Disclaimer: As per usual, I don't own anything.
Previously on Across the Kaleidoscope
"What else could it be but an Unknown attack?"
"According to this, the Unidentified Lifeforms first appeared in 2016."
"The G3 Unit?"
"While some of the victims were those he rescued from the resort, there is still a large number of those who never got anywhere close to that place."
"One yeah, you might want to keep an eye on Decade's friends. One of them would be of interest to you, Overlord."
"Those two are…?"
"Why…? Why did this happen…?" Whether the water that was streaming down my face was the rain or tears, I did not know. I was only focused on one thing, on him. He did not see me. Of course, he wouldn't, I was nothing but a speck of dust to him.
And in a blink of an eye, he was gone… and I was left to scream in pain and anguish among the fire and dust by myself…
Chapter 14: The Cyan Thief
Decade pushed Gaim's swords back before slashing him with the Faiz Edge.
"Hey, robot! Deal with Chalice for me," the Rider shouted at the transformed motorcycle. The latter's black visor lit up for a few seconds before it stomped over to the heart-themed archer. It raised its metallic arm and swung it at Chalice.
The archer Rider easily dodged the blow and used his bow's bladed arms to fight back. He slashed the robot's arm, causing sparks to fly as the blade scraped against it.
Nearby, Agito put his right foot forward and took a low stance. He let out a deep breath and his horns split apart again. Below him, his symbol glowed golden on the ground before being absorbed into his foot.
He leaped into the air and his body flashed for a quick second before he kicked the three Ant Lords he was fighting in a manner similar to how Ritsuka did in the first world.
G3, meanwhile, was not having as easy of a time as Agito was. As the G3 System was meant to be used to fight the Unidentified Lifeforms rather than the Unknowns, it was not very strong against them. What made it worse was that his arsenal was on the Guard Chaser, which had been transformed into that robot.
Needless to say, he was not having a good time.
Seeing his ally struggling, Agito decided to help him first rather than the unknown Kamen Rider. He quickly pushed the button on the left side of his belt. His belt let out another hum as the air in front of him seemed to have swirled. A flash of blue light came out of his belt before the vortex disappeared, showing that his chest and left arm had turned blue
Agito put his right hand to the gem on his belt, which had also turned blue, and a spearhead and a blue shaft came out of it. The Rider pulled it out to reveal its true form, a long pole-arm with two golden spearheads.
He ran up to one of the Ant Lords from behind and quickly thrust his spear into its back.
"Thank you," G3 quickly said to the other Rider. The latter just gave him a small, acknowledging nod before they both turned to the Ant Lords.
Back with Decade, he was doing a good job dealing with the copy Kamen Rider Gaim but his mind was wandering elsewhere. Who was the one that summoned him? And Chalice for that matter?
The two Riders were completely silent as they fought him and the Auto Vajin, not even making so much as a grunt when being slashed or shot at.
'Who summoned you two?' Decade silently thought to himself as he took a step back from Gaim. 'That voice was the same as my Driver's. Why?'
While it may not be a good idea to be busy thinking about something else in the middle of a battle, however important it may be, he had a pass since he was easily able to fight Gaim off.
"I better make this quick," Decade hummed as he took out a golden card from the RideBooker.
FINAL ATTACK RIDE: FA-FA-FAIZ
The Rider dusted off his hands before kneeling down. His right ankle glowed for a few seconds before it died down, revealing that the Faiz Pointer had materialized on it. A red light began traveling down his right leg from his buckle before Decade jumped into the air and pointed his right foot at the summoned Gaim.
As with the true Faiz, a red light shot out of the flashlight that turned into a holographic drill upon hitting the orange-themed Rider. The copy Rider was kept in place as Decade let out a short cry before kicking into the drill and disappearing.
Gaim's body sparked a bit before Decade rematerialized behind him and Faiz's symbol appeared in between them. The samurai Rider exploded in blue flames before dropping to his knees and disappearing in a reverse way to how he was summoned.
"Phew," Decade exhaled before turning to Chalice.
Nearby with Agito and G3, the former Rider's horns split open again as he began to twirl his spear at high speeds, creating a vortex in front of him that trapped the two Ant Lords. He then ran at them and finished them off with two quick slashes, causing the two monsters to blow up in a fiery explosion.
Now with the Lords taken care of, the two Riders turned to face the last remaining enemy on the battlefield.
Despite being a soulless summon, Chalice was still skilled and powerful. Just as the other Riders (except Gaim) had easily dispatched their opponents, the archer Rider had defeated the Auto Vajin by shooting it in the head multiple times before quickly severing it from the rest of its mechanical body.
The headless robot fell backward into the snowy ground with a muffled bang. In a flash of red light, it reverted back into the Guard Chaser with the front part missing.
"You're not done yet!" Chalice could not let out a sigh of relief even if he could make a noise as he now had to contend with three other Riders. The archer swiftly raised his bow in time to block a sword swipe from Decade, who was the first to reach him.
Unfortunately for him though, that left Chalice open to a couple of rounds of bullets to the back from G3 before he was slashed in the back by the Storm Halberd. Decade then took advantage of the surprise attack and quickly kicked Chalice to knock the archer to the side.
However, the heart-themed Rider quickly ducked into a roll and returned fire, which easily hit his three targets. G3, who was already running on fumes by this point, took the worst of it and was sent rolling back while Agito was strangely barely hurt by the counterattack. Decade, while not as hurt as badly as G3, was forced back into his base form (not that that was really a problem).
"Gah!" G3 grunted in pain once he stopped rolling.
"Makoto, stand down." He heard Okina speak into his comms. "The G3 System can't take much more."
"I could tell…" He muttered quietly before looking over at Decade and Agito. "Looks like I'll have to leave it to you two."
The magenta Rider, coincidentally, was getting tired of fighting Chalice. And that's not to mention how sore his feet felt after he had to pedal as fast as he could to get here in the first place.
