A/N: Hopefully this chapter will appear normally. I posted a new fic yesterday and the thing keeps going on and offline for no reason. Well, in any case, people can just check out my fics on AO3 for the new updates.

Neon continued to use her ability to slip through solid objects before cornering her opponent and incapacitating them without triggering the hidden transmitters on their body. She put down one of the Gang Rider members onto the floor before removing the device attached to their bodies.

Neon turned around as she rolled to her side as another Gang Rider member tried to ambush her while she seemed to be preoccupied with the ones she had taken down. Gang Riders, well... these people may have called themselves as such but so far, Neon didn't see anyone here who had their own Desire Drivers on themselves. But she thought that there was at least one who used to participate in the DesiGra before—she heard it from Michinaga prior to coming here. This was odd...

Why were all these people still gathered together at this place even after losing their 'leader'?

Neon glanced up to see a small banner hung on one of the balconies. She noted the old Tanuki emblem that was originally drawn on the banner before a new emblem was drawn on top of it to show a panda. Does that mean the gang now recognised Da·Paan as their new leader—?

.

She twisted her body around as a girl tried to ambush her from the back and Neon kicked her by reflex. That action triggered a hidden switch and seconds afterwards the display screens started showing Keiwa's body spasming again as another wave of shock was run through the man's body. Yet, despite having been hit with another jolt of electric shock... they barely heard a sound coming from Keiwa. Either the audio was muted... or—!

Neon cursed at her own carelessness as she muttered her apologies to Keiwa silently.

"It seemed like Tycoon was almost at his breaking point—" spat Miichi as the two of them regrouped after disabling barely half of the Gang Rider members. "We can't just waste our time here fighting these people when we could be taking down those TWO!"

Neon raised her head as she glanced up towards both Kanato and Beroba who had been watching them from the second floor. She nodded. "I know... and I think I finally figured our way out."

She took out her Beat buckle and attached it to her Desire Driver before revolving it around, switching her Fantasy form to her usual Beat. Neon let out a small shrug before holding her Beat Axe high.

"I noticed that there's one person who's actively trying to avoid being hit by us, so I think that person holds the key to our victory. So Miichi... brace yourself!" cried Neon before strumming her Beat Axe at the highest frequency possible—

xxx

He could no longer feel anything on his body. No pain, no other discomforts... nothing. But strangely enough, his mind had felt more awake compared to the past... few hours—ages?—since he'd been confined here? Then again, he's not even sure if [awake] was even the best word to describe what he was experiencing right now.

He could not feel anything on his body—heck, he couldn't even try to move any parts of his body to check if he was actually conscious and not trapped inside a dream. It was as if his soul had been completely detached from his physical body—like a hollowed-out puppet.

But at least he could somewhat tell that he was still alive. He could feel himself breathing and his heart beating. He could feel himself inhaling and exhaling through his nose and his half-open mouth. And he could still open and move his eyes around to take in his surroundings...

Keiwa let out a weak sigh.

Has he been drugged? What was it that Jitt had force-fed into his mouth earlier? He could barely recall what the 'thing' even tasted like—no, he didn't even want to recall the memory of Jitt forcing themselves on him; of the man's tongue inside his mouth and their hands touching him—No, no, no! After swallowing the thing that Jitt gave him, a strange warmth started to spread all over his body before everything suddenly became cold and he ended up feeling very sleepy. And now he couldn't even feel anything or move his body to free himself from his bindings.

But at least it wasn't poison—though given his current situation right now he doubted that it made any difference to him.

Keiwa glanced up towards the holographic screens in front of him. For some reason, he was allowed this bit of kindness (?) to be able to see what was happening to his other former companions while Keiwa was chained inside this room with no one (?) to keep him company.

So he was able to see them; as Ace, Win, Neon and Michinaga fought their way through various obstacles to try to save him. And he saw Neon and Michinaga take on hit after hit from the enemy, because they didn't want to risk triggering any of the hidden switches that would remotely trigger some of the traps placed around him, and hurting him. Though to be honest, he didn't understand why they even bothered to go so far to save him. After a few jolts of electricity running through his body after either of those two triggered a hidden switch, Keiwa barely felt any more pain afterwards. Why on earth do those guys still want to save him now, after he had pushed them away so many times?

Keiwa turned his attention towards a secondary screen that showed Geats and PunkJack trying to fight Kekera in his Premium form. Well, at least he knows the reason why one person still wanted to come here and save him. Though he wished the man wouldn't bother himself to do this. He didn't deserve to receive this much care and concern from that person, after everything that has happened between the two of them.

"You may not believe it... but I also wished for you to find your own happiness."

He sighed bitterly.

"Ace, you idiot..."

But if there was any other consolation, at least Ace didn't bring Tsumuri along to try to save him.

.

CLICK!

Keiwa blinked in confusion... as his ears caught a faint sound of something clicking near him. Unexpectedly, the metal cuffs that had been binding his wrists were unlocked and his arms were released suddenly after hours of being bound. But because it had been hours since he had been confined in this place, Keiwa no longer had any strength to keep himself upright by himself. So with the chains no longer binding his arm, there was nothing else keeping Keiwa's body upright and the wire strings wrapped around his body snapped under his own weight.

Keiwa fell onto the floor hard as his ears rang after the impact. But because his body had grown very weak, he couldn't even make himself get up from the cold hard floor.

A/N2: Finally I got to finish this chapter after being in limbo for so long