Finally, work's picking back up, which means a little less time to work on this, but I will make do and try to get some episodes done. For now, let's get started on the case involving the Cockroach Dopant. I may actually have Minako fight Kirihiko this time while she's handling the case with Shotaro and utilizing one of her new Gaia Memories for the first time on her own. And yes, she will eventually be using the Memories of her bosses in some regard. So let's see what happens right now. (grabs a notebook and quickly writes the Disclaimers down)
Disclaimers: I don't own Kamen Rider W or Fuuto PI as they are productions from Toei and Studio Kai, but I do own any OCs I make.
My name is Minako Sakurada, also known as Kamen Rider Skull. Wrapping up the previous case was tough, but fulfilling. After the Anomalocaris Dopant failed at killing Miyabi and Asuka again, I stepped up and kept Asuka safe while also revealing my identity to her and her mama. I definitely believe I made an impression on Asuka-chan because she's hoping to become a Kamen Rider one day. As long as I keep my identity secret around the boss and Phillip, I should be safe... right? I'm praying so, because right now there's another case we've got to deal with.
Within the Gaia Library, Phillip was doing his usual Lookup, coming up with one book and walking over to it to find that it was locked, much to his confusion. "I can't read it! First time I've found a book like this." He looked at the title curiously. "'Heaven's Tornado.'"
Once he was out of the Library, he wrote on his whiteboard. "Dango... Inamoto... 17 years old. Street dance... the ultimate technique... beloved son..."
Minako walked into the garage to check on Phillip, carrying a cup of tea for him, and saw him muttering to himself. "Another tangent, I suspect." She rolled her eyes at her own muttering and walked over to him. "Oi, Phillip. I brought you some tea." She passed him the cup.
He looked over and nodded to her, accepting it without his normal fuss. "Arigatoū, Mina-kun. I could really use it right now."
The young woman blinked in understandable confusion. "That's odd. Normally, you'd be too busy in your research."
He nodded in kind. "True, but right now I just can't figure this out. See, I encountered the Heaven's Tornado book in the Gaia Library and surprisingly, it's locked. There's no way I can read it, so I'm trying to run through all the variables I can to unlock it."
She bit her lip slightly. "Sōkka. That's gonna be pretty troubling." She thought it over. "Unless you were able to have a visual image of the dance in question, you probably would never be able to unlock the book."
He looked at her in amazement. "Mina-kun, you're brilliant! A video would be the perfect research for me!"
In the main office, Shotaro was throwing darts while Akiko read a few bills, squeaking in shock at the prices, the radio playing Wakana's section Fuuto's Mystery Tour as the hostess spoke, "This one is from radio name Nenkyuu-san. 'Princess, do you know Gokistar? There's been a rumor lately...'"
"'Gokistar'? What's that?" Shotaro asked curiously.
Akiko shrugged, listening to the radio as she heard Wakana continue; "'On his back blows a hero mantle. He appears unexpectedly. Is he a human or a cockroach? He's a dark executioner who delivers heavenly punishment upon villains.' A dark executioner hero? I wonder if he's Kamen Rider's friend? I'd love to become friends with both of them and ask them so many things."
"Hey, Wakana-hime! Don't lump us together!" Shotaro chided her voice before a rock crashing through the window caught his attention as Minako and Phillip, along with Akiko, saw what happened, the former man going to the window and shouting, "Hey! Who did that?!"
Akiko picked up the rock and pulled the message attached to it, reading it aloud: "'A suspicious fellow will appear at Kazehana High School today. Be sure to catch him for me.'" She looked at the envelope in confusion, seeing the payment. "Is this a request?" She looked at Shotaro. "What do you think? There's already an advanced payment. Should we accept?"
Minako took the note and raised an eyebrow curiously, tilting her head as she looked at Shotaro. "Maybe I could take the request? I mean, the last time I had a solo mission, I had to go undercover in those annoying heels. Plus, I'll see who sent it in the process."
Shotaro nodded to her, glad she was taking the initiative. "Good idea. Go handle this one, Rook."
Minako nodded and left the office, not even noticing Phillip sipping his tea and tapping his finger against the table in confusion.
Shotaro looked over and patted his partner's shoulder. "Oi, doshīta?"
Phillip looked up and sighed softly. "It's something frustrating me to no end. Believe me, it's that hard, the book in the Library is locked up." He got up and accidentally walked into the door, stumbling back and holding his head in slight pain. "Ow!"
"Nice fool act!" Akiko cringed a little.
Phillip looked at them. "Sorry. Anyway, I can't figure out anything about this 'Heaven's Tornado' dance. Mina-kun suggested getting a visual of it so I could understand better."
