Chapter 13
Miracle on Sixth Street
Walking through the portal, I found myself in a strange street. "Huh?", I thought. Facing me was what appeared to be a video rental store with "Random Play" on the front and next to it was what appeared to be a car repair shop. Across the street was a newsstand manned not by a human but by a dog with black and white fur and blue eyes. Facing the newsstand was a noodle restaurant manned by what looked like a red animatronic and deeper in the street was a coffee shop, with one of the tables accommodating a panda. "Where am I?", I asked as a small robot with bunny ears walked up to me. It was wearing a black jacket and an orange scarf with a white "01" woven into it. It also had glowing green eyes. "Can I help you?", I asked, noticing that the street was eerily quiet even though it was the middle of the day. "Ehn-na?", the robot asked. "If only I could actually talk to you, then maybe I could understand what you're saying.", I said. "Ehn-ne.", the robot seemed to say in agreement. All of a sudden, it then went over to the video rental store and started to tug on the door. "Hey! Where you going, little buddy?", I asked, walking over to the door, not knowing that I was being watched. Entering the store, I saw that it looked a lot like a Blockbuster joint except none of the films and TV shows in stock were ever films or TV shows that I myself had watched. As a strange feeling came over me, I then felt a surge of black and dark red energy violently burst out of me. "Wait, you don't remember Sixth Street? Like, at all?", Black Doom's voice asked. "Huh? Is that what the street is called?", I asked painfully. "That's right. Besides, it's not like you to be so forgetful.", Sage's voice said. "Well, to be more exact, you're currently in the Janus Quarter of New Eridu, on Sixth Street.", Alastor's voice said as the black and dark red energy surrounding me vanished. Noticing a strange steel door with an 'Employees Only' notice on it, I then saw the robot walk up the stairs, beckoning me to follow it.
Following the robot, I found myself on the first floor of the store. There were two bedroom doors too- one open and leading to a very messy room and a closed door. Evidently, the small robot was eagerly tugging on the closed door. Opening the door, I saw a very sparsely-decorated bedroom and a very neat and closed bed. "Do you not remember?", Lycaon said behind me, causing me to jump. "You scared me.", I said. "Oh, did I? Well, you've finally returned to Sixth Street, meaning it's time for you to reunite with your dear friends. We'll be waiting downstairs.", Lycaon said before leaving the room. Following him downstairs, I saw that the robot was tugging on the 'Employees Only' door, as if it was beckoning me to enter. As I entered the room, I heard a female voice say, "Surprise!", as a woman with short dark blue hair and light blue eyes excitedly rushed into my arms, hugging me tight. I noticed that she was wearing a black turtleneck jumper, a grey and orange jacket, a pair of odd socks (the right sock being coloured orange and the left sock being a long black stocking), grey shorts, an orange miniskirt, odd earrings (the right earring being orange and longer than the left earring which was teal) and grey shoes. "And you are?", I asked. "Typical. Absolutely typical. You finally return to us after who knows how long and you don't even remember me or my brother. Well, my name is Belle.", the woman said, her eyes on the verge of tears. "And my name is Wise. I'm her brother, incidentally.", said a man with short grey hair and light blue eyes. He was wearing a black t-shirt, a dark blue jacket, a pair of black trousers and white shoes. "Wait, did I come to Sixth Street before?", I asked, confused. "Sure you did. In fact, you came whilst it was being attacked by Ethereals who had somehow managed to escape the Hollows they were confined to. You were so brave, fighting against the Dead End Butcher, the Twin Marionettes and even Nineveh.", Anby said as she entered the store.
As I turned my attention away from Belle for a moment, I saw that Anby was accompanied by a woman with long pink hair tied into pigtails by two ribbons and green eyes wearing a white crop top, a pair of black shorts, detached black sleeves, odd black stockings (the left stocking was longer than the right stocking) and black boots and a robot with yellow optics and black metallic skin with spiky white hair that made him look like a Super Saiyan wearing a red leather jacket and a pair of black trousers with black shoes. "Still, it's nice to see you again after all this time. In case you've forgotten me, my name is Nicole Demara.", the pink-haired woman said. "And my name is Billy Kid.", the robot said. "Anyway, what brings you three hares here to Random Play today?", Wise asked. "Well, we've confirmed what the White Star Institute found in the Grand Temple of Time. We found traces of Cyber Space there.", Billy said. "Wait, you don't mean from the Cyber Cage that Goetia put me in?", I asked. "Wait, he did what?!", Nicole asked. "When I found myself in the Grand Temple of Time, Goetia put me in a Cyber Cage in order to temporarily reconnect me to Cyber Space. I found Sonic and Shadow there as well as Shadow's co-creator Black Doom.", I said. "Well, it would fit with the corrupted DNA scan that Eous performed on you after you were fished out of the river underneath Prison Island. I mean, after you were taken to Ouranos Island, Eous scanned your DNA and found that it was heavily mutated, probably from your natural and acquired DNA beginning to merge at that point. I don't know what happened to you after you left Cyber Space, but I suspect that your DNA sources have both fully merged by this point.", Belle said. "That's my sister for you. Incidentally, Eous is the cute bunny robot that led you inside here. Well, he's technically a robot but we call him and his kind Bangboos.", Wise said. Suddenly, time mysteriously stopped. Noticing Black Doom, I said, "Of course you'd fucking be here.". "Yes! You're finally starting to do sin! After all, wrath is a sin.", Black Doom said.
