Across The Kaleidoscope

by Fireblitz113

Two and a half years ago, he awoke without any memories except one: his name. Now, he has to embark on a journey after the destruction of the world. With few allies and 19 worlds' worth of enemies, Fujimaru Ritsuka has to travel through the Rider Worlds to understand the meaning of his journey and figure out the greatest enemy waiting at the end of everyone's story.

19. Radiating Bonds

Disclaimer: You know what I'm gonna say here. I don't own anything so let's move on already.

---

Previously on Across the Kaleidoscope

"So, Decade is alive…"

"...No, smells the same as the other worlds."

"But I assure you, between the two of us, I'm the true Ritsuka."

"Allow me to introduce myself, I am Bishop of the Checkmate Four of Kiva's world."

---

Hibiki's world…

It was early in the morning as two hikers trekked through the mountainside forest. As the two were walking by a ravine, one of them was complaining to his friend about some things he heard.

"Why are we up here? Haven't you heard the rumors?"

"Yeah, yeah," the other guy waved his friend's fear off as he did not believe the rumors. Sure, people were disappearing in these mountains but because of monsters? That was just absurd. Besides, he has been up in this neck of the woods many times before so he knew what to do.

"Grr…" A deep growl echoed through the ravine, making the two hikers stop in their tracks.

"Was that you?" The experienced hiker turned back to his friend who shook his head. "Then what was-?"

Boom

The loose rock beneath their feet shook as a loud booming footstep rocked the area. Before either of the hikers could remark about it, a large shadow enveloped them, making them look up to see– "Ahhhh!" –a giant as tall as two-and-a-half men towering over them. The sudden appearance of the hairy giant made them fall back in fear.

"Mmmm!" The Yamabiko hungrily moaned as it reached for the two hikers…

---

Chapter 19: Radiating Bonds

---

Hibiki's world…

Ritsuka let out a loud yawn as he exited his borrowed tent.

"Yo, kid," he heard Hibiki call out to him from near the campfire, "Good morning."

"Good morning…" Ritsuka mumbled in reply before taking a deep breath of the pleasantly fresh forest air. The scent the forest had was honestly much better than the city air he was more used to. In fact, he had a rather good night's sleep despite the fact he knew that there were still two Makamous running around this mountain thanks to the clean forest air.

Scratching the back of his head as he walked, Ritsuka sat down by the campfire and drowsily stared into the red fire.

"Here," he heard Kasumi say as she handed him a plastic cup. "Don't just throw away the cup when you're done."

"I know…" Ritsuka muttered as he took a sip of the clean water. It was a bit cold, but not that much. After finishing his drink, now a bit more awake, he turned his head towards Hibiki. "So, what now?"

"Well, there's not much we can do besides waiting for the Disk Animals to find the Yamabiko and its mother," Hibiki answered as he cooked another fish, presumably one he'd just caught, on a stick over the fire. "I'm just planning to train a bit in the meantime."

"Is that so…?" That wasn't that surprising; Hibiki called himself well-trained the night before so his liking to train was a given.

"Hmm… This should be good enough," Hibiki muttered as he took the fish off the fire. "Kasumi, grab the plates."

---

Fourze's world…

"Wachaa! Hiya!" Meteor cried as he unleashed a flurry of punches against Decade. However, his punches were blocked and deflected with ease.

"Hmm.., Meteor, you're a practitioner of Seishin Dairinken, correct?" Decade playfully asked as he caught one of Meteor's punches in his left hand.

"You recognize my techniques?" It was a bit of a shock to Meteor but not a massive one. From what Tachibana had told him, Decade was a dangerous foe that could easily defeat any Rider and monster he fought.

"What sort of question is that? Of course, I do," the magenta Rider huffed, sounding disappointed that Meteor asked in the first place. "But regardless of your fighting style, I'll still make quick work of you before I have to leave."

However, as soon as he made that proclamation, he heard soft grunts coming from his left. He quickly jumped back towards the railings, just barely dodging the Black Keys that were thrown at him by Ciel.

"2 against 1, isn't that a bit unfair?" Well, he did say he could take both of them on. Changing the RideBooker into its sword mode for the umpteenth time in the last ten minutes, Decade dashed towards the Executor and made a wide slash.

The clanging of their weapons reverberated from the rooftop that somehow managed to not attract anyone else's attention. Peeking from behind the corner of the staircase access, Ryoko and Tetsuya watched the rooftop battle with worry in their eyes. Ciel (and Meteor) were skilled, that went without saying, but so was Ritsuka… or whoever that Decade was. It was clear that he was not taking this fight all that seriously despite being (slightly) outnumbered.

"Wachaa!" Meteor cried as he tried, and failed, to attack Decade again. This time, the magenta Rider dodged by leaping back into the railing again.

"This roof isn't really a good place to do battle…" Decade loudly muttered before he clapped his hands, realizing what he could do to solve that problem. "Oh right, I could do that. Hold on for a second you two."

Without waiting for a response, he raised and flicked his left hand to summon an Aurora Curtain behind him. The translucent wall quickly moved over the rooftop, washing over, and sent the five elsewhere.

---

In the blink of an eye, they found themselves in a large abandoned warehouse.

"There, this place should suit us better, don't you think?" Decade asked semi-seriously as he tossed his sword into his right hand. "Now then, let's continue."

He opened the casing and quickly took out a KamenRide card just as Meteor jumped forward to land another blow.

"It's been a while since I've used this power… besides that one time in their world." Decade glanced at the two that were hiding behind some nearby crates. "Henshin."

KAMENRIDE: AGITΩ

A bright light flashed from the Decadriver after he closed it. When the light died down, standing in his place now was a different Rider with his belt.

'Agito…' Ciel was not surprised by the doppelganger turning into the main Rider of her world, having gotten the rundown of Ritsuka's abilities. Still, seeing the yellow Rider standing against her as an enemy was strange.

Meteor, meanwhile, recognized Agito from one of the old videos of the past Riders that fought for justice in his world.

"A Divine's power versus Cosmic Energy… and whatever it is that you priests use to fight." As a couple of those working for the Holy Church had told him, they don't use the term 'magecraft' when referring to their abilities.

Jumping into battle again, the 'fake' Decade utilized swift punches and kicks to push them back. His attacks were somewhat successful, managing to force them back a couple of steps. He did not do that much damage, and only forced them to go on the defensive, but it was enough for him to unleash his next move.

Taking a deep breath, he swiped his left hand just as Ciel dashed towards him with a trio of Black Keys. Her attack was parried by a blade of light erupting from Decade's wrist. With another swipe of his right hand, Ciel winced as she felt a few drops of blood dripping from her stomach.

"First blood goes to me," Decade smirked underneath his, or rather, Agito's mask. "Ha!"

Ciel managed to take out more of her Black Keys to block another sword of light before jumping away. Her blades were sliced into two (or six in total) though. While that wasn't an issue because only the handles were important, it still stung a bit to have them break.

Meteor quickly jumped back into the battle, letting out another flurry of punches. Decade was able to dodge again, much easier this time due to Agito's armor being lighter than his normal one. Catching another punch in his left hand, the yellow Rider reached for his cardholder and swiftly took out another card with his other hand.

FORMRIDE AGITΩ: FLAME

A red light flared from Decade's buckle as he punched Meteor in the chest. Decade's chestplate and right arm turned red as the Flame Saber flew out of the Decadriver and into his right hand.

"Always in the wrong hand," Decade quietly grumbled as he tossed the saber into his other hand. "Well, it's literally the right hand for you guys."

Charging towards them, he raised the Flame Saber above his head and brought it down with a wide arc.

---

Hibiki's world…

The sounds of drumbeats echoed throughout the forest as Hibiki trained with his Ongekibou Rekkas and a taiko drum that was conveniently in a nearby seemingly abandoned shrine.

Ritsuka quietly sat on the stairs leading up to the central drum while listening to Hibiki beat in a rhythmic pattern.

'One, two, two. One, two, two…' Ritsuka counted how Hibiki hit the drum with his sticks.

The older Rider continued to train for a few more minutes, barely acknowledging Ritsuka's presence. Eventually though, he stopped and turned around. "Kid, why exactly are you so interested in me?"

"Huh?" Ritsuka turned back to look at Hibiki. "What do you mean?"

"I understand being fascinated with me to some extent, but you're… different," Hibiki said. "You're taking everything about the Makamou like a natural, yet you're not a member of my group, nor are you part of that world."

"That world…?" It took Ritsuka a moment to realize that he did not mean a literal another world but was instead referring to those wizards and witches that everyone kept mistaking him for.

"I could believe it if you knew just the Makamous and us Onis, but those guys have a habit of erasing the memories of their own actions… Usually," Hibiki scowled, marking the first time he deviated from his easy-going nature. "The fact that you know about them is odd, to say the least."

"I… just get into lots of weird situations," Ritsuka used his go-to excuse.

"That doesn't really explain anything, kid."

"...A lot of weird situations."

Hibiki stared at Ritsuka, quite obviously not buying his answer at all. "Did you know that a while back, several Makamous disappeared in the middle of battle? I saw it happen in front of my eyes. So did Ibuki, Zanki, and Todoroki."

Where was he going with this?

"A silver wall appeared and took them away," Hibiki continued, "Another silver wall appeared two days ago, right above the river."

"Two days ago…"

Ritsuka connected the dots just before Hibiki told him, "You came out of the wall and fell into the water. You were unconscious and would've drowned had I not been around."

"Thank… you?" Ritsuka genuinely had no idea what else he could say, which Hibiki took note of.

"I'm not saying that you're the one who abducted those Makamous," the older man quickly added, "But you're not as normal a person as you claim to be."

"...Yeah, you're right," Ritsuka admitted. "I'm… not exactly from around here."

"Something tells me that's an understatement," Hibiki… joked? "I heard that those guys have someone who can travel to different dimensions. Never met him of course, but I know that alternate worlds exist."

"...You're saying that like it's a normal thing to come up in a conversation." Granted, it was a normal thing for Ritsuka but one would assume that knowing the multiverse existed wouldn't be something most people would say.

"I've been around for a while, kid, what I consider normal is different than what someone like the boy would consider normal," Hibiki simply said.

'The boy…?' Who did he mean by that? However, even if he was curious as to the identity of 'the boy', Ritsuka knew that he was the least pressing issue at the moment. "Wait, you said that Makamous had been going missing?"

"No, I said that a few had disappeared a while back. About…" Hibiki thought about when it happened for a moment, "8 months ago."

8 months really doesn't help at all when Ritsuka had been skipping forward a couple of months. "And what month is it now?"

"April." So the same as it is in Fourze's world (assuming that world and this one were separate).

