"

Graphite would cross his arms, leaning against the pillar behind his back that held up the ceiling in a set of three. After he turned his head toward Genm, he opened his mouth to speak, "Goura, Stolas and Agares went out to defeat 7, Judah went after 8, and that Mr. X guy said he wanted 10 all for himself."

"Hm.. I suppose I can't stop him if he's already gone."

"That guy's in over his head. We couldn't beat that thing, and we had Stolas and Agares with us then."

"Crazy as he seems to be. He'll at least be able to weaken it for us."

"You really sayin' he's that strong, boss...?"

"Let's just say he's ahead of the script, in game terms." Genm nudged their head forward softly as they spoke, turning their attention to the plethora of computers at their forefront which would all click on to show different maps that each had their own blinking red spot.

"Hmm..." Graphite turned toward Genm, lowering his hands. "Hey, Boss."

Genm, turning their head slowly toward the Bugster, responded with a small hum to show the latter had the former's full attention.

"About that kid. Number 01. Why do you act so concerned with that one?"

"..." Pausing, Genm lowered their head a bit to ponder over their answer. Parado turned his head slightly as Genm arose from the computers to face them. "The one who got their hands on Console 01 should not be involved in this. That is all I will say on that matter." Returning their attention to the monitors, they would let out a light gasp as they soon saw a green light flash on the far corner of the monitor on the far right.

"Found it?" Graphite and Parado followed suit at that instance.

Walking forward, Genm strapped a Gashacon Bugvisor onto their wrist.

"...gear up."

『 B.G.M. Cue: Mission of the AST「 Go Sakabe 」』

"You said there was a Spirit reading this way, not one of some mechanical monster thing!" Cried out Ryouko Kusakabe, squad leader of the A.S.T., who was currently dodging jabs from the Bugster contracted from Yukino, whose body was gradually shaping more and more after a monstrous humanoid Yoshinon.

Throwing its claw down toward her shoulder, it let out a powerful roar behind it. Though, the strike was intercepted by a swift parry from Origami's photon blade that shaved off a few sparks as it slid off the claw.

"Okamine!"

At Ryouko's call, a short brown-haired girl would crouch, two other girls bringing over a box-shaped mechanism each as Okamine lifted her own, it combining with the other two to form a massive RPG. The two at either side of her grasping onto her shoulders tightly, Okamine would click her finger against the trigger as the entire weapon emitted a bright blue glow. The rocket over the barrel would soon burst to life with blue flame before shooting forward in blinding speeds as it had been enough to propel all three of them in the opposite direction.

"Tobiichi! Disengage!" Giving her command as she quickly dashed outside of the speeding rocket's path, Origami would nod, kicking her foot off the ground as the gear on her back would activate the rocket propeller systems within to fly her up above.

The Bugster, tilting its head as it noticed the two who were fighting against it just now had both suddenly retreated, failed to notice the rocket hurtling towards in time to evade.

In a mere second's notice, the large weapon touched its chest, resulting in a massive explosion of blue-green energy that would brush the rubble and town surrounding clean of any dust and simultaneously reapplying it with a new brown veil.

『 B.G.M. Pause 』

Entering a short coughing fit, Okamine slowly picked herself up from the ground, shaking off the dirt that clung to her near bare body. Turning towards the other two that were down, she raised both hands as an offering.

The both of them each going into a coughing fit of their own, looked to Okamine with a wince as they sat up. Grasping at each of her hands, they used it as a crutch to pull themselves up shortly after and stand beside her on even level.

Standing in place of the Bugster was a massive blue-green flame. The ember burned in the shape of an octagonal prism that continuously shifted in and out of its original shape or spike out to have seemingly infinite edges. As it remained existent, the shape made to rotate, its green and blue flashing hue moving along with it over the crater formed from the explosion.

"God damn..." Ryouko was standing in front of the prism in a hunched over position, hands at her knees as she took a moment to catch her breath.

The AST spent hours fighting this... Thing. But now. It was finally over. Maybe once she turned this one in she'd be able to afford that Hot Springs Vacation she's been wanting for the past few months. Certainly didn't earn that from hunting Princess unfortunately.

Shaking her head softly, the leader would raise her hand softly and pressed a finger against the com at her ear softly. "Come in, Mizusawa. Come in!"

"Hai!"

"Did you manage to lock down what reading came from the unidentified creature?" Ryouko would take a soft breath. Steeling herself, she decided to compart the hopes for vacation into the back of her mind for the time being.

"Yes, Captain. But... I don't think you're gonna believe me." The comment piqued Ryouko's interest. "What's the reading, Mizusawa?"

"It's... Hermit."

"I'm sorry?"

"The reading from the creature... It matches that of Hermit's... ...perfectly, Kusakabe-taichou."

Ryouko's jaw dropped, her attention returning to the flame construct floating before her. Lowering her hand softly, she began to slowly tread closer. "Mizusawa, inform the others to prepare a Capture Territory field around the target."

"Hai, Taichou."

After the line cut off, Ryouko raised her mana revolver carefully. Aiming it toward the flame prism, she narrowed her eyes. If this thing truly did have the same reading as Hermit...

Then this was far from over.

Kotori sat in her chair with her arms and legs both crossed. Tapping her finger against her arm impatiently, she would dart her eyes over each of her subordinates as they scurried along their respective computers to find anything that could explain what happened the other day.

"A Spirit conjuring a Bugster.. It shouldn't even be possible, right?" Spoke a tall man standing next to Kotori.

The man had blonde hair that nearly encompassed his entire back, offering an outlier to his attire. His body was mainly covered in a white suit with blue as its secondary color, and very thick black outlines that matched with the black dress shoes and white gloves he wore.

At Kotori's look of annoyance in response, the male's blue eyes would soften.

"Of course, O Great Kotori-sama, you were already wondering such a thing and had asked the rest of the team to investigate into the matter-"

"I asked all of you to investigate into the matter, Kannazuki." Kotori would get up from her chair, swiftly emphasizing her disappointment with a hard roundhouse kick to his stomach. "Especially since you might be able to get in contact with the Director, who is in possessions of all the records on the Bugster Virus CR has allowed us to have."

"Oh~ How right you are~" Kannazuki would reply in a pained yet blissful tone as he fell to his knees after succumbing to the pain. "I'll get right on it after the pain subsides~!"

"Good." Kotori would sigh, rubbing her temple softly before returning her attention forward. "Has anything come up on your guys' ends?"

"No, but there is a name that I believe there's a name that keeps popping up that you'd be interested in."

"And what name is that?" Kotori would quip a brow.

...

Then, to what she heard, her entire body would express her shock.

【 4 - 2 】

Tohka sat on her bed, her back against the wall.

The silence of the room hadn't been enough to help her combat the anxieties that plagued every thought. It hadn't even been just Shido anymore. She wanted to go tell Hiro she was glad he was alright...

But, of course, that would likely result in meeting with Shido. She wasn't ready for that yet.

She couldn't even think about what to say, or how to say it. If that were to come to pass.

Shido was a kind person. In her opinion: too kind. Tobiichi killed him a while back, and he acts as though it never happened. In fact, he seems to be more friendly with her now than ever, from what she's been told. That damned stray cat that kept trying to steal her precious breads when they were left on her doorstep should never receive any gifts, much less from Shido, yet it does: all the damn time.

No. She wasn't stressing about Shido anymore. She wasn't.

Not the sweet, adorable, goofball who always brightened her day just by being there. Not him.

The fact she was sitting on her bed instead of having dinner with him and Kotori was not irritating. Not at all.

...

It was.

Coming to understand her feelings, she flopped down onto bed, curling into a ball as she nuzzled her pillow.

This pain she felt in her chest. The thumping in her chest, striking at her with every movement. Every thought. It was a type of pain she felt only once before. When she thought all her hope was gone in the blink of an eye. Her mind trailing back to that time, she quickly remembered the reason why.

She was missing something.

"Shido."

Sho tapped his finger on his desk, eyes scanning over the computer screen.

'We were successful in saving Yuki, to which I'm glad.' Clicking against the mouse and dragging it along, 'I'm still concerned about that other girl, though...' His eyes then locked onto the top of the screen, his dragging ceased. In the corner of Sho's eyes, he noticed the door to his office clicking open. In response, he rotated to look to them with a smile.

"I'm sorry, I wasn't expecting any patients toda-"

His voice caught in his throat when he saw who stepped into the room.

"Sorry for the interruptions, Doc. A little birdie told me you know a thing or two about what the kid I have has been caught with."

The one standing at the door was Satoshi, whose right hand was slid into his pant pocket, while the left was interlocked with the hand of..

"You're the girl-!"

Sho nearly slipped out of his chair; his eyes shot wide as they locked onto Yoshinon, who kept a tight grip on Satoshi's hand. The puppet in her other hand, in contrast, spun its attention to Satoshi, tilting its head.

"Uh- Toshitoshi, what are we doing here?"

Satoshi gave a moue face as he looked to the puppet, as if it itself was what spoke to him. "I told you, I was gonna get you help. And this guy's our ticket to that."

"Well, if this doesn't work, it'll be pretty bad."

"I know." Satoshi spoke softly, turning back to Sho. "So. I'm asking if you could please help her. You work with CR, right?"

"How do-?"

"That doesn't matter right now." Satoshi softly lifted the girl's hand, which emit orange pixels with a riveting screech. "This does."

Sho looked to the pixels, his gaze softening. Raising his head, he gave the man a nod.

『 B.G.M. Cue: Furious Anger「 Go Sakabe 」』

"Energy signals are spiking!"

"What-" Ryouko's attention moved to the construct at the center of the battlefield.

The embers rotating slowly grinded to a halt, their colors becoming desaturated by a cloak of ice covering over them. As particles crackled at the immediate freezing of the prism shape, which immediately was covered in cracks.

"NOW!"

Just as the orb shattered and the Bugster broke free, a cone of green energy surrounded its body. It made several punches at the barrier, it setting off sparks in response to each strike. As the punches mashed against the green, several more AST members dropped down around it. Raising their guns, they all shot rounds into the cone, which slipped through the interfolds of the cone and struck it from all directions.

Rattling to either side, the creature bobbed its head to either side. Rolling its head around for a moment, it quickly swung its arm into the ground. This ended up freezing the ground below it and dropping it into the depths below.

"Get back, get back!" Ryouko shouted quickly, raising a hand toward her hip, slipping a black sleet of metal from it.

As her subordinates leaped back in response to her call, the ground sprung out in ice particles as the Bugster leapt from the ground below. Quickly, Ryouko threw the slate at the creature. It strikes it in the chest, the Bugster letting out a glitched grunt as it was flung back. In quick timing, the slate expanded over its chest to cover its entire torso. Protruding from its edges were a multitude of small thrusters that rocketed it back further into the cone that was slowly dissipating.

"What is that thing?!" Ryouko heard on her earpiece.

"The sensors aren't able to decipher the exact identity of the target at this time." Mizusawa answered.

"But it doesn't change the facts. Its readings match that of a Spirit." Ryouko interjected, "That means take it out!"

Origami was ahead of the order as she flung herself toward the creature and thrusted her plasma blade forward. The Bugster raising its claw to grab at Origami's wrist, a surge of cold mist emitting from it. Origami let out a grunt as she felt ice coating over her entire arm slowly. Grasping at her hip, she drew a grenade that she slammed into its chest. When it blew, a territory burst out from it that slung Origami out of its grasp.

Tumbling when she hit the ground, the other AST members laid into the monster as soon as the territory dissipated with massive arrays of gunfire. As smoke from the gunpowder covered over its body quickly after, the AST pulled back. Reaching to their backs, they pulled off their right wings, the attachments folding into large guns. Firing their guns, the smoke was soon swallowed in a massive pillar of green flame.

This pillar soon became an ice sculpture of its former self, to the dismay of the team. Ryouko's eyes shot wide at the speed of the pillar crackling down and falling over them.

"Guard Formation!"

"Roger!"

The team crowded over one another as the pillar fell closer to them. Drawing their left wings as well, they all slammed them against one another as territory shields amassed around them all. This was enough to lessen the impact of the pillar and defend them from its full fury. Under the force of the shields, the pillar immediately broke down at the seam, crashing onto the ground below.

When the team finally felt assured that the pillar was out of attacks to throw their way, they lowered their barriers. Looking to the wreckage of ice surrounding them, they noticed immediately the Bugster was nowhere to be seen.

『 BGM END 』

"Damn!" Ryouko clutched a tight fist. "Making a fool out of us!"

"..." Origami kneeled, examining the ice surrounding. A sudden clapse of metal against the ice caught her attention, turning her attention to her back. Her eyes widened as she walked over.

"Alright, everybody! Let's move out. We don't wanna get in the way of the cleanup crew." Ryouko ordered, placing her hands on either hip as she watched her teammates race off toward a set of helicopters that landed near the sight. "Gagh.. I was really looking forward to that big pay too. Tch."

Turning her head back toward the sight, she noticed there were two lagging behind. The first gave her no surprise, they were notorious for disobeying orders. But the other was...

"Kagaya?" Ryouko tilted her head, walking over to her.

Origami held a fellow AST member in her arms, a brunette who kept her hair in an upward swirl around a metal slate akin to the one Ryouko used on the Bugster. She winced at each step as she clutched onto Origami's shoulder tightly.

"Taichou.. Something's wrong with her.." Origami spoke quickly as Ryouko swung around to support her other side.

"Kagaya, hey!" Ryouko shouted, the girl in question weakly grunting in response. Examining her, what piqued her intrigue was that her skin erupted with orange pixels.

【 4 - 3 】

『 B.G.M. Cue: To Tomorrow「 Toru Watanabe 」』

"So, the President of Gemn Corporation wants to talk to me?!"

Standing at the door of the Genm Corp building was Hiro standing next to Reiko, who straightened her glasses while leading him through the building. As she did, Hiro's eyes darted around the scenery. Along the walls were booths with teams working on different projects, all accompanied with labels with elaborate titles.

"Woah...! Ohmygod, ohmygod, ohmygod! They're adding a new patch to Gekitotsu Robots?! I thought they forgot about that game! Oh, and they're going to finally port Toukenden and Giri Giri Chambara to the Genmachine 4 with exclusive cutscenes to explain what happened over the timeskip?!" Hiro went on and on about little snippits of information he snagged from taking quick peaks of the booths he passed by, his eyes wide and mouth curled into a toothy grin as he did so.

"Don't get too excited now. It wouldn't benefit us if you were to spread this information to the public before proper announcements are made." Reiko gently tugged the back of Hiro's collar to pull him back to her side. "The reason for your presence here today is your business with the President, not to take sneak peaks on what our employees are working hard on."

"Right, right. Sorry.."

Despite this, his body betrayed his words as his head slowly turned toward the left. His eyes shooting wide and preparing to jump toward what he saw.

This was put to a halt by Reiko grabbing his collar again.

"Focus."

"Aww.."

This interaction continued down the hallway. This interaction was even extended in the elevator, as Hiro and Reiko gave a back and forth on what the former saw and the latter stressing that those aforementioned sights must remain confidential.

With a click, the elevator at the top floor slid open. Stepping out being Hiro and Reiko.

"So these Consoles are designed to help people affiliated with companies with partnerships with Genm Corporation to fight the Bugster Virus?" Hiro tapped his chin, "I guess that lines up with why a doctor has their hands on one.." He recalled back to when he encountered Brave for the first time. 'But that other guy... Who is he?' Pondering, his mind wandered to Snipe, no recollection of who he was or even seeing him outside of the suit. 'Is he affiliated with one of these companies...?'

No time to brainstorm an explanation for himself, he found himself standing in front of the door to the President's office.

『 B.G.M. Change: Restfulness「 Takehito Shimizu 」』

"Were you listening, Takahashi-kun?" Reiko's voice interjected his immediate thoughts, the boy turning toward her and shaking his head softly.

"Um, no. Sorry. I was spacing out." A bead of sweat traveled along his cheek in a nervous means of escape, "Could you tell me again? Please, if you would, Uehara-san?"

"Hm. I don't mind this time. But for future reference, please refrain from repeating this mistake?" Reiko gave a small sigh with a shrug, then spoke in a monotone, "As far as we know, you and the leader of the mysterious Genm Corpse are the only two who aren't in direct partnership with our company. Thus, this meeting today to rectify this." Stepping forward, she gripped onto the handle of the glass double door ahead. "I highly encourage listening to what Hiroyuki-shachou has to say. I believe his proposal will greatly benefit you and your motivations."

With a slow nod, Hiro focused his attention forward as Reiko opened the door for him. Walking forward, he quickly dusted himself off as he walked in, straining to straighten small creases in his attire before making a turn. On this turn, he saw the main component of the room, the black desk that was surrounded with merchandise based on many of Genm Corp's game franchises.

Sitting in the seat fitted with it was Hiroyuki, who kept his hands folded over the desk as he watched Hiro walk into the room.

"Welcome. I assume you're Takahashi Hiroki-kun? Or perhaps you'd prefer to be recognized by your alias across our various networks, Blank?"

"Ah- Well. Getting called Blank outside of gaming's pretty odd.. I normally just go by Hiro, so.." The male sheepishly chuckled as he scratched the back of his head.

"Haha. Hiro-kun it is, then." After a chuckle, Hiroyuki laid his hands down flat, offering a smile to the boy. "I assume Reiko has made you aware of your reasons to be here today?"

