#Salty Bugster | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

writingpaperghost · 2 years

Text

Something Deep Inside, Keeping Me Alive

It’s Brave who catches sight of her first, a frown in his voice, “You’re not that black Kamen Rider.” With a laugh, Nico places a hand on her hip, “Nope,” “Who are you?” Ex-Aid asked, both seeming slightly surprised by the fact she’d spoken to them. Kuroto, she knew, had been silent as Gemn, so as to not risk exposing his identity. When she asked why, he said something about concealing the extent of his role as the game master. She just thought he was being dramatic, though, and probably planned for some dramatic reveal or whatever. “Me? I’m Kamen Rider Cyber,”

AO3: https://archiveofourown.org/works/39516732

Nico’s not quite sure why her agreement to help with the game led to this, exactly, but she now has a part time job at Gemn Corp working as the president’s assistant. Kuroto insists it’s because it’ll allow her to better help with the game. He doesn’t exactly elaborate, but he seems to have started on working on something else.

He’d asked her what her favorite Gemn Corp game was. It had taken her a moment, but she’d chosen a game she’d played a lot as a child, Web Dive. It was a colorful and deceptively cutesy roguelike and had consumed a lot of her time as a child, holding a special place in her heart even now. The game had probably been a bit hard for her at the time, but she wasn’t one to be deterred, even then, and had persevered.

After that conversation, he hummed and got to work, though she didn’t quite know one what or why. Kuroto was strange like that, she’d found. She sort of understood why Parad complained about him so much. Still, much like Parad’s complaints, most of the strange things about Kuroto were pretty mundane, so she didn’t think much about it.

It was at the Mighty Action X launch party that she first saw a glimpse of what the game was like. This… monster, or something, appeared at the party and caused a commotion, but then this guy in a doctor’s coat transformed into this bright pink guy and fought the monster. Parad watched alongside her from the relative safety of inside the building the party was held in, trashed as it may now be.

“So this is the game?” She wonders aloud, watching as the doctor and the nurse who was with him left. A man in a red jacket wanders out where the fight took place.

Excitedly, Parad nods, “Yep! That was Ex-Aid, he was fighting Salty, the Mighty Action X Bugster.”

“Bugster?” It wasn’t the first time she’d heard the term, but usually it was overhearing Kuroto and Parad talking.

“Yeah, they’re… characters in this game. I’ve mentioned Graphite, he’s a Bugster, I’ll introduce you, now,”

Nico ducks her head back in from the doorway, “So sometimes they’re the enemy of the game?”

Hesitantly, Parad responds, “Well… not exactly. They’re the enemies of the CR – so Ex-Aid, Brave, Snipe, and Lazer. But you, me, and Kuroto?” He smiles, “In our case, they’re our allies! Well, sort of. It’s complicated, but it’ll make sense while we’re playing.”

Though Parad’s description of the Bugsters’ role in the game left quite a bit to be desired, Nico figured it made enough sense. She’d have Parad and Kuroto to guide her when she was actually playing, and while she wasn’t sure about Kuroto’s skills, she trusted Parad to help her figure out anything that she might not learn right away.

---

Later the next day, Kuroto gets a strange visit. Nico was in in the corner sorting some of Kuroto’s absurd amount of stored paperwork when he gets his visitor. A tall man with black and white hair, whom Kuroto didn’t seem at all surprised to see.

Nico doesn’t pay him much mind, but he and Kuroto have some hushed conversation and a glance back at the two shows that the man leaves with one of those belts, the ones that Ex-Aid and Brave use to transform. She wonders if she’ll be seeing more of him.

The next day, he becomes Snipe.

---

As Parad said he would, he introduces Nico to Graphite. Unlike Salty, he appeared to have both a human form and a Bugster form. He, like Parad, was dressed rather strangely, but Nico realized quickly that he looked a lot like the character he shared a name with.

That was when she learned that the Bugsters were, for all intents and purposes, the game characters they appeared to be, often being enemies or antagonists from their games. Hence why Graphite looked like the character from Drago Knight Hunter, and why Salty looked like the character from Mighty Action X.

Her and Graphite actually got along pretty well, actually, something that made Parad very happy. To be fair, Nico was happy about it too, she wanted to get along with Parad’s other friend.

---

The day finally comes around when Nico is finally ready to play the game. She had to get some surgery or other, but besides that, it was a waiting game. Finally, though, it seemed the time had come, as Kuroto handed her one of those belts – a Gamer Driver – and a game cartridge – a Gashat. The Gashat was labeled Web Dive, and Nico now knows the reason for Kuroto’s question.

She’s excited to finally get to play, as Kuroto explains how it works. He tells her that today, she’ll be facing Ex-Aid and Brave, to make sure that they couldn’t too easily destroy the Bugsters that were out and about. Learning on the fly was something she was pretty good at, so she was confident in her ability to face well off against Ex-Aid and Brave well enough.

Besides, she’d had plenty of time to learn how they played. Ex-Aid would be a challenge – he was actually Genius Gamer M, the same she played sixed years ago. But Brave was sloppy with his sword, still learning it, so she figured she’d manage against him easy enough, even with his newest power up of the DoReMiFa Beat Gashat.

The armor feels a little strange, at first, but perhaps that was simply because of what it was. Real but not in i’s own strange way. She felt both strong, but protected, though at the same time she thinks that she might easily be able to forget the armor is there at all.

Nico was ready, though, and the moment that Ex-Aid and Brave appeared to try to fight the two Bugsters – each one with a Gashat in its head, she’s grinning. Most likely, she suspects that they’ll be expecting Gemn – Kuroto. But what a surprise it will be when they see her! She has both a degree of the element of surprise, and them knowing little of what she was capable of on her side.

It’s Brave who catches sight of her first, a frown in his voice, “You’re not that black Kamen Rider.”

It was true, her suit was a far cry in color from Gemn’s, and even more different in design. Her helmet was teal, and lacked Gemn’s spikes, instead having grey headphones that protruded up into cat ears. There’s a green microphone near where her mouth would be, connected to the headphones. The armor on her chest was primarily green, and where the others would have buttons, there were instead a plain of blocks that lightly glowed purple. Where Ex-Aid’s suit was bright pink, Nico’s was a slightly darker teal than her helmet, and the stripes were more akin to red bolts of electricity.

Another difference between herself and Gemn was that Kuroto was, unfortunately, a good deal taller than her.

With a laugh, Nico places a hand on her hip, “Nope,”

“Who are you?” Ex-Aid asked, both seeming slightly surprised by the fact she’d spoken to them. Kuroto, she knew, had been silent as Gemn, so as to not risk exposing his identity. When she asked why, he said something about concealing the extent of his role as the game master. She just thought he was being dramatic, though, and probably planned for some dramatic reveal or whatever.

“Me? I’m Kamen Rider Cyber,”

Brave goes after her first, leaving Ex-Aid to deal with the Bugsters. She quickly dodges out of the way of his attack, which she follows with a kick of her own. As it is, Brave has the power of Level 3, but she’s not sure just what level her own Gashat it. It would stand to reason that it’s probably at least around Level 2, which would put her at a disadvantage, but she has no proof either way. Though it’s likely this fight would give her a good idea of her own strength relative to at least Brave Level 3.

As she and Brave fight, Nico makes sure to keep an eye over on Ex-Aid and the Bugsters. She couldn’t let him defeat the Bugsters too quickly, after all. Which meant that, though she was fighting Brave, she also had to make sure that Ex-Aid didn’t make too much headway against the two Bugsters.

The Giri Giri Chambara Bugster was quick, indicative of its game, certainly, and the Jet Combat Bugster often kept a distance. That made it hard for Ex-Aid, who even at Level 3 was still very much a close-range fighter, to fight the Bugsters. He seemed to be standing something of a chance against the Giri Giri Chambara Bugster, though it still often dodged out of the way of his attacks, but the Jet Combat Bugster was simply too far away.

Finally, Nico decides she’s played enough, and besides, it looks a little like Ex-Aid’s coming too close to defeating the Giri Giri Chambara Bugster, anyway. With a grunt she kicks Brave away, bracing a hand on the ground before sprinting towards Ex-Aid. Then, she less so tackles him, as she does pounce him, knocking him down and away from the Bugsters.

Leaping away, she grins, though it’s hidden beneath her helmet. “Sorry, Ex-Aid, Brave, it was a fun fight, but we’ve played against each other enough for now.” Nico grabs ahold of the two Bugsters, “So now we’re gonna be off.”

She didn’t get to play again that day, Kuroto insisted on him and Parad performing some silly plan to make it seem like Parad, who the other Riders knew nothing about, was Gemn. He really didn’t want people to figure out he was Gemn yet, it seemed. That was fine, Nico would let him and Parad play the game the way they wanted to, until Parad had the option to play with her properly.

---

Graphite’s been more moody since Kuroto got annoyed at him for taking the Bugvisor. Nico didn’t blame him, given how little about things Kuroto actually explained, and given that when he did, it was the bare minimum and even Nico sometimes wondered how accurate it was.

Where Nico and Parad bonded over games, it was different with Graphite. Graphite didn’t so much hold an interest in video games as he did an interest in fighting. Graphite was also probably the only one skeptical about her ability to play the game, if only because he doubted whether or not she could actually fight. He seemed to hold the same skepticism towards Kuroto, though it was tinted with the annoyance that it wouldn’t matter, because Kuroto would find a way around it.

