Chapter 10: Encounter
My third battle is over.
A figure in a brown uniform was standing at the end of a bridge, which led to the Elevator.
From the quilt-like hills, strange polka-dotted giraffe-shaped animals were drifting out of the forest of trees, looking up at the figure.
In front of him stood a little girl. Her pink eyes were downcast, welling up with tears.
I somehow managed to win here again. I'm glad you weren't hurt.
The girl didn't respond.
I'm ascending.
As the little girl grasped her dress, a tear fell from her eyes.
"Don't go…"
Then, the tears cascaded down.
"Don't go! Please don't go! Don't leave me!" she cried.
I'll come back when I get the Grail.
The figure reached out to pat her head, but hesitated. Then, he lowered his hand.
I promise.
He then turned around and walked away into the elevator.
As the elevator started to rise, the girl wiped away her tears.
"Okay. I'll be waiting. Come back and find me."
The elevator dinged, indicating that they had arrived at the third floor. Emu, Takeru, Saber and Rin walked out.
As Emu stepped onto the ground, his feet sunk in. Emu looked down, confused. He knelt and touched the ground, then pushed his hand in. The ground felt soft, like felt, and it sunked in like a pillow would.
Takeru was looking around, taking in the view. The land was very surreal. The trees were silver, and lacked leaves. Their branches were straight and pointed, like they were thorns.
"It's another forest." Takeru noted.
Then, he saw ahead a crater, in the centre of which was what appeared to be a cracked plate with red splotches in the middle, on which had another elevator-like structure in the middle.
"Is that… the Ladder?"
As they approached it, they saw a sign on the door. It said "Being Cleaned." Rin reached out to touch it, but it sparked on contact.
"This is no mere sign." She said. "It's a barrier so strong that Codecasts can't even scratch it."
"Which makes it likely that a Master lies on this floor." Saber added. "Still, it is unsettling to see the Ladder already down before the fight."
Behind it was a structure with a clock with an incomplete face. It showed 6:00.
Ahead of them, the forest shifted, revealing a castle atop a dress-like structure in the distance. From where they were, it looked like something out of a pastel painting.
"I guess the boss should be in that Castle." Emu stated.
"Yes. This is the Third Stratum. A place of lost dreams, one where ghosts gather. People call it the Nameless forest." Rin explained.
Takeru shifted in his feet.
"It does look gloomier than the second stratum, right?"
Rin asked Emu.
Emu nodded.
The path to the castle was marked by floating bricks, which Saber happily jumped across. The other three preferred to go on the ground.
"By the way, what do you mean by "ghosts gather"?" Takeru asked Rin.
"I mean it quite literally. Even during the War, they manifested more often on this Stratum. However, ever since it turned into this, they've apparently appeared quite often."
"What did?" Emu queried.
"Ghosts."
Takeru nodded his head in understanding.
"Rani mentioned something like that too. Are there ghosts like me in this Cyber world?" Takeru asked.
Rin had been told Emu and Takeru's stories, so understood what he meant.
"Of course. After all, SE RA PH is a world where souls are turned into data and stabilised. On Earth, you couldn't live without a physical form. Even with you being dead, you still needed to be anchored by your Eyecon. Here, however, it's possible. That said…"
Rin's expression turned dark.
"They are like stains upon the fabric of SE RA PH." Saber continued. "Ghosts are merely the playback of a record from moments before death. They cannot leave the place upon which their demise is etched. I would not go so far as to call it life."
"Exactly." Rin affirmed. "Cyber ghosts are nothing but bugs that slipped into the code. If the Moon Cell finds one, it deletes them immediately. I guess you could call them dreams of the dead."
"Ah, so that's why they were trying to delete me on the bottom floor." Takeru noted. "But why have they stopped?"
"Who knows. I guess that driver of yours has made you into an existence similar to a Heroic Spirit, and thus it recognises you as a participant in the war. You don't seem like a standard Ghost. They're much like Dead Face in that they can't move from where they arose, whereas you have been following us since the beginning."
Dead Face?
Emu stopped in his tracks. He turned to Rin.
