Disclaimer: You guys know by now. I own absolutely nothing. Especially these two franchises.
Journey Through Remnant
Chapter 13: Filling for Time
"Isn't it obvious? I am you, Kamen Rider Decade," The Another Rider was taking great pleasure in mocking the true Decade, "Get them!"
"Hang on!" Realizing that the situation had turned incredibly dire, Tsukasa summoned his own dimensional wall and sent all those near him into another World...
Had Another Decade not been there, they wouldn't have any trouble dealing with the summoned Another Riders. Eiji and Woz could handle Another OOO and Shinobi while he would fight Faiz and Fourze. However, if the other Decade had even a fraction of his own power, things would not end great for anyone involved.
That was the reason why Tsukasa thought it was best that they retreated. However, the biggest question was where would be a safe place for them to hide out in. Tsukasa had scarcely been outside of Beacon the entire time he has been in Remnant, so there were not many options left but to go to one of the various Rider Worlds.
"Everyone okay?" Eiji quickly got his bearings and turned to the students.
"Yeah... I think sooo..." One of them tried to answer, only to pass out. The other eight immediately followed suit.
"Huh?! Tsukasa?!"
"They'll be fine," The wanderer dismissed his ally's concern. "They probably just passed out from exhaustion. We've got much bigger problems now."
"Regardless, we have to help them!"
"Help them how?"
"Let's just make sure they're comfortable, at least."
"Fine... There are some blankets upstairs; just go out the door and to your right."
"Got it! Woz, lend me a hand for a second, please." Eiji took off without waiting for an answer.
"Fine. Kadoya, keep an eye on my lord." Woz followed after the Rider.
'Oh right... He's here too.' Tsukasa had somehow forgotten that the (former) King of Time was here as his mind was elsewhere.
"Hey, you alright?" He turned to Tokiwa Sougo, who had been frozen in place.
Stepping closer to the paralyzed teen, Tsukasa waved his hands in front of the former's face, "Anyone in there?"
"Ahh!" Looks like the teen's brain finally got caught up, "Who are you? Where am I? What were those things that were after me?"
'Woz was right. He's completely forgotten everything,' "I am Kadoya Tsukasa. As for where we are... let's just say we're somewhere where they won't find us."
"And that monster? Why was it after me?"
"They were trying to stop you from meeting me. That Another Rider believed that you would regain your powers as Zi-O if you did."
"Zi-O? You mean like in my dream?"
'Guess he hasn't forgotten everything...' "Yes. Exactly like in your dream," Tsukasa repeated, "You probably have a lot more questions."
"How 'bout them?" Sougo gestured to the unconscious teens of Remnant, "What did they have to do with this?"
"Nothing at all. They were just in the wrong place at the wrong time," 'As always…' "Anything you want to ask me?"
"Why did that thing call me the King of Time? Or the Demon King?"
"That would take a bit. We'll wait for that retainer of yours to come back. He can explain things better."
"Retainer? I have a retainer?" 'Oh, brother...'
"We're back." Eiji burst back into the room, him and Woz carrying a few blankets.
"Good. Woz, tell your overlord here about his future. I have something I need to check." Leaving Zi-O in Woz's hands, Tsukasa opened a dimensional wall.
"Tsukasa? Where are you going?" Eiji asked.
"I just said it. There's something I need to confirm." Avoiding the question, Tsukasa walked through the silver wall and left.
"Wait a-"
"Too late, Hino. He's already gone."
"Can someone please start explaining things to me?!"
The question was not where the Destroyer of World was going, but actually when. He needed to make sure that the old timeline's Swartz was truly dead. That was why he returned to the last day of the World of Zi-O.
Normally, this should not be possible as it was erased from existence. However, Tsukasa was used to breaking the rules.
When he emerged from the other side of the dimensional wall, the sound of destruction quickly filled his head. He had chosen to appear on one of the roofs overlooking the final battle between Oma Zi-O and Swartz. Tsukasa just had to make sure he won't be seen by the two.
"Tsukuyomi!" The old Tokiwa Sougo screamed. Kamen Rider Tsukuyomi had just backstabbed her brother only to be blown into a wall by a Rider Kick (or Another Rider Kick as it were).
