Hoshi's tail was wagging with excitement as he scanned the crowd for any sign of his brother. Many of The Mob's captives had returned to the factory under Amnesia's supervision to reclaim their repossessed belongings. "See him anywhere?" Erika asked. The small pup tried to lift himself a little higher from atop her shoulders before shaking his head in disappointment. Carefully, she lowered him back down to the floor and ruffled his headfur.

"He was definitely here, though," said Lizzie, now helmetless like everyone else, "We already have several furs here claiming they met him in this factory."

"Yet none of them know what happened to him…" Erika sighed, her eyes trailing over to Hoshi. The small canine reached down and picked a baseball cap from the suitcase at her feet, hugging it to his chest tightly.

"00!" Daiki shouted from the other end of the room. When the snow leopard looked over to him, he was waving her over with a paw. "Come over here! There's something you might wanna see!" Erika nodded to Lizzie and took Hoshi's paw, weaving through the crowd and meeting up with the other canine. "Follow me. I think I found the living quarters. If we're lucky, we might find ourselves a clue." He led the two of them to a large room filled with nothing but bunkbeds. The sight alone made Erika's blood boil. "Without a doubt, this is where they were holding their captives."

"Let's have a look around then," said Erika, holding back a growl, "Look for anything that might've belonged to Taiyo. And Hoshi?" The pup looked up to her as she knelt down to his level. "Do you think you can try and catch his scent?"

"I'll…try," he nodded firmly, despite the uncertainty in his voice. He brought the baseball cap up to his snout and sniffed it carefully. After a few more times, he turned his nose to the air and began his search. While he sniffed around, Erika and Daiki got to work inspecting all of the beds. Very few belongings were found in them. "There are lots of other smells here…"

"Just keep trying," Erika called, peeling back one of the sheets, "Try and focus on your brother's. I know it's tough, but you gotta do it for him."

"For big bro…big bro…big…oh!"

Erika looked up from her bunk. "Find something?"

"I did!" Hoshi barked happily, "This bed right here!" Hearing that made her and Daiki hurry over to the small pup, who was clutching at the sheets and bouncing on his heels.

"Good job, Hoshi," Erika smiled, ruffling his headfur again, "We're one step closer to finding your bro."

"But how big of a step that is currently remains to be seen…" Daiki leaned in and carefully peeled back the sheets. "No one here was allowed even so much as a pencil to journalize with. He was unlikely to leave us any clear clues."

"But he wouldn't want to disappear without leaving some kind of trace," Erika peeked her head in to check the bottom of the top bunk, "Maybe he scratched a message in here. Or on the railing, or somewhere no one would think to—"

"Don't move." Daiki's suddenness made the snow leopard freeze in place. Sidling in next to her, he carefully reached over on the bed and hovered his paw over where hers was planted.

"Hey, hey," she protested, "not in front of the kid." The wolf merely rolled his eyes and plucked something out beneath her palm. The two of them withdrew from the bed to take a look at his findings; a small strip of plastic.

"Tell me, Erika," he began, holding it up to her, "what do you think of this."

"I think people are taking 'anything helps' a little too literally," she quipped, "Is this not just trash? A leftover shard from the factory work?"

"And here I thought your detective skills were up to snuff," Daiki said, reaching into his coat and pulling out one of the photos he'd brought to the base, "Here, have a look at this and tell me if you notice anything."

Erika gave it a look-over once it was in her paw, it was a photo of The Mob's captives being rallied into the bus. "Aside from a gross injustice, I can't say I notice anything strange."

"I believe a quick look at their wrists will tell you otherwise." Daiki's words prompted her to check. Lo and behold, tied around each fur's wrists was a plastic zip tie. Daiki then held up the plastic strip he'd picked off of the bed. "I didn't think much of it until we found this, but all of our recent rescues were wearing zip ties of this color. I believe this must have been Taiyo's."

"So…it's been cut off…" Erika's ears began to lower. They perked again as Hoshi began to tug at her shirt.