Shotaro nodded a bit. "How about we tag along? It does sound pretty interesting."
Akiko blinked slightly. "Eh? No one ever told me we're gonna learn a dance routine." Regardless, she followed the boys out of the office as she pulled her jacket on.
W-B-X crime and the city
Mata dare ka ga Totsuzen doa wo tataku
Jiken no yokan "Welcome to Windy City"
Kono machi ni wa Namida wa niawanai ze
Yami ni hisomu keyword
Mitsukedasou! (Mitsukedasou!)
Hitori de wa todokanai yume
(Kensaku suru mugen no archive!
Kioku toiu umi e to dive!)
Kimi to nara kanaerareru, Half and Half!
(W-Boiled Extreme!)
W-B-X!
Futari no body and soul!
(Hoka ni nai sa only! Tsumari ainori)
Hitotsu ni
W-B-X!
Saikou no paatonaa,
Deau toki (Deau toki)
Kiseki okoru (so we can make it!)
Daburu wo sagase!
(W-B-X crime and the city)
(Find C/Phillip Can't Wait for That)
Back with Minako, she was walking towards the school while thinking about the whole situation: 'Man, and I thought today couldn't be any weirder. To find this mysterious client, I have to go to Kazehana High School, just like it says in the letter. Personally, I wouldn't be surprised if we find clues about this Heaven's Tornado dance that even Phillip doesn't know, and they may all tie into the same place.'
Walking up to the front gates, she looked around the area and tilted her head slightly as she noticed the cameras. "High schools sure have a lot of security these days. Any suspicious person who enters a high school must be quite dumb." She chuckled to herself.
Suddenly, a rustling sound caught her attention as she looked around quickly. "Eh?" She went to check out the blur she had seen dash by, but screams stopped her in her tracks: "A suspicious person!!"
She looked around to see security guards running at her and quickly she thought, 'Oh boy, better make like the bosses and split!!' Faster than she could think, she made a break for it, running around a corner quickly and getting a crazy idea in the meantime, equipping her Driver to her waist.
Once the guards caught up to where she had disappeared to, they aimed their guns at the corner. "Come out with your hands up!"
Minako walked around the corner in her armor, her hands held up and her modulator on. "At ease, officers. I was asked to come here to investigate someone else who was deemed suspicious." She showed them the letter she had gotten and carefully handed it over. "This was delivered to the Narumi Detective Agency earlier, via a rock thrown through the window. I took the case at the request of my allies, Detective Shotaro Hidari and his junior detective Minako Sakurada." As she explained herself, she adjusted her fedora slightly while she inwardly chided herself: 'Oh boy, I hope they buy this one...'
One of the guards, whom Minako perceived as the captain, inspected the letter and nodded to her. "Our apologies, Kamen Rider-san. One of the students did leave the school earlier, stating that she had somewhere important to go. I suppose she had to go to you all."
She nodded a bit. "I understand completely. Perhaps you could explain to me what is happening about this suspicious person?"
The captain nodded. "Of course. Please come with us, Miss." He led her inside.
She followed behind them while thinking to herself, 'Oh thank God!!! That's one problem handled. Now to figure out how I'm gonna explain this to the boss later...'
With the others, they looked around the area for anything that could relate to the Heaven's Tornado, but so far they were coming up empty.
Phillip in particular was getting thoughtful once again. "Ain't here either. Maybe..." He looked up and thought for a moment before he took off, Shotaro and Akiko quickly following behind.
At the top of the steps nearby, they found their target as Phillip spoke up: "Found you! Dango Inamoto, 17 years old, right?"
Akiko was surprised. "Eh?! The charismatic high school street dancer?!"
Shotaro raised his head slightly. "Oh, so that's what your tangent was about earlier, aiboū."
Phillip nodded. "Yeah. I figured what better place to look for an unanswered question than to go to the source?" He went to Dango and turned on the radio, much to the teen's annoyance, before he started dancing to the music.
Shotaro and Akiko smiled and watched in amazement as Phillip finished up his routine.
Akiko ran over to him. "That was amazing, Phillip!"
Phillip smiled a bit. "I'm a researcher; this was the least I could do."
Shotaro nodded a bit and looked at Dango. "It's tough to explain for the moment, but Phillip needs access to the information on the Heaven's Tornado dance routine. Why don't you show us how it's done?"
Dango shook his head. "Sorry, but I'd prefer not to... ever again."
"Huh?" Shotaro looked at him in confusion, Phillip and Akiko doing so as well.