"The deathly countenance. The Mask of Destruction. The unknown factor. I guess one could call them X."
The image of the dead bodies on the bottom floor flashed in Emu's mind, as well as his previous encounters with those voices. His head ached a little. He touched the Dangerous Zombie gashat in his pocket and continued walking.
What else does she know? Does she know what that is, when even I don't?
"You don't know? It's somewhat of a legend that's formed in SE RA PH over the past thousands years. Supposedly, it's a materialisation of the thoughts of the dead, yet not a ghost."
"Have you seen it?" Emu asked.
"Nope. It's just a rumour."
Rumour? Is that all it is?
"Unlike Dead Face, not all cyber ghosts are dangerous." Rin commented.
"Truth be told. I like them. They're not really different from us Wizards."
Takeru, who had been listening into the conversation, considered this.
"If we represent the potential of the dead, then you're the hope of the living. The ghosts represent what the dead have been, and the wizards represents what the living could be. Because everyone has infinite potential, right?"
"Exactly." Rin affirmed. "Though I'm not so sure on the 'infinite' part-"
"Halt." Saber interjected. She stopped walking.
"The stage for the third Stratum is in view."
The three of them climbed up a ledge at the bottom of the dress-like structure, which led to a door. Meanwhile, Saber just waltzed on the bricks onto the ledge. It seems that the bricks were raised for a reason.
The door was very large. So large that it looked like one out of a fairy tale. It was blue oak, with unicorns painted on them and golden door handles. However, it flickered, betraying its true aged and weathered appearance. While Saber would have loved to use the large door, there were 2 tinier doors embedded on the bottom of the larger door. Those doors only went up to the Emu's hips. Emu and Rin took the left door, while Saber and Takeru took the right.
"Let's go inside. Are you guys ready?" Rin asked.
"Of course." Saber responded smugly. "We shall settle this before evening falls."
Takeru gave a thumbs up.
"The enemy will probably be stronger than in the first two rounds." Rin warned, gazing up the massive structure. "Don't hesitate, Emu, no matter who your opponent is."
Emu, despite his doubts, nodded. He grabbed the handle, turned it and pushed the door open.
The doors led to a strange pathway littered with book pages. Empty drawers floated in the air, and there were cages in the middle of the path filled with miscellaneous objects.
It's uninhabited.
"Do not let your guard down, Maestro." Saber said. "You never know when we might be ambushed like last time."
Emu remembered well. His friend was shot. He vowed to never let it happen again.
The four began to progress down the path. Takeru was walking with Rin in front, while Saber and Emu were behind.
"There aren't any traces of anyone living here. At least not in years." Rin commented.
"Any traces of fighting?" Saber enquired.
"Not in the least."
As Emu walked past a cage filled with playing cards, the cards suddenly exploded outwards, showering Emu in cards. He raised his hand to block them, and one landed in his hands.
It was an Ace of Hearts, and on it were two phrases made out of letters cut out from somewhere.
PussYCat, PuSsYcaT, wHeRE HAvE yOu bEen?
WhaT aRe liTtlE gIrLs MaDe oF?
Emu shruddered.
"Are you alright, Emu?" Takeru asked him
Emu looked at Takeru. Then, he suddenly realised that the card had vanished. And so had the others.
"…this sure is a long corridor." Emu noted.
"This does not even come close to being long." Saber pronounced smugly again. "The walkways in my palace were ten times the length.
"So you had a palace, huh, Saber?" Takeru said. "Impressive. You must be royalty. I'd probably be lost."
"Worry not. Regardless of how great the maze is, we shall never be lost..."
She grabbed onto Emu's hand.
"…for I shall be holding Maestro's hand."
Emu was taken a bit by surprise, but it was a welcome one.
"Thank. However, should we fight-"
"It'd be a bit of a handicap." Rin jumped in. "It's also not so hot for avoiding traps and dealing with ambushes."
Saber puffed out her cheeks. Emu and Takeru chuckled.
They emerged from the other end to find a pool of water with more raining down from above in a waterfall. On the other side, the field was overgrown with mushrooms. Luckily, there were roots growing across the lake, which the four used to traverse it.