"Miss? What does this mean?" Slowly, the snow leopard knelt down to his level and offered him a soft smile.

"It's nothing, Hoshi. You should go back and meet up with Lizzie. We'll catch up later." The small pup nodded reluctantly and scurried off. As Erika stood back up, she let out a sigh. "Give it to me straight, Daiki. Are we too late?"

"I won't lie and say that's not a possibility, but it's not our only one." The timber wolf replied, tapping her shoulder and pointing to the photo. "The furs in that photo were wearing ties of a different color. I believe the purpose of them is to sort out what roles each fur will be fulfilling. If that is the case, then it's also possible that Taiyo was transferred from this factory to elsewhere."

Hearing this gave Erika a larger sense of relief than she was willing to admit to. "Then let's say, hypothetically, he was. How do we know where he went without any other clues?"

Daiki began to stroke his chin fur. "Perhaps we aren't as clueless as you may think. This factory in particular is for general construction of Gaia Memories. Mindless grunt-work, if you will. If the young man was indeed transferred out, it would be because he portrayed skills that would benefit The Mob outside this role. You are already aware of the secondary effects of Gaia Memory usage. Per chance, do you know which ones Taiyo experienced? Or even the specific Memory he used?"

Erika took a seat at the bottom bunk. "He got a Gaia Memory specifically for those effects. He wanted to improve his performance in baseball, so I want to say it was a reflex based Memory. His team mates reported he was able to hit and catch balls more consistently after he began usage."

Daiki furrowed his brow and shook his head. "That doesn't sound right. Reflexes mean nothing to a production company. Even for a combatant, such a trait is outclassed by the myriad of others that can be offered." He paced around the bunk bed and held up a finger. "If Taiyo was taken out of grunt work, it was because his skills were worth more than grunt work. I believe his Memory was vision based, allowing him to see and judge things with greater precision. That would warrant him being promoted to a fine-tuning and inspection role in my old company. A skill of that caliber would offer a more careful eye for finding minute details, such as hairline cracks and the like."

He reached up and straightened out his collar before tugging at it with a sly smile. "And lucky for you, I know just the place to do that."

Kamen Rider 00: Mobster Hunters

Free Your Heat

The group was back on the road again, only this time with a far less loaded team. Erika was back on her bike, whilst Daiki rode with Lizzie in the same armored vehicle as before. "Are you sure we couldn't have waited for everyone else to be ready?" asked the snow leopard. "The rest of the team is still rallying all of the civilians and criminals."

"We needed to head out as quickly as possible," Daiki answered, "It's very likely that word of the factory's recent liberation has already spread. We need to get to the laboratory before The Mob makes any drastic moves. They likely aren't expecting another attack so soon."

"I hope you're right; the boss is going in with one less gadget," sighed Lizzie, "I don't get why Raito insisted on making adjustments now of all times."

"He said it was urgent," said Erika, "Apparently that last bout convinced him that he needed to finish adding the last few features to the spider-shock." She couldn't help but smile from hearing the husky's irate sigh. "Hey, don't worry. I'm a big girl. I can take care of myself, even without fancy gadgets."

They reached their destination in a matter of minutes. They found themselves at the foot of a hill. The laboratory building at the top was gated off, with an inconspicuously dressed fur stationed at the checkpoint. The three furs were one block away, hiding themselves from sight atop the roof of one of the buildings. "I don't reckon we can nab a visitor's pass?" Erika whispered. All this earned her was another eye-roll from the timber wolf.

"Move over, you two; you're taking my spot." The two of them looked over to Lizzie and saw her locking a scope in place on her sniper rifle. She quickly set herself up and aimed directly into one of the laboratory windows. She scanned each and every face that passed by before eventually announcing to the others, "Bingo, I found our golden boy. He's on the top floor with a duo of guards patrolling his lab room." Erika couldn't help but let out a sigh of relief. "I see one or two other workers with him. The lower floors either have other Mob members, or are just empty outright."