Nico of course, took that doubt as a challenge. And that was how the two bonded, through Graphite’s perhaps not that effective but certainly motivating method of teaching her how to fight. It involved ending up on the ground a lot, and she definitely got a lot of bruises from it, but she thinks it’s working.

While they went about the training, they spoke, sometimes. Usually at the end of the sessions, when Graphite was done and Nico was taking a minute to just rest. In a way, Graphite seemed curious about her, but he never seemed to want to ask her about herself when Kuroto was present. It was fine when it was just Parad, but Kuroto seemed to stop him. Or something. Nico wasn’t really sure why, but she was fine with Kuroto knowing even just a little less about her. She was wary of him, even now.

There were moments, though, when Graphite seemed… different. When he asked the slightly more personal question, and he suddenly seemed like someone a little different. She hadn’t noticed it, at first, it wasn’t until Graphite had asked about her family that she’d realized something was strange. Mostly, it was his expression as she grumbled about her parents, who probably didn’t even care what she was up to, at this point. When she’d looked over at Graphite, she was met with this look, a sort of sympathy that made little sense with what she knew about Graphite. She never asked about it, had been too surprised by the expression at the time.

Today, he was playfully poking fun at her performance against Brave and Ex-Aid, the two of them and Parad positioned in a circle on the roof of a building – Graphite liked to spend time on rooftops. She could tell by his tone that his critique was mostly meant to be playful, with an added dash of trying to be helpful.

Eventually, Parad chimes in, “And you just pounced Emu!”

Nico huffed, “It wasn’t like a I meant to, I just sorta did,” She crosses her arms, “I mean, it at least makes a little sense to do. The mascot of Web Dive is a cat, you know.”

Parad nods, “Of course, a cute but deadly cat named Kaibyo,” He gently pokes Nico, “A bit like you.”

“I hope you mean the cute but deadly part,” She frowns, “Because I’m not a cat.”

“No,” Graphite nods, “You are not.”

With a laugh, Parad comments, “I mean yeah, you’re less a cat than Graphite is a dragon,”

One could argue that Graphite had a predisposition towards dragon like characteristics, due to the nature of his character in the Drago Knight Hunter games. A Drago Knight, a being who was both human and dragon, created through a magical spell performed on either a dragon or a human to turn it partially into the other. And though they were powerful, they were hunted, hence the name of the game. Where you almost always played as a Drago Knight Hunter, one who sought to kill Drago Knights.

Perhaps, knowing his relationship with Graphite, it was telling that in Drago Knight Hunter Flight, Parad’s character had been a red and blue Drago Knight. She remembers asking about why he chose it, and she seems to remember him saying that it was because of a friend. Surely that friend had been Graphite.

“Which brings to mind,” Graphite begins, “I think soon it’ll be time for me to fight the Riders properly.”

“You have some score to settle with Snipe, and Brave has something against you,” Nico notes. She’d seen the way the two tried to fight against Graphite. And it was obvious that Graphite had something similar towards Snipe as Nico’s desire for a rematch against M.

Graphite nods, “Yes, that is the case. Regardless of the outcome, I’m certain it will soon be settled.”

“Obviously you’re going to win,” Parad says it with such a certainty. Of course, Nico didn’t blame him, one always wants to think their friend will win the game. Or the minigame. And what would Graphite’s fight against the Riders be but a minigame?

That’s what all those fights are. Minigames that prepare for the real game, though the details she’s still a bit fuzzy on. She should probably ask Kuroto for more details, or preferably, see if she can get more out of Parad.

“Obviously,” Nico repeats with a nod, though perhaps less confidence. Even though she knows that Graphite could certainly defeat the Riders at the level they were at now and with their nonexistent teamwork, she can’t help but worry a little. After all, the Riders could get stronger again, or worse, though less likely, they could learn to sort of work together. She doubted the latter, though.

By the end of the day, Graphite’s taken the Proto Drago Knight Hunter Z Gashat and has begun whatever plan he has.

---

Nico catches word of a bunch of sudden infections of some illness in the middle of the city, but pays it little mind. It was probably just a weird bug going around or something. Instead, she focuses on watching Graphite’s fight with the Riders. Ex-Aid’s gotten ahold of the finished Drago Knight Hunter Z Gashat, and had used it to grow stronger. Though it manages to take a hit from Graphite without problem, he still gets knocked out of the transformation.

How strange. Nico can’t help but wonder if maybe the Gashat, at Level 5, was too strong for him to use. Or perhaps, simply use on his own. While she didn’t know anything about how the Gashat worked, she did know that Drago Knight Hunter Z was a multiplayer game, where you could have up to four players. There were four Riders on the opposite side, even if they didn’t work together. Not even Ex-Aid and Brave, who were both doctors.

Not that, if that’s the case that Drago Knight Hunter Z requires teamwork to work properly, the Riders would manage to do that. They really couldn’t work together if their lives depended on it. Not that Nico was much of a team player either, but at this point, she hadn’t really been put in a position where she would need to. Besides, she’s played alongside people, not just against them. Half the time it was the only way she could get any of her classmates who bordered just on the edge of being friends to play games with her. They wouldn’t dare try to play against her, so it was always multiplayer games.

Even with this new power up, Nico didn’t think the Riders would win. Neither did Parad, it seemed, as he still laughed his confidence that Graphite would surely be the victor. It’s said with almost a carefree nature, yet still Nico wonders, as the three head back to Gemn, “What happens when someone loses this game, anyway? I mean like, the Bugsters disappear, so…”

“Bugsters can come back, though,” Parad grins, “And don’t worry about the Riders. They know what’ll happen if they lose. Losers get the endings they deserve.”

“Okay, cool,” Nico nods, “But I don’t know what’ll happen if they lose. Or if I lose.”

For a moment, Parad seems to hesitate. Then Graphite opens his mouth to say something, and Parad cuts him off with an answer, “They’ll get a game over and can’t play anymore,” He quickly adds in a very certain tone, “And you’re not going to lose.”

It’s not a very descriptive answer, but maybe that was all there was to it. You can’t play the game anymore if you lose. It makes enough sense, at least. So she nods her head, “Okay, that makes sense,” She puts her hands in her jacket pockets, “And yeah, I probably won’t lose, but you never know. After all, the only person I’ve ever lost to was Genius Gamer M.”

“Ex-Aid,” Graphite frowns.

“Well don’t worry about Ex-Aid,” Parad says with confidence, “Emu’s mine.”

Ex-Aid may be Parad’s to defeat, but Nico still wanted a rematch, “Totally, but I want a rematch from him first. Besides, you can’t play against him yet.”

Parad seems to contemplate that for a moment, “Yeah, okay. You can get your rematch and then when I can play, he’s mine from then on.”

“Of course,” Graphite nods his head as he speaks with an amused tone, “Ex-Aid is the one you’re after and you always have been. At fitting opponent for you, certainly.”

---

Ex-Aid gathers the other three Riders together, Nico can’t help but wonder why. She and Parad watch from afar as the three all ask for the completed Drago Knight Hunter Z Gashat that Ex-Aid holds. It’s then that Ex-Aid challenges the other three to take it from him. The move was a surprise, given Ex-Aid couldn’t use Drago Knight Hunter Z’s full power.

She leans forward, bracing herself against the wall of the building her and Parad were tucked behind. “What is Ex-Aid up to?”

Parad hummed, “I think he’s trying to get the full power of Drago Knight Hunter Z,” He sounds almost giddy, “By forcing Brave, Snipe, and Lazer to work together to try to get the Gashat.”

It was a wonder whether or not Ex-Aid’s plan would even work, given how much the other three Riders hadn’t seemed to want to work together. Especially Brave and Snipe, but even those two seemed hesitant to trust Lazer – he’d gained a reputation as something of a liar. But Ex-Aid was Genius Gamer M, and she didn’t doubt his skill at the game. It was really more that she doubted that of his so-called teammates.

“Think that even with that Gashat, even being able to combine their powers, that they’ll be able to defeat Graphite?” Now, the Drago Knight Hunter Z Gashat creates duplicates, becoming three and going to Brave, Snipe, and Lazer.

“Graphite will win,” Parad said, the same assured words as before, but this time they carried a tone of concern, “Because he’s strong, and I really doubt they’ll all be able to actually work together.”

Nico thinks she knows where Parad’s concern comes from, no matter how much he tried to hide it. It was much the same concern as what she had. “Graphite may be strong,” She pulls away from the wall, “But he’ll be out numbered, and so long as those four have the power of the Drago Knight Hunter Z Gashat, they might actually have a chance against him.”

“Graphite will win,” He repeats.

---

When Graphite fights the Riders, neither Parad nor Nico watch. Perhaps they both knew the likely outcome of the fight. It didn’t really matter, in the end, Parad disappears for a few minutes, then comes back to return the Proto Drago Knight Hunter Z Gashat to Kuroto.

Some part of Nico hurt, knowing that Graphite was pretty much dead, at least temporarily. Sure, Parad had assured her that Bugsters could come back, but it didn’t make it any less of an unpleasant experience. But it would be fine, sooner or later, Graphite would come back and that ache in her chest would go away.

She hadn’t really realized that she’d begun to think of him as a friend.

---

The next chance Nico gets to play is through a one-on-one match, one she feels will be much more entertaining than her previous fight against Brave and Ex-Aid. Kuroto’s tasked her with stalling Lazer for a little bit, claiming that he was getting too close to some things that it was important he not know yet. Nico thinks it’s a bit ridiculous, but she doesn’t feel like trying to argue.