It had been early Autumn when the world ended and his journey started. In the middle of September, to be exact. That would be about eight months ago from Hibiki's perspective. That would mean… someone had kidnapped this world's monster for the express purpose of using them in the invasion. Since they were wild monsters, the Makamou did not have someone like the King or the Overlord of Darkness leading them. Thus, several being taken away would explain how Makamous appeared in the invasion.

Now that he thought about it, maybe something similar happened in Ex-Aid's world? They didn't have a leader either, not one that Ritsuka knew of, so they could also have been abducted to aid with his assassination attempt. Unless he ran into Emu again in the near future, Ritsuka couldn't say for sure.

A smaller, minute, part of him also thought of something Ciel had brought up a couple of days prior when they were at Amanogawa's front gates. Something about Second Magic and how it was similar to what he was doing, traveling through worlds and time. Could that guy who Hibiki mentioned have something to do with Second Magic?

"So, what is your story, kid?" Hibiki snapped Ritsuka out of his thoughts. "You don't need to tell me if you don't want to but-"

"No, no, it's fine." Ritsuka did not really care to hide the truth that much. He wouldn't go shouting it to the world(s) but if someone were to ask, he'd tell them. Besides, the cat was already out of the bag so might as well.

---

"That… really is complicated," Hibiki stated his thoughts as plainly as possible.

Was it really? Sure, it was a long story but not as complicated as one might think. Ritsuka was an amnesiac that was left in a world, that world was destroyed two and a half years later because 19 other worlds thought he was a threat, and sent their soldiers and whatnot to kill him, and now he was traveling through the multiverse with some friends (one of whom was an alternate version of a woman that tried to kill him) to meet Kamen Riders for reasons he did not yet know. Long, but not that complicated.

"So you're here to meet me."

"Apparently," Ritsuka shrugged.

He did not know exactly what he was supposed to do in Hibiki's world. In the worlds he had visited, there was always something for him to get involved in and so he could help that world's Riders. Hibiki, meanwhile, was well-adjusted and had proven that he was capable of fighting by himself. Even if his belt wasn't left behind, there wasn't anything Ritsuka could do but watch.

"Well, there's not much I can do to help you. I'm just one of the many Onis in this world, you're better off looking for someone like Zanki," Hibiki suggested. "He already has an apprentice, but I know he's willing to lend a hand if you ask."

"Eh?" Oh, it seemed that Hibiki got their positions reversed. Not caring to correct him, Ritsuka instead continued with the conversation. "Zanki is another Oni, right?"

"Yes, he's one of the few that's more experienced than I am. If it's training you seek, it's him you'd want to go to."

"But… aren't you also pretty experienced?" Ritsuka asked, "Why do I have to go to him?"

"I may be well-trained, but I'm not great at being a teacher in subjects other than fighting," Hibiki said.

'Somehow, I doubt that,' the teen thought to himself. "What makes you say that?"

"Kid, my job is to travel around to find and hunt monsters and sometimes those guys that like to experiment on… not poor Makamou but you get my point." Ritsuka made a small mental note to ask Ciel more about those wizard guys since the topic of them seemed to be popping up every now and then. "Are you sure that I am the one you're looking for? I'm not the best person to ask."

Since it was his name and Oni form on one of the KamenRide Cards, Ritsuka was pretty confident that it was Hibiki he was looking for. Oh yeah, how was he supposed to obtain Hibiki's powers if his cards were left behind in Fourze's world?

…He'll figure it out later.

"I don't think the world-" Or Virgo or whoever it was that sent him here, whichever made more sense, "-dropped me at your feet just so you could hand me off to one of your buddies," Ritsuka grumbled.

"I didn't take you for someone who believes in fate," hummed Hibiki. For his impression of Ritsuka, the older man thought he liked to go along with the flow (metaphorically, not physically on account of him being dumped in a river) and not think much about anything beyond what was in front of him… which was somewhat true.

"There's a fine line in believing in fate and knowing that somebody is doing their best to screw you over while making sure you stay on track."

"Uh…?"

"...It's complicated," Ritsuka finally admitted that his life was a complete mess at this point.

---

Fourze's world…

"Haa!"

Ciel silently grumbled as she found more of her Black Keys getting cut by Decade, this time by the Rider using his (read: Agito's) Saber. A few feet next to her, Meteor was having an equally terrible time trying to fight him.

"Hey, hey, is that really all you have to give?" Decade taunted them in a playful tone again. "Neither of you are whipping out the big guns against me… Hang on, do you guys even have big guns?"

Well, at least Ciel knew that he was just mocking them. Ritsuka– the real one –knew that she literally had a big gun from when they and the real Agito went to face the Overlord of Darkness. She had not attempted to use her trump card in this fight yet for one simple reason, she did not believe the time was right to use it yet.

She had no clue to what extent the false Decade knew about Ritsuka's powers but it was clear that the false Decade was not taking this seriously. Despite that, it was also clear that the only reason they were still fighting at the moment was that he wanted to mess around. If she used the Seventh Holy Scripture, it would just make him stop playing around and take off the kiddie gloves. Until she completely discerns his strengths and weaknesses, prematurely using her trump card was a no-go.

"Meteor, why don't you use that form?"

"Huh?" Meteor sounded confused at what Decade asked. "What are you talking about?"

"Oh… You don't have that Astroswitch yet, huh? That's boring," Decade sighed, not answering him. "Guess it was a bit of wishful thinking that you or Gentaro will pose a challenge to me. If you don't have Storm, he shouldn't have Cosmic either."

"Storm? Tachibana-san, what's he talking about?" Meteor tried to ask his mentorish figure, whispering underneath his breath, but he did not get a response. 'Why isn't he saying anything?'

"Man… Looks like this fight will be much less exciting than I hoped it'd be," Decade continued whining. It was unclear whether he was genuinely upset or was just trying to get a rise out of them. "I knew it'd be short but not this short." 'Well, that just gives me more time, I guess…'

However, a voice from above them called out to him, making everyone look up to see someone standing on the suspended catwalks. "If it's excitement you want, I could entertain you for a bit, devil."

"That is…?" Reactions to the appearance of Takaragi Yuu ranged from complete confusion (Meteor) to instant recognition (Decade).

"Eh… Takaragi?" Decade hummed. "What are you doing here? I thought you'd be off looking for treasure."

Takaragi simply smirked before he vaulted over the railings and somehow landed gracefully on his feet on the ground below, in between Decade and his opponents. "I'm already done with my hunt thanks to you," he explained while slowly walking backward. He stopped to stand next to Ciel and Meteor as he reached into his jacket and pulled out a white and orange Ridewatch. The year stamped on the lower part of the clock face was 2011. "Now I'm free to fulfill the end of my promise."

"Promise…?" Practically everyone muttered at the same time. A few seconds later, both Decade and Ciel realized what he was talking about.

"Oh, that stupid declaration to kill me if I transform?" Decade scoffed, obviously not taking Takaragi seriously at all. "What makes you think you could do it? Many far more powerful than the three of you combined have tried to kill me before I even became Decade. As you can tell, they failed."

"..." Takaragi did not respond; instead, he just took out his cyan Neo Diendriver and a KamenRide card. The card had a white background instead of a black one like Decade's while the Rider depicted on it was the cyan barcode helmet of Kamen Rider DiEnd.

KAMENRIDE:

The Neo Diendriver announced as Takaragi inserted his card into the slot on its side. He then pulled out the front portion of the gun before pointing it upwards.

"Henshin!" He declared before pulling the trigger.

DIEND

The glowing white symbol of Kamen Rider DiEnd shot out of the gun as three silhouettes of his armor appeared and moved around Takaragi. The silhouettes converged on him while his symbol morphed into multiple large cards. His gray armor solidified around him before the cards shot down, merging with his helmet and causing his suit to gain its color.

"Hmm… This is the first time I'm seeing you transformed, right?" Decade hummed to himself, taking Takaragi's transformation as seriously as he did the others, i.e. not at all. "Whatever, at least choose ones that are challenging. That's what you said you'd do."

"Hey, nun."

"My name is Ciel," the Executor corrected DiEnd but was ignored.

"You and Meteor will distract him, won't you?" DiEnd asked/ordered in a cheerful tone. "I'll be supporting from the side."

"Don't order me around," Meteor huffed but since he was a close-quarters fighter, he did what he was told anyway and quickly tried to rush Decade again.

'Just when will this day end?' Out of all the things Ciel expected to do today, fighting an evil doppelganger of her new friend alongside someone that had already declared that he would kill said new friend was not one of them.

Regardless, she began circling the Decade and pulled out several more Black Keys to throw while DiEnd quickly aimed and fired his gun at Decade, who just used the Flame Saber to block them.

"One red versus three blues, why don't we boost our numbers a bit more?" DiEnd opened the case on the side of his belt and pulled out two more cards before inserting them into the Neo Diendriver.

KAMENRIDE: AQUA

KAMENRIDE: BLADES

DiEnd pulled the trigger again and an energy ball was shot out of the gun. It then split into six silhouettes that converged and solidified into the two Riders. They both were blue, one being a lighter shade than the other.

The first Rider had an aquatic-blue suit with white and black accents. His helmet was silver, and divided in two by a blue groove in the middle that was connected to his mouthpiece, while his eyes were large and yellow. Finally, his belt was rather simple, a blue fan in the middle of a silver buckle.

The other Rider looked more ornate and regal when compared to Aqua. Most of his suit was black with white and blue accents. However, the large blue lion head on his chest along with the blue stripe was what everyone's eyes were drawn to. His boots were also blue, with the tips molded to look like a feline's feet. His helmet had a blue v-shaped visor and a large silver blade jutting out from his forehead. His Driver was a simple black rectangular box that strangely had a small blue book in its middle slot. Unlike Aqua who was unarmed, Blades had a long silver sword that had writings visible in it from the side. On its hilt was a blue emblem that had a symbol identical to the Rider's visor.

"The best counter to fire is water, right?" DiEnd mused his reasoning for choosing those two specific Riders before snapping his fingers and ordering his summons, "Get him."

The two silently nodded before they charged their foe, joining Meteor in fighting Decade in close-range while Ciel and DiEnd continued giving support from the sidelines.

Blades' sword became coated in water before he slashed Decade. Obviously, the other Rider easily blocked the sword with his own and the water went everywhere. It fell on the ground and on the three Riders' bodies (Meteor included). The water that fell onto the ground remained still for a few moments before it levitated and moved towards Aqua, gathering into a ball in front of him before he shot it at Decade. However, the waterball was quickly turned to steam by Decade shooting a fireball from his right hand in retaliation.

"Yo, nun."

"I have a name," Ciel grumbled at what the cyan thief called her when she finished circling their foe.

"Help them distract him for a sec, I'm going in," DiEnd simply ordered before Ciel had a chance to voice her opinion. Using his super-speed, he came at Decade from his left while he was preoccupied with holding off Meteor, Aqua, and Blades. However, despite DiEnd being a blur, the yellow Rider managed to quickly spin around and swing his sword the second the thief got close to him.