"Seems easy enough…" The snow leopard then pulled out a set of Memories from her vest. "Shall we?"

Lizzie then aimed down at the fur stationing the gate's booth. "We shall."

Taiyo held his breath to steady his paw. He squinted his eyes to focus on the tiny components of the circuit board clenched between his fingers. Slowly and carefully, he brought in a tool with his other paw and began soldering a wire into place. Once he was done, he set the tool down and carefully set the board into a beaker of non-descript substance. He took that moment to sit back and allow his eyes to rest. He glanced over to his fellow colleagues, who were hunched over peering deep into a magnifying glass. It was only a brief moment before he pulled out the board again and got back to work.

He began to work on the next tiny component, only for his steady paw to jolt from the sudden sound of glass being smashed to bits. The German Shepard hastily dove behind his lab bench as abrupt chaos took over the lab. Gunshots rang out, punches were being thrown, and bodies were slumping to the floor. Only when it began to die down did he dare to peek his head out. When he did, he nearly froze in shock at the sight of a black and yellow figure tightening their glove and looking over to him. "Kamen Rider 00…" he gasped, "you actually came."

"Heya Taiyo! We're here to take you home." Erika glanced over to the other two workers in the room. "You guys too, of course, but him moreso. The kid's got a brother waiting for him who's dying to—"

"Erika?"

"Yes, Arata?"

"Taiyo just ran out the door."

Erika blinked once. "He what?" She quickly turned back in time to catch sight of Taiyo's tail slipping out. "H-hey wait a second!" She hastily ran after him as Arata informed Lizzie of the situation. "Kid, what's wrong?! We're here to rescue you!"

"I know!" Taiyo shouted back, seemingly trying to get as far away from them as possible. He grabbed a nearby cart and shoved it backwards. The sudden movement caught 00 by surprise, and they ended up tripping over it and knocking it over. While they were busy reorienting themselves, Taiyo took the nearest turn and ran as fast as he could. Unfortunately, that path ended up leading him to a dead end. He turned back, but 00 was already standing in his way. His eyes were wild as they slowly approached.

"Taiyo, please talk to us," begged Erika, "You don't have to be afraid anymore. Just tell us what's wrong so we can help you."

"We found you using the clue you left behind," said Arata, "Your brother is safe with us; we didn't let the Mob get to him. Is something threatening you? Were you implanted with something?"

Taiyo shook his head frantically. "Please just… You need to leave! Thank you for coming to my rescue, but I don't need your help anymore!"

00 was so taken aback by this that they staggered backwards. Erika stumbled over her words before saying, "What could you possibly mean by that?!"

Taiyo's ears flattened and his tail tucked between his legs. "I mean that I'm fine! Now please go before the underboss—"

"Taiyoooooo!" a new voice sounded out through the building's PA system. Hearing him caused Taiyo to sink a little. "My boy, I'm sorry to interrupt, but I couldn't help but notice that you were starting to get a little too chummy with your new friend here."

"Sorry, underboss," he sighed, reaching into his pocket, "I was just about to get them to leave."

"Leave?" said Arata, "Taiyo, what…" He trailed off as the canine pulled out a Gaia Memory from within his coat.

EYES!

"I'm sorry about this," he said before closing his eyes and jamming the head of the device against his eyelid. 00 watched in horror as Taiyo's body began its monstrous mutation. His fur shed away to allow his skin to turn a sickly grey. His claws grew out of his fingers, and his muzzle shrank into his skull to form a blueish snarl. A golden carapace-like armor enveloped his torso and covered his eyes beneath an ornate crest.

The Eyes Dopant stretched out a hand as it approached 00, causing a large eyeball to slowly emerge from his palm. Without warning, the eye shot out the rest of the way and slammed into the Rider's shoulder, exploding upon impact. "T-Taiyo?!" Erika exclaimed.