"Agito." He glanced at the yellow-and-blue Rider. "Let's just hit him with our strongest attacks and be done with this."
Agito only gave him a small grunt before his horns split open again, showing that he agreed with him.
Decade opened his Decadriver and took out his FinalAttackRide card from the RideBooker before inserting it inside the buckle.
FINALATTACKRIDE: DE-DE-DECADE
Holographic versions of the card appeared between the magenta Rider and Chalice as the former ran his hand on his sword while Agito began twirling his spear again to create a vortex.
Chalice, despite seeing the attacks incoming, stood his ground and began charging one last arrow with his bow. He aimed for Agito as the cards were protecting Decade from any attack from the front.
The two dashed for Chalice just as he shot his final arrow. It was completely ineffective as Agito simply blocked it with his spear and continued gunning for the archer.
Simultaneously, they slashed Chalice and skidded to a halt behind him. The archer Rider remained still for one brief moment before, finally, exploding. He dropped to the ground before disappearing just like Gaim did.
A good distance away, the cyan Rider let out a short huff of annoyance at his summons' defeat. He really should have not expected much from them, they were facing him and another Rider at the same time after all. Besides, he was not here to defeat him, he was just here to annoy and gauge his abilities.
With his attempt to mess with Decade having failed, he saw no reason to stick around and summoned an Aurora Curtain behind himself. Giving the pink Rider one last look, he stepped back and disappeared.
Back with Decade, he dusted off his gloves and let out an exhausted sigh before he remembered something. Looking around, he noticed that the Bull Lord had vanished. That was mildly inconvenient.
"Hey, you!" Oh, right. That Amezawa guy was here. Turning to G3, he saw that Officer Makoto had taken off his helmet and was walking up to them with it underneath his armpit. "Who are you?"
"I'm not an enemy if that's what you're wondering," Decade answered to which Makoto responded by saying that he knows.
"That Unknown saw you as a threat so you're obviously not on their side," the policeman added, "But why would they be attacking you in the first place."
"That's a long story," replied Decade, "Anyway, I better get going."
He noticed Agito was already making his leave and he had to go after him. However, Makoto had other ideas.
"Wait, I need you to come with me." Of course he was about to get arrested. Really, he expected the Blue Sky Organization would have tried to capture him after the stuff that went down in Kiva's world.
At any rate, he needed to find a way out of here. His eyes quickly laid upon something that could provide a good distraction. But first!
"...Do you know who I am?" Decade asked Makoto.
"What?"
"Do. You. Know. Who. I. Am?" He said more slowly.
"Your voice sounds familiar but-"
'Good enough for me.'
Moving quickly, Decade snatched the G3 helmet out from Makoto and threw it off into the distance.
"Hey! What are you doing?!" Makoto shouted as he looked at where his helmet flew off to, disappearing somewhere among the trees. He turned back to the person he was talking to and saw that he had already taken off running after Agito.
Makoto had to make a choice, and fast. Either he chases after him and Agito, who had been wanted by the police for some time now, or he tries to find valuable police property and be safe from Okina's wrath.
He, of course, chose the latter.
Giving the new Rider one last glance, he went off in the opposite direction to find his helmet.
Ritsuka, meanwhile, disengaged his transformation once he knew that Makoto was far enough away. He did not stop chasing after Agito though and quickly caught up to him, also untransformed and putting on his helmet.
"Hey, wait for me!" Ritsuka shouted just as Agito revved up his engine.
"Hmm?" The motorcyclist hummed as he looked at Ritsuka, "You are… that pink Rider."
"Magenta," he corrected him before asking, "Can you give me a ride?"
"A… what?"
"I'll take that as a yes."
"Whoa! Wait!"
Meanwhile, with Tetsuya and Ryoko…
Both of them were on the brink of collapsing after running all the way back home. They had not dared to stop after nearly getting caught the first time so they were very much out of breath.
"Urgh…" Ryoko groaned as she put her hands on the door. "I… huff… think we're safe for now."
"I can't… feel my legs," huffed Tetsuya as he laid his back against the wall. "Let's… just go in."
"Yeah… Yeah," Ryoko took a long and deep breath before opening the door and entered, Tetsuya right behind her. The former wanted to grab a snack from the kitchen while the latter wanted nothing more than to crash on something and sleep.
The two swiftly made their way down the hallway and entered the living room… where they saw somebody sitting in one of the chairs in the room.
"Finally… You're here." The familiar-looking blue-haired girl spoke and posed like she was the big bad of an action movie. Her eyes were closed, her legs were crossed, and she was resting her chin on her interlaced hands.
"Uh…" Tetsuya voiced out. Neither of them was sure what to make of the situation.
"You must be wondering how I found your place," she did not seem to realize that it was them she was talking to. "It was a breeze for someone of my caliber."
"Um…"
"If you thought I won't come looking for you, you thought wrong, Fujimaru-kun," Ciel smirked and gave who she thought was Ritsuka a triumphant look… and her smirk instantly disappeared when she saw Tetsuya and Ryoko instead. "...Who are you? Isn't this Fujimaru's house?"
"Ur… I'm Ryoko and this is Tetsuya," Ryoko introduced herself and her friend, "And yes, it is. He's just out at the moment."
"Oh, guess that thing he ran off to do isn't over yet," Ciel sighed. "Sorry about breaking in, I thought Fujimaru-kun lived alone and I wanted to surprise him."
"O…kay…" Ryoko muttered, "Wait, aren't you…?"
"Oh, right. I'm Ciel," she introduced herself, mistaking Ryoko's confusion as her not knowing who the intruder was. "I met Fujimaru-kun not too long ago… Like, half-an-hour ago."
"...Excuse us for a moment," Ryoko quickly said before dragging Tetsuya back into the hall and shutting the door. "Alright, why is she here again?!" She questioned/quietly shouted at Tetsuya.