OMA ZI-O HISSATSU GEKI
Oma Zi-O activated his finisher and used his own Rider Kick against Another Decade, who tried to block it with a Rider Punch. Even from a distance, Tsukasa felt how overwhelmingly powerful that attack was. It was obvious who would win this battle. A few moments later, Swartz was blown back and killed by the finisher.
'That confirms it. The new one is not Swartz...' It wasn't like Tsukasa actually thought that it was the Time Jacker in the first place. However, it didn't hurt to make sure. Additionally, the traveler wanted some time to himself to clear his head. Granted, the end of a World was not exactly the best place to do so.
"Because I will destroy this timeline." The Sougo of this time announced. That was Tsukasa's cue to leave. It was probably best that a second him doesn't get caught in the rebooting of the timeline. Opening a dimensional wall again, Tsukasa returned to the others...
"So, to recap. I was destined to become the Demonic King of Time, but then I restarted the timeline and lost my powers," Sougo had been listening diligently to Woz's rather spirited story.
"Yes, my lord."
"That's so..."
"Terrible!" "Cool!"
Eiji had been listening in on the story while waiting for Tsukasa to return. He found the fact that one of his successors had become a tyrant to be a little bit disturbing—especially the part where Zi-O's future self nearly killed the present version. Zi-O himself, however, took the news a lot differently.
"Wait, what?!"
"What's wrong, Mr. Hino?"
"What could possibly be so great about this?"
"Well... It's always been my dream to become a king. I mean, a demonic king is a rather big step, but that means it's my fate to become a king."
"Exactly, my lord." Woz was incredibly supportive of his liege.
"Neither of you see anything wrong with this?!"
"A bit... but my original self managed to change things a bit, right?" Eiji had to admit the teen had a point there, "If I could reawaken my powers again like everyone has been saying, then we don't have anything to worry about."
"Your powers of Oma Zi-O?"
"Yes. If I come close to losing my mind, I could just restart the timeline again, right?"
"That doesn't really sound reassuring."
"Just have faith in me, like that version other of you did!"
Sougo was referring to the Eiji Hino who had lost his memories and powers as OOO. Or, to be more precise, he never had them in the first place. Tsukasa had explained to him that the Another Riders erased the history of Riders they were based upon.
"Right... Faith..."
"Sooo... When is that guy coming back? He's been gone for a few hours now..."
"I'm not sure. Let's just wait a bit." Eiji suggested, wondering where his (kind of) friend had gone.
"Okay... How can I get my powers back?" Sougo asked politely.
"I have no idea. How about you, Woz?"
"That is simple, my lord. All you have to do is have the RideWatch resonate with your feelings." Woz answered.
"And how do I do that?"
"That is for you to figure out on your own, my lord."
"Hey, Sougo?"
"Yes?"
"Why were you on Remnant? Who brought you there?"
"Hmm... Some guy with a white jacket. He saved me from some a black and green monster."
"White jacket?" Eiji tried to recall the Riders who wore that type of clothing.
"Green and black. That must be Another Double." Woz confirmed.
"The guy in a white jacket, can he open dimensional walls like Tsukasa?"
"Yeah! He was also the one who told me to search for him."
"That means..." Both Eiji and Woz came to the same conclusion.
"Hey, what time is it?" Sougo suddenly asked.
Eiji took a peek at the clock that was hanging on the wall, "It's nearly midnight..."
"Hmm... I feel like I forget something..."
"Like what?"
"Hmm... AHH!" Sougo finally remembered, "My uncle! He's probably been worried sick about me!"
Before Sougo could continue panicking any further, a dimensional wall appeared in the middle of the room. Less than a second later, Tsukasa walked through.
"Tsukasa! You're back!"
"I don't think you should be screaming," He calmly said, briefly glancing at the 9 students that he accidentally brought into this World, "You might wake them up."
"But you've been gone for nearly 3 hours." Eiji was no longer shouting anymore.
"Hours? I've been gone for 3 minutes..." Oh right, he had forgotten about that tiny fact. Time does not move at the same pace in all Worlds. The fact that the World of Zi-O had been removed from the timelines would have made matters a bit worse.
"Minutes?" Eiji asked with a look of confusion. Tsukasa took a few moments to explain the passage of time in other Worlds briefly.
