Warning: This series contains detailed descriptions of gore, inhumane actions, and possible toxicity. Please read at your own discretion.
This series I am writing is out of inspiration from Hideaki Anno's Shin Japan Heroes Universe, which is essentially Anno's takes on reintroducing a new incarnation of a famous anime (Neon Genesis Evangelion) or a tokusatsu (Shin Gojira/Shin Godzilla, Shin Ultraman, and Shin Kamen Rider/Shin Masked Rider) while being true to the source material. I am also adding in some Yuya Takahashi story misery, Toshiki Inoue inspired unhinged disturbing scenes occasionally, as well as some experimental disturbing stuff from some of my other stories such as Bomberman: Alive.
I do not own Kamen Rider or any other series that appears in it. This is merely an experiment.
He looked at his e-mail in disbelief and closed his eyes in bitter defeat. His medical entrance exam was rejected once again. He studied hard for it, but it just wasn't enough... Not even his surgery last month was enough to make up for it. He was sure that he had everything correct!
Another e-mail came in, detailing why he was rejected. Something about a scandal involving his favorite videogame company: people think he rigged games before he played them for an advantage to gain cash prizes in official video game tournaments, players he met and moderately played against falsely accusing him of cheating in his streams, and more.
He's never cheated before. Genius Gamer M never did.
Feeling a migraine, M was about to shut off his computer when he received a message from someone he had recently played against.
["M, are you seeing what's going on?!" -N]
["Not enough to understand what's going on." -You]
["Someone's saying that you've been cheating in your streams. Here's the video." -N]
M opened the link to Youtube and froze. Seventy thousand views within the past two days.
"Today on the Cheat Chasers Show, where we expose cheaters around the world, we have an interesting thing to share with you all! I'm Dalton Gangrene, and this is Tony Dega!" Dalton began before turning to Tony. "Tony, have you ever heard of Genius Gamer M?"
"Of course! He's an amazing player! In all of his streams, he conquered so many games no matter the genre or difficulty!"
"Have you ever seen M cheat before?"
"No, I haven't. I've seen his streams and matches. He's too good for that!"
"Well, a subscriber sent an eerie message saying not to trust him. I don't want to believe this, but it's true. The accuser, Karin Asano, has something to say about this." Dalton then mentioned the video link in the description from a few days ago.
M paused the video to read the comment. Noticing the link below, he copied it and prepared to play it simultaneously with the podcast to see the evidence that he cheated.
"Asano wrote this in her video essay, detailing the various cheats he used to complete his games." the host began as he began reading the article. M played the video to synchronize the dialogue.
"Cheaters are known far and wide as scourges to gameplay rules. Today's video is about Emu Hojo, a streamer and E-Sports player from Seito, Japan famously known worldwide as Genius Gamer M." a girl's voice began as it revealed a picture of M the day he and N shook hands and gave each other their e-mail addresses before last year's surgery. M's blood ran cold from that and paused the videos. He looked out the windows of his room and closed the curtains. Outside, a girl near his age glared as she began writing a note on a piece of paper.
M listened to the podcast and watched the "examples" of him cheating with dread.
He was clipping the screen in platformers to blitz across the top of the screen to take down enemies without a challenger in sight.
He was disabling enemy barriers and creating bots in shooters so he can easily take down swathes of enemies in each stage.
He moved through wall mazes to find powerful items within the game.
He had unlimited airtime and increased acceleration in various racing games.
Him prematurely ending interactive games into full completion by modding them while the game is running.
So many things that M found by accident during solo playthroughs. Things he refuses to try again because of how much it ruined the experience. Who would do such a thing? *THUD!*
Something hit the window, catching M off guard. He had been looking out the window when a brick broke through, hitting him on his right cheek and leaving deep gashes. Ignoring the pain, he continued to look until he noticed someone. A girl with a yellow circular earpiece on her right ear. Her brown hair was tied in a ponytail and her round face gave her a bubbly appearance.
She was staring at him from the window, with the intention of hurling another brick. When she noticed him staring at her, she dropped the brick and began running away from the scene.
"What do you want with me?" He whispered, touching his wound and thinking about what just transpired. He noticed a piece of paper attached to the very rock that hit him and read its contents. Gripping the sides of his head, he began groaning in extreme pain. "What... I- Is happening to me?!"
M slumped to the floor in pain, noticing orange pixels forming around his body. He began hyperventilating in fear as he began fading in and out of existence...
All he could do was scream in agony.
KAMEN RIDER EX-AID
KAMEN RIDER PARA-DX
KAMEN RIDER EX-AID DX
#
October 2nd, 2016. It has been five years since Zero Day struck Seito. At 23 years old, Asuna Karino prefers to keep quiet about that year for personal reasons. The former nurse in training and ex-Ministry of Health worker pulled her face from the computer screen after her boss tapped her shoulders. She was going to ask what was going on when the "stethoscope" on her neck began beeping.
A group of new Kamen Rider Chronicle players is fighting Bugsters again.
"Poppy, give a gamer driver as an incentive to whoever in that group survives the longest!" her boss made a giddy stare as he looked from his computer to see these new guinea pigs who would undoubtedly be defeated quickly.
Asuna sighed at that. So much happened in the past few years that she can't explain how this even happened. She was so close to attaining her ASN certification when Genm needed her again. Or rather, Genm needs Poppy Pipopapo. She adjusted her yellow earpiece and changed her appearance, getting ready to get to where she is needed.
Picking up a pair of gaming drivers and gashats beside her, Asuna didn't bother reading any of the labels. As she left, she didn't hear Kuroto asking who took his driver. His demeanor shifted from annoyance to anger. She had been too preoccupied with the tasks he assigned her.