"A proposal for me, right?" Hiro raised a brow.

"Correct."

Leaning back, he reached under his desk, drawing from one of the drawers a tablet. Placing it on the desk, he tapped his fingers along it, making faces as he maneuvered through the interface for a moment. Then, when finished with his course of action, he turned it toward Hiro.

Hiro's eyes shot wide as he saw what was playing on the tablet. It was footage of the first time he transformed into Ex-Aid. He foolishly assumed no one could have been watching because they would run at the sight of the Bugster Cluster that emerged from the first boy's body. But at the same time, if a Genm Corporation employee who knew explicit details on the Bugster Virus, then-

Hiro's face broke into a nervous sweat as he jumbled the idea in his head, looking to Hiroyuki with a small frown.

"Now, judging from your reaction and your previous actions regarding your approach at fighting the Bugsters: I can assume preserving your identity is a great deal, yes?" Seeing Hiro's slow nod prompted him to continue, "With this in mind, why don't we discuss terms to ensure the both of us are to win?"

"What do you mean..?" Hiro tilted his head, a question mark seeming to pop over his head.

"From what recent events I'm aware of. An organization affiliated with a company we recently came into contact with, Asgard Technologies, has contacted CR for information on the Bugster Virus. Now, if I'm to remember correctly: They're proficient in dealing with Spirits, entities neither of us understand, yes?" Hiroyuki chuckled at Hiro's blank stare, "You don't have to try and hide your knowledge of it from me. I'm well aware that you're the reason they made such a request. After all, the Captain of one of the ships under that organization, Fraxinus, is a long-time friend of yours, Itsuka Kotori, is it not?"

Hiro gulped, giving a slow nod. It was hard to keep secrecy when his silence gave the man more opportunity to break down what exactly he was hiding.

"The organization came to me with a request to recommend them an operator for one of our Consoles. However, it seems they aren't willing to risk one of their employees undergoing the lengths necessary for ownership of one."

"Lengths..?" Hiro didn't like where this was going.

"Yes. Lengths. Its quite expensive to make someone a Kamen Rider and also come into possession of one of our Consoles." Hiroyuki chuckled, leaning back in his chair. "Which, I might add, you have done both while avoiding the necessary fees that come with them. In other words, you are operating with stolen goods."

"Ah-" Hiro didn't have any arguments, so he slumped his shoulders. "You're right.."

Hiroyuki smiled, "So, in my benefit, this will cover the missing funds surrounding your being a Rider, and for you, this will allow you to remain working in secrecy amongst your friends on Fraxinus."

"Well, you never explained exactly what the deal was?" Hiro tilted his head.

"Ah. That is quite the crucial detail." Sliding his finger across the tablet, a new video appearing on the screen.

On the thumbnail of the video was a face of a man Hiro hadn't recognized. Tilting his head slightly, he paid close attention as Hiroyuki pressed the play button.

『 B.G.M. END 』

"Great."

『 B.G.M. Cue: Layer Cake「 Shoji Meguro 」』

Ukyo walked around the Kirishima Clinic with his hands pocketed. Over his shoulders was a long white coat, adorned with cat pins. This was Yuka Kirishima's coat from when they worked together in this clinic.

He clutched it tightly as he pulled it over his shoulder a bit more, wearing as a cape as he traversed through the hallways. As he trekked through, the sound of a meowing hit his ears, much to his grimace. Dr. Kirishima loved cats. So much so she took care of strays during days where there were no customers. They were an annoyance to him, but he found it an excuse to be by her side.

Following the meowing of the cat, he eventually ended up standing before Dr. Kirishima's office itself. Sliding the door open, what he found inside hadn't surprised him. Though it did make his brow twitch.

"Aww~ Such a good kitty~"

Inside was a girl dressed in a black lolita dress with red frills plastered on the edges of each intricate lace design. Around the short sleeves were red ribbons tied into small bows that hung off either arm. Her legs were covered mostly by the skirt, but what was shown of her legs was covered by a pair of black leggings that seamlessly transitioned into the black boots with a half inch heel that was traced with red lining all along the edges the sides, with maroon straps locked in tightly. Her abundance of black hair was tied up into a ovular bun by a red ribbon tied to mimic a cat's ear. A small sum of this hair was let free to rain down over her face, mainly covering over her left eye, the right being a bright crimson.

At the mercy of her petting was a cream-furred cat with silver eyes, having brown fur in its ears, paws, and edge of the tail. Other notable features was the black strapped collar with a silver ring that held onto an ovular shaped coin patterned nametag.

"I'm going to assume during the time you spent playing with him, you fed Meowth?" Ukyo stepped inside the office, walking over toward the main desk as the now named Kurumi continued playing with the cat.

"Of course I fed him~" Kurumi sat up to look at Ukyo, Meowth now held in her arms. "Did you think I'm so cruel to let a kitty starve like that~?"

"Yeah, yeah." Ukyo shook his head. This girl shared quite a lot in common with the doctor that once was the residential of this clinic. Namely, her obsession with the damned furball. "Anyway, I doubt you're here just to play with the cat."

『 B.G.M. Change: Portrait「 Go Sakabe 」』

Kurumi gave a giggle as she rose from the floor after setting Meowth down. "Well, it was definitely a great pastime while I waited for you to show~" She walked over to him with her hands behind her back. Leaning over his shoulder, she whispered into his ear, "So, my curiosity was piqued by something interesting~"

"And that is?" Ukyo rolled his eyes as he shifted through the various records piled in each drawer.

"A Spirit is our most recent infected by that Bugster virus of yours, isn't that true~?"

"A Spirit..?" Recalling back over the battle that occurred a couple days prior, he remembered a new arrival that was certainly unexpected. 'So that little girl was a Spirit..' "If it is?"

"Then there's all the more reason you should work with me~" Kurumi brought up a hand, tracing a circle with her finger on Ukyo's chest.

The man let out a soft breath as he set down the papers in his hand. "I've already completely covered your tracks and minimalized those onto you to one. What else more could you ask of me. If you don't recall, neither of us are able to stay in one spot long." Scanning through the files again, he set them down after a quick read. Then his sights were set on the computer.

"Despite you saying that all the time, we always find ourselves here in this place, no~?" Kurumi's face curled into a smirk, "We both want our own forms of revenge here, and you getting yours leads to me getting mine, if you don't recall."

Ukyo's face softened, the man genuinely contemplating the words she spoke to him. He turned back to her with a small frown, indicating some hesitation in his response, though only internal.

"I'm not digging myself further into a hole with you. The revenge I want is one I'm going to have on my own terms." His eyes narrowed as they dug into the single crimson eye in view.

Kurumi, being the recipient of the glare, giggled uproariously, placing a hand over her mouth to muffle the sound slightly. "Well, while it wasn't the answer I was hoping for~ It wasn't disappointing~"

She turned away, crouching to pet Meowth before taking her leave. As she closed the door behind her, Meowth gave a disappointed meow before turning to take a nap in the corner.

『 B.G.M. END 』

Ukyo stared at the door the girl left from for a moment. Clicking his teeth in annoyance, he turned back to what he was focused on.

【 4 - 4 】

「 I now stood as a log in the midst of a clear patch as I watched Takahashi-sensei and a nurse he asked for, Karino-sensei, carry the little girl I met earlier, Yoshino, into what seemed to be a quarantined room on a large bed-stretcher hybrid. 」

Satoshi walked close behind the two, eyes darting around to examine his surroundings. Not much decoration to the pure white surroundings. Though, he supposed it was to be expected since this lead to a secret operation room.

"I don't recognize the Bugster readings from her at all.." Asuna's face curled into a frown as she looked at the stethoscope's scans.

"And it was one that was really powerful, right?" Sho looked to her with a puffed cheek, glowering as she nodded.

Satoshi listened in closely, beginning to worry for the safety of the girl further.

「 I had very little information on the mysterious "Bugster Virus", this was mainly because they were from secret files I begged Asuka to unlock for me. 」

Just ahead of them, a door slid open as the two carried her in.

"She needs to rest, we aren't sure how much she's been affected by her strand of the virus." Asuna ordered.

"Right." Sho quickly responded.

Before Satoshi could enter close behind, the door slammed shut before him. His first reaction was confusion, tapping against the door to see if it would trigger to automated system to open the door. Then annoyance, beginning to give hard knocks when his first attempt to get the door open failed.

"Hey! What's the deal?!"

This annoyance became anger quickly as he began pounding on the door. This evolved into Satoshi pushing his foot against the other end of the door as he tried to pry it open.

"Come on...! Come ONNNNN!"

Nothing. No amount of effort changed the fact it was shut and he wasn't getting in. A groan escaped the man's lips as he collapsed to the ground when his grip broke.

"Damn!" He let out a sigh.

「 Well. There was no way I'm getting in... Even so, it would probably be better for her to stay here in medical care. I've got other business I should be handling too.. 」

Slowly arising from the ground, Satoshi dusted himself off. A sigh escaped his lips before he turned away and left for the exit.

「 Speaking of which... There's some questions I demand answers to. 」

"...I'll go ahead and skip the pleasantries with this, Tohka." Reine placed her hands around the mug before her softly, staring directly into the eyes of a clearly conflicted Tohka, who clutched her knees tightly. "You've been notably irritated lately. As your counsellor, no, as your friend, I want to know exactly what's been troubling you."

No response. Reine decided to take a more assertive approach.

"If I were to develop an answer for myself: I would suspect this has something to do with Shi-" Reine paused, clearing her throat after the sudden pause, "...Shido, does it not?"

This raised Tohka's head. It seemed she finally incited the girl to respond.

"No, you're wrong! This doesn't have anything to do with him!" Despite how clearly her response was delivered, Reine could tell from her tone and the shifting of her arms which were biproducts of her fingers fidgeting below that she wasn't quite confident in her answer.

"I apologize for the accusation, then." Reine tilted her head slightly. Though she knew she was probably correct in her assumption, it was best to keep Tohka from retreating now. "It was only a guess that he was the cause of your concerns."

"...! Agh!" Shaking her head, Tohka shuffled her hands through her hair. After she finally calmed herself, she lowered her hands back to their original position. "I.. I don't really know what's wrong with me." Turning slightly, she averted her eyes from Reine's direct gaze, "I'm in the worst mood I've ever been in, and I just can't figure out why." She sighed softly, "What Shido is what he does. Who he dates, kisses, or spends his free time with is all up to him. It's of his own volition."

Reine took a quiet sip of her coffee as she listened to Tohka's words, carefully decomposing them in her mind to draw out a hypothesis on the meaning behind each.

"I know that for a fact. I knew that when I decided to stay in this world.." Tohka grit her teeth as she began thinking back to when the irritation began, "But after that whole situation, I just couldn't stop thinking about it." Bringing her hands together, they clutched onto her skirt. "The rabbit saying Shido cared more about that little girl than me... It shouldn't have bothered me.. But it did. It bothered me so much I couldn't even look at Shido... Because every time I did the thought came back... Every time I thought of him, the thought of the rabbit's words came right along with it... Eventually it gnawed at me so much I felt empty again. I felt like I was going to be all alone again just like before Shido came for me.." Lowering her head, her bangs overshadowed her eyes, the girl's entire frame emanating the downcast energy emitted from her body. "Reine-san, I'm really worried that there might be something wrong with me."

Reine slowly placed down her cup, giving a soft nod.

"There is absolutely nothing wrong with you, Tohka." Tohka gave her full attention to Reine, which she responded in kind by making direct eye contact, "Though there is something we need to make clear. As of this very moment."

"What do you mean..?"

"I believe you should be aware that the kiss you saw was completely accidental. By no means does the thought that Shido cares more about that other girl than you holds any truth." Reine's face remained stern, a clear indicator of the seriousness of her words.

"..part of me agrees with you wholeheartedly, Reine-san.." Once again, Tohka averted her gaze, looking to the side, "But, Shido was.."

"Just think about it. He risked his life numerous times, even faced the brink of death for you." Tohka's eyes moved back to Reine, who continued, "Do you believe someone who cared so little about you would go to such lengths?"

Slowly, Tohka's eyes went wide.

"Do you know what's wrong with her, Doc?" Ryouko crossed her arms, examining over Kagaya's trembling form laid on an infirmary bed.

The one her voice called to was Toshiki, whose eyes scanned over the readings from his stethoscope as the hologram projection showed an emblem over her body. This emblem was a bunny symbol that glitched as it floated around.

"I can confirm one thing. She is infected with the Bugster Virus." Toshiki gave a soft breath as he lowered the stethoscope from his ear, "At the stage it seems to have reached, if not treated immediately, her life may be in grave danger." He turned away, drawing a phone from his pocket. "I'll have her transported to the Seito University Hospital, where we have access to the best technologies for her treatment."

"Thank you, Doc.." Ryouko gave a small bow, turning to Kagaya, who grunted and squeezed herself tightly.

Just beyond the door stood Origami, who was contemplating the information brought up within the room. Lowering her head, she rubbed her chin softly. Stepping forward, she began to make her leave.

【 4 - 5 】

"I'm glad you're alright, Hiro." Kotori leaned back into her commander's chair, allowing herself to breathe a small sigh of relief. "We all thought you were dead meat."

Hiro's face twitched at the comment, "So did I.." He clenched a fist, looking to the ground as he thought on what occurred that day.

"Even so, we can't forget the current standing of our mission." Folding her hands, the large screen at the forefront of the room blipping to show Hermit's face. "Through currently unknown means, our current target, Hermit, has been infected with the Bugster Virus. Right now, this Bugster is a greater threat to the people than Hermit herself could be in her current state." The screen soon turned to show footage of the AST's battle with the Hermit Bugster, "The Bugster has grown strong enough to the point it singlehandedly fended off the most powerful of the AST's base arsenal. If not dealt with now, it can become a threat to the world at large."

Watching the screen, Hiro quipped a brow at the footage. "Ice power..? I don't remember any game where the villain has ice powers, except maybe Taddle Quest, but Aranbura only adds that to his pattern if you unlocked the Skyward Sword."

"That's most likely because it developed those powers from Hermit herself rather than from any sort of video game." Kotori's eyes narrowed, "It seems to be evolving rapidly each moment she's infected."

"So, the longer we wait, the stronger this thing'll get?" Shido crossed his arms, examining the schematics being shown.

With a sigh, one of the crewmates, Kyouji Kawagoe, let out a groan as he folded his hands: "Unfortunately, yes."

Shido clicked his teeth, clutching his sleeve tightly.

Kotori's eyes locked onto Shido for a moment. As she watched him physically react to the information, her gaze softened. Before long, she cleared her throat and returned her attention forward: "..with all this information apparent. It is imperative you save her, Hiro."

Hiro nodded. Soon, he drew his Gamer Driver and Gashat from his bag. As he gazed upon it, he tightened his grip on the equipment.

Satoshi stood outside the door, tapping his thumb against his phone as just beyond the gable roof was rainfall that struck the world hard. Pulling the phone to his ear, he placed his free hand on his hip as he stared out into the distance.

"Mnnh..? Oh. Onozuka. You aren't here yet..? Y'know, the boss man's gonna get tired of you being so late soon enough." Asuka's voice came out the phone, Satoshi able to clearly recognize that she just woke up.

"Says the one who sleeps on the job regularly." Satoshi sighed, tilting his head slightly. "Oh. Speaking of which, is Aragaki there?"

"Well, duh? It's work. Obviously he's here. How else is he gonna make sure we're actually getting something done?" From Asuka's tone, she was clearly annoyed by this fact despite it seeming like she was praising him. "Why do you ask? Ya never cared any other day."

"Remember the files we found yesterday?"

"Yeah?"

Satoshi deadpanned briefly. She knew exactly where he was going with this, she just wanted him to get it out so she could go back to sleep. "He knows what it all means, and he knows what to do about this." His eyes narrowed, "Meaning he knows how I can help her.." His last words were soft enough to be mistaken for a whisper.

"About what? What happened? Onozuka?" Asuka seemed genuinely concerned now.

Satoshi paused, turning behind him as his face turned to a grimace again. "I'll have to call you back, Asuka. Something came up."

"Onozuka? Hold on, you need to explain what's going o-"

Before she could finish, Satoshi hung up. He stared as in the midst of the vast space the rain slammed over, an ambulance car emerged swiftly, parking as close as possible to the door as it could have. The backdoor swiftly opened, several rushing out to deal with the stretcher inside.

"You there, please step aside." A team of EMTs pulled a stretcher carrying Kagaya into the hospital.

"Rapid reactions. We've never seen such a case before!"

"Move fast, then. I'm not losing a patient today." Toshiki responded quickly, walking past Satoshi with nothing but a brief glance.

Satoshi immediately turned, his curiosity getting the better of him as he rushed in after them. On his run, he swiped his arm at something on the front counter while he pursued them.

. . .

In the lower deck of the hospital where Yoshino was being held, the door soon opened once more as they pulled the stretcher in. Toshiki walking in not far behind.

"Toshiki-san..?" Sho then looked to the girl they were bringing in, "There's another patient..?!"

"Ah mou!" Asuna clapped her hands against her cheeks as her face became downcast.