"How about Remnant? How fast is the time going there compared to here?" Eiji had a look of worry while watching the students that were laid out over the room.
"Hard to say. To put it simply, it's like a race," Tsukasa began explaining, "Some Worlds would move faster than the others, but they can suddenly fall behind within a moment's notice. I don't even know how fast time moves on this World compared to Remnant in the first place."
"Hang on, how about my home World? Can you send me back, like right now?" Sougo requested, his worry only growing larger the more he heard.
"We're already here."
"WHAT!? I have to get back home!" Without a second to spare, Sougo made a mad dash for the exit.
"Hey Eiji, Woz, stay here for a bit. Keep an eye on them." Tsukasa ordered before taking off for the former Kamen Rider.
"Okay..." Eiji weakly called out. So far, the day had been taking a toll on him. Noticing that, Woz turned to the vagabond Rider.
"I can take first watch. Why don't you sleep in one of the rooms upstairs?" The green Kamen Rider generously offered. While he was worried that something might happen to his overlord, he knew that Decade could handle it...
"Oh no... Oh no..." Sougo mumbled as he ran along the sidewalk. Luckily for him, the house/photo studio they were in was not too far off from his home.
"Hey! Zi-O!" Some distance behind him, Tsukasa was following.
"Tomorrow! I need to get home first!"
"Just wait up for a minute!"
"What is it!?" Letting his old mentor catch up, Sougo wondered what was so important.
"I need to know, who was the one who sent you to Remnant?"
"That other World? Umm..." Sougo tried to recall, "It was a guy about your age. He had a white jacket and also opened those portals."
'Oh god... It can't be that guy.'
"Oh yeah, that monster said that he was called DiEnd or something."
'The Worlds hate me.'
"Anything else? I want to get back before midnight."
"No... Just go to my place tomorrow when you can." With that, Tsukasa turned around and made his way back...
When Tsukasa returned to that place, he found that Team RWBY, JNPR, and their tag-along were still asleep. Woz was sitting on one of the couches, watching them.
"Hmm? Kadoya, you've returned." Woz noticed him enter the dark room. He must have turned off the lights.
"Where's Eiji?"
"I asked him to sleep upstairs."
"I see..."
"Kadoya... What is this place?" Woz was curious as to where exactly did the magenta Rider brought them.
"Here? It's just an abandoned house that I found..." To be exact, it was a copy that he found in his travels alone.
"But why this house specifically?"
"No reason," That was a complete lie, "When one of them wakes up, tell them I'll try to explain as much as I can when they all are up..."
"And where are you going?" Woz watched as Tsukasa made his way outside again.
"Just some other things I need to check."
"You're trying to find out the identity of Another Decade, aren't you?"
"Yes. I need to figure that out before we run into him again." With that, Tsukasa opened another dimensional wall and left again.
"Hmm... How long do we have to wait?" Woz wondered to himself before yawning, "Maybe Kadoya has an extra room I can use later. We could always tell them in the morning."
Sometime later...
"What..."
"The moon..."
"It's...not broken..."
The students of Beacon (plus Penny) stared at the celestial body glowing high in the sky. They had no words to say. Despite the plausible theory Ren had made not too long ago, seeing the cold, hard proof was still startling.
"How... That means that..." Weiss was the one who was most taken aback.
"We're on another planet! Ow!" Ruby had the completely opposite reaction.
"So, Aura doesn't work off Remnant..." Ren noted that fact.
"How? I thought they were the extensions of our souls..." Jaune said.
"Well, we don't know everything about Aura yet. We cannot claim that something like this would not happen..."
"Hey, Weiss? You okay?" Ruby was concerned over her partner.
"I think Weiss is experiencing what is known as a mental break, Ruby." Penny helpfully chimed in.
"Shouldn't we be worried about that?"
"I am confident that Weiss would recover from this quickly."
"If you say so..."
Weiss, on her end, was still staring at the intact moon.
"So... Another planet..."
"Unless we were sent back in time, that is the most probable answer." Ren highly doubts that it was the former. The civilization was way too advance for the past.
"How far do you think we are from Remnant? Or how long we've even been away?" Ruby was starting to worry. How would her father react to her and Yang going missing? He had already lost their mothers.
"The only way we can find out is to ask the professors directly…"
"Hang on... Does this mean that they are aliens?"