When she arrived where she was needed, Asuna became what Genm Inc. needed her to be: Poppy Pipopapo, mascot and Bugster of DoReMiFa Beat.
#
Two UNICEF charity workers, one in orange and pink and one in cyan and green, lounged at a nearby restaurant, watching the madness of mind-numbing bugster grunt slaughter. As entertaining as it was at first for the one in orange, his companion in cyan shook his head in disappointment as he quietly ate his lunch.
"Emu?" the orange charity worker began as he picked up his fries and started dipping the salty potato morsels in ketchup and mayo. He struggled to not let his cyan, magenta, yellow, and black poncho get messy from the condiments.
"I'm guessing you'd think it'd be fun to play that new game from Genm, Parad?" the now-named Emu asked, finishing his burger. He wore a black beanie and a face mask to cover up some deep scars on his face.
Parado snapped and gave a greasy thumbs up. "Totally. I don't know why, but Kamen Rider Chronicle sounds like our kind of game to play!"
Emu gave a faint smile at that. "It's competitive, but you know..."
"I'm a 'you-know' and you're on the shitlist of many gaming communities?" now it was Emu's turn to snap and give a thumbs up, but with less enthusiasm. "*sigh* Emu... I know that thing with a certain someone ruined your dream, but you gotta move forward from it! Who knows what changed over the past five years!"
"Doesn't feel like things changed too much since we left." the charity worker in cyan muttered pessimistically as he noticed someone running across the street in a black blouse with green highlights. "I wish certain things went differently, but life decided to make you almost kill me when we first met."
Parad watched the figure as well. His eyes widened when he saw her engulfed in pink and yellow light. "Woah... Is that a Poppy Pipopapo cosplayer?"
All Emu did was scoff. "I don't know," Parad asked for a check and began paying for their food. "... What are you doing, Parad?"
All the charity worker in orange did was pull his cyan companion and their stuff across the street to meet the Poppy cosplayer. "Emu... You need to meet new people and I want to meet a cosplayer after we kept going around the world for charity work nonstop! I can't be the only one you hang around when we travel all the time! Socialize for once!"
All Emu did was begrudgingly accept that Parad is trying to help him...
#
"Hi! Poppy Pipopapo at your service!" Poppy began, doing her signature pose for the audience, who are all new ride-players. All they wore were brown and black armor with silver highlights on their bodies. "Welcome to Kamen Rider Chronicle! The game where you fight to the top of the charts to save the world from the bugster virus!"
Everyone there waited impatiently for the tutorial to end. "CAN WE SKIP THIS CUTSCENE?"
Behind Poppy, someone scoffed before receiving a face of disapproval from their companion. The pink-haired mascot turned around and gave that person, who was wearing cyan and green, the stink eye.
"Anyways, the rules of the game are to fight bugsters and save the world!" Poppy continued. "There are special belts you can collect called 'Gamer Drivers'! Applying them to your body allows you to spawn in pi- pa- po- powerful pieces of armor that increase your strength and speed! Much like the gashats you have with you, some gashats can grant so many awesome abilities and weapons! You need to get stronger to use them! With power ups scattered all over the field, all of you can use the coins to your advantage!"
Everybody was interested now. Poppy grinned as she pulled out a gamer driver to give them an example. What they saw was impressive. Encased in bulky white armor with green accents that fit her proportions perfectly and an orange window on her chest plate, Poppy struck a pose again.
"With armor like this, you can rise to the top like the Kamen Riders of legend to defeat the evil Gamedeus, the one responsible for the massive bugster virus outbreak! Go ahead and have fun!" after providing her tutorial, Poppy didn't bother removing her armor. Beneath her helmet, her face relaxed into an annoyed glare. She skipped off to the source of the scoffing to give that person a piece of her mind. She began grumbling to herself about rude people quietly.
Everyone looked at each other and then at the bugster grunts. The grunts were just as confused as to what happened when the players began brandishing their weapons menacingly. Not before long, a fight started.
#
"You are an asshole, Emu." Parad deadpanned as the Poppy Pipopapo cosplayer began charging at them like a rampaging steam locomotive.
"Don't care at this point, honestly. Her verbal tic is annoying- Ow," Emu responded until Poppy removed her armor and began pulling them from their ears.
"Do you know how rude it is to scoff at someone when they are talking?!" Poppy scowled as she dragged them to the halls of an abandoned wrecking site.
Parado was overreacting to the pain. "Ow! Ow! Ow! I can feel my ear lobes crying for help right now!"
Emu remained silent along the incessant dragging, staring at Poppy the entire time. Every second, however, he slowly became annoyed beneath his face mask as he heard Poppy's voice rant nonstop.
It felt familiar. As if it was someone he hated.
Poppy began changing her personae, surprising Emu and Parado. Where Parad looked in shock, Emu felt loathing. Absolute rage, even. No wonder she looks and sounds so familiar.
That face, the hair, and the earpiece. Karin Asano. The girl who ruined his life.
"I swear, every time I have to do this, some INDECENT bystander has to ruin it for everyone! When can this dumb cycle end already?! -" Asuna was about to rip off Emu's mask when said person suddenly grabbed her wrist.
"We've not even finished with a certain THING five years ago, Asano!" the medical reject growled, kicking her against a tool crate and spraining her left leg. Something fell out of her bag but was ignored by everyone there. Parad worried look to Emu while he checked Asuna for any notable diseases. All of a sudden, his head started throbbing. He tried to figure out what was happening when he felt his companion's emotions.
"A- Asano?" Asuna asked fearfully. She began mentally questioning herself about what this masked person was talking about. "I don't know anyone with that name! What did I ever do to you?!"
