(Author's Note)

Hey guys!

I'd like to quickly apologize for the 5 month wait. This was supposed to be out much sooner, but I hit a bit of a snag narrowing down the flashback turned out and making sure everything felt right to me regarding characters.

That said, the chapter is out so hopefully it'll tie you guys over until the next one comes out.

Hopefully it won't be another 5 month wait, but yeah.

ALSO, Revice! Not caught up on the most recent episode as of writing, but damn is the show good so far. And now that the show's out and I've been able to think my plans for the future over, I think I've narrowed down exactly what I want to do regarding the Reiwa Riders and Zi-O's plot.

I won't say exactly what that is, but I will scrap one possible idea that some of you might've had. Zero One, Saber and Revice will not be replacing any of the Future Riders that showed up in Zi-O. Shinobi, Quiz and Kikai will all be making appearances, in one form or another.

Anyways, enough with my pre-rambles, let's move onto Reviews!

To Cross-Z Magma: Zi-O really wasn't entirely clear about what it was that the dreams ended up doing/being. I've flip flopped between what I want them to represent, but at the very least, for now they're merely a vision of the future, not Zi-O suddenly deciding "Here is how times going to go, because I dreamed it".

Not a lot of stuff I could really reply to this time, so I'll just get this whole thing started!

"My name is Tsukuyomi, it's good to see you again, your Majesty."

"I…" Ruby blinked, staring at the woman standing in front of her. "Yeah… Nice seeing you again too?"

"We've never technically met before." Tsukuyomi said, smiling lightly.

"Oh good, I thought I was being rude by forgetting…" The huntress said with a sigh.

"Technically, I've met you, you just haven't met me yet from your point of view." Tsukuyomi said, before she paused. "Or, you have met me now, but you haven't met me from the point I met you."

"Time travel is confusing." Ruby muttered with a groan.

"How?" The huntress blinked, turning to look at the ashen look on her friend's face. "How are you…?"

"There's… a story to that." Tsukuyomi said. "But in short, it's thanks to you, Bryce."

Bryce stared blankly at the girl. "I found out when I met Her Majesty in the future." Tsukuyomi said. "I don't entirely blame you for using the false name."

"Uh…?" Ruby's head swiveled from one to the other as she looked at the two having some weird staring contest in front of her. "Can I be filled in please?"

"I..." Bryce's mouth opened for a moment, before he tore his head away from the girl in front of her as he focused on Ruby. "Yeah… Yeah, as soon as we, uh, get to Beacon…"

"In that case, it would be more prudent for me to hold off for now as well." Tsukuyomi said. "I always wished to see Beacon bef- in its prime."

"Right…" Bryce muttered, shaking his head as the three of them walked away from the battleground.

"Guys!" Ruby blinked, looking ahead to find the rest of her team running towards them. "Hey, we heard the explosions, everything okay?" Yang asked, slowing to a stop, before blinking as she looked at Tsukuyomi. "Who's this?"

"I… Don't really know?" Ruby said with a shrug. "She says her name's Tsu… Uh… Tsu-q..."

"Tsukuyomi." The woman interrupted, lowering her head to the three newcomers. "It's good to see you three."

Blake raised a tired eyebrow before Weiss nodded her head as well to the time traveler. "Weiss Schnee, a pleasure to meet you."

"I know who you four are." Tsukuyomi said, raising her head. "Everyone knows of Team RWBY in my time."

"Your… time?" Blake asked.

"I'm from the future." Tsukuyomi said.

"Woah, for real?" Yang asked.

"Yang, we've met other time travelers before, why is this surprising to you?" Ruby asked in confusion.

"Well, she's been the most pleasant out of all of them so far. And so far almost all of the time travelers we have met are dudes so…"

"As much as I think we all would love to see Yang try to understand Time Travel, again," Bryce interjected, his eyes seemingly ready to slip closed with how heavy they were at that moment. "I just got done getting an Another Watch ejected from my being, and I need to sleep this off before I can properly explain anything."

"I'm honestly surprised you've been able to stay conscious this long." Tsukuyomi said. "Normally the Time Jackers' methods aren't powered through like this."

"Oh, that explains why everything's going dark then." Bryce finally said, before going limp as he fell forward.

"Woah!" Yang shouted, grabbing the teen by his shoulders as he went slack in her arms. "I swear it's like one of you two timed that."

"That was not my intention." Tsukuyomi said, before looking at Ruby. "Now, shall we get moving, your Majesty?"

"Your… Majesty?" Weiss asked, with an incredulous look on her face. "Ruby? Is someone pulling my leg?"

"If they are, mine's being pulled too, bestie." Ruby said, laying a hand on Weiss' shoulder.

"Stop calling me that-!"

"What's the point? Who cares about the dance if Blake and Bryce aren't going?"

"What I plan to do is support her, and by extension, the one who paves the way for her rise to power."

"It'll be fun! Maybe it'll help take your mind off things. At the very least with you there, I won't be the only one there that'll look ridiculous dancing..."

"It's been a long time since I've hit such a roadblock in the Gaia Library!"

"It's… complicated, but I… can't transform into Zi-O right now."

"Shotaro, quick, toss me one!"

"Now, count up your sins!"

"Glad you could make it, Eiji."

"There he is!"

{DOUBLE!}

"Ah, so it's a mirror match then?"

"Ahnk…"

"How is this possible? Just what was that light?"

Bryce's eyes snapped open, before they closed just as quickly as a flash of vibrant pink light seared his vision. "Ugh, the hell…?" He slowly opened his eyes to look up at his right hand, where the same pink energy spasmed and sparked along his body before fizzling out. His body was sore, and he winced as he sat up. "Uh… Okay then?"

The teen shook his head, before blinking as he looked down to find he was sitting on his dorm bed. "Who… Brought me...?" He asked no one before he stood up. His eyes scanned the rest of the room, before they landed on the two objects lying on his desk. He walked over to them, picking up the Ziku Driver as he looked at the sticky note slapped onto the front.

'Sorry for borrowing this, figured you'd want it back! -Ruby'.

Bryce let out a sigh as he pulled the note off, idly stuffing it into his pocket as he picked up the Zi-O Ride Watch as well. "...Right, I said I'd… explain myself…"

Just as he moved to place the Ride Watch and Driver back onto the desk, the door to his dorm slammed open. His head swerved to the right, watching as Momotaros lowered his leg and walked in with Ruby. "See, I told you he'd be up by now!"

"...Momotaros, did you just kick our door in?" Bryce asked in confusion.

"Of course! How else would I make sure you were up when we came in?" Momotaros asked, rubbing his finger under where the other two assumed a nose would be. "Ma ikka, my job's done for now! I need to get moving or else that Kuso Onna is gonna grill me about late assignments or whatever again." Momotaros shivered before quickly making haste away from the dorm.

"So… You feeling any better?" Ruby asked after a moment, turning to look at the teen.

"Mentally, or Physically?" Bryce asked, looking back down at the driver in his hand.

"Both, I guess?" Ruby said, shuffling nervously.

"...I feel better, whatever happened physically to me because of the Another Watch feels… well, it doesn't feel like anything if I'm being real…" Bryce said with a shrug. "...Mentally, I'm… Processing a bit more now… It's a mess up there at the moment, more so than usual…"

"Yeah, I… figured it'd be something like that." Ruby said.

"...Ruby," Bryce began, looking up at the Huntress in training. "I… Why did you bring these back to me?"

"Hm? Why wouldn't I? They're yours aren't they?" Ruby asked, tilting her head. "Oh right, I should also give you the Faiz one as-woah!" Ruby's words were cut off as Bryce placed the Ziku Driver and Zi-O Ride Watch into her arms.