"Our professors are aliens! Ow!" Ruby flinched again.
"That's... not completely impossible."
"We had actual aliens teaching us! Ow!"
"Ruby, please stop shouting, please..."
"Sorry..."
"Hold on a minute. If they really are aliens, then what were they doing on Remnant? Why did they bring us here?"
"Well... I guess we have to ask them that when they return..."
"Hope they come back soon..."
Just as Jaune said that, the door to the room opened. Standing at the doorway was Eiji Hino, looking like he had just woken up.
"You guys are alright!"
"Ow! Professor Hino, please don't shout. Our head still hurts."
"Sorry. How are all of you feeling?"
"A bit better. The others are still unconscious, though."
"Hmm... There's not much we can do for them yet. We just have to wait for them to wake up," The Rider said.
"Excuse me, Professor, but..." Ren was trying to come up with the right way to bring up the topic, "Where are we? The last thing we remember was that monster that looked like Professor Kadoya..."
"Right, all of you passed out right after we came through the dimensional wall." Eiji confirmed.
"Dimensional? Wait, we're in a different universe! Ow!" Ruby yelled out excitedly before flinching.
"Well... You're right."
"Hang on!" Weiss finally came out of her frozen state, "This can't possibly real! Ow! I mean, other universes aren't real."
"Umm... Well..." Eiji tried to find the best way to explain the multiverse.
"Before that, where's Professor Kadoya and Sougo? Where did they go?"
"Them? Sougo went back to his home. As for Tsukasa, Woz told me that he left to investigate something."
"So, we're in Sougo's universe!? Ow!"
"Yes. As for this house, Woz said that he thinks it's Tsukasa's old home."
"The professor's house? It looks like he's not here a lot." Penny surveyed the surroundings. The furniture looked barely used.
"How about that new guy?" Jaune wondered, "Where's he?"
"You mean Woz? He woke me up because he wanted to get some sleep."
"Can we get back on topic, please?" Weiss interrupted, "How long have we been away from Remnant?"
"That's a hard question," Eiji replied, "You see, time moves very erratically between Worlds. For all we know, we could have been gone for a few minutes or a few months..."
"Months?! Ow!" Weiss reacted very badly to that information, "How can you be so sure?"
"I am not actually sure about that. It's just a possibility." Eiji made sure not to mention the Enigma incident. He had heard that Kamen Rider Para-DX had been stuck in the World of Build for two years while only a week had passed in the World of Ex-Aid.
"Then we better get back as soon as we can! Ow!" Ruby was worried this time. There was the slimmest possibility that her and Yang's father had thought that they had been missing for months.
"Sorry about that. Only Tsukasa has the ability to open the dimensional walls. We have to wait for him to come back."
"And when will he be back?"
"Uhhhh... Why don't you guys get some sleep? We can talk more in the morning!" Without looking back, Eiji dashed off, leaving the spatially displaced teens by themselves.
"Yay! Sleepover!"
"Ow!" "Penny, please."
"I'm sorry..."
The next morning...
It took them some time to finally went back to sleep. By the time the group finally started to wake up again, sunlight was coming through the windows.
"Ow... My head..." Yang tried rubbing her forehead, "Where am I?"
"Yang! You're awake!" Her younger sister filled her vision, having a look of relief on her face.
"Ow! Ruby... please don't shout." Yang felt like she had a hangover.
"Sorry..."
"Urgh... Where are we? What happened to that purple guy?"
"Oh... Professor Kadoya saved us. He brought all of us to his house."
"His house?" Yang took a look around. The room had several blankets thrown about. Additionally, Blake, Nora, and Pyrrha were asleep not far away from her.
"Yeah. You wouldn't believe where we are." Ruby was speaking quickly, clearly excited.
"Later... I want to lie down for a bit longer..."
"If you do that, you won't get breakfast."
"Technically, it's actually brunch!" Ren called out from the next room over.
"Brunch?" Thankfully for Yang, the boy wasn't loud enough to cause her another headache.
"Yup. Ren and Professor Hino are cooking for us."
"Where's the others?"
"Let's see... Jaune, Penny, Weiss, and that Woz guy are in the kitchen," Ruby began to list off, "Sougo went back to his house apparently. Oh! And Professor Kadoya went off to check something."