DiEnd reacted just as quickly though and ducked under the sword swing while reaching his hand towards the RideBooker which was still on Decade's belt. Right as he was about to swing the Flame Saber again, Decade was hit in the back by one of Ciel's Black Keys. Thanks to that timely intervention, DiEnd was able to snatch the RideBooker and make a break for it.

Admittedly a bit annoyed by the underhanded tactic, Decade clicked his tongue before stepping back and putting some space between him and his opponents. "Really, going for my cards? Then again, why would I expect a thief like you to know about honor," he scoffed at DiEnd and mocked his characters.

"Honor is only among thieves and if memory serves me right, you haven't stolen anything before," DiEnd retorted with a bit of smugness as he playfully tossed the stolen weapon/cardholder in the air, "Not even Decade's powers, right?"

"No, really, have we met before?" Decade asked, genuinely having trouble trying to recall if he had encountered him before. That, of course, only served to aggravate DiEnd more.

"You-!"

"Then again, I don't really care if we have. All that matters now is the present, right?" Decade interrupted DiEnd. "After all, both the past and the future might as well not exist for all of us."

That cryptic remark was enough to make everyone besides DiEnd and his summons pause to figure out what he meant by that.

"Now then, shall we continue?" Decade snapped his fingers, causing something to fly out of his Driver and into his empty right hand. "Was planning to dual wield with that but plans change, don't they?"

Now in both of Decade's hands were identical copies of the Flame Saber, the blade of one rested on his shoulder while the tip of the one in his right touched the ground.

'Oh, this is gonna suck…'

---

Hibiki's world…

Ritsuka grunted as he and Hibiki went on a hiking trip near the camp to pass time.

"So, you still don't know what you're doing after all this time?" Hibiki asked as he easily walked up the rocky path.

"It has only been over a week but… yes," the teen admitted as he followed that same path with minor difficulty. "No one has really told me what I'm supposed to do or why, so I just go along with it."

"While there's nothing wrong with going with the flow, I do that myself most of the time, you really should have a clear goal in mind when undertaking such a task."

While it was sound advice, Ritsuka had absolutely no clue how he was supposed to fix his lack of goals. It's not like there was someone telling him what to do or why he should do it… besides that guy anyway, but he doesn't count. "What about you? What's your goal?"

"Me?" It only took Hibiki one second to think of his answer. "To get stronger and protect humanity from the Makamous. That's why I became an Oni."

It was a simple answer but Hibiki was a rather simple man. Well, Oni but Ritsuka got the gist of it; Hibiki was a Rider so he could protect humanity, there wasn't much more to it than that.

Thinking about it now, Ritsuka also realized that the others had relatively simple wishes they were fighting for; Yuusuke wanted to protect people's smiles, Emu had a similar wish to protect people's lives, the Kishinami twins were just in it to survive, and so on and so forth. He was the only outlier, just stumbling around in the dark, not giving two seconds of thought beyond fighting monsters and helping Riders.

'Isn't that a wish?' Ritsuka thought. Admittedly, it was less that he felt like he wanted to help them and more that he needed to. A wish was a strong want and not a need, right? A strong need would be called a… what was the word? Duty? That was the most fitting word to describe his feelings…

It was his duty to help the Riders, not his wish.

So what was his wish, his desire? What was his end goal?

"My… desired ending…" Ritsuka muttered to himself.

---

Fourze's world…

If Takaragi's reason for snatching the RideBooker was to weaken Fujimaru then his plan had backfired immensely, and literally too. Unlike the Riders who had some protection thanks to their suit, Ciel had no such benefit and was exposed to the immense heat that Decade-as-Agito was radiating. Sweat dripped from her forehead even though she was the furthest from the main battle (besides the two observers, of course).

"Takaragi, you said you'd make this exciting. My heart's not exactly racing at the moment," Decade sighed in boredom as his sabers were crossed with Blades' sword, having caught the silver blade as the water swordsman tried to bring it down on his head. "I don't usually get out much, but so far, all the fights I've been in were boring."

After saying that, he kicked Blade away before Aqua and Meteor came in from both sides. Their attempt to tag-team him lasted all of five seconds before, with a spinning attack, Decade repelled them.

"Tch, this is going way off-plan," DiEnd grumbled under his breath before he took one more card from his deck and inserted it into his gun.

ATTACKRIDE: BLAST

Aiming his weapon to the spot above Decade, DiEnd shot an energy ball that quickly exploded into multiple bullets that rained down on the Rider. For once, Decade was actually harmed by an attack. It was not much, it only caused a short stumble backward, but it was finally something.

"Now then," DiEnd hummed as he pulled out another card, this one with a golden version of his symbol on it. "The finisher."

FINAL ATTACKRIDE: DI-DI-DIEND

Halos of holographic cards appeared in front of DiEnd as he took aim at Decade before he pulled the trigger. A large beam shot out of the gun that absorbed the halos of cards as it flew through them on its way to the yellow-and-red Rider.

Decade, however, made no attempt to get out of the way and raised both Flame Sabers to block the attack. The longswords took the beam head-on and lasted a bit before the area around Decade exploded.

'...No, it's not over yet.' Despite the apparent defeat, Ciel's instincts were telling her that the battle was not finished yet. Her gut feeling was proven correct, unfortunately, when the flames swirled around Decade. The fire was quickly absorbed into the blades of the Flame Saber, revealing that despite being hit with a finisher, Decade was seemingly not at all harmed.

"Was that supposed to do something, Takaragi?" The doppelganger mocked the thief in a sarcastic tone as he twirled the swords in his hands. "Whatever then, my turn."

Now, Ciel's instincts, as well as everyone else's for that matter, told them to run as the horns in the hilts of the Flame Sabers opened up and Decade crossed the swords above his head. The silver blades caught on fire, burning the air around them and raising the temperature of the warehouse further.

"You two, shields!" DiEnd shouted at his summons, who quickly got in front of the three truly sentient fighters and used their powers to create a wall of water to protect them.

"HAA!" With a loud cry, he brought the Flame Sabers down, making a cross-slash and sending a fiery cross at them. The water wall did not last a single second before the cross of fire broke through and hit the two blue Riders behind it. An explosion larger than the one before violently sent the three flying back and crashing into the ground while the two summons were caught in the blast, incinerating them completely.

"That should do it," Decade smugly remarked as he watched DiEnd's and Meteor's transformation be forcibly disengaged by the blast. "Now then, to end it here or later?"

He skipped over to the three downed and groaning fighters, stopping in between Takaragi and Yuzuki Ryuusei. He put the still-hot tips of his swords against their necks.

"You will be a pain in my ass, I know it." Decade glanced at Takaragi who could only glare back at his red eyes. "And you, Ryuusei, dealing with you now will make it easier for the others when the time comes. Gentaro will be all alone when all hell breaks loose again."

"You-!" Ryuusei tried to say something but the pain stopped him from continuing.

"To take a Rider's life… It's been a while." Decade raised his swords and prepared to bring them down. Before he could stab their throats though, he was tackled from the side. "Hey!"

It only took one elbow to the stomach to force his attacker off and get back up. "Oh, right. Forget you were here."

Tossing one of the Flame Sabers away, he grabbed Tetsuya by the collar and raised the teenager above the ground. "The A.R. Agito but not really. Admittedly, I didn't think that something like this could've happened but that guy works in mysterious ways."

Tetsuya did not respond as he struggled to get out of Decade's grip.

"I wonder… does that mean she's an alternate too?" Decade hummed. "If so, then who? Was there a Rider with her name? I don't remember."

Clang!

"Hmm… I don't think so." Decade turned his head around to see Ryoko who had a deer-in-headlights look in her eyes. She had gone to grab one of Ciel's dropped Black Keys to try and hit him from behind. Decade though raised his remaining sword to intercept it.

Before she could run away, the Rider tossed the boy in his hand at the girl, sending them both crashing onto the ground.

"Why do you two even follow him… me… us?"

"Gah!" Tetsuya cried as Decade stepped on his back.

"He doesn't even care about you two at all." The Rider spoke in a dark voice as he once again brought his sword up. However, once again, he was interrupted. "Hmm?" It was not a person this time though. Instead, his body started dissolving. Particles started to come off his armor and his entire appearance began to blur.

"Eh… Time's up, huh?" 'A couple of hours, that's not too bad.' "Consider yourself lucky, I'm done here."

He stepped off of Tetsuya's back and summoned an Aurora Curtain, stepped inside, and left the five laying on the ground…

---

Sometime later…

"Yeah, Ciel-senpai asked for my help with something so I had to leave early," Ryuusei spoke in a cheerful voice into his phone despite the bandages that were wrapped around his forehead as well as the rest of his body. In fact, everyone else in the room was bandaged up after their one-sided fight with the fake Fujimaru Ritsuka.

"Oh, really? You really had us worrying, Ryuusei. Especially Nozama." Gentaro's voice came from the other end of the line.

"Sorry, apologize to Tomoda for me, will you?"

'Sure thing, bud. See you tomorrow then."

"Yeah, tomorrow…" Ryuusei smiled. "Oh and… if you see Fujimaru-san, be careful."

"Hmm? Why?"

"Just… be careful, there's something off about him. The club can meet up tomorrow," Ryuusei said before he hung up and sighed.

"Off is a big understatement, Meteor-kun." Despite being in an equal amount of pain, Takaragi still acted cheerful as he resumed tossing the RideBooker around.

"My name is-"

"Ryuusei, so calling you Meteor is fine." Takaragi finished Ryuusei's sentence for him, earning the transfer student's ire instantly. "Besides, I'm sure you have more pressing issues than what I call you."

"Not just him, Takaragi," Ciel spoke up. "You know who that other Fujimaru is, don't you?"

"I heard some things, yes," the thief nodded, "But I think Meteor-kun here deserves answers first. Unlike you guys, he has absolutely no idea who the pink bastard that nearly burned him to a crisp was."

Admittedly, he had a point. While they were obviously deeply concerned about… Well, everything regarding the other Fujimaru Ritsuka, Ryuusei had been completely clueless about what was happening.

At least he should've been.

"Actually, I've heard of Decade before," Ryuusei told them. "A devil in disguise responsible for the death of many worlds… or something along those lines."

"...Where exactly did you hear that from?" Ryoko questioned him. Hearing a rumor like that about a close friend of hers was a bit distressing.

"...Somewhere," the Amanogawa student (not) answered. "At the very least, I knew that he was going to appear in Amanogawa sooner or later."

"That makes it easier for me to explain things," Takaragi smirked, his job already halfway done, "Right, that super strong devil in disguise we fought was the Destroyer of Worlds, Decade!"

"Hey, are you forgetting that we're here?" Tetsuya grumbled– "Ow!" –before he was bonked on the head by Takaragi.