"I… Look, I can't be Zi-O… Ruby, I just can't." He said, taking his hand of Ruby's arm as he took a step back. "I… If what I've seen is the future that's going to happen if I continue as Zi-O, then I can't… That future, it can't exist…"

"But Bryce-"

Bryce let out a grunt as a flash of memory suddenly invaded his vision, pulling him out of the conversation and to one he wished to forget.

"She died… Her death is on my hands. Figuratively and… This is… all that I have left… My future…"

"Ruby, please…" Bryce pleaded, his eyes desperate. "The power of Zi-O, the one who is to become the king of time… I clearly can't handle that kind of power, considering what I d-"

Bryce let out a shaky breath. "What I... become… You're the only one I can trust with this…"

Ruby narrowed her eyes at the boy in front of her before letting out a huff. "Fine, you win."

Bryce let out a sigh of relief. "...Thank you, Rub-"

"Hold it there, buster. I'm agreeing to hold onto these, but only until you get your mind cleared up." Ruby said, taking a step towards Bryce. "You're my friend. My weird... alien friend and if the future is as bleak as you say, then it's up to us, all of us to change it. The future isn't set in stone, and I won't just give in because of what might happen."

"...I'm not an alien…" Bryce muttered with a groan, looking off to the side as a small smile, one barely noticeable to the huntress, but she was good at sighting small targets.

"You're as close as I'm ever going to get, and that's fine with me." Ruby said, before she put the Driver and Watch away on her person. "Now uh… You said you would tell us what happened when you went…. Poof? Again, not if you're not ready to of course, I wouldn't want to rush you or anything, but you did promise you would after some rest and-"

"Ruby." Bryce said, stopping the girl's rambling. "...Yeah, I did. Do me a favour and get the rest of your team. Woz… Woz can explain it to the rest of mine, since they're currently out doing… Well, who knows what right now? Pretty sure Momotaros is trying to avoid… Professor Goodwitch, if my hunch is right… Anyways, get them, Sento, and Tsukuyomi. We'll be meeting up in the Guidance Office."

"Guidance? Oh right, Professor Kisaragi did say he was acting as your therapist last we spoke…" Ruby said, nodding to herself before she paused. "Wait, why Sento?"

"...Let's… let's just say that I think he'd completely understand what it is I'm going through…"

"I hope the… number of people isn't going to be a problem, Gentaro…" Bryce said, looking at the pompadour styled teacher sitting to his left.

"It's completely okay!" Gentaro said with a nod. "Emotional support of this nature will help, so as long as they understand all of this is confidential, we'll all be fine!"

"Nothing leaves the room, essentially." Sento said with a nod, before he turned to look at Bryce. "But, why did you ask me here though?"

"...If there's someone here who might be able to give me any advice from experience… you fit the bill the best." Bryce said, scanning the rest of the room as his eyes passed over the entirety of Team RWBY, including a very exhausted looking Blake, before his eyes landed on Tsukuyomi. "I suppose I should start at the beginning… Just, if I go off on a tangent, just let me take it at my own pace…"

"As long as you don't get stuck rambling." Yang said with a shrug.

"Yang…" Ruby muttered, elbowing her sister.

Bryce shook his head as he closed his eyes. "To start… Well, right after I was dropped off by the Aurora Curtain seems to be a good place…"

"The… Aurora Curtain?" Sento asked in confusion.

"The Aurora Curtain is a doorway of sorts that can be used to traverse the multiverse." Bryce said, looking down. "It also has the capacity for time travel, which I experienced first hand earlier. But, as I was saying…"

"...What… What just… Happened?" I asked myself, looking down at the belt on my waist. "Was that… the Aurora Curtain…"

I paused, looking up as my eyes scanned the surrounding desert wastes. I slowly reached down and pulled my driver off my waist, putting it away as I looked ahead, where the familiar walls of Vale caught my eye. "I'm… on the outside of Vale's walls? But, wait…"

My eyes widened as they locked onto the large hole broken through the Vale's wall. It was like someone had taken a section of the wall and pulled it out, leaving the edges jagged and crumbling. The rest of the wall looked to be in a state of disrepair, almost as if the wall had been eroded over the course of a century or something.

"Wait, Wait, Wait! There was a hole in Vale's wall?" Yang asked, blinking as she looked at Bryce.

"Yeah, pretty sure. Not like I walked through it or whatever…" Bryce muttered, looking at Yang with a deadpan.

"Perhaps we should keep moving." Tsukuyomi said from her seat.

"Right, so…"

I gave another look around me, weighing my options before my vision landed once more on the almost welcoming hole in the wall a ways ahead. "...I can't stay out here for long." I said, picking up the pace as I began to walk towards Vale. "I'd rather not be somewhere without even a slight hint of civilization when the Grimm come running to kill me…"

I wasn't completely sure how long I was walking, I could only assume it was an hour or two at minimum, the minutes had started to blend together as I walked. Eventually, the large hole had come into view, leading way into Vale. I cautiously stepped inside, moving on through as my eyes caught sight of Vale's downtown. The usually bright center of Vale's nightlife was apparently taking cues from Vale's wall, most of the buildings seemed in desperate need of a repair.

I kept silent as I walked through the streets, though a sigh of relief did escape me when I saw a few people huddled on the side of the street in brown cloaks. Civilization was still around, I guess, though the lack of progress keeping things up and running was… concerning.

How the hell hasn't the Grimm killed everyone here with that big hole in the wall?

With that question on the forefront of my mind, I ventured further in. I did my best to ignore some of the looks I was receiving from the current populace, probably the clothes, though not like I was trying to be a time traveler, which is a weird thought for someone who's supposed to be Zi-O…

Anyways, things finally came crashing down around me when I reached the downtown square. It was more crowded then normal, or at least whatever this time's normal was, which made it more worrying when people left and right suddenly started to run off in multiple different directions, running into nearby alleyways or inside nearby buildings. There were a few that stayed out, but they either looked out of it, or didn't seem to realize what was going on.

I ducked off to the side near the entrance to a nearby alleyway, watching as a group of about 5 yellow figures walked into the square, what looked like tridents held in one hand and an almost robotic tic to their movements.

"There they are." One of them said, looking over at a hooded figure near the side of the square who barely looked up in time to see 4 of them charge at them.

I let out a low whistle as the hooded figure quickly ducked out of the way and began to blast at the armed… things with a gun they had hidden under the cloak.

"Bryce, are you being vague about things because you don't know, or are you just building suspense?" Blake asked, leveling a tired look Bryce's way.

"...It flows better when done this way?" Bryce said with a light shrug.

The four attackers dropped to the ground, sparks flying from exposed wiring from inside their… well, bodies. I nodded to myself at the display, before my eyes widened as the hooded figure turned around to face the last one who quickly swung their trident into the hooded figure's stomach, sending them rolling across the square floor.

"You are hereby guilty of the crimes of rebellion and attempted assassination of the king, the punishment is death." The Machine said, raising it's trident up.

I narrowed my eyes, charging ahead towards the robot before I jumped and drop kicked the killing machine, sending it stumbling away from the hooded figure. I landed heavily on my back, letting out a groan as I moved to stand up. I looked over at the hooded figure, whose shadowed face was looking at me in some sort of shock.

"Are you okay?" I asked.

"Yeah." The hooded female responded, standing up as the machine turned to face us. "The Kasshine's back up, be careful!"

"Wait, it's called a what-?"

"Die!" The robot shouted, swinging it's trident at me.