"How am I supposed to know?! I've been with you the entire day!" Tetsuya replied.
"Goddammit, Ritsu! What were you doing?!" She cursed her missing friend. Sure, they were talking about meeting Ciel again in the last world but what were the chances they actually would?!
"Alright… Let's just calm down for a minute," Tetsuya said and took a deep breath, prompting Ryoko to do the same. "Ritsuka must have his reasons for sending her here. That's probably why she's here."
"Oh, he didn't ask me to come here," Ciel's voice came from the other side of the door.
"Why are you listening to us?!" Ryoko shouted at the door, "And what do you mean, he didn't ask you to come here?"
The door opened a bit and Ciel poked her head out. "I'm here of my accord because I wanted to return this." She raised her hand and showed them a wallet, "Fujimaru-kun left this behind including his I.D. and address."
"Oh…"
"Anyway, I'm gonna kick back and hang around until he gets back," Ciel told them before going back into the living room, "There's still stuff I need to talk to him about."
"Wait, what?!" Ryoko quickly followed her back into the room where Ciel plopped back onto the chair she was on just now. "What do you mean by that?"
"There's something off with your friend and I'm curious about him. That's it," the blue-haired girl not-so-helpfully explained.
Well… She was observant, they had to give her that.
"You two are his friends, right?" Ciel asked after a moment.
"Yeah?" Tetsuya answered quizzingly.
"It might not be my place to say this but…" She trailed off as she stared at Tetsuya's face, "...Do I know you from somewhere?"
"Uh…" Tetsuya had no idea how to answer her. He did not know how much Ritsuka had told her about their journey. Specifically, if she knows that they had met an alternate version of her. "No?"
"Hmm…" Ciel narrowed her eyes at him, trying to recall where she had seen him before.
"Okay, can we all stop for one second?" Ryoko interjected. "You're acting way too carefree for someone who broke into our house."
"Well, I-"
Bang!
The sound of the front door opening interrupted Ciel, "Oh, looks like he's back."
A few seconds later, the door opened again and somebody entered.
"Hey, Ritsu," said Ryoko as she turned around, "Can you explain… why…"
She trailed off as both she and Tetsuya stared at the second person who let themselves into their house.
"Hello!" The young man greeted them with a cheerful wave. "It's nice to finally meet you."
Not too long after…
It took some time, but Ritsuka and his driver arrived in front of the former's home.
"Is this the place?" Agito asked, slightly muffled by his helmet. They had ended up making the wrong turns several times on their way here so he wanted to be sure.
"Yup, this is it," Ritsuka answered as he got off the motorcycle and took off the helmet he had pulled out of nowhere. "Thanks for the ride."
"You're welcome," the other Rider replied, "I should probably get go-"
"Before that, why don't you come in?" Ritsuka offered in an attempt to get him to stay. "I can whip something up for you to eat as thanks."
"That's not really nec-"
"I insist," he cut Agito off. "Besides, I'm sure you're hungry after fighting that much." Ritsuka knew he was famished himself.
"..." Agito seemed to be thinking about it for a few moments before finally nodding. He got off his bike and took off his helmet, letting Ritsuka see his face clearly for the first time.
Ritsuka stared at his face. He easily recognized Agito, of course, since the other Rider was nearly identical to Tetsuya. As mentioned before, the other Tetsuya looked slightly older than the one that was traveling with Ritsuka. Now that he could see him for real, Ritsuka knew for sure that Agito was an alternate version of Tsunogai Tetsuya.
But first, he needs to know this Tetsuya's name.
"My name's Fujimaru Ritsuka, by the way," Ritsuka introduced himself. "Kamen Rider Decade."
"Oh, I'm Igarashi Shouichi, and you already know I'm Agito," the young man now-named Shouchi extended his hand for a handshake to which Ritsuka obliged after a second.
"Come on, let's head inside."
Ritsuka led the way into his house where he and Shouichi heard conversations from the living room. When they entered it, a whole lot of talking and shouting ensued.
"Oh, Ritsu, you're finally- Wait, what?!"
"Ciel?! Why are you here?!"
"You're the one who left his wallet behind!"
"Hang on, Ciel's not important right now! Why's there another me?!"
"What do mean, not important?!"
"Another… me?"
"Why's everyone shouting in here?"
"Ah! You again?!"
"Hi, Ritsuka-san!"
Several long talks later…
About half an hour later, Shouichi (and Ciel) were caught up on their journey through the multiverse.
"So, you-" Shouchi gestured to Tetsuya, who vacantly nodded, "-are an alternate version of me, just younger."
"That's… apparently." Both of them were still trying to process what they were seeing sitting across from each other. "But our names are different."
"Tetsuya, right?"
"Yeah."
"That's… a nice name," Shouchi complimented his name.
"Thank… you?" Was it egotistical to compliment an alternate version of yourself?
Meanwhile, Ryoko was looking back and forth between the two of them, trying to see if there were any physical differences between the two of them other than their age.
Ciel was nearby talking to Ritsuka, who was leaning in the doorway between the living room and kitchen/dining room.
"So… You've met another version of me a while back and that's how you know about me being an Executor?"
"That's about it," Ritsuka shrugged as he watched Shouichi's and Tetsuya's interaction. "Ran into her while she was on-duty and got tangled up in that business."
That was technically the truth.
"That made sense but I'm getting the feeling you're not telling me the whole truth," Ciel remarked while staring at Ritsuka's face.
"Maybe I am, maybe I'm not keeping anything from you. You be the judge," shrugged Ritsuka. "At any rate, go talk to Ryoko or something. I have…" Ritsuka glanced into the kitchen, "Other things to focus on at the moment."
"Sure." Ciel could easily tell that it was important so she went to sit with the others while Ritsuka walked into the kitchen.
"Hmm… Hmm…" The young man at the stove was humming a jovial tune as he cooked for them. Despite not looking in his direction, he noticed Ritsuka coming in. "About 10 minutes more, Ritsuka-kun."