As it turns out, the hard seemed more to be finding Lazer than much else, if only because it seems like she was always just a few steps too far behind him. One would think someone dressed the way Lazer did, would stand out, and he does, it just so happened she had no way of knowing where he’d end up going. But finally, she manages to catch up to him, quickly transforming and perching herself on a ledge as he walks past a dark alley way.

“Oh Lazer,” She calls out, sliding off the ledge and to the ground. Her armor glowed, the eyes, the sides of the ears, two panels over where her mouth would be, the blocks on her chest and the health bar, as well as the red markings across her upper arms, stomach, and upper legs, and the green of her shoes all illuminated. “Mr. Black Kamen Rider has told me to come and keep you busy for a bit.”

Though Lazer was nearly, if not entirely, certain as to who was the black Kamen Rider, Nico had no intention of giving him any confirmation. She figured that Kuroto wouldn’t too much like that. Though she hadn’t a clue if it was that or something else that Lazer was getting too close to be figuring out or proving. It really didn’t matter too much, she figured. At least fighting Lazer here and now, she didn’t have to wonder whether or not she might be getting in the way of the well being of someone who’s infected with Game Disease.

Lazer gives her a curious look, “You must be that Cyber that Ace mentioned fighting before,” He reaches into his jacket pockets, pulling out his Gamer Driver and the Bakusou Bike and Giri Giri Chabara Gashats. “Huh, you look like a cat.”

She rolls her eyes, watching as Lazer transforms, the two halves of his Gashacon Sparrow in hand. Summoning her own weapon, appearing as a staff, she runs forward, swinging it. “I may look like a cat, but I’m not one,” Lazer blocks her staff with his Gashacon Sparrow.

With the other half of his Gashacon Sparrow, Lazer swings at her, which she dodges. She kicks him, then pulls back from him, switching her weapon to whip mode a swinging. Again, he blocks the attack with his own weapon.

“What’s your deal, anyway? You’re not a Bugster, so why’re you working with him?” Lazer runs at her and swings, which she barely dodges.

Nico shrugs, returning her weapon to its staff form and swinging it at Lazer. Though it hits, it doesn’t seem to phase him. “I’m a gamer, I like games and this-“ She barely dodges a swing from his Gashacon Sparrow, “Is an interesting game.”

“It’s a dangerous game,” Lazer shoots back, swinging again and hitting her. It’s harder than she was hoping it would be and she tightens her grip on her staff. This would be harder than she thought. “People’s lives are in danger, not just yours or mine.”

That contradicted what Kuroto said. That there was no risk of permanent injury towards the players – the Riders. So either Kuroto was lying… or Lazer was.

Somehow, it was easier to believe that Lazer was lying than it was that Kuroto might be. She swings her staff again, only to be annoyingly blocked, again. Then Lazer swings again and knocks her away. She knows she’s not going to be able to keep up this fight, not with how it was going, at least.

Reaching for her Gashat, she places it into the slot on her staff. She needed to end this fight, and this was her only chance of possibly winning it.

Lazer sees this, reaching for his own Giri Giri Chambara Gashat and slotting into his Gashacon Sparrow.

The two attacks collide, but Nico can quickly tell that she’s outmatch. A few moments later she landed on the ground, her Gashat clattering to the ground beside her. She grunts as she pulls herself off the ground, her limbs aching already from the cuts and what would surely become bruises.

“Well,” Lazer begins, “I guess you did stall me.”

She spins to look towards him, wincing as she gives him a grin, “That was the point,”

He frowns, examining her, “Who are you?”

There was no way she was going to tell him her name, she wasn’t stupid. But the people who knew the connection between Nico Saiba and Genius Gamer N were few, so she can’t help but think it can’t hurt. Besides, she wants the Riders to have an idea of who they were dealing with.

“I’m N,” She said, pushing a pesky bit of hair behind her ear and out of her face, “And I’m a genius gamer, so don’t you forget that.”

Knowing that there wasn’t any more for her to do here, she turns around and runs off, leaving Lazer behind. Kuroto better be grateful that she stalled this guy, given she was not going to just easily brush off the injuries she got from this fight, however small. It was a good thing they had bandages; she thinks she’ll need a few for some of these cuts.

---

Though Nico was warned that Kuroto wouldn’t be at Gemn for a long while, though the reasons for why were unknown to her, it was still strange to find his office empty. Even though he wouldn’t be there, she was told to keep an eye on things at Gemn until he got back. Parad had cheerfully told her that he’ll show her where he and Kuroto will be later.

And he does, early Christmas morning. Nico doesn’t really have any plans for the day, her classmates (that she’s been seeing less and less of as she’s been hanging out with Parad more) are all spending their time with their family and friends. So, like most years before, she intends to do nothing special, probably just play some Animal Crossing for a little bit, or something.

Admittedly, she has to wonder why their new, as Parad called it, hideout is a warehouse. But she figures it’s something like Kuroto’s dramatics or something, so she doesn’t question it all that much. Later that day, Kuroto goes to deal with some things and while he’s gone, Nico intends to return to the hotel she’s been staying at.

She’s stopped by Parad and his question, “Where do you live, anyway?”

Giving him a confused look, she asks, “Why are you asking?”

“Well, I mean, this isn’t all that near Gemn, so I thought you might be going farther to get here and then home,” He’s perched in his hammock, precarious as it swings back and forth, “Or, I guess it could be closer.”

Parad is her friend, so she doesn’t really have a problem telling him about her current living arrangements. “I’ve been staying in a hotel, so this place is a little farther from where I’ve been.”

He considers that a moment, “Huh,” He frowns, “Maybe you should stay here.”

Rolling her eyes, she grabs her backpack and puts it on. “I’ll think about it.” She doesn’t think she’ll agree, though.

---

The Ministry of Health held a press conference in regard to that sudden outbreak of illness. It was a new disease, they said, called Game Disease. There was limited information as to just what that was, but they did have one thing to say, in regard to the treatment of the illness. The ones who would fight it, who would cure patients, were the Kamen Riders of the CR.

Nico stared at the image on the screen in horror, schematics of sorts depicting two familiar Riders. Ex-Aid and Brave.

Bugsters were the product of Game Disease, and those Riders were supposed to fight the Bugsters to cure those infected with Game Disease.

The first thing through Nico’s mind was anger. What else were they keeping from her? Surely Kuroto, if not Parad, knew about this, so why hadn’t they told her? She hadn’t been told that anyone was in any actual risk of death! But that’s certainly what the Ministry made it sound like.

Before she has a chance to ask, Parad corrals her to go and watch Kuroto fight the Riders with his new Gashat. She agrees, an uncertainty swirling in her chest as the fight begins. The uncertainty is replaced with shock when she sees Lazer’s Gashacon Sparrow in Kuroto’s hands.

Ex-Aid sees it to, but he isn’t shocked. He’s angry. Something’s said about Kuroto killing Lazer, before Ex-Aid tries to use the Drago Knight Hunter Z Gashat on his own again. Still, Ex-Aid can’t truly control the Gashat, even then. Kuroto is easily able to take an attack from Ex-Aid Level 5.

Or well, not really take it, Nico thinks. Because his Rider Gauge was empty before he took the attack, and it was still empty after the purple cloud dispersed. A few moments later the fight is over, as Kuroto attacks Ex-Aid and Brave knocks him out of the way of the attack.

With the fight over, Parad begins gushing over how the Riders didn’t stand a chance. Nico doesn’t stay long to listen, before storming off in a silent fury. She was too angry to deal with Parad or Kuroto right now. Sooner or later, she’d get her answers, but she needed a clear head before she did that.

Obviously, Kuroto and Parad – because Parad had to know – were keeping things for her. The truth of the game, the real dangers of it, and it seemed whatever happened while Kuroto was out on Christmas night. She wants to believe that he didn’t kill Lazer, but somehow, Kuroto had gotten Lazer’s weapon, and Ex-Aid was clearly very angry.

But no matter what Nico wanted to believe, the facts stood to reason that someone was at least keeping something from her, and she intended to find out who or what. The quickest answer would be to confront Kuroto, she suspected that he knew the most and was probably actively keeping the most from her. So that’s what she’d do, she decides, later when she’s confident he won’t be fighting any of the other Riders. She’d get her answers.

About the game and about what happened to Lazer.

By the time she makes it toward Kuroto and Parad’s hideout, it’s the evening. She spent most of the day clearing her head and taking out her frustrations at the arcade. But now she was ready to try to get her answers from Kuroto.

---

When Nico wakes up the next morning, she has a headache and feels a bit stiff. With a groan she opens her eyes, and sees she’s laying on the couch in Kuroto and Parad’s hideout, a cutely patterned Mighty blanket pulled over her. There’s a strange feeling in her chest, something not unlike anxiety but also very much different. It sinks into her stomach and she thinks she’s either hungry, or perhaps she coming down with a cold.

Sitting up, she wonders why she’d fallen asleep here. Never before had she spent the night, always making sure to head back to her hotel room on her own. She brings a hand to her head and wonders if they keep any painkillers here, and she’s not sure she has any in her backpack.

She looks up and is greeted with Parad, who leans over the back of the couch to look at her, “Good morning!” He greets cheerfully, “You must have been really tired, last night.”

“Huh?” She pulls the blanket off and swings her legs over the side, grumbling a little.