"Silly boy, I'm telling you all this because you're here." The thief had a wide grin on his face as he said that. "Lemme say this now, your so-called friend has been keeping a lot of things to himself."

"Ritsu's a secretive person. If he doesn't want to talk about it, he won't." That's not to say they wouldn't ask if there was something bothering him, it was just that Ritsuka kept to himself all the time.

"Well, it looks like him being so secretive is coming to bite all of us in the ass," Takaragi sighed as he caught the RideBooker. "Had he been even a bit more open, that guy might not be around to hand our ass on a silver platter."

"You're taking nearly getting burned alive rather well," Ciel remarked which he took in stride.

"Honestly, the fact we survived in the first place is a miracle enough on its own, I'm not gonna complain about how badly we got beaten," shrugged Takaragi. "Isn't that right, Meteor-kun? Does Decade live up to the rumors you've heard about him?"

"He did, and then some…" muttered Ryuusei before he turned towards Ciel, "But I want to know about you more than Decade."

"That's… fair." He definitely was more confused about the blue-haired battle nun that had been messing with his memories than the pink guy that peaced out after nearly killing everyone.

Speaking of which, what happened back there? While none of them were complaining that he ran off, they were confused about what happened to Fujimaru. It looked as if he was fizzling out of existence.

"How did you mess with my memories? Or everyone's at Amanogawa's for that matter?" Ryuusei raised an eyebrow. "Everyone at school was acting like you've been around forever."

"Explaining it would take a while so to simplify it, it is basically hypnotic suggestion," Ciel answered. "You don't need to think too hard about it."

"Still, I don't appreciate getting my mind messed with," grumbled the boy in the brown uniform.

"Sorry about that."

Ryuusei made a short humming sound in acknowledgment before he moved the conversation forward, "You're all Decade's… Fujimaru's allies, right? Why was he in Amanogawa?"

"Wait just a minute here, you're wrong about Ritsu," Ryoko tried to correct Ryuusei's impression of their amnesiac friend, "The person who you fought wasn't him."

"Let me guess, Decade just so happen to have an evil doppelganger that also happens to be a vampire?" Ryuusei semi-sarcastically asked. However, what he said only baffled the others minus Takaragi.

"Vampire?"

"You didn't notice? Fujimaru doesn't have a reflection," he revealed to the group. "Tomoda and I noticed it earlier when we were in the Rabbit Hatch."

"And you didn't mention it earlier because…?"

"Because I didn't know what I was seeing," Ryuusei answered Ryoko, "And besides, I was still wary since I was told that Fujimaru was dead."

"...What?!" It was a delayed reaction but a loud one nonetheless.

Ciel, meanwhile, had a different reaction, "So you heard the same thing I did."

"Wait, you knew that but you didn't say anything?!"

"Calm down, Ryo-chan," Takaragi told the girl. "We know for certain that the real Ritsuka-kun is still kicking around somewhere."

"First of all, don't call me that." Ryoko gave him a short glare at the nickname. "Second of all-"

"How do all of you already know all this?" Whether or not that was what Ryoko was gonna say, Tetsuya didn't know. Regardless, that was a good of a question as any which the three answered.

"I heard about it." -Ryuusei.

"I overheard it while investigating the school." -Ciel.

"I saw the Horoscopes trying to kill him." -Takaragi. "...What?"

"You… what?" Everyone was staring at the thief, including Ryuusei.

"Oh, I didn't mention that?"

"No."

"Well, I'm mentioning it now; the Horoscopes are the reason the true Fujimaru Ritsuka was able to take his real self's place."

"...I'm a bit lost here," admitted Ryuusei after a moment. "Was that the real Fujimaru Ritsuka or not?"

"That was the true Ritsuka-kun, not the real one," Takaragi smirked as he answered.

"That… doesn't answer my question at all," the student grimaced.

Ring ring!

Before he could say anything else, his cellphone started ringing. "Excuse me for a minute," Ryuusei bowed before he left the room to answer the call.

"Takaragi, what do you mean by that?" Ciel asked with a hard look. That was precisely what Fujimaru said in the storage room.

"I'll admit that I'm not the real Fujimaru Ritsuka. But I assure you, between the two of us, I'm the true Fujimaru Ritsuka."

"I mean precisely what I mean, Blue." Seems like that was her new nickname. At least it was better than just 'nun'. "The person who kicked our ass five days to Sunday was the true Fujimaru Ritsuka; the person he truly is underneath all the snarky and broody exterior."

The true… Ritsuka?

"...Anyway!" Takaragi suddenly shouted, "I have better things to do, see ya!"

Before any of them could stop him, the thief summoned a silver wall and quickly disappeared, leaving them with more questions than answers.

---

Hibiki's world…

NIght had fallen again and the Disk Animals had not returned with any news of the Yamabiko or the escaped Hime. Several did return to camp, but that was to recharge their batteries so to speak.

Instead of catching and cooking another fish, Hibiki decided that they would eat some of the rations that they (read: Kasumi) had prepared before coming to this mountain.

"I feel like that this would be our last night here," Hibiki had said earlier, "Might as well eat them instead of letting them go to waste." After that, Hibiki went off to take a nap in one of the tents.

Now, Ritsuka was back to doing what he did that morning, sitting by the relit campfire and staring into the red flame.

"..."

"..."

"..."

"...Do you like fire?"

"Huh?" The teenage boy looked up to see not Hibiki, but Kasumi sitting in the other seat. "Oh, no. I was just thinking."

"What about?" Kasumi asked. She was mildly interested in the boy that suddenly dropped into the river but kept calm about it. It was a good thing her sister didn't come along, she would've been a lot more vocal about the whole situation than Kasumi was.

"Just… things." Honestly, Ritsuka did not know how best to describe his current thought processes (plural).

Firstly, there was how he came to Hibiki's world in the first place. Virgo obviously was aiming to kill him, throwing Ritsuka into a black hole and all. So how and why did he appear here? Either Virgo was secretly good and sent him here to keep him safe or… that guy did something. Other than Takaragi, the cloaked man was the only one who can open an Aurora Curtain and since Takaragi wanted him dead and all…

The second thing on his mind was how was he supposed to return to Fourze's world? Unless he learns how to open an Aurora Curtain for himself, Ritsuka was stranded in Hibiki's world until help came. That led to the question of if help was even coming. The only person who knew that he was no longer be in Fourze's world would be the Horoscopes and something told him that they wouldn't bother telling his travel buddies what they did to him.

That would leave only that guy to save him… which irked Ritsuka for some reason.

Finally, there was what Hibiki asked him earlier: what was his wish?

Ritsuka looked up at the starry night sky where various constellations were shining above him. It was a captivating sight that made him wish he had his camera…

Oh, yeah.

"Hey, when Hibiki saved me, did I have an old camera with me?" Ritsuka asked Kasumi.

"A camera? Hmm… I don't think so," the young woman answered. "All you had were the clothes on your back."

"Is that so…" That was odd. He remembered dropping the Decadriver, but he clearly recalled having his camera strapped around his neck when Virgo threw him into the black hole. So where did it go?

"I'll be borrowing this." "Ah!" Ritsuka flinched as pain suddenly shot through his head.

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah, just a small migraine." The boy waved off Kasumi's concern before quietly muttering, "What was…?"

Unlike the other short memory flashes he had been having recently, this one felt more… new, like he had experienced it a few days ago. However, since he didn't recall ever borrowing anything in the past few days, Ritsuka didn't think that it was him who said that.

But it was his voice… right?

Ritsuka shook his head to clear his mind before looking back up at the stars.

'Only by connecting them does a legend begin. And next chapter of your legend is just beginning.' Another voice spoke in his head but it wasn't his voice. It was a deeper voice, of an older man. "...tsuka…" A name flashed through his head but he didn't understand it…

---

Fourze's world, nighttime…

Ryoko quietly crept down the stairs, careful as to not a make to wake up the other residents of the household. The door to the living room squeaked slightly as she slowly opened it.

Entering the room though, she noticed that the kitchen lights were on.

"Tetsu?" She called out assuming that it was him who was also getting a midnight snack.

Sure enough, there he was sitting at the dining table with a bowl of… something in front of him. "Oh," she heard Tetsuya mumbling. "Can't sleep either?"

"No," Ryoko sighed as she moved to sit down in front of him. "I'm not tired."

It wasn't a complete lie, she didn't feel tired. However, they both knew that it wasn't the reason she was still awake. Ryoko further knew that it was the reason Tetsuya was still awake as well.

"He doesn't even care about you two at all."

That was what the so-called "true" Ritsuka said before… whatever it was that happened to him forced him to leave. They still haven't gotten an explanation for that since Takaragi decided to leave before answering any of their questions.

"So…"

"So…"

Despite knowing what the other wanted to say, they didn't know how to bring the topic up. What was the right way to say "Hey, remember what that evil doppelganger of our best friend said after he beat our asses? Let's talk about that!"

So instead, they talked about something just as important.

"What do you think Takaragi meant by that?" Tetsuya asked her.

"You mean the 'true' Fujimaru Ritsuka? Are you really buying that?" Ryoko tried to joke… maybe. Even she was not sure whether she really believed that or not.

"I'm just asking, Ryoko."

"Yeah, I know…" the girl sighed again as she leaned back into her seat. "It's just… it's been a tiring two weeks, I want to joke about something."

"Tiring is an understatement."

Ryoko just made a small huff of acknowledgment.

"Hey, Ryoko…" Tetsuya took a deep breath before he continued, "Does Ritsuka like that we're around?"

"Why are you asking that?" Admittedly, she knew where he was coming from. Even if Fujimaru hadn't said that, Ryoko wouldn't be surprised if Tetsuya was already thinking about it after what happened in Agito's world.

"I mean, we're just a burden to him, aren't we?" Tetsuya admitted his true feelings out loud. "We don't really do anything to help him and-"

"Hold it right there," Ryoko shot him a cold glare to get him to stop talking. "I agree that we're not doing our best pulling our weight around but to say we're completely useless is a bit much. We've-" She stopped, trying to recall when they last helped Ritsuka and not stay back and waited.

"See…?" Tetsuya quietly muttered.

If he had to be honest with himself, Tetsuya had long since felt some level of inferiority when standing next to Ritsuka and why wouldn't he? Ritsuka had always and will always be better than him, that had always been a constant in their friendship; the same holding true with Ryoko's own friendship with the amnesiac teen.

What made it worse was the events of Agito's world: not only were they hostages, they were saved by an alternate version of him and a normal (well, semi-normal) woman. Needless to say, Tetsuya had been doubting whether they were truly useful to Ritsuka.

There was also the fact that Ritsuka initially wanted to go on this journey alone. That should be a clue to how he truly felt, right? What sort of person would leave their friends in a destroyed world like that?