"Please leave," he replied, his tone far more threatening than before, "Now." More eyeballs came flooding out of his hands and bombarded the Rider relentlessly. They were forced to leap backwards and shield themselves with their arms. When that wasn't enough, Arata flung his elastic arm forward to try and strike as many of them away as possible.

Once they landed, the eyes that didn't explode hung in the air to surround the combatants. "Taiyo…" said Arata, "you're making a mistake. These people are just using you!"

"Maybe…" he replied, placing a hand on his chest, "but I need to use them. I need to use THIS! And if I go back home with you guys, then I won't be allowed to use this ever again!" With a determined shout, he ran forward and rammed into them. His reckless charge forced them into a table-filled lobby. Chairs and tables alike were thrown about in their wake, crashing through windows and shattering to bits. Taiyo kept an aggressive front as 00 remained on the defense, blocking and dodging as much as they could.

But that was easier said than done. Taiyo's attacks, as amateur as they were, were incredibly precise. They were landing more often than not and were packing a hell of a punch. What's more, the Dopant met every single move 00 tried to make. No matter how swift or sudden, he was dodging and blocking all of them perfectly. "I guess Daiki was right on the money!" said Erika mid-block. Taiyo weaved right past it and jammed an eyeball directly into their gut. It immediately exploded against the Rider and sent them crashing through several tables.

LUNA! ||| TRIGGER!

They were back on their feet in a literal flash, leaping to the side and letting loose a barrage of shots mid-flight. But all of their shots were intercepted by the eyeballs floating around them, speeding down to meet them blow-for-blow. 00 spun on their heels upon landing and fired off another shot that circled around, spiraling in all directions in an almost unpredictable pattern. Not unpredictable enough, however. After watching it turn a few more times, Taiyo threw out another eyeball from his palm and blew their shot right out of the air. In the midst of the explosion, 00 dove behind a counter to catch their breath.

"Taiyo, why do you need that Gaia Memory?!" Erika shouted, "Can you really not come home without it?!"

"Of course not!" he shouted back, "I've been able to get so much farther because if it! Going home with you guys means giving up the Memory, and by extension giving up all the progress I've made!" Several shots came curving out from behind the counter, once again disrupted by Taiyo's eyeballs. He tossed out more into the air to replace them as he began to approach the counter. "I can't afford to give that up! I'm sorry! I know it's wrong, but I just CAN'T!"

00 suddenly leapt over the counter and fired off a cluster of glowing bullets, which circled all around Taiyo and closed in from all directions. The Eyes Dopant tossed his arms out and sent his eyeballs to meet their shots blow-for-blow. Under the cover of the explosion that ensued, 00 dove behind a knocked-over table and took cover. "What makes you think you can't, Taiyo?!" Erika shouted, shooting down several eyeballs that floated over to them, "Can you really not make it through without that Memory?!"

The table 00 was hiding behind was suddenly blown apart by a cluster of exploding eyeballs. The Rider tried to run for cover again, but they were immediately knocked over by another barrage. "Of COURSE not! Before I got it, I was just another rookie player!"

"Yes, but a rookie player working his hardest to become better!" Arata shouted as he hurled out a curved bullet. Taiyo kept his gaze glued on them as he simply tossed out another eyeball to intercept his shot.

"But I wasn't learning nearly as fast as I needed to! Learning doesn't pay the bills! SKILL DOES!" He roared out in fury and unleased an absolute flood of eyeballs, sweeping 00 off their feet and down the hall. They only managed to break free by grabbing onto the frame of a doorway and yank themselves into the lab within. They ran past the rack of chemicals and dove behind a lab bench, leaning against it and prying out the Luna Memory from their belt. As soon as they heard Taiyo step inside, Arata jammed the Heat Memory in and stood up, splitting the Driver once more.

HEAT! ||| TRIGGER!