"Woah!" I shouted, throwing myself to the side. I rolled into a crouch, looking up as the Kasshine charged me with it's weapon poised to strike. "Damn longarms…"

I tensed and prepared to jump to the side, before a burst of red light shone from behind the Kasshine, blasting a hole open where it's head was moments ago. I stared as the robot dropped to the ground dead, before looking up to see the hooded figure folding her gun at the grip and slipping it under her cloak.

"Thanks for the help." The female said, nodding at me. "But why did you help me? Now his guards will be after you as well."

"Okay, slow down for a second, I'm a bit lost." I said. "Where… no, when am I? This is Vale right, but why is everything…?"

"...You're not from this time." The figure said, before looking over her shoulder quickly. She turned back to me a second later, before grabbing my arm. "Come with me, I shouldn't explain this out in the open."

"Woah!"

"So, that's how it is, you're a Breacher…" The female spoke, stopping once we were in an alleyway.

"Breacher?" I asked, raising an eyebrow.

"It's the term we use for those who end up outside their specific point in time. Usually it happens when someone accidentally happens onto and falls into a breach in the timeline. These breaches aren't normally frequent and are sudden, so it's not surprising if someone didn't even realize if they walked through one until it's too late." The woman said, before she pulled her hood off, letting her black hair cascade down the back of her cloak. "That said, thank you for helping me earlier. My name is Tsukuyomi, and… Welcome to the year 2068."

"And that's how we met." Tsukuyomi said with a nod.

"Interesting…" Weiss said, before she put a hand to her chin. "Tsukuyomi, do you happen to know of any other breachers that appeared back in 2068?"

"I'd like to know this as well, more to study the exact mechanics behind these breaches…" Sento followed up.

"Personally, until I met Bryce I never met any other breachers, and he doesn't entirely count now that we know it was the Aurora Curtain." Tsukuyomi said before she paused. "Though, I myself am a Breacher, but it's a bit more complicated on my end."

"You're a breacher?" Ruby blinked in confusion.

"Was that how you got out of the battle?" Bryce asked, his focus solely on Tsukuyomi. "You found a breach and fell through it before the wave hit you?"

"No, that was you, and I can explain what exactly happened when we get to that point in your story." Tsukuyomi said. "What I mean is, I ended up breaching to 2068 somehow. I don't remember anything prior to that breach, so I'm not much help in figuring out breaches unfortunately."

"Right, back to the story?" Gentaro said, cutting in to keep the session moving.

"Ah, right… So…"

There was a flash in my mind that suddenly and violently took center stage in my consciousness as a familiar scene played out in my head, a large resistance force, and one man clad in black and gold that completely destroyed them.

"Nice to… meet you." I said, shaking my head to clear my thoughts.

"What's your name?" Tsukuyomi asked.

My brain seized for a moment, as all the possible consequences of answering this with my real name would bring down upon me were quickly thought up and evaluated. Finally, a decision came to mind.

"Uh… Sougo. My name's Sougo Tokiwa…"

"Okay, so out of all the names you could've gone with, why Sougo?" Yang asked. "There's now three people I know who go by that name and one of them isn't nice at the very least."

"...Tokiwa… Eh, Sougo Tokiwa," Bryce began, shaking his head as he looked over at Tsukuyomi. "He was who I knew to have been Zi-O back home, before I got here."

"I remember, his name was on the statue during that video you showed us on that… device." Weiss said, nodding to herself.

"Video?" Asked Sento with a raised eyebrow.

Bryce nodded, fishing out his phone before he loaded up the first episode of Zi-O he had saved. He pointed it over to the rest of the group as the beginning minutes of the episode played out.

"This is you, fifty years in the future." Tsukyomi's voice rang out in Japanese, the subtitles displayed in English underneath to the benefit of everyone else in the room, minus Sento. "The most reviled Overlord of all time."

"That Overlord is… me?" Bryce let out a sigh as Sougo's voice soon followed, turning the phone around to pause the episode.

"That video… It's like the ones about back home, right?" Sento asked Bryce, electing a nod from the teen. "I see…"

"That's Sougo?" Ruby asked.

"Yeah." Bryce said, slipping his phone back in his pocket. "I figured since I was in his shoes now, that it would make sense I slipped into his to keep a low profile while… well, in possible hostile territory."

Bryce looked up at Tsukuyomi. "Look, I'm sorry I didn't tell you, but… I think we can both understand why I didn't at the time."

"People might've been willing to risk their existence if they knew you were Ohma Zi-O's past self…" Tsukuyomi said with a nod.

"So what happened after that?" Ruby asked, leaning forwards.

"We… Let's just say we had another run in with those… Kasshine?" Bryce looked over at Tsukuyomi, who gave a short nod in response. "That's where I met Geiz."

"Shit!" I shouted, rolling over to the side, avoiding being impaled by one of the Kasshine's tridents. "What I wouldn't do for a weapon right now…!"

"How'd they find us again!?" Tsukuyomi shouted, shooting another of Ohma Zi-O's men in the chest, sending the robotic soldier flying into another one. The two tumbled to the ground before they moved to stand up again. "Sougo! To me!"

"Trying!" The words flew out of my mouth as I charged at the Kasshine blocking my path to Tsukuyomi. I let my legs kick out, dropping into a slide as I slid underneath the trident wielder, coming to a stop next to Tsukuyomi.

Tsukuyomi grabbed my arm and pulled me up, firing another shot at the Kasshine I had just slid under. "We're so close…" She hissed so quietly I wasn't sure if I had fully heard her.

"Resistance Fighters will be neutralized!" One of the Kasshine's shouted, charging at us.

"Here they come!" I shouted, pulling my fists up, ready to punch the first one that came close.

{TIME BURST!}

I blinked, looking up as the Kasshine that was almost upon the two of us blew up as a red figure suddenly crashed into it. I threw my arms up to block the dust that was kicked up, lowering them slowly as Tsukuyomi let out a sigh of relief.

"Geiz!" She smiled as the dust cleared, revealing the armoured form of Kamen Rider Geiz, He had a large brown cloak hanging from his shoulders, the fabric waving in the wind behind him. He took a quick moment to look back at the two of us, before nodding at Tsukuyomi as he held up a hand to the side.

[ZIKAN ZAX!]

[OH NO!]

Geiz's fingers wrapped around the grip of his axe, before he charged into the fray. Slashing through the first Kasshine that had tried stabbing him before he sidestepped the second one that had just got off the floor. His elbow flew back into that machine's head, sending the body rocketing to the floor as it's head was torn off its body.

One of the remaining three Kasshine's spun its trident around in a flourish, an action that had Geiz scoff as he pressed the release button on his axe as it transformed into it's bow mode.

[YOU! ME!]

Geiz pressed down on the button sitting atop his bow, starting the countdown.

[TIME CHARGE!]

[5...4...3...2...1…]

Geiz pulled back on the Zikan Zax as energy formed on the tip of the weapon. The Kasshine's turned to face the Rider as the Countdown finished.

[ZERO TIME!]

Geiz spared no words as he let the go, sending out a blast of energy that barreled through and destroyed the remaining Kasshines. The impact of the attack blowing up dust and sending me stumbling back from the force behind it.

[GIWA GIWA UCHI!]

Geiz slowly lowered his bow, turning to face the two of us. "Tsukuyomi, what happened to low profile?"

"It went out the window when they found me the first time." Tsukuyomi said, before looking at me. "I had some help with the first one since Sougo here distracted it for me."

"...Sougo…?" Geiz said, turning to look at me.

I swallowed audibly, a sudden feeling of dread running up my back. "...Thanks for the… save there." I said, trying to keep my emotions in relative check.