Realizing what was going on, the Parad realized what was going on. "Stop! This isn't her!"
Where Asuna tried to crawl away and hide, Emu picked up a sledgehammer and pressed it against her earpiece, twitching at the thought of killing her.
"SNAP OUT OF IT, EMU!"
He picked her up by the collar of her blouse and stared deep into her eyes. Time froze for the two for a few seconds before Emu began hesitating before releasing her.
"I don't know if you can hear me Karin, but you did this to me." Emu began. "My name is Emu Hojo and you ruined my life! You vilified me online after you posted an online video that I was purposefully cheating in multiple games as M... I was close to fulfilling my dream of becoming a pediatrician, but you RUINED my life because of what you POSTED!" Emu turned around to prevent himself from hurting anyone and punched a steel girder, leaving a deep indentation. As the dust settled, Asuna listened to what he had to say, piecing together who he was. Part of Emu's right cheek held a web of small scarlet and purple jagged indentations that ran across his face to his right ear, the same area she pulled when dragging him and Parad.
Asuna looked down from that. She has no recollection as to who he is, even if she only heard of him once. Possibly from her boss. "Is there anything I can do to help you?"
Realizing the mess he made, the medical reject despondently backed down. "I don't need your help." Emu sighed, moving the sledgehammer away from Asuna.
The two stared at each other for a moment. One with a face of apathy and the other with a downtrodden look. They then heard loud gunfire and powerful explosions rock the local area. It was powerful enough to crumble the foundation of the derelict building they were in.
Parad groaned at that before turning to the two. The stress was getting to him. "Oh boy... We need to go. Forget about your grudge for a moment, Emu! This place we're in won't last any longer."
Asuna looked into her bag for a gamer driver when she noticed it beside Emu. Motioning him to pass it to her, Asuna's form shifted back into Poppy, trying to apply it to her hips. Try as she could, the driver didn't allow her to transform.
"M- my gamer driver's not letting me transform!" the Genm bugster panicked as she tried pulling her legs back, only to yelp from a sharp pain jab at her left kneecap. Emu picked up her driver after she dropped it and observed it. "What are you doing?"
The medical reject looked at the ceiling and noticed hairline cracks forming. His eyes darted, trying to find an exit. Poppy dragged them too deep into the building to run out. He shook his head and looked at Poppy with a stern face. "I'm getting us out of here. Tell me how to use a gamer driver, and I'll figure out the rest!"
Poppy hesitantly pulled out a pink gashat from her bag and handed it to Emu, who grasped the item firmly as he donned the gamer driver. Parad met eye-to-eye with Emu as he immediately dissolved into red and blue pixels.
Emu's eyes began glowing red as he began following Poppy's instructions. "Press the button on the handle and insert the gashat into the driver's first slot! Password is 'Henshin'!"
Emu followed the instructions, spun the gashat down, and prepared to ram it into its required slot. Breathing calmly, he remembered what she had said.
"Henshin!" a bright pink light engulfed Emu as the wind blew around his form, creating a bulky white set of power armor with red highlights. His arms and legs glowed red until they formed lines around large armored forearms and thighs. A cyan window formed on his chest, revealing Emu's vitals. What popped out was the "hair" on his helmet. A spiky front with a neatly combed back, all in pink.
Orange eyes lit up as Emu picked Poppy up in a bridal position before dashing across the halls swiftly. The ceiling began caving in, but Emu pressed on as he jumped up and released Poppy to kick a falling steel girder into the building walls. As she fell, Poppy was caught by Emu after he ricocheted from the steel girder to another beam that threatened to crush the bugster.
As they flew towards the walls, they realized that they weren't high enough to vault the building walls. "Emu, bring out your weapon by pressing the button on your gashat again!" Emu followed Poppy's instructions as he pressed the button on his gashat.
A sledgehammer with two buttons formed beside the two, which granted Emu the opportunity to destroy the wall. Poppy clung onto Emu's neck as the very person who attempted to harm her shifted her aside and wielded the hammer like a polearm before swinging the weapon up. The idea worked and the wall was obliterated.
Emu brought Poppy back into bridal position as they braced for impact, with the disgraced gamer landing on his feet and spinning like a record. By the time he stopped sliding, Emu was panting from the overexertion he placed on his body. He was about to lay Poppy down when the bugster transformed back into Asuna with her eyes closed.
Begrudgingly returning to work, Emu removed his armor and began checking her vitals as someone with first-aid certification would. Parad separated from his host and helped, making sure nobody was hurt.
"Can you hear me?" Emu began, trying to get Asuna to wake up. "Hey!" he tried again but didn't receive a response. "WAKE UP!" no response. The UNICEF worker began muttering to himself, making a mental note of the infected's condition. "Unconscious, but still breathing. Bpm is one hundred and ninety seven. No signs of bleeding. No burns. The sprained leg came from me kicking her in a fit of rage. No signs of diarrhea." after feeling her wrist to read her heart rate accurately, he opened her eyelids. "No signs of eye dilation."
Parad returned, nodding to Emu that there weren't any casualties.
Emu nodded before whispering into her ear, knowing she couldn't hear his voice. "I'm giving you back the driver and gashat. Help is on the way."
#
Asuna woke up, wondering what made her blackout. She looked around, wondering what was going on when a surgeon came in to check on her condition. She recognized this surgeon and where she was. The Cyberbrain Rescue Center's operating room.
"Huh? Director Kagami?"
Director Haima Kagami gave her a blatant stare that can only be described as a disappointment. "Karino."
"Why am I in the CR operating room?"