On the other side was a wall of thorny branches and an arch, which led to more of the same behind the walls.
Saber curiously poked a mushroom. It puffed out a bit of smoke. Emu, concerned, went over to Saber to investigate the mushrooms.
Takeru looked around the foot of the walls for clues. Suddenly, he heard rustling behind the thorns. He looked through the arch and saw a girl running around. She turned a corner and disappeared.
"Hey, Emu?"
Emu left Saber and went over to Takeru.
"What is it?"
"I thought I saw a child… I heard rustling, then I saw someone. A little girl."
Emu was confused.
"I didn't hear rustling. It must be one of us."
Takeru was distraught. Then, he thought of something.
"Here, Emu. Hold this."
He took out his Ore Eyecon and gave it to Emu.
Emu held on to it and closed his eyes. Suddenly, he heard rustling as well. He opened his eyes just in time to see the girl disappear again.
"Wha-"
"I know. Should we go after her?"
Emu paused to think.
"One of us should go. Too many would scare her."
Takeru nodded.
"I understand you are a paediatrician, so you have experience with children, right? In that case, you should go. I'll stay behind. The Eyecon should connect us, so just activate it if there is trouble."
Emu nodded. He then slowly walked through the arch.
As he walked, the atmosphere turned even more surreal. Picture frames hung on the thorns. He swore that his shadow was made out of lace. Or something. He couldn't tell.
After a while, he entered a new area. This time, the walls were covered in white sheets. The picture frames continued to appear, as well as windows that showed more sheets, doors that led nowhere and the like, but now roses of all kinds of art styles were growing on the wall. Some were cartoony. Some were ultra-realistic. He tried to touch one, and when he brought his hands away, it was stained red.
Curiouser and Curiouser.
As he walked down the straight path he was on, he noticed a gap in the wall. He went up to it and looked.
It was a small area. There were glass balls suspended on frames with perches, on which owls sat. In the centre was a table, covered in a white sheet, with two chairs at the ends. And on the table…
"Come, come! Let's begin!"
"Wait, are we reading the picture book again?"
It was a young girl. She was wearing a blue dress with white lace and pink ribbons. She had bubblegum pink hair, and on her head was a white hat. She was playing hand puppets with white sheets over her hands, and she was moving her hands as if they were talking to each other.
"Once upon a time…"
"From the start again? I'm bored already!"
Then the hands stopped moving. They turned behind her to look at Emu. Then the girl turned around.
Her eyes were pink.
They both looked at each other for a moment. Emu was processing what to do in his head. Finally, he tentatively asked his first question.
"Umm… who are you?"
The girl sat motionless for a moment. Then her face brightened and she gave a little squeal of joy. She jumped off the table and ran towards Emu, dragging the tablecloth along with her.
"You can see me! You can see me! Right?"
She stopped in front of him and looked up, a smile on her face.
"Your eyes are really following me!" she said, running around Emu to test his eye movements. She returned to the front of him and threw her sheet over her head.
"I'm Alice! I've been playing alone for a very long time!" she continued, running around. Returning once again to her initial position, she threw off her sheet and wrapped it around her shoulder.
"Because most people can't find me!"
"Alone?" Emu asked.
She dropped her sheet, and her form flickered, as if she was glitching out.
"After all, I'm a ghost!" she said.
Ah. That explains why Takeru can see her.
At the beginning, he was able to see Takeru while others couldn't. Takeru, after all, was a ghost himself, and yet due to their previous interactions, Emu could see him. Now, however, things were different. Although Emu couldn't see her by himself, Takeru could. He gave Emu the Eyecon to allow him to see as well.
Still, she seemed harmless. Then, Saber's words echoed in his head.
Do not let your guard down, Maestro. You never know when we might be ambushed like last time
"Eh, a cyberghost? I heard they're bad things." Emu said.
Alice, crestfallen, looked down sadly.
"That said, you seem a bit different."
Alice's face brightened again as she looked up.
"You're not afraid?"
Emu smiled.
"Nope."
"You're not going to run away?"
"Nope."