"...It's no problem. I take it you're bringing him to Woz." Geiz said, turning to look back at Tsukuyomi. I blinked, before my eyes widened.

'Woz? Here?' I thought to myself before I schooled my expressions into a simple curious one.

"Yes. At this point the Kasshine's would have sent notice to Ohma Zi-O about him. He's probably already marked as one of us, or will be soon." Tsukuyomi responded with a nod. She let out a sigh as she looked over at me with some sort of pity on her face. "He's a breacher, if his questions about the state of this city are anything to go by."

"...What time is he from?" Geiz asked, looking over at me, the yellow visor of his helmet hiding his facial reactions.

"I'm not sure, and it would be best if we didn't push to find out. Trying to find discrepancies in time would only be bad if he was able to go back to his time. We'll leave it up to Woz, he's normally able to figure out these things easily." Tsukuyomi said.

"With you as the exception." Geiz responded with a shake of his head. The Rider turned to look at me. "...We should get moving. If we're not gone in the next few minutes we'll have more of those things on us."

"Much more now that they know you were here…" Tsukuyomi said, before turning to look at me. "Come on, we can explain more after we introduce you to Woz."

"Woz? I thought he was on y-Ohma ZI-O's side." Weiss said, catching herself mid sentence. "Why would he be working with Resistance fighters?"

"Woz was a double agent, we just didn't know it at the time." Tsukuyomi said. "He sent us into a trap. We were led to believe Ohma Zi-O wouldn't be able to transform when he was there."

"How wrong of an idea that turned out to be…" Bryce scowled. To the rest of the people in the room he looked like he was about to start ranting about his attendant, but held off as he let out a sigh that might as well had the force of a grenade behind it. "...The good news was that we had a bit of a calm before the storm. About a day or two overall. That was spent getting me ready…"

"Tsukuyomi, Geiz. It's good to see the two of you back." The unmistakable voice of Woz broke through the hurried shuffling of resistance members. I took a good look at the expression displayed over his face. Tired, like the rest of the members running around.

Well, except for Geiz. The Rider from the future, or I guess it would be accurate to say the present considering I was the one from the past during that point… Anyways, he hadn't turned off his transformation, not even once he arrived.

I was beginning to wonder if he slept in that armour, then I had the less fun question of if he never took it off, when was the last time he had a shower.

"We have a new recruit. Stepped in to help Tsukuyomi escape some Kasshines." Geiz said, before he turned around. "I'll leave things in your hands."

I watched as Geiz walked away, leaving me with a familiar face that I wasn't sure if I was entirely happy to see at the moment, and a newer face that I somehow felt more comfortable around.

"His name is Sougo Tokiwa. He's a breacher, but from what time we aren't entirely sure." Tsukuyomi said, motioning to me.

Woz's eyes widened a smidge, not enough to draw attention, but because I was looking for some sign of recognition I was able to pick it up easily enough. "It's a pleasure to meet you…" Woz said, extending a hand. I paused, looking down at it before warrily shaking it. "Tsukuyomi, I'm sure you're tired. Rest for now, I'll have someone fetch you if you're needed. I can take things from here."

Tsukuyomi's eyes widened slightly, before she nodded. "If you're sure." She said, before turning to look at me. "Sougo, I'll see you around hopefully. Thanks again for your help earlier."

"No problem. I'm a huntsman in training, part of my job." I said with a shrug, noting the surprised look on Tsukuyomi's face.

"If you'll follow me, Sougo." Woz said, quickly turning around as he moved ahead. I gave a brief nod to Tsukuyomi before I walked after Woz.

It wasn't long, but eventually we arrived at a tent. As the two of us stepped inside I noted the almost office like look of the place. It wasn't a lot, but considering they were a resistance this felt… accurate to an extent.

"Though I'm sure you've met me already from your perspective, introductions should still be in order." Woz said, turning to face me. "Welcome, Bryce Bridged, to the year 2068. My name is Woz, it is a pleasure to meet your younger self for the first time."

"...Why are you here?" I asked bluntly. "You work for Ohma Zi-O, why would you be helping the Resistence?"

"It's… complicated." Woz said. "And it's best I don't tell you. I would not worry, come tomorrow you'll be back in your time. For now, I need you to keep a low profile, you have a marvelous opportunity awaiting you."

My eyes narrowed as Woz nodded to himself, an almost sage-like smile on his face. "Sougo, you'll be paired with Tsukuyomi. She'll help you prepare for the ambush tomorrow."

"Hah?"

"You know as well as I that it's in your best interest to not transform at the moment." Woz said, before motioning to a clean and folded stack of clothes on a nearby table. "I'll leave you to change into those. They're designed for this environment, your current attire is not."

Woz moved to the front of the tent before pausing. "I'll let Tsukuyomi know to wait out here for you, Sougo." Woz said, before he slipped out from under the tent.

"...Well, at least I have privacy…" I muttered, taking out the items lining my pockets as I changed.

"Is this why you dragged Woz into that fight yesterday?" Ruby asked as she leaned forwards. "You guys said he was a double agent, and… Clearly things didn't go well, so…"

"While he may not have been the one to pull the trigger, so to speak, he was the same man who led us all to a fight we believed we had a chance of fighting…" Tsukuyomi said, closing her eyes. "The only people I know for sure survived that engagement were Geiz, Bryce and I."

"...How bad was the fight with Woz yesterday?" Gentaro asked after a moment.

"He snapped." Blake said, looking over at Bryce.

"...Yeah. I did."

"Punching someone to get a point across has worked for me in the past before." Gentaro said, rubbing the back of his head sheepishly. "Though not so much here."

"Let's get off the topic of Woz for now." Sento said, crossing his arms. "You had the rest of the day to prepare, what exactly did that entail?"

"Learning how to use their weaponry, sort of getting to know Tsukuyomi and Geiz… While we assumed that the fight would be easier since he wouldn't have the ability to transform… We weren't exactly planning on taking any chances."

"Ugh…" I let out another groan as I rolled my right shoulder. I looked over the rifle resting in my arms. "The hell kind of kickback does this thing have?"

"You said you were a Huntsman, I assumed that you were used to that kind of recoil." Tsukuyomi said from her seated position on a large rock behind me. "I was led to believe the weapons they used also had a firearm function. As the old saying goes; It's also a gun."

I shrugged, pulling the rifle back up as I aimed at the targets in front of me. "Mine did but… The recoil was never this bad…" Either the Zikan Girade didn't have a lot of recoil, or the Zi-O suit did a very good job at minimizing the kickback I received.

I pulled the trigger one, twice, and thrice, slamming a few bullets into the targets. My shoulder hurt less, though I was no way near fully used to the kick. My shots all hit the targets, but no way near a bullseye.

"Speaking of Mechashift weapons… I think that's the terminology, these things got a melee transformation or just the rifle?" I asked, lowering the barrel as I turned to look at Tsukuyomi.

"Most of the weapons we have are remnants of old militia weaponry. So unlike other Huntsmen weapons that can transform to better suit a different scenario, we make do with what we have." Tsukuyomi responded with a shrug.

I shrugged, turning back to the targets as I pulled the rifle back up. More holes in the targets as the bullets were quickly ejected out of the magazine, the empty casings clattering to the ground by my right foot. There was a sudden click from the weapon as I pulled the trigger once more.

"Empty…" I muttered, sliding the magazine out of the rifle.

"I see you've been paired with the Breacher." I blinked, turning around to see Geiz walk over to the two of us, brown cloak hanging from his shoulders, obscuring him from the neck down. Still encased in his Rider Suit as well.