They fired off a flaming bullet that sailed right at Taiyo's head. He merely leaned his head to the side, but that allowed the bullet to explode against one of the chemical vials on the rack behind him. It immediately combusted, setting off a chain reaction that caused all of the other vials to begin explode off of the shelves. They flew all around, forcing Taiyo to shield himself and back away. 00 then fired at his feet to force him further back. "Sorry to say, but that's not skill, Taiyo!" said Erika, "That's called taking the easy way out! Is that the life you want to live?! One you made using a shortcut?! Is that the lesson you want Hoshi to learn from you?! Do you want your brother to learn that the way to get around in life is by taking the easy way out?!"

"Sh-SHUT UP!" Taiyo suddenly tried to run at them, but Erika aimed her gun higher and let loose another shot. The flaming bullet collided against the sprinkler system, setting it off and dousing the entire lab in water. It extinguished the rack of flaming chemicals, filling the room with smoke. Under that cover, Arata continued to speak out to him.

"You're already a talented player, and your dedication proves that you'll only continue to get better. You just don't see that because you don't believe in yourself. But Hoshi does, and so does the rest of your team!"

"Please STOP!" Taiyo shouted back, his voice devolving into desperation, "It's already too late for me!"

"But it's not!" said Erika, "You can still give up that Memory! You can still come home with us!"

"You and Hoshi will be safe," Arata went on, "and you haven't hurt anyone using that Memory, so your charges will be minimal." Taiyo suddenly whirled around and swung wide. A loud smack rang through the air as his fist collided against the side of 00's head. But they didn't budge. Not from sheer resistance or sturdiness, but rather the lack of strength that came from Taiyo's attack. 00 kept their gaze clean on his as Arata continued. "You can still live a happy and fulfilling life, Taiyo. It really isn't too late. You just have to give up that Memory to us."

Slowly, Taiyo took his fist away from the side of 00's head. The Rider stepped away from him as he drew it back towards himself, staring at it in the process. There was a moment when it seemed as though he was turning their words around in his head in contemplation. Eventually, his many thoughts all came to the same conclusion. So he reached for his head, relaxed his fingers,

and jolted from the sound of a gunshot piercing the air.

00 cried out in pain as sparks exploded off of their back. As they collapsed to their knees, Taiyo could see the smoking gun from across the hallway. It was a gun held by a man clad in a sleek, black armor segmented much like that of 00. From their neck hung a dirty, tattered and ragged scarf. Hidden beneath the lip of his ghostly-white fedora was the face of his skull-like helmet. Finally, wrapped around his waist was a belt strikingly similar to 00's.

"Taiyo, Taiyo, Taiyo…my BOY!" the man sighed, taking a step forward with each repetition, "What did I say about dealing with the Kamen Rider?" His gun went right back up to literally shoot down 00's attempts at a surprise attack.

"Who are you?!" shouted Arata. The man shot down more of their shots as he closed in and grabbed 00 by the throat.

"Little ol' me? Well I go by a lot of names…" He spun around and hurled them across the room. They crashed through an already crumpled set of chairs and tables. "Some call me the debt collector." More fiery bullets came sailing out. Same as the others, the man shot them all down. "The smart ones call me Underboss." As 00 climbed to their feet, the man pried out the Memory in his belt. He shoved it into a compartment in his gun and flipped up a larger barrel. "But you? You can call me…"

SKULL: MAXIMUM DRIVE!

He pulled the trigger of his gun and let loose an enormous skull-shaped blast. With such short space between them and the attack, 00 was forced to barrage the incoming blast with a rapid succession of blasts. This resulted in the blast detonating early and erupting into a huge explosion. Skull grabbed and ran with the Dopant Taiyo in the midst of the chaos as 00 was blown off of their feet. "W-wait! Hold on!" Taiyo shouted in protest, "I'm not sure if I—" He was cut off by an irate groan.