As the stretcher was pulled into a second bed rack, Kagaya let out a loud groan as her body began to emit an orange glow. As this occurred, Yoshino's attention quickly moved to the girl, clutching the covers over her tighter. Her body began to spark with pixels and emit the same glow, the puppet in her hand dramatically jerking in either direction as its eye shone a burning red.

"I don't feel so good.." The puppet remarked.

"What the- What's happening?!"

Toshiki's brow quipped at the sensation as he watched the two both continually cry out in pain, though none of them seemed to protrude a Bugster. Sighing, he drew out his Gamer Driver.

"Toshiki-san-"

"Intern. Do not try and stop me." Toshiki placed his belt on his waste, drawing from his coat pocket the Taddle Quest Gashat. "We're both aware of how things went the last time you did that."

Sho clicked his teeth in annoyance, doing a double take as he thought over how Yuuki nearly died.

Lifting the Gashat, he clicked his thumb against its button.

《 Taddle Quest! 》

As a triumphant tune played, the title screen of Taddle Quest emerged behind Toshiki, a blue pulse of light blanketed the surrounding area, pixelating what it touched. When the tune concluded, he glided his hand over to hang over the belt's slot. Raising his thumb, he made the trinket spin in his hand to point downward.

"Henshin."

With the declaration, he raised his hand slightly. As he did this, he simultaneously brought up his free hand to grab the Gashat from the other. When he did, he swiftly slid it down into the slot with a single downward motion.

《 GASHATTO! 》

With that, the character selection wheel sprung out in a burst of blue light that emit from the Driver. As it spun, heads representing different Riders all showed themselves as they turned in their places on the wheel.

《 LET'S GAME!
MECCHA GAME!
MUCCHA GAME!
WHATCHA NAME?! 》

Clicking his heels against one another, he turned to a side as he threw his right arm out to the side. As it did, his hand gallantly struck an icon that just made it to that location. Beginning from the finger that first made contact with it, Toshiki's body was submerged in neon blue pixels that ran over his entire body in a wave. The icon spun, rising from where it originally was and floating to the forefront as the character wheel dissipated. Just as Toshiki's form was entirely consumed by blue light, the icon combined with his body, spreading out into a white armor that covered the figure and formed into Brave Level 1.

《 I'm...
A Kamen Rider...! 》

Brave raised his hands slowly, spreading his fingers to completely open each hand.

"Beginning the Bugster Excision."

Almost as if responding to the declaration, Kagaya let out a scream as her body exploded in blue mist. This blue mist took to encompass the entire room before compacting over them in the form that resembled a massive snowshoe hare, but its body seemed mechanical in its entirety with a bright red gleam emitting from its eyes. Raising its head, it let out a piercing screech.

"So you've emerged.." Brave raised a hand, another wheel appearing around her, a single icon on this wheel as he clasped his hand around it. Drawing from the-

《 GASHACON SWORD! 》

-and raising it toward the behemoth before him. As it looked down to Brave, it swung a claw with immense speed. Brave quickly raised its arm, the shield providing the counterforce necessary to soften the blow as he was flung into the wall with a harsh slam.

As the rider struck the ground, Asuna moved over to shield Yoshino from the battle. As she did this, Sho watched the events unfold. He grumbled to himself as he struggled to figure out a solution to this problem.

Unbeknownst to him, the colossal creature slammed its claw toward Sho in his moment of frailty. Asuna shot her head in his direction with her eyes wide, her voice shooting out from her body even before her body moved to react.

"SHO-KUN!"

At the call, Sho's head shot upward to see the claw moving toward him. It was too fast. He couldn't react. The knowledge of the presence of danger was not enough to evade it. He lacked the speed. He lacked the power to do anything about it. As he pondered over it, he internally cursed himself for lacking such necessary qualities. If he had them, this entire situation wouldn't be happening.. He may not be about to d-

"YOU IDIOT! MOVE!"

A blur moved by, Sho's body struck by something that provided the force necessary to move him out of the claw's path. As the claw flew by, it ultimately met the shield on Brave's wrist as he held his arm forward with his sword.

"Grgh- Urgh..!"

Lowering his arm, he pressed his finger against the button of the Kimewaza slot. When he did, a new selection wheel emerged with images of different terrains would emerge from a green wheel.

《 STAGE SELECT~! 》

Soon, Brave disappeared in blue pixels alongside the behemoth.

On the ground, Sho's eyes were wide in recoil from the shock of what happened. Rising from the ground beside him was Satoshi, who grunted as he collected himself again.

Asuna dropped to her knees quickly, going to help Sho up from the ground. "Shouma, are you okay?" She asked, shaking him softly as he pieced himself together. "Shouma!"

"Yeah- Yeah. I'm alright." Sho placed a hand on her shoulder softly to reassure the woman.

"You wouldn't have been if I hadn't done something back there." Satoshi let out a sigh as he looked to his arm. A cut on his arm, leaving his sleeve hanging loose on his arm by a short thread. He grunted as he winced from the deep cut in his arm in the shape of a nail. "The hell was that..?"

"That was a Bugster." Asuna explained after relaxing some.

Satoshi paused, dejecting his focus to gather his thoughts.

「 Bugsters. So they must be the biproduct of the Bugster Virus I read about.. 」

Turning his head toward Yoshino, his face softened.

「 Does that mean one of those things are going to come out of her..? 」

"I imagine she has been infected with the same strand as the one Brave is fighting right now."

Satoshi looked to Asuna, nodding before turning away. "I leave her in your care." He muttered as he took his leave. As he did, he kicked the white binder he used to prop the door open.

"Tch.." Ukyo sneered, grunting as he looked to what Gashats he had. Now, he only had one: Bang Bang Shooting. He should've gotten Jet Combat back. Now, he lacks the ability to combat that black Ex-Aid on equal footing. "Hm?" Turning, he noticed the CR Stethoscope on the desk beeping.

Walking over to the stethoscope, he picked it up and clicked the button on it, his eyes widening as he saw what the hologram projection showed him. "Well, guess I've got something to take out my frustrations on." With a long-winded sigh, he produced his Gamer Driver, equipping it onto his waist.

"Hm!?" Kamagoe's eyes shot wide as a sudden message appeared on his screen. "Commander!"

Kotori's eyes moved forward as the hologram interface above her own desk popped open with what Kamagoe just saw. Kotori then swallowed before turning her head, "Kannazuki, prepare the warp gate."

"Yes, ma'am."

Soon after Kannazuki left the room, a new hologram page appeared on Kotori's screen.

"Hiro. We have sightings of the Hermit Bugster." She spoke firmly, "We are going to beam you nearby the coordinates. Be careful. We can't get any accurate readings on it."

"I got it."

. . .

Hiro exhaled sharply as the hologram feed cut out. Walking over to the center of the room as he equipped his Gamer Driver. Drawing the Mighty Action X Gashat, he clicked his thumb against the button.

《 Mighty Action X~! 》

As the title screen emerged behind him, a pink light emerging from it pixelating the room. Hiro threw out his arm to present the Gashat in hand at the center of his wingspan. Afterwards swung his arms around to hold his Gashat to his far right, orbiting his left hand just below it. As he did, he twirled the Gashat over his finger to make it point downward.

"Henshin!"

In that moment, he dropped the Gashat from his right hand. Simultaneously, he swept up his left hand to catch the Gashat and raise it toward the air. Swinging his arm back down, he slid the cartridge into the slot of the belt. As it did, the belt responded by shooting up a small pink light at the contact.

《 GASHATTO! 》

Shooting out from the belt was a pink wheel that carried the icons present on every Riders roster. As the wheel spun, two icons before that were previously blank filled themselves: Brave and Snipe. Soon, the Ex-Aid icon appeared in front of him as the wheel began to grind to a halt.

《 LET'S GAME!
MECCHA GAME!
MUCCHA GAME!
WHATCHA NAME!? 》

Raising his arm forward, his hand struck the Ex-Aid icon. In response to being touched, the icon sprung up with a delighted spin and spray of pink light. This spray reached Hiro's hand as the light began to crawl up his arm. Soon, this spread over to his entire body and soon obscuring his figure from view as the light took up the entirety of his form. Slowly, the icon moved closer to him. As it made contact with his face, the icon sprung out the white chibi armor that coated over his figure made of pink gleam.

《 I'm...
A Kamen Rider...! 》

As the transformation completed, Ex-Aid looked to his hands softly. Clutching them tightly, he gave a small nod.

"Teleportation preparations are complete, Hiro. Are you ready?" Kannazuki's voice leaked out of the intercom.

Ex-Aid hesitated, turning away for a moment. "..yeah."

"Alright then. Commencing teleport."

As Ex-Aid took a deep breath, his body was encompassed in blue light. And soon after, he vanished from the scene.

【 4 - 6 】

At SIC, the group was working diligently at all of their personal stations, the sole exception being Asuka. Instead of having been asleep as per usual, she called every number she knew was tied to Satoshi. All friends and family she knew he had offered no clarity on the matter.

"Onozuka.." She muttered, glowering a bit.

"Onozuka's far later than usual.." Kazuya raised a brow, tilting his head slightly. Checking his watch, he frowned before turning his attention to the door. Narrowing his eyes, he folded his hands as he noticed a clicking sound.

All heads in the room turned as the door swung open. Standing behind it was a dripping wet Satoshi, who held a glare in Kazuya's direction.

"Onozuka, you're-"

Before she could finish, Satoshi stormed across the room. Reaching the leader's desk, he slammed his hands onto the table. Leaning toward the figure, his eyes narrowed as he made their faces but a small distance apart.

"Oi, Leader! Give me that device you're hiding!"

The sudden outburst captivated the attention of everyone in the room. The tension in the room triggered Rie to stand up from her seat, marching over toward Satoshi and tugging on his arm lightly.

"Hey! What the hell are you doing?"

"What I have to." Satoshi didn't even turn to face her as he continued staring down his leader, who was unnerved by the glare.

"Device? I'm afraid I don't kno-"

Before he could finish, Satoshi slammed his phone onto the table. "Don't say that you don't know about it. Or about what's going on." Playing on it was footage of the reaction shared between Kagaya and Yoshino in the moment the bugster emerged from the former's body.

Rie's eyes were glued to the phone, holding a hand over her mouth as she gasped. Kazuya, on the other hand, maintained his stern face.

"This is likely just-"

Satoshi slammed his hand onto the table, growling: "God damn it! If you just say these are some special effects, so help me I'll-!" He paused, stopping himself before speaking again, "We're fully aware of what you know. You have the device from Genm Corp. You have the one thing capable of dealing with this. I demand you hand it over."

Kazuya raised his gaze from the phone, meeting eyes with Satoshi, folding his hands softly.

"..and why would I do that?"

Recoiling for a moment, Satoshi lowered his gaze to the floor. Soon enough, his entire frame began to rattle from the rage building up over his entire body.

"Satoshi.."

Rie reached her hand forward, aiming to once again grasp his shoulder. It was too late for this to matter, though, as Satoshi's anger reached the surface with his fist slamming onto the desk again, nearly flipping the phone over from the force.

"Do you not see it?! Do you not see that those two are suffering?!" Satoshi clenched his teeth, seething as his eyes narrowed toward Kazuya, "Look at this footage real closely! There's a little girl who needs help right now! And I'm well aware that thing is the only thing that can save her!"

『 B.G.M. Cue: Bugster Virus: Destruction「 ats- 」』

Brave used his sword to parry several slashes from the hare, which hopped around him to dodge the strikes the Rider made in retaliation. Angered by this pattern, Brave slammed his sword into the ground, shooting a burst of flame up where the hare ultimately landed.

It released a screech as it tumbled after the attack, seething from the attack that struck it. The behemoth was not finished screaming however as Brave made a powerful flurry of jabs to its side. As he did, it juggled under the force of each strike before finally facing upwards again. Scratching against the ground to stop itself from being pushed back further.

"Tch-"

The hare leapt directly at Brave, leaving its mouth agape to swallow him whole with. Though this action made it an easy target for two booming shots that struck its side just hard enough with its combined force and the momentum of the hare to send it flying from where it stood.

Brave turned his attention to where the shots came from, to where he saw Snipe Level 1 holding the Gashacon Magnum in rifle mode.

Before Brave could bemoan the other Rider's presence, the hare began its charge at Snipe. Brave leaped forward and spun in the air to slash atop its back as it flipped over it, giving another spin slash to its leg on the landing. This attack made it stagger, while Snipe fired shots at the limbs it raised in attempts to retaliate.

Soon, Snipe grumbled as he returned his Magnum to its base form, firing as shots as he rushed forward. Due to the lesser force of the bullets, they rattled the creature less, allowing it to move better under the array of bullets. Raising its arm, it slammed down over where Snipe stood. Just as it went to strike him, Snipe leaped over the claw. Once in the air, he spins in the air as a golden aura surrounded his body. Soon, the aura closed over him in the shape of a bullet. As it did, he propelled himself forward. The bullet soon struck at the chest of the hare, beginning to push it back with the force he continued to emit.

Brave stood from the ground, pressing the B Button on the Gashacon Sword several times. Rushing forward he slid below and jabbed his blade into the belly of the beast. With this he used the flame to propel its stomach upward.

This combined effort proved enough to throw the creature off balance and send it flying back. As it tumbled across the riverside it made contact with, Snipe landed next to Brave, raising his weapon.

"To your presence, I say no thank you."

"Well, I say you woulda died without my presence, so your opinion's invalid." Snipe waved the magnum in hand as he spoke, emphasizing his annoyance.

As they marched through their back-and-forth, the hare arose from the ground. Letting out a low growl, the breath it exhaled producing a blue mist that swiftly turned the water submerging its feet to a clean slate of ice. Clenching its paws into the ground below, it broke up the ice into shards that arose from the ground in a splash-like manner. As the shards flew toward them, Brave quickly switched the side of his Gashacon Sword, producing an ice shield for himself while Snipe simply shot down the shards flying toward himself.

When the waves stopped coming, the hare grinned. To Brave's dismay, his ice shield broke down into two large spikes that struck both Riders down, knocking them back.

Brave tumbled a bit before stabbing his sword into the ground to pull himself off the ground. Collecting himself, he made a sharp turn to see the hare charging toward him. Raising his sword and getting into a stance, he slashed forward to cut at its claw before it struck him again. As its arm froze, Brave switched the mode of his blade and leapt upward to stab at the frozen arm. Doing so made it explode into a mist that momentarily blinded the hare.

Brave landed not too far from it with a somersault, rising from the ground and dashing to make some distance between himself and the behemoth as it recovered from the attack.

Snipe on the other hand got up from the ground and bided his time. Switching his Magnum back to rifle mode, watching the hare's movements as it leapt around to strike at Brave, who gracefully dodged the attacks. As he observed, he slowly raised the gun, leaning his closer to the gun. As he did this, the scope lense hoisted over his right eye lowered down. As it did, his view of the battle zoomed in, showing him the exact distance between himself and the hare. Narrowing his eyes, a new statistic was added, ETA. As it slowly counted down to zero, his finger wrapped itself around the trigger. When it finally did, the trigger was pulled on instinct, the entire frame of the gun rising slightly as the barrel blasted out the bullet from the holster.

As the hare went to the water once more, it raised its arm to slam its paw down and conjure more ice projectiles. As it swung its arm down, a powerful bullet struck through its ear, cutting off the appendage. This made it stop to roar out in pain, shaking its head violently as it reached for the part of itself that was no longer there.

"Now that it's weakened." Brave spun his sword, drawing his Gashat from his belt. Inserting it into his sword, the blade burst into a massive ember.

《 GASHATTO!
Kimewaza..! 》

A humming tune resounded from the blade as Brave prepared to strike, arching his arm back, the blade begun to spark with sparks of blue and orange lightning that seemed 2-dimensional. As he prepared his strike, he began to charge at the beast, preparing to slash down the beast.

"Excision co-"

"WATCH OUT!"

Suddenly, Ex-Aid dived in. Tackling Brave out of the way, the two of them escaped by a hair from the massive wave of hazy blue energy that burst out from the hare's body. Snipe, who was unprepared for such a thing, was struck in the chest by the wave. Flung back by the force, he tumbled as he dropped the gun he had in hand.

The hare popped its neck after the roar it let loose. Turning slowly toward Snipe, its eyes narrowed. With a loud crunch of the ground below, it leapt high up into the air.

The Rider in question quickly pushed himself up from the ground, running toward his gun. Grasping onto it with a somersault, he looked up to see the hare dropping down toward him. Raising his rifle, he fired a shot toward it with the hope the shot would throw off its trajectory. However, this was not the case as the hare still came hurtling down toward him.

Ex-Aid got up from the ground, rushing over to where the hare was headed. Raising his arm, a weapon selection wheel appeared around him. Grasping at the icon that appeared, he obtained the Gashacon Breaker. Racing forward, he smacked his hammer against a chocolate box that was nearby. In its wreckage emerged a power-up token where the figure struck out its chest as a bullet flung off its chest. Quickly, he grabbed the token as its light washed over him.

《 HANSHA! 》

Ex-Aid then continued to rush forward. He barely made it before the hare slammed its weight over Snipe's body. The other Rider staring bewildered as Ex-Aid stood guard over him. With a swing of his arm, he used his hammer and a mighty roar to throw the hare back with a massive burst of red-violet energy. After this exchange, Ex-Aid fell to a knee.

"Why did..?"