"...Who are you?" Ritsuka quietly demanded.
"I already told you my name earlier, didn't I?" The young man turned around and looked at Ritsuka with a smile, "I'm Takaragi Yuu."
"That's not what I'm talking about." Ritsuka narrowed his eyes. "You followed me here from Takumi's world, why and how?"
"You should know how, Ritsuka-kun," Yuu smirked either in a friendly or demeaning fashion, it was hard to tell. "Those Aurora Curtains are a pretty useful tool to travel, aren't they?"
"Alright, so why are you following me?" Ritsuka continued to interrogate him.
"There's not really much to do in Faiz's world now that you moved on from there," answered Yuu. "And while I'm done with what I want to do here too, you're not so I'm sticking around."
"...Have we met before?" Ritsuka asked after a moment. "You know who I was when we met for the first time." Which was only a few hours earlier.
"No, we never really met face-to-face like back then before," Yuu shook his head. "I just heard through the multiversal grapevine that several worlds were conspiring to invade a world to kill someone so I got curious."
"And why would you want to find me if you know I have a target on my back?"
"'cause it'll be fun," he said in a sing-song tone. "I heard about you before so when I heard you were still alive, I tried my best to find you. Took me a while, but I finally caught up to you in Faiz's world."
"Before?" Now that piqued Ritsuka's interest. Just enough to make him forget that Yuu was following him for some reason. "What do you know about me?"
"Just some minor stuff. How Kamen Rider Decade suddenly vanished one day along…" Yuu stopped talking as a thought crossed his mind. "Oh, that's right. You have amnesia, don't you?"
"Along with who?" Ritsuka pressed him further for an answer. "What happened to me?"
"I'm pretty sure that's something you have to learn on your own," Yuu flashed him another smirk before turning back to the stove to continue cooking.
"Hey, I'm not done talking yet."
"I am, now shoo. I'm busy."
Ritsuka tsked in annoyance but walked away, convinced that Yuu would not tell him what he wanted to know. That, and he cannot stand being in the same room with him. He got the feeling that their personalities were not very compatible.
Walking back into the living room, Ritsuka saw that Tetsuya and Shouichi were now arm-wrestling while Ryoko was watching.
"What's going on now?" Ritsuka sighed as he joined them.
"A test of strength," Ciel explained to him. "Tsunogai-san wanted to see which of them is stronger."
"...Really?" Ritsuka gave his friend a deadpan look. "You do remember what I told you, right?"
"Yup!" Tetsuya strained out an answer as he tried to overpower his alternate self. "But it's a matter of pride!"
"Well, then your pride's about to be shattered."
"Let him get his arm broken by the superhero version of himself," Ryoko darkly laughed. "This is going to be fun!"
"Who are you cheering for?!"
"You, of course. Now break his hand, Igarashi!"
Shouchi, meanwhile, only let out a nervous laugh as he exerted enough strength to not let Tetsuya beat him.
"Still, it's surprising that so this happened," Ryoko could not help but say, "An alternate version of one of us being a Rider."
"I'm still surprised that I'm actually Agito myself," Ciel commented before glancing at Ritsuka, "I thought you were Agito with the way you were acting."
"I'm not… but I also am at the same time." He could use Agito's powers. Not at the moment, but he could.
"O…kay?" Ciel genuinely had no idea how to respond to that.
While they were talking, Tetsuya was busy popping a blood vessel trying to beat Shouchi. He himself did not know why he wanted to beat Shouichi, he just had the feeling he wanted to prove himself about something. It sounded dumb and he knew it.
"Oh yeah, Fujimaru-kun, can I talk about you about that?" Ciel asked, pointing at the mural/tapestry representing Agito's world.
"What about it?"
"Follow me for a sec." She dragged Ritsuka over to the backdrop. "Who made this?"
"Dunno, it just appears," he shrugged. "Do you recognize it?"
"I do. There's a near-identical mural like this on display in a museum," Ciel told him as she pointed to the winged human with a spear near the top of the picture. "You see these right here?"
"Yeah?"
"This is the Overlord," she revealed to him. "The creator of the Lords, the true name of the Unknowns."
"I know that. The Lords' true name, I mean," Ritsuka clarified as he looked at the depiction of the Overlord. "But for him…" 'The Overlord…'
He remembered hearing his voice during the invasion a week back. The Overlord had accidentally telepathically contacted him while ordering the Lords to retreat after Ritsuka used his powers. However, he was getting the feeling that just 'The Overlord' was not completely correct.
'Wait a sec…' Ritsuka looked further down the mural and noticed that one of the angel-like beings that were surrounding the Overlord near the top was stabbed with a sword. "Who's this?"
"Not sure, I've looked into the story but nobody seems to know who that is. The best guess archeologists have is that it's similar to the story of Noah's Ark for pretty obvious reasons."
"But that obviously isn't Noah." Ritsuka was pretty sure Noah was not an angel or was ever stabbed by an angel.
"Obviously," Ciel agreed. "But what I'm more interested in are these three."
She pointed to three specific figures in the picture; a green figure leading the charge against the Lords, and two figures, one red while the other was blue, walking alongside the humans away from the boat.
"The mural that's on display in the museum does not have these three on it," the blue-haired girl told him. "They were scrapped off ever since the mural was found years ago so nobody knew who they were."
"And one of them… is Kuuga?" Ritsuka glanced at the red figure although something was telling him that was wrong.
Ciel, however, was mildly surprised he knew that name. "Oh, so you know #4's true name…? Kinda?"
"Of course I do. How do you know?"
"A co-worker of mine was sent to investigate the Unidentified Lifeforms five years ago," she explained. "He sort of learned #4's true name back then."
"Sort of?" Ritsuka looked at her with questioning eyes. Did she, or her co-worker, knew of Kuuga's true identity?