"I knew this would happen." He stopped to press himself and Taiyo against a wall. He held up a finger upon hearing 00's shouts for Taiyo down the hall. Once he heard the Rider run past them, he turned back to the Dopant and said, "Level with me, my boy; do you honestly believe those guys are being one hundred percent honest with you?" He pointed a thumb towards where 00 had last run off to. "They're the cops, Taiyo. They're after you because you're using an illegal device to get your life back on track. As soon as they bring you back, you'll be charged with crimes and they'll lock you up. Can you really help your lil' bro out behind bars?"

The thought put Taiyo at a loss for words. He stared down at his monstrous hand until Skull planted a hand on his shoulder and went on. "Think about this logically, Taiyo. Even if they let you off easy, do you really think you'll be able to live a normal life after that? A criminal charge like that will always haunt you wherever you go. Jobs will always have access to your records, it could cut you off from living in certain areas, hell, even in the life you dream of, it'll affect you. Making it big would make your crime stand out like a sore thumb!"

Taiyo's throat began to close up. "But they said—"

"They said what you wanted to hear," he tapped a finger against his temple, "Easiest way to get you to do what they want. Messed up, ain't it?" He took his hand off of Taiyo's shoulder. "Trust me, kid; you're much better off stickin' with us. Besides, once you pay off your debt with us, we can take you n' your brother somewhere to start fresh. Clean slates all around."

"Do you…really mean that?"

Skull reached up to tip his hat to the Dopant. "Cross my heart and hope to die. Now get outta here before they find you again. You remember the tunnels I showed you, right?" After Taiyo nodded, he lightly tapped the side of his arm. "Go on, then. I'll keep the Kamen Rider off your tail."

"Taiyo!" a shout came from the opposite end of the hall. Skull turned around right in time to see a ball of fire careening towards him. A stray eyeball blew it out of the air prematurely, causing 00 to stop in their tracks. Taiyo lowered his hand before making a run for it. "Taiyo?!" came Erika's confused shout. The red-and-blue Rider tried to chase after him, but Skull quickly stepped in the way. "What did you say to him?!"

"Only what he needed to hear," he replied simply, nonchalantly inspecting his gun before aiming and firing once more. 00 rolled beneath their shot and fired at Skull on their knees. Flames singed the rim of his hat as he leaned out of the way and returned fire.

"Taiyo!" came Arata's shouts, which were soon followed by Erika's. But the Dopant continued to run. Before long, he was completely out of sight and beyond their reach. "6! Keep an eye out! Taiyo's making a run for it!"

"Oh, you have an eye on the outside, do ya?" Skull laughed right as he shot another of 00's bullets out of the air, "I wouldn't bother! Unless one of you has x-ray vision, there ain't none of you that are gonna see where he went!"

"Damn it!" spat Erika, "They must have made an underground tunnel!"

"BINGO!" Suddenly, Skull was right in front of them. He slammed his heel right against the Rider's forehead and sent them smashing through the window behind them. Their cries filled the air as they plummeted towards the ground, but before they could collide against it, something shot out of the air and latched onto their wrist. A wire was launched that latched onto the window sill and brought their rapid descent to a halt.

"What?" Erika glanced at their wrist, and a small mechanical creature glanced back. It took time for her to realize it was Raito's spider-shock.

"Looks like I completed it just in time!" came his voice through the device, "After Daiki's last escapade, I figured it'd be safer if I could deliver the last Memory to you guys directly."

"Completed Memory?" Arata checked the spider-shock's "abdomen" to spot the silver Memory jammed inside. What he also spotted was Skull leaping out of the window and grabbing onto their wire like a fire pole. Quickly, 00 swung away and disengaged themselves from the wire to land onto an empty set of railroad tracks. Skull landed a fair distance away and stared them down from afar. Both combatants let loose an array of shots that collided mid-air, producing a cloud of smoke that Skull came running out of. He plowed his fist against their shoulder and flung them back.

CYCLONE! ||| JOKER!

00 ended up rolling into an abandoned railroad station. Their scarf flowed behind them as they dodged Skull's attacks left and right. "Where is Taiyo headed?!" snarled Erika, prompting another laugh out of the skeletal man.