After a brief silence, I then asked, "Well, you obviously didn't come to Random Play to rent a video so why are you here?". "All in due time, my little devilish protégé. Besides, you know what to do in order to sink to the depths of sin, so I'm here to force you to. I'll be waiting~.", Black Doom said before disappearing, causing time to return to normal. "Jack? Jack, are you OK?", Belle's voice said, causing to snap back. "Huh?", I asked. "You were spacing out.", Nicole said. "Oh, was I?", I asked. I then thought, "So how did they not see Black Doom? Or maybe they did but chose to ignore him.", wondering what he meant by being able to create Doom Zones wherever he could. Stepping back into the street, I noticed that, except for the dog, it was completely empty and abandoned. "Weird.", I said. "Oh, it sure is.", said a voice to my right. Turning around, I saw a woman with long pink hair and matching pink eyes wearing round black glasses and a white office lady outfit. She was also holding a strange naginata. "Who are you?", I asked. "Oh, I didn't realise your amnesia was this bad. Still, to think that my chief's adopted little brother doesn't remember her own deputy. I'm hurt. Regardless, my name is Tsukishiro Yanagi. And before you ask, my first name is Yanagi and my last name is Tsukishiro.", the woman said. "Wait, I thought I was an older brother, both to Gray and Mordred.", I said. Chuckling, Yanagi walked over to me saying, "Oh, you really believed that fertiliser? You're not just a big brother, but also a little brother as well. If you follow me, then you'll see what I mean.", before I found myself in a desert village. "OK, where am I now?", I asked. "Didn't think I expected to see you again.", said a voice behind me. Turning around, I saw a woman with short greyish-green hair and yellow eyes wearing a dark grey jumpsuit, black detached sleeves, long black stockings with black kneepads attached and white boots.
After a brief and awkward silence, I asked, "Who are you?", causing the woman to laugh. "Oh please, you know who am I am. In case you've forgotten, my name is Caesar, the leader of the Sons of Calydon.", the woman said, a nauseously bright aura covering her. As I tensed up, I then saw the village glitch up, covered in a red sheen. "Is this the work of the Phantom Ruby or is this the work of Black Doom?", I asked. "What are you talking about? Besides, Hollow Zero's expansion is proceeding as you planned.", Caesar said as she walked up to me, tenderly stroking my cheek. "What do you mean by Hollow Zero expanding? I thought the Shiyu towers prevented it from doing that.", I said. "Oh please, HAND and the White Star Institute deactivated the towers upon your arrival to this world and when you returned, made sure to fill Hollow Zero with a large amount of Ether to coax it into absorbing the Dead End Hollow, Lemnian Hollow, Ballet Twins Hollow, Outer Ring Hollow and Port Elpis Hollow as well as the Cretan Hollow. It won't be long until all of reality is united in Hollow Zero and we all can rejoice at your return and accession as Our Sovereign.", Caesar said, a maniacal smile on her face. Noticing a strange purple watch in her hand, I then asked, "Who gave you that watch?". "Oh, the Time Jacker known as Swartz gave it to me. He really is a nice person when you get to know him. Besides, this watch is what will give me the power to force you to awaken as the Sovereign!", Caesar replied as she pressed a button on the watch, causing a distorted and monstrous voice to say, "Femme!". To my horror, Caesar then thrust the watch into her body, causing her to transform into a monstrous being with an off-white colour scheme. As I looked at her body, I then experienced a very strange headache, causing me to clutch my head in pain. As I grunted in pain, I then saw an equally strange watch appear in my right hand. "Use the Ziku-Driver.", a strange voice echoed in my head as the watch started to glow with a silver light. It was at this moment that I saw that the Ziku-Driver had an empty slot for a watch on its right side. Steeling myself, I then said, "OK, here goes nothing.". Holding the watch in front of me, I then slotted it into the empty slot and shouted, "Transformation!", causing a silver light to erupt from the Ziku-Driver and cover me, dispersing to show me in the unmistakable form of Kamen Rider Zi-O. "Huh? Just the regular form? Well, whatever.", Caesar said as she rushed at me, demonic rapier in hand.
