Edge of Time: Road to the King Chapter 36: New Genesis 2019, a Kingdom Hearts + Kamen Rider Crossover fanfic

DISCLAIMER: I do not own Kingdom Hearts, Famililar of Zero, RWBY or Kamen Rider, they are owned by Toei, Disney, Square Enix, Rooser Teeth, and MF Bunko J

I also do not own Please! Save My Tomorows!, FruBask, HUGtto Precure, Juni Taisen: Zodiac War, Record of Ragnarok, Yu-Gi-Oh!, Kamen Rider Showa, Cinders and Ashes: The Chronicle of Kamen Rider Dante, or Kamen Rider Geast, they are owned by Page Productions and Michael Page, Toei, Shueisha, Coamix, Kamen Rider Chrome, Psyga315, and Ohma Revive respectively.

"Myokoin, what the hell are you doing!" Miharu questioned Grant, now Geiz Revive, as he stood over the defeated Rex.

"I'm making good on a promise." The evolved clock Rider stated, "Now, die!"

As the young king struggled to his feet, Rex soon looked towards the Zi-O II watch that fell out of his pocket and grasped it tight, "Please! I know you have the power! Rewind the clock and take be back to before!" he shouted mindlessly, as if speaking an incantation.

Suddenly, the Zi-O II Ridewatch began to glow before the whole world began to go in reverse. Rex looked around his area while his eyes flashed the same shade of pink as the watch. Soon, time was brought back to when he confronted Wally at the playground.

'What the heck? What was that?' the young king thought.

He looked around and checked the clock in the park. Sure enough, Rex had somehow gone back in time without the need of a Time Mazine.

'Okay, that… that is odd…' he noted before he recollected his thoughts.

It's not every day that you find out that the bully you've fought a lot now has the power of an Another Rider, let alone one designed to kill you specifically. Worse, Grant had somehow gained the power of Geiz Revive and, at least in a couple of hours relative to when I am now, is out to kill you.

Then there's that aura Grant gave off before he transformed. It felt so familiar… It almost felt like when I became the Silver-haired Demon. And then there's the current situation I'm in right now. Somehow I used Time Reversal to jump back… and I feel fine. I mean, I know for a fact that I'm still a rookie when it comes to using Time Reversal-

No sooner did the boy think that, a massive surge in purple electricity ravaged his body. Rex fell to his knees as he clutched his chest, his eyes now rapidly flashing while his hair was now half-silver.

'Yeah, there's the kickback…' he thought.

As he struggled to recover from that sudden surge, the young king could feel Wally was approaching him. However when Rex turned around to greet him like before, he wasn't met with Wally's contented glare, but instead a similar level of confusion.

"What? What did you do?" he questioned the young king, "At one moment, I was with my benefactor and now, I find myself in front of you again." The bully crossed his arms, "So what exactly did you do this time around?"

Rex could only respond with, "I… I don't know…" as he looked at the watch, "It felt… it felt like I used my Time Reversal power on the world."

Wally wasn't convinced at first, "Okay then…" he noted before crossing his arms, "Normally I'd kick your teeth in while you're like this, but at the same time I don't like how we were both man-handled by that military brat." The bully then glared at the young king, "I hate to say it but whatever the case, we won't be able to fulfill what we want if your "friend" here kills us in a couple of hours."

Rex couldn't help but agree, "Yeah, something tells me there's more to Grant's new power is than meets the eye…" he sighed before he noticed the bully's concerned look, "What's wrong?"

The bully couldn't help but use his phone as a black mirror for the young king, and upon seeing what made Wally concerned, Rex was horrified to see that his change was getting much worse.

Song: GIRIGIRI – Sonar Pocket

/CHANGE THE NEW WORLD x3/

The opening starts with a showcase of the various Heisei Riders from the past, spanning all the way from Kuuga until Zi-O, before all of a sudden several Ridewatches appear and create both the Future Riders and Forgotten Riders before the title appears

/Yowasa ni makenu you ni onore wo shinjireru you ni
Tsuyosa ni kawaru nanika wo mugamuchuu de sagashi aruita/

It soon transitions to Team Zi-O on a small hill alone, each one looking at their respective Ridewatces as Grant grips the Geiz Ridewatch, Weiss held the Tsukuyomi Ridewatch delicately, and both Rex and Henrietta sat back to back as the young king looked towards the Zi-O Ridewatch before it briefly glitched into an Oma Zi-O-based Ridewatch.

/Kitto dareka no tame datte itsukaraka jibun no tame ni kawatteku
Kodoku wo sute kibou yume daite/

Afterwards, it jumps to Isaiah standing alone as two figures appeared behind him, namely Zero and Weiss as the pair turn to each other while their auras showcased the darkness and light within their hearts. However within Zero's dark aurua, the eyes of Dark Decade soon appeared.

/Kitto kurai yami datte mienai kizuna tsune ni tsunagatteru
Hikari wo kono te ni/

It then jumps to Conquete standing alone alongside Adam and a host of Another Riders and Heartless behind them with the shadow of one mysterious Rider. Once Conquete steps into the picture, he soon takes out the Woz MiRidewatch while Rex takes out the Zi-O Ridewatch II as he looks around to see Grant and Dark Decade preparing to transform as well.

/INTERLUDE/

Rex/Conquete/Grant/Dark Decade: "Henshin!"

/Girigiri ni STAY shite sakebe tsugi no mirai kitai shitai/

Once their drivers activated, we soon cut to a revolving scene where Kamen Rider Zi-O II is battling against Kamen Rider Woz, Kamen Rider Geiz Revive, and Kamen Rider Dark Decade on his own, blocking and dodging most of their attacks as Geiz Revive switches between his two transformations. Meanwhile, Kamen Rider Tsukuyomi and Henrietta are teaming up as Kamen Rider Zamonas charges at the girls. With a smile, both Tsukuyomi and Henrietta prepare a double attack

/Girigiri ni FLY AGAIN iku zo tsukame SMILE! SMILE! SMILE!/

Next was a shot of Sora, Donald, and Goofy fighting against many of the Heartless. Donald was using his Wizard Staff while Goofy unleashed a Watermelon Sparking version of his Goofy Tornado. When they are surrounded, Sora transforms into the Mystic Link Drive, with the Siege and Bandit Link Drives appearing alongside him as projections before unleashing a powerful burst of magic to create a new Link Drives alongside the Rider Link Drive.

/Bokura ni wa mamoru mono ga aru kara

Sono tame ni wa nani wo sutete mo ii sa/

As the battle is happening, we see some of Rex and Henrietta's classmates watching the battle unfold alongside some of the legendary Riders and Future Riders, who are fighting against several of the Heartless.

/Higashi kara nishi e noboru taiyou ga kyou mo kimi wo terasu kara/

It soon changes to show Dark Decade on his own watching the battle as the window next to him showed Zero slamming his fist on it, crying out for help.

/Woah x3 CHANGE THE NEW WORLD/

It soon cuts to Henrietta and Weiss readying themselves for battle alongside Isaiah, Donald, and Goofy, a strange aura starting to glow from them

/Woah x3 CHANGE THE NEW WORLD/

Then it jumps to show Sora and Rex as they raise their weapons into the air, creating a double helix that lights up the sky before showing Oma Zi-O's empty throne, now with Sora's Keyblade resting on it

CHAPTER 36: NEW GENESIS 2019

MEANWHILE…

"Henrietta-san, I need to ask you something!" Ikki called out to Henrietta.

'Hey buddy? What are you thinking?' Vice questioned his partner.

'Right now, there's something rubbing me the wrong way about Wells-san and Kakogawa-san's situation.' Ikki thought to himself, something Vice could hear thanks to his special connection with the bath house helper.

"Yeah, what is it?" she questioned the bath house helper, who looked quite concerned.

"Is there something wrong with Rex?" he asked her, "He didn't seem to have it all together from what I saw."

Henrietta looked away in regret, "Yeah, you could say that…"

Vice popped out, "Is it about what's going on with your boyfriend having a ton of darkness in him?"

The purple haired girl wasn't surprised, "The demon…" she muttered to herself, "Well, I guess I might as well explain what's going on around here." Henrietta nervously shuffled around, "You see, Ikki-san, Vice-san, Rex wasn't always like this. It all started around several years ago."

TIMELINE: ZI-O 2009-B

A young Henrietta was walking through the park as she looked around the playground. This was the place where she had met the strange boy before, but she wondered if she was there that day as well.

"Heh, what's the matter kid? Can't fight anymore?" she heard a young boy with gray hair taunt someone.

She soon looked and saw some preschool students cowering behind a beaten down Rex, struggling to stand against a trio of bullies lead by Wally, who mostly wore a pair of long blue pants and a dark red shirt.

"Give up already, king-boy?" the lead bully questioned the young boy.

"I can do this all day, just you wait..." Rex growled before wiping away some blood.

"Tsk! Why you!" the lead bully shouted as he readied his fist for another blow, but Henrietta quickly rushed in and placed herself in between the group.

"That's enough!" she shouted.

"Eh?! Who are you?!" one of the bullies questioned.

"Just go away, he's already hurt!" she shouted at them.

Wally scoffed, "Psh, what do you know?" he questioned her.

"Hey, she's got nothing to do with this..." Rex said, walking towards the bullies, "Leave her alone, or else I'm gonna take you down like last time..."

The bullies soon looked worried as they slowly left, allowing the young boy to sigh and grab what they dropped. It was a small toy horse that he gave to one of the pre-schoolers.

"Uhh, thank you mister..." the pre-schooler said, "You didn't have to get hurt to get this back for us..."

"No worries, you guys needed help and besides, I can't let something slide if I can do something about it." he reassured them.

The pre-schoolers thanked him and left, allowing Rex to collapse after the fatigue washed over him. Henrietta quickly caught him.

"Are you okay?" she asked him.

"I'm fine, I've been through worse." He muttered before the young boy saw who he was answering, "Wait, who are you?" Rex asked the girl.

"We actually met yesterday." she reminded the young boy, "It's me, Henrietta..."

"Oh right, I remember..." he realized, "Well, sorry that I got myself in trouble... again..." he apologized with a pained smile.

Henrietta sighed, "It's fine, at least you're alright... mostly..." She soon realized something, "Say, where exactly do you live? I didn't bring my first aid kit this time."

"Just across the street from here..." he explained before the pair made their way to the future king's house.

"After that, we ended up heading over to his house and well, you can kind of guess the rest." Henrietta finished.

Ikki was surprised, "Wow, even back then Rex was reckless." Vice chimed in.

The bath house helper turned towards his devil partner, "Hey, cut him some slack!" After seeing the inner devil chuckle, Ikki rolled his eyes, "Anyways, so when did you notice something was off with Rex?" he inquired of Henrietta.

"Well, I didn't notice it at first." The purple-haired girl admitted, "My mom and I actually moved out of Hagukumi when I was thirteen and came back a couple of years after the fact." She soon giggled, "Boy were Rexy and the others were shocked when I decided to make a surprise transfer to L'Aviner."

TIMELINE: ZI-O 2017-B

"Alright everyone! We have a new student coming in for today." Ms. Ogawa introduced to her class.

As the girls were gossiping about this new student, Rex looked a bit bored as he leaned on his chair. Unlike his customized school uniform he would wear a year later, the future king wore a gray hoodie under his school jacket and shirt, not bothering with the tie or the dress shoes as he had his normal sneakers on. Junichi, noticing this, tapped the future king's shoulder.

"Hey, what's eating at ya bro?" the playboy asked him.

"Not much. I'm just waiting to see who the new kid is." Rex answered.

Junichi shivered, "Already planning their demise?" he hesitantly asked.

"Of course not! Who do you think am I? A psycho?" The future king snarled, "I may be crass but I'm not a murderer."

"I heard that it's a girl who recently came back to Japan." Aguri pointed out, "I believe it was from... Europe or something."

Rex rolled his eyes at this at first… before he realized something. There was only one person he knew that had moved from Japan to Europe. Almost immediately he stumbled out of his seat and scrambled back to his feet.

"Wait, did you say a girl was coming home from Europe?!" he gasped, pressing the tomboy for answers, "Where?!"

"You're slow on the pick-up, Wells-san." one of Rex's classmates observed as he was surprised at the sudden interest the future king took in the new student.

"I don't know, France I think?" Aguri clarified before she also recognized how familiar that place was, "Wait, France..."

The trio's eyes soon widened, "That means that-!"

"Alright then, please introduce yourself to the class." Ms. Ogawa said as the trio and the rest of the class turned to find Henrietta standing there with a smile.

"Hello everyone!" she called out cheerfully.

Rex's jaw soon dropped alongside Junichi and Aguri's, none of them expected to find Henrietta had returned to Hagukumi, let alone transfer to their class specifically.

The future king was blown away. The last time Rex saw her he was okay, but now? He didn't know where to look. She had grown up into a stunning girl, in his eyes. The future king was completely flustered by her new appearance. And clearly from the looks of his fellow male classmates, he wasn't alone in this fact.