"So does that mean… umm…"
She looked away shyly. Emu took the initiative.
"Do you want to play?"
Her eyes widened even more as she smiled in joy. She held up her hand, palm-side up. Emu placed his on hers.
The Stratum was very strange, and got stranger the more Emu went deeper into the forest. They were now in the centre of a merry-go-round that had legs. Everything looked 2D.
"If you can find me, you win!" Alice shouted. "You have to stay there until I say it's okay!"
Emu nodded. He had played this kind of game in the hospitals he worked it with some of his younger patients.
With that, Alice ran off into the distance.
"It's been so long since I've played hide-and-seek! I'm not going to hold back!"
And neither was Emu.
The landscape seemed like putty to Alice. What she willed it to do the world complied. Giant hands picked up sheets which she rolled down. She would fall from the trees she climbed, but it would always be into a glass of water, and even then, she would remain dry. Emu had a hard time keeping up, but he did his best. The strange nature of the Third Stratum defies any sort of description. It would either be an art student's dream or a nightmare, a world from M.C. Escher. Many classic games she knew were played, but eventually the supply ran dry. Emu then taught her about some traditional Japanese ones, as all the ones she knew were Western. Cat's Cradle was one of them, and for that she would break off a branch and turn it into string. Emu wondered how much control she had over this plain, but as soon as he put his thought into it, Alice would always come back to him begging for attention.
Eventually, those ones dried up too, so they sat beneath a tree.
"Are you not a Master?" Emu asked.
"I am a Master. I think I'm different than the others though." Alice replied.
"I don't know what Wizards are. I'm also a ghost. I'm not all that sure why I got this far either. I don't know much about SE RA PH and the Moon Cell."
Emu understood.
"I thought I knew what I wanted to do. I came up here with a plan. But now, I'm not so sure…"
"Then you're just like me!"
Alice turned to Emu.
"Can we be friends?"
Emu smiled.
"Are we not already?"
"You caught me three times. You're good at these kinds of games."
They were sitting in a teacup. Don't ask.
"I guess I'm sort of used to them. I play these a lot."
"You hang around with children like me?"
Emu nodded.
"I'm good at finding them when they are lost. I think." He said, trailing back to the early days of his doctoring years. Although he was still an intern, he tried endlessly to make kids smile, and it was his job to find them if they ran away.
"That sounds cool." Alice noted.
"But, what about the Nameless Forest?"
Emu turned to look at her, confused.
She jumped up onto the teacup's rim.
"Once you leave me, you'll forget we ever met. Even if you're a great Wizard or a Servant."
Emu bolted up.
"That's my Nameless Forest!" Alice proclaimed.
Emu considered it.
"What is it? Do you know?"
"I don't really know."
"It could this be a Servant's ability. In that case, you should be able to suppress it."
Alice turned to Emu.
"Really?"
Emu smiled.
"It's your choice."
Back at the table, Alice has invited Emu for tea. They both sat at opposite ends of the table in the chairs that were there.
"By the way, Onii-chan, who are you?" Alice asked.
Oh, right. I forgot to introduce myself.
"I'm Hojo Emu." Emu said. "I'm a doctor. A paediatrician, to be precise. That's why I'm so used to playing with children."
Alice's eyes widened in horror.
"A doctor?" she said, a hint of shock in her voice.
For a moment, Emu wondered if she was going to do something, so he reached into his pocket for an Eyecon. Then Alice slumped onto her arms on the table.
"Are you alright, Alice?" Emu asked.
Bumps on the tablecloth were bringing teacups, saucers and plates of cookies around the table. Two dropped a cup of tea and a plate in front of Alice.
"There was a war." Alice spoke quietly.
"Many people died. I was left alone. Alone in the hospital all the time. If I was in the hospital that means I was sick, right? I think so."
Emu grew uneasy.
"It hurt every day. There were all those things that hurt. Nobody really looked at me. The adults did things that hurt all the time. No. Everything they did hurt. It hurt in the morning, the afternoon, the evening, every single day."
As she spoke, Emu's unease grew into abject horror.
"And in the end, I died. Without the sickness being cured. It still hurt even as I died."