"The others still not up yet?"
"No, you're the first one to wake up."
"How long were we asleep, Ruby?"
"It's about 10 now. So nearly 14 hours now."
"14!? Ow!" Yang flinched, "Urgh...Why am I so tired?"
"Well..." Ruby's voice went up a couple of pitches, "You see..."
"Ruby? What happened?"
"Weareinanotheruniverseandouraurasaredisabled," Ruby said very quickly.
"What?"
"We are in another universe, and our Auras are disabled." Ruby repeated more slowly.
"...What?"
"It's a long story..."
"...I'm not dreaming, right?" Yang listened to her sister's explanation. Initially, she thought that Ruby was just misunderstanding a few things and made her own assumptions. One look out of the window, however, changed her mind.
"Nope. Now we're just waiting for Professor Kadoya to bring us back to Beacon." Ruby was somehow still cheery despite the situation.
"...I'm going back to sleep."
"At least get something to eat first!" She heard Professor Hino's voice call out from the dining room, "We made enough for everyone!"
"Urgh..." Yang groaned, "Fine..."
Following Ruby, Yang went into the dining room. Sitting around the table were the 3 students, along with Professor Hino and his new friend.
"Hmph? Guys, you gotta try this!" Jaune said while chewing his food.
"Jaune, please swallow before talking." Ren was eating a bit slower than his leader.
"It is good, though. You're not eating Penny?" Weiss asked the orange-haired girl.
"No need. I'm not hungry." Penny said with a smile on her face. Weiss only stared at her with a look of suspicion.
"How are you feeling now?" Eiji asked the blonde teen.
"Head stills hurt. I'm confused as hell. Things are just going fine." Yang sarcastically said.
"Yang. Don't be rude." Her sister reprimanded next to her.
"Sorry. It's just that I'm still trying to understand this whole other universe thing," Yang said as she took a seat next to Weiss, "Is Professor Kadoya still not back yet?"
"No. But don't worry, I promise that we won't be here long," Eiji beamed at the students, "Do you have anything else you want to ask?"
"Then why did you run off earlier?" Weiss was still a bit peeved that the professor had done that.
"Sorry about that. I wasn't thinking quite clearly."
"So... What do we do for the rest of the day?"
"Wait for your friends to wake up, I suppose," Eiji suggested, "They would also want to know what's going on."
"But what is going on?" Weiss asked, "You two still have not explained what that monster that was after us was."
"They were not after you," Woz corrected, "They were after my lord."
"And why do you call him that?! That monster called him the King of Time, right?"
"Correct," Woz nodded, "You see, Tokiwa Sougo is destined to be the King of Time."
"What?!" Woz had spoken like it was a small thing.
"Let's eat first," Eiji tried to change the subject, "Anybody want fish?"
"Fish? What kind?" Someone else other than those at the table said.
"Huh?" Turning to the doorway, Ruby saw that it was the black-haired (secret) Faunus of Team RWBY, Blake, who had spoken.
"Blake!" "Ow!" "Sorry..."
"You okay?" Yang asked with concern in her voice.
"Yeah... Just a headache..."
"Come, sit down for a bit." Blake took that advice and sat next to Yang, massaging her temples.
"How long were you up?"
"Just got up, heard you guys were in here..."
"So, you didn't hear that we're in another dimension?"
"...What?" This will be a long day...
A couple of hours later...
"Ren... Ren... I'm bored..." Nora poked her best friend's cheeks lazily. She had woken up shortly after Blake, "Let's go outside..."
"Sorry Nora, but we can't," Ren said softly as to not accidentally give his partner a headache, "It's best we stay here until Professor Kadoya returns."
Team JNPR had taken the room they woke up in as their own while Team RWBY, along with Penny, remained in the dining room.
"But I'm so bored..."
"Why don't you read a book? The professor has some lying around."
"That sounds more boring..."
"I think it's relaxing." Ren gave his own opinion. It wasn't every day where he would get the chance to read books from other universes. Most of them were in a foreign language, but he managed to find some that he could understand.
"Give it a chance, Nora..." Pyrrha said from another couch, she herself had picked up what turned out to be a history book.
"Later... Where did Professor Hino go?" Nora asked, as said professor was missing.