“I mean, you were sound asleep when I got back,” He clarified. Then a frown comes over his face as he continues, “Kuroto said you weren’t feeling good.”

Finding her backpack, Nico rummages through, attempting to find some painkillers. Finally, she fishes some out and finds a water bottle of water that’s probably been in there a few days, but she doesn’t care. “Got a headache and a bit funky feeling,” She answers, taking a drink of water and swallowing the painkillers. “Should be fine.”

Why was she even here in the first place, anyway? It was… something. Something she’d been upset about, wasn’t it? Yeah, she’s pretty sure. Was it the game? Or something about a Rider…? About… Lazer? Lazer, yeah. Because Lazer was dead because…

Right, Kuroto said there was a glitch, and that’s why Lazer had died. That Ex-Aid, Brave, and Snipe weren’t aware of that, and that’s why Ex-Aid was so angry.

And the game, it was a bit more than what he’d said originally, she remembers him telling her. They were playing so they could study Game Disease, and the Riders were treating their patients, she and Kuroto would just come along occasionally to get some data. Data so that the CR would eventually be able to better treat their patients.

Really, she’d been all that angry over something that was rather small.

Still, she feels a bit strange, but hopefully it’ll pass.

#kamen rider exaid #kamen rider ex aid #kamen rider #my writing #my doubt betrays the better of me

2 notes · View notes

sailor-cresselia · 5 years

Text

HEISEI GENERATIONS FOREVER

I’M GOING TO CRY

OKAY?

I’M GOING TO FUCKING CRY.

Spoilers for Kamen Rider Heisei Generations Forever below the cut.

also this got really long. Like. 3.8k words long. I am SO SORRY, Mobile Users, I know read mores don’t always work. Just. SCROLL.

20 MINUTES IN AND MY HEART HAS ALREADY BEEN BROKEN MULTIPLE TIMES.

Memories coming and going for everyone - just - just!

Sougo as a smart, smug, asshole.

Tsukuyomi as a ditz.

Then! Then!

Sento and Ryuuga saving a kid from Another Double – who’s design I LOVE, btw.

But Grease and Rogue leap out over the crowd. They remember, when they shouldn’t. When no one should remember them.

When Kazumi Sawatari and Gentoku Himuro shouldn’t remember each other. Shouldn’t be able to become Riders at all, because here they never were exposed to the Nebula Gas that the Rider System requires.

Gentoku forgetting, returning to the stiff, formal, son-of and assistant-to the Prime Minister.

Misora remembering – the cafe’s a bar, and then she forgets. Again.

YA SURE KNOW HOW TO KILL MY HEART, TOEI.

The kid – Shingo – being found by Sento… who doesn’t get the chance to transform. Who looks… he looks like he’s been brainwashed.

A boy who ‘draws Riders to him’. Him and Sougo go to Fuumen – FUUMEN!

TOEI YOU ARE ACTIVELY HURTING ME. Because Another Double shows up… and it turns out. It turns out Shotaro gave the owner of the Fuumen ramen cart the Double Ridewatch to hold onto for him.

And now we’ve lost Geiz, too.

Nobody remembers Sougo – and smartphones don’t exist. Not enough that a small child would know about them.

The first episode of Kuuga airs tomorrow.

Just- hng. Some part of the brainwashed Sento holds out enough to send the Machien Builder to find Ryuuga. To find his partner.

But when he and Sougo get to where he and Tid are.

Tank and Tank.

Just one word.

“Transform.”

And he attacks.

AHAHAHA YESSSS! Ataru points out the “Same Actor Issue” with regards to Kouhei Takeda having played both Otoya and Kazumin THANK YOU I was hoping that would happen. I didn’t think it would but THANK YOU.

IMAJIN NO. No ominous comments about how ‘it might not end well’!

...Shingo. Shingo… Tid brought you here from the past, didn’t he? From the day before Kuuga aired. That’s why you don’t know what a smartphone is. He brought you forward from your little brothers birthday. And you met him here – where he’s 18, and contracted with an Imajin, in order to meet Riders.

I don’t even know these two and my heart’s breaking for them.

...was. Was that Ataru in Another Den-O?!

Okay, yeah, Sento was faking being brainwashed. No surprise there.

BIG surprise that Ataru contracted in order to meet Riders… because he wanted to escape from reality. He’s not worried, because it’s all just a delusion.

Because his older brother disappeared the day he was born. His brother Shingo.

Whoops.

Ataru latched onto Den-O SO HARD that he summoned an Imajin into his world – his world, where Riders are fiction. And that Imajin is trying, but he’s reached his limit. And Tid cares not for what world he’s in, as long as it’s correct.

...it makes sense that sento isn’t torn up about being fictional like sougo is. he’s already been there – twice, even. sento kiryuu was made up in his own world, and no one from the new one remembers he exists. this is nothing new to him.

…

OKAY FOR THE RECORD. I wrote that BEFORE the scene in the rain.

But…

It doesn’t matter if it’s reality or fantasy. They’re Kamen Riders. They do what must be done.

Don’t worry, Sougo. You’ll understand.

Riders always do, in the end.

Also, the bugster virus grunts stand out so badly against all the other mooks. Waste Yummies, Dustards, Ghouls, Inves, numberless Roidmudes, Ganma, Bugsters… It’s. Actually really nice seeing all of these old suits in action. I can’t even say why, but. I really enjoy that.

… Kazumin’s out.

… … Ataru’s had enough of a world with Riders. He’s done. There’s no such thing, after all.

The contract is complete.

The Riders are gone now. But the mooks might not be.

Be careful what you wish for.

Hey there, Woz! Been a while!

Hey there, Sento. Glad you found your kouhai… and that you didn’t blank out when you two left Ataru’s house.

Because I was right. Shingo’s been pulled out of time.

That’s what Imajin are all about, aren’t they? Changing time. (I have not watched past the first two episodes of den-o but that’s the impression I’ve gotten from hearing about it. Shush.)

And Ataru can’t have a brother that went missing if the brother never went missing in the first place. Which is where Tid, the Imajin, and Another Den-O come into play.

Sure, The World of Ataru is ‘reality’ from one perspective, but The World of Riders is reality from it’s own perspective, just like The World of Build. Sento, you’ve done this, don’t dismiss the world you live in now as fiction quite so easily.

(Tsukasa will be disappointed in you. … if everyone else doesn’t beat him up first, for some of the stunts he’s pulled.)

So… since the Double watch came from Ataru’s world, it can act as a link to there from the Rider’s world.

Actually, I really like how much of W they’re working into here. I know it means we most likely don’t get a W arc, but still. Fuumen, and the watch being handed over by proxy – namedropping ‘Sho’. Another W has three faces – Cyclone, Joker, and CycloneJoker. Cyclone’s eyes light up when he uses the tornado attacks, which is a great nod to both how he’s using one side, and to how Philip’s half lights up when he speaks. I mean, the green tornados alone are neat!

(I didn’t think I’d missed the lens-eyes, because they’re creepy, but come to find out, I had! Huh!)

THING IS. I’m a LITTLE pissed about THIS. I get you haven’t been given much to do today, Woz. And I ADORE all of the W references. But the Library is PHILIPS domain. It’s his to explore – his, and Wakana’s, and those who he allows in. Sokichi Narumi, when he was just a tool for Museum, when he got a chance at freedom. When he got to be Philip. And Shotaro. His Partner. Who saved him from himself in there – When the library was BURNING because he was losing himself to Fang, when he was terrified and lost and this is where he is supposed to be.

… Sorry, I have a LOT of W feels, and this movie is hitting a LOT of them right now.

… Basically, Woz, I tolerate you now, but this is December 2018 you, who I tolerate a lot less. Get out of there.

OH, THIS IS INTERESTING THOUGH.

The book is labeled Masked Rider Den-O. Not Kamen Rider. The series has been writing it as ‘Kamen’ when using the roman alphabet since W.

Before that, it was translated into English whenever it was written like that. So it would be accurate to have Masked Rider Den-O, but not, say, Masked Rider Fourze.

Huh. Nice touch.

~Archival footage from Den-o!~

... Woz how did you get that rail pass out from the library?

(Philip would LOVE to know, that seems like it would be a REALLY handy trick, if he could bring even just. Like. Segments of a book, or pictures, or some such. It’d be SO MUCH EASIER to show Shotaro stuff that way, instead of having to copy it out onto a whiteboard.)

… A lot of the time, Another Double sounds like two people speaking in unison.

… can two people be one Another Rider? Could Tid have. Like. Fused some dudes? This is. A valid question right now.

I mean, we never did find out Who Another Double is.

! !! !!!

LUNA!

THIS IS FINE.

(It’s not fine, but only because I hate the Luna memory)

!!! !! !

AH. So. That’s. ONE way to have things happen out of order. Have a watch shoved into your chest after seeing yourself as that Another Rider.

Ataru latched onto Den-O SO DAMNED HARD that he summoned an Imajin, warped time, and became Another Den-O.

Kid… That’s brutal.

Purple Imajin’s lost hope… but Sougo says that they’re not alone.

Tid shows up at the site where the Arcle was found. At the tomb of the first Kuuga. That… if this is the world of Ataru, that shouldn’t exist here.

But he uses the Arcle – still worn by the first Kuuga – to make the Another Kuuga watch.

That’s terrifying, but makes sense. The watches only need the power of the rider, after all. Doesn’t matter which version of the Rider, as we’ll see in Hibiki months down the road and two weeks ago.

