The Drive Pit looked almost as good as new from the last time Gou and Chase saw it months ago before they ran away to America. The garage doors had been replaced and most of the debris had been cleaned and picked up. There was still damage to the walls that would have to be patched up and painted, but other than that, the place was usable again. The boys noticed Rides Macher and Chaser off to the side, covered with tarps and the look they gave each other confirmed both wanted to ride their bike again.

Harley, Gou, and Chase had arrived in Japan the previous day, Harley staying at Shinnosuke's and the two boys staying at Kiriko's. They had used the rest of the day to recover from the jet lag from the time difference. Krim had wanted everyone to meet him in the Drive Pit the following day and both Gou and Chase were a bit apprehensive about the matter. While their bodies did have organic elements to them, they were still both Roidmudes and still had Core Driviar technology. Although they didn't want to, they were prepared to run again if Krim wanted to lock them up.

Once Otta arrived after rushing down there from his duties in First Division, Krim wheeled himself closer to the group. "First of all, I want to tell you all that I'm very proud of the work all of you have done in handling the Roidmude threat. There's been a lot changes and growth for everyone here and while there were many rough patches, I believe everyone here will walk away from this with their head held high with what we've all accomplished. I've already talked to most of you personally on your individual accomplishments and now it's time for me to address the final members of our group. First of all…I'd really like to thank Gou and Proto-Zero for…"

Krim's line of vision was obscured a purple and black sweater as Chase grabbed the belt off the pedestal and began walking off with Krim to the side door that would lead them to the roof. "We'll be back in a few moments. There is important business I have with Krim before we continue."

Kiriko looked at Chase's retreating form in shock, turning to look at Shinnosuke and Gou. "Should we be worried Krim's being belt-napped by Chase?"

Shinnosuke shook his head and smiled. "No. There's something that Chase needs to get off his mind in regards to Krim, things that he's wanted to tell Krim for a while now."

—

Chase had put the belt around his waist and stared off at the scenery that the roof of the building showed, carefully going through what he wanted to say to Krim in his head.

"Proto-Zero, whatever you want to say, you could have…"

"Chase. My name…is Chase. That's the human name I was given and I'd like to be called by it. To call me Proto-Zero makes me feel like you do not acknowledge the evolution and growth in humanity I've gone through since my creation."

The only noise for several minutes were the sounds of pulling in and driving off in the parking lot under them. Chase sighed and turned to go back inside. He had wanted to say more, but his initial words would have to be enough.

"…Chase… I'm sorry. I didn't realize I was hurting you by calling you Proto-Zero all this time. I am very proud of what you've done, in both your Rider duties and from what Harley's told me about you and Gou while under his care. I…have failed as a creator in not understanding your feelings and not knowing what was best for you."

"Thank you Krim. I…apologize for interrupting what you wanted to say to us, but I had talked to Shinnosuke while they were in America and he convinced me that I should tell you how I felt at the first possible moment. I figured before anything else, this matter should have been resolved."

"Chase, you shouldn't apologize for saying what's on your mind, especially when it comes to matters of your feelings. It's not good to bottle your feelings up inside, especially when someone's done you wrong like I have. I'm glad we could resolve it before anything else happened."

Chase smiled and nodded and turned to walk back inside. "We should get back. I know you have a lot to say to everyone. And thank you again Krim. It means a lot to me to hear those words."

—–

Once Chase had attached Krim back to his belt base and took his position by Gou's side, Krim looked around the room again, taking a few more seconds to look at Chase before looking at everyone as a whole. "Now that a certain matter is settled, I'll continue. I'd like to thank Gou and Chase for their exemplary work in defeating Banno, both five months ago and then a week ago and for rescuing me. Both of you have gone though the most changes and growth and I'm very proud of the two young men you have become. I hope that whatever you two end up doing in the future will be satisfying and fulfilling to both of you and that you'll be able to take that journey together."

Both boys smiled. "Thank you Krim."

The face on the belt grew grim. "Now…for the difficult part of this. While Banno would have no doubt corrupted the rest of the Drive arsenal for his use, it WAS my original plan to lock up everything that we used to fight the Roidmudes until there was a time that the technology could be used for good. As such, I am sticking to that plan and will lock everything up. I will miss you all, but it's a decision that I feel is the best for the time being."

The room grew silent and apprehensive while everyone took in Krim's words, especially Gou and Chase. Harley shifted slightly to try to put the two behind him and the two stepped back slowly.

Krim looked around the room, noticing the tension, and his face grew wide. "R…relax everyone! I'm not implying I'm going to lock Gou and Chase up! I do realize they have Core Driviars and from the evolution Gou's body has gone through, that there is now no way I could remove his, but I have no intention to seal them away! I did just say I wanted the technology to be used for good and that I wanted both of them to be successful in their future goals. I can't think of a worthier purpose of the technology than it helping you two in your goals."