"He went out to buy some drinks for us." Ren answered.
"Why does he get the chance to go out?"
"Because he knows the city."
"Let's ask him to show us around when he gets back... And where did that green guy go?"
"I'm not sure."
Nora let out a loud sigh. There was absolutely nothing for her to do.
"I'm back!" The loud sound of a door closing signaled the return of Eiji Hino. A few seconds later, he walked into the room carrying a couple of bags. Taking a brief second to look around, he noticed that both Woz and Tsukasa were still missing.
"Yay! Ow! Drinks from another universe! Ow!" Despite still being tired and suffering from a terrible migraine, Nora got up and grabbed the bags incredibly fast.
"Those two still not back, huh?"
"No, sir."
Sighing, Eiji resigned himself to the fact that it'll probably be some time before they returned...
Hikarigamori High School
Sighing to himself, Sougo went up to the roof of the school building for his lunch break. Normally, he would stay in his classroom for the period. However, Geiz and Tsukuyomi (who he had apparently written into his new life after their death in the old timeline) did not come to school that day. The former was still sick, while the latter had to stay home to search for copies of her medical record. Apparently, the ones that the school had gone missing.
Because of that, he decided to get some fresh air. What he wasn't expecting was the person that was already there.
"Woz!" His retainer was reading that blank book that he always kept on him.
"Waga Maoh, what are you doing up here?"
"Well, you see, Geiz and Tsukuyomi are not here today, so I went out for a stroll." Sougo briefly.
"Both of them?"
"Yeah, why?" Sougo confirmed.
"Hmm..."
"What's wrong?"
"Both Geiz and Tsukuyomi were not with you when you were attacked yesterday, correct?"
"Yes... Is that bad?"
"I am not sure. Have you seen anyone here act strangely these past few days?"
"Let me think..." As far as he remembered, there was nothing of the sort, "No,"
"Why don't you return to your class, my lord? I need to check something." Woz was starting to sound a bit like a certain magenta Rider.
"Why?"
"No reason. Now go." Using his abilities, Woz left his lord to his devices...
The school's record room tends to be empty most of the time. The only time anyone goes in was at the start of each school day to make sure nothing was stolen. That left Woz with lots of time to sneak in and look around.
Just as his overlord told him, Tsukuyomi's records were missing. However, Woz dug a little bit deeper.
"It was deleted on the school's database as well..." Woz muttered to himself. He had checked one of the school's computers that were in the room.
That was suspicious. For both physical and digital copies to go missing simultaneously was not coincidental, to Woz at least. Someone had done it on purpose. Geiz's records, however, were still there.
"Who would do this?" Luckily, it wasn't a long list. It had to be someone who could get in and out without arousing suspicion. That meant it was most likely done by one of the staff. And out of the whole staff, there was one person that Woz might have done this.
"But what is Swartz's motivation?" If it was truly the former Time Jacker's doing, then what was the reason. While he still acted like his original self (excluding the murderous tendencies), he does not remember the original timeline, at least Woz hoped so.
"You forgetting someone, Black Woz." Someone spoke over the retainer's shoulder. Spinning around, Woz recognized the other person in the room.
"You are... Kaitou Daiki." The Treasure Hunter, Kamen Rider DiEnd appear before Woz...
With Tsukasa...
While it had been just a bit over half a day for the others, it had been over a day since Tsukasa left them. In the near 36 hours since he had taken off, the Destroyer of Worlds had been going from World to World trying to find clues to Another Decade's identity.
Unfortunately, luck was not with him. Despite doing his very best (which is saying a lot), Tsukasa couldn't find anything.
"...What to do now..." Tsukasa mumbled to himself. He was tempted to return to the others but was too stubborn to get back with no new information. He had even spoken with other Riders to see if they had seen anything. That's what led him to the World of Gaim, or to Helheim, to be exact.
"...You sure nothing happened?" Tsukasa double-checked.
"For the last time, no!" Kamen Rider Gaim, Kazuraba Kouta was getting tired of his senior. The latter had been following the former for the last hour.
"...Did you change your clothes?" Instead of the Rider's silver armor usually wore on Helheim, he was now wearing a white garb. Despite looking simple, the clothes somehow made him look more divine.