"I.." Ex-Aid hesitated, looking down as he let out a deep breath. "I don't want anyone to die. A game like this needs us working together, not fighting amongst ourselves."

"You're still on about that..?" Snipe arose from the ground, "Don't you get it?! We're not superheroes! All we're doing is playing the game! People's lives being saved is just a coincidence!"

"And who's going to play the game if every one of us are dead?!" Ex-Aid took his stance as well, gripping onto his Breaker tightly.

Before they could finish however, the sound of Brave's battle cries as he was slashing at the hare from either direction. The two decided to postpone their argument before rushing out toward the beast to provide aid in the effort.

The hare reeled, having been on the breaking point since it was forced to take the full force of its own attack. Brave took advantage of this by keeping his attacks rapid, leaving it no time to react. Snipe fired a multitude of shots at its legs to keep it from standing. At the same time, Ex-Aid leapt and smacked it down with the hammer each time it persevered the pressure of Snipe's firing.

As the three of them noticed the hare finally stagger, they all leaped aside. Drawing their Gashats from their belts, they all prepared their finishing moves.

《 GASHATTO!
Kimewaza..! 》

In perfect harmony, the three of their weapons hummed simultaneously. The three all raised their weapons as they emanated a bright glow. Brave rushed forward, Ex-Aid leaping into the air.

《 Mighty...! 》

In the air, Ex-Aid locked his eyes onto the creature. Dropping down toward the hare, the wind circling around him in a cone as he swung his arm down. From the momentum, his body begun to spin at a rapidly increasing velocity. Rapidly soon became exponentially as his body became coated in a burning pink aura that sparked with layers of green.

《 Taddle...! 》

Brave made his charge. Lowering his arm, he dragged the blade against the ground as he ran. As he dashed, sparks shot out and lined a trail of flame following the path he moved on. As he rushed on, his pace rapidly increased as blue aura circumscribed his form. With the arrival of the aura came the arrival of his massive increase in speed, green sparks shooting out from his body as he raced forward.

《 Bang Bang...! 》

Snipe switched the Gashacon Magnum into the rifle mode, training the barrel on the hare. As he readied his trigger finger, the scope lense preparing itself onto his eye. As this occurred, the Rider took a calm inhale. All of his surroundings became black, an infinite void that had no effect on him. No Ex-Aid. No Brave. No field. Only him and the hare. Nothing to focus on but the target that will suffer defeat by his gun. As he exhaled, navy light swarmed from around his body, directly into the barrel of his gun. From the barrel, green sparks shot out in either direction. At this, a seething hum emitting from the gun.

《 Critical...
FINISH~! 》

At the exact same time, the eyes of Ex-Aid, Brave, and Snipe all shone bright in their individual colors.

Snipe quickly clicked at the trigger; the light was finally swallowed into the barrel of the gun. In that instant, the barrel exploded in the two colors present. In that instant, the ground tore apart from the burst and flung Snipe backward. This burst all collected around the bullet that shot out from the gun, closing over it and making it far larger. Once combined, the bullet went faster than could be recognized. The bullet disappeared in that instant, the hare doubling over as a stream of blue light shot out in the moment after with a cut of the wind.

As Brave let out a cry, he swung his arm upward. The blade swiping through the ground and upheaving the earth in its wake, it struck at the hare's body harshly. In the impact, the orange blade grew bright, the flesh of the being tearing apart as he dragged his sword upward. Stomping his foot down, Brave's arm rushed onward as his sword cut deep into the body of the Bugster. In that momentum, Brave spun as his blade entered out the opposite end of which it struck, leaving a diagonal orange line in that path. As it carved itself, the orange light spit out flames in its wake.

Ex-Aid dropped down as the hare was struck by both Snipe and Brave's attacks. As he spun, the pink aura was swallowed by the green sparks as his aura was immersed in its own colors. As the hare's lower body began to drop toward the ground while the upper toppled down, Ex-Aid smashed his hammer down. As the hare threw its head upward, the Gashacon Breaker struck it between the eyes. Under his helmet, his teeth clenched tightly as he growled. He used his built acceleration to push the top half down into the bottom. Swinging his arm downward, the two halves collided with a massive explosion with the word GREAT! tied to it.

As Ex-Aid dropped down, he landed with an unconscious Kagaya in his arms.

From the explosion, a mass of blue streams shot out into the distance, forming into the Hermit Bugster. When it reformed, the creature tumbled, its body letting out sparks that rapidly changed colors in the brief instances of their presence.

Setting her down, Ex-Aid rose from his position. Watching the Bugster carefully, his eyes narrowing under his helmet as he noticed it beginning to recover.

"It's getting up!"

Snipe rolled his neck, stepping forward as he raised two fingers. "Second tactic." Tilting his hand on his wrist slightly, he made his declaration. Lowering his hands, he placed the gun in the other hand. Now with his right hand free, he brought it down to the lever on the belt. With a tug, he pulled the device open.

Brave followed up by stabbing his sword into the ground and raising up his hands, "Proceeding to the second level." Lowering his right hand, he pulled the lever to open the belt, a neon blue emitting from it.

Ex-Aid also took in on the initiative, throwing his Gashacon Breaker into the air. Throwing his left arm outward, he strutted it to the sky. "Dai Henshin!" Lowering his arm, he pulled the lever on the belt to open the belt. With that, pink light shot out from the driver.

In the opening of their drivers, each of their belts shot out a stream of light that created a rectangular projection in front of them.

《 GATSHAA~!
Level Up~! 》

At once, the three Riders all leapt through the projections. As they did, the trio leapt into the air. Floating into the air within pillars of light made of their respective colors, they were transported into realms geared toward each of their games. As they did, they performed various actions such as Ex-Aid leaping across plains, Brave venturing through a labyrinth, and Snipe shooting down various targets. As they did, the chibi armor broke off of them, allowing them to stand at their full heights in their Level 2 forms.

《 Mighty Jump!
Mighty Kick!
Mighty, MIGHTY Action...
X! 》

Ex-Aid was the first to jump out from his pillar, landing on the ground in an Iron-Man-esque pose before standing in time to catch his Hammer that fell from the skies above. When he did, he pointed it toward the Hermit Bugster.

"I'll beat you down and save Hermit, with no continues!"

《 Taddle. Meguru!
Taddle. Meguru!
Taddle Quest~! 》

Brave stepped out from his pillar, looking down to his sword with a soft gaze. Grasping onto the hilt of the sword softly, pulling it out from the ground.

"Commencing Bugster Elimination procedure."

《 Bang, Bang, Bang!
Bang Ba-Bang!
YOW!
Bang Bang SHOOTING~! 》

Snipe spun his gun as the light from his pillar dissipated. Hanging it on his shoulder, he chuckled as he walked to stand beside the other two.

"Mission start."

『 B.G.M. END 』

【 4 - 7 】

Shido was watching the fight closely aboard the Ratatoskr, clutching a fist at what he saw.

His mind rattled over everything. A battle where he could offer nothing but his spectatorship, when it came to a Spirit even. He remembered how this started as him being the only one capable of saving them. But now, he wasn't capable of saving Hermit, and he wasn't even sure his friend Hiro, who had no reason to be dragged into this mess, could either.

"Shido."

His younger sister's voice cut him out of his thoughts as he turned his head toward her.

"Hermit's on the move."

"What?!"

Shido's eyes shot wide, his face moving toward the front as it showed a new projection. On it, it showed Yoshino moving through the city riding on a white rabbit similar to the form the Hermit Bugster took beforehand, but fully organic.

"You'll have to convince her to turn back. In her current condition, it's not safe for her to go anywhere right now. If the AST gets ahold of her now, she won't be able to escape. Or worse, she..." Kannazuki refrained from finishing his statement, believing what he gave was enough to make his point clear.

"On it." Shido nodded, spinning on his heel and leaving the room.

Kotori kept her attention forward though, raising her arm out as she began her string of commands: "Kawagoe, prepare to move to Hermit's coordinates. If we can beat the AST to her location, our defensive strategy can move more smoothly. Mikimoto, monitor our power output. If we disengage Invisible then it will pose a risk to our mission on its current standing. Shiizaki, initiate the Suggestions System, convincing Hermit to come along with us will likely take some measurements to appease her happiness levels. Nakatsugawa and Minowa, keep an eye on the ground level. We need to keep an eye out for any changes in the situation whatsoever."

"Roger." The response each named crewmate gave.

"This time, the target is the real Hermit. Sighting confirmed on the far-east quadrant of west Tengu City."

Ryouko stood with her arms crossed as a group of helicopters neared Yoshino's location. Turning away, she moved closer to the cockpit. At the doorway, a projection emerged, showing footage of Hermit riding hare-back across the city.

"She's already activated her Angel, hm..?"

Ryouko let out a small huff as she turned back. This welcomed the sight of Origami and Okamine grasping at compartments to attach armor pieces to either of their suits. Origami drew out a thin, silver cylinder that she clipped onto her hip. Okamine gave a barely audible gasp when she saw what Origami grabbed.

"Tobiichi. I'm to assume you won't jeopardize the mission, right?" Ryouko spoke with a slight edge in her voice as she batted an eye in Origami's direction. Reaching forward, she geared herself up before moving toward the opening hatch of the helicopter revealing the outside world.

As the hatch opened, a cold breeze invited itself in with a vengeance as it broke the silence. The harsh screeching as white flakes swung in, clasping themselves against the black metal on the walls of the copter and the armor on the three's bodies. These flakes each bore with them a small build of water that worked in unison to drench what they made contact with.

"Her power's beginning to spike." Origami remarked with narrowed eyes.

"Move." Origami nodded to Ryouko's order, leaping out from the hatch with Okamine close behind. Raising her hand toward her ear piece, she spoke into it with a stark tone. "All units, move out. We need to detain Hermit now before this blizzard spreads over the entire city."

"Yes, Ma'am!"

Stepping forward, she watched as her subordinates dropped onto the scene line black droplets on a white canvas. Ryouko lowered her hand from her ear, bringing each down by her sides. Watching as after a few streams of green shone in rapid succession, Hermit leapt out atop her Angel. Riding along the air as members of the AST flew in after her, Origami leading the charge with her plasma sword. A small annoyance building up in her, her foot tapped against the plated floor below her, the floor clicking in response to the armored boot's touch.

『 B.G.M. Cue: Bugster Virus: Game Illness「 ats- 」』

Ex-Aid grunted as he was flung back by a backhand strike from the Hermit Bugster, who simultaneously guarded shots from Snipe. Once Ex-Aid landed, the Bugster went to attack him, but Brave put those plans to a halt with a swift slash at its shoulder. When it turned to face him, he promptly slashed it across the chest. Before the opponent could react, Snipe fired a couple rounds at its wrist to propel the limb back. He kept up his end of the pressure, dashing in a circle as Brave went into a flurry of flame backed slashes.

Soon enough, Ex-Aid collected himself, grumbling to himself before leaping back up to his feet. Rubbing his cheek softly, he spun his hammer. "My turn." He quickly mashed his palm against the B button on the weapon, the hammerhead emitting a bright green glow. Looking to the surrounding area, he examined what game sets were around. Surrounding were a large array of chocolate boxes and metal drums. Grasping at the top of a random metal drum he found, he opened it to peak at what lied within. As a gleam emerged from it, his mouth let out an excited gasp.

Reaching inside, his body soon was bathed in a magenta glow. Pulling his arm out, it revealed that floating above his palm was an icon with the figure splitting into three. The medal spinning and combining with Ex-Aid's chest, the glow brightened in a flash before Ex-Aid went from being one to three.

"Yosh! Energy Item Get!" A cry they all made in unison. Looking to one another, they grinned to each other and raised a thumb. Afterwards, they all let out a cry as they charged back into the fray.

Alerted by the sound of three different Ex-Aids, Brave kicked the Bugster back with a slash. In the Bugster's bewilderment, Snipe took the opportunity to mash the B button on his Gashacon Magnum 3 times, the handgun barrel firing a bullet that many times larger than its regular rounds. This bullet was enough to make the Bugster stagger right into the three-fold upward swing they gave with their hammers.

As gravity ran its course, plummeting the Hermit Bugster back to the ground, the three Ex-Aids all mashed their B buttons more. Just before the Bugster hit the ground, they were prepared to strike, their hammer having been charged to the point of sparking highlighter pink along with having a green aura. With their mighty swing striking the creature, it flung a few meters away. As it soon came down from its 8 ft above ground level, it skids across the river, leaving a trail of ice in the path it followed.

Ex-Aid brought his hammer down, the clones beside him returning to his body. Preparing to give Brave a thumbs up, he saw the Rider was already charging forward to his dismay. When he turned to say something to Snipe, the other Rider was also ahead of him charging toward the Bugster. With that, he gave a angry sigh as he threw his arms up in defeat.

Before the two reached their target, however, an object struck the ground hard before them as smoke erupted from the ground. This smoke carried the wind force to send Brave and Snipe both skidding back a few steps from the force. As the dust settled, Ex-Aid moved his attention to where the wheel advanced: it flying back onto the shoulder of Genm Level 3.

"We were doing so good too..! What are you doing here?!" Ex-Aid bemoaned, clutching his fist tightly as it shook in the air.

"It seems you didn't quite comprehend what I told you before.." Genm brought their arms over either shoulder, grasping at the wheels plastered on them and detaching them.

"It wasn't that I didn't get it." As Brave and Snipe rushed over to the Bugster, Ex-Aid turned to face Genm pointing his hammer toward him. "It's that I refuse to let things go the way you want!"

"You claim you understand what I said.." Throwing an arm out, the wheel in their arm flying out.

In its trajectory, it struck true against Brave and Snipe's chests. The two unable to react in enough time to make a different, they fell to the force. The Bugster just a bit past them arose from the ground, given ample time to regain its footing. Pausing, it scanned around the area. Then, with a sudden gleam of green bursting out from its body, it let out a gut-wrenching screech before turning away.

Snipe raised the magnum at the Bugster, clicking the trigger swiftly. As the small yellow bullet flew through the air to strike its target, it found itself pass through a blue mist as the latter replaced the target in this realm. Snipe and Brave both jolted off the ground to look around.

Having their arm still out, Genm caught the flying wheel on its return stroke, turning back to Ex-Aid. "...but it seems you still want to play the Hero. A role that I've made clear doesn't exist in this game."

"You're right about that." Ex-Aid dejected his gaze, clutching the hammer tighter. "We aren't heroes. We aren't some kind of beacon of hope for mankind..." Lowering a hand, he grasped onto the Gamer Driver strapped to his waist. "But these are! These belts we use are designed to save people from the Bugsters! Save people from the danger they impose!" Letting go of the belt, he raised his hand toward the hammer, rubbing it with his finger softly, "So... As the people who use it, it's our responsibility to make sure they fulfill that purpose!"

He slammed his palm against the A button, the blade shooting out from within the hammer with a 《 Jaa KIN~! 》 as Ex-Aid charged toward Genm. Giving a couple slashes to Genm, the latter used the wheels to parry.

"Hiro! The Hermit Bugster is nearing Hermit's location, fast! What happened?!" Ex-Aid hesitated briefly at the sound of Kotori's voice erupting into his ear. He decided it was best not to answer immediately, as he was in the middle of close-quarters combat.

Speaking of which, he was reminded of that immediately when Genm brought up their knee into Ex-Aid's chest, throwing him back. Tumbling, Hiro threw his sword up into the air as he flipped back onto his feet to narrowly avoid a downward swipe kick from Genm. Dodging a couple slashes form Genm's wheels, he caught the sword falling from the air and swung it twice to slash at their wrist and shoulder. Having knocked them off balance briefly, he kicked them back. Genm retaliated by throwing their right arm into the juncture, striking Ex-Aid in the side. This gave enough force to throw Ex-Aid in the momentum, though a roundhouse from Genm shot the former in the opposite direction.

As Ex-Aid tumbled at the attack, Brave leapt in in his place to keep the pressure up on Genm. Twirling the sword into a reverse grip as he used palm strikes to parry the wheels going to strike at him.

"Hiro! What's going on?! You need to get over here, quick!" Ex-Aid stopped, grasping at his helmet softly as he turned away. "Urgh.. Alright. I'm heading back to the waypoint, now."

Genm pushed Brave away, moving to try and stop Ex-Aid from leaving. This attempt was intercepted by Snipe, who shot at his ankle before grasping their wrist and pulling them aside so he could pull a knee jab into their stomach. Rushing in behind them was Brave, who slashed at Genm's back in a flurry.

"Oi! Genius Gamer!" Snipe called out to Ex-Aid as he fought with Genm. "Seems like you know where that Bugster's headed! Go take it out already!"

Rolling back to avoid an attack from Genm, firing shots at the rider, who guarded using the wheels in their hands. Sweeping their arm around, they slashed at Brave before he could slash at their shoulder another time. Dodging shots from Snipe, they drew the Shakariki Sports Gashat from their driver. Promptly inserting the cartridge into the side slot, they clicked the accompanying button twice.

《 Shakariki...
CRITICAL...
STRRRRRIIIKE~! 》

With a gleam in their burning red eyes, they quickly made a spin slash that was empowered by the belt's green aura to produce slash waves that amassed a GREAT! on both Brave and Snipe. When it did, the two of them immediately fell at the force of the impact. Grunting as they both recoiled from the strikes on them. Retracting the wheels back onto their shoulders, they looked to where Ex-Aid was standing.