Emu covered his mouth in shock.
Alice rolled onto her back on the table.
"Now I'm a ghost, and I'm here!" she said with a smile.
As she spoke, the bumps began dancing on the table while the world span.
"This is Wonderland! There are many wondrous things. Wondrous people and objects. They say it can even fulfil your wishes. Plus, I can eat cookies!"
Emu clenched his hands in anger. He could not forgive the doctors for causing her so much pain. As a doctor who vowed to save lives, he could not forgive how they treated her.
"I do have a wish. Even though I know nothing about this Holy Grail War, I have one…"
She paused.
"I wish that my sickness could be cured. So that I can come back to life."
Emu's eyes welled up with tears. She was so happy despite her suffering. Despite the crimes committed against her.
How can I deny her the wish that she has…?
A bell chimed in the distance and the spinning stopped.
He stood up.
"I'm sorry." Emu spoke quietly.
"I got to go."
He turned to leave.
"Wait!" Alice cried.
Emu stopped.
"Can we play again?" Alice asked, with a pleading look in her eyes.
Emu felt horrible. Did he deserve to?
Holding back tears, he put on a smile and said:
"Sure."
"Promise?"
He nodded.
"Thank goodness!" Alice said.
"But be careful. There's a really scary monster in the castle. It will eat you if it catches you."
Emu found himself back at the arch.
"Ah, there you are!" Rin said.
Emu turned around.
"We were looking for you, Maestro." Saber said. She held a bunch of mushrooms in her arms.
"We thought you disappeared!" Takeru said.
Emu looked at Takeru in confusion. His memory was hazy.
"There's something I can't quite recall…" Emu murmured.
"Like I met someone… or something."
"Anyways, let's get going." Rin said.
"This seems to be the centre of the stratum." Rin said.
They were at a gate leading to a spiral staircase upwards.
Rin walked forward and pushed the gate open.
She suddenly found herself in a large room sitting on a black statue. It seemed to be some kind of horse, as it was on a giant chessboard. In front of her, sitting on a white horse, was another pink-haired girl, but this time in as school uniform.
Misao Amari.
"You're always like this." Amari spoke.
"You're very individualistic and don't consider those around you. You have good judgement, but you're a lone wolf at the core."
Rin looked around.
On the floor, there were bodies of other students. Some were slouched against the walls. Others were lying down.
"What are you trying to suggest?" Rin retorted, returning to Amari.
"You're Amari, right."
"Wow. It's a real honour that a favourite to win the tournament remembered my name." Amari snarked, her voice dripping in sarcasm.
"As you can see, we're all at our limit. Every Master still living seeks refuge in the lower strata."
"What about you?" Rin asked
"I…" Amari said. She gritted her teeth.
"…can't give up yet."
Her eyes narrowed.
"I've sacrificed so much to get here!"
She stood up.
"I cast away everything and came here to win!" She yelled, swinging her arms wide.
"You all did the same, did you?" She continued, addressing the others on the floor.
"You ascended this far because you have a wish to fulfil!"
She stopped for a second, breathing heavily. Then, she steeled herself.
"Hey."
Rin tilted her head.
"Fight me."
A hand gripped the white horse piece and lifted it in the air.
"You don't want to give up either, right?"
"I feel the same way." Rin responded. "However, I won't fight you."
"Are you afraid of losing to me?" Amari taunted.
"Let's see…" Rin started, placing her hands on her chin as if thinking.
"I don't have anything against you, and I admire you maintaining your will to ascend. I wouldn't mind losing to you."
Another hand grabbed the black horse piece and moved it.
"However, you're not a good candidate. You'd just lose the next fight. I won't fight unless I see my opponent as someone who could reach at least the sixth stratum."
Amari's face tightened.
"You're just making up a reason to avoid the fight."
She jumped down.
"I'm disappointed."
She began walking away.
"Tohsaka?"
Rin blinked. The room was now overgrown with mushrooms like the outside.
"Are you alright?" Takeru asked.
She sighed.
"It's nothing. Let's continue our search. This is the last building."