Dango looked at the three. "To clarify, I can't do it by myself. I'd need a partner for Heaven's Tornado to be a success."
Akiko nodded a bit. "Well, it's a problem for the Narumi Detective Agency because we think it's linked to the current case we have."
Dango nodded a bit and picked up his stuff. "Alright. Maybe I can be of some assistance. But why don't we go somewhere else for that?"
They nodded in agreement and followed him, not even noticing the Sonozaki's pet cat watching them with a low meow and taking off quickly.
At the school, Minako was leaning against the wall in the security office and talking with the chief of security, explaining her side of the story: "... so that's why Ms. Sakurada and I were here. We think there might be a Dopant attack on campus soon and we're here to help."
The chief nodded a bit. "Who do you believe could be this Dopant?"
"That's the thing: The Dopant could be any person, student or teacher." She told him, shrugging a little bit. "Plus, from what I've heard from Detective Hidari, there's also some dark executioner going around and calling himself 'Gokistar'. Do you have any information on that?"
He thought for a moment before he nodded. "Actually, I believe I do." He sat down and pulled up a website on his computer, showing her the information page. "This dark website has been appearing on student searches in recent weeks. Someone has a problem they need taken care of and they call on this bogus business to take care of it."
Minako looked at the website and frowned slightly. "'Dark Bug Exterminator.' Interesting. I'll definitely have to relay this information to my allies."
Suddenly, a scream cut off the conversation as both of them quickly got up and made a break for the principal's office.
Minako followed the Dopant's voice to the office with the name of Principal Hoshino and tried to open the door. "Crap! It's locked!" She backed up and kicked the door in, seeing the Dopant filling the man's throat with bluish fluid. "Bastard!" She charged in and kicked the Dopant away from Mr. Hoshino, getting into a fight with it and looking at the security chief. "Get Mr. Hoshino to safety!"
"Right!" The chief quickly grabbed the teacher and led him out.
With that taken care of, Minako returned her focus on the Dopant, knocking it out the window and to the ground, pulling out her Skull Magnum and firing at it, knocking it back as she landed and pulled out a Memory she had received in the mail a couple of days prior. [Target!] She loaded it in her Magnum and closed the barrel. [Target! Maximum Drive!] "Skull Targeting Bakudan (Explosion)!" She unleashed a volley of blasts that all homed in on the Dopant as he tried to escape, causing an explosion and making her look away quickly as the light from the flames blinded her before she looked back up and saw that the Dopant was gone, but so was the user, which could only mean he wasn't down and out yet. "Damnit." Taking a quick breath, she pulled out her Hercules Phone and called the others.
Shotaro heard the Stag Phone chirp as he was boarding a bus with Dango, Phillip, and Akiko, and he quickly answered the call. "Yo."
"Detective, it's Skull." Minako spoke to him. "I intercepted Ms. Sakurada on her way to the high school and I'm assisting her in this case. Unfortunately, we both found out there's a Dopant on the loose here."
"Say what?!" Shotaro sat up quickly as he heard what was going on.
She continued her explanation; "It's not a complete loss. I have some Keywords for your partner to use for a lookup when he has the chance."
Shotaro motioned to Akiko as she nodded and grabbed her notebook, the former speaking to Skull: "Alright, lay them on us."
"Your Keywords are Chizuru Hoshino, Cockroach, and Dark Bug Exterminator." Minako listed them off.
Akiko wrote down the Keywords quickly. "Dark... Bug... Exterminator." She gave Shotaro the thumbs up.
Shotaro nodded and spoke into the Stag Phone. "Got them. Thanks."
Minako nodded a bit. "No problem." She hung up just as the Cockroach Dopant sped past her, catching her attention quickly. "Why, you!" She gave chase quickly and followed him to a rooftop.
"So you're one of the rumored Kamen Riders?" The Dopant asked casually.
"What if I am?" Minako answered with her own question, crossing her arms.
The Dopant scoffed slightly. "Fuuto doesn't need three heroes."
"I couldn't agree more." She replied with a calm nod. "Especially a dark exterminator like yourself."
He chuckled slightly. "So you saw the website? What'd you think of it?"
"It's nice, but not really my cup of tea." She admitted to him, running over and starting to battle him quickly, unleashing her flurry of attacks as the Dopant deftly dodged them and started to make her annoyed. "Buzzing bastard!!" She dodged an attack from him and activated the Target Memory again, loading it on her left hip slot and aiming her Magnum again as she fired at him.
He dodged all of her shots. "No matter what, it's still the same!"
"Is that so?" She smirked slightly as the shots curved around and struck the Dopant, knocking him back.