TID OW WOAH DUDE

I MEAN

You’re a bad guy but! I’m sorry for you right now! That looks OBSCENELY PAINFUL.

And VERY Time Mazine sized.

Enough to knock Sougo’s Time Mazine into the Another Denliner… which crashes upon arrival in December 2018, scaring ‘Everyday Schoolboy Sougo’ spitless, while carrying Tid as we have known him to this point. Also of note: Another Den-O is posing like Momotaros. That’s a nice touch.

Oh! Hey! I just realized! I like the Purple Imajin’s speech and all, and the exposition’s great, VERY in line with Den-O, but I just realized.

Sougo’s at a point in time where he hasn’t been born yet.

I doubt this’ll do jack all to history, but still. It’s kind of funny.

(Also, hey, Toei, you couldn’t have remembered that Rider used to start in January back during the Fourze and Faiz arc? You had Faiz disappear during an episode that took place in February, thanks to an event in, like, November. I’m still salty about that.)

Cut to 2018.

Sento and Ryuuga step into Tid’s vault.

(brb, snorting with laughter at the bugster stuck in an idle animation on the floor)

Sento’s already altered the world once, and nobody should have remembered him. But one idiot was stubborn enough to remember him. So… who’s to say that can’t happen again? The world has never made sense. Science and physics, chronology and sequence, reality and fiction… all of that went out the window ages ago, as far as he’s concerned. So why not mess around a little more?

Rabbit and Rabbit!

Cross-Z Magma!

““TRANSFORM!””

(cue Build fight music)

I love my boys.

I also love the two busted time mazines basically piggybacking off of each other.

A train whistle sounds.

Oh, Tid. Of course they keep coming back.

You’ve got someone who knows them pretty well right by your side.

AHAHA YESSSSS

YOU’RE FACING THE WRONG WAY BUT YESSSS

‘Sup, Momotaros?

Oh, hold on-

‘Sup, Team Den-O?

Like beats Like. It takes a Rider’s power to defeat an Another Rider.

And the base of ‘imajin’ is imagine. To think up, to dream.

Or, in some cases.

To remember.

Urataros, if you and Ryotaro are going to use the line “Ai to Seigi to” I expect SOMEONE to do a Sailor Moon pose! SOMEONE NEEDS TO!

She is the senpai for EVERYONE HERE. She’s from 1992, after all, Mr. 2007.

Okay, sorry, Moon Fan comments aside.

Sougo gets it now. It doesn’t matter anymore if they’re real or not.

Because here? In this moment? They’re real enough.

I’m willing to bet that under that mask, Sento’s grinning, because he can tell that his junior’s caught on.

Misora – kind, sweet, Misora – guiding civilians to safety, even though she’s a civilian herself… wondering where Sento and Ryuuga are.

They’re a bit busy elsewhere… but Kazumin and Gentoku? They’re available.

Welcome back, Kamen Rider Grease and Kamen Rider Rogue.

Cries for help from two young boys – the right age bracket for right now.

Level Up!

Kaigan!

Welcome back, Kamen Rider Ex-aid and Kamen Rider Ghost.

Two men in their late teens, early twenties.

Cyclone! Joker!

Welcome back, Kamen Rider Double.

A man in his mid-to-late twenties… possibly with his sons, who are wearing the two latest belts. His inner child calls out.

The startup sound of the Arcle

Welcome back, Kamen Rider Kuuga.

A crowd.

Hanamichi! On STAGE!

Welcome back, Kamen Rider Gaim and Kamen Rider Kiva.

A crowd – larger, with more varied ages.

Hii, hii, hihihiii~

Welcome back, Kamen Rider Agito, Kamen Rider Ryuki, and Kamen Rider Wizard.

Three adults.

Turn Up.

Welcome back, Kamen Rider Blade, Kamen Rider Faiz, and Kamen Rider Hibiki.

Change Beetle

Welcome back, Kamen Rider Kabuto, Kamen Rider Decade, and Kamen Rider Fourze.

UCHUU KITA indeed.

Ta To Ba! Ta-to-ba TaToBa!

Welcome back, Kamen Rider OOO and Kamen Rider Drive.

“Ankh…”

Toei don’t break my heart like this. He caresses the hawk medal. Don’t do this to us.

“Let’s go, Mr. Belt.”

“Okay! Start your engine!”

Hi, Krim. Nice to see you again, too. Ah, man, Shinnosuke’s voice is so subdued.

They didn’t have the same type of partnership, but both Eiji and Shinnosuke lost their partners. This is. Right. This is right, for now. It’s something.

Now. Time to fight.

Momotaros doing his own theme song.

Emu bouncing into the air.

Takeru floating – they’re letting him have powers, letting him have the forcefields that he’s going to prove he has when he shows up in the episode that aired the day before this takes place. To the point of TAKERU CAN MAKE TELEKINETIC TORNADOES THAT IS SO FUCKING COOL! (Further vindication! Takeru gets to be spooky!)

One on one my rear end, Gentaro. Rocket on.

Drumsticks and kicks laced with fire from Hibiki and Haruto, before they and Shinji all set a crowd of mooks alight in a wave of fire.

Shinnosuke getting to use the tires on Type Speed’s boots for once… before… Start up. Clock up! The three speed demons – him, Takumi, and Souji – knock the crowd of mooks aside.

Swords and claws slice through one group, thanks to Kouta, Eiji, and Kenzaki – wait, hang on, his given name is Kazuma? I thought that was his surname?! UGH it’s the Banjou and Ryuuga thing all over again, but before it happened, you know what WHATEVER.

Shouichi and Wataru blasting apart mooks with inherited powers.

Tsukasa on his own… because of course he is.

Likewise for Yusuke.

Sento and Ryuuga struggling against Another Double… but Sougo got that watch earlier today. >:)

Like beats Like.

Er, Woz, this is not the time to IWAE. We’re. We’re in a movie. This. Isn’t in the show, save it for- oh, wait, you weren’t there the first time he used Double in show, were you? Haaaa… fine. I’ll allow it.

...I’d really missed Sougo flubbing the catchphrases. “Tell me about your crimes.” It’s. Close. You’re. You’re almost there. You got the pose better than you did the phrase, anyway.

Another Double is a bit closer, though, since he thinks you’re half-boiled. And did Shotaro’s stressed out forehead pinch – even though Sho’s usually in civilian form for that, and wearing his hat, it still scans. (HNG MY W FANGIRL HEART.)

Maximum Time Break!

Hahaha! Another Double explodes three times. Once to separate in two, once each for a cloud of green and black smoke for each respective half, and then two massive fireballs. That’s glorious.

Tid, I get that you’re a movie villain, but why are you this dead set on getting rid of the Heisei Riders?

“Where’s Tsukuyomi?!”

“Still fixing the Time Mazines!”

And she’s so FRUSTRATED about it!

Good thing Sento built all of his equipment. Oh man, he’s going to have a field day with this thing. Be careful, you might not get both of them back.

CASE IN POINT. SENTO’S JACKED A TIME MAZINE TO FIGHT ANOTHER KUUGA.

And looks like Geiz didn’t just go to fight Tid when he was in 2000. He made the Kuuga watch from the first Kuuga’s body, same as Tid.

Clever. Like I said. Doesn’t matter which version of the Rider. As long as it’s the same power.

Armor Time!

Kuuga!

It didn’t take long to take Another Kuuga down with that much brute power behind the attacks.

Sorry, Ryuuga, but Geiz just isn’t that excitable. No high fives for you. (I’ll give you one!)

Sento must be absolutely beaming under there.

And Sougo does the thumbs up.

HEY REMEMBER HOW I WONDERED IF TID FUSED TWO DUDES TO MAKE ANOTHER DOUBLE?!

THIS IS WORSE.

THIS IS MUCH WORSE.

Step. Away. From. The. Child.

Let him go.

TID HAS ISSUES.

But! Getting everyone out in to one of The Quarries means.

BIIIIIKE FIIIIIGHT!!!!!

Kudos for the Bakusou Bike jingle, and Faiz’s bike pretty much being a drill. Press F to pay respects for Kabuto’s tires. Wonder how many of those he goes through in a month.

Shotaro, Philip, not breaking out the Revolgarry this time? You did back in Taisen Grand Prix!

...Where are Drive and Hibiki?

Oh, wait, nope, there they are, along with Ryuki.

YESSSSS Ryuuga and Geiz in Geiz’s Time Mazine!

AND LIGHTING IT UP WITH BLUE FLAMES TO KNOCK “ANOTHER KUUGA TWO; CREEPER BOOGALOO” DOWN TO EARTH. Literally.

Twenty Rider Kicks. Straight to the face.

(Okay, technically it’s 22 kicks, since Double is, by necessity, both Shotaro and Philip, and Den-O is presumably Momotaros and Ryotaro.)

And the final three to hit? Zi-O, Build, and Kuuga.

Yesssss.

(Also Gentaro looked so awkward standing with the Drill Module still active. Because DRILL. On the LEG.)

We get a montage of two brothers, growing up together, as fans of Kamen Rider. Mirroring a montage of one boy growing up alone at the opening.

And the speech between Senior and Junior – Sento and Sougo.

Yeah. They were Riders. They always were Riders. The laws of time travel aren’t nearly as rigid as you think, Sougo.

As long as someone remembers. They’re still there.

Why should anything have to change that?

Final notes. Whoever made this movie must love W SO MUCH. Because in the end credits, there’s a montage of shots from every season since Kuuga. It shows the riders themselves, as civilians, their base forms, and their final forms.