Almost immediately, after picking up his jaw from the floor, Rex slapped himself.

'Yep, not a dream.' He mentally told himself.

"Bonjour, my name is Henrietta Tristain." she introduced herself before giving a bow, "It's a pleasure to meet you all."

Most of the students soon greeted her back before the purple-haired girl noticed the future king as well as the playboy and the blonde tomboy. While she was trying to recall where she had seen the three before, Rex could already tell that there were confused glances coming from nearly all of the class, apart from Wally who was just as gobsmacked at her sudden arrival as he was. Then Henrietta's confused expression turned into one of excitement.

"Rex, Junichi, Aguri! It's been too long!" she cheerfully called out.

Rushing to the trio's seats, she pulled her old friends in for a big hug. Junichi and Aguri were surprised as they were brought to her sides, while Rex was completely caught off-guard since his face went smack dab in the middle of her chest.

'She's hugging me! Henrietta's hugging me! What is that bothering me so much!?' his frantic mind asked as a deep blush formed on the future king's face, at least for a moment before going from red to blue due to the lack of oxygen.

"Uhh, H-Henrietta? I know it's been a while, but I think Rex is gonna suffocate there!" Junichi pleaded.

The purple-haired girl realized this as she saw where the future king's face was and quickly let go. Rex quickly took this time to take a deep breath and regain some air.

"S-SORRY! I forgot!" she apologized, "It's been a long time since I've seen you guys honestly."

"It's fine, It's fine…" he reassured her while taking in some deep breaths, 'I thought I was gonna die there!' he thought.

Aguri sighed before she gave a shrug, "Just like old times, eh?"

"Y-Yeah..." the future king agreed before looking at her.

While the future king was still left shocked at Henrietta's new look, the purple-haired girl was equally surprised to see how much her friends had grown. While she already knew how Aguri looked thanks to the video calls they had since she left, along with Junichi due to the dueling tournament in France, Rex were a different story.

It was clear to her that neither the future king wasn't the same scrappy boy she knew from when she was young. Rex had obviously bulked up a bit from what she could see, and gave off a slightly rugged presence.

"Uh... hi..." he greeted her awkwardly.

"I-It's been a while..." she greeted back.

Junichi smirked as the pair was left silent, he and Aguri giggled to them. The rest of the class was mixed as they started gossiping amongst themselves. It wasn't every day that they saw the normally standoff-ish Rex act this skittish. All the while, a young girl with short light green hair with one bang that covers her right eye and wore a red version of the usual L'Aviner school uniform huffed at the commotion that the purple-haired foreigner was bringing.

"I can see that you've changed in the three years since we last saw each other." the purple-haired girl noted.

"Y-Yeah, you look good. Great even." Rex answered, "A-Anyways, I'm kind of surprised that you chose to transfer to L'Aviner."

"Well mom recommended the school to me, so I finished the exams and got it." Henrietta explained sheepishly, "I didn't really expect to see you guys here though."

"Honestly, same here." Aguri agreed. "I can't wait to catch up with you."

"Y-Yeah." Henrietta agreed.

While the young king was happy to see one of his first friends had returned, the moment he turned towards his classmates, he was back to being annoyed by them. That glare was enough for the class to stop staring and scramble back to their desks.

The duo of Revice began to laugh their asses off after Henrietta finished her story.

"Wow, talk about being lucky and unlucky at the same time!" Vice laughed at the top of his lungs.

Ikki felt embarrassed by his partner's antics.

"Oi, Vice! Cut that out!" he snarled as he smacked his partner upside the head.

"Ow!"

"Anyway, at first I was excited to see Rex again, but then…"

BREAK TIME…

It's lunch time and Henrietta was catching up with Aguri as they headed to the cafeteria. However, at the moment, she wasn't exactly in the best of moods.

"Excusez-moi, mais est-ce que cette femme vient de vous traiter de pute ? ! CELUI QUI A DIT ÇA VA SE FAIRE DÉCHIRER LA GORGE DE LEUR CORPS LORSQUE JE METTRE LA MAINS SUR EUX!" Henrietta swore in her native tongue which roughly translated to "Excuse me, but did this woman just call you a whore?! WHOEVER SAID THAT IS GOING TO HAVE THEIR THROAT TORN RIGHT FROM THEIR BODIES WHEN I GET MY HANDS ON THEM!"

She had just found out that some of the more popular girls had called Aguri some very non-savory words.

"Henrietta, please calm down!" Aguri panicked.

"Why? There's no way I'm letting this stand!" She argued, "No one gets to call my best friend that!"

"I thought Rex is your best friend?" The tomboy pointed out, which made Henrietta blush a bit. "So, what's it like heading back to your home country?" Aguri decided to ask her.

"Well, it wasn't all that different. I mostly grew up in a small villa before my mom got transferred to Fuuto." Henrietta reminisced, "Honestly after the hustle and bustle of two cities, it was nice to go back to the countryside. But honestly, France isn't my real home. It's here in Japan."

The tomboy couldn't help but grin, "That's my girl!" she cheered as she hugged Henrietta.

"Hey, that's mine!" a young student shouted.

The girls then turned and saw a young boy trying his best to get his bag from a couple of delinquents. Henrietta was about to intervene when Rex walked past them and approached the group.

"What seems to be the problem, gentlemen?" the future king asked the group in a frank manner.

One of the delinquents chuckled, "Oh, you're one of the new kids here eh?" he commented, "Well, we're just helping one of our kouhai with fixing up their bags."

Rex took one look at the boy then the bag, "Looks more like a mugging to me. Mind if you three back off? I made a promise that I wouldn't do anything stupid while I'm here."

The second delinquent scoffed at this, "Ha! And what the heck are you going to do about it?"

However upon saying that, Rex glared at them and snarled, "Drop it, and you won't have to find out."

"Oh, we got ourselves a tough guy here!" the first delinquent teased, raising his hands in the air in faux surrender, "Whatever shall we d-"

He never got to finish his sentence as Rex grabbed him by the collar and lift him into the air, "Do you really want to test my patience?" he warned him again as his eyes let out a low glow while his hair slightly swirled in the air, "Leave the kid alone, or else…."

This was what got the first delinquent to finally back off and run like the devil was on his heels, with the second giving the underclassman his bag back before he fled the scene. Rex breathed a sigh of relief before he turned his attention to the young man, who was slightly terrified by the future king's presense.

"You alright now?" he asked the young man.

"Y-Yeah… I-I guess…" the young man timidly answered.

The future king sighed and crossed his arms, "Good. Just give me a call if they're causing you any trouble, got it?" he offered, looking away to try and hide the small smile he had.

While scared at first, the underclassman accepted the offer as the future king rolled his eyes, only for him to notice a couple of people were staring at him.

"What are you looking at?" he growled, causing most of the onlookers to quickly go back to what they were doing prior.

Afterwards, Rex just put his hands in his pockets and just walked away. As he did, Henrietta was surprised by the future king's aggression.

"Wow, Rex was a lot more… abrasive than I remember." She observed, "What happened?"

Aguri fell silent for a moment, "Honestly, you might want to talk to Junichi for that. I didn't really notice what was going on." She admitted, "He knows a bit more about what happened…"

"Turns out things changed while I was away." Henrietta said as she finished her story.

"Huh, didn't think that Rex would act like such a well… a delinquent." Ikki noted with some level of surprise.

"Yeah, kid must have seen some shit if he went from kind kid to that." Vice agreed, "So, what exactly did you learn from Yoshida?"

"From what he told me? It mostly had to do with his old teacher." Henrietta recalled, "I'm guessing he meant the Shifu of Aira Dojo. I remember we met him last year. He was a surprisingly nice man."

As Henrietta said that, Ikki and Vice noticed the purple-haired girl's smile slowly drop before the bath house helper decided to be the one to ask…

"So what happened next?"

Henrietta, after a brief silence, looked away with shame.

"The Black Dragons happened…" she muttered.

"The what now?" Vice said, confused by the name.

"They used to be the biggest yakuza clan in Hagukumi, until they were demolished." She explained, "As for how? It happened not long after I moved away."

TIMELINE: ZI-O 2014-B

"Today's lesson is perhaps the most important. Listen well, you three." The Shifu, an older bald man wearing a traditional gi, said to the three, "You have all become very strong indeed."

"Some more than others." Wally muttered as he glanced at Rex, who was attentive to the Shifu's teachings.

"However, you must remember. True strength is more than the power to defeat your enemy. It is the power to defend yourself and that which you hold dear." The Shifu continued.

"So does this mean that-"

"Patience, Shishi. I am getting to that." The Shifu told the future king, "Now then, what I am about to show you cannot be repeated. So pay attention."

Before he could show the trio what he wanted to show them, the three heard Junichi's voice call out the Shifu's name. Confused, the four saw the young boy stumble to his feet, injured but still alive. Rex already felt a sense of anger burn in his heart, who dared hurt his friend?!

"S-Shifu-san, it's terrible! There's a bunch of people demanding you show yourself. They've resorted to beating some of your students down until you're all that's left!" the young student wailed.

"WHAT?!" Rex gasped as he turned towards the Shifu, "Shifu, we can't let whoever's doing this get away! We have to stop him!"

As he prepared to rush out and fight, the Shifu shouted "You do no such thing!"

Confused, Rex turned towards the Shifu, "But Shifu-"

"Strong as you've grown, it would be foolish and reckless." He scolded the future king, "I know that you mean well Shishi, but what will come of you fighting them off? Others will come, and potentially innocent lives will suffer. Violence begets violence. Hate breeds malice."

The Shifu then looked towards Kanae, then to Wally, and then finally to Rex. He could tell that, even though they do not agree with Rex's desire to stop them now, they were just as concerned for their fellow pupils as the future king was.

"You have all honed your bodies and minds, but your hearts are yet wanting." He observed.

The three were left speechless as the Shifu stepped forward, "Fear not, I will talk to these people. You three must at least help the others recover from their injuries. Is that clear?"

Feeling deflated, Rex bowed, "Yes Shifu…"

As the Shifu and the three students stepped out, he was greeted by a pale man alongside a couple of goons, all having dragon tattoos on their arms. Following their master's orders, the three began helping any injured students back to the dojo for medical attention, and there were many of them.

"Hao?" the Shifu addressed the pale man.

The pale man chuckled, "We meet at last, you old fool. I see that you have your star pupils at bay." He then walked around the Shifu while Rex, Wally, and Kanae watched on from inside the dojo. "I must say, I'm impressed you have chosen this life, for a man of your age. However, you'll find that my Black Dragons are made of sterner stuff than the youthful dross you teach. Against their combined strength, you would not stand a chance, but a man of honor would never stoop to cowardly methods."

"Really? You're saying that after you did blindsiding us with your goons?" Rex shouted.

Hao was surprised by Rex's tenacity, though his fellow students were not happy about the future king speaking out in that way.

"Hooo? I see that one of your pupils has quite the mouth on him." Hao chuckled.

"Shishi, that's enough." The Shifu scolded him

"Hey, don't go flying off the handle. Remember what Shifu told us." She reminded the young king.

"What the boy says has some truth to it, but to me that was just a discordant rabble." Hao laughed off, "They rely on numbers to carry out their tasks, yet still fail to do so all too often. Not unlike your star pupils over there."

Rex was ready to fight, but then he noticed several people gather towards Hao, all bearing the same black dragon tattoo on their arms.

"Now then, how about I do what I should have done many years ago, and wipe this pathetic dojo off the face of this city!" he laughed before he sent his goons towards the dojo. Luckily, Rex was there as he tackled one to the ground, forcing the Shifu, along with Wally and Kanae, to fight alongside their rather eager classmate.

The battle was fierce as the yakuza were prepared with knives and pistols, but the students were ready for them. When one person tried to slam her face into a nearby wall, she quickly grabbed the goon's arm and tossed her over her shoulder. Meanwhile Wally was fighting much dirtier, striking his opponents arms and stealing their weapons to use against them. He even grabbed one yakuza member by the legs and started stamping him in the groin repeatedly.

Finally, Rex was the most tenacious of the trio, knocking yakuza members down left and right. When several yakuza were about to attack him from all sides, Rex quickly unleashed a fast barrage of punches around himself to keep the yazuka members away but also knock them out.

As the three star pupils fought against the yakuza members, the Shifu and Hao merely circled each other, sizing each other up while waiting for the other to make the first move. The two glared at each other as the martial arts master performed a "bring it on" motion, which finally prompted the yakuza leader to jump in and quickly deliver a stab to the master's chest.

The Shifu saw it coming and quickly ducked under the forward stab and then landed a sweeping kick to the yakuza leader's side, injuring him as the two quickly exchanged blows. After dodging two more stab attempts, the Shifu then performed a couple of flowing motions to distract the yakuza leader before landing several quick blows to the chest, staggering him. As he looked at his knife however, Hao quickly tossed it at the Shifu, piercing his side. The master stepped back as the yakuza leader took out a wakizashi and tried to land a leaping slash on the Shifu, but he was able to dodge it and then quickly landed a double palm strike to push the yakuza leader far enough for him to pull the knife out.