He got up, smoking slightly from the attacks, and growled. "I'll defeat you someday!" He jumped up on the rooftops and disappeared from sight.
She sighed softly and shook her head. "Son of a bitch..." She pulled out the Target Memory and smirked as she looked at it. "Thank goodness for a little assistance."
(Flashback)
Minako had gone out to check the mail for the gang and accepted the envelopes, finding a small package inside addressed to her and unwrapping it curiously, finding the orange Target Memory inside along with a letter that read:
"I hope you find this useful for your endeavors, Detective Sakurada.
- Y.B."
She blinked in surprise and raised an eyebrow in confusion. "Yare yare da ze, this just keeps getting more and more confusing." She pocketed the Memory and headed inside.
(Flashback End)
"Although, this is concerning." Minako muttered to herself as she dehenshined. "Why in the world is Mr. Bando even helping me? What's his reasoning behind it all? Why me of all people?" Unfortunately, the answers she needed were shrouded in mystery, so she decided to go and talk with the security chief as herself this time.
As she was heading down the ladder and getting to the ground level, she got a call and picked up on her regular cell phone. "Moshi moshi?"
"Mina-kun, it's me, Wakana!" A familiar peppy voice greeted her.
The blunette smiled. "Wakana-chan! What's up?"
"Oh, Papa's been asking about you and he wants you to come over for afternoon tea soon." Wakana mentioned to her.
Minako smiled a bit and nodded. "Sure. But maybe after I close this new case the boss allowed me to take on."
"Is it about the mysterious dark hero?" Wakana asked curiously. "I heard he attacked the school you and Skull-chan are at while the two of you were talking about it with security!"
That stopped Minako in her tracks out of shock and utter dumbfounding. 'How did she know that so quickly?!' Putting on a smile, Minako nodded a bit. "Yeah, that's right. Skull handled him just fine. I was trying to keep an eye on things and help the security keep everyone safe in the school." She showed her badge to the officer at the gate, who nodded and let her inside.
"Oh goodness! I hope you guys are okay!" Wakana said in concern.
Minako nodded. "Yeah, we're perfectly fine!" She looked over and saw the chief coming. "Listen, I gotta go, okay? But I'll call you later!"
"Hai! Talk to you later!" Wakana cheerfully said.
Minako nodded and hung up, talking with the security chief as she thought to herself, 'That was completely random, but I'm starting to think there's more to Wakana's friendship with me than meets the eye now. I have to investigate it soon...'
Meanwhile, Shotaro and the other two were sitting at a table for lunch and waiting for a couple of Fuuto Irregulars to appear, which they did as a young dark haired girl skipped over to him. "Sho-kun! Sho-kun!"
Shotaro smiled a bit. "You've sure grown, Elizabeth!"
Elizabeth smiled. "Where do you mean? My chest? Or my bottom?"
"I think he means your face." A lighter haired girl walked over to them.
Elizabeth glared at her companion. "No fair, Queen!"
Shotaro chuckled a bit. "You girls never change."
Phillip smiled in agreement as he saw Dango and walked over, starting to converse with him about the Heaven's Tornado.
As they were talking, Shotaro spoke with the girls. "Anyway, I got a mysterious request from someone at your school. I already sent Minako in and she reported that the principal got attacked. So I have to rely on you two since you know all the info about the high schoolers in Fuuto."
Queen nodded a bit. "We can share what your partner saw earlier." She pulled out her phone and showed Shotaro the same dark website.
"That's exactly what Skull-chan was talking about earlier!" Akiko noted in surprise.
Shotaro nodded a bit. "So it's gotta be that Dopant."
Queen nodded and pointed at the screen. "A name appears here. Kazehana High's Hoshino."
Shotaro read the description curiously. "'Kazehana High's Hoshino is a real pain in the ass. That person hurt me and ruined my life. I want you to kill them.'"
Elizabeth sat back. "Who's the pain in the ass?"
Queen looked at her. "I know the girl." She looked at Shotaro and Akiko. "She's a cute and good girl."
Akiko looked in surprise. "Eh? So they got the wrong person?"
Queen nodded a bit. "It's unfortunate. Poor guy."
Akiko looked at Shotaro. "That means the sender is related to the cute girl!"
Shotaro nodded and pulled out his Stag Phone as he got up. "Thanks, girls. I'll pass it on."
Queen looked at him. "Hoshino's not at school."
Meanwhile, Minako was talking with Jinno and Makura about the incident and sharing information with them, seeing Dango running over and going to him. "What's wrong?"
"Hoshino, is she okay?" Dango asked breathlessly.
Minako blinked slightly. "Chottō matte. She? You mean there's two people with the surname of Hoshino in this school?!"