The director pulled out a cup of coffee and drank it in front of her. "Two men found you after a scuffle. One of them apologized after he assaulted you and was taken away by the Ministry of Health to talk to the Deputy Director-General. Something about his brief history of hostility."
Asuna looked down and noticed the gamer driver and gashat beside her cot.
"Emu Hojo..."
All Director Kagami did was huff at the name as he made a written report. "We need to talk about you betraying everyone in the CR."
#
Emu and Parad sat in an office at the Ministry of Health, ready to be berated by whoever was behind the office doors. Emu sighed beneath his face mask as he massaged his temples as an escape from his stress. Parad was playing an RPG on Emu's phone, also trying to relieve his stress.
"Mind if I come in?" a voice asked, getting the two's attention.
Emu stuttered a bit, recognizing the voice's owner. "Sure thing, Doctor Hinata... I- I didn't know you were in charge of this place."
The Deputy Director-General came in, giving Emu a warm smile. All Emu could do was give a pained smile and Parad shut off his game to meekly wave at the former doctor.
"What happened to you, Emu?" Dr. Hinata began, noticing the face mask immediately. "Why are you wearing a face mask?"
Emu looked down and exhaled, his muscles tense from being in front of someone he hadn't seen in years. "It's a long story..."
"Well, we have time." Dr. Hinata reassured him, giving the medical reject a sense of comfort. "Let it all out."
"Some girl threw bricks at me outside my home after my..." he hesitated and looked him in the eyes. "M- my final entrance exam got denied five years ago. I'm barred from my dream of becoming a doctor."
The Deputy Director-General raised his eyebrows at that. He patted Emu on the back. "I'll look into the entrance exam in my free time to see what happened."
"Thank you..."
"Now, you assaulted someone who directly worked under me in the past. Why would you do something like that?"
"She reminded me of that same girl. Karin Asano. She made a massive rumor that I cheated in professional video game tournaments and live streams."
Dr. Hinata sighed at that. He recognized that name. "Why would you think of doing such a thing like that? That isn't like you, Emu..."
Emu was silent at that. He looked down and clenched his fists at the fact that he was about to kill someone.
Now, the Deputy Director-General then turned to Parad in interest. "Now, who are you?"
Emu nodded to Parad, who was nervously listening to them the entire time. "You can trust Dr Hinata, Parad."
"O- Okay..." the orange charity worker began. "I'm Parad and I- I'm Emu's virus."
"Virus?"
"I'm made out of some kind of foreign virus cells, doctor..."
Dr. Hinata nodded and wrote on a piece of paper. "A bugster I am guessing? Asuna Karino, the employee of mine you assaulted, is a bugster."
"...The day I infected Emu, doctor, we had a shift in personality," Parad muttered reluctantly. "We didn't merge or me absorbing him. We split into two entities."
Emu nodded in confirmation. "What I lack, Parad has. Parad has what made me mentally. All I have is what makes me who I am."
"Mind and soul? That is new." Dr. Hinata noted as he continued writing. "Was that a side effect from a botched operation?"
"It was. That botched operation is what made me, doctor. I woke up in front of them and jumped back into Emu before they could do anything about it..."
"I cannot do anything about that, unfortunately, but I am happy the both of you have great chemistry together unlike other infected patients." Emu and Parad smiled at that when Dr. Hinata asked them to do something. "Now, as you both know now, Poppy is a bugster. The CR program was disbanded because she abandoned it to work for someone else after the disappearances of our first CR crewmembers. Nobody can use Genm's gamer drivers because you need to have compatibility surgery or be infected with a bugster to handle them. The data from Zero Day is in every one of the gashats made by Genm, which infects humans until they are transformed into data."
The room was silent for a few seconds.
Parad began to have a bad feeling about what Dr. Hinata meant to say. "Do you mean to say that Kamen Rider Chronicle is going to put the world in danger?"
"/ATTENTION! BUGSTER VIRUS OUTBREAK NEAR SEITO UNIVERSITY HOSPITAL./" an alarm blared, catching all in the room off guard.
Dr. Hinata's silent nodding and the alarm were enough for the two UNICEF workers to understand the gravidity of the situation. "The old CR Bugster Virus Alert System. We need people to battle the situation."
"People to handle the situation..." Emu thought back on the company he cherished as a child and fell from grace as a professional gamer. Something fired up in Emu. Parad felt it as well and embraced it despite the uncertainty. They felt something worthwhile. "I can volunteer, Doctor. Tell me what I need to do and I'll do everything I can to handle the situation."
All he received was a Kamen Rider Chronicle gashat. Emu picked it up and nodded.
"Look for Seito University's hospital director, Dr. Haima Kagami. He'll grant you access to whatever you need. Consider this your entrance exam as a member of the Cyberbrain Research Center."
#
A child was walking with his mother at Seito University Hospital's parking lot when he felt a sense of warmth in his head. His mother was about to take him back inside when groups of bugsters appeared beside them. One of the bugsters lunged forward with a fork, aiming to gore the child. The mother blocked the fork by swinging her purse but was caught off guard when another bugster rammed her from behind. The bugsters began kicking at her while the boy watched in fear for his mother, coughing out tears and not noticing orange glowing specks appear all over his skin. His mother cried for him, not knowing what to do.
The child went limp, unconscious from a large figure enveloping him whole.
A massive Bugster Union grew from the boy, wreaking havoc on the garage as it tried to absorb its host. Two figures broke into the entrance to begin their operation...
#
Haima was giving orders to the medical staff and whoever else was available to guide the hospital's occupants deeper into the hospital to prevent further outbreaks. He doesn't like where this is going. It reminded him too much of Zero Day.