As Rex watched the fight unfold, fear gripped his heart.

"I have to help the Shifu!" he cried out.

"Stay back, that's grampa's fight!" Kanae called out.

Hao smirked as he quickly leaped forward, slashing at the Shifu's injured side and opening the stab wound further. Luckily, the master was able to land a somersault kick to help get some distance away from the yakuza leader. However after that, he quickly fell to his knees as he clutched his bleeding side.

Hao laughed, "What's the matter? Slowing down, old man?" he taunted the old man.

The Shifu however kept his ground, "I cannot die yet, not by your hands."

The yakuza leader was angry, 'Always the stubborn one' he thought.

He wanted to end this fight here and now, before the police would show up. So, the yakuza leader decided to reach for his concealed pistol. However before he could fire it…

"No you don't, you son of a bitch!" Rex roared as he rushed in and quickly tackled Hao to the ground.

"Out of the way, Shishi!" the Shifu called out.

As the two fought over the gun, Hao quickly used his greater strength to restrain the boy and quickly place a gun to his head.

"King-boy!" Wally gasped as he tried to rush to his rival's aide.

However, the concern both he and Kanae had for their fellow student was more than enough of a distraction for the other yakuza members to tackle and pin them to the ground. Rex tried his best to struggle free, he wouldn't let this madman kill his master.

"I'm tired of these games, old man!" he roared, "Either you surrender, or the boy dies!" he threatened him, poking the future king in anger.

While fearful, Rex tried his best to stay strong, "D-Don't worry about me, Shifu! Just stop him!" he pleaded with his master.

"They have nothing to do with this, just let them go!"

"Heh, so you fight valiantly as you did when we were mere youths, but the moment I place your granddaughter and your precious students under my heel, you beg?" Hao chuckle, "I expected an old fool, but an coward as well?"

That chuckle soon became a full on laugh, infuriating the three trapped pupils. In spite of this, the Shifu knew what he had to do. However, for Rex, there was also a sense of shame that hung over him. The master saw the look of sadness in the boy's eyes, and decided to try and give the boy a smile to comfort him.

The yakuza leader soon sneered at this, "I see that you've accepted your fate? Well then, allow me to put you out of your misery." He said as he began to aim his pistol at the master.

"My granddaughter, and my grandsons in spirit… please, listen close." He told the future king.

Rex and Wally looked towards their master, surprised to hear the old man call them his grandsons.

"Pay attention. Miss nothing. Observe everything." He instructed the trio, "My strength wanes, and so I may be able to perform this only once. Perhaps this may be the last action I can do before my body recedes to the aftelife."

"G-Grandfather?" Kanae whimpered.

With those words, the Shifu took a deep breath and closed his eyes. He then took on a stance that was very familiar to the three.

"No, no! Don't do it! You'll kill yourself if you do it now!" Rex gasped in horror.

"Shup up, brat!" Hao snarled.

But the Shifu remained undeterred, "Every breath, carefully drawn… Every movement, subtle and sudden."

Suddenly, the earth began to shake as the Shifu began to slowly but surely glow with a white aura.

"The culmination of my life and my art." He called what he was about to do.

"Master, master! Please, don't do it!" Wally cried out, begging his master to stop.

"With mind's eye, and open heart…" the Shifu continue to chant.

"Grandfather, please! Stop!" Kanae wailed, tears beginning to flow as she struggled to break free.

Finally, the white aura engulfed the Shifu as Hao dropped his gun in fear. Seeing that there was no other way, Rex slammed his foot into Hao's shin. The old yakuza leader cried out in pain as the future king kicked the gun away and rolled out of the way.

"Mark well and learn!" the Shifu finished before he shouted…

HEAVENLY PEAK'S… DESCENT!

In a flash, the Shifu appeared behind the man to deliver several rapid strikes to the back, then to the left side as he let loose a flurry of kicks, then he assaulted is right with a series of palm stikes, before finally unleashing attacks on all sides with only the afterimages of his visage being the only indication of where he was. Finally, the old man leaped back before he reared back his fist and struck the yakuza leader with all his might. Hao was sent flying by this final assault.

'Bested by this old fool? This cannot be!' the yakuza leader thought before he finally hit the pavement and felt every part of his body ache.

"W-We need to make a run for it, now!" Hao's second in command cried out, "The cops are coming!"

"D-Don't leave me, my brother…" Hao weakly called out.

"As you wish, boss." The second in command said, getting him onto his back before the surviving yakuza members ran for their lives.

Meanwhile the Shifu then got back to his feet, but then began to fall. Luckily, Rex, as well as Kanae and Wally after they broke free from the distracted and terrified yakuza members, caught their master before he could fall.

"Shifu… forgive me…" Rex muttered.

"It, it is not your fault, Shishi…" the Shifu reassured him before he looked towards the three, "Perhaps I was wrong about you three? You wished to fight, whereas I did not…"

"But, we weren't strong enough to stop the yakuza." Kanae admitted with a sense of shame to her words.

"No…" the Shifu refuted his granddaughter's doubts, "You three have become strong, stronger than I dare hoped."

"The hell are you talking about?" Wally questioned the master, "I'm sure that you have so much more to teach us."

"I have faith that through you three, that our art will endure for generations to come…" he said with a smile, "Preserved and protected by you little tiger, my worthy successor." He them placed his hand on Kanae, "Please, help Shishi and Kuo-Kyo continue to grow."

"No, Shifu don't!" Rex cried, "You can't leave us now!"

"Listen." He said to the trio of pupils, "I am old, too old. That I have lived so long is a miracle indeed. In guiding you three on this path, I have found renewed purpose for a time."

"C-Come on grandfather, please! T-there's an ambulance on it's way now! Please, hold on!" Kanae shouted, trying to give the master hope.

He first looked towards Rex, "Rex, never be ashamed of who you are. Have faith in yourself. For you possess a purity of spirit that shines through the shadows of your heart in your every word and deed."

The future king wiped the tears from his eyes, "Shifu…"

Next, he looked towards Wally, "Wallace, you have passion and dedication like no other, strive to become the best in whatever you wish to achieve."

The bully looked down and shook his head, "Come on old man, don't give up the ghost now!"

Finally, he looked towards Kanae, "Kanae, my granddaughter. I have watched you grow since you were a little girl. However, I now see before me a young woman strong yet kind, ready for whatever lies ahead."

Despite her tears, Kanae tried her best to smile, "I know, I know…"

He then gave each of his star pupils one more look, his heart beginning to glow. Rex and Wally were horrified.

"If you take but one thing to heart, let it be this." He then told them, "There is strength in kindness, do not be afraid to show it. Your words have value, so speak and be heard. And trust in yourselves, for you have valiant hearts."

The three were still crying as the police finally arrived, with Ichijo at the forefront.

"Freeze!" he ordered the yakuza, "You're all under arrest!"

"Well then, it's time for me to part." He said, "It's time for me to tell your forefathers… how much… you've… grown…"

And just like that, the Shifu's body slumped as his heart appeared before the group and floated into the Final World. Kanae was left in tears as she held her grandfather's hand and sobbed. Wally was left crying as he looked to the ground in shame. And finally, Rex, cradling his fallen master's body, hugged it tight.

"SHIIIIIIIFFFFFFFUUUUUUUUU!"

Henrietta closed her eyes and gave the old master a moment of silence while the demonic duo took in the story.

"Damn…" Vice said.

"I can't imagine the grief that Rex-san or Wally-san must have went through." Ikki sighed.

Henrietta nodded, "And just when things couldn't get worse, while a good portion of the yakuza were arrested, not all of them faced justice. Their leader especially…" she looked down, "You can imagine how well that went with Rex…"

"Hold on, you're leaving the dojo?!" Kanae gasped as she and Wally as the trio stood in the same training area they once shared with the sensei.

"This is a journey I have to go on myself." Rex admitted, his head lowered in shame.

"That is bullshit and you know it, king-boy!" Wally growled, "You're going after the Black Dragons, aren't you? That's suicide!"

Rex's hands began to tighten as he turned towards his fellow students. Kanae could tell that the future king wasn't in the best mental state.

"Shishi-kohai, grandfather wouldn't blame you for his death." She tried to reassure him, "You don't have to blame yourself for what happened."

The future king was silent.

"Do you two though?" he asked them, surprising both of his fellow pupils, "Do you blame me for sensei's death?"

"Clearly no, that bastard Hao was the one who killed him." Wally said.

"But he never would have gotten the chance if I didn't rush into their fight." The future king lamented.

Kanae and Wally tried to reach out to Rex, but he merely turned away from them and slowly began to walk away. The future king didn't want to leave, but his guilt over their sensei's demise still weighed heavily on his mind.

'There's nothing left for me. No place to call home, no one to care for... and no fucks left to give. Nothing... but criminals. Fine, if they want something to fear, then I'll give them one.' He thought to himself.

With a heavy heart, Rex left the dojo one more time… and as he left, his anger and darkness in his heart began to overtake him as his eyes began to menacingly glow pink while the gray tips began to grow and change his hair to that of a pure silver.

"It's high time I show these bastards what living in despair truly feels like." He snarled under his breath before he put on the hood on his jacket, his eyes glowing under the shade, "From now on, they aren't going to fear a little kid... they're gonna fear a demon."

Henrietta then shivered, "After that, there wasn't a man nor woman alive that feared the Silver-haired Demon's wrath in the three years Rexy was active. If you were someone in the underground of this city, it was wise not to step into his territory." Henrietta finished as she recalled all the horror stories of people from the underground encountering the boy.

"Gah! Let go of me, you little brat!" a mugger snarled as Rex held him by his collar.

"And what? Let you walk away scott-free after seeing the shit I saw?" the Silver-haired Demon pointed out as he turned towards an elderly woman trying her best to save her dying husband, "Those two were supposed to get to their grandson's wedding. Now look what you've done."

"Tsk, so what?" the mugger snarled, "Why should you care?"

This made the Silver-haired Demon smirk a bit, "Fine, don't admit to your guilt. It just makes it easier for me to do… this…"

In one fell swoop, Rex brought the man's back and snapped it on his knee, leaving him in serious pain. Afterwards, he then grabbed the mugger's own wallet from his pocket and emptied it out of all the cash. He then called the ambulance before dragging the man by his leg.

"W-Where are you taking me?" he gasped in horror.

"Why? Hell of course…" Rex said as he smiled.

However unlike his normal smile, the grin the Silver-haired Demon flashed was not comforting in the slightest. In fact, it almost looked crooked, unnatural, and even monstrous. Upon seeing this, the mugger tried to cling onto anything to escape his fate. However, it was futile as the Silver-haired Demon continued to bring him to who-knows-where.

The mugger never showed his face in the city after that.

"Tsk, what the hell are you doing?! It's just one kid!" one gang member snarled as a couple of gangsters stood by their leader's side.

In front of them was one of their own on the ground at the feet of the silent Rex, who just stood there, waiting for one of the gangsters to move first. As the other gangsters trembled in fear, one of them screamed and ran straight for the Silver-haired Demon to try and knock him out with a bat. However, Rex merely moved back and kneed him in the stomach, throwing him to the side afterwards. When two more tried to go after him, the Silver-haired Demon grabbed their bats mid-swing and threw them back. Afterwards he dashed in and knocked out the pair to the ground with a double clothesline.

Soon, more came charging in, ready to try and kill the Silver-haired Demon, but with each strike, Rex was able to beat them down. While he was ganged up at several points with gangsters railing on him when he was down, he quickly recovered and kept fighting. He even grabbed whatever staggered gangster he had in hand and tossed him into the hoard to give himself some breathing room.

The gangsters were relentless, but Rex wasn't anything if not stubborn. Soon, only one more was left as Rex landed two more punches before sending him to the ground with a roundhouse kick. Rex then staggered back to his feet before standing tall and cracking his neck. When he turned around, he saw several gangsters had come to their leader's aide, but when they saw Rex's bloodied face smile at him, they instantly dropped their weapons and ran like the devil himself was coming for them.

Unfortunately for them, Rex began chasing after them like a rabid dog, leading to their initial escape evolving into them fleeing for their lives.

A young girl was left quivering in fear as she found herself in an alleyway alone. However, the person she feared wasn't the people assaulting her… it was the person who saved her.

"L-Listen, we didn't know that you were hanging around the neighborhood!" a bleached blonde delinquent, bloodied, bruised, and pantless, cried out as he looked towards a silent but trudging Rex.

Her amber eyes had watched the Silver-haired Demon effortlessly slaughtered the other three young men earlier; the same ones who were ripping her clothes off and forcibly touching her now were left unconscious and blooded on the ground. If he hadn't shown up, likely she would have been raped. Then again, with the way he defeated them, throwing them into the wall, using one unconscious member as a weapon to attack the other, and even kicking a gang member's back hard enough to break it, she wondered if she was going to die here.