But he was no longer there.

『 B.G.M. END 』

【 4 - 8 】

Shido breathed heavily as cold winds brew violently around him. Pushing him back as he walked further, he grasped onto the railing of the rooftop he stood upon. He looked up with an eye shut to the tenacity of the rushing breeze.

"C'mon.. Where is she?!"

He arduously once'd over the surrounding chaos in search of Yoshino. Slowly moving along the border provided by the railing, he gave himself more range to view further down the city. Unfortunately for him, it was just too windy, not to mention the overabundance of white flakes interloped in with the currents. What lied beyond was so unclear save for the sounds of whirling and explosions.

"What're you doing?! It's not safe up there!"

Whipping his head around at the sound of a voice, he looked up to see Ryouko shooting him a glare while hovering in the air.

It didn't take a genius to surmise that she was a part of the AST, given what he knows about the current state of affairs. Getting taken away from the scene now would only make things worse. They'd kill Yoshino, and the poor girl's suffering would have persevered till the bitter end.

He shook his head. Turning back, he noticed a figure emerge from the white waves surfing the city. What he saw was Yoshino riding upon her Angel. The hare bouncing around the air as it dodged several shots from the pursuing AST members. His eyes shot wide as a large golden ray struck the Angel in the eye with a crackle that rippled the air.

Ryouko turned around, seeing Origami floating in the air with the cannister weapon that was strapped to her hip in hand.

"It seems that wasn't enough." Origami remarked, twisting the end of the cannister.

After it clicked, a yellow gleam trailed through its frame. With a grating sound, the cannister expanded to a length congruent to that of Origami's own height, the girl taking a brief second to adjust to the new weight disposition. As she raised the weapon, a fin-like mechanism protruded from the center of the weapon, which Origami pushed down. Bringing the hand down to grip on the bottom, her trigger finger clicked immediately. When it had, it immediately fired a massive wave of golden energy. The recoil created from the shot creating a ripple in the air that flung the girl back.

As the beam shot through the air, the furious winds blowing against it were cut apart. Down where Shido was standing, he leapt out of the way as he looked to where the hot breeze was. In that line, the ground was charred to a deep black. Ryouko in the air during this was flung aside, her armor smoking as a piece of her shoulder plate was burning.

"Damn it..!" Ryouko growled, flying over towards the battle.

Shido's breath was heavy, his body pushed against the edge of the railing. Rubbing his arm, he checked himself for any dismemberment or harsh injuries his adrenaline kept him from noticing.

"Ok.. I'm still one piece.."

"Shido! You've got to get out of there! It's starting to get too dangerous. The Bugster's on its way, and it reaches you, you may become infected as well!"

Hearing Kotori's order ringing in his ear, he raised his ear to the earcom softly. "If I go now.. They'll kill Yoshino.." He spoke between breaths, slowly turning his head toward the chaos ocurring just beyond. "All I'd have to do is warn Yoshino.. If I can get through to her, she'll take the chance to escape."

"Are you insane!? You'll be getting caught in the crossfire!" Kotori retorted, "Shido, I'm pulling you back! Incase you've forgotten, Ratatoskr's mission relies on you!"

Origami pulled back the cannister into its previous state, returning it to her hip. Raising her arm, a slate shot out of the wrist armor that Origami swiftly caught. In near immediate response to her catching it, a green blade erupted from the slate and formed into a katana blade. Crouching her body down, her back propellers flared. Soon, her form shot off into the far distance.

Reaching toward where she burned a scar onto the right eye of the Angel in the shape of Yoshinon's eyepatch, her blade pierced into the blackened spot. This resulted in a piercing screech echoing throughout the city. The AST were swift to all jab their own swords into the Angel's legs, the creature being knocked off balance as those present propelled themselves to knock it off its feet.

Yoshino gave a scream as she held on tightly to the Angel from her console spot atop its back. As it fell down, she shut her eyes tight to the world. The beast striking the ground with a heavy thud, smoke erupted across the surrounding area.

Origami hovered in the air, narrowing her eyes as she watched the smoke settle upon the earth below. As more of what was veiled could be seen, she floated down to the ground to meet up with her teammates.

"Hermit's weakened! Mana levels are on a dramatic decline!"

Nodding, Origami leapt forward. Arching her arm back, the sword in hand trained and ready to jab at the last traces of the smoke. As she flew, the wind tackled her harshly, white strips brustling her armor. Gritting her teeth, the woman's eyes lit with a powerful fury that starkly contrasted her usual stoic expression. As her body cut through the smoke, she let out a loud cry as she thrust the blade forward.

Silence followed.

The AST all paused as they watched the smoke slowly subside from its place in the world. When it finally came down from where it stood, what laid beneath shocked the team.

The blade laid its mark not inside of Hermit's corpse. No. In fact, it had not pierced anything. Origami's eyes shot wide as her gaze fell upon where her blade stood motionless.

Shido, atop the roof from where he was, leaned over the railing with the same expression. As he raised a hand toward his earcom, a blue light raised from the ground over his body.

Satoshi's grip on the wheel was tight. He found himself racing down the empty streets with little care for the velocity he currently carried.

With the city evacuated under the alarm of a Spatial Quake, there was no law enforcement to make him abide by basic traffic laws. It didn't matter how many various lights he raced by.

He knew the exact location of each evacuation shelter in the city, a perk of working under DEM. In the Seito University Hospital shelter, there was no sign of her. Of Yoshino. Satoshi needed to find the poor girl. Now.

Fixated on that thought, he drove around aimlessly.

「 A spatial quake alarm means I'm bound to run into them.. 」

Satoshi's eyes shot wide, slamming his foot onto the break and turning the wheel with all of his strength. As the car skid to a halt, it stopped just in front of a level 2 Genm atop of Shakariki Sports's bike.

Satoshi, though rattled, took a look out the windshield. Slowly, he mouthed the words on the forefront of his mind: "What the hell?"

Sparing him only a glance, Genm kicked at the pedals on the bike. In surprising speeds, the rider took off toward the distance.

Catching his breath, Satoshi watched the rider's leave for a moment. Then, with a narrowing of his eyes, he revved the car's engine.

"Hiro. You need to get in there, fast!"

"I got it." Ex-Aid replied, running toward a blue gleam steadily rising to the skies above.

As he came closer to the scene, his eyes scanned over to all that were coming into view. As he got closer, his senses picked up on the sound of metal whirring. Quickly, he leapt backward. This motion's purpose soon came to light as in the ground was a spearhead made of green light.

"Another Unidentified Lifeform has arrived on the scene, Taichou!"

Ex-Aid groaned as he saw the AST members touching down on the ground around him. Casting a glance at all of them, he was quickly able to discern that they all had their weapons trained on him.

"Shit! Why are the AST focused on Hiro?!"

Ex-Aid grit his teeth beneath his helmet. There were no means of escape offered by his surroundings.

At this rate, saving Hermit was out of the question. He could not bare to fail so soon after just having told off Genm that it was their obligation.

"STOP IIIIIIIT!"

『 B.G.M. Cue: Bugster Virus: Growth「 ats- 」』

The sudden cry on the battlefield turned all of the combatants attention back towards the center of the city.

The Hermit Bugster tilted its head upon the sight of a weak Yoshino. The giant rabbit which represented her Angel faded into snowflakes in the wind as her Bugster stood over her. Silence howled through the air as it eyes gave off a bright red gleam that pierced through the blizzard.

Ryouko, seeing this occur from above, narrowed her eyes.

"The two primary targets are distracted! Move in, now!"

"Hai, Taichou!"

A couple of her soldiers flew down to assault the Bugster directly. As its back was turned, they went to fire an array of bullets as they flew down, the lead clad rainfall offering them cover as they came ever closer in their flight. When they landed, a heave of smoke came to surround the two Hermits and obscure them from view.

"This is for Kagaya, you son of a bitch!" Shouted the left as she drew out a grenade, quickly pulling its lever and hurling it at the smoke. Following came a burst of green light that's recoil sent the two skidding back some.

The dealer of the finishing blow smirked as she looked on. There was not a doubt in her mind that that was successful in doing some damage to the foe.

However, her expectations were met with dismay as the smoke soon became ice which crackled down to reveal the two Hermits were rather unscathed from the attack. The Bugster turned toward the two of them with its eyes still blaring crimson.

"What the hell is this thing made o-"

Before they could finish, it raised its arm. This action caused the two of them to instantaneously be coated in a thick ice.

Witnessing this, Yoshino's eyes widened. Struggling to push herself up from the ground, she grit her teeth.

She did not want things to turn out this way. They were there to kill her, she was not stupid. But even so, they did not deserve this cruelty. This monstrosity that came from her is now causing them the pain that she wished to avoid falling upon anyone. It was all her fault. She let this get out of hand.

Now she had to stop it.

Turning her attention toward the Bugster, she grasped onto its leg. Seeing that she caught its attention, she pulled upon the limb to help herself stand.

"I... Said... Stop!"

The two would then both jolt as a sudden glow emit from both of their chests. After a moment's passing, the glow emitting from the Bugster's chest took a black coloring to its core. With a pulse of blue that the two glows shared, the two gleams would clash with one another, causing the two to be pushed apart.

Before Yoshino could hit the ground, a third gleam would emerge in the center of them which pulsed several times before becoming a beam of light that formed a pillar in the center of the city. As it emerged, it absorbed both the Bugster and Yoshino into its form.

The AST members surrounding Ex-Aid would then all turn their focus to the pillar as one pressed a finger to their earcom.

"Taichou...? What the hell is that?!"

"I... I have no idea! I've never seen readings like this before! It's worse than a Spatial Quake! We need to evacuate right now!"

Ex-Aid looked around as the surrounding members of the AST took to flying off toward the distance. With that, he gave a tired sigh. He was not sure if he was disappointed that they left so soon after things escalated or relieved that they were out of his way.

"Ah, well, whatever. It's time to get back to wo-"

Ex-Aid nearly fell over when the thing that interrupted him this time was the honking of a car. Swinging his attention toward the source of the sound, he saw a black sports car screeching to a halt just nearby.

Stepping out of the car was Satoshi, who was holding a Gamer Driver to his waist which freshly clicked on. Running over to Ex-Aid's side, he quickly raised a finger toward the rider's own driver.

"Ah, I knew it! You did have one!"

"You're a Rider, too?"

"Rider?"

Ex-Aid recoiled as he noticed Satoshi's tilted head at the question. It did not take long for him to come to the conclusion that the man lacked any knowledge of what the device exactly was and/or how to use it.

"Hey, this is really dangerous! Why are you here? You should get as far away as you can."

"I know how dangerous this is! Somebody's gotta do something about it, though, right? And it doesn't look like you're gonna be able to do it on your own! Lemme help out! Oh, and tell me how this thing works!"

Reaching a hand into his jacket's inner pocket, Satoshi drew out a yellow Gashat. As the Rider trained his gaze on it, the noteworthy aspect of the trinket was the Bakusou Bike title on its front.

"Thanks for the vote of confidence..." Ex-Aid sweatdropped, "And if you don't know how to use it, then this is not the best place to try and figure things out! You could probably die!"

"I'm well aware I could die." Satoshi frowned, turning toward the pillar and gazing at the Gashat in his hand. "But that little girl's for sure gonna die if I don't do anything! Do you think I can live with myself after that!?"

"Little girl...?" Ex-Aid paused, looking back to the man, "Do you mean Yoshi-"

He then let out a grunt as a green stream of light struck him in the shoulder. Satoshi stepped back a bit as his attention was drawn of the whirring of Origami's jetpack as she landed on the ground.

"Agh-!" Holding his shoulder, Ex-Aid looked toward his assailant: "Wha- You're part of the AST, right!? I thought that you guys were evacuating!?"

"They were. I'm going to complete my mission."

"What mission?!"

Using his hammer, he deflected the next shot. Looking to Satoshi, Ex-Aid quickly took to running in the opposite direction of him as Origami gave pursuit.

Satoshi blinked as he watched the attack. Turning his attention back to his Gashat, he scanned over it for a moment.

"Well, guess I'll figure it out myself."

Rubbing his thumb along the device, he raised a brow at the button he felt. Clicking on it, his eyes widened at the noise and glow that followed this action.

《 Bakusou BIKE~! 》

Looking around, he watched as a pulse of yellow energy pixelated the city around him as summoned an array of... Trophies? As the rock jingle played from the Gashat following soon after, he looked forward as a digital display appeared before him.

"Game start...?" Looking toward the belt, he smiled slightly as he noticed the two slots. "Well, we're getting somewhere."

『 B.G.M. Change: Face-Off「 ats- 」』

Ex-Aid leapt away with a tumble from Origami's next few shots. Quickly, he leapt behind a Chocolate Box. Using it for cover as Origami kept up her fire on it.

Before she could reload, Ex-Aid struck the box with his hammer and hit Origami's arm and flung the gun from her hand. As the box was flying back, Ex-Aid ran forward and smacked the box with his hammer. It breaking apart and the energy item below colliding with his body.

《 Kotetsu-KA! 》

As his body was coated in a silver sheen, he threw up an arm to guard against her grasp. Throwing it aside, he threw a kick at her ankle to bring her down to a knee. Leaping onto her shoulder, he used it as a bounce pad to leap back toward where he came from.

Origami grit her teeth as she reached at her hip. Drawing from it a black metal slate, she unfolding it into its laser blade form, she then spun on her knee and threw it toward Ex-Aid's back.

The unknowing Rider was struck by the attack and flung onto his stomach. The blade spinning back toward Origami, she caught it in the midst of her charge forward as she slashed down toward the Rider.

Quickly, he spun onto his back and raised out his weapon which unfolded into its sword form. The two blades clashing, the two combatants held their weapons at that position while glaring each other down.

Origami's blue eyes peered into Ex-Aid's yellow visor as she narrowed her eyes slightly.

After the two blades proved stalemate for a few moments, Origami finally raised her sword, stepping away.

Ex-Aid, confused by the action, sat up from the ground.

"Does, uh, this mean you're done swingin' that thing at me?"

"Yes I am. Takashi Hiroki, correct?"

"...what?" Ex-Aid tilted his head at the question, "I'm sorry, what?"

"Oh, apologies. I did hear you preferred to be called Hiro."

Ex-Aid paused, lowering his hand toward his belt. Closing the lever and pulling the Gashat from it, he arose from the ground after his body was washed in pink light.

『 B.G.M. END 』

"Wait a minute. Are you Tobiichi-san?! As in, the one in our class!?" Hiro raised a brow, lowering his hand softly, "Does Shido know about this? Did he not tell me!? Why!? How did you even figure out who I am?! I have so many questions and very little answ-"

"Shido."

"...huh?"

"Shido doesn't convene with his friends at school very often. Those that he does all have the common factor that they are involved with Spirits in some way, shape, or form." Turning her head toward Hiro, she continued, "Besides, the whole ordeal with the Genm Corpse comes around the day you appear. It was only natural to assume that you were involved with that as well."

"That all hangs on a lot of presumptions! What if you were wrong?"

"That would be impossible."

"I'm not even going to begin to explain how that's wrong..."

Hiro turned his attention toward the distance as a pulse of light waved over them. Looking back toward where the beacon was, he noticed a white mist beginning to pour out from it.

"This chat was fun, but I need to stop that."

As he jabbed a thumb toward the ongoing chaos, he looked back to Origami. Met with a blank stare, he raised a brow.

"Are you, uh, not going to leave?" Scratching the back of his head, he turned his head toward the distance where the rest of the AST disappeared to, "Your team left a while ago."

"I have the equipment necessary for killing a Spirit. That Bugster thing has the readings of a Spirit. Your equipment does not seem capable of achieving such a feat."

"You're right. If I were fighting a regular Spirit, this thing wouldn't be enough to do that kind of job." Hiro placed a hand on the Gamer Driver on his waist, "But this thing's the only thing in the world that's able to take down a Bugster. Even if you did manage to take him out, he would just come back over and over. And if I don't take him out, that girl's going to die."

"Is that true for everyone infected by a Bugster?"

Hiro paused, looking to Origami. Met by a stern gaze, he lowered his eyes for a moment.

"Yes."

"Then..." Turning away with a frown, Origami clutched her fist tightly. Raising her head back toward Hiro, her brows furrowed. "You better save her."

"I will."

The two stared at one another for a moment, the howling of the wind being the only thing breaking the silence between them. After the moment's passing, Origami quickly turned on her heel. With a powerful leap, her suit's back propellors boomed to life and rocketed her toward the far distance.

As he watched her fly off, Hiro lowered his hand from the Gamer Driver. Turning back toward the coming winds and raised the hand holding the MAX Gashat.

《 Mighty Action X~! 》

"Henshin."

『 B.G.M. Cue: Ride On Me「 Toru Watanabe 」』

《 LET'S GAME!
MECCHA GAME!
MUCCHA GAME!
WHATCHA NAME!? 》

"Yyyyyyaaaaahhhh!"

《 I'm...
A Kamen Rider...! 》

Holding up his arms as he ran forward was a level 1 Rider with a yellow biker mask with a pair of bike handles protruding from its sides and a pink mohawk over the top with short spikes. Atop either wrist was a pair of yellow plated motorcycle wheels which acted as gauntlets which offered him protection from the ongoing blizzard's brunt force.