Two men ran up to him, winded from their long run. The same men dropped off the resident traitor after assaulting her.
"Director Kagami?" Emu wheezed as he tried to get his breath back.
"Mr. Hojo?"
The medical reject nodded. "My bugster and I were sent here by the Ministry of Health as volunteer members of the Cyberbrain Research Cent-" he was paused by Haima suddenly covering his mouth with a gloved hand.
"I appreciate you volunteering, but you shouldn't mention the name of our organization out loud." the director whispered. "We call it the CR."
Emu was quiet for a few seconds before continuing once the halls were empty. "The Deputy Director-General sent me here so I can use your equipment as a test against the bugster at the parking lot."
Haima nodded, understanding what Emu meant.
"Let me give you a rundown of how CR handles bugsters: You need to know the game they're based on, who they are, who is their victim, how they operate, and then you fight them after separating them from their hosts."
#
As the bugster laid waste to the garage, Asuna lay on her cot, waiting for her leg to heal when the doors to the CR operating room opened. She tried to see who came in when she realized that it was just Director Kagami.
"Director?"
"Yes?"
"Is there a bugster attack?"
Haima hummed in confirmation. "The Ministry of Health has appointed someone to deal with the situation. We need to take the driver and gashat beside you for the new guy."
Asuna rested her head on her pillow as the hospital's director did what he set out to do by signing in the new member's name and credentials.
"Can I know the name of the new person?"
"He's already infected with the bugster virus. He volunteered for the Deputy Director-General." Haima smiled as he called in the new member. "You can come in!"
Emu urgently walked in. Asuna gave a surprised look.
"Emu?! You're the new member?"
All the medical reject did was nod to the former nurse as he took out his Kamen Rider Chronicle gashat and pressed its button as a small test run. Emu turned it off and picked up the gamer driver and gashat beside the bedridden Asuna.
"I'm sorry I have to do this, but I need to use your gamer driver again!" Emu urgently commented as he ran out of the room to handle the threat.
"Wait-!" Asuna was about to say something when the doors closed. Realizing she was alone, the medical traitor and programmer bitterly sighed. "If your health gauge hits zero on your armor, you'll die..."
#
The Bugster Union was growing at an exponential rate, absorbing various vehicles as it moved along the parking lot.
Emu arrived just in time, seeing the destruction happen before his very eyes. Looking at his Kamen Rider Chronicle gashat and the gamer driver, he knew what to do. He pressed the button.
"/Kamen Rider Chronicle!/"
The medical reject looked around for one last moment before closing his eyes. He sighed. Emu looked at the buster rampaging and stared in pity as he put on his gamer driver. "Whoever you are in there... Please, hang on." he flipped his gashat and pulled out the same pink gashat from earlier. "Henshin!"
"/Applying DX Gamer Driver./"
The Bugster Union broke out of the parking lot and began attacking the outside world.
Ride-Players began attacking it, trying to whittle its health down. The Bugster Union began swatting away players like flies in retaliation.
Before anyone could get finished off by the bugster however, a brown blur struck it on its head, revealing a Ride-Player with white and red armor slowly forming around his body. An attentive eye would notice a gamer driver strapped to his waist and the gashat plugged in. The Ride-Player pressed a button after jumping to a building wall and grasped his weapon of choice: A sledgehammer.
He jumped forward, letting the armor fully form around his body and form three blades of pink hair at the front with a combed back. His chest plate opened up, showing his vitals. The weight of the hammer impaired his jumping height, but it was enough so the Ride-Player can press a button on the side of the weapon.
"/Gashacon Breaker: Type B!/"
The hammer shifted forms, with its head shrinking into a war hammer with a pink hook on the other side.
The Ride-Player kicked the Bugster Union again, slashing the bugster with the hook end of his hammer. The Bugster Union staggered, kneeling on its left leg before fighting away the pain for a moment. Landing on the floor, he began hitting the Bugster Union's legs before swapping to the hammer end.
Before he could use the hammer, the Ride-Player was kicked aside by the Bugster Union. Other Ride-Players helped him get up.
"What's your username?" noticing names appearing in his hud, a pop-up appeared asking what his username should be. The username of the ride-player asking him was 'Stockpipe' while the other was 'Overwork'.
The Ride-Player hesitated before making up a name on the fly. "Ex-Aid." Stockpipe nodded before turning to the Bugster Union, rubbing her abdomen.
"Do you have any other weapons that can help against this Bugster?" one of the Ride-Players urgently asked as he picked up the war hammer and handed it back to its owner. His username was 'Star45'.
Ex-Aid shook his head. "I don't have any other weapons, but I know its weak points. Tell everyone to aim for its legs!"
"Got it!"
And so, the plan was put into action. Volleys of constant Ride-weapon blasts met the Bugster's legs, causing the bugster to fall flat on its face.
The Ride-Player in white pressed a button, letting a faint pink aura form over his war hammer.
Players looked at him in surprise as he began running forward, faster than any of them could hope to reach. Ex-Aid jumped to the sky and tore a hole into its body with a mighty swing.
The white Ride-Player looked back and watched the Bugster Union fall apart like a tower of mud. Noticing something had fallen out, Ex-Aid caught the object before it could hit the floor. It was an injured human child.
Ex-Aid was about to apply first aid to the child when cyan bolts of lightning erupted from his fingertips and struck the child. He was about to question what was happening when a tab popped up in his visors display.
"/Warning: Bugster Virus extraction in progress./"
"... Extraction?"
"/Boss imminent/" that comment from his driver was enough to know that he has to brace himself.