"And yet, you and your goons just violated that girl like she was a personal play toy, in MY territory I may add." the Silver-haired Demon snarled with no remorse.

"W-Well, T-T-Toshi thought it would be fun to 'play around' an-" he was cut off as he saw the boy's eyes glow all the fiercer, "L-L-Listen, it was just one girl! You can just let this once incident slip, right?"

However to the gang leader's horror, Rex shook his head and began to cackle sadistically, a rare sight that made the fear of the delinquent even more real, "That's what they all say. I have heard these excuses over and over again." the boy stated as the gang leader quivered in fear, "But they never listen to my warnings to stop before it was too late... so why should I listen to you now?"

As the gang leader stumbled and fell, that was the signal for Rex to strike. The Silver-haired Demon then rushed at him, as he had done to the rest of his goons, and began throwing his fists and kicks into the man's chest, stomach, face, and the like, one after the other. He was relentless, the gang leader could not keep up and thusly he ate blow, after blow, after blow as the boy broke as much of the gang leader's body as he could. He was even beginning to cough up blood with how hard the delinquent was punching him.

The girl hugged her bokken as if it were a security blanket.

"Naga-kun… Naga-kun…" she muttered, "Save me…"

After a while the young man then collapsed to the ground, his body in agony as the Silver-haired Demon stamped on his exposed crotch hard, causing him to scream in pain.

"Please... have mercy..." the bleached blonde man pleaded, "No more... we promise, we won't touch another girl again! I swear! Just, let me and my boys go..."

However, he never got it as Rex stood over him, his other foot now on his chest as the boy glared at him.

"No, people like you don't deserve forgiveness." the boy stated he removed his foot from his crotch and placed his full weight on him. That was when the demon noticed the ripped off a part of his shirt that revealed a dragon tattoo all too familiar to him, "So… you're one of them… are you? I was hoping to find someone like you to spread the message."

The young man flinched in fear and quickly tried to scramble free of his attacker, but the fatigue and pain combined with the demon pinning him down left him too tired to even move. The terrified man then looked up to the Silver-haired Demon as he started to accept his fate.

"When you wake up, you Black Dragons should learn... to never anger a devil..."

Then the foot came down...

*SLAM!*

He kicked the man's head, being at least considerate to not smash the man's skull in. After checking his pulse, he then turned towards the frightened girl, who cowered in fear as she saw Rex's blood-soaked face.

"D-Don't come me!" she pleaded, closing her eyes and pointing her bokken forward.

However, when she opened her eyes, she saw that the Silver-haired Demon had removed one of the young men's jackets and draped it over her to cover her up.

"Go, the police station is just a few miles away." The demon ordered, "I'll stay and make sure these people don't get away."

Thankfully, she headed Rex's words and fled in that direction. When she returned, Rex was gone, and the four men were left tied together by some rope, their leader placed front and center.

"Holy shit, that's fucked up." Vice said after a bit of silence.

"Worse was that his rampage ended up attracting several followers, people who were also angry at society and wanted to lash out." Henrietta continued, "Rex ended up forming a group around them called the Sons of the Demon. They alongside six other gangs would end up overthrowing the Black Dragons and split the underground up into seven areas. Those gangs handled the lower filth, but Rex… he made his target personal."

As the chaos from downstairs continued, a door leading to a central office was kicked down. Rex gave an evil grin with a glint in his glowing eyes as he stared down Hao, who still had scars from his fight with the shifu.

"And then there were one…" he chuckled after cracking his knuckles, "Remember me?"

Scared out of his mind, Hao called out in fear "H-HELP! He's here!"

Suddenly, the yakuza's right hand man stepped out with his katana at the ready. The blademaster glared at the demon.

"You… you're that old geezer's overconfident student" he snarled.

Rex clicked his tongue, "At least someone actually remembers me." He grumbled, "I don't want to rush you two so let's settle this." Then the right hand man saw the wicked gleam in the demon's eyes, "I've been waiting for this day for ages…"

"Then perhaps I should let you wait no longer!" the right hand man growled before rushing forward.

In a flash, Rex quickly slid underneath the right hand man's incoming slash. He then kipped up before delivering a roundhouse kick to the right hand man's back, knocking him away as the demon barraged into him with punches.

'If I can't break him in one punch, break him in two. If I can't do it in two, then do it in four. Keep fighting, keep on the offensive, until there is nothing in front of me but dust!' the demon thought as the two exchanged blows.

The right hand man was able to land a couple of cuts and wounds on the demon, but at the same time the demon landed key blows on the yakuza member's body and break a couple of his bones. After quickly bringing up his katana to block, Rex immediately switched his incoming punch for a leaping uppercut to knock him off balance.

The yakuza recovered and quickly tried to stab his blade into the demon's stomach, but Rex dodged it and quickly kneed the right hand man in the elbow, cracking it. Afterwards, he threw the yakuza member into a wall before delivering a suplex onto said wall.

Once the right hand man was left unconscious, the demon turned his gaze towards Hao. Hao, in spite of the injuries that he sustained from fighting the sensei many years ago, was still ready to fight the demon in any way he could.

"I should have killed you when I had the chance." He snarled as the yakuza leader readied his gun.

Unlike the last time however, Rex was ready for it and dodged all of the yakuza's shots before nailing him with a shoulder block takedown, driving his shoulder into the yakuza leader's torso and knocking them into the ground. Once he was on the ground, the demon quickly began delivering punch after punch on Hao while the man tried to get the demon off of him.

Luckily, he was able to get him off with a good kick before jumping into the air, grabbing Rex by the shoulders, and head-butting him onto his office floor. The demon staggered back to his feet and dodged an incoming punch. Afterwards, Rex slammed Hao into the wall and kicked him to the ground.

"What's the matter? I thought you were the mighty leader of the Black Dragons?" Rex taunted him as he stood over the growling Hao, "Are you really going to let a little kid beat you like this?"

The yakuza leader snarled before getting up and quickly getting up and quickly punching Rex in the stomach. He then let loose a couple of punches, one to the head and then another to his body, before going for a kick to the head. Unfortunately, the demon dodged the incoming kick and countered with a rapid series of punches before finally knocking Hao out with one more uppercut.

Outside, as the battle between the delinquent gangs and the Black Dragons waged on, the two sides heard someone coming out of the office. Either group were ready for the worse when Rex stepped out, bloodied, battered, but still alive, as he held up both Hao and his right hand man by the back of their head.

As soon as they saw that their leader had been defeated, the Black Dragons surrendered, much to Rex's delight. He would soon give off a confident smirk that would soon paint the face of the would-be Demon King of Time.

The two Riders from 2021 shivered, "So what gives? Why is Rex the way he is now?" Vice asked, "I mean the guy looks more like teenage Ikki than an evil demon king."

"Well, it's never been confirmed, but rumors say that a boy in black rolled into town and supposedly beat Rex. The resulting battle ended up showing Rex what he had become… and he disbanded the Sons of the Demon and went into hiding." She noted before shivering in fear, "I can't imagine who would be scary enough for Rex to see the light…"

"I can imagine so." Ikki agreed, "So, what happened after that?"

"Well, not much is known but he would soon come under the tutelage of Yusuke-san and then get admitted to L'Aviner." She recalled, "However as you can imagine, even if he wasn't the same gang leader he was, his reputation still preceded him. So for the most part, people were scared of him. And as we'd later find out… that fear didn't extent to those who knew him before the demon…"

"Huh, I wonder why Rex wants to meet me behind the school?" Henrietta pondered as she looked at the letter in her hand.

She had found it in her shoe locker earlier in the day, not sure what to make of it. When she opened it, the purple-haired girl noticed that it was in Rex's handwriting. But then she saw Rex and Yuno staring each other down, who looked shocked to see him there. Almost immediately, she hid in the nearby bushes while she watched the argument go down.

"Oh, Rex! I didn't think you'd show up!" Yuno said.

"Cut the bullshit, I know that it was you." He snarled.

"Huh? What do you mean?" she said in a way of faux innocence.

"I know that it was you who forged my handwriting earlier. You were planning to use a letter to lure Henrietta here. Isn't it?" Rex pointed out.

Yuno shook her head, "What? No! No, it wasn't!"

The future king groaned before taking something out from his jacket, "Then explain these…"

He then tossed to her a file that had several attempts to forge the future king's handwriting, along with a copy of the letter the purple-haired girl had found. Yuno and Henrietta were left surprised, the former especially as her face began to pale.

As Yuno flinched, Henrietta took another look at the letter and began to notice small inconsistencies in the handwriting. Namely she noticed the slight cursive usage of English as well as the small grammatical errors that shouldn't come up in a native English speaker like Rex.

"I had to pull some strings to get this. These were found in your bag." Rex revealed to her, "And that wasn't the only thing. I heard from an old rival of mine that you had a bit of a rap sheet. That you killed several girls before." The future king then glared at the woman, "Is this true?"

Yuno was left stammering, trying her best to explain herself to the future king. But it was clear to Rex that she was guilty as charged.

"You know, I mostly tolerated your little dates mostly because I didn't want to suspect anything malicious of you." The future king said, circling around her with a deathly gaze, "But then I noticed how you acted in front of my friends."

"What? Think I would feel happy about someone taking my boyfriend?" the girl argued.

"I never agreed to actually dating you, at least, not seriously." Rex pointed out, "But most girlfriends don't spread rumors about their boyfriends to scare off potential suitors." Then the pair saw Rex's hair start to turn silver while his eyes began to glow, "Especially when you start digging up information that was meant to stay buried."

Henrietta was left horrified as she stepped back, 'So all those rumors about Rex being the Silver-haired Demon… were real?'

Yuno was just as horrified, "I-I… I had no idea…" she muttered, reaching for something.

"Did you? I've seen your behavior before. You have been lied to me, to my friends, and even my enemies that you were not a monster." He said as he cracked his knuckles, "But now? After all I have seen? I think it's high time I have to do what must be done… and end you before you become a threat to this whole school. No… this whole city."

That was when the future king quickly jumped and reared his fist back for a Superman punch as Yuno quickly removed from the hem of her skirt a kitchen knife, barely bringing it out to block the incoming attack. She was initially saving it for someone else, but at that moment, survival was a higher priority to the woman.

As Rex quickly threw out punch after punch, Yuno had to keep dodging and waiting for a moment to strike. Luckily, after tanking an incoming sucker punch, she quickly delivered a cut onto the demon's right leg. The demon stepped back and winced in pain as the woman twirled the knife around.

"To think, I'd have to fight you because of that… French brat…" Yuno snarled, "Fine, I guess I might as well issue some tough love."

However, try as she might, the demon was just too relentless with his offence. All the while Henrietta watched on in horror as the rumors she had heard about her friend were true. Eventually, Yuno was worn down and barely able to breath.

As Rex reared back his fist for one more punch, Yuno struggled back to her feet. She had to find a way to survive him somehow. Henrietta on the other hand felt like she had to leave, only for her to accidentally cause the door to open.

The woman smirked, 'What perfect timing…'

In a quick motion, she quickly grabbed Henrietta and moved her in front of Rex, hoping to make him stop his punch.

*WHACK!*

As if time had slowed down, Yuno witnessed the demon's fist send Henrietta straight into the ground and hit her head. Rex stopped as he looked at the currently dazed purple-haired girl clutch her head… and then turned towards Yuno with a snarl. Now Yuno was truly terrified, if not even his so-called 'best friend' couldn't stop him, what will?

Slowly, she began to back away as Rex once again slowly trudged towards her.

"W-Wait, p-please! Spare me! I have so much to live for!" Yuno wailed, getting on her knees, "I promise that I won't hurt your friends! I'll even stop any scheme I have! I promise!"

She then got down and performed a dogeza in an attempt to show her sincerity, but then she felt the demon's foot on the back of her head. She closed her eyes and awaited her end. This was it, she was going to get stomped into the ground.

However before he could finish her off, someone grabbed his other foot. Rex turned angrily towards the interloper… only to look on in horror as he saw Henrietta, drifting in and out of consciousness, holding onto his other leg with all she had left.

"Please… don't do this…" she weakly pleaded.

"H-Henrietta?" Rex mumbled, his hair slowly returning to it's normal state while his eyes stopped glowing.

He then looked at the battered Yuno and quickly stepped back in horror. He then looked at his hands, still bleeding from the cuts that she had inflicted on him. The future king soon felt a quick pain in his side, likely from the stab wound.

"What have I done…?" he muttered in horror.

When Yuno saw that vulnerability, she quickly fled as fast as she could out of the scene.

Ikki and Vice were surprised, "So Yuno was a yandere?"

She nodded, "In my opinion, she was a woman who believed her own lies. Thankfully after a different incident, she was arrested and placed in juvenile prison."

Then she looked down in shame, "But you can imagine that being found out by your best friend… it wasn't good for his mental state. Because that day he confronted Yuno was the last day I ever saw him. Last time any of us saw him."