"Geiz, right?" I asked, lowering the rifle in my arms. "Thanks for the, uh… save earlier?"

"...It's no problem." Geiz said, taking a seat on a barrel across from Tsukuyomi. "How's he doing?"

"He's not bad. Said he was a Huntsman in training before he ended up here." Tsukuyomi said, looking over at me.

"A huntsman?" Geiz asked, tilting his head to the side.

"Yeah. I'm… was training at Beacon, before I ended up here." I said with a shrug.

The two shared a quick look before turning back to face me. "At least we'll have someone else with Aura for the upcoming fight…" Geiz said, standing up.

"What do you mean by that?" I asked, placing the rifle down on the ground.

"Most of the inhabitants are unable to awaken their Aura. Ohma Zi-O presumably had something to do with that, but we were never sure how he did it." Tsukuyomi said, before a white glow enveloped over her. "Geiz and I are the only two who have been able to have ours unlocked."

"I can get why Tsukuyomi, since... Breacher like me, but why Geiz?" I asked, raising a hand like I was in class.

"We… aren't sure." Tsukuyomi said, looking over at Geiz.

"Huh, fair enough." I said, shrugging before I sat down on the ground. "Though, hate to break it to you, but… I don't have aura myself, so…"

"But, aren't you a huntsman?" Tsukuyomi asked.

"In training. And my circumstances are weird." I said, shrugging. "Point is, I don't have my Aura unlocked, or to better describe it, I don't have an Aura to be unlocked."

"Impossible. Every living thing has Aura." Geiz said, walking over to me. "So unless someone did it wrong trying to unlock your Aura, or you're not human."

"I take offence to that second one." I said with a sigh.

"...Turn around." Geiz said, electing a dumbfounded look from me and a surprised look from Tsukuyomi. "I'm going to unlock your Aura."

"Okay, but… why do I need to turn around?" I asked.

"Because Geiz can't unlock your Aura when he's transformed." Tsukuyomi said, motioning to the rider. "The most usage he can get out of his Aura while transformed is to help power his transformation, not for more… intricate things like this."

"And Tsukuyomi doesn't have enough control over her own Aura to be able to do this. So turn around." Geiz said, kneeling in front of me.

"...Okay then." I said with a shrug as I turned away from the two. "I don't know if this is going to do anything, but if you guys insist…"

I heard the sound of Geiz's armour dissipating, alongside a flash of red light. "I was starting to forget what you looked like under that helmet." Tsukuyomi said.

Geiz let out a breath of air before I felt a hand land softly against my back. "Close your eyes." Geiz said, his voice coming out clear.

I let my eyes slip closed. There was a moment of silence before I felt a warmth of some sort press against the spot Geiz's hand was positioned. "For it is in resolution that we achieve freedom. Through this we become a savior of peace and hope to rise above all. Unwavering in your justice and unyielding to time's flow. I release your soul and by my shoulder…"

Words echoed throughout my mind, as the warmth seeped into my being. I felt something, some sort of spark call out from inside, heeded by the words' call. I felt it push against something inside, only for it to seep further inside myself again. It felt… claustrophobic. It was as if I was surrounded by walls all around, a prisoner trapped in my very skin…

Until that energy found a single crack, one that felt… new, as if it had only just broken open.

"...Awaken you…"

It was those words that lit the spark. Those words that sent that feeling in my very core into a frenzy…

Those words that lit my world up in pain.

I wasn't sure if I was screaming. To know that would imply I was capable of coherent thought during that period. My six senses might as well have been shut off, all except touch, which was currently overloading as my pain sensors flared like an inferno.

I don't remember when the pain stopped, the only thing I knew was that whatever had caused it had retreated back inside me.

"Next I woke up, the day had passed and they were just finishing preparations for the assault on Ohma Zi-O…" Bryce said as he rolled his shoulder.

"Okay, I know for a fact that wasn't how it went when we had tried awakening your Aura back before Beacon started…" Yang said, raising an eyebrow.

"Gentaro, you took notes on that, right?" Asked Sento, looking over at the other councilor. Gentaro nodded, holding out the clipboard he had been writing notes into during the session. "Probably best we have someone look over that, maybe someone in the faculty would know what Bryce experienced. It's a bit out of my range of knowledge."

"In your defence you're a physicist, and I don't think you can get a doctorate in Aura…" Bryce said. "Actually, do you even have a doctorate?"

"Well…" Sento paused, looking off to the side. "...Not in this world at least."

"...Is he dodging the question?" Ruby asked, blinking at the scientist.

"Anyways, when you woke up?" Sento said, leaning forwards.

Heavy footfalls sent aches through my skull, bringing me back from the depths of unconsciousness. I groaned, looking up to see Tsukuyomi leaning over me with a relieved look on her face. "He's up!" She said, looking to the side towards Geiz, who was back in his armour leaning against a wood pillar holding the tent we were in up.

"What… What happened?" I asked, sitting up on the cot I assume the two had placed me on earlier.

"You tell us." Geiz said, crossing his arms. "Your aura reacted, it activated and moved to unlock, but then it just fizzled out. I see now why you said you thought you didn't have an Aura to unlock."

"Yeah, but whatever just happened didn't last time." I said, wincing. "I may have been out of it since I was sent into emergency care immediately after they attempted to unlock my Aura, but they never brought it up once that this happened…"

"So what was different this time?" Tsukuyomi asked, looking over at Geiz. "Was it something to do with your Aura that might've done something different."

"Aura doesn't work like that, or at least mine doesn't." Geiz said, sighing.

"Perhaps it might've had something to do with how he ended up in this time." I blinked, turning around to face the entrance as Woz walked into the tent.

"Woz." Geiz nodded at the man, before tilting his head to the side. "What do you mean by that?"

"Sougo," Woz began, looking over at me. "Do you know what exactly brought you here to this time?"

I paused, before nodding. "I was fighting this guy… He said something about an… Aurora Curtain? Then the next thing I know I'm here?"

"The Aurora Curtain?" Geiz asked, moving off his spot at the pillar.

"What's that?" Tsukuyomi asked.

"It's a doorway of sorts." Geiz said, crossing his arms. "Used to traverse space and time."

"It may be possible after being transported through this Aurora Curtain that something might've changed within Sougo." Woz continued, glancing at me before putting his full attention back onto Geiz and Tsukuyomi. "You two, we're finishing preparations right now. We leave for the assault in 30 minutes. Sougo, you're with Tsukuyomi. The two of you will be on range coverage. I must get back to the others."

I watched as Woz walked out of the tent, followed shortly by Geiz letting out a heavy sigh.

"I can never tell what he's thinking…" Geiz said, lowering his arms.

"We leave in 30? How long have I been out?" I asked, standing up off the cot.

"Long enough." Geiz said, before he made his way to the entrance. "We should get moving, get ready."

"So, explain this to me." I said, looking over at Tsukuyomi as the two of walked to our positions. "Why here?"

"Every year, Ohma Zi-O visits this place. No armour, no belt, always at the same time on the same day." Tsukuyomi said, moving up the small hill in front of us.

"But what exactly does he do here every year?" I asked, following up after her. "Why would an Overlord like him-"

The words cut off before I had a chance to finish as I passed over the apex of the hill, looking down at the center of the area, at the large statue of what I could only assume was me. The statue was featureless, either purposefully or due to having been removed by time. All of the Heisei riders formed a circle alongside the statue of me.

But it was the lone gravestone sitting peacefully just in front of it all that had given me pause.