"Come... On...!"

After some time, the man was flung off the ground and sent tumbling and sliding across the cold and wet ground. When his sliding came to a halt, he let out a sigh as he laid his head back.

Staring into the darkening sky, he let out a sigh.

"Well, that worked out about as well as I would imagine."

From the distance came running in Ex-Aid, coming to a halt when he noticed Satoshi on the ground. Blinking under his helmet as he hopped over to his side, he helped lift him off the ground.

"Hey, come on."

After he finally got up onto his feet, Ex-Aid let go of him and leapt around him. Throwing out his arms, he made the pose he does when he goes to pull the lever.

"Now ya gotta level up."

"Level up?"

"Level up!"

Satoshi looked to either direction with a blank expression. Looking back to Ex-Aid, he then copied his pose.

After a few brushes of the wind, he let out a sigh before lowering his arms. Slumping his shoulders, he lamented the lack of change in any manner.

"...how exactly do I level up?"

"Oh, well. Take a look at this." Lowering his hand, he gestured toward the opened lever on his belt, "You gotta open the lever."

Examining Ex-Aid's belt for a moment, Satoshi lowered his own hand toward his belt. Pulling at the lever and flicking it open, he leapt backward when belt shot out a glowing yellow projection. Ex-Aid stepped to the side beside him as he took to examine the card as it came floating closer to its Rider.

《 GATSHAA~!
LEVEL UP...! 》

"Huh... Normally, it looks like a person, but this one looks more like a-"

Before he could finish, the projection made contact with Satoshi's body. This caused him to float up briefly as the white armor stacked onto his frame flew out toward the distance. Instead of a human body lying underneath, it was a trio of individual parts which would combine with intrinsic mechanisms.

When they did, the Rider would land on the ground as not an upgraded human but as-

"A-a bike?!"

《 Bakusou
Dokusou
Gekisou
Bousou!
Bakusou BI~KE...! 》

The motorcycle remained still for a moment, before its 'head' turned toward either direction. The headlights blinked on and off briefly before it hopped in the direction of Ex-Aid.

"Eh? Eh!?"

Ex-Aid himself responded with shock as he noticed the bike itself was talking. Walking over and poking the bike's mohawk, it leapt backward in shock.

"Agh! W-what the hell?! Did you get bigger?! Did I shrink!? What the hell is goin' on?!"

Turning back to look at his own body, Satoshi cried out in shock at his current status. His form was not at all resembling that of a human being. His wheels began to spring rapidly as he spun around Ex-Aid crying out in shock.

"W-why the hell am I a motorcycle!? I thought I was supposed to level up! Become like you! Now I'm like this!"

"Well, um. I think that your game is supposed to level up this way. If that makes sense."

Satoshi stopped when Ex-Aid raised the suggestion. Pausing and turning its head back toward the blizzard, he shook his head before fully turning toward it.

"Well, whatever then. We don't got time for that, right?"

"Right."

Ex-Aid then took to stand next to Satoshi, giving a staredown to the blizzard. Getting ready to charge forward, Satoshi wheel forward a bit to ram his head into his side.

"Agh! What was that for?"

"Get on."

"Huh?"

Ex-Aid blinked as Satoshi moved a bit forward to propose his seat to him.

"I'm a motorcycle. Ya know what that means, right?"

After giving it some thought, Ex-Aid snapped his fingers to show understanding, "You can only go so far by yourself."

"Well," Satoshi turned his head away with a huff, "That's probably true, I dunno much about this form, but... Even if I could, we're working together on this. It's probably better to join forces, yeah?"

Ex-Aid nodded, a bright smile under his helmet. "Yeah!"

With a hop off the ground, he landed smoothly over Satoshi's back. Scanning over the body of the motorcycle, his eyes landed on what seemed to be a warning notice. Reading it over, he raised a finger to his chin with a blink.

"Lazer, huh?"

"What?"

"It looks like that's your name."

Satoshi paused, running the name in his mind. Lazer did not sound bad. Certainly made him feel better after finding out he was stuck as a motorcycle.

"Alright, then! Lazer's ready to go!"

Ex-Aid gave a hum and nod in agreement. Putting his foot onto the pedal and turning the handle, Ex-Aid blinked. Looking to Lazer, he spoke up.

"Uh, I've never ridden a motorcycle before. How, uh, does this work?"

"Ugh. Just turn the handle and push on the pedal, alright? I'll handle the rest."

Nodding, Ex-Aid once again revved the engine.

Hearing it roar, Lazer chuckled as his headlights kicked on.

"Alright. Let's rev it up!"

Kicking up his head, to Ex-Aid's shock, the motorcycle raced forward into the blizzard.

『 B.G.M. Change: Lazer -Level 2-「 Toru Watanabe 」』

Cutting through the mist was the duo of Ex-Aid and Lazer as they raced onward toward the bright light amassing in the distance. Skidding against the ground with its wheels, the icy waters laid on the ground fired up in a trail behind them.

As they raced onward, the blue light shot out several giant blue energy balls that shot down toward the ground before them. As they struck the ground, the following explosions shot up into the sky in the form of skyscraper ice pillars.

Ex-Aid revved the engine again as he quickly turned the handle in either direction. This made Lazer scurry to avoid the oncoming pillars of ice that he nearly collided with.

As Ex-Aid came to avoid the pillars, he turned his attention behind him as he heard the sound of crackling. He immediately gave a shriek as he saw the pillars behind him dropping down toward the ground- toward them specifically.

"Shit!" Lazer grumbled as his engine roared louder.

Pushing down on the gas pedal harder, Ex-Aid leaned down a bit as Lazer picked up in speed. Feeling the wind pick up violently as the pillars came crashing down behind them, Ex-Aid gasped as Lazer briefly took to the skies. Landing with a skid shortly after while he continued onward.

In the wake of these events, a pair of massive wings would sprout from the pillar. They seemed gentle in appearance, but their massive size still gave pretense to the ominous aura they exuded.

A common sound the two were able to hear was the screams escaping from the pillar, a sound they both recognized.

"Damn it!"

Lazer's eyes shone bright as he sped up even more.

『 B.G.M. END 』

【 4 - 9 】

『 B.G.M. RESUME 』

Kotori rubbed her chin with a frown.

She had never seen the emotional charts of a Spirit move in such a way. In all honesty, it terrified her. The fact this even could happen goes against all they knew about Spirits at this current point of time.

This Bugster virus truly was a terrifying threat.

"Commander. This is alarming."

"If this isn't stopped soon, then Hermit will..."

Hearing the words from her crewmates only made her heart sink. As far as she knew, only the highest magic technologies were even capable of coming close to such a feat. Yet here and now a virus they still know nothing about was about to accomplish a task the AST could not complete themselves.

She slammed her fist against the arm of her chair. Rising from the Captain's chair, she roared with fury into the microphone.

"HURRY, HIRO! HERMIT'S READINGS ARE PLUMMETING!"

"On it!"

Placing her hands on the desk before her, she grit her teeth. This situation was completely unlike what she was dealing with before. The Fraxinus was capable of supporting Shido with his dates, or combating against a Spirit or the AST. But if not even Tohka was capable of destroying a Bugster completely, then it was entirely out of her hands.

She looked up toward the monitor, gulping down what anxieties may escape her lips.

Kotori hoped for Ex-Aid's success.

She then paused, looking around with her mouth agape.

"Wait, where's Shido? I told him to withdraw!"

"He's still on the rooftop. We've tried calling him back but he hasn't responded, Commander."

Kotori's brow twitched as this news. Once again, she slammed her fist down.

Damn it. She should have foreseen this. That Shido was always the self sacrificial type! And they had no means of contacting Tohka. Hiro's already on the field. Most of their assets are currently in use.

"Can't we go pick him up!?"

"At the current status of the field, it would be too dangerous for the Fraxinus to get any closer."

"Damn it!"

Kotori looked over to the corner of the monitor as it came to zoom in on what was revealed to be Shido.

Shido looked on with horror as the sight he was greeted with was that of the giant winged pillar firing blasts all along the road just below as Ex-Aid raced ever closer.

"Things have gotten a lot worse..."

He grit his teeth as he stepped back from the railing. Looking around, he quickly made a break for the stairway.

Before his venture could begin, unfortunately, he was alarmed by the sound of crackling creeping near. Turning his head in its direction, he would quickly run back the way he came as one of the ice pillars summoned by the beacon would drop down over the very spot where he aimed to go.

This course of events would cause the entire building to cave in at its wake. With this, Shido let out a cry in shock as his body began to involuntarily slide in the direction the crumbling building's pieces slid downward.

Hoping to grab onto the ice that caused his predicament as a source of relief, he was met with dismay as it too were quick to fall apart at the touch.

Soon enough, he was left with no salvation in direct sight as he was dropping at a high speed. Flailing his arms toward the crumbling building above, he made another desperate attempt to stop his fall by any means necessary.

But however, they were just that. Desperate.

The realization that his death proved imminent, his voice caught in his throat. Reaching outward toward the sky above, his eyes narrowing as he noticed the clouds above beginning to slightly part.

A sudden stop in his falling.

Time seemed to slow to a crawl as he realized that the danger has passed. Turning his head in the direction of the pressure he felt on his back, he saw that he was looking into wary, purple eyes that stared deeply into his hazel.

"Shido... I was scared I wouldn't make it in time."

"Tohka...!"

『 B.G.M. Cue: trust me「 Toru Watanabe 」』

His voice finally returned, coming out in a half shriek as his emotions sprawled out of his face in a gasp mixed with a sigh of relief.

After reconciling with his living status, he quickly took to embracing Tohka tightly. The gesture first caught the girl off-guard, her armored bun bouncing to show her confusion. Though, after a second's time of thought on it, she gratefully accepted the hug with a smile.

This was what she missed dearly. This warmth. A sigh escaped of relief escaped from her own lips as she tightened her grip on him slightly.

Finally pulling apart from her slightly, Shido looked into her eyes and blinked.

"Hold on. Tohka, what are you doing here?"

"I... I really wanted to see you." Tohka lowered a hand from his shoulder to her chest, "I couldn't stop thinking about it, so I went looking for you. And when I did, a feeling in my chest led me here. I'm glad it did. I almost lost you again."

"Tohka... I'm sorry I scared you."

Hearing his apology, she bowed her head softly.

"Shido, I'm sorry too... I dunno what came over me. When I saw that girl was so much more important to you than me, I just got so mad... I dunno why."

"Oh, Tohka..." Shido's eyes softened as he affirmed his grasp on her shoulders, "It's not that she's any more important to me than you are."

Looking down, he lowered his hand to his chest with a soft smile.

"I guess you can say it's more selfish than that."

Tohka looked up to him with a confused look in her eye.

"I was able to help you out of your troubles. Even though I was just some random high school kid who happened to notice what you were going through. And, because of that... I couldn't help but want to do that again when I saw Yoshinon. When I saw that, just like you, she's a Spirit who's going through so much without anyone to help her through it." His gaze became stern, "I wanted to be that person to help her through it. No. I'd do that for anyone who needs my help."

Tohka's mouth hung loosely on her jaw, the girl dumbfounded at the boy's speech.

To Shido, this registered as an admission of doubt in his firmness.

"Ahaha... I guess, to you, that sounded pretty dumb coming from me, huh?"

"...Shido."

The bluenette paused when Tohka finally spoke. Looking to her, he noticed the agape mouth curled into a bright smile.

"You really are the greatest man I've ever met."

『 B.G.M. Change: Virus「 Toru Watanabe 」』

Ex-Aid skid to a halt when he finally came up to the edge of the beacon. Looking to the pillar ahead, he saw no way of entry inside of the behemoth.

"Ah, wait here a sec."

"It's not like I have any real choice."

"Ah, right."

Ex-Aid sweatdropped as he hopped off of Lazer's back. Walking over toward the pillar itself, he raised a hand toward it. Pressing against it softly, he raised a brow beneath his helmet at the texture. Before he could keep his hand there any further, he pulled it back after wincing sharply at the pain bombarding him from the contact.

Shaking his hand softly, he sucked on his teeth.

"Huh? What's wrong?"

"It doesn't look like I can get it open. It's like this huge thing is literally a funnily shaped snowstorm."

"Ah, what the hell?" Lazer groaned, tilting his head to either side. "How the hell are we going to save Yoshino now!?"

"I dunno," Ex-Aid rubbed the back of his helmet, "We can't just power through it. We would need a metal Energy Item and even then I think we'd need more than one."

"But the last few we saw were before all those pillars were dropped on us...!" Lazer shot down the suggestion with a frustrated huff.

Ex-Aid placed his hands on his hips.

Well, with that the two of them were fresh out of options. Continuing onward was not going to be a possibility at this rate. Drawing his weapon, Ex-Aid attempted to slash at the barrier.

This was met with the about the results he expected. The coiled beacon before him was only ruffled briefly by his sword, as if he swung it through smoke.

Frowning beneath his helmet, he placed a hand on his hip. Well, that course of action usually works for Tohka.

That line of thinking then lead him to remember that she was a Spirit, someone with strength that dwarfed his own with just the smallest fraction of her strength.

Actually, that brought him to a new line of thinking-

"HIROOOO!"

As if the world heard his thoughts, he swung his head around at the sound of Tohka's voice as behind them came the Spirit riding atop a golden plate with Shido holding onto Tohka's shoulders tightly.

"Agh... Jeez..."

Shido's eyes spun as he stepped off of the "ride", dropping to a crouch as he struggled to pull himself together. Tohka, on the other hand, hopped off with a wide grin on her face, placing her hands on either hip.

"Shido and Tohka are here to help!"

"Hnnn... Mostly Tohka, though..." Shido groaned, "I'm gonna need a breather."

Lazer turned his frame to face the two newcomers. This caused both Shido and Tohka to pin their gazes on the bike in shock.

"So, who are they? Friends of yours?"

Tohka hopped backwards in recoil at the development. Carefully, she grasped at the hilt at the end of the golden container below her feet. Drawing out the blade, she pointed it toward Lazer.

This, in turn, caused Lazer to back up some.

"H-H-Hiro! The bicycle is talking! Not only that, but it is moving on its own! EXPLAIN THIS MADNESS!"

"Tohka, I think you're more unbelievable than that..." Shido calmly remarked.

"HOW!?"

Lazer turned his head toward Ex-Aid, who could tell even without the emotional display that the former was annoyed.

"Ok, Lazer. This is Tohka, and that's Shido. They're friends. They help out Spirits."

"Well, that's a bit reassuring. But, uh, what's she pointing a sword at me for!?"

Ex-Aid gave a sheepish shrug, which did nothing to improve Lazer's mood on the subject. Slumping his shoulders at this, he walked over to Tohka and gently grabbed at the sword, pointing it toward the beacon.

"Ok, Tohka. Ya see that? Me and Lazer are trying to get in there. But to do that, we gotta get past its walls." Letting go of her when she nodded, he stepped forward a bit, "Seeing as you're a Spirit, too, I was hoping you knew a way of getting in there."

Tohka tilted her head, pondering on the subject. Walking over toward it, she pressed her finger against it softly. Pulling her arm back, she frowned as she noticed the smallest cut on her finger.

Turning her attention back to it, she quickly raised her sword over her head.

"Hey, Ex-Aid! She's doin' the exact same thing you did earlier, which did nothin'!"

"Well, she's a Spirit, so-"

Swinging her arms down, the blade rang out loudly as it struck the ground. In its wake, a giant crack emerged in line with the swinging motion the blade had done.

If not for their helmets, Lazer and Ex-Aid's draws would have hit the floor at this development.

"S-she's a Spirit... Noted..." Lazer weakly remarked.

"Hurry! It won't stay open long!" Tohka quickly barked.

Lazer, turning his frame forward, let out a roar of his engine as Ex-Aid hopped onto his back.

"Alright, now we're getting somewhere!"

After Lazer's declaration, Ex-Aid reached down to the Lazer's Gamer Driver and withdrew the Gashat from the slot. Lowering it toward the Kimewaza slot hanging on the side, he quickly slipped it inside.

As he did, the slot gave a neon yellow glow in response.

《 GASHATTO~! 》

He would then follow-up by pressing his thumb against the button next to it.

《 Kimewaza...! 》

As Lazer's belt hummed, Ex-Aid turned the handle with a firm gaze under his helmet toward the crack just beyond. Pressing on the gas pedal, Lazer cheered as the two flew forward.

Tohka and Shido both watched as the two Riders leapt into the crack. As they did, Shido hopped up from the ground with an excited cheer as he raised a fist toward the air.

His excitement, however, was cut short when he saw that the crack was beginning to close over them.

Noticing this, Ex-Aid grunted as he brought his hand down to the side of Lazer's belt. Turning the handle again, his eyes narrowed under his helmet as Lazer's eyes began to glow once more.

《 Bakusou...! 》

Tohka's eyes went wide at the sound. Recognizing what was going to come, she swung her arm toward Shido. Before he could question the reasonings for her action, the blue haired boy found himself pulled down toward the ground as Tohka leapt away from the two Riders.

At another hum of the device, both of the Rider's eyes were gleaming. The entire frame of the motorcycle Ex-Aid was seated upon sparking with neon green and pink electricity which struck at the area surrounding.