He nodded a bit. "Yeah. There's Chizuru Hoshino and Principal Takeshi Hoshino."
She gasped in realization. "That means that Dopant got the wrong person! So the target for this dark exterminator is a girl!!" She immediately bolted in with Dango quickly to find Chizuru.
They looked around and Minako looked at Dango. "Call for her."
He nodded back and jumped over the police tape, turning on his music and starting his routine as the onlookers smiled and cheered for him, Minako smiling as she noticed Phillip coming up behind her. "I get the whole thing now, Phillip. Heaven's Tornado is a combo dance, so of course Dango would need a partner."
Phillip nodded. "Yeah, and Chizuru Hoshino is that partner!"
Minako nodded a bit, frowning worriedly. "And she's in danger because of the Dopant." Quickly they followed Dango down into the wooded path before stopping as they saw a blur race by them and circle them, Minako frowning slightly. "That bastard again?!"
"No! It smells like a beast this time!" Phillip pointed out, both of them seeing a small bit of lightning trailing it.
Soon the blur came to a halt in front of them, revealing itself to be a cat-like creature, the Smilodon Dopant.
"Another one?!" Minako shrieked in surprise.
Phillip saw the Driver on its waist. "A Driver. That means it's a commander."
Minako gulped nervously as her thoughts raced as fast as the Dopant's speed. 'Yabai! If I change here, Phillip will definitely know my secret! But if I don't, then we're both in trouble!' She knew of Phillip's circumstances from reading Sokichi's files, so she knew he was special to the enemy. Thus, she did the only thing she could think of: "Phillip, nigerō!" She grabbed his arm and quickly pulled him away from the Dopant, running around the woods to try and get away from it while it blocked their every movement.
Phillip saw the W Driver appear on his waist as they hid in the bushes. "Now?! No chance yet! I'm under attack from a commander!"
Minako saw it as well and got a crazy idea. "Phillip, do a lookup for garbage truck routes!" She jumped away from the Dopant and pulled him down the path quickly, the duo running from the Dopant quickly and making it to a landing platform as she explained, "Okay, when the truck passes under us, you jump! I'll hold it off!"
He looked at her in shock. "How?!"
"I don't know! I'll think of something!" She said worriedly; inwardly, she was calm and collected, knowing this would probably be her best option to change out of sight of her boss.
Hearing a growl behind her, she waited until the truck was positioned perfectly and pushed him off the ledge just as the Smilodon tackled her to the ground and growled in her face.
"You stay away from my friends, fuzz face!" She snapped back and knees it in the gut, forcing it back as she jumped to her feet and activated her Memory. [Skull!] Locking it in place, she pushed the slot down. [Skull!] "Henshin!" Transforming in the blink of an eye and putting her fedora on, she immediately started firing at the Dopant, seeing it dodge faster than her bullets could fly.
"Alright, let's see how you like a bullseye on your backside!" [Target!] She loaded the Memory in her left hip slot and shot at the Dopant again, this time hitting her mark and knocking it back. But before she could advance, she got shot back and looked up to see Kirihiko already transformed.
"Yo, Skull-chan." He greeted her with a two finger salute.
"Oh, you again." Minako groaned; she knew how much trouble he had given W the last time and she wasn't in the mood to deal with two Dopants at the moment.
He hopped down and walked towards her. "I was hoping we'd meet on better terms, and unfortunately you're getting a little suspicious about us. Sadly, that means you need to be taken care of." He ran at her and started battling her, the Smilodon joining in and both of them ganging up on her.
(Cue BGM - Cyclone Effect)
Minako didn't let up despite the disadvantage she had, utilizing some expert gymnastics and combat techniques to evade and counter their attacks and get some distance. "Bring it on!" She took a battle stance as the episode closes out with the Memories circling her helmet.
(End BGM)
Next time on W: A Case of Detectives!
Ikari: I will exterminate all bugs.
Kirihiko: Defeat him and steal his belt.
Dango: Yes! For real?!
Shotaro: We're fighting!
Minako: The three of us together are true partners!
Phillip: At last, Heaven's Tornado.
Find C/Dancing Hero
This clinches it!
Boy, this was crazy for a battle. But it's starting to become worth it. So the list of everything that goes on is:
1) Minako takes on her first solo case with Shotaro's permission and observation while he's also helping Phillip
2) She finally meets Kirihiko in combat and by extension, Mick the cat
3) Her suspicions on the Sonozakis' involvement with the Dopants is growing and it will tie into the next case.
Yeah, this is gonna get juicier and juicier. Stay tuned!