I narrowed my eyes, before sliding down the slope of the hill, leaning my rifle against the ditch we were stationed at as I peered down the scope at the grave. I clicked my tongue in annoyance. "Can't see what's engraved…" I muttered to myself, before lowering myself down so my head was hidden behind the ditch.

"And now we wait for the signal." Tsukuyomi said, leaning against the ditch.

It was about 15 minutes we waited, 15 minutes of pure silence. Silence that may as well have been caused by the overwhelming atmosphere of anxiety and dread suffocating us until we stopped breathing.

But again, it was only 15 minutes.

There was a sudden chime, as if hundreds or thousands of clocks had ticked down a minute rapidly one after another. I narrowed my eyes, looking over to see Tsukuyomi moving to peer over the top of the ditch. I slowly moved to follow, watching as a strange portal of black and gold clocks began to form a few feet away from the gravestone. A moment later, a man in a grey cloak walked out, stepping onto the ground as the portal closed behind him.

I narrowed my eyes, bringing my rifle up to look down the scope. Tsukuyomi slowly did the same as I got a closer look at Ohma Zi-O.

His features were primarily hidden by the cloak, but there was a few things I could see and make out. He was tall, and seemed to have a slight limp in his step. His hands were covered by a pair of black leather gloves. What was visible on his face was the lower half. Pale white, like ash, was the color of his skin. There were some wrinkles in a few places, but otherwise he looked to be in his late 40s or so.

Ohma Zi-O slowed to a stop in front of the gravestone, before slowly taking out a bouquet of black roses. He lowered the flowers onto the grave and stayed kneeled there for a few moments in silence. "I see you all have no respect, even for the dead…"

I felt my breath catch in my throat. The voice was clear, loud. It was a bit deeper, there was some rumble to it…

But I knew without a doubt that it was my voice.

"That's… That's him…?" My own voice came out cracked, a single drop of sweat rolled down the side of my face as I felt my body lock into place.

(Play オーマジオウ by Toshihiko Sahashi)

"DO NOT MOVE! WE HAVE YOU SURROUNDED!" A voice screamed out, as many soldiers moved out from their hiding spots, different guns and weapons armed and raised at the overlord.

Ohma Zi-O laughed, standing up calmly before raising a hand up and beckoning the resistance almost mockingly.

"FIRE!" The same voice rang out. I felt the ice cold fear in my body thaw and boil, before I quickly slammed my finger down on the trigger and fired at my future self.

Ohma Zi-O simply rolled his neck and flexed the fingers in his right hand in response. Suddenly as the first bullet approached him, the projectile seemingly slammed into an invisible target, disintegrating on contact. Every shot that had followed the first one followed in a similar pattern, turning to dust as they got within a foot of the overlord.

"W-what…?" I blinked, lowering my rifle as I stared at Ohma Zi-O. "He wasn't even transformed… how!?"

"Naruhodo… It seems you really don't understand." Ohma Zi-O began, chuckling to himself before bolts of gold lighting sparked across his body. "Whatever advantage you think you have, you don't. Because."

The gold lightning converged at the man's waist, shining as a gold Ziku Driver manifested on his waist, two strange objects already slotted onto either side of the belt. "All I am surrounded by is fear… Fear, and dead men." The Overlord finished, taking another look at the grave standing in front of him before he looked ahead at the cowering resistance members. His arms raised in front of him in an X, his fists clenched before her quickly brought them to his waists. The earth suddenly cracked behind him, as lava pooled and flowed out to form what was similar to the holographic clock that appears behind me whenever I transformed.

"Henshin."

His hands struck either side of his driver, sending out a pulse of energy that shook the surrounding area. The lava pooling in the ground seemed to seep out and flow into bands of gold, rapidly spinning around the overlord as three red flashes emerged from the ground, flying into the air as the bands dissipated.

{SHUKUFUKU NO TOKI!}

{SAIKŌ! SAIZEN! SAIDAI! SAIKYŌ Ō!}

{OHMA ZI-O!}

Three crimson japanese characters slammed into Ohma Zi-O's visor, each one accompanied by a wave of flames. The characters for Rider glowed red, seemingly lowering the light levels around everything else before a burst of energy exploded off Ohma Zi-O, sending some of the soldiers closer to the tyrant stumbling back.

If the circumstances were at all different, if I wasn't on the other end of this transformation and if it didn't belong to the man who may as well have destroyed Remnant… I probably would've been gushing over the transformation.

But that wasn't what was happening.

I didn't hear the order to attack, but I might as well have. My teeth clenched together as I glared down the sights of the rifle in my hands and unloaded at Ohma Zi-O.

The bullets actually connected this time, though that didn't mean they had any effect. Minor sparks flew off the gold suit, though the ammunition pelting him didn't seem to faze the tyrant. Motorcycles drove past, charging at Ohma Zi-O alongside some rebels wielding varying melee weapons.

"Heh, how cute." Ohma Zi-O said, bringing up his right hand. His fist clenched, as red and black energy formed and sparked. "Daga… Mudada!" He threw his hand out at the approaching soldiers, sending a large swarm of energy based bats towards them. Explosions rocked the area, one of the bikers that had gotten close to Ohma Zi-O flipped as the bats slammed into his bike, causing it to blow up underneath him.

"Now, where are you…?" Ohma Zi-O asked, turning his eyes to scan across the area.

"Fire!" I blinked, before covering my ears as rockets were fired at the Overlord. Ohma Zi-O gave a brief glance towards them before he raised a hand up and flicked it upwards. I felt something suddenly pull me from above and looked up to see a black hole suddenly form above us.

"How the hell!?" I exclaimed, before I felt my body lift off the ground. "Oh shit!"

"I got you!" Tsukuyomi said, grabbing onto my arm. The black hole dragged us out of the ditch, but Tsukuyomi quickly stabbed a knife of some kind into the ground and used it to keep the two of us grounded.

I glanced up, watching as the rockets that were aimed at Ohma Zi-O lost control and were quickly sucked into the blackhole, alongside some other rebels who weren't able to keep themselves planted. As soon as the rockets were consumed, the black hole closed and I dropped back to the ground. I glanced over to Tsukuyomi before looking at the ground.

"Thanks for the save." I said, nodding at Tsukuyomi.

"Don't mention it." She responded, bringing her rifle up again.

"Dammit! Where the hell is Woz!?" I heard a voice ring out through the field and blinked, before looking around wildly in confusion. I blinked, watching as a swarm of large mechs raced past. Black Time Mazines, or at least prototype versions sped towards the Tyrant.

Ohma Zi-O turned to the side, before quickly pressing both hands onto either sides of his belt. He glanced over at the approaching Time Mazines before slapping the left side of his driver once.

[KUUGA NO TOKI!]

{MIGHTY KICK!}

Gold energy began to pool around Ohma Zi-O's foot, before he threw one of his legs up to kick a punch thrown by one of the machines. The Robot slid back, as a mark of gold formed on it's fist and began to glow, quickly rising in brightness before the machine blew sky high.

"That was… Kuuga?" I muttered to myself.

I turned back to look at Ohma Zi-O, who glanced around the area for a moment before quickly flicking his arm out, freezing time all around us. Explosions hung in midair, people were frozen mid fall, and I was made imobile in a matter of seconds.

"Enough!" Ohma Zi-O proclaimed, looking out at the results of his display of power. The resistance was on the back foot, the large army they brought should've been unneeded, but now that number was dwindling fast. And not a scratch lay on him. "You fools could never defeat me. Do you know why?"

"Because I was destined to be king." Ohma Zi-O said, clenching his outstretched fist closed. "...And I sentence you all to death."