"Where would the fun be in telling you?!" He hurled a roundhouse kick at them. "But I'll tell you one thing; far away from here, and safe with The Mob!"

"Safe?!" Arata snapped, kicking Skull's gun out of his hand, "You're a black market gang holding people against their will for personal gain!"

Skull struck them back with a shoulder-check. "Hey! They have an easy out! They just have to repay the debt they owe us!"

HEAT! ||| JOKER!

"A DEBT THAT CAN NEVER BE REPAID!" Flames poured out of Arata's fist as he rammed it hard against the side of Skull's helmet. The blow knocked him off the station platform and down onto the railroad tracks. 00's shoulders heaved with Arata's heated pants, but he soon found himself seething upon hearing Skull's laughs echo through the abandoned building. As he stood up, he cracked his neck. Seconds later, 00 was blasted in the knee.

"So what if I lead a couple of people on? It's not like you two are any better!" Skull leapt back onto the platform and continued bombarding them, "Tell me; when were you guys gonna let him know that he'd be marked as a criminal for the rest of his life? Before or after he got the charge?!" Arata let out a furious roar and literally rocketed forward, throwing a searing right hook that Skull weaved through. He caught the two-toned Rider before they could get away and locked their arms. "But hey, I guess we have something to bond over. After all, I wasn't entirely truthful with the boy either!"

"What?!" Erika kicked Skull's side hard enough to break their arm lock. With distance regained, she pointed at him and shouted, "What did you say to him?!" This made Skull's laugh echo through the building once more.

"The poor boy really thinks he can leave The Mob behind if he works hard enough! But just like that criminal charge, he can NEVER leave us behind! He'll continue to work for us believing that someday, somehow, he'll be free of the criminal life. But he's in it DEEP! And he won't realize it until it's too late!" He spun his gun around his finger before opening fire once more. "Free labor! What's not to love!"

Arata shielded their face with his flaming arm. The Rider held fast as they took the brunt of Skull's attacks. "Arata, we gotta take…cover…" Erika trailed off, feeling her partner's intense fury even through their mental bond.

"This man…" he growled, fist clenched so tightly it was trembling, "this man I will NEVER forgive!"

"I feel you, partner…" Erika reached up to Arata's wrist and pried out the new Memory inside the spider-shock, "so let's show him the iron-clad shackles of justice!" Arata's fires continued to burn as Erika pried out her Joker Memory and jammed the new one in. With a shout, she split the Driver once more.

HEAT! ||| METAL!

Slowly, the sleek black side of their suit was overtaken by a shining silver. 00's footsteps thundered as they approached Skull step by step. Red and silver bandages wrapped around their torso and forehead that fluttered with the heat rising from their body. The sight mattered little to Skull as he continued pelting them with gunfire. "Not gonna dodge?! Fine by me! I'll be more than happy to send you to an early—" He wasn't allowed to finish on account of the sudden, powerful force exploding against his side.

The hatted underboss sailed across the empty station from the swing of 00's flaming polearms, crashing through a dead light post. 00 swung their new armament over their head before planting it into the ground with a loud clang. "SKULL!" Arata's voice thundered as they pointed at him with a burning finger, "We're going to make you answer for your crimes! COUNT ON IT!" The ground shook with every step 00 took towards their adversary. He tried firing at them again, but all of his shots merely ricocheted off of the Rider's solid-as-steel body.

SKULL: MAXIMUM DRIVE!

So he opted to shoot at them with a bigger shot. The same laughing skull from before erupted from the barrel of his gun and rocketed towards 00, who didn't even try to move out of the way. The place was filled with smoke upon the resulting explosion. From within the smoke burned a furious fire, one that emerged with a fight. 00 stepped out from the smoke cloud to rush Skull with a set of burning batons. Slow, yet powerful. A cold determination, yet fiery passion. This was the relentless assault 00 unleashed upon the dark dealer. With a single swing, Skull was nearly blown out towards the entrance of the abandoned station. That's when 00 pried out both Memories from their Driver and tossed them high in the air. Their batons were flipped so the compartments in the handles faced upwards, and they waited for the Memories to fall back down. Right when they were aligned, they swung their batons forward and jammed the Memories inside, joining them all together with a loud clang.