"You're just noticing that now?!"
"...Yes."
"Tsukasa, you look tired. When was the last time you went to sleep?"
"Hmm... About 44 hours or so…"
"What?! How are you still standing?! Get some rest already!" The Man of the Beginning was incredibly concerned about the health of the magenta Rider.
"Later... I need to find out who Another Decade is..."
"That can wait. Go. To. Sleep!"
"..."
"Tsukasa, I am telling you this now. If you don't get some rest, I won't hesitate to knock you out."
"Fine... Do you have a bed here I could use?"
"Mai and I are the only sentient beings on this planet. What do you think?"
"...So, a double bed?"
"I can kick you off this planet, you know."
"Fine... I'll head back for now." Tsukasa finally relented; he should be able to think more clearly after a short nap.
"Finally!" After getting pestered for the better part of an hour, Kouta sighed in relief. He had gotten tired of his senior's antics.
Tiredly opening a dimensional wall, Tsukasa left the World of Gaim with no new information...
With Woz...
"DiEnd. Why did you remove Tsukuyomi's record from the archives?" Woz went straight to the point.
"Why would you think I did that?" Daiki put on a look of innocence. That didn't do anything to convince Woz, though.
"Because it is in character for you to do it."
"Yet you had somehow forgotten about me in your little suspect list."
"That was because I forgot that you were here in this World."
"How? I am not exactly forgettable, Woz."
"So why did you do it?" Woz ignored the cyan Kamen Rider said.
"I was bored."
"I could believe that, but you did so right before Another Double attacked my lord."
"What does that have to do with anything?"
"Because that made the staff call Tsukuyomi away, leaving my lord by himself."
"That's just a coincidence, like how Geiz is home sick." Daiki responded.
"But you did save my lord from Another Double, correct?"
"What? You think me saving him was planned too? Do you really think that I would purposely put that overlord of yours in danger?"
"Need I remind you; you were willing to betray Kadoya Tsukasa for the Another Zi-O II RideWatch."
"I helped out in the end, didn't I?"
"After you attempted to kill Decade."
"...Fine, you got me. I did remove Tsukuyomi's records on purpose."
"Why? And how did you know that Another Decade had sent Another Double after my lord?" That was what Woz truly wanted to know.
"As for why, I needed to make sure Zi-O was by himself for the day. Don't think Tsukasa is the only one with plans. As for how I found out, I'll be keeping that a secret." Opening a dimensional wall, the thief prepared to take his leave.
"Wait! Who is Another Decade?" Woz called out.
"I'll give you a hint. It's someone Tsukasa knows." With those words, DiEnd left...
A few hours later...
"Hello! Anybody here?" Sougo called out as he entered Tsukasa's (kind of) house. Oddly for Sougo, he remembered that this place used to be a cafe a few years ago before it closed. Since when had that man lived here?
"Sougo? You're back!" Eiji welcomed him back. He was checking the counter that was in front of the entrance, "Did Tsukasa ask you to come here?"
"Yeah, he wanted to talk to me about something." They both walked into the main room of the house. The two teams (and Penny) were lazily hanging around.
"Oh, Sougo, right?" Pyrrha tried to recall the events of the previous day.
"Hey," He waved to the group he recently befriended, "Where's Tsukasa? Is he out?"
"Well..." Eiji tried to break the news to his junior.
"He's been missing for the past 16 hours." Weiss said from her spot. She had been keeping track of how long the professor had been gone.
"How about Woz? He wasn't at my school's roof when I left."
"No, he's been gone since this morning. Wait, what do mean by your sch-"
Before Eiji could finish his sentence, a gray scarf flew in through one of the open windows. Forming a sphere, Woz emerged from within it.
"What the-" "That's so cool!" "How did you do that?"
"Where's Kadoya? There's something he needs to know." Woz was as calm as he always was.
"He's still not back," Eiji answered, "What is it?"
"Kaitou Daiki appeared before me."
"DiEnd? What was he up to?"
"Umm... Who's DiEnd?" Ruby tried to join the conversation, having been bored for the better part of the day.
"Sorry, Ruby. We'll tell you later." Eiji apologized. Right now, it was more important that they find out what the thief was doing.
"You're talking about the guy who sent me to their World, right?" Sougo asked.