"He learned that the other Unidentified Lifeforms called #4 Kuuga and that's about it," Ciel shrugged. "He never learned anything more than that."
She looked doubtful of what she said though, like she knew that might not be the whole story.
"Let's get back to the topic at hand. As you said, this may be Kuuga but we can't be too sure. If anything, I would say that this might be Agito."
"...But Agito is yellow," Ritsuka pointed out.
"Semantics. Red and yellow are close enough."
"Alright, so let's go with your theory. Assuming that this is Agito, who would these two be then?"
"Hmm… G3?" Ciel suggested with little confidence. "He's blue so…"
"If you're going to say that who-knows-how-old mural is depicting a modern-day Kamen Rider created by the police, you have to do better than "he's blue"."
"Well, I don't hear you giving any ideas."
"The answer is obvious, isn't it?" Ritsuka said with a bit of a smug tone. "It's G3."
"...Suddenly, I understand why that other version of me wanted to kill you," the Executor grumbled, "So, what's your reason for saying it's G3?"
"Just a gut feeling," shrugged Ritsuka, which just aggravated Ciel more. "So where's this other mural you were talking about. I feel seeing the original for myself would be better."
"But this one is more complete."
"Even so."
"You really are odd, aren't you?" Ciel huffed but still told him the address of the museum. An address that sounded familiar to Ryoko.
"Hang on, isn't that…?" She muttered, which was overheard by Ritsuka.
"What is it, Ryoko?"
"I might be wrong, but I think that museum had to close today because of a break-in," Ryoko told him.
"A break-in?"
"Yeah, the police were swarming all over the place."
Now, that was interesting and only served to push Ritsuka to think that checking out the original was the right call.
"Alright, I'll be off then," Ritsuka bid his friends again before dragging Ciel by the arm.
"Wait, Ritsu? Where are-?"
"Hang on, why are you making me follow you?!"
"Let them rest up. They've had a long day." Ritsuka was not actually aware that Ryoko and Tetsuya were being chased by the Lords until they told him just now. "You, on the other hand, just ate curry and made me pay for it so you'll be my helper today."
"I don't agree with this!"
"Too bad, you don't have a choice," Ritsuka told her before telling Ryoko, "Just stay here with Shouchi and… that guy."
"Got it, stay safe out there."
"Can I ask that you make sure they don't go out?" He asked Shouchi who was still arm wrestling with Tetsuya.
"Sure, I guess."
"See you guys later."
"Yeah, later," Ciel loudly grumbled as the door closed.
As soon as they did, Ryoko let out a long and loud sigh. "Once again, we're stuck here while Ritsu works on his own." She was used to this by now. Does not make it any less frustrating though.
A bang from the table signaled that Shouchi finally decided to end the match once and for all.
"Done yet?" Ryoko gave Tetsuya an aside glance.
"Yeah…" He was not really surprised that he lost, just very slightly miffed.
"Sorry," Shouchi, being a good sport, apologized to his younger counterpart about winning.
"No, no. It's fine…"
Ryoko let out another sigh, this one more directed towards Tetsuya's downbeat attitude. "I'm going to check on Takaragi-san."
And maybe also ask him some questions while she was at it. Yuu seemed to know Ritsuka from somewhere so she was curious if he knew her friend's past.
However, when she entered the kitchen/dining room, Ryoko quickly noticed that Yuu was missing and the stove was still running.
"Where did he…?"
Sometime later…
"This looks like it's the place…" Ritsuka muttered as he stood in front of the museum both Ciel and Ryoko were talking about. At the moment though, there were not as many police officers around the area like the latter had described.
There were still several posted by the entrance, however, who was most likely there to make sure nobody enters the museum. Ritsuka would not have much trouble getting past them. Ciel on the other hand…
"You go on ahead, I'll meet you inside." She also seemed to realize what he did and told him that. "I have my ways of getting in."
"If you say so," Ritsuka shrugged. Despite her earlier protests, he had no worries that Ciel would help him out.
He made his way to the entrance of the museum and easily got past security as he thought. The stationed police officers just gave him a nod and let him in, thinking that he was one of them.
That was step one done, now step two: where was this mural Ciel was talking about?
Ritsuka wandered further into the museum while keeping an eye out for a map of the layout. After about five minutes of aimlessly wandering, he felt somebody tap him on the shoulder.
He turned around to see Ciel had come through for him and snuck in to join him.
"Finally found you," she sighed, "Follow me, it's this way."
She made him follow her to a specific wing of the museum where they found what they were looking for. Hanging onto the wall opposite the doorway was the mural that was nearly identical to the one in his house.
Ritsuka also noticed that a couple of the displays near it were void of any artifact, leading him to believe that those were what was stolen. That was secondary though as he wanted to focus on the mural first.
"Like I said earlier, I have no idea how this one would help you," Ciel remarked again as Ritsuka went to touch the mural. "Yours is more intact."
Ritsuka did not seem to hear her as his hand lightly grazed against the spot that would be Agito(?).
"This is…"
Why were they scraped off in the first place? Judging from how the rest of the mural was still in good condition, it was obvious that the three figures were deliberately removed from the picture. Question is, what would anyone stand to gain from doing that?
As he thought more about it, the more his head hurt from trying to understand the saboteur's motive. It was as if he could hear the sound of scraping in his mind.
"This is leading me nowhere," Ritsuka grumbled/sighed. He turned around to see what Ciel was up to and saw she was just admiring the remaining artifacts. "Hey, Ciel?"
"Yes?" She responded, looking up from a display case containing a broken, red claw-like appendage.
"Do you have any idea what was stolen?"
"I think so. I've been here enough times to know what's missing," Ciel answered as she went over to the two empty displays, "There should be a sword hilt in one of these and a spearhead in the other."
"Do you have any pictures of them?"
"Nope, this place doesn't allow flash photography."
Well, that was useful.
"Any idea why anyone would want to steal them?" Ritsuka decided to ask her that.