Ohma Zi-O slammed his fist into his chest, releasing a wave of energy that bellowed past. Time resumed, rebel soldiers fell to the ground and were quickly swept up in the wave, disintegrating into dust. I felt a pit drop in my stomach as the wave of ash and death flew towards us. I glanced over at Tsukuyomi who was standing in front of me, who had seemingly froze as the wave approached.

"Tsukuyomi! Get Down!" I shouted, grabbing Tsukuyomi's arm and pulled with all my might, throwing her off her feet behind me. The wave was almost on top of me, and as my perception of time slowed I felt something tug inside me, before the wave washed over me, and I felt something inside me explode.

I let out a grunt as I dropped to my hands and knees. I blinked, looking down at myself in shock. "What…?" I asked, before turning around to look at where I had thrown Tsukuyomi, only to find dust slowly settling on the ground. "...No… No, no no no!"

I slid down the ditch, coming to a stop as I watched the dust settle. "...Why?"

"Did you really think I wouldn't find you…?"

My head snapped up, and I rushed out of the ditch at the sound of Ohma Zi-O's voice echoing over the area. I blinked, watching as the tyrant stood opposite Geiz, who had slammed his axe against Ohma Zi-O's arm.

"Geiz?" Ohma ZI-O finished, staring down the Rider opposite him.

"Damn you…" Geiz grunted, pulling his axe down, sending sparks up as his weapon slid off Ohma Zi-O's suit. He brought his arm up to swing again but was stopped as a fist slammed into Geiz's stomach, sending him flying back.

"I'm ashamed, truly…" Ohma Zi-O said. "Attacking me, I can understand your desire for that… But here? This was no place to choose to fight your battle, you should understand that well enough."

"Shut up…!" Geiz said, struggling to a stand. "You have no right…"

"Perhaps." The overlord responded with a nod. "But I won't allow you to escape again."

Geiz let out a strangled gasp as Ohma Zi-O lifted his left hand towards Geiz. I narrowed my eyes and charged, kicking off the ground as I sped towards the two. Just before I reached the two of them, I jumped, spinning in the air so my legs faced Ohma Zi-O.

The Overlord suddenly turned to me at the last moment, lowering his arm in what almost appeared to be shock before my feet collided with his helmet. I kicked off, flipping in the air and landing not so gracefully on my feet. Ohma Zi-O took a step back from the impact, before he looked up at me.

"Sougo!?" Geiz exclaimed in shock.

"Geiz! Get out of here, I'll hold him off! GO!" I shouted, keeping my eyes on my future self.

"No, he'll kill you!" Geiz shouted.

"Bryce Bridged, 2018!" I shouted.

"...What?"

"That's who you're looking for. That's his younger self." I said, glaring at Ohma Zi-O.

"How do you know that!?" Geiz asked, standing up. I let out a breath, before pulling my Ziku Driver out. Geiz took a step back, watching as I placed the driver against my waist. "Sougo… You're…!"

[ZIKU DRIVER!]

"Well!? What are you waiting for!? GO!" I shouted, pulling out and twisting the face of the Zi-O Ride Watch. I pressed down on the activation button and slotted the watch into my driver.

{ZI-O!}

I heard the sound of Geiz's footsteps echo behind me, before they quickly disappeared. "...I'm going to attack you now." I said bluntly.

"Ha!" Ohma Zi-O barked, before holding his arms out towards me. "Hmph, very well… Kakatte Koi…"

"HENSHIN!" I shouted, slamming my fist on the release button before throwing my arm to the side, pulling the driver into a full rotation.

[RIDER TIME!]

{KAMEN RIDER! ZI-O!}

I let out a breath as I stared down Ohma Zi-O behind my visor. I extended my hand to the right, before closing it around the handle of the Zikan Girade that suddenly formed moments earlier.

[ZIKAN GIRADE!]

[KEN!]

"Souka…" I blinked behind my visor as Ohma Zi-O brought a hand out in front of him. Three pink characters flew out of the Ohma Zi-O driver, before they suddenly slammed down as a sword flashed into existence.

"Is that my face?" I blinked, looking at the Zi-O face attached to the side of the weapon.

"Saikyo Girade…" Ohma Zi-O said, clenching his fist around the weapon's handle. I narrowed my eyes, bringing my sword to my side as I charged Ohma Zi-O.

I swung diagonally down towards the watch sash he was wearing, only to have my attack blocked by the Saikyo Girade and quickly deflected, knocking my blade to the side as Ohma Zi-O slashed his sword across my front. I stumbled back, before quickly ducking to the side to avoid another slash from the tyrant.

I grit my teeth, slamming my hand down on the Time Charge button of my sword.

[TIME CHARGE!]

Ohma Zi-O placed a hand against the handle on the Zi-O face and pulled down, changing the characters on the mask.

[ZI-O SAIKYOU!]

[5...4...3...2...1…]

I brought my sword up in front of me as pink energy began to form along the length of the blade. Ohma Zi-O simply spun the sword in his hand as he tilted his head slightly to the side.

[ZERO TIME!]

I slammed my finger against the trigger on my sword and ran ahead, swinging my blade down at Ohma Zi-O.

[GIRI! GIRI! GIRI!]

My blade made contact, sending sparks up as it collided with Ohma Zi-O's sword. My eyes widened as the energy aligning my blade dissipated instantly. "My turn." My opponent said, pressing down on the trigger as he swung his sword up, ripping the blade out of my grasp as it was sent flying into the air. He spun the blade around before swinging it forwards, sending a slash of clocks towards me, the impact sending me rolling backwards.

[HAOU GIRI!]

I pulled myself to a stand, only to take a step back as Ohma Zi-O plucked the Zikan Girade out of the air in his off hand. "Here's a taste of what's to come." He said bluntly, sliding the Saikyo Girade onto the ZIkan Girade. He reached up and grabbed the Zi-O face on the Saikyo Girade and slotted it onto the Finish Time slot of the Zikan Girade.

[SAIKYOU!]

[FINISH TIME!]

I grit my teeth and brought my arms up in front of me in an X as Ohma Zi-O pulled the trigger and unleashed a massive wave of energy that slammed into my front, sending me flying backwards.

[KING!]

[GIRI GIRI SLASH!]

I rolled to a stop, my transformation dissipating as I lied face first down on the ground. I placed a hand on the ground and pushed myself to a stand, watching as Ohma Zi-O dismissed both swords.

"Cease this fight, you will not win. As you are right now… You will never defeat me." Ohma Zi-O said.

I grit my teeth, stumbling back a step. "I won't… you aren't my future…!"

"I was wondering when I'd get the chance to see my past self." Ohma Zi-O said, taking a step forward. "And you're just as delusional as I remember being."

"Shut up!" I shouted, my body shaking in a mix of anger and terror. "I would never do this! I would never destroy the world like this! I wouldn't want to be some king that ruled over everyone with an iron fist!"

"No, but you did want to be the hero." Ohma Zi-O said, taking another step forward. I unconsciously took another back. "You wanted to be like YOUR heroes. You wanted to be the Kamen Rider, you wanted to play the hero who had the faith of their predecessors and their abilities. You wanted to save your friends by any means necessary and you paid for those actions!"

I froze in place, watching is Ohma Zi-O turned around. "The world wanted and needed someone to become who I am. The Grimm are no more, nothing more than a boogeyman story passed around to parents for misbehaving children… Or I suppose I'm the boogeyman people talk about now… I will not lie and say I have not done anything wrong, that I am not responsible for the state of this world… I am guilty of all of it."

"But." Ohma Zi-O said, turning around to look at me. "I am also the reason there isn't someone much, MUCH worse for the world standing in my place. Or perhaps, I'm the reason that someone can even stand here at all."