The belt took in the relieved faces of the two and the rest of the group and looked at Harley. "Harley, you've done a fine job raising them in these last few months. I can see you care about them more than Banno ever did or even myself in regards to Chase. I can see the love you have for them."

Harley smiled. "I fully claim them as my sons. I can't think of them any other way. After all, family can be anybody, as long as you care for each other."

Krim took in everyone one last time before enacting a blue force field around the Tridoron, trapping himself and the rest of the arsenal. "I hope that the next time I see all of you, if there does come a time, that this family I see before me is slightly bigger. Until then…"

The area began to lower when Gou noticed Chase's and his bikes weren't being sealed up. "Krim! What about Macher and Chaser? Shouldn't they be locked up too? You were…well Banno… They were going to be locked up last time."

Krim stopped lowering the circle and chuckled. "I figured you two needed something to help get you around, despite Harley telling me he got you a car. Don't worry, I've taken all the weapons out and disabled the Ride Crosser system so they won't combine. They can easily be put back if trouble arises. You two enjoy them."

The Drive arsenal finished lowering and a door sealed up the area. Everyone stayed silent as they took in everything, before Gou and Chase made their way over to Macher and Chaser and threw the tarps off them.

"I don't know about you Chase, but I'm dying to ride around the city."

Chase chuckled. "It's been a long time. You know…I don't think I every rode Chaser around for anything other than work. It'll be nice for a leisure ride finally."

Kiriko ran up to them, holding up their licenses they left behind. "Well boys, you won't be able to unless you have these! Oh, and watch out for one particular motorcycle traffic cop out there. It's the human Chase copied. Tomari-san and I met him a few months ago. Nice young man, but VERY serious and a big stickler for rules. Don't get arrested."

—-

It had only been about two months after Shinnosuke finally asked Kiriko out that he had proposed and began to plan for their wedding four months later. The two were worried that they were moving too fast, but Gou quickly told them that most the Tokujo group had pretty much saw them together from the beginning, they just didn't realize it, so they had been together a lot longer than they thought.

Gou took in his brother's purple striped outfit and shook his head. "Chase…I cannot BELIEVE you're wearing that!"

Chase looked down and furrowed his eyebrows. "What's wrong with it? Kiriko said I looked adorable and handsome in it. Besides, it was the only suit in the shop that had any purple in it and Kiriko refused to let me wear anything that didn't."

"You CAN tell Nee-chan no you know. She'll get mad but she'll eventually let it go."

"Gou, I've learned that you do NOT tell a bride no on ANY decision she makes about her wedding. Considering she's wearing special shoes that can injure Roidmudes, I will say yes to anything. Besides, I keep getting predatory glances from a lot of the females here. I think they like what they see."

Gou rolled his eyes and chuckled. "Of course Nee-chan would make sure your outfit showed off your ass. Just…make sure you stay away from Nee-chan's friend Nero from her high school days. That chick ALWAYS creeped me out. In fact…stay away from all of her old school friends. I'll let you know who they are."

Once Chase saw how vicious women got during weddings, especially once Kiriko threw her bouquet and a bloody Rinna emerged victorious and hunted down Otta to kiss him, the Roidmude vowed he didn't want anything to do with females for the time being, hoping he wouldn't break too many hearts when Gou and him started their journey around the world to see the sights and further Gou's photography career and Chase's cooking career they wanted to go into. Chase had found he enjoyed cooking for Gou and Harley and wanted to expand on it.

As Gou was taking pictures of the flower battle royale, Shinnosuke came up to Chase. "So, you two heading out in a few days?"

"Yes. First place we're visiting is France followed by Germany and then England. I've got some lessons with a few chefs and Gou will be taking wildlife pictures for some fancy magazine. We'll probably be gone for a while, unless a certain life event happens that brings us back here."

"Chase… I…I don't know what you're talk…"

Chase smiled at Shinnosuke. "I think I can also speak for Gou when I say this, but I'm looking forward to being an uncle."

Notes:

With this, Don't Lose Your Mind is done. I want to thank all of you for the comments and just really for sticking with this story and reading.

My next story, Chasing Tears, will start being posted next week when I get back from MAGFest.

A few Easter Eggs in this chapter.

Had to mention Koichi Kano; Chase's human he copied.

Chase's outfit is the exact one that Taiko wore in a picture Yu tweeted a while ago. Coincidentally, they were attending a wedding together.

Kiriko's high school "friend" Nero is a reference to the villain in Bloody Sukeban Chainsaw, in which Rio Uchida will be the main character Geeko/Giko in the live action movie.

My OTP in Drive was Rinna/Otta so of course I had them get together.