The slide for W has two variants. The first has CycloneJokerExtreme at the top, CycloneJoker at the bottom, and Shotaro and Philip preparing to transform in the center. The second – the center photo moves to a different expression from the same exact scene – the same SHOT – Shotaro and Philip looking at each other and smiling. It’s from episode 49. When they were reunited.

There’s some nice care for all of the slides, actually, but most noticeable to me…

The Fourze slide has four pictures – Fourze base mode, Gentaro in front of an explosion, Fourze Cosmic States, and Gentaro and Ryusei. The last three? Are all from the same episode. The one where Gentaro GETS Cosmic States.

Drive has two ‘variants’ as well – in a similar manner to W, actually. The first time, there’s Chase, Shinnosuke, and Gou together, Shinnosuke and Kiriko – from the last episode, no less, as they’re saying goodbye to Krim, and Drive (Type Speed) leaning against the Tridoron. Really puts that “Let’s go, Mr. Belt” line RIGHT BACK IN THE FEELS ZONE, there doesn’t it? Well, the shot of the three riders morphs to the same scene, but all three of them in their armor. THAT is where they show Type Tridoron. I believe that was the first time we heard Spinning Wheel, actually.

Ghost manages to have all three of it’s Riders on a cliff – in civilian form, but still.

Ex-Aid has Emu’s first transformation – both before he activates it, and in his Level One form right after. There’s the first transformation into Hyper Muteki. But his Base Mode shot, for Level Two? Chronos about to get a Gashacon Breaker to the face.

Gaim features both Kouta AND Kaito in all but one shot, which is the one with Gaim on a horse. The others are Kouta and Kaito in Beat Rider attire, Gaim and Baron while the Woman of the Beginning looks on in the background and… Gaim Kiwami Arms versus Overlord Baron… in the final moment of their last fight.

As for OOO? Well, we’re clearly not getting an answer from Toei as to what his official final form is any time soon. Not with Shirtless Episode One Eiji, and TaToBa OOO on a RideVendor as two of the shots. The other two? One is PuToTyra. And the other is TaJaDor… with Ankh right beside him, Greeed arm on display. (Eiji’s final form is Ankh’s Boyfriend and you can’t stop me from believing that.)

I don’t know enough about the other seasons to know how heartbreaking a lot of them are, but. Well.

Over in Kuuga, that’s a transformation in the snow.

Ryuki has a wide shot with thirteen suits.

Blade as a shot with four riders, and one with Blade and Chalice in the water.

I’m not really happy with their choices for Build. Build RabbitTank deciding that he’s going to take Ryuuga with him, Sento and Ryuuga on the bike – at the end of episode one, so they both look awful, Sento in the opening, of all things, and what is quite frankly a terrible shot of Build Genius. They had a lot more to go off of here.

Especially since at least Zi-O has an excuse for poor selection. A close up of Zi-O’s face, a shot of him on his bike on a bridge from the opening, a slightly battered Sougo transforming – not even his FIRST one, mind you, it’s from the wrong angle for that… and OMA ZI-O. I know we weren’t even fifteen episodes in, he didn’t have Decade yet in the timeframe it takes place, but still. STILL.

But I might do a compilation post of all the ending cards, because there was clearly care put into… well, all but the last two, really.

So! In Conclusion!

Not as bad a movie as I was worried about!

There were a lot of nice touches, and I’m pretty sure that at this point, they were working towards un-doing the whole ‘riders were never riders’ situation. Especially given the time placement of this film.

The present day sections take place on December 3, 2018 – literally one day after the first episode of the Ghost arc aired. It was released on December 22, so… about when Sougo was shot into the future by Decade, and the day before he Did The Thing with his belt.

Ghost was allowed to transform. “Oh, right… I’m a Kamen Rider…” And, of course, Decade was there. As Decade.

The next Legend Rider to appear wasn’t until February – with Ryuki, who would never have been a Rider in the first place, regardless of Time Travel interference. He’d already had his adventures undone at the end of his season. After then, every Legend Rider is still a Rider.

As long as someone remembers.

#kamen rider zi o #heisei generations forever #zi o spoilers #heisei generations forever spoilers #i apologize for the length but. you know. movie.

25 notes · View notes

iristial · 5 years

Note

9-11 for the salty meme!

Considering what this blog was and always is for - let’s go with tokusatsu! So that means…this is going to be long. As usual. Let’s go!

9. Most disliked character(s)? Why?

I’m the kind of person who typically hates villains on sight, but I make exceptions if they show redemptive qualities/end up changing for the better, and the portrayal strikes a good chord in me

Dan Kuroto. He’s funny as a meme at times, but he eats too much screen time screaming over his God complex. I preferred the times before he ended up like…well, when his actor ad-libbed that crazy laugh and they had to rewrite his entire character

Kusaka from Faiz. I think he counts as the toku character I hate the most. Words can’t describe why I feel this way, other than “he’s a mighty fine jerk who’s only a hero in name”

From Kiva, other than the obvious ones…Keisuke Nago, as a lot of the time he came off as self-righteous and demeaning to other people, be it Wataru or Megumi. He did get a bit better towards the end (by accepting Wataru as half-Fangire, half-human), but I still didn’t like him

This may change if I watch Gaim in full, but Kaito. Maybe it was because I was only fourteen and didn’t know much, but it didn’t suit right with me how he was going to essentially commit genocide for his goals

I low key feel this for Zyuohger Leo, mostly due to his insensitive comments towards Misao and towards others at times. While the other Zyuohgers are also guilty of the former, it’s done in a way where I know it’s the show picking on Misao’s PTSD than anything else

Takaharu from Ninninger. My impression got better after SSSB so he’s definitely the character I dislike the least on this dislike list (along with Leo). He eats screen time in a similar way to Kyoryuger Daigo, but the latter was charming at least? Takaharu…I think it mostly lies in how awkwardly he’s portrayed in the main series

10. Most disliked arc? Why?

Drive’s “Kamen Rider is a secret identity of yours” arc. Shinnosuke’s literally transformed in a bunch of different characters, and the saving grace was that they were never seen again after their debut. And he drives a heavily modified car that’s used by Kamen Rider. You could connect the two dots blindfolded.

Also from Drive - Banno-related things. Gou pretending to be mind controlled so that he could get Banno because 1) that really lowers the impact of having people who can resist the Roidmude’s mind powers and 2) him trying to keep secrets just hurt more people. Maybe the latter is a flaw but still

How Kiriko didn’t tell Gou about the true nature of their father, and how she’s barely impacted by it (to the point where I forget that Banno was her father too, and even now). I understand that she wanted to protect her brother from the horrors their father did, but in a time of crisis…shouldn’t Gou know in case, y’know, Banno steals equipment and aims to conquer the world?

Not exactly an arc, but recycling the animosity between Keiichiro and Kairi in their Super Sentai personas from LuPato. It’s nice to watch in some ways (especially when it contrasts the development of their friendship as civilians), but in others I feel like we could’ve gotten something else if they didn’t emphasize on what we already know in two specials

The 99 day “must collect the Eyecons” premise for Ghost. If you reset the clock three times or so…it loses a lot of the tension

The God Complexes of Ex-Aid. It was compelling when Kuroto had it, it was okay when his father had it, and it was eye-rolling to see another Bugster have it. Recycling the same thing can be tiring

One more from LuPato, but the love line between Sakuya and Umika, only because canonically it didn’t suit well with me. I’ve ranted about that in the past. But outside of that, I’m perfectly fine with this ship!

Low key the Lost Smash arc of Build. It seemed a bit…unnecessary? Like they knew that they could burn out Evolto, already an engaging villain, before the series ended, so they brought in some new ones. The key points I didn’t like were Shinobu Katsuragi’s involvement (because the initial premise of him having committed suicide is more impactful) and Misora being willingly gassed to become a Lost Smash (…why would she approach Evolto who’s going to bring the end of the world as we know it, even if she was desperate to help Sento?)

11. Is there an unpopular character you like that the fandom doesn’t? Why?

I think I’m luckier in this area as opposed to my ships where I like the well-liked characters, so I can only name…about one character? I think?

Reiko from Drive. While a one-shot character of sorts, I like her because she initially tried to live up to the perception people have of her as a villain’s daughter - but over the course of her imprisonment, she redeemed herself and ended up developing a romance with Gou, who corresponded with her over the years as a sign of his character development. I like that it gives the characters a chance in happiness + is a bit of a “take that” at Drive’s message that people are the root of evil, even if monsters exist. Like yes, people can be evil, but it doesn’t mean they’re incapable of change, and being related to someone evil doesn’t define who you are

Salty Ask List

#14shyx #ask: zarahjoyce #tokusatsu #salty ask list #posting this messed up the formatting mgh #14shyx ʚ❁ɞ mailbox

4 notes · View notes

wonderalmighty · 2 years

Text

“I may be the bugster Salty but even I am not that bad.”

0 notes

go-mango-blog · 7 years

Link

The end of Ex-Aid is almost here. I’m kinda salty that @frozenstratos cut off Genm in the thumbnail of the video. But it’s a podcast video, so if it bothers you that much that Dan the Man isn’t in the thumbnail, then click the link, we spend a good amount of time talking about him and the rest of the Bugsters. Then again, this was an episode mainly about Bugsters (feat. Kamen Rider Ex-Aid), so there might be a slight connection...I guess I can cut the crap now, Poppy, Pallad, two characters integral to the story, had some pretty important stuff happen to them. Was it BS, did it manage to locate the feels, how well did the character arcs progress, all that and more on this week’s podcast! review, thing.