Unless he doesn't truly consider them friends…

"May I interrupt you two?"

"Ahh!"

"How long have you been standing there?!" Ryoko shouted in surprise at Ciel, who was standing by the doorway leading to the main room of the house.

"Long enough," the blue-haired woman replied calmly. She had heard noises coming from downstairs earlier and had come down to investigate. "I know it's not really my place to say anything since I've only known Fujimaru-kun for a couple of days but I don't think he doesn't care about you two."

"Thanks…" It may have not done much to ease their worries but it helped.

"Chin up, you two," Ciel flashed them a smile to lift their spirits. "He may not say anything, but he appreciates that you're around to keep him company."

…Right, Ritsuka definitely cared for them. No matter what that guy said, that much was certain…

"Yeah, what that guy said was stupid," Ryoko giggled slightly. "We know nothing about him so what he says doesn't matter."

"Yeah… You're right," Tetsuya returned the smile.

"If anything, that guy was acted more like Jo than Ritsu," the girl laughed again.

"I guess you're right. He was acting as friendly as he did, wasn't he?"

Hearing the mention of a new name slightly confused Ciel. "Who's Jo?"

"Oh, right. You haven't of Jo yet," Ryoko said. "Shirokawa Joima was a friend of ours from middle school before we met Ritsuka so the topic of him doesn't really come up."

"Middle school? What happened to him?"

"Oh, nothing bad," answered Tetsuya, another smile appearing on his recalling their old friend. "He moved away during our last year of middle school. He's fi-"

Tetsuya's voice hitched in his throat, now remembering what happened to their world.

"Uh… Never mind," he quickly said, "I'm gonna go to bed, it's already past midnight."

---

The next day, Amanogawa High School…

Ciel somehow blended in and not at all at the same town as she followed the crowds of students through the front gates. She was the inversion of the others, wearing a (mostly) black uniform with blue hair while everyone else had a blue uniform and black hair (most of them anyway).

And yet, no one batted an eye at her. Well, technically they did, but it was a friendly wave which she returned. After all, they all thought that she was a student here.

She kept an eye out for three people though. Luckily for her, two of the three people she's looking for would also stand out in a crowd. On the other hand, the one she was most concerned about could easily blend in with the other students.

"Ahh! Ciel-senpai!" She heard someone calling from behind her, causing her to turn around.

'That's convenient…' Ciel thought as she saw Gentaro run up to her. "Oh, Tsukinari-kun, good morning. I see that you're as energetic as usual."

"Good morning to you too!" Gentaro replied as he gave her a short two-finger salute before looking around. "Where's Fujimaru-san? I thought he would be you."

"He and I… We're giving each other some space at the moment," Ciel thought up on the spot, not realizing how it would sound.

Luckily for her though, the unintentional implications of what Ciel said flew over Gentaro's head. "Oh, that's too bad. I was hoping to talk to him before classes start."

"Why so?"

"Ryuusei told me that I should stay away from him but he didn't say why," Gentaro told her. "But since he just transferred here, I should be talking to him, right? Besides you, he knows nobody here."

"R-Right," Ciel nodded. She guessed that was true.

"So, as the person who's gonna be friends with everyone in this school, it's my duty to help him by befriending him!" Gentaro declared to the world. Yet, everyone continued to pass by them so it must be a common sight. "Oh, and speaking of Fujimaru-san, I heard that some of the club leaders were looking for him yesterday. What was that about?"

"Oh, right… That…" After the chaos that was that one-sided battle, Ciel honestly forgot that their attempt to expose that Fujimaru was a fake. Turns out that all they needed to do was ask and they got a straight answer in response.

Still, with the various club leaders looking for him, he'd definitely be found sooner or later so all Ciel had to do was wait.

If he actually comes here, that is.

"Anyway, I have to go to Rabbit Hatch before the bell rings, I accidentally left something yesterday. See you later, Senpai!" Gentaro waved as he ran off.

"See you later…"

---

Gentaro hummed as he entered the utility building and walked down the hallway.

"Yoop!" He exclaimed as he opened the door to the locker room. However, he saw someone he was not expecting sitting at the table. "Oh, Fujimaru-san! There you are!"

Waiting there was the newest exchange student of Amanogawa High, Fujiimaru Ritsuka. "Finally…" He sighed, hopping off the table. "You kept me waiting for a while, you know that Gentaro?"

"How long have you been sitting there?"

"Hmm… About half-an-hour now," shrugged Fujimaru. "Now that you're here, can we talk in private? There's some stuff I need to discuss with you."

---

Hibiki's world…

Ritsuka let out a loud yawn, starting to feel tired as the clock struck 1 am.

"If you're feeling tired, you should get some sleep," he heard Hibiki say. "There's still another tent and I can keep watch on my own."

"No, no. I'm fine," Ritsuka told him. "I can stay up for a bit more."

"You really want to see me fight that much?" Hibiki did not quite understand why the kid was so fascinated with him but he didn't question it… that much.

"I learn by looking," the teenager defended himself. 'Besides, I need to unlock Hibiki's powers for myself.'

Watching Hibiki fight might help… somehow. Again, he was just stumbling in the dark at this point.

"So, did you figure out what your wish is?" Hibiki asked. "Kasumi said you've been thinking about something all day."

When did she have time to tell him that? He's been by the campfire ever since they returned from their hike.

"No, and I don't think I'm gonna figure it out any time soon," Ritsuka answered honestly, "Guess I'm just gonna do what I've been doing."

"Is that so? Well, it's not my place to tell you otherwise since that is something that you have to find out yourself," Hibiki let out a small chuckle, "But I know that you'll figure out eventually."

"Thanks…" Ritsuka muttered gratefully, looking down and away from Hibiki. A wish that he could wholeheartedly believe in.

"Remember kid, it isn't just what you do that shows who you truly are, what you believe in matters too." Ritsuka heard Hibiki say.

"How did you know what I thinking?" He asked, slightly baffled at how the older man managed to read his mind.

However, Hibiki just looked at him, equally as confused as Ritsuka was. "I… didn't say anything?"

"Really?" That was… odd… to say the least. He knew for sure that it was Hibiki's voice. Something was telling him that it was definitely Hibiki "Then who-?"

Caw!

A bird's cry cut Ritsuka off as one of the flying Disk Animals returned. All it took was a couple of seconds for them to realize why it was appearing now.

The Yamabiko has finally been found.

Xxx

Fourze's world, the moon…

Gentaro let out a content sigh as he stretched his arms while out on the surface of the moon. He had transformed and went out on a moonwalk along with Fujimaru, who had gotten into one of the spacesuits.

Why? 'Cause there's nothing better than to stare at the Earth from the surface of the moon… Except seeing rainbows while playing a gacha according to Fujimaru. Gentaro did not quite get what that meant but seeing rainbows is cool so he didn't argue.

"Hey, Gentaro," Fujimaru called out to him using the comms. "Can I ask you something?"

"Huh? Sure, go ahead."

"What do you think is the most important thing in the world?" He asked. "Happiness? Love? ….Friendship?"

"Hmm…" Gentaro hummed, "All three are pretty important in their own right so I'm gonna say… the bonds between people."

"Bonds?" Fujimaru repeated with some confusion in his tone. He was mostly expecting Gentaro to say that it was friendship that was important. However, he let out a short, amused laugh a second later. "Yeah… I really shouldn't expect anything else from Fourze."

"What was that?"

"Nothing," smiled Fujimaru underneath his space helmet. "I was just remembering something. Bonds are really important, aren't they?"

"Of course they are. Maybe not the most important but it's pretty high on the list in my opinion."

"They are, they are…" the astronaut muttered quietly, "Too bad I can't make them anymore…"

"What do you mean?" Gentaro asked. "Aren't you friends with-?"

"They don't count," Fujimaru interrupted him with a flat and indifferent voice. "They don't really know who I truly am so can't really consider them friends."

"...So you're like Ryuusei, then." Gentaro didn't sound angry or annoyed, just… disappointed. "You're hiding who you really are from everyone."

"Honestly… yes," Fujimaru admitted. "And I admit, me shutting my heart is both my fault and not at the same time."

"Eh?" The space-themed Rider's disappointment was swiftly replaced by confusion. "Your fault and not your fault?"

"To put it simply, it was a coping mechanism." 'After all, how was I supposed to continue acting normal after everything that happened?' Fujimaru thought. "If it helps, it's not like I hate them. I just find it hard to genuinely act friendly towards them." Or care for them.

"You-"

"I know what you want to say: why do I hang around them if that's what I really feel?" the new exchange student said, "And the answer to that is… I like to have people watching me. It helps me think that what I'm doing actually matters."

"I… don't really get it." Gentaro was prepared to go on a tirade about how being alone was not great and all that but Fujimaru seems to have already understood that.

"It's a strange contradiction, ain't it?" Fujimaru grinned. "I want people to leave me alone but I also want to know that I exist, that I'm remembered." 'Not enough to be sent there but enough to give people hope…' "Don't you feel the same Gentaro? As a Rider, you should also understand what it's like to be both remembered and not at the same time. That's the fate of all of us. Why else do we keep ending up being reduced to urban legends?"

"I… really don't get what you're saying Fujimaru-san but you…" Gentaro did pick up on one thing. "You're also a Kamen Rider?"

"Perhaps." It was hard to see but Fujimaru winked. "I just want you to know… No matter how hard you work to be a hero of justice, the world will never let you rest. Not even death will be a relief for people like us. But that doesn't mean you shouldn't try to uphold the title to the best of your abilities."

"Fujimaru-san, you-"

"Well then, I've said my piece, now time to let that useless amnesiac deal with the rest. Peace!" Fujimaru giggled before, in the blink of an eye, disappearing right in front of Gentaro.

"Eh?! Where did he-?!"

"Gentaro!" The Rider was interrupted this time by Kengo shouting into the comms.

"Wha?! What's wrong Kengo?"

"Virgo, Libra, and Cancer are here!"

Oh… That was beyond bad.

---

Hibiki's world…

The Rider of the world dashed through the forest, easily keeping pace with his Disk Animal through the dark forest. Ritsuka, meanwhile, was panting a bit as he followed a short distance behind them.

As they ran towards their destination, Hibiki took out his Henshin Onsa and flipped it open. He flicked the prongs before bringing the tuning fork to his forehead and causing the Oni face to appear. Purple flame burst all over his body before he threw his arm out to dissipate it, revealing his true Oni form.

"Yaaaah!" A female cry filling the air was all the warning they got before the escaped Hime came swinging in through the trees at Hibiki. Of course, the well-trained man easily side-stepped the attempted tackle and the Hime crashed into the ground.

The monster quickly got onto her feet and leaped at the purple Oni again with another loud cry.

'You're making it too easy.' All Hibiki needed to do was focus for a second to cause short spikes to grow out on his fist.