The dual Riders were confused, "So what? He ran away?" Vice asked bluntly, much to Ikki's disapproval.

"No, more like… he never showed his face since the fight." Henrietta clarified.

It wouldn't be a week later on Valentine's Day that we'd see him again…"

On the rooftop, Henrietta was waiting around for someone. If she had to guess, it was likely another suitor who wanted to confess his feelings to her. She had already gotten a couple of those in the past few weeks. However, there was a small hope in her heart that the person she was meeting was Rex. She hadn't seen the boy since that day.

However, upon arriving to the rooftop, she was come across Wally.

"Oh? Wally? What are you doing here?" she asked him.

The bully began to look down and fidget a bit, looking awkward. "I… I have something to tell you. Something important." He admitted.

"Huh?"

The purple-haired girl was confused until Wally began to approach her. She began to get flustered by how bold the bully was.

"Eh? Wha-What are you doing?" she stammered.

That was when Wally gave Henrietta a letter before stepping back… and performing a dogeza. Henrietta was confused, why would he be apologizing to her?

"Please… if you must… help me save Rex." He pleaded.

Henrietta took a step back, "Wait, you know where Rex is?" she asked excitedly.

The bully nodded as he got up from the dogeza,"I do, but we don't have much time. If we don't find him before the day ends…"

The bully saw images of the shifu flash through his mind. He did not want to see his old rival meet the same fate, despite their heated rivalry. Henrietta could tell that what the bully was about to say affected him greatly and clasped his hands.

"It's okay, you don't have to tell me if it's that bad." She reassured him.

Wally however shook his head, the life of his fellow pupil was more important than his personal happiness.

"When I went to check in on king-boy at his house yesterday after he vanished from school, I saw that the place was completely empty. At first it was a bit strange that the door was open, I then found three letters on his desk. Each one addressed to one of his closest friends. One for Yoshida, one for Shirai… and finally one for you." He explained before taking a deep breath, "I have a feeling where he's gonna be, but I thought I'd at least give them to you before we go."

Henrietta did not like where this story was going, "Why is that…?"

Wally then gave her the answer she was not looking forward to,"…because Rex is about to enter a fight he might not survive…"

The purple-haired girl's expression went from worried to grim…

MOMENTS LATER…

"Rex! REEEX!" she called out.

"Come on, Rex! Where the hell are you?!" Junichi shouted.

"Come on, where the heck are you?" Aguri added.

Soon, the three friends alongside Wally began to look all over the city for their lost friend. Several of the Gaming Club members volunteered to their best to find Rex after they got the news from the playboy, while a couple of their classmates, namely Tsuyoshi and Homare, offered to help in the search when Aguri showed them her letter.

"Crap, where IS he?" Gramont growled.

"I don't know…" Tsuyoshi grumbled to himself, "I didn't think Wells would cover his tracks that easily."

As the class began to look for the young king, Henrietta looked towards the letter Wally had recently given her that came from Rex. Unlike the previous one forged by Yuno, this one was truly from the future king.

Hey, Henrietta, if you're reading this, then that means I'm already gone.

I know this is kind of strange for me to say that but… I feel like I might not be able to celebrate Valentines' Day with you, or anything. So, before what happens today happens.

You? You are one of my first friends, my best friend. You are able to see the good in everyone, a kind soul. I know that no one can really replace you in my heart, you'll always be my best friend.

I wish I could say the same about myself…

I can understand that finding out that I was the Silver-haired Demon must have hurt you, and to be honest it hurts me so much that I became that monster. That I've hurt so many people, and left others just scared to see me.

Someone like that shouldn't be your friend, let alone be associated with you.

I feel like I was placed in your life as just a plague, something to always cause misfortune. You have a better time making friends with others, while all I do is end up making more enemies than I should.

That's why, that's why I can't stay here.

I feel like I'm too much of a danger to be around you, or Junichi, or Aguri, or really anyone. I'd just bring you guys down. I'm sorry that I didn't leave without saying a proper goodbye, but, since you know the truth, I hope that you can forgive me. If not? Then I can understand if you want to move on without me.

However, if you can at least give me one last request…

Please… please stay away from me.

I don't want you to end up getting killed by those who I've hurt… or by me.

Rex.

"Rexy…" she muttered before putting the letter away, muttering her old childhood nickname for the boy.

As the group continued their search, they heard the sound of the future king shouting at the top of his lungs.

"Hey, I hear something!" the playboy shouted.

Before they could go any further, a sudden force appeared pushed at them like a mighty wind. Henrietta, Junichi, Aguri, and Wally were barely able to hold their ground as the force continued to try and send them flying.

"What was that?!" Wally gasped.

"I-I don't know! Hang on!" Henrietta shouted as they tried their best to grab onto something as to not get blown away.

Before long, the mysterious force pushing them back began to subside. Once it died down enough, the quartet was left stunned by what they just experienced.

"The hell was that! Was there a sudden windstorm in town?" Wally growled.

"I think that came from the basketball court!" Aguri observed.

They ran towards the nearby basketball court where they were shocked to find a tired and restless Rex standing over the defeated body of Yuno. The future king was battered and bruised, heavily breathing as he could barely stand. His clothes were heavily torn, revealing scars, bruises, and wounds of various kinds that peppered his body. The boy's fists had been wrapped with cloth, but they were heavily leaking blood. Overall, it looked like he fought a one-man war and, judging by the scene they saw, won.

What supported this image was the fact that he was standing in the middle of the battletorn court, the unconscious bodies of nearly three, no, seven hundred or so delinquents literally littering the place. Only a few were conscious, but even then, they were left moaning in agony from the beating they recieved. Conflicted, the bully slowly made his way towards the future king, not wanting to provoke him.

"What the fuck…" Junichi muttered while Henrietta was left horrified by the sight.

"I think that's about half of the delinquents from our old school." Aguri observed as recognized a couple of people, "I remember there were rumors that they were planning on having their revenge on the demon."

"Yeah, and I can see a couple of gangs from other schools." The playboy added, "This? This is pretty much the top 6 gangs in the city. We're only missing the Sons of the Demon and it would have been the whole underground."

Henrietta soon stopped as she finally found her friend. As she was about to call out for him, Junichi held her back. There was a chance that more people could set Rex back into fight mode and they did not want that.

"I'm surprised you actually pulled it off." The bully noted as he looked towards the delinquents scattered around the court, "700 people in a day. I'm surprised you're even standing, you look like shit."

However, the future king just stared at him with a permanent scowl. Wally was strangely unsettled by the silence he was getting from Rex, especially due to the glare he was receiving wasn't the usual glare of malice he would feel from him.

They were more… empty.

"Well, aren't you gonna say something? Maybe a quip like, 'They should have brought more' or 'That was too easy', or… or… ? Come on, say something!" Wally asked him cautiously, "Hell, I'll even take the 'I almost died in there', just say something! Anything!"

At that, Rex finally took a step forward… before his eyes rolled up and his body went limp. At once, the trio gasped in horror and ran towards the fallen king. Luckily Wally was able to catch Rex before he could stumble onto the ground, but he was equally as horrified as they were; it seemed that his body finally gave out after fighting so many people for so long.

"Red eyes? Hey, wake up bro!" Junichi shouted as he tried to call out towards the fallen king.

There was no response from him. Henrietta, fearing for the worst, tried her best to try and stop the bleeding after Wally had let him down slowly.

"No, no, no, no, no, no!" she muttered, "Come on, Rex. Stay with us!"

"O-Oi, king-boy! This ain't funny!" Wally roared as he tried to shake the unconscious boy in an attempt to wake him up, "I already lost our shifu, there's no way I'm losing you too!"

Aguri quickly dialed for 119 in an attempt to get some help for the future king. As they were struggling to keep Rex alive, several of their classmates arrived just as the police and the ambulance came around; the cops making mass arrests for many of the still conscious delinquents while medical staff helped Rex onto a stretcher and towards a hospital with Rex's friends in tow.

"Holy shit…" Gramont muttered aloud.

"What the fuck happened here?" Homare gasped.

Wally, stepping forward, tried his best to shake off the shock before he addressed the class, "He did what he told me he was going to do. Keep the other gangs busy before the school day ended."

Within the ambulance, doctors were working around the clock to try and stabilize Rex's condition. As they did, Henrietta was clutching the boy's hand tight in the hopes that the boy would live.

Henrietta looked down with a tinge of regret, "The doctors were able to save him from bleeding out. But unlike the other delinquents who mostly were left with bruises or broken bones, Rex was just barely clinging onto life after the battle."

Ikki felt bad for what Rex's friends could have gone through. However, something was itching at the back of his mind.

That random burst of wind…

"Say, about that strange windstorm. Any idea that was?" the bathhouse helper asked.

Henrietta placed a finger to her head to think, "If I had to guess, it was likely Rex's powers going haywire for the first time. Since I remember a similar incident happening a couple of days ago." she recalled, remembering the burst of Chrono Energy Rex let out at the airfield.

"Well, what happened after that?" Vice inquired of Henrietta, who felt her hand shake.

Ikki, spotting this, told her, "It's okay. You can tell us."

While she was hesitant, the purple-haired girl could tell that Ikki was being genuine in his concern. "Well, when we got into the hospital… we learned that he fell into a coma." She revealed.

Henrietta began the slow wait for the doctor as they waited outside Rex's room, Junichi, Aguri, Wally and a couple of their friends talking amongst themselves. The doctor soon walked out towards the group, with many of them looking towards the man.

"Anything?" Junichi asked the man.

He shook his head, "No, much like the past three months his brain hasn't shown any activity." He reported, "And if I must be honest… there's a chance that he might not be long for this world."

Junichi noticed Wally's fist tighten, while Henrietta looked distraught.

"We do not know if he will wake up. We were able to treat most of his bodily injuries, but we haven't had the best luck in trying to wake him." The doctor explained, "I can assume that he only has two more months before we pull the plug."

The small group looked down in shame.

"We will do the best we can to try and save your friend's life, but there is only so much we can do." The doctor apologized.

"No no, it's fine. You're only doing your job." Henrietta reassured the man.

After he moved away, the group was allowed to enter Rex's hospital room. What the purple-haired girl saw made her heart ache.

There Rex was; heavily bandaged and lying unconscious on a bed with a tube in his nose to allow him to breathe. He had IV fluid pumped in from a bag at his side, while there was a little device that monitored his heart. Henrietta looked at the boy's heart monitor, it was still beeping slowly, as it had been since he arrived.

As the small group looked on, Henrietta walked upto the future king's bedside and clasped his hand.

"Hey there. It's us again." She said, "Sorry to keep you waiting, Rex."

As the group gathered at Rex's side, Junichi sighed.

"You know, I heard that a couple of guys from Industrial Illusions are planning on scouting me out for the upcoming Action Duel demonstration." The playboy told the future king, "He extended an invitation to all of us once you're back in action." He then placed a small letter that had a large I as well as a small number 2 in the bottom right of the logo at his bedside.

Gramont was next as he walked upto the future king's bedside, "You know. Gaming Club ain't the same without you around, pal." He sighed, "I know that Goro would be extremely happy to have his boss show up alive and well. Not to mention all of us here wouldn't still be in school without you sticking your neck out there for us."

After stepping back, Aguri was next. She looked bashful as she felt a slight blush. "Look… I finally decided to do what you told me all those years ago. I finally talked it out with my mom." She revealed, "At first, I was scared to think of what she would do to me if she reacted badly. But it's like you said, she loved me no matter who I liked." The tomboy smiled, "That… that took such a huge weight on my shoulder."

Wally sighed, "Rex... I know we've had our differences. I'm pretty sure I've thrown worse insults and even harsher punishment on you. But I think your friends wouldn't like it if you just kicked the bucket like that." He said, looking away in embarrassment, snapping to attention, "Besides, you still owe me one more fight! There ain't no way I'm letting you die on me before we can settle the score!"

This would go on with the others that were there to visit Rex, telling them of their opportunities that the future king had helped them seize. Henrietta couldn't help but smile as she watched these people open up to her friend.

Finally, it was her turn. With bated breath, she closed her eyes and held the future king's hand, "Rex… I know that we haven't exactly talked in a long while. But, I just want you to know. It doesn't matter if you're just a normal kid or a legendary delinquent. You'll always be my best friend. That won't ever change." She then looked towards the others, "I heard you saved a lot of people while I was away. You kept them safe, like a good king did. And even after you chose to step away, you still chose to protect others; even if you were a bit of a grumpy bear about it." She giggled at the memory of Rex protecting the lowerclassman from the people bullying him. "That's why we need you to wake up. Everyone in class miss you, the Gaming club miss you, Junichi and Aguri miss you… I miss you…"

She then felt tears go down her face as she gripped the boy's hand tight, "So please… please wake up… we need our friend back… we need our king back…"

Henrietta cried for a while as her tears dripped from her face onto the boy's unconscious body. Then, as she let go, the group noticed something amazing. They saw a soft pink aura manifested from Rex, one they had never seen before. Suddenly, many of the future king's lingering scars began to dissipate, as if time began to rewind itself. Unbeknownst to her or even the future king, this was Rex's first usage of what would soon be named as Time Reversal.