"Hmm…" Ciel had a thoughtful look on her face. "Well, they're made of an unknown metal. There's that."
"Anything else comes to your mind?"
"Hmm… Oh! There is one thing; those two weapons are believed to have belonged to a past Agito," Ciel recalled something along those lines.
"...Why wasn't that the first thing you remembered?"
"Cut me some slack, you were the one who dragged me here in the first place," she huffed before telling Ritsuka the rest of the story. "Apparently, they looked like broken pieces of Agito's weapons so they could be his."
"His weapons…" Two names came to Ritsuka's mind; the Flame Saber and Storm Halberd. He saw the latter earlier during the fight in the forest but he has never seen Agito's sword before. "Wait, what do you mean past Agito?"
"These artifacts were uncovered a long time ago about… twelve years if I'm not mistaken," Ciel elaborated, "Since Igarashi-kun would have been a kid back then, I doubt these specific ones belong to him."
"I see…" Ritsuka hummed in understanding. "But was there an Agito before Shouchi?"
"Not to my knowledge. The closest thing to Agito would've been Kuuga."
Looks like Ciel was right, going to the museum was not very helpful. He had more questions than before and no new answers yet.
So what would their next step be? They could head back, but that sounded like he was giving up. Alternatively, he could wander around and wait for a Lord to come after him again. It sounded like a terrible plan but Ritsuka could not think of a better one.
"Hey, Ciel."
"Yes?"
"I have a dumb idea. Can you help me?"
"...I'm gonna regret saying yes, won't I?" She sighed.
Back with Tetsuya and Ryoko…
"Here we go," Shouchi said as he finished cooking for the three of them.
He, along with the two remaining dimensional travelers, was currently sitting around the dining table. Shouchi had taken over kitchen duty after the mysterious disappearance of Yuu Takaragi despite Ryoko's and Tetsuya's objections.
"Don't worry about it," he had said earlier. "I don't mind cooking for you two."
Now, the two were realizing just how great of a chef Shouchi was. Even though he had to take over halfway through, the meal had turned out excellent and bursting of flavor.
"Wow, Igarashi! I'm impressed!"
"Thank you." Shouchi sheepishly scratched the back of his head in response to Ryoko's compliment.
"What she said, I can't cook this well," Tetsuya added.
"Cooking is one of the few passions I have so I like to practice in my spare time," the older version of Tetsuya said. "There's not really much else I can do since I barely have an identity."
"What do you mean by that?" Tetsuya asked.
"Well… Truthfully, Igarashi Shouchi may not be my real name." Shouchi had no problems telling them that. "That name was on a letter I had when I was found."
"When you were…?"
"It's kind of a long story. You see, earlier this year, I was found unconscious in the mountainsides. Other than the clothes on my back and a letter in my pocket, I had nothing."
"Wait… So…" Ryoko had a general idea where Shouichi was going with this. "You also have amnesia?"
"Yup!" Shouichi cheerfully admitted before he realized what she said exactly. "Wait, also?"
He glanced at Tetsuya, assuming that it was his doppelganger that Ryoko was talking about.
"No, not me." Noticing the look he was getting, Tetsuya waved his hands quickly while shaking his head. "She's talking about Ritsuka, he's the one with amnesia."
"Really? Fujimaru didn't really give me the impression that he lost his memories." Ritsuka was a bit distant but Shouchi assumed that that was his natural personality. Then again, Shouichi admitted that he was not one to talk when it comes to acting like he has amnesia.
"Well, Ritsuka lost his memories a couple years ago so he doesn't really have a reason to bring it up," Tetsuya shrugged. "But you…?"
"I know what you're thinking. I just lost my memories, I should be acting all depressed and all that stuff, right?"
"Well…"
"Honestly, I don't really care about that," Shouichi admitted to them. "At the very least, I won't lose any sleep over it."
"Really? That's… strange."
"I guess it's because I'm content with where I am."
"Being an amnesiac superhero is really that great?" Ryoko muttered before she realized something. "Hang on, that could also describe Ritsu."
What was up with being an amnesiac that led them to become Kamen Riders? If they ever run into an alternate her that was a Rider, she better not have amnesia too!
"So you don't remember anything about your old life?" Tetsuya, meanwhile, was still more focused on the fact that Shouichi had amnesia.
"Not at all. Not even any flashes like on TV."
"Is that so…?" Tetsuya did not know how he was supposed to react to that news. An alternate version of him being a Kamen Rider was shocking enough, but amnesia too? "But how long have you had your powers?"
"Since the beginning, really," Shouichi answered. "I've had this power for as long as I remember. Which isn't really much but you get my point. What about Fujimaru?"
"A bit over a week now," Ryoko answered.
"A week?" Now that was surprising. Shouichi definitely thought Ritsuka had his powers for far longer than a week. "Well, he's pretty skilled for someone who's only had his powers for a week."
"Yeah… A week…" It really had not been that long, has it? Jumping from world to world made it seem that the end of their world was a long time ago but that was definitely not true.
"Actually, can we go back to talking about Fujimaru? There's something I've been wondering about him."
"Sure, we'll answer as best as we can."
"Why were the Unknowns after him? I heard one of them saying that Fujimaru's journey will end here," asked Shouichi.
"Honestly, neither of us completely understand it ourselves," Tetsuya replied. "All we know is that whatever this journey is, it would seal the fate of all the worlds… or so we're told."
"We don't know how reliable that information is," Ryoko added.
Shouichi had a thoughtful look on his face as he listened to them. After a few moments of silence, he said, "From what I understand about them, the Unknowns are vehemently against attacking humans for no reason. If they are going after Fujimaru, then they have a very good reason for it. Especially since they traveled to another world to do so."
"..." '19 worlds…' Ryoko thought. That was the number of worlds that the Bull Lord had said when they were attacked at their old school. 19 worlds and more.