Orange pixels began falling out of the boy, giving Ex-Aid a chance to scan and observe to see what he was dealing with: Small orange microscopic cells with their notable traits being extreme bioluminescence and sentience. They turned black within seconds and began to cluster together.
Ex-Aid looked around in concern.
"We have a boss bugster!" one of the ride-players shouted from that, immediately arming himself with his ride weapon.
"How do we clear this?" another ride-player asked.
The pixels formed into a purple and red figure with gold highlights. "Ah... Fresh air!" the bugster began before turning to the ride-players "... And fresh meat."
Everyone backed up at that, trying to anticipate what the virus will do. "Who are you?" Ex-Aid whispered to himself, not expecting the bugster to turn to him and chuckle at that. Especially after seeing the Ride-Player's belt.
"Count Salty, at your service!" Salty venomously answered. "You have something that belongs to me."
A few of the ride-players heard that and looked at Ex-Aid for a response.
"I don't know what you're talking about." the Ride-Player retorted, pressing a button on his Kamen Rider Chronicle gashat. "I need you to get out of the kid!"
"I'm afraid not." Salty countered. He held out his left hand and made a demanding gesture. "That gamer driver of yours is stolen and I demand it!"
Ex-Aid shook his head quietly and armed himself. He noticed an orange line and red diamonds form an arc in his HUD aimed at his belt. He didn't know what it was but he opted avoid it from making contact with the gamer driver.
"Now give it to me!" Salty bolted at the ride-player, reaching for Ex-Aid's gamer driver.
Ex-Aid dodged, using his momentum to knock the bugster over with a swing of his hammer. Salty rolled to the side and lunged once more, using his staff to parry the Ride-Player's unpredictable swings. Stockpipe and Overwork caught Salty off guard by striking him down with their ride-weapons.
Salty released two bugster minions to who went to work in stalling the two from attacking again.
Stockpipe proceeded to plug in a gashat into her ride-weapon and set the weapon to its rifle mode. Overwork parried a blow from one of Salty's bugsters and used the momentum of his swing to dig his ride-weapon deep into the minion's newly formed chest cavity. The two ride-players increased the intensity of their attacks, with the two successfully killing the disruptive bugsters. Star45 tried to help Ex-Aid but was struck from the side by Salty when he realized he was still about to be ganged up on.
"YOU ARE ALL GOING TO DIE!" screaming at the four ride-players, Salty began hopping until he reached heights unreachable to normal human physique.
All of the ride-players, including the ride-players not participating in the boss fight, were wondering what was happening. A ride-player with the username 'Bubu' noticed a blur above him forming. He pointed up and got everyone's attention.
"What is that?" various ride-players asked. Bubu tried to squint his eyes to see what the issue was. He forgot his glasses prior to joining in.
Before anyone could see what the moving shadow was and who the shadow landed on, Salty slammed down and tore a ride-player in half just by landing on him before jumping back to the skies...
"YUKA!" Stockpipe shouted out in horror. From this skull down to his torso, Overwork was missing his face, half of his brain, his ribcage, his lungs, the surface of his heart, and his kidneys. All Ex-Aid could see from his new ally before he slumped dead was his innards.
In everyone's HUDs, a red info panel issued a report.
(/PLAYER DOWN: YUKA KAWASHIMA. PLAYER NAME: 'OVERWORK')
Everyone stared as the now named Yuka Kawashima was stripped of his armor, revealing the deceased human. A shadow began moving to the next ride-player and Salty killed them as well.
(/PLAYER DOWN: MICHI TONE. PLAYER NAME: 'POWERHAUS'/)
"SCATTER!" Stockpipe cried out before running as well.
Another ride-player was made a victim, a child, rendering her into a splotch of metal, bones, and blood.
(/PLAYER DOWN: NATSUKO TAKAKI. PLAYER NAME: 'HAMPERSAND'/)
Ex-Aid froze, staring at the remains of a child. He tried to hit Salty, but the bugster kept getting away with killing ride-players.
Bubu tried to find a hiding spot while the white ride-player tried hitting Salty. Sadly, the boss bugster landed down, crushing his helmet and his skull. He laid dead on the spot.
(/PLAYER DOWN: AKIO SAKO. PLAYER NAME: 'BUBU'/)
Bubu's ride-weapon couldn't be seen. Ex-Aid tried finding Salty when he froze seeing what remained of Bubu's head.
"Move... Move..." a voice called out deep in his head.
A gunshot got his attention. Ex-Aid turned to whoever made the sound. Salty stood behind him, holding Bubu's ride-weapon. Under his helmet, he would have been seen with a mortified face. Traumatized because of the carnage around him. To the ride-player in white, the world slowed down.
(/PLAYER INJURED: KO OE. PLAYER NAME: 'STOCKPIPE'/)
(/PLAYER INJURED: KAITO GOSHIKI. PLAYER NAME: 'STAR45'/)
Two of the last ride-players got injured now. Both of whom were by his side when he fought Salty.
"NO!"
#
Asuna laid on her cot, flipping through various channels on the TV screen to stave off her boredom and the contemplation of her life choices. She was about to shut off the TV when Haima stormed in.
"Mister director-" "Look at what your work has taken you!"
The bugster was taken back by Haima when he took her remote and changed it to the news.
It shown a white and red ride-player with pink hair watching in horror as he struggled to fight a rampaging bugster boss on his own. Blurred out of focus were the dead bodies that were scattered all over the place.
One man's face and innards.
A bisected woman.
A young girl who was crushed to death.
Another man whose head was cracked and smashed into pieces.
Asuna stared at the footage, unnerved by the dead bodies. The hospital director glared at her. This was the first time the news was featuring Kamen Rider Chronicle since its release.