As the boy continued to glow, the others stepped back in shock and confusion. They weren't sure what was going on, but something was happening to Rex. Then, the glowing stopped and the future king's body was seemingly good as new.

As the visitors began to question what they had just seen, the beeps on the heart monitor began to pick up in pace and then they saw it.

Rex's hand flinched, his face moved a bit.

He was waking up.

Quickly the group began to gather around the bed as the future king's eyes began to open for the first time in months.

"Ugh… what? What… happened…?" Rex muttered as he briefly covered his eyes from the sudden light in front of him, "Did I… did I die…?"

After the future king slowly but surely propped himself up, Henrietta, Junichi, and Aguri couldn't help but chuckle as they fought back tears of joy.

"Nope, you're still on Earth." Henrietta joked as she choked up on her tears. She couldn't help but feel a huge wave of relief wash over her and her friends.

"Heh, not like Death can hold him down for long." Wally agreed, tearing up as well.

Rex slowly looked around and noticed his new surroundings, slowly realizing that he had been moved to somewhere else. Meanwhile, the others that came with the pair celebrated at an apparent miracle. Rex was alive again.

"Say… weren't we in the park yesterday?" the future king asked, "Why am I in a hospital bed?"

*POW!*

"OW! What the hell was that for?!" Rex snarled at Wally, reeling from the latter punching him in the face.

"That was for making me almost relive Shifu's death, king-boy!" the bully shouted in both anger and relief.

Then Henrietta hugged the young king, confused as he may be. She had to in case this was just a mere dream.

"It's alright, Rex. We're not going anywhere." She told him.

At first, the young king was thrown off by what Henrietta had said, but after seeing the group of people happy that he was alive as well as the tears of joy his friends were shedding, Rex couldn't help but feel warmth in his heart. He then patted Henrietta's head.

"I'm back."

"Welcome home."

"That… that was so beautiful!" Vice said while he took out a napkin and blew his runny nose into it.

Ikki agreed before he recalled something, "Wait, you said that he was in a coma for months. How is he still in school?"

Henrietta smiled, "Well once he got out of the hospital, we all helped him with studying for the make-up exams."

At Rex's house, the young king soon changed into a simple shirt and jogging pants with ironically enough, the same headband Sougo would later wear when he and Rex would encounter each other again. He then stared down the massive amount of books on his desk and cracked his knuckles.

"Alright, let's get down to business." He told himself, "Get my head in the game."

Luckily he wasn't alone as his friends were there to help him study. First was Junichi who used dueling to help him study science, then there was Aguri who was quizzing the future king about history while he was exercising on a treadmill. Gramount would aid him via him jogging with Rex and helping him with his Japanese, while Henrietta would help him with his worst subject, home economics. Goro would pop in and have Rex lift dumb bells made of PE books, and Owada and Tatsuya pitched in to create a VR game to help Rex with his computer lessons as well. Even Wally pitched in as he and Rex spared in rounds of 'math-kwondo' as he called it in which he would answer math questions in the middle of battle to help test his stock knowledge.

These "study sessions" would continue for the next few days until it was time for the make-up exam.

"Alright kid, I want you to do your best." Ms. Atsuko told Rex as he sat alone in the classroom, with only his test in front of him. After some begging from not only the future king but also many of his classmates, Ms. Atsuko agreed to allow Rex one chance to catch up lest he be held back a year, "Now, while I will admit that you did something remarkable in surviving that hellish battle. But I want to see if your mind can hold just as much information as your body can withstand the greatest of abuse. I'm not teaching meatheads after all." She told the future king.

Rex gulped. He then looked down on his paper and began to write down what he recalled. Meanwhile outside, Henrietta, Junichi, and Aguri as well as the other four Gaming Club members waited with bated breath.

"You sure that he'll be able to pass?" Wally asked the group, "It's be lame to have a rival who got held back a year."

"He's gotta." Henrietta said, "If not, then I don't know what I'll do."

The clock then continued to tick down as Rex began answering one question after another, his determination shining even outside of battle. Before the time was up, the future king placed down his pencil.

"All done!" He shouted.

"I'll be the judge of that!" The homeroom teacher notes after taking the test papers away.

Soon, the whole group, even Wally, was awaiting the results while Ms. Atsuko began checking through the answers. The teacher gave a glare to get the kids to back off.

"S-So, what did I get, sensei?" The future king asked.

Ms. Atsuko then smirked, "Congratulations, Wells-san. It seems that your persistence paid off. You not only pass with flying colors, but you are eligible for staying in this school."

Rex soon lit up while the rest cheered; he wasn't leaving L'Aviner any time soon.

"Woo hoo! I'm not losing my friends!" The future king shouted with tears of joy before grabbing Henrietta and twirling around with her.

"You did it!" The purple-haired girl cheered.

"Whew, and here I thought it would have been for nothing." Junichi agreed.

"Now now. Just because you got a high grade Wells-san, doesn't mean tha-"

Ms. Atsuko was soon interrupted by Rex hugging her as well, leading to Henrietta earning a squeak while the other males gasped at the boneheaded decision he had done.

"Thank you for giving me a second chance, sensei! I promise that you won't regret it!" Rex promised, unaware of his action.

Ms. Atsuko was surprised and a bit embarrassed, "U-Um, v-very well Wells-san."

Rex then let go after a little while, allowing the teacher to dust herself off and readjust her suit, 'Typical. The one day I forget to wear a bra, and I end up getting nearly motorboated by an oblivious student.' she thought to herself while looking towards Rex celebrating with his friends, 'Although, I am glad that whatever was troubling him has finally subsided.'

The next day…

"This is gonna suck…" the future king grumbled.

"Come on, Rex. It'll be fine." Junichi reassured him.

"But why? Why this?" Rex protested further, "You do realize that everyone will likely see me as way more of an outcast than normal, right?" the future king pointed out.

"Dude, relax! Don't be such a crybaby!" Junichi noted, "Besides, I promised the girls that I'd help clean you up."

Rex rolled his eyes before the boys walked into school. All around him, Rex saw people staring at him. He tried to not meet their gaze and just focus on getting to class. Soon, they reached their classroom door, but Junichi could tell that the future king didn't want to enter.

The playboy placed a reassuring hand on his shoulder, "Don't worry, we'll be by your side bud."

Rex gulped before the playboy walked into the classroom. After a little bit, Rex soon entered as well. The class was surprised to see that Rex… was wearing the standard L'Aviner uniform. Class hadn't yet started, but already he wanted to leave.

As Wally got up to confront him, Rex was ready to fight. However instead, he began to clap for the boy. Aguri and Homare then joined in, then Goro and Owada, before finally all of the class began to clap for the young king.

"See what I mean?" Junichi reassured the young king, "You helped a lot of people in this classroom, and this school. To us, you're alright."

Rex couldn't help but smile. After giving a quick bow to his classmates, the boy noticed that a couple of girls were looking at him with intrigue. Aguri couldn't help but chuckle when she noticed the slight jealousy in the purple-haired girl's eyes.

'Uh oh, looks like Henrietta's got more competition.' She thought to herself.

Meanwhile, Henrietta quickly brought Rex's arm to her chest, making the future king quickly aware of her presence.

"Good morning, Rex!" she said.

"Oh, boo-I mean, good morning!" Rex yelped at the sudden show of affection.

"Glad to see you're back to your old self, huh?" she said.

"U-U-Uh… yeah! Definitely!" Rex stammered, trying to keep his mind occupied.

'Don't think about it! Don't think about it! Don't think about it! Don't think about it! Don't think about it! Don't think about it! Don't think about it! Don't think about it! Don't think about it! Don't think about it! Don't think about it! Don't think about it!' he repeated rapidly in his head.

Ms. Atsuko noticed this display as she arrived and chuckled, "Why Tristain-san. I didn't expect you to be so protective of your boyfriend." The teacher teased the pair.

Almost immediately both of them shouted "We're just childhood friends!" before Henrietta let go and looked away from the equally flustered Rex.

However the young king's worries were only just the beginning as he felt a hand grip his shoulder, snapping him out of his trance. Turning around, he was soon met with Gramont glaring at him.

"Wells-kun... You've got balls, son." he noted.

Suddenly, Owada, Tatsuya, and Goro appeared menacingly over him. Junichi wanted to intervene, but he knew that his status as one of the popular kids was the only thing that kept him safe from their clutches. The same status that Rex sadly didn't share…

"I thought you said that no girl would like you, but what the heck did we just see?" Owada growled.

"Why didn't you tell us you had a bombshell as a childhood friend?" Goro snarled.

"H-Huh?! I thought I already-" Rex gasped, but he was interrupted by the four looming over him.

"This is completely unfair, Wells!" Tatsuya finished before they declared…

"YOU'RE NOT GETTING AWAY WITH THIS!"

All four members soon pounced on the greenhorn of the Gaming Club, beating him down for the rest of the class to watch.

"PLEASE! HELP ME! " Rex pleaded.

Henrietta felt a sweat bead go down her head while Junichi took a couple of breaths before trying his best to pry what's left of the future king from his jealous club mates.

"And just like that, all of Rex's air of intimidation is gone like the wind." Aguri chuckled.

"Y-Yeah…" Henrietta agreed, hesitantly laughing alongside her best friend.

"Oh, I can't breathe! Oh! Let me guess, they chased him out of the school when they found out you two were dating!"

When Henrietta shook his head, Vice started laughing even louder. Ikki then recalled something an ally of his had once told him about Zi-O. Given that Rex was the Rider, perhaps asking Henrietta would be the safest bet, especially with what he had seen during the young king's first encounter with his Another Rider counterpart.

"So, sorry if I'm dropping this on you now but… I remember from George that Zi-O II's supposed to represent the harmony of light and darkness." Ikki recalled, "And well, when I saw Rex try and become Zi-O II, I saw struggling to use it."

The purple-haired girl looked towards the bath house helper with confusion, "Hold on, say that again? He struggled to use it?"

Ikki nodded, "Yeah, it was sparking like mad when Rex tried to use it."

Henrietta's heart sunk, "Oh no…" she muttered.

The bath house helper's ears perked up, "What's wrong?" He then spotted Henrietta getting up and running, "H-Hey, where are you going?!"

"I have to stop him, before it's too late!" she could only answer.

Without much else to go off on, Ikki and Vice quickly ran after the purple-haired girl.

Meanwhile, Miharu was in his Time Mazine with Goofy and Isaiah, looking a bit disappointed in himself. That feeling was certainly felt from the two elders of the group as an air of uneasiness fell under him.

"Gawrsh, what do we do now?" the dog knight asked, "We can't let Grant fight Rex, he'll kill him."

"I know, but it's also my fault that I couldn't stop either him or-wait, Rex?" Miharu looked up, "Geiz is going to fight who now?!"

"Yeah, he's fighting Rex… Kamen Rider Zi-O." the dog knight said, "Is there something wrong?"

Isaiah and Goofy looked at each other for a moment before they turned their attention to the shell-shocked future Rider.

"No… No… no no no no no!" Miharu panicked, "What have you done?! What ha-you see, this is exactly what I warned Geiz and the princess about!"

"Hold on, Miharu-san. What's wrong?" the commander asked while he also tried to calm the future Rider down.

However Miharu then began pouring through the records of the timeline before he hit up that specific date. And what he saw compounded his fear.

"No, this was not how the timestream was supposed to go!" he said before the future Rider angrily turned towards the commander, "You… what did you do?!"

"Miharu-san, what's going on?" Isaiah asked him.

"This timeline was hijacked before I could even get here…" Miharu said, "Commander, Captain, what I'm about to tell you might shock you but… Rex wasn't supposed to be Zi-O. Hell…. He isn't supposed to be alive."

The two looked shocked as they saw Miharu pull out a newspaper of that day.

"April 3, 2009. Two families of three ended up in a fatal car crash." The future Rider explained, "Only one was supposed to survive, and that person would have become Zi-O."

"And Rex… wasn't supposed to be the one who lived, was he?"

"No, the fact that you said that he survived meant that someone must have went back and did something to alter the timeline and cause him to survive that day." Miharu noted before he tapped away at his tablet, "And after that, a whole bunch of ripples in the timestream were felt, such as several people going on that plane, the survival of key individuals like Saki, Eiji, Iyu, and the like… and the fact that it caused many of his own variants to survive their own deaths."

This was news to Goofy as Isaiah felt his hands grip. Miharu then turned towards the commander.

"I'm sure you know what I'm talking about, right Commander?" the future Rider asked him.

Isaiah nodded, "When I was trying to find a way to stop Oma Zi-O, I stumbled across a multitude of other Rexes. There were one who became Geiz instead of the corporal, some who gained other powers like Buster, Thouser, and Don Momotaro, there were even a couple who were born to different parents and thusly lived completely different lives. However, a good amount of them, no… nearly all of them, shared the same fate."