If the number of worlds that colluded with each other to attack theirs was as high as 19, then they all must consider Ritsuka to be a very massive threat. An amnesiac teenager was considered a high enough threat to the multiverse that 19 worlds made an alliance to try and assassinate him…
Had someone told her that two weeks ago, Ryoko would have laughed it off.
"Look, I don't mean to throw doubt into your friendship with Fujimaru. I myself don't really care what the Unknowns say," Shouichi quickly said upon realizing that what he said could easily come off as him trying to ruin their relationship with Ritsuka.
"Nah, don't worry about it," Tetsuya told his alternate self. "I don't think there's anything that can cause us really doubt Ritsuka."
"What he said. Ritsu can act all broody and mysterious all he wants, but we'll stand by him no matter what."
He may not have known them for that long, but seeing their comradery was enough for Shouichi's face to break into a smile. Maybe he should try and talk with Ritsuka to see how he was able to gain that sort of undying loyalty…
"Oh, this is definitely a dumb idea."
"It's too late to back out now."
Ciel quietly grumbled as she tried to remember how Ritsuka managed to convince her to agree to this.
…Oh, right. It was an offer for dinner at the cafe. That was all she needed to hear to agree to his plan.
Does not change the fact that actively looking for a Lord was a stupid plan and that Ritsuka was an idiot to even think about in the first place.
Currently, they were at a white tower that had a large grassy field in front of it. Thankfully, there was nobody around so they could fight to their heart's content. And by they, Ciel meant Ritsuka. She was not really interested in fighting the Lords since, for whatever reason, it was against the Holy Church's code. While no one would know what she was doing, she was already in a lot of hot water after… let's just say there was a reason she was wandering around town.
When she told him that she could only fight in self-defense, Ritsuka only waved off her concern and said that he can handle doing things by himself.
"...67 bottles of rum on the wall. Take one down, pass it around, 66 bottles of rum on the wall. Take one down…" Ritsuka, in his boredom, started counting down while he sat on the base of the staircase leading up to the tower. Meanwhile, Ciel was standing a bit further up the stairs, keeping an eye out.
"Why exactly do you want to confront the Lords, anyway?"
"Reasons."
"Don't give me that."
Ritsuka felt Ciel glaring at the back of his head. Whether it was a playful glare or a serious one, RItsuka was not sure but he would rather not earn her ire now. "The Bull Lord knows something about me. I want to know what he knows."
"And you're going to beat the answers out of him?"
"...Maybe."
"Well, don't come crying to me if that plan fails," Ciel snarked at him. "I'm only here because you want an audience."
"That's not why."
"Yes it is."
"No it isn't."
"Yes it is-" Ciel immediately stopped talking back when she felt a strange gust of wind.
"What is it?" Ritsuka quickly jumped to his feet and took his Driver out of his pocket. "Do you see anything?"
"..." Ciel did not answer as she looked around. Her instincts told her that there was something wrong. They had chosen such a wide-open area so that they would not be snuck up on but they had not accounted for something. "...Duck!"
Ritsuka immediately dropped to the ground just in time as an arrow pierced into the stairs behind him. Had he remained still, the arrow would have hit him in the head.
"An archer, huh?" That was mildly annoying. He only had one card that could counter a long-ranged opponent at the moment and that form had its drawbacks.
He did not have to worry about it for now, however, as a small gust of wind blew back his hair. A good distance in front of him, a white-and-red hawk-themed monster gently landed on the ground. In his right hand was a longbow and in his left was an arrow.
Shouichi was helping wash the dishes, much to the protests of the residents of the house again, when a strange but familiar sensation hit his head. It was much stronger than usual, causing him to drop the plate he was holding and it smashed upon hitting the floor.
"This… This is-!" He did not hear the concerned cries of the other two people in the room and quickly ran out of the house.
Ritsuka and Ciel stared at the Lord that had graciously shown himself to them.
"Decade," the hawk-themed Lord said, staring at Ritsuka, "We meet at last."
"You…" Ritsuka muttered. He was not getting a good feeling as he stared at the Lord in front of him. There was just something different about this one compared to the others he had faced. "You're not a normal Lord, are you?"
"That is correct. I am the El of the Wind, one of the six personal servants of the Overlord of Darkness," The El Lord introduced himself.
While it was most definitely not the right time to be focusing on anything else, Ritsuka noted the two things the El Lord mentioned; that he was right in thinking that the Overlord had a longer title and that the Overlord has six personal servants, the remaining number of angels that were on the mural.
"So your Overlord had sent one of his best to finally deal with me?" Ritsuka questioned the archer.
"That is correct," the El of the Wind nodded.
"Pretty cowardly to try to snipe me from above, you know," the amnesiac teen grumbled as he put on his Driver.
"Forgive me for trying to end this battle before it begins. Now, however," the El Lord glanced at Ciel, "We will be fighting for real."
"Fine by me. I prefer it that way." Ritsuka took out his transformation card from the RideBooker, "Henshin."
KAMEN RIDE: DECADE
Gray transparent illusions appeared around him before converging onto Ritsuka, transforming him into Decade.
"Hmph! Come!" For a second, he assumed that the El of the Wind was talking to him. He was instantly proven wrong when three similar looking Lords appeared from the sky. Their bodies and feathers were pitch black along with a beaked mask-like face. Each of them wielded a different type of weapon; one had a sword, another had a spear, and the last Crow Lord used a scythe.
"I thought you said this would be a real fight?"
"If half the rumors we've heard of you are true, this should not be an issue for you," The El of the Wind replied before he took off to the sky once more, leaving Decade to deal with the three Crow Lords on his own.
'Well, there goes the plan…' The magenta Rider grumbled in his head as dusted off his hands and got into a fighting stance.
It was the Crow Lords who made the first move, charging at him with their weapons raised. Decade easily sidestepped the spear thrust and retaliated with a swift punch to the chest before the RIder had to dodge both a sword and scythe chop.