#kamen rider ex-aid #gemdeus #poppy #pallad #cmon emu #tokusatsu #kamen rider #don't eat too much sweets #fatty #dieuhhbeetus #gomango

2 notes · View notes

eliaspsuedo · 7 years

Photo

#kamen rider ex-aid #kamen rider ex aid #salty bugster #im getting the feeling salty will be pretty popular

9 notes · View notes

kamen-rider-mobi · 7 years

Text

"As a reward for clearing the Salty Quest in Candestro~! You get a new weapon!" A young bugster said, appearing in front of a ride player. "Enjoy your Gashacon Breaker!"

#open

6 notes · View notes

writingpaperghost · 3 years

Text

The "Mighty is Here" AU

This is far too comedic for it’s own good, but who cares. My sister and I were talking and somehow this AU formed and then grew and then oh god there’s too many Mightys. Mighty is already starting to not look like a word sometimes.

The gist of this AU is that now there is just. Mighty. He exists. Probably a Bugster or something.

Technically, it's Proto Mighty first. He shows up after Zero Day. He mostly just lurks around Kuruto's office, he's ambivalent to most people. He prefers being around Parad and Graphite, since they're Bugsters.

Then, after Emu transforms into Exaid for the first time, Mighty just kinda, pops into existence. He likes Emu best, though he too is also fond of Bugsters.

This means that if he's around the CR, he tends to be around either Emu or Poppy. If he isn't, he's probably found his way to Parad or Graphite, though he favors Parad.

Also, none of the Mightys can talk, they're just silent and somewhat judgmental feeling because of it.

Please note, the Mightys still have their corresponding weapons. So at this point, we've got Proto and Mighty with their Gashacon Breakers. Bonking most certainly ensues if they don't like you or you get on their nerves.

Mighty tends to bonk Kuroto, if they cross paths. No one can stop him.

After Emu uses the Mighty Bros Gashat, not one, but two new Mightys appear, Orange and Cyan. They have the Gasahcon Keyslasher and take turns using it. They are a lot like Mighty, though Orange favors Parad more than Emu and Cyan Emu more than Parad.

How does Maximum Mighty Action X work, you may ask? Mech. Mighty gets a mech. No separate Mighty, just a mech appears that Mighty can use. The same for Proto, at a point.

Doctor Mighty is just two Mightys dressed like doctors, Black and White. One of them favors Kuruto, while the other favors Kiriya.

The one who likes Kuroto is kind of the odd one out here, the rest of the Mightys aren’t entirely sure what to think.

Muteki Mighty exists and is kinda just dramatic in everything he does. It's fine. You cannot harm Muteki, though. He is Muteki.

As a general rule, the Mightys like Emu best of the humans and just Bugsters in general. Except Salty, for obvious reasons.

They don't terribly like Kuruto, for a few reasons. Proto was ambivalent for most of the time, but after Mighty shows up and Gemn starts fighting Emu, at least, Proto decides he likes Emu better, especially once Gemn switches to using Dangerous Zombie.

The Mightys possess the ability to consume food simply by touching it. This had led to more than one incident where someone's food got accidently eaten (Read, Hiro's desert on more than one occasion).

They end up plopping down somewhere and getting mistaken for plushies, especially Mighty, who has actual plushies. So sometimes, they get cuddled.

If you're unlucky and startled one of the Mightys, you may get Bonked.

The Mightys just kinda... hang out, generally. Sometimes they sneak around the hospital and visit any of kids who might be in Pediatrics. Or if there's someone in the CR, they might go and try to cheer them up, especially if they're a kid.

Then there’s this one Mighty that is considered something of a cryptid, even among the Mightys: Bike Mighty. He is Mighty, but he runs around constantly on a motorbike. No one knows where he comes from or where he goes. Just exists, him and his motorbike.

Usually ends up running over Kuroto’s foot.

Appears most around Kiriya, to only minor surprise.

So our list of Mightys are as follow:

Mighty Action X = Mighty

Proto Mighty Action X = Proto

Mighty Brothers XX = Orange and Cyan

Doctor Mighty XX = Black and White

Hyper Muteki = Muteki

Motorbike Mighty??? = Bike/Cryptid

#kamen rider #kamen rider ex aid #mighty #au #Mighty is Here

14 notes · View notes

jaysonblaze · 7 years

Text

Kamen Rider Ex-Aid episode 33 Review

This episode actually stunned me, I did not expect Hiiro’s heel to be that powerful but damn. Hiiro sided with Cronus for a good reason, I honestly cant fault him on why he did it but at the last possible second and when they had cronus on the ropes it just was an utter backstab. You just know Kuroto sorry Neo Kuroto could have saved his girlfriend and probably would have once the bugsters were dealt with but nope have to take the easy way out and make a bargain with the devil. Hiiro my boy why dont you go ask Meteor how his deal with the Aries Zodiart how that worked for him or how about asking Gai how teaming with Ouja went? Deals with the devil in the kamen rider universes tend to end super badly for whoever makes them and eventually Hiiro will get his just desserts! Heh Also R.I.P Salty, you are raging at dying so unfairly in video game afterlife.

Taiga didnt do anything this episode except brood. next episode he might get some focus though.

Nico also did fuck all. Heres hoping for a V-Cinema featuring her and poppy. Seriously give her something to do.

Poppy did fuck all as well so disappointing.

Pallad learned the fear of death, it was interesting to see him lose every bit of his cocky attitude when he realised that yes now the bugster can be permanently killed with no way to continue and nice of Graphite to almost beat some sense into him. It was all a game to him but with permanent death now a threat and his rivalry with Emu having to be put on hold just how will a fired up Pallad react? What part does he have in the gashat/gameshark that will help Emu surpass even a time god?

Neo Dan is legit right that his talent was basically abused by his father and he was utterly manipulated into making Chronicle just so his dad could play God. There is something hilarious that Neo Kuroto got fucked over by a game company that used his talent then discarded him as soon as he wasnt of use anymore, I’m sure this has some real world sting. Nice to know Genm corp can give EA a run for the worst company ever award, least EA games dont try to murder you or infect you with a deadly virus as far as we know.

Emu poor poor Emu, he idolised Hiiro and yet Hiiro turned out to be a massive scumbag. Expect Emu to get beaten up a lot until we get to his final form which he is literally cheating the game. I still find it super hilarious that its basically a game shark that lets Ex-Aid get even stronger.

Hiiro, you are a bag of dicks and I’m sure your girlfriend will love the fact you’ve sacrificed your ideals and lives to bring her back to life and also you are working with a madman. Cant wait to see you get bitten in the ass. Also super great Hiiro is getting screen time! see told you eventually he would get his time in the spotlight just didnt think it would be as the big bad’s (for now) right hand man. Cant wait to see Taddle Legacy as well.

Overall we are moving into the final stretch and I gotta say Ex-Aid has in my eyes a much better flow than even Gaim. I cant wait to see how this game ends.

As always if you disagree with anything, want to talk more or just want me to expand on something I’ve said please feel free to shoot me a message.

Next time: Hiiro goes Hollywood Hogan on us, Cronus does things, Pallad offers Emu some help and it looks like everyones favourite dead bike boy is not so dead after all!

See you next game!

#kamen rider ex-aid #kamen rider ex-aid spoilers #kamen rider #kamen rider spoilers #blaze reviews

2 notes · View notes

sailor-cresselia · 5 years

Text

The Great Ex-Aid Rewatch: Ex-Aid & Ghost, Part Two

Okay, back to it for part two of who-know-how-many of my Dr. Pac-Man liveblog!

Time for more gamers, doctors, ghosts, and terrible examples of science that people should in no way, shape, or form try to emulate!

––– –––

When last we saw our doctor heroes, they were escaping from Dr. Pac-Man with the victim-of-the-week, and the Ghost team was coming to their aid, leaving Shinnosuke back at the precinct.

We pick back up with Emu, Asuna, and Tougo running, but being blocked from one direction by Doral and Giril, and a still very glitchy Dr. Pac-Man on the other.

Turns out, the Pac-viruses aren’t technically bugsters at all – they’re just… er. Viruses, I guess, that Dr. Pac-Man used to set up a virus detection program. Specifically, to track the Bugster Virus, so that he could hunt down Tougo, who’s a carrier of a new strain.

Wait, so, the fevers that are hitting the people throughout the city aren’t the game disease, then? Or are there more forms to it than the bugster virus? …I may have to go into this in my fics at some point, but not now.

But anyway, it’s a new strain, one that comes from Hatesate Puzzle, so naturally the GenmCorp systems wouldn’t have any information on it – it’s not one of their products, so there’s no reason to expect it to spawn a bugster of it’s own.

Takeru, Akari, and Onari show up, with Takeru accusing Dr. Pac-Man of being Zaizen Michihiko. Fortunately for all of us, he is, and admits such as soon as Takeru brings it up. This means I no longer have to type ‘Dr. Pac-Man’ nearly as often, and we don’t have to deal with his squeaky voice changer anymore.

That thing was obnoxious.

Zaizen, who should have died six years ago, has managed – somehow – to revive as a Bugster. Which, as we know now, is foreshadowing for what happens down the line in-show. (Actually, this might be where Kuroto got that particular plan from in the first place.) He’s come back to finish his plans from back then.