"And that would be?" Miharu motioned for the commander to elaborate.

Isaiah sighed before he told them, "They would all fall to the darkness, and become the demon king Oma Zi-O."

Miharu shivered, "And all of this, because this Rex survived his own death."

"When I first met the prince, I hoped that he would be the one; the one who could possibly stop his future self from destroying all of time." Isaiaha admitted, "To think that he was in fact, a living paradox. It… it changes everything we thought we knew about him."

Miharu and Goofy had to silently agree with the commander's statement. Meanwhile, in the distance, Schwartz had overheard the whole thing… and it left the elder Time Jacker enraged.

"To think… my plan, my own ascension… it's all falling apart because of one simple anomoly!?" Schwartz roared before he slammed his fist into a nearby wall, smashing it. He then looked towards the direction that Rex was at, "Now, now I know what I must do." he said as he calmed himself down, "To ensure Sougo Tokiwa's rule, I must kill Rex Wells."

Finally, Rex soon sent the text to Grant's cell phone, the young king reading what he had just sent.

Let's settle things. Meet me at the basketball court tomorrow at dawn

The young king sighed before he got up from the swing. Wally sighed.

"Going to confront soldier boy?" he guessed correctly.

Rex nodded, "Yeah, pretty much."

Wally sneered, "But look at you, you're one step away from turning into that demon permanently!" he reminded the young king, "If you use those watches one more time, than you're done! You'll be the Silver-haired Demon for good!"

The young king gulped, "…I know." He then took a deep breath, "But this is something I have to do. I could see something behind Grant's actions during our last fight. He wasn't acting like himself, something must have happened to him to awaken Geiz Revive."

The bully snarled, "And does that include going on a suicide mission? I feel like we've had this talk before and boy do I not like where it's going."

"Grant only wants to fight me and only me Wally, and he might likely do anything to get to me." Rex stated, "So If I can at least route him away from civilians, then maybe I can-"

*POW!*

"Yeow!" Rex yelped, reeling from the punch that Wally had given.

"Can what? Get yourself killed? You saw how he kicked our asses. Geiz Revive power's is your counter, even more so than me! If you go out there like you did before, then you'll either end up bringing us back to this point or end up dead!" the bully snapped before he snarled, "I seriously wonder if you have some kind of death wish or something."

"And you got a-"

"I'm just thinking with my head on straight, unlike you!" Wally roared as he grabbed Rex by his collar and pinned him to the swing set, interrupting him once again.

"Gah, let me go!" Rex snarled.

"What is with you, king-boy!? You are always running off on your own and leaving your so-called friends to pick up the pieces of your actions!" the bully roared.

Rex was about to say something but Wally spoke up again, "Oh, no! I'm not done talking!" he snapped at the young king, "When are you going to learn the difference between bravery and stupidity? When another one of your friends dies?!"

"I ca-"

"Oh yeah, you can do this on your own." The bully snapped, "Well tell me! Did you have the situation under control when our Shifu died? When that crazed yandere of an ex sicked the whole of Hagukumi gangs on you?" The bully then took out the OOO Greed Anotherwatch with his free hand, "When you were turned into an Another Rider yourself and nearly killed your friends?"

Rex wanted to say something, but it was like he had lost his voice. There was nothing he could really say to counter what Wally was saying, and the bully could see in the confused gaze Rex had that he got his point across.

Wally however felt a sense of deja vu from this confrontation.

THE DAY BEFORE THE BATTLE OF THE 700…

"I'm cool with it."

Wally did a double take on what the future king had just said.

"Wait what?" he asked the young king.

"You heard me, you got my blessing." Rex said frankly.

The bully didn't know what he was hearing, but Rex did not just say that he was completely okay with him pursuing Henrietta. There was no way this was happening.

"Are, are you pulling my leg here?" Wally questioned the future king.

Rex weakly shrugged his shoulders, "Why would I be lying to you now?"

Wally scoffed, "Yeah. Fine, I'll play your game. So you finally given up on your girl? I guess that crazy bitch Yuno finally got to you."

"In a way…" Rex said, "But really, tomorrow I'm settling something and… and there's a good chance that I might not come back."

The bully scoffed, "What? You finally pissed off the wrong people? Alright then tough guy, how many?"

"All of them."

Wally's bravado faltered, "What? You're gonna fight the other gangs in the city?"

Rex said nothing.

Now the bully was getting worried, "King-boy? You know I don't like the silent treatment. Come on, spill it. Did you really piss off all the other gangs?"

After a while, Rex finally nodded. Wally soon went from dismissive to worry.

"Dude, have you lost your mind?!" he growled, "You'd have to be insane to get even one gang angry, let alone the whole of the underground pissed off enough to band together and kill you! What the hell happened?!"

"Yuno happened!" Rex shouted, "It's because I chose to split with her that she gave me a choice."

"And that would be?"

"Either I return to her and become her little plaything… or the gangs level L'Aviner." Rex, with a heavy heart, admitted.

"And, what are you planning to do?" he asked.

Rex took a deep breath, "I'm gonna fight them, today. All 700 of them, Yuno too if I have to. I got the choice of where we will meet, so I chose a place a nearby abandoned building to settle things."

The bully then realized what he was saying, "So that's why you're saying that you're fine with me dating your best friend." He muttered.

"Yeah, it's because between the two of us? You're the only one who can keep the others safe." Rex then turned towards the bully, "I guess when you got death staring you in the face, it puts so much of your life into perspective. It makes you realize how some issues are smaller than you realize." He said, looking down with shame for a bit, "Or how some pursuits are fruitless in the end."

The two stood there for a spell, not saying a word as the gravity of the situation hung over them.

"So, I might as well ask this before the reaper calls my number." The future king said as he offered the bully his hand, "Let's let go of the past, and live for today..."

Wally, despite hearing this, felt disgusted and turned away.

"Tsk, just go and do your suicide mission for all I care!" he snarled whilst walking away from the future king, "At least you'll be out of my hair for good this time, king-boy!"

Rex felt saddened by this, but at the same time he expected this outcome. The two had been enemies for a long time, so making peace with the bully right then and there was an outright impossibility. After putting his hand in his pocket, the young king made his way towards the location of what could possibly be his final battle.

Wally on the other hand, felt his heart ache as he made his commute to school.

'What does it matter to me if he dies today? This is the best news I've heard all month!' he thought to himself, 'I should be celebrating! Hell, I could probably piss all over his grave after he bites it!'

The bully chuckled to himself; that was a good plan. Despite that, he couldn't keep himself in good spirits for long as the weight of Rex's words hung over him.

'So why… why do I feel so shitty for not accepting that truce?' he pondered.

The two remained slient for a brief moment as they glared at each other. Then, Wally broke the silence.

"King-boy, we've had our differences, but I can tell that you've learned nothing from your time outside this city." he noted, "You're still the same idealistic brat I had to deal with when we were kids, always trying to save others when it's none of your damn business. So I gotta ask you, why the hell do you insist on doing things on your own? Are you nothing but some damned egoi-"

"BECAUSE IF I DON'T, THEN WHO WILL!?"

Wally froze, he didn't really expect the young king to answer in that way. Then, he felt tears drop onto his quivering hand; tears that came from the frustrated eyes of the young king.

"Do you think I don't know that?! Huh?! Do you think I haven't had those same thoughts every time I fight?" Rex roared back at the bully whilst breaking free from his grip, "There isn't a day that goes by where I wonder if I should have just walked away, to let the problem sort itself out! But…" The young king's tears soon continued to fall, "I can't experience the pain of losing someone again. Not if I can actually make a damn difference!"

'Rex…' Wally thought, it was rare to see him be this upset.

"And yet… and yet… I couldn't do a thing to save those close to me, or those I swore to protect…" Rex admitted as he tried to not let his emotions overwhelm him, "Their blood is on my hands, and that's something I'll freely admit. I never stopped blaming myself for what I could have done differently, if things just went a little better than before..." He lowered his head in shame, "Of the people I couldn't protect..." A brief sniffle later, he then looked at his hands quivering with fear and frustration, "And yet, I can't just sit back and do nothing while others are in danger. Because this was my mess! Because I'm still here! If I can't stop this… if I fail to prevent that future from happening… Then what the hell am I even doing anymore?"

As the bully stepped back to give the boy some room, Rex felt to his knees, left to stew in both his own words and what the bully had told him. Perhaps he hadn't really changed since becoming Zi-O? Maybe the sting of his parents' deaths never really left him? While the young king looked conflicted, Wally gripped the Another Zi-O watch in his pocket.

However, when he prepared to take out the device and activate it, Wally hesitated. But why should he? The young king was right there, powers on the fritz and ready for the slaughter. All he had to do was land one kick while he was distracted and he'd be done with him. So why hadn't he activated the Another Zi-O watch?

The young king said nothing, likely still in deep thought. Wally tried to will himself into transforming, but instead he grumbled to himself and crossed his arms.

"Ugh, I feel like I've gone soft." he berated himself, "Come on, king-boy. I'm supposed to be the mopey one." The bully told the young king, "Get up already, you got a job to do!"

"Why would that bother you?"

Surprised that the young king had asked that, Wally looked towards Rex, who while a bit more sure of himself, was still conflicted.

"Why would you care if I'm running into danger?" Rex questioned the bully as he got up and dusted himself off, "I didn't really expect you to actually care about me."

The bully was surprised by the young king's answer before he finally said something, "I've said it before, and I'll say it a million times if I have to. If there's anyone who should be given the golden opertunity of beating your sorry hide, then it's me! Not that military brat Myson, or that crackhead Conquete. Me! And no one else! I ain't letting some jackasses from the future take away the victory that I want just because they got better powers!" Wally told him as he looked away to calm down, "Besides, look at you. You're already two-thirds away from turning into the maniacal demon king." He then crossed his arms, "You're not exactly in the best shape to fight Grant over there. If you want a fighting chance, maybe it's time you re-learn what our Shifu taught us." With a heavy heart, the bully then placed a hand to his chest and quoted their late master, "That true strength flows from the heart."

"And if I fail, what happens then?" the young king asked.

Grumbling to himself, Wally then breathed a sigh of regret, "Then trust in those nitwits you call your friends. I know that you've heard this before, but it was their choice to follow you. If any of them die under your watch, if any of them end up getting struck down or sacrifice themselves, it was because they made that decision. That wasn't their mistake, it was their choice. After all, a king that can't hear the cries of his people is no king at all."

…

After a bit, Rex let out a half-hearted laugh before giving Wally a smile, "Wow, I didn't think you'd have it in you to give a speech like that."

Wally was surprised to see this and quickly looked towards the young king, slightly flustered, "What?! What do you mean?"

"Exactly what I mean." Rex noted with a smirk.

"Hey, don't put words into my mouth king-boy! You're still on death's row, ya know!" he shouted.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah…" Rex chuckled before hearing Henrietta, Ikki, and Vice arrived.

Henrietta wanted to stop them, but Ikki noticed there was a different air around this battle. There wasn't the tinge of malice and anger surrounding the bully or the young king; it felt a bit more relaxed. As if the battle taking place before them was more of a spar than a fight to the death.

"So, I'm guessing you're still at Aira Dojo?" Rex asked him.

Wally rolled his eyes, "Tsk, as if I would stay when I got nothing else to le-"

"Sure it ain't because of Tora-sempai?"

"Grk!" Wally had to force himself not to flinch.

"Surprised you were able to find someone after moving on from Etta." Rex recalled as he remembered asking something to Kanae.

"Say, Tora-sempai? How was Wally since I left?" Rex off-handedly asked the judo practitioner.

"Luckily nothing major happened. The police asked for our side of the story and we gave it to them. Afterwards, Hayate and I did our best to help teach the students like grandpa used to do." She said.

The young king was confused, "Wait, Hayate? Who's he?"

Kanae peeped as she clasped her mouth and felt her face turn red, "Uh, I…"

Rex soon began to take interest, "I'm guessing that was another student who came in after I left?"

The judo practitioner shook her head, "No no, he's actually someone you know. Someone who… actually ended up asking me out as we rebuilt grandpa's dojo…" she looked embarrassed that she let this slip.

The young king was confused until he began to narrow down the names… and quickly he caught on. He had recalled seeing a certain someone's real name once when he saw the class arrangement in L'Aviner. A name that stuck out to him.

Hayate Kagogawa, aka his old rival…

"Wait, you're dating Wally?!" he gasped.

Kanae looked away, "L-Look, he ended up asking me out for Christmas last year. Neither of us didn't want to say anything since we didn't really like admitting that we were an item."

"Huh… damn… I really need to pay Goro when I see him." Rex groaned before he placed his fist to his cheek in frustration, "That's 70 yen I'm never seeing again…"

"Next time, never bet against a person's love life." Rex groaned, "Three times out of five, it's always gonna be real."