《 Critical...
STRRRRRRRRRRIKE~! 》

From the back thrusters of Lazer's frame shot out massive orange beams which would singe the very sky behind them as they were launched inside.

Ex-Aid tightened his grip on the handles as they landed on the ground, racing further into what seemed to be infinite darkness. Glancing around their surroundings, he frowned under his helmet that there seemed to be no sign that they were closing in on the pair.

"Hey! Heads up!"

Ex-Aid threw his attention back to his forefront as Lazer tipped him in to something coming into view just beyond. Under his helmet, his eyes widened as he noticed a bright light emerging in the distant.

Leaning downward, Ex-Aid revved the engine again as Lazer began to pick up speed. As they sped closer to the light, they both braced themselves as the light came to flash over them.

Stopping soon after, Ex-Aid shrieked as he looked to see the ground below them crackling at their every movement. Hopping off the bike, he paused and blinked as the ground did not cave in on them.

"Relax, I think that's just an aesthetic of this place." Lazer commented, earning a nod from Ex-Aid, "Now, hurry up and turn me back! It's not like I have hands to close the thing."

"Oh, right." Ex-Aid stepped over, pulling the lever of the belt closed.

Soon enough, the bike would flip in the air, its pieces coming apart as white chibi armor pieces collided with the bike frame. Soon enough, Lazer landed on the ground back in his Level 1 form. With the ability to stand side by side with him, he glanced around at their surroundings.

『 B.G.M. END 』

"Well, damn... Where the hell did we end up?" Lazer frowned under his helmet, placing his hands on his hips.

"I dunno, but maybe the surroundings are a sign we're close?" Ex-Aid suggested with a light shrug.

"Yeah, maybe-"

The two were interrupted by a loud scream. This turned the two toward the distance beyond as they both rushed over.

"Hiro... ! ...before... Stop... ...the Bugster!"

Ex-Aid softly grasped at the side of his helmet as he noticed his headpiece fizzing out. Narrowing his eyes under his helmet, he continued running onward with Lazer.

After a moment's time of running, Lazer stopped abruptly with a gasp.

"Yoshino!"

Ex-Aid would stop soon after as he noticed that two ice pillars sat across from each other in a room's distance from one another.

On one side, the Bugster was completely submerged in ice.

On the other, Yoshino struggled as she tried to break free as her body was nearly entirely submerged save for her face and chest areas.

Immediately, the two would rush over to Yoshino's side. Examining the ice threatening to encase her, the two were both left confused as any attempts they made at cracking the ice were met with failure.

"I think it's made of the same stuff as the wall that blocked our way in." Lazer commented.

To this, Ex-Aid frowned. From what he knew, it was plenty obvious that Tohka did not follow them in. How were they going to get her out?

Opening her eyes softly, Yoshino's eyes went wide as she recognized Ex-Aid.

"You're... From that time..." She said weakly, turning her head down as best she could toward Lazer, "...and... You're...?"

"Oh! Right, you wouldn't recognize me this way."

Lazer then drew the Gashat from his belt, releasing his transformation. Satoshi emerging from the light was a surprise for Yoshino, who wiggled a bit in response.

"It's me, Satoshi. You remember?"

"Sato...-san... You came...?"

To her confusion, Satoshi responded with a soft smile and a shake of his head.

"Of course I did."

『 B.G.M. Change: My Destiny「 Toru Watanabe 」』

He then looked toward the ice, grabbing into his jacket pocket and drawing out a pocket knife. With it, he would begin to try and chip at it with stabs. He let out some grunts as he continued to make several futile efforts to break it down.

"I told you before. I said I was gonna get you help. If I've gotta be that help, so be it."

"But... Sato-san..." Yoshino frowned.

Suddenly, the three all stopped as a new gleam of light came into the picture. This time... It came from Satoshi's belt, as a bright light was filtered by the closed lever.

"Wha...? What's goin' on?"

"I don't know." Ex-Aid answered as he arose from his crouched position.

A crackling sound caught the attention of all three of them as both pillars of ice would shatter, releasing their captives. In a quick, forward motion, Satoshi caught the descending Yoshino in his arms before she could hit the ground.

Ex-Aid, however, quickly spun around as he was the first to notice that the Bugster was released from captivity as well. Raising out his arm, the Weapon Selection wheel would appear and produce for him his Gashacon Breaker.

"Keep her safe."

Ex-Aid spoke to Satoshi without looking in his direction as he rushed toward the Bugster which quickly regained consciousness.

Setting Yoshino down, Satoshi let out a soft sigh.

"Well, the monster's still around. Gotta fix that."

"Sato-san..."

Yoshino frowned, grabbing onto Satoshi's coat tightly. Pulling herself up onto him while her grip tightened, her other arm raised, Yoshinon shaking his head violently.

"Brrrrr...! That was really cold! Thanks for getting me outta there, Toshitoshi!"

Satoshi chuckled, "Anytime, Yoshinon."

"Sato-san...!"

Yoshino tightened her grip further as she beckoned his attention. Satoshi's smile lowered when he noticed that Yoshino was almost glaring at him.

"Sato-san... You could have been hurt really badly..."

"So be it." Satoshi spoke firmly, the girl raising a brow at this.

"But why? We were strangers before, weren't we?" Yoshino seemed as though she were preparing to cry, "This is all my fault! I'm the reason that monster appeared! I'm the reason people got hurt! Why are y-"

"Yoshino." Satoshi softly placed a hand on hers, holding it gently, "I would never think to leave you to your suffering. Or to die."

"But Sa-"

"You're sick, Yoshino!" Satoshi quickly responded. It was calm, but still stern enough to give the same effect as a roar. "It doesn't matter if it came from you. Or if it has the same powers as you. It's not your fault this happened. People get sick. It happens. Everyone has a weakness. Everyone has a point where they need help."

"Whenever I need help... I just look to Yoshinon, but..." Looking to the puppet upon her other hand, she frowned.

"I dunno what to do about this one..." Yoshinon swirled her head around in defeat.

"Is there nobody else you can look to for help?" Satoshi frowned.

"No, there's nobody." Yoshinon shook her head.

Yoshino nodded to Yoshinon's statement, looking to Satoshi, "There's never been anyone to help me... All I've ever had was Yoshinon... She was always my hero whenever I needed it."

Satoshi looked to the girl thoughtfully. Tightening his grip on her hand a bit, he reflected on the information that was given to him. He could not imagine having gone through life without a single other person to rely on.

To be honest, he likely would not be anywhere close to where he is today if he had not another shoulder to lean on when things got dire.

"Then why don't I be your hero?"

"...what?" Both Yoshino and Yoshinon tilted their heads.

"I get that Yoshinon's your backup whenever the going gets tough. But, there are gonna be times when Yoshinon's not enough. And I know that's scary. Terrifying. And I know those mean girls are always coming after you." Satoshi raised his other hand to place over under her hand, firmly keeping his grasp on it, "But I refuse to let you go on without anyone else, ya hear me? If it gets too much for you, then..."

Yoshino subconsciously tightened her grip on Satoshi's hand as she was processing his words.

"Don't worry. I'll be your hero."

After his proclamation, Satoshi was expecting a cute smile and a cheerful response.

However...

He nearly fell over at the disappointment that her immediate reaction that was Yoshino's breaking down into tears. Before he knew it, she tightly wrapped her arms around his body, burying her head in his chest as the waterworks flowed rapidly.

"H-Hey, what's the matter? Did I say something wrong?"

"No, no..."

Yoshino shook her head as she finally pulled back, wiping away the tears hanging off the edge of her eyes. Lifting her head toward him with a soft smile.

"It's just... No one has ever been so nice to me before..."

"Hmm..."

Lifting a hand, Satoshi softly smiled himself as he placed a hand atop her head.

The girl winced briefly, mouth opening loosely when she felt him rubbing it softly. Looking up to her hood which moved to either side in response to the movements of the man's hand, she raised a hand to place on top of his.

Satoshi chuckled lightly at this.

After the moment passed, Satoshi pulled his hand back softly. Rising from the ground, he gave a quick glance behind him.

"Now, there's one thing left to do."

Before he could move away, he felt a tug on his leg. Turning around, he looked to see Yoshinon grabbing onto him.

Yoshinon was the one who grabbed onto him with her tiny arms. When they locked eyes, the puppet raised an arm toward him.

"Let... Lemme help, Toshitoshi!" Yoshinon plead, "I've got the same powers as that thing! I can help you ou-"

"Yoshinon."

The puppet stopped when Satoshi turned around, crouching down to look to the Yoshino pair.

Seeing that the both of them were confused as to the meaning behind his words, he clicked his teeth. Rubbing the back of his head, he took a moment to contemplate a manner of explaining it to them. Recalling back to a time when he was that small, he pulled from the memory the words that kept him on the right path all this time.

"Listen, both of you. I know that you think that you're going to be making it less of a burden for everybody if you handle all your problems by yourself. But, in all honesty? That's just not true. People are going to worry about you. People are going to want to help you. Pushing them away only makes it harder for you to solve that problem." He smiled softly, "In just the fact that you let me get to this point, you've already helped me so much. You've already done so much. So, the best way you can help me out is give yourself a break and let me do the rest."

The pair paused, looking to one another and pondering over his words. Looking back toward Satoshi, they gave a light nod.

"Ok, Sato-san/Toshitoshi."

"Great."

As Satoshi was about to raise his hand to Yoshino's head to pat it once more, he stopped as his eyes were brought down to a bright light. To his surprise, it turned out to once again be that of his own Gamer Driver. With a radiant flash, Yoshino's body would be bathed in this light.

Looking up to her, his brow raised with a puzzled frown. Raising his attention to a new flash appearing between them, his eyes widened as he saw what looked to be a clear crystal within the light.

Reaching for it, he softly closed his hand around it. Pulling his hand back to further examine it, his eyes once again widened when he opened his hand to find only a few sparkles of white light fall like sand into his skin. After this was complete, the glow emanating from his driver became a bright yellow before dissipating.

Looking back to Yoshino, he noticed her raincoat fading away into blue sparkles. This left her only in the sundress beneath, which had lost its radiant glow.

Smiling, he took off his jacket and placed it over her shoulders. To this, the girl raised her free hand on gripped the accessory tightly.

"I'll take care of this here soon."

『 B.G.M. END 』

【 4 - 10 】

『 B.G.M. Cue: Strong Soul「 Toru Watanabe 」』

Ex-Aid tumbled across the ground with a thud as he was struck hard in the chest by a powerful jab from the Hermit Bugsters. Grunting as he laid on the ground, kept focused by the stinging pain throughout his body. Pushing himself up from the ground, he checked on his Ride Gauge. He had been careful to avoid its strikes. Only two hits were already enough to bring him down to half.

Raising his Gashacon Breaker, he huffed heavily as he looked toward his foe. Not even a sign of fatigue. There was nothing to show for all of the work he has done in this fight thus far.

His legs were shaking lightly from the overall toll this fight has taken on his body. Looking down, he grit his teeth beneath his helmet. His physical body may have grown over the past battles, but his own lack of muscle was beginning to show here.

The Bugster was apathetic toward Ex-Aid's struggle as it walked closely to him, smacking his sword down with its claw and backhanding him. The force sent Ex-Aid back a couple steps, which gave Hermit the opportunity to jab its claw toward him.

Throwing his arm upward, he used the Gashacon Breaker as a guard against the claw. Hermit finishing its full swing flung Ex-Aid across the void and again on the ground with a hard impact.

"That was too close..."

Shaking his head, he rose from the ground once again. Narrowing his eyes under his helmet as he glared at the Bugster. He already swore to Origami that it was the right call to leave it in his hands. He could not afford to lose this battle. He could not afford to lose Yoshino.

Ex-Aid went to move toward the Bugster, who was walking toward Yoshino and Satoshi. But stopped when the Bugster suddenly froze. His eyes widened as he saw the Bugster's body erupt with blue glowing pixels.

That had never happened before...

Regardless, now was the perfect opportunity to strike. Raising his blade, he drew out the Gashat from within his belt. Raising the gear, he slid it into the sword.

《 GASHATTO!
Kimewaza..! 》

As the blade began to hum, he spun it around his wrist as he took a crouched stance. Pink and green energy began to coil around the blade as it began to spark. A gleam of his eyes as he clicked the button, he charged forward. The words seemed to leap out of the blade itself as he jumped toward his foe.

《 Mighty...
Critical...
FINISH! 》

Bringing his sword down onto the exposed shoulder of the creature, the blade pierced through the chest armor as he pushed down his arms down with the force of momentum allowing him the opportune to complete his downward swing.

The blade dropping down to the ground after the swing, Ex-Aid let out an exasperated huff. His body's fatigue getting the better of him as he slumped downward, his weapon dropping to the floor.

Unfortunately for him, in that instant, the Bugster recovered from its stupor and swung its arm to fling Ex-Aid over toward the two he spent this time defending.

"ARGH!"

With a thud and violent beeping from his chest, he groaned as his attention was brought down to his Ride Gauge. It was now critically low. Another strike like that and he was going to receive a Game Over.

...even so. He needed to defend Yoshino.

This thought was the driving force behind Ex-Aid gathering the strength to rise up from the ground. Weakly, he stretched out his arms in either direction. Breathing heavily under his helmet, he grit his teeth.

"Stay... Back!"

Finding himself entirely ignored by the machination, he growled underneath his helmet. Stepping toward the creature, he made to attack the Bugster.

『 B.G.M. END 』

...until his body gave in to its exhaustion, causing him to trip and drop toward the ground.

"...uh...?"

Before he could fully hit the ground, he felt a hand press against his chest, stopping his collision course. Turning his head softly, he saw Satoshi looking forward with a stern gaze having been his savior.

"Hey, you've worked yourself pretty hard too." Satoshi crouched down to let Ex-Aid down softly, "Let me take care of the rest from here."

"But you-"

"Don't worry about me." Raising his hand, Satoshi presented the Bakusou Bike Gashat. "I told you. I got it from here."

Before any further arguments could escape from Ex-Aid's lips, Satoshi would click the button on the Gashat with his thumb.

《 Bakusou BIKE~! 》

As a brief rock jingle followed, a passing of yellow energy caused the color to completely take over the surrounding area. Soon the blue sheen which coated the dark void surrounding them back yellow.

The Bugster froze once more, stepping backward in what seemed to be fear as its body sparked with yellow pixels.

Bringing the hand holding the Gashat, he spun on his heel as he hovered the Gashat over the slots of his belt while also holding his other hand in the air across his chest as his body was tilted inward with a smirk as he looked toward the Bugster.

"Henshin."

Twirling the trinket downward in his hand, he brought it down with a drop of his hand. When the Gashat slid into the slot, it emanated a bright yellow hue as the belt registered the device.

《 GASHATTO! 》

With a flash, the Character Selection Wheel would appear around him. As it spun, the character images of each Rider passed by him before one representing Lazer would appear before him. Twirling in the opposite direction this time, he threw out his leg to kick forward and strike the panel. With a ringing sound, the panel spun with a hop. Bringing his leg down, he clutched his fists as yellow pixels covered his frame.

《 LET'S GAME!
MECCHA GAME!
MUCCHA GAME!
WHATCHA NAME!? 》

As the panel collided with Satoshi's body, he became Lazer Level 1 with a flash of yellow light. With a cartoonish shimmer of light flashing over his visor, he rolled his shoulder before charging toward the Bugster.

《 I'm...
A Kamen Rider~! 》

Lazer leapt toward the Bugster and punched him with the bike wheel in his hand. The Bugster stumbled backward, and continued to do so with each of the five consecutive strikes that followed after. Ex-Aid looked on with shock as the HIT! message would appear at every attack Lazer made. That had not appeared once whenever he fought against it.

With an uppercut, the Bugster was flung into the air. Curling downward immediately, they hit the ground with a thud as the GREAT! popup followed the assault. As he saw this, Lazer chuckled with a grin.

"Hahaha! Come on, ya gotta have more than that!" Lazer swung his arm in a circle as he watched the Bugster stumble to its feet.

He was expecting the Bugster to make a powerful swing its way and raised its arm to guard the attack.

. . .

To his surprise, no such swing came.

Instead, the sight he was greeted to when he lowered his arms was the Bugster... Running away?!

"Wh- WHAT THE HELL?!"

Lazer nearly fell over at the turn of events as he took to chasing after the Bugster.

"HEY! GET BACK HERE!"

『 B.G.M. Cue: Lazer -Level 1-「 Toru Watanabe 」』

Lazer kept running after the Bugster, finding himself getting tired out while the Bugster kept racing off into the distance further and further.

"Gagh... I wasn't expecting that!"

Fumbling on his thoughts, he rubbed his chin softly. He took a moment to ponder how to follow after before he took a glance at what was hanging from his hand.

Raising his arms up, he chuckled to himself as he noticed the wheels hanging from them.

"Ahahaha!"

Crouching down, placing the wheels against the ground. Lifting his head to look toward his runaway target, he began to rush forward again. After some sufficient running, he dived forward so that the wheels allowed for him to race forward in a blur.

Ex-Aid slumped as he watched the battle go on. He lowered his head a bit as he pondered over the current standing. Lazer was only at Level 1, and his Level 2 was only powerful when it had another Rider involved.

"Is he going to-?"

"Sato-san will do just fine."