As they walked down a hallway in the castle, Takeru noticed to the side a set of modern doors. Separating himself from the group, he went to investigate it. One of the doors had broken off its hinges and fallen to the floor. Above it was a sign, and on it was written the name "Amari Misao".
Amari? That name sounds familiar…
He walked inside.
Inside was a classroom, with the windows showing a view of the stars. There were no desks. Instead, a single bed was placed beside the window. Bottles of wine and packets of cigarettes were strewn all over the floor. On the bed, a pink-haired girl with a brown uniform was sitting, her face in her knees.
Takeru walked forward, but accidentally knocked over a wine bottle. She looked up.
"Who the hell are you?"
Takeru held up his hands.
"Ah, I'm sorry. I'm Tenkuji Takeru. Emu's friend."
"I don't remember you." she responded spitefully.
"You haven't met me."
She stared at Takeru incredulously for a moment. Takeru readied himself for a fight. However, she sighed and lowered her head again.
Takeru stepped forward, being careful not to dislodge the bottles.
"If you don't mind me asking... what's wrong?" Takeru asked tentatively.
Amari was silent for a moment. Then she began to speak.
"I hate… my name… 'Amari' means something unwanted. That's what it sounds like in Japanese. I didn't want people to make fun of me for it. I didn't want to become like mom. She failed to be part of the elite and gave birth to me after some big wig knocked her up."
She lay backwards, still covering her eyes with her arms.
"Unwanted. A laughing stock. I don't want that, no matter what! I wanted to be one of the laughers…"
She raised her arms
"…not the one who gets laughed at."
Takeru got the gist of what she was saying.
"You wanted to be someone important? Like a Heroic Spirit?"
"Sounds stupid, doesn't it?"
She had poured herself a glass of wine and was swirling it in her hand.
"For that reason, with that motive…"
She drunk down the wine in one gulp.
"I abandoned my family. I did whatever was necessary. I'm no genius, but I know how to win."
Her smile was bitter.
"To defeat someone stronger, you have to use someone weaker. Reality, SE RA PH, it's all the same. In both the preliminaries and the first two rounds, I started by surveying those around me, then found someone weaker than me and used them."
"I guess that's why you were with Shinji." Takeru noted. "You did make a cute couple together."
Amari smirked.
"That's funny."
She sat up.
"I'm no genius, but I've always believed that I'm well above average. And yet, when I came here and looked around, I wanted to cry. There wasn't a single person weaker than me!"
Takeru sighed.
"You can't always go about life using people. You need to start giving as well as taking. If you can't find a single person, why can't you ally with-"
"I can't." Amari snapped. Then she turned away.
"I can't run away. I have to fight. There's no other choice. There's no one left." She said softly.
"Hey. Why do you want to ascend?"
Takeru considered this for a moment. Then, he answered.
"At first, my main objective was escaping this place. I didn't know how I got here, and I wanted to leave as quickly as possible. However, after seeing what has happened here, I just can't leave the Moon Cell in this state. I guess my new goal is to save the Moon Cell. And all the souls in it."
Amari scoffed.
"Idealistic, huh? I guess we just can't get along. Still, perhaps that's why we never met, huh?"
"Say, don't you find this castle – or rather, this whole stratum, weird?" Rin asked.
Takeru realised that he was back in the large room. The other three were there as well.
"Yeah." Emu replied.
Takeru nodded. "I was just thinking the same thing."
"It's all so fluffy." Saber said, holding a mushroom.
"As well as that, my sense of time is off. Sometimes one minutes feel like ten. Sometimes the opposite is true."
"You also see strange visions…" Takeru added.
Saber was about to eat one of the mushrooms, but stopped. "What sort of visions?"
"I saw some too." Rin said. "Of a past I never wanted to see again."
Memories?
Takeru thought for a second.
I don't remember meeting that girl in person. Perhaps I entered someone else's. But whose?
"Hey, Maestro. Come take a look at this."
Takeru was snapped out of his thoughts by Saber calling them over to a wall.
The wall was darker, and lacked the mushrooms the others had. There were slash marks on the wall, as well as a splash of blood on the wall.
