Ace let out a sigh before revolving his Boost MK II buckle around to activate his Beast mode. As his rider form twisted into the form of a large red fox, Ace started to charge at Keiwa relentlessly to wear the other person down. But just before his fatigue started to kick in, Ace reverted to his rider form and launched several fireballs towards Keiwa. The fireballs hit Keiwa squarely on the chest as the man crashed onto the floor, their rider transformation deactivated.

Stay down... please...

Ace slowly staggered towards Keiwa's side as the other man remained unmoving on the ground. Did the last attack completely knock Keiwa down? Ace knelt over Keiwa's prone body and immediately took the Tycoon core ID out of Keiwa's Desire Driver. He got up to his feet again before turning around towards Jitt, who was now engaging the three other kamen riders aside from him.

"It's over now, Jitt. I've won!"

.

Jitt turned around to see Ace standing up and facing him directly. He lowered his gaze to see Keiwa lying unconscious on the ground as he let out a dissatisfied groan.

"I saw that you did... how disappointing." Jitt glanced back towards Ace with a snarl. "But I suppose I should leave you with one last gift before accepting my defeat..."

Before Ace could ask Jitt what he meant by that, the sneaky game master flicked a finger towards him and disappeared like a ghost... (almost like Suel.) As Ace turned his attention towards his other comrades, he frowned in confusion as the three seemed to be trying to tell him something urgently—

—and then he felt someone jump him from behind!

.

Something wet just dropped onto his face as Ace opened his eyes and felt hands wrapped around his neck. He turned his eyes upwards to see Keiwa on top of him, still looking so expressionless while strangling his neck—But Keiwa's eyes were filled with tears!

"Ace!"

He could hear his name being called as Ace tried to lift a hand to the others to tell him that he was fine.

"I'm... f-fine—!"

Instead of trying to wrench Keiwa's hand from his neck to free himself, Ace reached his hand up to try to touch Keiwa's face.

"K-Keiwa... i-it's... okay. It'll be over... soon—"

Even as Ace could feel his breathing getting even more constricted and his consciousness starting to fade, he didn't feel that his life was in any danger. Yes, Keiwa was strangling his neck right now trying to kill him due to Jitt's earlier order. And he knew that once that order was fulfilled, Keiwa would finally be free. It couldn't be helped... because right now Keiwa had no control of their own body. This was in no way Keiwa's fault—!

Without warning, someone suddenly pulled Keiwa off from on top of him and slammed the man onto the hard ground. Ace took in a great breath of air before feeling himself being helped to sit up by Neon. He turned his head again to see both Michinaga and Win trying their very best to restrain Keiwa's movement.

"Are you trying to be stupid, Geats? What was that just now?" cried the buffalo as Ace scrambled to get on his feet before failing and he resorted to just crawling towards his companions' side.

"It doesn't look like there's any way to deactivate the collar or even take it off from Tycoon's neck!" exclaimed Win anxiously. "I don't think this guy would stop fighting us until we get this collar off though..."

Ace bit his lips before absentmindedly reaching for his Magnum buckle attached to his belt. "It's fine... keep him down, Buffa. And PunkJack, please keep a firm grip on Tycoon's head. Make sure that his mouth remains closed so that he won't accidentally bite his tongue—"

.

"Ace, what—" Win cried out suddenly before looking up to see Ace taking his Magnum Shooter out. Michinaga raised his head to see what was going on and ended up staring at Ace in horror as well.

"What the hell are you planning, you crazy fox—!" cried Michinaga as Ace pushed the man aside and sat on top of Keiwa to keep them from moving.

"I'm trying to save my important partner—!" exclaimed Ace loudly before pressing the muzzle of his Magnum Shooter against the surface of the collar on Keiwa's neck.

"This is reckless, Ace!" cried Win again, even as he still kept a firm grip on Keiwa's head. "Even at this close range, if you missed—!"

Before he could finish his words, Ace pulled the trigger and released a single powerful shot on the collar attached to Keiwa's neck. Neither Win, Michinaga or even Neon had time to react to what was happening in front of them as the sound of the shot Ace just fired echoed around them.

And then Ace collapsed on top of Keiwa, who finally had stopped moving around... the collar on his neck dropped to the ground after breaking into several pieces.

xxx

"Ace-sama!"

Tsumuri and Sae immediately rushed over towards them as both Michinaga and Neon entered the lounge, with the former carrying an unconscious Ace on his back. Tsumuri cast another worried look behind them as if waiting for someone else to come, before turning around towards Neon.

"How about Keiwa-sama? Where's Win-san?" asked Tsumuri frantically.

"About that—!"

As if reacting to Tsumuri's genuine concern for Keiwa, Ace's body started to twitch before slowly forcing himself to wake up.

"W-where's... Ty... coon? Please... t-take me..."

Just as the last words slipped from Ace's mouth, the fox rider passed out again on Michinaga's shoulders. Michinaga let out a long sigh before turning towards Tsumuri.

"Tycoon's injuries were pretty bad... so PunkJack took him to the hospital—" He turned his head towards the unconscious fox he was still carrying. "Maybe I should also dump this stupid fox to the hospital as well, seeing how this guy can't stop trying to get to Tycoon—"

Tsumuri turned to take a look at Ace. "Was he badly hurt as well?" she asked as Neon shook their head at her.

"Thankfully Ace wasn't hurt too bad. Even when... Keiwa had tried to strangle him earlier." Neon shrugged. "I might be wrong... but I think during that last moment, Keiwa might have tried to fight against Jitt's orders—"

"—but that's still pretty reckless for him to—!"

"Still..."

Michinaga and Neon turned their attention back towards Tsumuri as the pure white former game navigator heaved a long sigh.

"Finally... everyone had returned home safely at last, isn't it?"

She turned her head as Tsumuri exchanged silent looks with Sae.

"Thank goodness... everything did turn out fine at the end," she sighed before clasping her hands over her chest.


A/N: The final burst of the fight ends up slightly different than the initial plan. Then again... I might as well try to finish this piece while I still can.