"What do you even call yourself now?" he hissed and shook his head in distress. "You made this mess, Karino. Giving away all of our research and data? Not bothering to clean up the mess you made that shut us down? What are you doing with your life?"
The bugster quietly looked down before being handed her phone, which was ringing after Haima calmed down from his rant. The number calling her was familiar.
"We have a problem, Poppy." a voice dully stated in a distorted voice.
Asuna made a confused face at that. "W- what happened, Boss?"
"Someone took my gamer driver. I've been trying to call you, but you didn't pick up." the friendly demeanor from Kuroto's warped voice darkened when he mentioned his gamer driver. "There is a ride-player in the news with a gamer driver on his belt that is clearly not the design I gave you to reward anyone who survives."
The bugster's face paled at that. "I- I think I took yours by accident, Boss!"
Everything was silent until Kuroto sighed, going for a more threatening approach. "You've been slacking off in your work for the past eight months. Get my gamer driver back already. Either Salty brings it back and you're fired, or you bring it back to me and I'll reconsider firing you. Just to be lenient, Poppy, you have two weeks to do this. If not, it's time for an update in all of Kamen Rider Chronicle."
Kuroto ended the call. Asuna closed her eyes and gripped her phone, clearly not used to being on the verge of being fired.
Hearing the conversation, Haima did his best to comfort her. "You need to help, Karino. The ride-player standing on the TV screen is the only one standing who has a chance against that bugster now."
#
Ex-Aid kept dodging all of Salty's attacks, trying to get past him and try to bring Stockpipe and Star45 to safety. Seeing an opening, he dashed forward...
Only for Salty's left fist to knock him into that direction with a bone shattering punch.
(/PLAYER INJURED: EMU HOJO. PLAYER NAME: 'EX-AID'/)
"WHERE ARE YOU?!"
Ex-Aid landed next to Stockpipe, colliding with a silver coin that has a ride-player standing tall and flexing as its depiction. Stockpipe ignored her pain to glance in surprise in her HUD and then at the ride-player who landed near her. She hasn't heard of that name in a long time.
"G- Genius G- Gamer M..." she coughed out.
Hearing the wounded ride-player, Ex-Aid turned to her after struggling to get up. He began healing in seconds. He gave a short nod before grabbing Stockpipe and Star45 to take them to safety.
Ex-Aid lured Salty away, searching for more of those strange health power ups. He picked up a red coin with a flexing muscular arm and absorbed it into his body.
"/MUSCLE UP!/"
Ex-Aid looked at his armor and noticed that the forearm and leg pieces grew in size. He noticed two more of the white health coin he slammed into and gathered them. He was cut off from planning his next move when he received a message in his HUD. It was an icon of the same bugster he attacked and helped get to safety earlier.
(/New message from: Poppy Pipopapo: Energy Items grant you the ability to use your armor to its full extent. Recovery Energy Items can heal half of your health. Muscle increases your damage strength. Speed gives you the agility of an Olympic sprinter. Please, stack up on these so you can handle Salty!/)
"Poppy?"
(/Poppy: The Gashacon Breaker Model M was dedicated to the late Emu "Genius Gamer M" Hojo, who remains the greatest player in the following four games, mostly out of respect after his untimely death: Hammer Hero 1 and 2 (PC), Spears of Heaven (PS3), and Symphony of Slayers (Xbox 360). With these games comes the weapon modes for the weapon: Sledgehammer, warhammer, spear, and sword./)
Ex-Aid wondered what she meant about the sword option when he noticed a button at the pole end of his hammer. The hammer collapsed into a mallet with an arm length blade crackling with pink energy. He swung it a few times before he pressed it again, causing the blade to collapse into the hammer.
(/Poppy: Your mission as the newest member of Cyberbrain is to cure Sota Yamaguchi. He is infected by Count Salty, a first stage boss from a cancelled platformer game called Mighty Action X. His strategy is to jumping to the sky and crushing his enemies by landing on them. You decide on how to take him down. /)
Ex-Aid nodded and began planning out his strategy. He found a strange orange and cyan energy item and picked it up. He was about to go when a new message came.
(/New Private Message from Poppy Pipopapo: Emu, I don't know if you can read this, but the gamer driver you are using right now isn't yours. It belongs to someone else. If I don't give it back, it'll mean more than me getting fired. If possible, please bring it back to me as soon as possible./)
The Ride-Player stood silently. "Parad... Are you regretting this already?" Ex-Aid whispered himself. He could hear an audible sigh.
"This is the worst near-death experience we went through. You know that, right, Emu?" the voice in his head replied in a sad tone. "But with the current situation, we gotta help those ride-players and the kid in Salty."
Ex-Aid was silent as he began planning his strategy, but he was doubting himself. Noticing a shadow form above his body, the Ride-Player prepared himself.
"When I say go, get out of my body and jump back in."
#
Up above, Salty could see what looks to be his last target. He smiled at the carnage he made and reveled in it. Reaching the highest he could go, Salty allowed gravity to take hold of him and dropped...
What he did not expect was Ex-Aid using an energy item and splitting into two different ride-players. One white and cyan and one white and orange.
Cyan Ex-Aid rolled away from Salty.
Orange Ex-Aid sprung forth with his own hammer, knicking Salty by the shoulder with the hammer's sword mode before disappearing into Cyan Ex-Aid, who regained the top of his head's pink pigmentation.
Whole once again, Ex-Aid grabbed a yellow Speed energy item, noticing his armor's bulky leggings bulk up slightly and feel lighter. He grabbed multiple in quick succession until he felt electricity crackle at the tips of his fingers.