The Hime's screaming was cut short as the spikes impaled her stomach, Hibiki having punched her once she got close enough.

Already on the verge of death from the day before, the monster only let out a low moan before collapsing onto the ground and dissolving like the Douji before her.

"That's one loose end dealt with," Hibiki muttered as he dusted off his hands and glanced towards Ritsuka. "Oh, you're still keeping up?"

"Yes…" Ritsuka tiredly huffed as he rested his right hand on a nearby tree for support. "Just go ahead, I'll catch up in a sec."

"Don't stay still for too long, who knows what else is in these woods." Whether he meant that as a joke or that there was legitimately else living in the mountainside, Ritsuka did not know. Regardless, Hibiki took off to follow his familiar while he tried to catch his breath.

A few seconds after Hibiki left Ritsuka's sight, his heartbeat slowed down enough and the teen stretched his legs out.

"Okay, let's-"

"Go back, shall we?" Somebody whispered into his left ear over before some pulled him back and gave him a hard shove. All Ritsuka saw for a split-second before silver filled his vision was his own face smirking at him.

The next second, his back hit not the dirty forest floor as one would expect, but rather the carefully cut grass of a courtyard as Ritsuka found himself back in Amanogawa High School, right where he "fought" the trio of Horoscopes a couple of days before. Other than a couple of what were probably rainwater puddles around, it was the same as when he left it down to the crack in the wall and ground.

He was also back in the Amanogawa uniform again.

"This place is…" He muttered as he looked around to be sure while rubbing the back of his head. "Why-?"

"'Bout time for you to get back, right?" Ritsuka heard someone say from somewhere.

Looking around, he could not see anybody but the voice definitely sounded like it came from close by.

"It was a fun 18ish hours for me but it's about time you get the ball rolling again," the voice snickered.

"You're…"

"Look, I'm tired of using the fake voice, okay? It makes my throat sore. Besides, I know that you know who I am, even if you aren't aware of it yourself."

KABOOM!

A loud explosion from somewhere nearby made it clear that Ritsuka had more important things to worry about at the moment.

"Here."

"Ow!" Before he could react, something hit him in the face. Rubbing his nose, Ritsuka picked up what turned out to be the Decadriver.

"You better get back out there. Although, you have to get the RideBooker from that annoying thief."

KABOOM!

A second explosion rang out, making sure that Ritsuka could not sit around and ask questions. Quickly scampering to his feet, Ritsuka made his way towards the explosions, leaving the seemingly empty courtyard behind.

"...So then, the next order of business." From out of one of the "rain" puddles, Fujimaru jumped out completely dry and wearing the blue Amanogawa uniform. Oddly, the logo and pocket were not on the left side of his jacket but rather, his right. "What are you doing here?"

"Hmhm…" A small chuckle came from behind one of the pillars. A second later, a robed priest stepped out and adjusted his glasses. "Impressive, Decade," the priest smiled, "Or would you prefer I call you the black Decade? There have been rumors of you running around the many worlds according to the others."

"By others, I assume you're talking about the other members of your so-called coalition," Fujimaru scoffed. Honestly, the thought that somebody had the bright idea of trying to kill him was very laughable. As if something as small as that could kill him. If he couldn't do it, then what hope could anyone else have?

"What do you want, Bishop?" He asked, "To come all the way to Fourze's world to talk to me means that something is going down in Kiva's world, am I wrong?"

"No, you're absolutely correct," Bishop said. "The reason I'm here is that there is no else that could help."

"Help with what?"

"...Decade, you have obtained Kiva's powers, have you not?"

That question was all Fujimaru needed to discern what the problem was… and why he should deal with it as soon as possible.

---

"Come out, come out, wherever you are!" Cancer called out as he continued to cause explosions around the central courtyard of Amanogawa High. "Decade! Let us finish what we started!"

"Tsk. Cancer, stop recklessly damaging the school," Libra chastised the crustacean-themed Zodiarts, "Repairs are going to come out of his pockets." Even if there was no one else around since all the students had fled, he would rather not name names.

"Meh, he's rich, we don't need to worry about it."

"Still-"

"Hush you two," Virgo tried to stop them from arguing. "We're here for a reason."

"That cat didn't even die when we ambushed and killed him. Might as well do the loud approach, right?"

"Quiet, Cancer, or would you prefer to see the Dark Nebula as well?" Virgo threatened him to be shut up.

"Sheesh, couldn't take a good joke, can you?" Huffed Cancer before he noticed Libra's singular stare. "What?"

"Why a cat?"

"Y'know, 'cause we tried to kill him twice at this point and he still won't die? I wouldn't be surprised if that guy has multiple lives or something." Cancer answered. While they only had very minor involvement in the initial attempt on Fujimaru Ritsuka's life, his point still stands.

"Why not cockroach?"

"If we drop a nuke on him and he survives, I'll call him a cockroach."

"Right, because surviving being thrown into the Dark Nebula is more survivable than a nuke." If Libra could roll his eye, he would have.

"Hey, why don't we go after Ciel? Since she's close with Fujimaru, we could use her as bait," suggested Cancer. "I saw her coming into school earlier."

While Virgo did not say anything, Libra was completely confused by the suggestion. "What are you talking about, Cancer? She isn't a student of Amanogawa."

"What are you talking about? Of course, she's a student here," retorted the crab monster.

"But-"

"Move," Virgo commanded before flying back a large blue orb crashed right where he was standing.

The orb dissipated, revealing Meteor kneeling there. "Kamen Rider Meteor," he introduced himself as he stood up, "Your fate is mine to decide."

"Oh, Meteor, you're not the one we're looking for but you could work," Cancer playfully laughed. "Taking down you will be just as good as killing Decade."

"Yeah, that won't work too well for you," Meteor winced, still feeling the pain from yesterday. "Regardless, I won't lose to you."

"Cancer, Libra, deal with him," ordered Virgo as he perched on top of a first-floor walkway that was overseeing the courtyard.

"Don't boss me around," both Horoscopes complained at the same time before they engaged the black-and-blue Rider.

Meanwhile, hiding and watching from a nearby was Ciel, having returned from helping the real students run away. She deliberated on showing herself to them. While Meteor, or rather, Ryuusei did know who she was to some extent, showing herself to the Zodiarts was dangerous since she didn't know their true identities.

Well, that was assuming Libra was not Principal Hishigata.

Regardless, it was dangerous to let her true identity be known when she had not figured out who her enemies truly were. She did want to help Ryuusei though and was close to choosing to do so.

"Ciel!" A familiar voice called out from behind her. Turning around, she saw Ritsuka running up to her.

"Fujimaru?!" Her eyes widened in surprise at him appearing. However, her instincts made her pull out several Black Keys in self-defense. "Stop right there."

Ritsuka didn't understand why she was acting hostile but he wasn't going to ask now and complied.

"Answer this, why were you looking at my legs when we first met?" Ciel asked with a straight face which just made the absurdity of her question even more so.

Still, Ritsuka answered with an equally straight face, "I was wondering if you were cold wearing that."

"Oh, good." Hearing his answer, Ciel sighed in relief and loosened her grip on her weapons. "You're the real one, alright."

"Real one?"

KABOOM!

"Later," Ciel told him, "Get out there and help Yuzuki. I'll help from the side."

"I would but I have a problem, where's Takaragi?"

'Oh, right.' The thief did run off with the RideBooker and the rest of Ritsuka's cards. "He's-"

"-aaah!" A sudden scream came from Ritsuka's left as an Aurora Curtain opened up before the person they were talking about came tumbling through it. Takaragi immediately got back to his feet and screamed at the silver wall, "YOU BIG ASSHOLE!"

The wall, being a wall, did not respond to being called an asshole. Instead, two small objects were thrown through it. They flew over Takaragi's head and at Ritsuka's. This time though, he easily caught them in his hands.

"These are…?" Ritsuka muttered as he stared at the two stopwatches in his hands. "Hibiki and Fourze?"

The two Ridewatches in his hand corresponded to the two Rider Worlds he was currently visiting.

"Hey, give those back." Takaragi tried to take the Watches from Ritsuka but was stopped by Ciel grabbing his wrist. "They're mine, Blue. I stole them fair and square."

"So they're not yours," Ritsuka snarked back as he put the Ridewatches away.

"The previous owners aren't using them anymore, I'm just keeping them safe," the thief tried to justify his habit but that just gave Ritsuka more fuel for the fire.

"Oh, so you're a grave-robber now?" He didn't know why he immediately assumed that the previous owners were dead but he did.

"Archeologists are grave-robbers, I'm taking things that were taken by the actual grave-robbers like in Blue's world," Takaragi retorted.

"Whatever, give me back my cards." Ritsuka raised a hand, waiting for Takaragi to give what really belonged to him. "They're for you, aren't they?"

"I have absolutely no clue what you're talking abo- Ow, ow, ow!" Ciel tightened her grip on Takaragi's wrist to persuade him to give the RideBooker. "Fine, fine. Let me go…" he grumbled before she relented. Reaching into his jacket, Takaragi took out the RideBooker and handed it over to Ritsuka.

"Thank you very much," Ritsuka snickered a bit at Takaragi in pain as he put his sidearm into his own jacket. "Come on, Takaragi, you still have to help us."

Grabbing the collar of his jacket, Ritsuka dragged him out into the open courtyard where Meteor was fighting Libra and Cancer.

"You two-!"

"Decade!"

"Now then, first time in a couple of days," Ritsuka smirked as he took out the Decadriver and put it on with the RideBooker appearing on his side. Next to him, Takaragi begrudgingly took out the Neo Diendriver and his own card.

KAMENRIDE

The cyan gun proclaimed as Takaragi inserted the card in while Ritsuka took out the KamenRide: Decade card from the RideBooker.

"Henshin."

KAMENRIDE: DECADE

DIEND

They both quickly transformed and gained their suits before Decade switched the RideBooker into its sword mode.

"Now, shall we begin?" He said as he ran his hand on the blade of his sword.

With their weapons ready, the two rushed to help Meteor fight off the two Zodiarts with Decade going after Cancer while DiEnd gunned for Libra.

Cancer simply scoffed at their brave charge but quickly went to engage Decade while Libra was willing to fight both DiEnd and Meteor together.

The magenta Rider swung his sword at Cancer who simply blocked it with his pincer hand, completely unharmed by the attack and scoffing. "Is that all you got Decade? I thought you would be better than this."

The crab monster then made a swing of his own, throwing a swift right hand that managed to hit Decade in the stomach. It didn't hurt that much but still forced him to stumble back a bit.

"-aaaaa-!" A faint scream filled the air but was ignored as they continued fighting.

"So, how did you manage to survive being thrown into the Dark Nebula?" Cancer asked, before gesturing at the perched Zodiarts with his head. "Virgo up there would definitely want to know how you did that."

"-aaaaaaa-!"