There was silence as the two of us stared each other down. "...I will give you one choice. I will not stop you or your actions." Ohma Zi-O began, turning around as he walked towards the grave stone, seemingly untouched from the conflict. "What you do after that choice is up to you. You can continue with this path you're destined for and pretend that you will never become me…"

Ohma Zi-O remained quiet and stared down at the gravestone. I narrowed my eyes and walked over to it. I slowed to a stop and stood beside the tyrant, and felt my heart stop dead as I read the inscription.

"...Bryce?" Ruby asked, looking over at the teen who had suddenly stopped talking. His breathing was slowly getting more laboured, his eyes beginning to dilate rapidly as he stared blankly at the ground in front of him. "Bryce!"

Ruby placed a hand on his shoulder, causing him to stumble out of his seat until his back hit the nearby wall. His eyes seemed to be frozen in confused disbelief as they looked at Ruby. "Woah!" Yang shouted, looking over at the teen. "You good, man?"

"..." Bryce muttered something under his breath as he placed his head in his hands. "...still here…"

"What was that?" Weiss asked.

"...Who was on the gravestone…?" Blake asked, her gaze flickering over to Ruby for a moment before they snapped back to Bryce.

"It's probably best that we don't push the subject, he's most likely not ready." Gentaro said, standing up. "For now I think we've talked enough to understand what's-"

"Here…" Bryce began shakily, his voice quiet before it picked up volume.

"Bryce?" Ruby asked, looking over at the teen as he lifted his head to look at Ruby.

"Here… Lies…"

Here lies Ruby Rose

Mother, Huntress, and Leader of the Knights of RWBY

Red Like Roses Fills My Dreams

"...I'm…" Ruby blinked, staring at the teen as the room turned quiet.

"...And then…" Bryce said, closing his eyes as he slid down the wall he was leaning against.

"...What…?" My voice was quiet, as I stared down the words laid out on the stone before me. "Ruby's…?"

"...There was a fight…" Ohma Zi-O said, turning away from me as he walked away from the grave. "History repeats itself I suppose, it rhymes, especially considering the circumstances I suppose…"

"What fight…?" I asked, glaring over at Ohma ZI-O. "What happened!"

"She died… Her death is on my hands. Figuratively and… This is… all that I have left… My future…"

I felt my body freeze over, before immediately bursting into flames as I roared and charged at the Overlord. I threw a punch, I wasn't aiming at anything, maybe that face that was textured with the japanese symbol for king, but it didn't matter as Ohma Zi-O caught it easily. "Why… WHY!?" I screamed, throwing my other hand at the tyrant, only for that one to be caught as well. "Answer me! Why did you kill her!?"

"...The entirety of the Knights of RWBY defected and staged a coup. Even with their combined powers, 4 riders could never match to one who had the power of all riders…" Ohma Zi-O said, shoving me backwards. I slowed to a stop as Ohma ZI-O pointed a finger at me. "If you truly wish to change your future, there is only one option available for you. If you wish to avoid this cruel fate, then destroy that driver you wear on your waist."

My gaze lowered to the Zi-O driver wrapped around my waist. I pulled the driver off, looking down at the device and the Ride Watch still slotted into it. "You will throw out your entrance key to the path of Ohma and will never become the man you see before you. Or, you can continue as you did before, believing that you could change the things set in store to come. Those... are your only options."

"...I…" I blinked, staring blankly at the ground.

"I will return you to your time. A few seconds after the fight with Decade." Ohma Zi-O said, waving a hand as a portal of black and gold clocks formed beside me. "I await our next meeting, my younger self."

"...Go fuck yourself." I said, stumbling through the portal, before finding myself in front of Team RWBY. The events leading up to this moment finally settled and I lost consciousness.

"And that's where we found you…" Weiss said, looking down at the teen sitting against the wall.

"You feel guilty for the actions of your future self." Blake said.

"I'm not surprised. I mean…" Yang paused, looking down. "He-Ohma Zi-O apparently ends up killing us. I'd be pretty messed up if I found out I was apparently going to kill Ruby in the future…"

"Bryce…" Ruby crouched down next to the teen.

"...He doesn't just feel guilty for the actions of his future self." Gentaro said, looking at Bryce. "He's also worried that he won't be able to change the future and he'll turn into Ohma Zi-O…"

"...That's why you asked me to come." Sento said, crossing his arms.

"Why was that?" Asked Weiss.

"...I have experience with what he's gone through. Feeling responsible for the actions of yourself, even if you weren't the one who specifically went through with it." Sento said with a sigh. "I'd say that he should take the advice I did back when I dealt with this, but… I assume he's already tried that already."

"...The first thing I did for the first couple days when I was back…" Bryce said, staring down at his feet. "But I…"

"...Team RWBY, you should take Bryce back to his room for now. Sento, if you could pass a note around class for now. I'm giving Bryce a leave of absence for the next week to rest after the experience." Gentaro said, standing up from his seat. "Oz asked me to explain my thoughts so I need to go speak to him now."

"Alright. Team RWBY, I'll see you four in class tomorrow. Bryce… I won't stop you if you want to do some training with the musclehead, but I will send you back to your room if I find you showed up to my class tomorrow." Sento said, looking over the group. He glanced at Tsukuyomi

"...Got it." Bryce said as the two teachers left the room.

"Your Majesty, I'll be making my leave as well. There's… someone I need to get caught up with." Tsukuyomi said, giving a brief bow to Ruby before she left the room.

Team RWBY looked at each other before their gaze turned back to Bryce. Ruby narrowed her eyes before she held a hand out to the rest of her team to stop. She turned back to face Bryce and walked up next to him.

Bryce glanced over at Ruby before averting his gaze. Ruby pouted before she wrapped her arms around him and pulled him into a hug. "W-what the- Ruby!" Bryce shouted, suddenly squirming as the red hooded huntress tightened her grip on him.

"Zip it!" She said. "Now. Hug. You need it."

"I… I don't-"

"You aren't Ohma Zi-O. I'm not dead and you didn't kill me." Ruby said, moving back to glare at the teen. "Don't for a second think I blame you, so don't you dare blame yourself and think you don't deserve comfort after what you went through!"

Bryce let out a shaky breath and glanced down before Ruby chose his option for him and snagged him into another hug. The teen didn't turn this one away this time, his body practically vibrating as he shakily hugged the girl back.

"...You're taking this well." Blake whispered to Yang.

"At this point, he might as well be my brother." Yang whispered back. "He can have this one. Besides, hugs are the best medicine for this kind of thing."

"...This is awkward though." Weiss whispered as the three huntresses stood on the other side of the room by the door.

"Let's leave them for now." Yang whispered, leading the other two out of the counselor's room, leaving Ruby and Bryce alone. "Wait, what was that earlier about Team RWBY all being Riders?"

"Tsukasa Kadoya…" Ozpin said, looking down at the cup of coffee in front of him. "Kamen Rider Decade… A new wildcard on the board, it seems…"

Ozpin paused, looking down at the notes Gentaro had given him earlier. "Kamen Rider… Kuuga." He said, looking down at the note written as such with a question mark next to it. "...How long has it been since I've last heard that name…"

The headmaster pulled a drawer out, before reaching in and pulling out a red and gold Ride Watch. He rubbed his thumb over the gold dial with a faraway look in his eyes. "...Enough reminiscing…" He muttered, placing the watch away as he looked over another file. "I still need to decide who'll take over the planning for the student dance…"

He paused, before looking out the window. "...I suppose it might serve as some kind of punishment for Team RWBY's earlier escapades this week."