Turning his head back, he looked to see Yoshino watching with a proud smile on her face. Turning to look toward the pink Rider, the puppet on her hand bounced up.

"Yeah! Toshitoshi's gonna beat that monster up!"

Ex-Aid blinked beneath his helmet before looking back toward the battle. He hoped they were right.

Back in the action, Lazer continued to go hell for leather after the Bugster, his wheels beginning to spark against the ground. In a sudden brush of yellow sparkles, Lazer propelled forward at intense speeds.

The Bugster looked back in shock as it was sudden strung with a leaping spin attack from Lazer. This strike caused the Bugster to fall to the ground with a hard thud.

Lazer landed on the ground with a bounce as he swung his arm again.

"Alright! Now things are shakin' up!"

Furious swing after swing, Lazer made slash after slash on the body of the Bugster. The culmination of Yoshino's sickness seeming unable to evade such strikes.

After the aggression finally started to come down, the Bugster swung its claw at Lazer. The chibi rider simply weaving his head back to dodge the incoming blow. Leaning forward, he jabbed the wheel into the Bugster's chest. Soon after, he began to spin violently.

This spinning became akin to that of a chainsaw as the Bugster's body was exploding with sparks, HIT!, and GREAT! signs. When the spinning finally came down, the finally strike struck Hermit in the chest and flung it back with a PERFECT! sign following.

Hermit tumbled as its body sparked again with yellow pixels. Pushing itself up from the ground, it arched its giant claw back. Soon, blue energy began to build up in a sparking mist around the appendage.

Lazer tilted his head at this sudden turn of events, not seeing this coming.

"Ah, well! Means you'll go down fighting."

Drawing the Gashat from his belt, he transferred it to the Kimewaza Slot.

《 GASHATTO!
Kimewaza..! 》

Lazer crouched down as yellow and green energy began to build up over his leg, sparks flying in the air around him.

The Hermit Bugster's eyes gleamed a bright red as the blue energy swirl grew only larger as an ice construct of an energy version of its claw appeared in the swirl. Soon enough, the accessories over its body that were made to make the Bugster mimic Yoshino's appearance were soon absorbed into the mist to make the claw even larger.

"This is just about finished!"

The Bugster then thrust their claw forward: the giant ice structure being flung toward Lazer. The massive fist dwarfing the Rider.

As he leapt into the air, the Rider stretched his arms outward. Throwing the wheels he was armed with toward the giant structure. As they flew forward, the cut deep against its sides, cutting it apart into the two distinct halves.

《 Bakusou...
Critical...
STRRRRRRRRIIKE~! 》

With a loud roar, Lazer then shot down with a diving kick. Like a yellow meteor was hurtling down toward the Earth, the yellow stream Lazer became struck the giant ice structure hard.

So hard in fact that it pushed the launched projection back into the Bugster, who clasped its arms onto the construct to try and hold it back. Unfortunately for it, it was only met with futility as it was being skid back by the massive force.

Lazer grunted as he felt some pushback from his enemy. Though, with another roar, he pushed his leg forward more. This granted him the ability to push through the ice, the construct shattering as he rocketed downward toward the machination.

Ice, yellow energy, and green sparks surrounded the Rider's body as he shot through the structure like a bullet. The Bugster not being able to see it coming as it was struck in the chest by the Rider's foot.

As its eyes blinked red and yellow from this, it raised its head toward the Rider.

"D...d...D...De...feat...e...d...!"

Those were its final words as Lazer pierced through its body, landing on the ground with a slide in a crouching position as robotic parts and oil laced with yellow pixels would follow after him. This resulted in the Bugster then exploding with a GAME CLEAR! sign following.

《 Kaishin no...
Ippatsu..! 》

『 B.G.M. END 』

As the smoke cleared, Lazer finally arose from the ground. A huff escaping from the Rider's lips, he pulled the Gashat from his belt.

Releasing his Rider form, Satoshi looked over toward Ex-Aid and Yoshino with a smirk.

"See? What I tell you?"

As Satoshi walked over with his hands pocketed, the three all gave a small bit of laughter.

But before they could celebrate any further, the entire area began to rumble violently.

"W-wha-?!" Ex-Aid shakily arose to his feet.

Yoshino soon did the same as they noticed that the empty voice became filled with a bright yellow light.

"What's goin' on?!" Satoshi barked.

"I've got no idea! Maybe this is a Spirit thing!?" Ex-Aid looked to Yoshino, who only gave a confused tilt of her head.

"Ok, well first things first we need to get out of here!"

At the suggestion from the older man, Ex-Aid gave a nod of approval. Satoshi crouched down to Yoshino's level, allowing for the girl to climb on his back. Looking back toward the direction they came, they both immediately took to spring toward the unclear distance.

"Come on...! Come on...!"

Satoshi grit his teeth as he continued running forward. As they did, Ex-Aid's head would perk up as he noticed a cracking in the void before them.

"There! That may be our ticket out!"

"Go! Go! Go!"

Outside of the pillar, Tohka kept slashing and slashing at the wall. However, unlike before, it did not tear through enough to open a sufficient hole for them to follow through.

"W-what?! I just did it!"

"Hey, Tohka? I think it's fine. Hiro's probably got it handled."

Shido placed a soft hand on the girl's shoulder as he looked to her with a similar tenderness in his smile.

Tohka looked back toward Shido with a pout, before she saw his face. After her eyes scanned over it for a moment, her face seemed to melt into a warm smile of her own.

"Alright... If you say so."

Shido chuckled a bit at that, then turned to look at their surroundings. The blizzard bulldozing over them was now gone without a trace. At this, Shido's eyes went wide.

Perhaps that meant...!

Quickly, the blue haired boy pressed a finger against his earpiece.

"Hey, Kotori! What's the word? Is [Hermit] okay?"

"Huh- SHIDO! Why haven't you been responding?! We've been trying to call you all this time! The hell's the matter with you, you could've been killed!"

Shido doubletook the response, before his lips curled into a smile.

"Oh? Is that a hint of worry I hear in your voice?"

"This isn't something to joke about, Shido!"

"Ok. Ok. All joking aside. Is she alright?"

Tohka looked to Shido with a small huff.

It may be irrational for her to be a bit peeved over Shido having expressed concern over another girl, but it did not mean she was not going to. Well, she felt reassured in the fact that their deal made sure that [Hermit] girl was not going to get too much farther with him.

She felt safe again. A small smile creeping onto her lips.

Walking over, she softly hugged onto Shido's arm. Resting her head against his shoulder.

At this action, Shido only gave her a glance and smile as he listened to what Kotori had to say.

"Actually, now that you mention it: Yeah. Hermit's just fine. It looks like they managed to save her. And..."

"...what?" Shido's eyes widened. "I thought-"

Before Shido could finish, him and Tohka leapt a bit as they turned to see the gigantic ice pillar cracking in its entirety. To their horror, some of the chunks began dropping down toward them.

Tohka quickly raised out her arm, summoning her Sandalphon sword before slashing upward to cut the giant block in half. Narrowing her eyes, she raised the sword to slash apart the next one.

However, before it could land the strike, the block faded into yellow particles that flew into the air above.

"...huh...?"

The both of them were shocked at the turn of events, looking toward the epicenter of the pillow. Leaping out were the pair of Satoshi and Ex-Aid who landed on the ground with a kneel, Yoshino still on Satoshi's back.

"Oh- Hey, you guys did it!"

Shido was the first of the two to make a comment.

Ex-Aid chuckled a bit before he nearly fell over, Shido being the one to catch him this time.

Tohka looked to Satoshi with a blink.

"Who's he?"

"I'm the bike." Satoshi quickly answered.

"WHAT!?" Tohka leapt back in shock, again pointing her sword in Satoshi's direction, "WHAT IS THIS MADNESS!?"

"Tohka, put the sword down." Shido chided as though a parent would their child.

Though reluctant, Tohka fulfilled the request. Allowing Sandalphon to dissipate, she went over to Ex-Aid's other side and helped him arise from the ground.

They all would then stop, looking to Yoshino atop Satoshi's shoulders.

"Oh, umm..." Shido blinked, looking to Satoshi. "I'm not sure what to do..."

. . .

As Yoshino tightened her grip on Satoshi slightly, the man letting out a soft sigh. Looking to Shido, he cleared his throat.

"You guys do work to save Spirits, right?" Satoshi spoke up.

"Huh- Oh, yes. Yes we do." Shido stumbled on his response, but managed to get his words across.

"Then, Yoshino should probably stick with you guys." Satoshi spoke up, this causing Yoshinon to gasp.

"Toshitoshi! What are you saying!?"

"Look. You two are awesome. But..." Satoshi frowned, "The place I work... Is kind of a brother organization to the AST."

"Y-You mean those mean girls!?" Yoshinon again dramatically gasped, clasping her tiny hands against her cheeks.

"Yeah, the mean girls." Satoshi chuckled before looking to Shido seriously, "I want Yoshino to be in the safest place she can. She's already been through enough and she doesn't need any more to deal with."

"I can understand that." Shido nodded.

Tohka had been in the same boat that day in April, back before he saved her. Hunted down daily by the AST, a red target on her back just for existing. He refused to stand back and witness anyone else suffering like that ever again.

"Well, guess that's the end of the line, huh?" Satoshi looked toward Yoshino with a bittersweet smile, "I guess I'll be seeing you around, huh, Yoshi-chan?"

"Toshitoshi... I get what you're trying to say. We'll-"

"No."

The rabbit went silent as Yoshino buried her head in Satoshi's shoulder, clutching his shirt tightly. The girl's grasp on him began to tighten in any means possible, wrapping her legs around him as she pouted.

"Yoshi-chan... You've gotta-"

"I'm not leaving Sato-san's side." Yoshino was quick to respond, tears beginning to well up in her eyes, "Sato-san is my hero. That's what you said, isn't it?"

Ex-Aid looked with a soft smile under his helmet as he looked to the two holsting him up.

"Hey... Let's just get goin', guys."

Shido and Tohka nodded, the three leaving Satoshi and Yoshino alone to talk it out with one another.

"Alright, alright. You win." Satoshi chuckled, a bright smile appearing on Yoshino's face, "Let's go home, then."

『 B.G.M. Cue: Threaten「 Takehito Shimizu 」』

Toshiki grunted, holding his arm as he dropped to a knee at the entrance of the hospital. Holding his chest as he fell back against the wall, he groaned as he still was reeling from the blows he took from Genm as if they were still fresh wounds.

His every breath was sharp as he leaned his head back against the wall. His grit his teeth as he winced in pain.

"Toshiki-san!"

Opening his eyes at the call, he looked to see Sho was helping him up from the ground. Glancing toward him, he groaned weakly as he was seeping in and out of consciousness.

Behind them, Asuna would holster the surgeon from his other side.

"Toshiki-san, hang in there!"

"I'll call the Director immediately."

"...In...tern..."

Toshiki's world soon went black.

『 B.G.M. Change: Solitary Doctor「 Toru Watanabe 」』

Slumping into his chair with a huff, Ukyo groaned, placing a hand on his shoulder.

Damn it! That Rider had proficiency in using Level 3. He was hoping he did not have to use his trump card, but...

Raising his hand, he gazed upon the Jet Combat Gashat.

"...I'll have to reveal it soon..."

Grunting, he lowered his hand from his shoulder and set the Gashat down on the desk. Sighing, he concluded that it was too early to come to such a decision. For now, he needed to focus on recuperating and strategizing his next move should he be forced to have a confrontation with them again.

A creaking sound then stopped all of his thoughts.

Turning his head behind him, he saw Kurumi sitting on the bed with Meowth rested upon her lap. Rubbing her hand softly against the cat's back, she gave him a soft smile.

"Did you have fun playing your little game~?"

"If you call getting my ass kicked fun, then sure. I had plenty." Ukyo frowned.

"Aww... Don't be like that."

Ukyo turned around his chair so that he would fully face the woman. "What are you doing here, anyway?"

"Well~" Lifting a hand from the cat, she placed a finger against her chin, "We've been friends for such a long time, so I figured I would let you in on my next little plan~"

Westcott frowned as he looked at an older model computer for the state-of-the-art models issued to the employees nowadays. He tapped his finger lightly against the keys and surfed through the files.

"...it seems she took quite a few liberties to ensure I didn't get my hands on it..."

Looking to the picture frame on the side, it showed the face of a woman with black, curly hair tied in a puffy ponytail hanging on her shoulder. She wore her labcoat with the sleeves rolled up and a pink heart-shaped clip hanging from her breast pocket alongside a purple pen neatly tucked inside. Below it was a blue dress shirt with the collar form-fitted around her collar bone. Her hazel eyes were pinned toward the viewer as she was giving off an awkward smile. Clearly unprepared for the picture that was taken.

At the bottom of the golden frame was a nameplate: Yurina Takahashi.

"Damn, it doesn't look like I'm going to get in this way."

Westcott huffed, standing up from the chair in front of it. Clicking his teeth in annoyance, he turned to take his leave from the room.

After a few moments, the shut off computer would begin to flare up with golden pixels.

〖 See You Next Game... 〗

【 In the Next Game... 】

『 B.G.M. Cue: EXCITE -Instrumental-「 Kanata Okajima 」』

「 Our information is outdated... 」

Kannazuki and Hiro sat in front of Hiroyuki's desk, the latter having his hands folded over his desk.

"So you say a Spirit was infected with the Bugster Virus?"

"Indeed. We were under the assumption that their immune systems were too strong to even be affected by such a thing."

At a later point, Hiro was walking down the hallway. As he walked, he came to pass by a well-fitted man with a pair of square-rimmed glasses.

As Hiro ran quickly to follow behind Kannazuki, the glasses wearing man peered back toward the two. As they left, he pulled his phone from his pocket to his ear.

"Now knowing that they can indeed be affected by this virus: it becomes imperative that Ratatoskr is equipped to deal with such an occurrence should it arrive."

"I see... I will make contact with your beneficiaries soon."

「 A new threat emerges... 」

As Hiro watched Shido and Kotori walk off toward what looked to be a hotspring, he let off a sigh. Turning around, he leapt backward with a cry of shock as he was greeted with Genm staring him down.

"Ex-Aid. I require your assistance."

"What- What are you talking about!? Why would I help you? You're a terrorist!"

Hiro's eyes widened as he looked into the Bugvisor's screen. On it was footage of themself and Graphite fighting against an Archael Bugster which took after a gigantic chibi robot. Watching for a few moments, he was quick to the sight that they were easily dispatched by the monster.

"Because if you don't, this city will go down with it."

「 Can it be stopped? 」

Brave leapt backward from the Archael Bugster Genm was showing to Hiro, who crashed down in the center of a plaza with the crackling of the earth below in its wake. High-pitched screeching rang out as it swung its arm upward with force necessary to fling Brave away with relative ease.

Soon, Snipe and Lazer would rush in after them and make their own attacks on the Bugster.

"Asuna-san, what is this Bugster?"

"One of the Bugsters that were the last straw which caused Genm Corp to finally mass produce the Gamer Driver."

Sho watched as Toshiki punched at the wall, lowering his head as he groaned.

About to stand up from his chair, he stopped when Asuna placed a hand on his. This was enough to stop him from doing so.

"I know what bad blood you may have with him, but... Defeating this Bugster is going to require you working with Fujita..."

"I will remove the Bugster by my own merits."

「 Will they come to join forces? 」

Hiro sat down at the table, with Sho sitting down across from him with his own plate set down on the table.

Looking to each other, the two noticed their own expressions and broke out into laughter.

"Hey, Sho."

"What's up, Hiro?"

The scene changed to show Hiro looking out to the patio from the open door looking into the night sky while Sho was washing the dishes.

Turning back toward his brother, Hiro raised his head toward him.

"What made you want to be a doctor?"

"What? What brought this about?"

「Who hails this game?」

"Everyone here has their different reasons for standing here today..."

Lazer and Brave both rolled to either side of the Archael Bugster before leaping toward it for slashes with their respective weapons. This action was met with powerful swings from the creature which swiftly parried their strikes.

Snipe raised his gun in rifle mode, the monocle on his helmet giving a bright gleam as his trigger finger was prepared.

"We all have our own lives that we'll probably lose if we fail here..."

Genm and Ex-Aid both gave their own flurry of attacks to the Archael Bugster as it was put on the back petal thanks to the assistance of Graphite. Dodging an attack that struck Graphite, he slammed the hammer down over the creature's head.

The scene then turns to the Bugster slamming its giant fist into Ex-Aid's body and sending him straight into a pile of cars laid out in the junkyard the Riders were fighting in. With a Great! signal appearing over him when he hit them, the stack came down with a heavy force.

"I refuse to let it end that way."

Ex-Aid arose from the ground with a determination shoning through their eyes, raising his hammer. Flipping the hammer in hand, he slammed it into a Chocolate Box next to him before charging toward the Bugster.

The Bugster threw forward its fist again, but the attack was halted by the knuckles of a red gauntlet covering over the arm of a powered-up Ex-Aid. As a set of propellers fired on at the end of the gauntlets, he threw his arm forward with a roar. This caused a burst of red energy emerging from a HIT! signal causing the Bugster to recoil.

"I will change their fate!"

【 Level 5 : I Will Change Their Fate!
(レベル5：俺は彼らの運命を変える！) 】

『 B.G.M. END 』