(/New message from Poppy: You can activate your Pulse Splitters to separate a bugster from its host by brandishing your arms and touching the infected!/)
Salty was about to pummel Ex-Aid when he was suddenly grabbed by the throat by the ride-player all of a sudden. The Ride-Player then poured out a powerful electric charge into Salty, forcibly ejecting the bugster boss from his host.
"/Bugster extracted./"
While Salty was incapacitated, Ex-Aid took the child to Stockpipe and Star45, applying the Recovery energy items and letting them heal. Hopping back to the fray, he was nearly struck by Salty's staff.
"I AM GOING TO BREAK YOU!" Salty roared as he reformed and tried to maul Ex-Aid. "I AM GOING TO BEAT YOU INTO THE PAVEMENT!"
Ex-Aid kept dodging, arming himself in the process. Twirling his war hammer, he struck Salty on the neck and broke off the bugster's neckpiece.
Salty roared in pain as he used Ex-Aid's swinging momentum to drive his fingers into the Ride-Player's chest piece. Salty tore the piece of protection off and began ramming his staff into Ex-Aid's chest until his victim's bones and flesh snapped and ripped apart.
Stockpipe noticed the light pink notice that appeared just like when she and Star45 were injured by Salty. (/PLAYER INJURED: EMU HOJO. PLAYER NAME: 'EX-AID'.)
Star45 watched in dread as the next notice became pink in color. (/PLAYER CRITICALLY INJURED: EMU HOJO. PLAYER NAME: 'EX-AID'.)
The notice then transitioned to light red. (/PLAYER FATALLY INJURED: EMU HOJO. PLAYER NAME: 'EX-AID'.)
Ex-Aid barely gathered the strength to dodge the finishing blow as Salty brought his staff down to crush the Ride-Player's skull. Ex-Aid hid behind a crushed car to survey the damage on his body, and silently screamed in agony.
(/New Private Message from Poppy: He's almost down, Emu! Keep going!/)
Ex-Aid lifted his right arm and did as he was told. He grunted, feeling a renewed vigor build up in his body. He jumped to a balcony before Salty could strike once more. Salty jumped forward and was about to maul Ex-Aid when he was suddenly struck by the ride player's bulky right boot.
Salty saw the damage he had done to Ex-Aid. The Ride-Player was missing his chest plate and half of his pectoral muscles. Most of his pectoral and abdominal muscles were either shredded or bruised, his lungs most likely had internal bleeding, and there was a bloody hole exposing his left lung. Seeing his chance, Salty attempted to stick his fingers into Ex-Aid's chest cavity when he felt his entire left hand get crushed. Ex-Aid gave a furious glare as he mercilessly crushed Salty's hand with his right arm. Hearing Salty's screams of pain, Ex-Aid swung his target mid-air until he launched the bugster into the pavement.
In an eruption of dust and debris, Salty's legs were completely demolished. The dust settled, revealing that what had once been Salty's legs and hips were now crushed, flattened, and splattered all over the pavement. All Salty could do was try to crawl away, but Ex-Aid caught up before the bugster could crawl into a manhole and hide. Ex-Aid stared at Salty for a moment before receiving a message.
(/Poppy: Press the button on the left side of your belt and finish Salty off however you please./)
"Considering how he killed those ride-players, I think we should give him the same treatment." Parad commented. Ex-Aid gave no reply as he took out his sledgehammer and pressed the button he was instructed to use.
"/MIGHTY CRITICAL FINISH!/"
Ex-Aid's boots began releasing a torrent of powerful energy pulses, working like a lethal defibrillator as he stepped on Salty's neck and pressed as he could without buckling down from the pain in his chest. Ex-Aid lifted up his hammer and struck Salty on the ribs. Salty's ribcage erupted and separated into shredded bloody bits from the blunt force of the Ride-Player's sledgehammer. Salty's eyes glowed pink from the excessive output of energy Ex-Aid applied before his head erupted in an explosion of gore and bio matter.
"/Game Clear!/"
Ex-Aid buckled over in pain as his armor disappeared, revealing Emu with half of his chest missing. Parad formed beside Emu and gathered everyone else who had been injured.
Stockpipe, or Ko, laid beside Emu, arms wrapped around her stomach. She audibly cried from the entire situation after witnessing the massacre caused by a single bugster boss.
Star45, or Kaito, rested on a tree next to Emu. He could feel his snapped right collarbone and was sweating uncontrollably.
The once infected victim, Sota Yamaguchi, slept on two chairs Parad gathered to ease his discomfort.
The last thing Ex-Aid did as he laid on the floor was stare at the ambulances that arrived and Sota's mother as she raced to check if her son was okay...
#
From the hospital's rooftop, Asuna looked down upon the destruction below, her eyes meeting those of Haima. Mortification filled her as she watched the cleanup crews gathering up the remains of the players who had been killed by Salty. The Salty bugster they had fought was not a Level 1 Boss.
That was a level 10 boss.
She and Haima were about to leave when Parad stormed in with the gamer driver Emu used.
"What is this game?" Parad was clearly enraged as he shoved the gamer driver into Asuna's arms.
Asuna clasped her arms around the gamer driver and tried to defend the game. "It's a game that will revolutionize the gaming industry!"
"REVOLUTIONIZE?! That bugster we fought wiped the floor with us! We would have died if it weren't for those power-ups scattered all over the area! Emu is being in the ER because most of his torso is shredded and destroyed! ARE YOU KIDDING ME?! Games are supposed to be harmless, not something that kills everyone!"
Haima looked at Asuna with a disturbed glare and then turned to Parad. "Where is he?"
"He's in the operating room."
KAMEN RIDER EX-AID: DX
/See you next game./