"Secret, so much so that I don't know how I did it," Decade replied with a straight voice.

"-aaaaaaaaa-!"

"Quite the jokester, aren't you? Too bad I have to kill you, I would've loved for you to join my club."

"-aaaaaaaaaaa-!"

"Alright, who is that?!" Cancer got his answer as, from out of nowhere, Gentaro came in and kicked him.

"HAAH!" The energetic teen let out one last shout before he took a deep breath. "Man, that was a long run. Oh, hey," he gave Decade a short wave as he was gasping for breathing while bent over. He had to detransform since he was not able to fit through the locker-portal in his Rider gear which led to the exhausting idea of running all the way there. "...Hang on! You're-!"

"Hey to you too," Decade gave him a short two-finger salute.

"Your voice is… Fujimaru-san? So you really are a Rider too!" Gentaro exclaimed with a grin before they heard Cancer grunting as he got back up from the surprise attack. "We can talk about it later. For now, let's fight together."

"Whatever…" The magenta Rider muttered as Gentaro took out and subsequently put on the Fourze Driver and flipped down the switches.

3!

2!

1!

"Henshin!" Gentaro proclaimed before pushing the lever and throwing his hand up to the sky. His white armor and suit quickly materialized on him as the jingle played from his Driver.

"It's space time!" The Rider posed his usual pose as he declared. "Kamen Rider Fourze! Let's do this man-to-man!"

"It's two against one, not really man-to-man…" Decade muttered but still cleaned his sword in preparation.

Now that they said their piece, two Riders began to tag-team the Cancer Zodiarts with Decade using his sword while Fourze used hand-to-hand.

Meanwhile, nearby, Meteor and DiEnd were fighting Libra with some difficulty. The scales-themed monster was able to handle himself with just a staff as a weapon.

Meteor jumped back to avoid an attack from Libra and ended up next to DiEnd. "Hey, Blue."

"Ah ah ah. Not only is that nickname already taken, I'm cyan, not blue," DiEnd tried to say but was ignored.

"Do that thing you did yesterday," Meteor told him before going to try and rush Libra with another flurry of punches, causing the cyan thief to huff in annoyance.

"At least say please," he shook his head but still opened the small black case on his side and took out two cards.

KAMENRIDE: GARREN

KAMENRIDE: RYUGEN

DiEnd pulled the trigger and summoned two more Riders.

The first Rider had a dark red suit with silver armor. He had a diamond motif to him with a diamond with a green outline on his chestplate along with golden ones on both his shoulderpads. Meanwhile, his helmet's horn was modeled like a stag beetle along with green eyes. His belt was silver while his buckle had a golden diamond against a green background. Finally, in his hand was a mostly red gun with gold and green highlights, a silver diamond engraved on its sides.

The second Rider, meanwhile, had a black, green, and gold suit with purple armor. His motif was that of a Chinese warrior and, oddly, grapes. His armor was modeled after bunches of purple grapes. His helmet had purple eyes with green and gold-trimmed frills on its side. His belt, meanwhile, was golden while his buckle was large and colored black and silver. On the left side of his buckle was the side-view image of his helmet while the right side had a comical toy knife hooked on it. In the center was a padlock-like object that had the image of a bisected grape (yes, really) on the top side while a gun was on the button half. The same gun was what the Rider was wielding and matched the aesthetics of his armor, down to several grapes on the side of it.

Snapping his fingers, DiEnd gave his command to his summons. "Go, do better than the ones yesterday."

The two summons wordlessly raised their guns and unloaded their non-existence magazines at Libra, who was being held in place by Meteor.

The bullets hit their target and sparks flew off the Zodiarts body as he was thrown back.

"Trying to outnumber me?" Libra scoffed, "Then I have no reason not to do this."

Libra summoned his own troupe of Dustards, about twice as many as the Riders he was currently fighting. He lightly stabbed his staff into the ground as he gave his command. "Get them."

The eight Dustards made noises of acknowledgment as they took out their weapons before rushing the four Riders. The three gunslinging Riders fought back by shooting down those that got close to them while Meteor just beat them with not-kung fu.

Back with the main Riders of the story, they were fighting to a standstill against Cancer. It was not that he was hurting them that badly, it was his high defensive stats that was making it hard to damage him.

"Come on, already! I barely felt that last one!" The crab mocked them after he was hit by Fourze using his Chain Array Module. Cancer then shot foam out of his "mouth" at them which forced them back.

"Kamamoto's a lot sturdier than usual," grunted Fourze as he and Decade skid to a halt. "And what is Virgo doing up there? She's just watching us."

"Don't complain, that just means we only have to deal with him," Decade told him as he put his RideBooker away before he took out the two RideWatches he was given. "Alright, let's see if this works."

"What are th-?" The magenta Rider didn't say anything and simply turned the faces of the Ridewatches with his thumbs before pressing the buttons on top.

Fourze!

Hibiki!

"Me?" Again, Decade didn't say anything as the Ridewatches turned into white and purple energy that flew out of his hands and into the RideBooker on his side. The cover opened on its own and several cards came flying out which Decade grabbed.

The greyed-out cards in his hand regained their colors. The two frontmost cards were the KamenRide: Hibiki and Fourze cards. "That works too…" Admittedly, it was a much easier way to restore the Riders' powers. He'll have to ask Takaragi if there were more of the Watches now.

'No, this isn't the right way…' A thought filled his head, telling him that the easy way was not the way to go. This time, he did go through a couple of hoops to get the Watches.

Decade put most of the cards away excluding one; the Hibiki card. "Right, let's try this one."

KAMENRIDE: HIBIKI

"Ah!" Fourze yelped as, like Hibiki earlier, Decade caught on fire.

Purple flames burned all over his body before, with a wave of his arm, they disappeared and revealing that his armor now matched that of Kamen Rider Hibiki.

"Time for Round 3," he said before taking out another card and inserting it into his belt.

ATTACKRIDE: ONGEKIBOU REKKA

Reaching behind him, he pulled out the red taiko drumsticks that promptly lit up on fire. "Ha!"

Fireballs flew at Cancer who initially tried to block the attack with his pincer. While the blast itself didn't hurt him, the heat was another story. "Ah!" Cancer yelped as he tried to put out the fire on his shoulder.

"Fighting with fire, huh? Alrighty then." Fourze removed the rightmost Switch in his belt before replacing it with a red AstroSwitch that was numbered #20.

FIRE!

The white Rider then pulled the yellow ring on top of it.

FIRE ON!

A red gun materialized as most of Fourze's suit was dyed a similar shade of red. Silver armor appeared on his upper body while his helmet gained fiery designs on its side and his eyes turned green.

"Alright! Time for Round-!"

"I already said that."

"Let's handle this ma-"

"You already said that."

"Whatever! We're taking you down this time Kamamoto!" Fourze Fire States proclaimed as he went to set the Cancer Zodiarts on fire.

Decade only let out an exhausted sigh, but raised the Rekkas and followed Fourze to battle.

"Now then, let's finish him off," DiEnd said as his group dealt with the Dustards, leaving behind Libra by himself. The cyan Rider quickly took out another card, this one depicting DiEnd with two Diendriver over him, before inserting it into his gun.

ATTACKRIDE: CROSSATTACK

To his sides, both Garren and Ryugen charged their weapons, the barrels glowing with energy. Meanwhile, Meteor pushed down the side of his Driver to initiate his own finisher.

METEOR ON, READY? METEOR LIMIT BREAK!

Blue energy swirled around the Rider's right foot as he let out a deep breath in preparation as the two summons aimed their guns at Libra. For his part, the Horoscopes did not act at all scared of the three finishers meant for him.

"Haa!" Meteor cried as he leaped into the air and tried to make a flying side kick while Garren and Ryugen let loose a power shot.

Libra only let out a short huff, not at all impressed with their display. With another stab of his staff, he somehow disappeared in the blink of an eye. Meteor end up sailing past his target and skidded onto the ground while the two power shots, thankfully, missed him.

"Where did he…?" Meteor muttered, looking around for Libra. He soon spotted him, right next to Virgo looking down at Decade's and Fourze's fight.

"Well then, I think that's all I need to do."

"Huh?" The black-and-blue Rider turned around to see DiEnd opening an Aurora Curtain and was about to leave.

"Tell Ritsuka-kun that I'm gonna collect on those two Ridewatches, finding more will take much more work," DiEnd gave his message before disappearing along with the silver wall.

Meteor had absolutely no clue what he was talking about and just shook his head in annoyance before going to help Fourze.

The two other Riders, meanwhile, were now able to fight the Cancer Zodiarts with relative ease. He was still very tanky but it became quickly apparent that he was getting weaker.

"Hey, why aren't you two helping?!" He shouted at his two allies that were just watching the fight.

"Wachaa!" The martial arts cry was all the warning Cancer got before he got sucker-punched by Meteor to the face.

"Ow! Three against one isn't fair!" The crab monster cried as he found himself outnumbered when they could be facing them one-on-one.

His whine was obviously ignored by the three Riders kicking him at the same time.

"Now then, the finisher!" Fourze exclaimed, as he remove the Fire AstroSwitch from his Driver and inserted it into the Hee-Hack Gun.

LIMIT BREAK!

"Guess I should use mine as well…" Decade muttered before opening his Driver and inserting the golden FinalAttackRide: Hibiki card into it.

FINAL ATTACKRIDE: HI-HI-HIBIKI

Already having used his finisher already, Meteor could not use his Limit Break again. As such, he just stepped back and left, letting the two deal the final blow.

The Ongekibou Rekkas that Decade had caught on fire again, this time creating a flame much larger than before. Fourze's weapon, similarly, began charging up with a fire vortex forming at the end of the barrel.

"Take this! Rider Exploding Shoot!" Fourze cried before he pulled the trigger.

A large fiery beam shot out of the Hee-Hack Gun as Decade threw a massive fireball at Cancer.

"Oh cra-!"

KABOOM!

A large explosion cut him off, completely engulfing him in the flames. Behind the fire, an Amanogawa High student was thrown back with a painful grunt.

"...Was that what we needed?" Libra asked Virgo who nodded in response.

"Yes, the combat data on Decade that they asked for."

"Then we can leave. Take Cancer with you," Libra said before disappearing again.

Virgo let out a small huff before opening a portal to take him down to Cancer and quickly opening another to take both of them away from the battlefield.

"Yes!" Fourze enthusiastically shouted once the fire died down, "Now to- Hey, where is he?"

"Whatever, we're done now," Decade said as he dusted off his hands.

---

Later…

"Eh… So you…are an alien too."

"Not an alien."

"Maybe an alien."

"Have you been talking to Ryoko, Ciel?" Ritsuka snarked at what she said.

The three were walking through the corridors of the school during the lunchbreak. Despite the earlier attack, classes went on as usual which goes to show how much the staff cared for the students.