"OK, if you'd just explain what you are then maybe I'd be able to stop you.", I said as I dodged Caesar's furious and manic stabs and thrusts. "Oh, you wouldn't understand anyway. But that's OK; once you fully return to us, you won't need to.", Caesar said as she unleashed a violent flurry of stabs that I somehow managed to block. "Alright, that does it!", I said, a strange burst of anger coming over me, the Zikan Girade forming in my right hand. Gripping it tight, I then unleashed a powerful slash followed by a violent onslaught of slashes, the attacks overpowering Caesar's stabs easily. Suddenly, a violent off-white aura formed around Caesar as she started to chuckle. "Yes! Just like that! Show me the power of the power of the King of Time!", she said as I gathered a dark silver coloured beam of light into the Zikan Girade. "DIE!", I roared as I unleashed the gathered energy in a powerful slash, the power causing the Zikan Girade and the form of Kamen Rider Zi-O to disappear, returning me to normal. Caught in the blast, Caesar herself was also returned to normal as the energy from my attack disappeared, my anger disappearing just as suddenly as it had appeared. "What was that?", I asked as I saw the purple watch that Caesar use short out and explode. "Marvellous! Absolutely marvellous!", said a man with short dark green hair and green eyes appeared. I noticed that he was wearing a pair of black sunglasses alongside a red scarf, a black leather jacket with golden spikes, a belt adorned with a golden buckle in the shape of a boar, a pair of dark green trousers, black boots and an ornate golden gauntlet on his right hand. "To think you could defeat an Another Rider while inexperienced with the power of Kamen Rider Zi-O much like Sougo was when he started out…brings a tear to my eyes.", the man said with a very smooth voice. "And you are?", I asked, prompting the man to say, "Oh, forgive me for my lack of manners. I'm Lighter, the current Champion of the Sons of Calydon.", the man said. "Anyway, what did you mean by Another Rider?", I asked. "Well, the Time Jackers managed to, when Sougo ascended the throne as the Demon King of Time, create Another Watches allowing them to turn people into distorted and monstrous reflections of heroes known as Kamen Riders. What my boss Caesar turned into was the Kamen Rider known as Another Femme.", Lighter said. "And now that you defeated me as an Another Rider, I have no doubts that you'll become a Demon King to surpass Sougo.", Caesar said before a strange tranquiliser dart pierced my neck, causing me to fall unconscious. "But for now, sleep and reflect.", Caesar said as I drifted off.
Coming to, I found myself in a pristine office. Noticing that I was sleeping on a couch, I got up to notice that the room was suddenly glitching out. "This has got to be the work of the Phantom Ruby.", I said. Before I could leave the room, I saw a female fox Faunus enter the room. She had long black hair, black fox ears and orange eyes and was wearing an office lady outfit similar to Yanagi's, except the fox Faunus also had a dark teal jacket over it. Upon looking at me, the fox Faunus's eyes lit up and she excitedly rushed over to me. "Oh, I thought I'd never see you again! Miracles really do happen!", she said. "Slow down. Who are you, anyway?", I asked. "Oh, you don't remember your big sis? Anyway, my name is Hoshimi Miyabi, a Void Hunter in New Eridu and your loving big sister.", the fox Faunus said. "Wait, Miyabi…like Mio's friend?", I asked. "About that, Mio's friend is long gone. And her name's Sorcha in this continuity. When YHVH attacked, me and Sorcha took each other's places, using glamour magecraft to disguise ourselves as the other – me as Sorcha and Sorcha as me. After Sorcha's death, the spell faded, forcing me to kinda go on the lam. At least until you returned to us. Though you were already living with another family at the time, Father took you to the Hoshimi family house and placed you through a dangerous ritual for you to inherit our family sword, Tailless, so you'd be able to lead the Hoshimi family if anything happened to Father and me.", Miyabi said. "I remember vaguely communicating with a strange demon holding a katana and it mentioned a sacrifice of some sort but aside from that it's all just a blur.", I said. "Anyway, I hear you transformed into Kamen Rider Zi-O and fought an Another Rider in the Outer Ring. I don't know how you did it, but I am impressed. And now you're back, you can resume your training of believing in the big sis who believes in you.", Miyabi said, a nauseously bright aura covering her. As a strange sense of fear came over me, Miyabi looked tenderly into my eyes, only for me to find myself back inside Random Play again. "Weird.", I said. Noticing that the store was empty, I looked inside the staff room before walking upstairs and looking inside Wise's room. "Wise? Belle? Eous? Anyone home?", I asked. Walking back downstairs, I then heard a large explosion outside. Looking outside Random Play, I saw that there was a giant crater in the middle of the road; wondering what it was, I walked outside, ready to fight if need be.
The story continues in the next chapter.