While he was busy fighting the three Crows, he had to keep in mind that at any moment, the El of the Wind could try shooting him again and he had to be ready for it.
Meanwhile, Ciel watched the fight with a concerned look on her face. She wanted to help Ritsuka fight but doing so would only put him in more trouble, this time from the Church if they learn she was helping someone fight the Lords. All she could do for now is quietly grumble as he easily fought off the three black Lords… Okay, maybe he did not really need any help.
KA… R…E: DI…
"Huh?" It was faint, but Ciel heard something. She looked up at the tower, specifically at the circular walkway halfway up the building. With a hardened nod, she began to make her way up there.
He looked down at the battle happening in the field below, eyes mostly focused on the pink Rider that was fighting hand-to-hand. As he stared at Decade, he felt his grip on his gun tighten as a swirl of emotion filled his body.
With complete silence, he opened a black case on the left side of his belt and slid out a card. He was about to insert the card into his gun when something smacked it out of his hand.
After briefly glancing at what had disarmed him, he turned to look at who had thrown the sword. He saw the blue-haired woman that was accompanying Decade standing further down the walkway with several more identical swords held in between her fingers.
She had quickly changed into her dark-blue nun attire in a snap while on her way up.
As he was staring at her, Ciel was also analyzing the new Kamen Rider that had appeared. His suit was black down the middle of his body and his other arms while the rest of his suit was cyan blue. On his upper body was a large, black armor that was divided up like barcodes, which was the same as his helmet. Around his arms were golden bands. His belt buckle, meanwhile, was similar to Ritsuka's Decadriver except that the centerpiece was completely black with a cyan emblem that resembled Decade's symbol.
"Who are you?" Ciel questioned the cyan Kamen Rider with a cold glare.
"Oh, have you forgotten who I am already?" He replied in a playful tone that she recognized.
"...Takaragi Yuu." It took her a second to recall the name of the young man she had met about an hour ago. "So you're like Fujimaru and Igarashi."
"While that's correct, I would rather not be compared to RItsuka-kun," he replied. "Now then, why don't you walk away and I'll forget that you attacked me first? No hard feelings and all that."
"That depends. What are you planning?" Ciel was more than ready to throw down and use her Black Keys.
Yuu let out a small laugh before he answered her, "Simple, I'm helping out the Lords with their mission. A better question is, what are you planning? Should a follower of the Holy Church like you be helping the devil with his journey?"
"Devil?" Ciel muttered, baffled at why Ritsuka would be called that. "What do you mean by that?"
Yuu, however, just laughed a bit more at her confusion. "None of you have any idea about him, am I right? Oh well, that doesn't matter for now."
"Don't you-"
Before Ciel could finish saying anything, he moved like a blur and quickly picked up his gun. The cyan Rider aimed his weapon at the Executor and pulled the trigger. This time, Ciel was fast enough to react to his actions and easily blocked the energy bullets with her Black Keys.
"Well, there goes the plan…" Ciel sighed to herself before she dashed towards Takaragi.
Meanwhile…
The Overlord of Darkness stared into the distance as he sat on a balcony somewhere. In truth, he was using his powers to look through the eyes of the El of the Wind, who in turn was watching Decade fighting from up high.
He watched as Decade easily evaded each attack his Lords made and frowned as they were hurt from the magenta Rider's retaliations.
"Milord, we have returned."
However, he was eventually interrupted by the two of his El Lords entering the room.
"We have brought them here."
Two quick thuds filled the room followed by groans from the two unconscious teenagers.
"Good, you may join your comrade," the Overlord told the El of the Water and the Ground. The former was based on a whale and had a forked spear while the latter was based on a lion and his weapon was a sword.
"Yes, milord." They both bowed to their master before they left him alone with the kidnapped teens. The Overlord of Darkness kneeled down next to the boy and put his hand on his face.
Staring at male teen's face, the Overlord remarked, "So you are the alternate Agito…"
The young man closed his eyes and used his powers to search for something. After a few seconds, he opened them and said, "But you do not have the Seed."
That was both a comforting thought and an unsettling one at the same time. On one hand, he does not need to kill the boy or his female companion. On the other, he had kidnapped a pair of mostly innocent teenagers.
Thinking about what he could do with them for a minute, the Overlord eventually formulated a plan to finally deal with Decade in the scenario that the Rider managed to survive his El Lords.
"Forgive me for what I must do. You may not be part of my world but you are still humans," the Overlord quietly begged to the unconscious teenagers. "I promise no harm will come to you even after Decade is dealt with…"
Next time on Across the Kaleidoscope
"If you wish for their safety, surrender to my servants."
"Sorry… this is my fault…"
"Decade is the devil, of course. That has always been the case."
"Ritsuka-san! It's been a while!"
"You are-!?"
Chapter 15: The First and the Next
A/N: And done! Did I gave you guys a scare when I posted a new story? Well, don't worry about that. That story is just me doing what I want for New Year's, that's all. Anyway, first chapter of 2022! Hopefully, this year won't be as bad as the last two (famous last words).
Firstly, I'm sure someone's going to be upset that Diend is also an OC here. Well, nearly everyone else is an OC so it shouldn't be too big a surprise. To those who were hoping it would be Kaitou, I will say there is absolutely, no possible way, never ever will Daiki Kaitou or Tsukasa Kadoya will ever appear… *wink*
Also, I just ask that you guys give him a chance before you judge my Diend.
Secondly, this small break I had did wonders for my mind. Not only did I get the chance to do my small fic, it also helped me plan out more of the story. I only had a faint outline but now… Let's just say that you get ready for the next few arcs.
Finally, there's a TVTropes page for the fic now. Think some of you are willing to help out with adding stuff to it?
(Also, what would you guys think if I decided to add Ciel permanently? Just asking.)
As usual, please leave a review and all that stuff! See you next time! (And I'm still looking for a beta if anyone's interested)