"And that other guy was your twin brother?" Gentaro asked with an inquisitive tone.

"No, I don't have any siblings, let alone a twin," replied Ritsuka without a hint of shock or confusion in his voice.

"Then who was that guy?"

"How am I supposed to know?" he shrugged. "Regardless, I'm done with everything I needed to do here."

What he said caused Gentaro to frown, "So you're leaving? Both of you?"

"Unfortunately." Ciel had a small sad smile. "Somebody has to make sure he doesn't run off and do anything bad when no one's watching."

"I'm not that bad."

"What I learned from the others says otherwise," she retorted.

"I was gone for two days, how much did they tell you?"

"Enough to know you're quite the character," Ciel continued retorting. "Is it true that you got into a fight with the history club?"

"Let's not get into that incident," Ritsuka grumbled, remembering how annoying the captain of that club was. "But what I can say is that I'll be happy never seeing Tamayama again."

He didn't really give much thought to his former schoolmates but Tamayama Kuro could screw off along with the horse he rode in on! Napoleon was not as big a tyrant as most people think!

"Anyway, it was nice to meet you, Gentaro," Ritsuka said, turning his attention back to the high schooler. Silently, he also wished that he could've said goodbye to Hibiki.

Gentaro, though, couldn't help but sense that something was off with Ritsuka. Y'know, besides the interdimensional traveler thing. Thinking back to a couple of hours earlier, he recalled what the other Fujimaru said on the moon. "Ritsuka-san, are you being true to yourself?"

"What?" Both Ritsuka and Ciel asked at the same time. The fact that Gentaro used the word "true" quickly got their attention.

"It's just that… the other Fujimaru said that he was coping with something that happened and was acting the way he was because of it," Gentaro told them. "But even then, I got the feeling that he was being true to himself and tried to deceive us in any way."

"That's…" Admittedly, Ciel had the same feeling interacting with Fujimaru.

"Of course I'm being true to myself," Ritsuka answered with a slight huff of annoyance. "Anyway, we really should be going. Maybe we'll run into each other again."

He reached his hand out for and handshake which Gentaro returned a simple one. "Yeah, maybe we will."

They broke the handshake and Gentaro reached out to Ciel. "Goodbye, Ciel-senpai. The memories may be fake but the feelings are real."

"Oh, thank you." 'I think,' Ciel added silently as she returned the handshake. However, instead of a simple one, he did the elaborate friendship handshake he gave Ritsuka when they first met.

"Anyway, I better get going! Kengo wanted answers to what happened earlier," Gentaro waved them goodbye before running off and leaving the two alone in the hallway.

"So…"

"So… what's this I'm hearing about another me?"

---

Later again, Fujimaru residence…

"Hmm… So that's what you guys were up to…" Ritsuka hummed as he leaned back into the chair in thought. "While I was out camping, you three were dealing with an evil me."

"Yeah, that's the gist of it," sighed Ryoko.

They had just finished explaining what had happened while he was missing to Ritsuka.

"It wasn't just us three that had to deal with him, Takaragi and Yuzuki-san got involved too," Ciel corrected him. "Honestly, he was more skilled than you were with Decade's powers."

"You've only seen me use it a couple of times, Ciel, you're not the best-"

"No, she's right, that guy was definitely better than you are." Tetsuya's interruption caused Ritsuka to pout a bit, very much annoyed at being upstaged by an evil version of himself.

"You're not too surprised that there's an evil version of you running around," Ciel remarked, noting Ritsuka's lack of visible reaction to the news.

"We've already run into alternate versions of both you and Tetsuya, another me isn't that big a deal as it normally would be," Ritsuka replied.

'Still, you could've acted a bit surprised…'

"Say, Ritsu. What do you think evil you is up to?" Ryoko asked.

"Something evil."

"So you have no idea either," she sighed again, "Then again, you haven't met him so what could you know?"

Ritsuka did not react to what she said, only having a blank look on his face.

"Fujimaru-kun, how did you get back to Amanogawa?" Ciel asked while noting his lack of reaction again. "And with your buckle. You were stuck in that other Rider's world, right?"

"Yeah, I was camping out in the woods with Hibiki while hunting a giant monster and its parents," Ritsuka said that like it was a completely natural thing to do in a mountainside forest. "But I don't really remember how I got back here. One second, I was resting against a tree. The next, I was pushed by something and ended up in Amanogawa again."

"Is that so…" Ciel hummed. While she did believe him, something told her that Ritsuka was not telling the whole story.

"Now that we have all that dealt with, we better move on," Ritsuka said as he got up and was about to make his way to the pillar to pull down the next backdrop. Before he could, however, a loud knock from the front door stopped him. "...Ryoko, go open the door."

"Me?! Why can't you do it?"

"Because I'm tired."

"As if!"

"I'll do it," Tetsuya sighed at his friends' antics and went out of the living room to answer the door.

"...Hey, Ritsu, I think Ciel has something she wants to ask you."

"I do?" Ciel was caught a bit off-guard by what Ryoko said.

"Yeah, she was wondering what your relationship with the other her was like," the other girl said with a large smile. It did not escape either of them that it was really her who wanted to know.

"I refuse to comment," Ritsuka replied with a straight face without even the hint of a blush.

Ciel also didn't blush and only gave Ryoko an annoyed glance that said "Really?"

"Wha-What?! You're curious too, don't lie to yourself!" Ryoko sputtered.

"Hey, Ritsuka, Ciel? The guest's here for you two," Tetsuya said as he poked his head through the small gap in the open door to the entrance hall. He looked pretty hesitant which was quickly explained by someone else pushing him aside and opening the door.

"So this is where you lived, Decade," the apparent priest making a house call had a superior tone in his voice as he entered the room. He then noticed Ciel standing there and gave her a short look, "I was not expecting to see you with him, Executor, but your help would be appreciated too."

What the priest called her immediately put her on edge. Needless to say, the casual way he called her an Executor was concerning. She doubted that he was truly a member of the Holy Church for some reason but he was here to ask for help.

"You… You're Bishop, aren't you?" Ritsuka recognized the priest from Taiga's coronation.

"So you truly know who I am," the priest smiled, oddly pleased with being recognized by someone so dangerous. "That makes this easy."

"Bishop? Wasn't that the name of one of the Checkmate Four?" Tetsuya was sure that was what they were called, it had been a while since their adventures in Kiva's world.

"Correct, human," said Bishop. "I see that you're well informed about the ruling class of the Fangires."

"But this is Fourze's world, you shouldn't be here. Kiva doesn't exist in this world."

"Um… This is probably not the best time to mention it but the others exist here too," Ryoko quickly whispered to Ritsuka.

"...Okay, but you still shouldn't be here." Ritsuka kept a close eye on Bishop to make sure he wouldn't do anything.

"That may be so but I am."

"Are you here because of what I did to the King?" He assumed that was why the priest was here.

However, Bishop just laughed it off before saying, "Nothing of the sort. In fact, I'm here for the opposite reason."

"Opposite?"

"To put it simply, Decade." Bishop's expression became deadly serious. "I, my King, and Kiva require your aid. For you have the abilities of Kamen Rider Kiva."

"What does that have to do with-?" Before Ritsuka could finish, the memory of something that happened in a previous world came to mind. "...Another Kiva?"

"Oh, he was correct," the priest smiled again, "You will know what is plaguing my world."

"Hold up one second here, we're going back to Kiva's world?" Ryoko asked before glancing at Ciel who was still staring at Bishop suspiciously. "...Oh this is going to be good."

"Too bad you won't be around for it."

"Huh?" Before anyone could say anything else upon hearing Ritsuka's voice, an Aurora Curtain quickly washed over the room. When it dissipated, the disappearance of two people from the room became quickly apparent.

"Where did they-?!" Ciel was interrupted by Bishop.

"I already made an arrangement with your true self, Decade. He'll send them to another world to help set you up while you and her deal with the other Executor."

"The other Executor?" Ciel's eyes widened slightly at the mention of another person in her line of work.

"My true self?" Ritsuka sounded incredulous. "You mean the evil me?"

"If you consider who you truly are evil, then yes," Bishop stated simply, ignoring Ciel. "Now then, shall we get going?"

"Wait, I haven't agreed to-"

"Let's go!" Ritsuka's voice came from the pillar, causing everyone to look in that direction. All they saw before a bright light engulfed the room was another Ritsuka pulling the chains.

When the light died down, no one was standing there but their focus was more fixated on the new backdrop. For Ritsuka though, he recognized the backdrop even though there was a major difference to it. It was the moon that represented Kiva's world that he had visited days before. However, the symbol of the Rider itself was now missing, leaving only the glowing moon to shine in the starry night sky…

"Now then, you can begin your hunt," the priest smiled once again. "For the new Queen of the Fangire's."

---

Next Time on Across the Kaleidoscope

"Kiva's history had been altered; the Fangires, including Kishinami Hakuno, no longer exist."

"It's a pleasure to meet you, beautiful, my name is Kishinami Otoya. You may have heard of me."

"This is the Queen's judgment: death!"

"You… You're-?!"

Chapter 20: Tempo Rubato: Return to Kiva's World

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Somewhere in Kiva's world…

"..." Jiro kept a sharp glare at Riku as he waited for the larger man to make his move. The Franken in disguise, meanwhile, stared hard at the chess pieces. Either he was thinking long and hard about which piece he should move… or he was thinking about which one he should eat. It could really go both ways when it came with Riku.

Ramon, who was watching the chess match from the side, let out a long sigh of boredom. "Hey, how long do have to wait? We've been waiting for what? A month now?"

"Patience, Ramon. He'll appear soon, his journey will lead him back here," Jiro told him, not even glancing in the youngest of their trio. "After all, the prince believed that he'll return to help when he needs it."

Ramon just let out another long sigh before glancing out the nearby window, looking out at the landscape that he had gotten familiar with over the past month. The sandy desert with the strange sky that Castle Doran had retreated to…

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A/N: And done! Phew! This took longer than I meant it to. I have a very good reason for that though: I got a new Switch and it has since consumed most of my free time. If that's not a good reason… then I'll admit that it's not a good reason. I'm also gonna be starting school again next month so free time will be further cut down. Big sad.

Anyway, I honestly struggled a lot with the last fight scene. Initially, I planned that Hibiki himself will appear and Cancer to go Supernova… but I gave up on that. Why? I just didn't feel motivated to do it. I really tried, but I couldn't do it. In fact, the ending feels a bit rushed because I really just wanted to get this chapter over with…

A minor thing I'm sure that someone will mention is that this story started in October, not September as mentioned. That's in-story start date.

So next chapter is the start of Kiva arc part 2! Which will have little Kiva in it because Another Kiva is running around! Can you guys guess who it'll be? I think I put enough clues for you all.

As always, please leave a review on what you think and see you all next time!