HEAT! METAL!

MAXIMUM DRIVE!

The ends of their rejoined polearms erupted into flames. As Skull clawed back to his feet, 00 locked their sights on him and shouted out in a unified voice, "METAL BRANDING!" They struck the trigger on their polearms, causing a powerful force to launch them forwards. With a loud roar, they swung back and readied themselves to strike with all of their might.

"Help me!" But Hoshi's distressed call brought them to a screeching halt. Skull's laugh once again fills the air as he brushes himself off and stands straight, holding up a phone.

"You didn't think I didn't have a plan B, did you?" he taunted, wiggling the phone in front of them.

"Hoshi!" shouted Erika, "Are you alright?! What's happening?!"

"I dunno!" he shouted back, "One of the drivers was kicked out, and now we're being taken away!"

"Taken away?" A sickening realization soon hit Arata, causing him to snarl harshly, "There was a double agent among the rescued!"

"Bingo again!" Skull laughed, shooting a finger-gun at the furious Rider, "So what you're going to do now is let me go. Otherwise I'm going to have to come up with a sad little sob-story to tell Taiyo about his long lost brother."

Erika glared daggers into the man as he began to step away. "You dirty, conniving RAT!"

"Takes one to know one, 00!" Skull gave them a two-fingered salute before turning around and making a break for the exit.

"Boss!" Raito's urgent voice shouted from the spider-shock, "I got the trackers to work! Shoot it at Skull before he gets away!" Arata acted quickly and took aim, and a small disk fired out of the spider's "head." It sailed through the air, only to be shot out of the air by Skull's gun.

"Nice try, sport! Better luck next time!" With a tip of his hat, Skull ran out and disappeared from sight. 00 tried running after them, but their heavier state kept them from getting very far. Erika hastily swapped Memories and returned them to their more agile black-and-green form. The winds carried them out of the abandoned station, but as they frantically scanned the area, they couldn't find the masked man anywhere. Enraged, Arata punched the nearest wall with enough force to fracture it.

"DAMMIT!" he roared, "How could I let this happen?!"

"We, Arata," sighed Erika, "Don't put everything on yourself, especially since we're sharing the same body right now."

"Erika, now's not the time for…" Arata couldn't even finish. His fist fell away from the wall and down to their side. "What are we gonna do now?" Erika couldn't answer him, leaving both of them in a cold, melancholy silence. It was one that was interrupted by Raito's voice.

"Uuuuh, Boss?" he began, "Is there something I'm missing? Why are you guys so distraught when you got the tracker to work?"

Erika blinked before bringing the spider-shock closer to their face, "What are you talking about? Skull shot out tracker out of the air."

Through the screen, they saw Raito blink in confusion. "Okay…then why am I getting a tracking signal?" The screen switched over to a radar pinpointing on a distant signal. Neither Erika nor Arata could believe what they were seeing.

"I don't understand!" shouted Arata, "We saw Skull shoot the tracker down! Unless…"

Erika snapped her fingers before shouting, "We're tracking the one Raito lost! That must mean that it's with—"

"THAT BRAT!" Raito barked before he could stop himself. "I-I mean I'm triangulating his location now!"

"Then we're packing up," came Lizzie's voice, "Boss, I'll get your bike started for you, but I'm headin' out with Daiki. We'll head to base and rally the rest of the team."

"Copy that, over and out!" Erika ended the call with a firm nod, "Alright, partner, ready to ride out one last time?"

Arata struck their chest firmly with a fist and answered, "With you, always. Now let's bring the boys home."