"Yes, my lord. He was also the reason that Tsukuyomi's records went missing."
"Umm... why would he do that?" Eiji didn't know the cyan Kamen Rider that well.
"To make sure that my lord was alone when Another Double attacked him."
"Hang on, but he was the one who saved me."
"He said that he has his own plan for you."
"And what could that possibly be?"
"I have no clue. That's why I need to talk to Kadoya."
"Well, we have to wait a bit. We still do not know when he'll be back." Eiji said.
"In the meantime," Yang chimed in for the sidelines, "Got any good stories for us?"
Like all the others, she did not have many things to do. Not wanting to spend what could possibly be another few hours of waiting, Yang wanted to listen to another (hopefully better) story from Eiji.
"Hmm... Seeing as we got some time," Eiji contemplated what story he should tell them, "Sure, I guess."
"Ooh! How did you get your powers?" Ruby excitedly requested. She had previously tried to ask Tsukasa when he first came to Beacon, only for the Rider to ignore her along with nearly everyone else.
"My powers, huh?" It had been years since he got the OOO Driver, "I became a Kamen Rider in 2010."
"Kamen Rider?" Jaune was confused, "That's what you and Professor call yourselves?"
"Yes, I am known as Kamen Rider OOO. Tsukasa is Kamen Rider Decade." Eiji explained.
"How about you, Woz?" Ruby turned to the retainer who had taken to sitting in one of the corners, "You don't actually call yourself Kamen Rider Woz, right?
"Yes, I do call myself that." Woz replied simply.
"Okaay... How about you, Sougo? You're one of them, right?"
"That's what everyone been telling me."
"I KNEW IT! Ow!" Nora was feeling proud that she was right.
"What do you mean by that?"
"Well... Woz said that I lost my powers and memories about being a Kamen Rider."
"How did that happen?"
"Can we please get back to Professor Hino's story?" While Yang was curious about how Sougo lost his powers, she wanted to know about the professor first.
"Sorry, Yang..."
"I'm curious about that too." Ren finally broke his silence.
"Give me a minute," Eiji tried to remember the series of events that led to him getting the OOO Driver, "I was working as a security guard the day I got my powers."
"A security guard?"
"Yes, and I-"
Before Eiji could finish his sentence, a dimensional wall appeared in the center of the room.
"Finally!" Weiss exclaimed, wanting to return to Remnant as soon as she could.
Emerging from the wall, Tsukasa looked extremely tired.
"Tsukasa! Did you find anything?" Eiji asked.
"No. If you need me, I'm going to sleep." Walking past the vagabond Kamen Rider, Tsukasa made his way out of the room.
"Wait! Can't you send us back to Beacon first!?"
"Later, I'm too tired."
"Kadoya," Woz called from his corner, "Kaitou Daiki has a message for you."
"Urgh..." 'The Worlds hate me..."
Destroy Everything!
Connect Everything!
A/N: The pacing in this story sucks. You guys knew that already, right?
Like the last chapter, this one got away from me. I wanted to focus a bit more on the RWBY cast, but things got convoluted way too fast. That leads to only a few things happening and a very half-assed chapter title. Don't worry. I definitely know what I'm gonna write about next chapter.
Now to address some of the things in this chapter. First, Sougo's reaction to being Oma Zi-O. I wanted his attitude to his future to be similar to that from pre-episode 16. I hope I got that through clearly enough.
Next, the language barriers. I realized while writing this chapter that I forgot about it. I could easily explain how Tsukasa, Eiji, and Katsumi could speak English on Remnant (the latter two have traveled over the world, and Tsukasa could have picked it up over time), but not for Sougo. As for the RWBY cast, I highly doubt that any of them would know Japanese. So, all I ask is that you guys don't look too deeply into this.
As for why Gaim was here... While I was writing this, I learned that it had been 7 years to the day since the first episode of Gaim aired. So, I added that scene as a small tribute. Will he appear again in the future? I have no idea yet.
Now the most important thing I wrote in this chapter (to me at least) was the movement in time between Worlds. I don't need to say that this will most likely result in a time skip back on Remnant. So, to what time will they return? Not sure yet.
As always, leave me a review saying what you think I'm doing wrong with this story (other than the lack of focus on RWBY) and what you like!