"Hey, you stay away from Kanae! You already took one girl from me, you ain't taking another!" Wally snarled, only to be met with Rex's smug 'I knew it' grin.

He had unknowingly outed himself in front of his perceived worst enemy.

"Kanae, huuuh?" A rather smug Rex asked.

Wally's face soon blushed red, "THAT'S IT!" With a stomp, the bully took up his old fighting stance, "Alright smart guy, you can beat me without transforming, then maybe I'll let you have your death wish. But if I win, then you knock it the hell off with teasing me about romance."

Rex chuckled, "Fine by me." He noted before doing the same, "Just do me a favor. If I die, then can you please take care of my friends for me?"

The bully scoffed, "Tell that to me after you win."

The two then stared each other down before quickly running towards each other, ready for another fight. From a distance however, Dark Vice was watching the battle unfold with intrigue.

"Heh, so while circumstances have changed, the fight's still happening." The demon observed, "Alright, let's see what you two got…"

As the young king and the bully charged at each other, Henrietta soon thought back to a time not long after Rex joined the Aira Dojo. She wanted to play some games with him at her house when she accidentally left some sheet music on her table.

TIMELINE: ZI-O 2014-B

"Wow, so you're planning on making your own music?" the future king asked, to which the purple-haired girl began to get embarrassed.

"U-Uh, I'm not that good honestly. Really, I'm not." She tried to dissuade him, quickly hiding the music sheets behind her back.

"Well, it's not like we're the best at the start." Rex noted before he shrugged, "Plus it can't hurt to have a second opinion on your singing."

"Well, I guess. It's just, I've never performed in front of another person before." The purple-haired girl admitted, looking down on herself.

"Come on, I remember I didn't have that much practice in fighting until shifu decided to train me." Rex reassured her with a smile, "If I can make it as a fighter, maybe you can too as a singer?"

She then looked towards the poster in her room above her small electronic piano. It was an old 80s style poster of Halyx with Leanne lifting her microphone in the air while her bandmates stood behind her in full costume. Feeling some confidence reach her, she then smiled at Rex and nodded before placing the music sheet on the electronic piano's stand.

"Okay. But please… please don't laugh." Henrietta asked him.

"Well, my dream is to become king. Not like your singing is worse than my dream." Rex noted.

The purple-haired girl nodded and then took in a deep breath...

SONG: New Genesis (Emotional Orchestra Cover) – Ado, lyrics from AmaLee's cover

/PRELUDE/

As she began to play on the piano, the scene fades to show Henrietta in the present day watching Rex and Wally spar with each other. She can't help but smile as she recalled the one part of the letter that she couldn't forget.

You have a better time making friends with others, while all I do is end up making more enemies than I should.

'I don't think so. You have the potential to reach out to others. You just need to have confidence in yourself to obtain those bonds.' She thought to herself.

/Say goodbye to everyone who stands against us
No one has the power to stop a change that come through music/

It then jumps back to Rex and Wally as they clashed fists, memories of their various battles as children flashing through their minds with each clash. As the pair fought, they began to understand each other's plights, as well as their intentions. It was rare, but it was like this sparring match allowed the pair to reach out to each other.

/No, you can't stop magic/

It was then that Henrietta saw the two rivals were smiling. Likely this fight was just them venting out the frustrations they had since this had begun, or perhaps there was a lingering sense of nostalgia in this particular sparring session.

/Close your eyes and you can see the future before you
Every note I sing is bringin' you closer to your purpose/

Ikki smiled before he thought back to what he heard Conquete to be like. The bath house helper gripped his chest in a sea of regret that Vice caught onto.

"Ikki, are you okay?" he asked the bathhouse helper.

"I'm fine, I'm just… scared honestly." He admitted, "I just…"

Vice placed a hand on his shoulder, "Hey, that Conquete kid may look like you, talk like you, and have a version of me like you, but he's not really you. Not anymore." The inner demon reminded him, "Plus, who's to say that the future can't change? You heard what the kid says; the future is ours to decide!"

/Once you're there, don't let go/

Ikki chuckled, "I guess you're right." He agreed before looking back at Rex and Wally's spar, "I just… I guess I'm still worried. Not just about what Rex has to go through because of my Nobody, but also because of Daiji…"

Henrietta then gave the bath house helper a smile, "I'm sure you'll be able to find a way to save him. I'm sure of it." She reassured him.

"And how do you know that missy?" Vice asked in a mocking, but still happy, tone.

Henrietta winked at the pair, "Now that would be telling." She teased.

/You wanna play a real game, unfurl the chain
Melody strung out like we're walkin' on a tight rope/

Meanwhile, Isaiah was sitting in the room at Rex's house, contemplating his next move. He then took something out from his pocket, it was an old polaroid photo of himself when he was young alongside Grant and Weiss, the three smiling.

/Don't wanna try, don't wanna cry, wanna forget
Just wanna live inside a dreamland/

He chuckled to himself as he recalled the memory. Weiss had found an old Miden F Mark II camera lying around an abandoned house one day and brought it to the resistance camp with her. It looked like it had been well worn and there was some film left, so she decided to try and take some pictures with it.

And the first one she took was a photo of herself, her best friend, and her adoptive father, something for the commander to keep with him whenever he and several others go out on missions.

/I wanna be free
And let a brand new era dawn/

In 2009-B, Donald and Jiminy continue to track down the missing Weiss and Sora as they returned the place where the pair disappeared several hours eariler. Jiminy was going through the notes they had found after getting the information on the recent car crash when he noticed Donald kneeling and placing his hand on the ground.

"Donald, what are you doing?" the cricket asked the duck mage.

"I'm trying something from the Book of Zoologic." He explained, "It's a spell that should allow me to detect any form of magic in a 30 meter radius. I just need some time to concentrate."

Jiminy nodded and began to read over his notes.

'It doesn't make sense.' He thought to himself, 'How would they have gotten Zero's alias when he made it up ten years from today?'

The cricket then sighed, 'Look at me. I'm supposed to be Sora, Donald, and Goofy's helper while on these adventures. But even as someone's conscience I wasn't able to help stop Rex or the others from falling to their darker selves.'

He then looked up and saw something odd. It was a singular star, shining brightly in the evening sky.

'Well, maybe one wish couldn't hurt.' He thought to himself.

/I know that we can
Create a new world!/

He then closed his eyes, "Star light, star bright. First star I see tonight. I wish I may, I wish I might, have this wish I wish tonight." He recited before making his wish.

'I wish we can find Weiss and Sora…'

After opening his eyes, he heard Donald shout. "Aha!"

"You found something?" the cricket asked the duck mage.

"Yep! Take a look at this!" Donald noted before he pointed towards the faint rippling in the wind, "Recognize that?"

"Huh, a dimensional veil… interesting." Jiminy observed, "Well, as they say. Nothing ventured, nothing gained."

Donald nodded before the pair ran into the dimensional veil, hoping that on the other side would be their missing friend.

/We can choose the way of our future
Try a brand new path, if I change the world/

Back in 2019-B, Conquete was exploring some of the old rooms of his former comrades. When he looked into Famine's room, he saw an old terrarium where the Zoo Memory would have been kept alongside an old punching bag. Then he looked towards Guerre's room, which had several spellbooks for her to improve her magic alongside an old CD of an idol, likely kept as a souvenir.

Finally he looked into Zero's room. Inside it were a ton of books about the various Kamen Riders throughout history. Books that were still greatly useful in their mission to wipe out the Heisei Era, even after all three of them turned traitor.

/If I change the world
This boundless music brings transformation/

Before he left, he then noticed two MiRidewatches on the table. The first was white with a white kitsune-themed Rider helmet with orange eyes and red accents over the mask. The second was teal green with what seemed to be a Rider helmet that resembled a grasshopper and yet had a pair of goggles over the head with orange arrow-like eyes.

These were the first two MiRidewatches he had ever made after destroying those eras, the Geats MiRidewatch and the Gotchard MiRidewatch.

Conquete couldn't help but smile as he picked up the MiRidewatches and prepared to leave the old apartment. After all, there was a feeling that he, Adam, and Dark Vice weren't going to be staying there any longer.

/Messages in song reach even further

This dream will come true/

At the Hikari Photo Studio, Tsukasa sighed as he massaged his forehead.

"Nii-san, everything alright?"

He looked towards a young woman around his age sitting down next to him, wearing a white shirt and gray skirt, alongside a gray dress jacket. This was Tsukasa's sister Sayo.

In spite of Decade lacking a story despite being a Kamen Rider, that never meant that Tsukasa lacked a world of his own. So once he had been revived by his friends after the incident in 2010, Tsukasa decided to fufill an old promise and bring his sister with him to see the worlds she could only see via the silvery veils.

"No, everything's fine. I'm just worried about Zero and the others, that's all." He reassured Sayo.

/I believe in you/

"I suppose. The barrier between timelines is deteriorating fast." She recalled, "There's only so much we can do in this world before it could come to an end."

The photographer nodded before getting up, "I'm going to go see Tsukuyomi. Think you could go check on Weiss for me?"

She nodded, "I'll try my best."

After opening a silvery veil on front of them, the Kadoya siblings stepped forth into both Sougo and Rex's timelines to find Weiss and her counterpart.

/If I change the world

If I change the world/

Finally, in the streets of Hagukumi, Sora was on the ground unconscious. As he stumbled to his feet, the Keyblade wielder pondered on where he was and began to try and explore his new surrounds. While exploring, he passes by a fallen newspaper that displayed the date...

MARCH 28, 2016

THE NEXT CHAPTER OPENS!

"The King of Time who will rule over the past and the future."

"No matter what, we'll always be by each other's side."

"It seems this may be my last dance..."

NEXT TIME ON EDGE OF TIME: MUKANJYO 2068

AUTHOR'S NOTES:

Holy shit, did this one take bloody ages to get out!

Like seriously, this chapter alongside writing CrossChro Act 2's halves had to be some of the most brain-teasing and long-standing chapters I had to write in a long time. Especially since much like the Beats arc, this was going to cover mostly original material and fufil a personal challenge for this one.

Write a chapter focused entirely on flashbacks and civilian fights.

Now to be honest, I am at least happy with how this chapter came out since now I can finally get to writing the next chapter, but man oh man where there so many scenes, ideas, and sequences I had to edit or scrap just to get this one out. Especially since this chapter's being written as the Geats movie is out and we're gearing up for Gotchard's arrival, hence the cameo of those two MiRidewatches.

But IRL stuff aside, time to talk about what was shown in this chapter and well, it's a lot.

For starters, we got several new characters introduced with the Shifu and a version of Odi Wan Lee, not to mention a tease at my take on Another Kiva's host. I remember introducing the Shifu sometime ago on the Rider-Verse thread as a way to showcase I wasn't sitting on my hands and because out of the nine chapters of Live a Live, both original and remake, I loved how they did the Near Future and Ancient China chapters the most.

It also gave me an opportunity to rework some old snippets I either posted or had in the vault for some time. This includes the Rider Omake I used at the end of Chapter 33 which, given that I was mostly writing off the cuff on that one, felt like it needed way more work done. Plus, I get to write some fight scenes akin to the Yakuza series, which while I haven't played it yet, I love watching the combat of.

Next was the whole anomaly situation Rex has. Well for one, given the idea of alternate timelines and variants already being a thing in EoT since like what? Chapter 7 way back when? I always wanted to reference the different versions of Rex that I've made for the fics I collabed with other writers to make like 01 v IS, Re: Zi-O, and Tales of Bond, but I didn't know how that would work at the time.

Not to mention that, given that the Sougo we've followed through Zi-O and his later appearances was said to be a decoy while Barlckxs was said to be the real Sougo, I wanted to adapt that in some way. Especially since the Quartzers here are as a part of a group called the Fangs of Oma Zi-O alongside the Chrono Horsemen and the Chrono Vanguard from EoT Dual Destinies (go read that btw, it's worked on by a good friend of mine). Not to mention that turning Proto-Rex evil didn't feel right as I still got plans for him down the line.

Then Across the Spider-Verse happened, and everything clicked into place.

I soon began to think of the idea of Rex's mere survival being a disruption of not only the timestream at large, but is the key reason why the story had begun in the first place. Not to mention, it helped me not only work in the other Rex variants as the result of a butterfly effect, but also give me a chance to bring back Schwartz and tease him as a potential villain. And given that Narutaki is still lurking around, yeah that can't be good.

Speaking of Decade characters, yeah there was no way I wasn't gonna pass up introducing Tsukasa's sister into this. I also wanted to resolve the whole "Decade has no story" detail created by Movie War 2010 and the complications created by All Riders vs Dai-Shocker existing. Plus, I wanted to at least write off Tsukasa for now and allow Sayo to at least help out Weiss in this arc.

Anyways, get hype guys. Because when this story comes back, it's finally time for Rex and Sora to face off, even if it is mostly the Silver-haired Demon vs KH2!Sora.

Until next time, see ya.