"There's no dust here."
Rin touched the marks. Suddenly she recoiled in horror.
"Crap, I forgot!"
She turned to the others.
"This is what the Third Stratum was always like. It's the reason why people fled to the Lower Strata."
As she spoke, the castle started vibrating.
"In the Third Stratum, there was a-"
She was cut off by a horrendous screech. Saber materialised her sword rapidly and turned around.
In front of them was a massive orange monster.
It was tall and rather thin, with a long neck and a drooping head. The body had the appearance of having a sheet wrapped around it, and there were cords wrapped around its body. On its back were two orange feathered wings, and behind it was a tail with small bobbles on them.
Emu's eyes widened.
A Bugster Union!?
"We don't know its abilities!" Takeru yelled, as he materialised his Driver. "Be careful!"
He took out his Robin Hood Eyecon and activated it. Then, he placed it in his driver, closed it and pulled out the lever.
EYE!
BATCHIRIMINA! BATCHIRIMINA!
The Robin Hood flew out of the Ghost Driver. It was green, with yellow trimmings and a yellow feather in its cap.
Takeru slammed the lever into the Driver and ran forward.
KAIGAN! ROBIN HOOD!
HELLO! ARROW! MOURI DE AO!
The Transient Armour formed on Ghost's body, and the Damashii landed on the armour. His Gan Gan Saber flew out of his driver along with a condor-like robot, and they combined to form the Gan Gan Saber Arrow Mode.
Saber ran forwards as well, joining Ghost in his assault.
Emu took out his Gamer Driver, and, slamming his Mighty Action X gashat into the Driver, yelled "Henshin!"
GASHATTO!
The Character select screen appeared spinning around him. He reached out his arm and touched the one with his character on it.
LET'S GAME! METCHA GAME! MUTCHA GAME! WHAT'S YOUR NAME?!
The Character icon went backwards into Emu as his body glowed with a pink light.
I'M A KAMEN RIDER!
He had become Kamen Rider Ex-Aid Action Gamer Level 1.
The Bugster Union turned and fled.
"You dare to run!?" Saber shouted. She jumped and ran along the walls, before leaping off towards the monster, her sword primed for a slash.
The monster reared its head and roared. From its wings grew branches, out of which it launched a barrage of orange scissors at Saber.
Ex-Aid jumped up and deflected the scissors with a swing of his Gashacon Breaker. Then, he brought it down on the Monster's head. A "Hit" effect appeared at the impact. He jumped back and hit the Bugster Union at different parts of his body.
With the monster distracted, Saber came down on its head with a slash. The Monster recoiled from the attacks and floundered around.
"Now! Finish it!" Emu yelled
Ghost brought the eye of his Gan Gan Saber close to his Driver.
DAI KAIGAN!
GAN GAN MINA! GAN GAN MINA!
The condor head glowed as Ghost pulled back on bowstrings of light. He pulled the trigger.
OMEGA STRIKE!
An energised arrow shot out of the weapon straight towards the Monster. It pierced it straight in its chest.
The monster gave out a horrible scream of pain.
Saber then slashed it in half.
Out of the wound flew out knives and what looked like bandaged doll parts. The upper half floundered in its descent.
Suddenly, the area flickered.
Then the four found themselves back at the place where the elevator had landed.
"What?"
Everyone looked around in confusion. Takeru and Emu cancelled their transformations.
"What's going on?"
Then Rin saw the clock in the distance and gasped.
It showed 6:00.
"That's the same time as when we got off the Ladder!" Takeru cried.
"An entire day could not have passed! I do not recall having dinner or sleep!" Saber exclaimed.
"Come to think of it... did we even leave the castle?" Emu asked.
Rin thought for a moment.
"I see. So that's how it is. If the monster is defeated, it turns back time to morning."
Then she turned to the others
"There was a Servant with that kind of Noble Phantasm. She can reread the story forever until it turns out how she wants. That Servant is…"
Then Emu understood.
Of course.
The castle. The spiky trees. The pillow-like floor. The art style.
This is all like it's out of a...
"...Nursery Rhyme."