He and his ‘team’ were working on a ‘genome project’, to create a new life form via operating on a patient infected with the game disease. A project to create a bugster.

But things went wrong.

Something happened, and we see the ‘patient’ – his face tactfully hidden by scenery the entire time – bucking on the table, the four ‘doctors’ drawing back in surprise. As a swarm of orange lights emerges from him and form into the shape of a person, lines of light form a game area around the room, while the four ‘doctors’ are dissolved into fragments of data.

And now? Now they’re back from being banished to the shadow realm game world, and ready to fulfill their ‘master plan.’

Emu – sweet, blissfully unaware, ten-episodes-in Emu – says that he may not know anything about this so-called master plan, but to use Pac-Man for this, to endanger all of these people… how can they call themselves doctors?! Doctors are supposed to help people!

Zaizen declares that anyone who stands against him must die, and Hatena – the latest Bugster – summons a massive number of enormous falling blocks. That would be bad enough, since said blocks are approximately person sized, and could easily crush someone.

Except that Hatesate Puzzle is a match three puzzle game. When three blocks of the same color line up? They explode.

Makoto and Alain show up from… somewhere, just in time to see Takeru make a dive to cover Akari with his body to protect her from another wave of blocks.

They are both caught up in the explosions. When the smoke clears, Takeru manages to wake Akari up, barely.

They both start to turn transparent, bursts of static crackling across them, at which point Akari passes back out.

Takeru, having had some very traumatic experiences with being transparent, makes the very natural assumption that they’ve both just died.

Fortunately, Emu is there, and able to yell that no, no, you’re not dead, that’s the bugster virus, please calm down!

Well, they’re not dead yet, according to Hatena, who says that unless someone manages to defeat him in the next 24 hours, they’re done for. This, naturally, pisses Makoto and Alain the hell off, and they go on the offensive.

I love civilian outfit fights, because you can get more of a sense of how the characters really move. I hold to the theory that putting on Rider armor, in any series, enhances the wearers usual abilities, so while you can see how they fight, you can get a far more accurate idea of it when they fight out of suit.

Against Giril, for all that the first part of the fight is more of a dance between her, Makoto, and Alain, you can tell that they’re skilled at this – that they’ve been through battles. They do eventually wind up getting hit – her fighting style is very different from the ones they’re used to facing, and Alain in particular takes some nasty palm strikes and kicks to the chest, but they’re still putting up a good show. (Especially for a pair who lost the majority of their effectiveness in battle once they joined up with Takeru, but that’s a complaint for a whole different season.)

On the other hand, Emu’s fight against Doral can barely be called a fight. He’s getting beaten, badly. Doral barely has to move to dodge Emu’s punches, and when they do connect, he doesn’t even flinch, moving with the punch to soften what little damage there would be.

Emu takes numerous blows to the torso, and I’m pretty sure at one point he just barely avoided a groin shot. He does manage a sweet flip and a roll, but it looks to have been accidental, given he then very quickly gets thrown several meters through the air.

Compare this to his first fight in-show, when he’d just gotten the belt, and had no idea what he was even getting into. In level one, he didn’t take a single hit from the Bugster Union, and when he fought Salty directly, he got hit maybe two or three times, but no more than that, and they didn’t effect him at all.

Early Emu has no idea what he’s doing in a fight, without actively being Ex-Aid.

Onari and Asuna carry Akari off to the hospital, escaping, while Makoto and Alain manage to literally hold Giril back, telling Takeru to ‘take care’ of Hatena.

Takeru’s punches do nothing, aside from make his knuckles hurt, and make Hatena chuckle. CHUCKLE. Not even LAUGH, just a quiet chuckle.

Emu gets grabbed, and Doral is trying to choke him out, when freaking Tougo – who is, admittedly, in a bit of a bad way, seeing how he’s rather see-through at the moment – yells at Emu. He’s a doctor, right?! Then why isn’t he saving him?!

You know, never mind that you said it was pointless earlier, or that Emu’s getting his ass kicked and currently is having a bit of trouble breathing, just go ahead and guilt trip him. That’s totally a way to make people like you.

Oh, and then Zaizen tells this asshole that nobody can save him, and pulls Tougo into a bugvisor. Because that totally makes sense.

All four riders present – Emu, Takeru, Alain, and Makoto – get hurled down by their respective opponents, Emu internally apologizing to Tougo. Doral advances on Emu…

And is met with a spin-kick to the face.

Kiriya, Hiiro, and Taiga have arrived. Here’s their basic reactions to the scene:

Kiriya: More research data! Yes! (Also, time to save the Ace, because he’s the only person in this show who has even remotely tried to be a decent person, and was the only one who bothered trying to trust me.)

Taiga: Okay, shows over, freaks. (Why do people keep using Protogashats?! Are they all just stupid?!)

Hiiro: You look pathetic, intern. Also, here’s the new Legend Rider Gashat, the CEO wanted you to have it, for some reason.

Doral’s all ‘oh, so you want to fight, do you?’, and he and Giril pull out their gashats. Kiriya gives a sarcastic whistle, before Makoto and Alain shove their way in front, saying that this is their fight. I mean, it’s not, technically, but I get their reasoning. Also, Makoto literally shoved Hiiro to the side, and Hiiro takes a moment to come back to facing front, looking incredibly offended. Kiriya tries to point out to them that they’re already pretty beat up, and maybe they should take a back seat for a bit, but let if never be said that Makoto and Alain are anything but stubborn.

Giril takes off one way, Makoto and Hiiro in pursuit, while Doral goes the other, with Alain, Taiga, and Kiriya chasing after. Emu is still on the floor, slightly dazed, and presumably very confused.

–––

Hiiro and Makoto Vs Giril.

Makoto’s fighting style here is very… I dunno, like he’s a brawler? I guess? It’s not really refined, there’s a sort of brutality there. He uses the mooks momentum a lot, at one point pulling one of those ‘roll with the grab and use it to do a spin kick while on the mooks back’ tricks.

Hiiro, meanwhile, is quick and efficient, focusing on disabling mooks by going for the torso. Once again, he’s weaponizing CPR, just like when he originally used Doremifa Beat. At one point, he actually just flat out does a chop to the back of one mooks neck, which I find hilarious coming from Hiiro, of all people.

Eventually, Giril transforms, and Makoto hastily follows suit. Heh, suit. Because they’re transforming heroes. Hiiro, who saw full well that Specter isn’t exactly in prime condition, tries to tell him to wait, and heads into level two to join the fight.

–––

Taiga, Kiriya, and Alain vs Doral.

Taiga and Alain’s fight styles aren’t too different, outside of suit. They both favor quick blows that are still slightly showy. The main difference is that Alain’s more willing to rely on both his arms and legs for attacks, while Taiga’s more likely to dodge attacks. Kiriya… may as well be street dancing. Like, there’s a lot of streetdance type moves going on there.

…Dark Toei, give me the forbidden streetdancer Kiriya lore.

Eventually, Alain starts getting into a slightly more berserker style, Kiriya is getting somehow even flashier, and Taiga…

Taiga stole the sword off of one of the mooks.

…SWEET.

Doral transforms, and Alain angrily follows… and immediately starts doing worse. Seriously, the Necrom suit is a definite hindrance for Alain. He was great when he was in civilian attire – because he could move. Loose fitting clothes are far better suited for his personal style than the tight, controlled movements he has to use as Necrom. I mean, he really shouldn’t keep the scarf on in battle, but it doesn’t seem to slow him down, so I guess it’s okay.

Taiga looks a little disappointed that Alain just rushed in there like that, and once again it’s Kiriya who says that he’s getting ahead of himself.

The two of them transform, and Taiga visibly enters level two, doing a sweet flip over a fire projectile before getting into the battle. Kiriya says he’s leveling up, but we don’t actually see it, or him.

–––

Takeru vs Hatena.

This fight is not going nearly so well as the others. Takeru is getting shoved around like a ragdoll by Hatena and his staff, but still struggling back up, despite the copious pain he’s in, because he’s going to save Akari, dangit!

Emu’s still down on the floor, just barely getting around to picking himself back up in order to stop Takeru from advancing.

Zaizen says that all these struggles are useless. Without Ghost’s power, they can’t possibly beat Pac-Man, and he’s going to make them fear just how powerless they are!

He then proceeds to fire his bugvisor into the air, a massive swarm of Pac-viruses emerging from it… and then they all form into a GIANT PAC-MAN. The version with arms and legs, no less, before it pulls those into itself and becomes the more classic Orb Pac-Man.

Then it sort of… shudders, and glows a bit red, and oh look, everyone, Pac-Man’s got a mouth of fangs now!

Wisely, Takeru and Emu realize that being faced with a two-or-three story Pac-Man, who is clearly intent on eating them, is the point where they should be running away.

–––

Pac-Man chases them outside. They manage to avoid his barreling into them, but also he takes a bite out of a building, so there’s that. They’ve both fallen from their dodge.

Takeru pushes himself back to his feet, struggling to walk forward to fight.

Emu tries to hold him back, because it’s too dangerous, he’s too hurt, if he tries to fight like this, he could die-

Takeru shoves him off, saying it doesn’t matter if he can still transform or not. Yes, he doesn’t want to die, but if he can save Akari, then that is far more important. He’s going to do this. He has to do this!

Ghost’s powers are intimately linked to Takeru’s emotional state. They always have been, as far back as his first episode. His resolve summons the Ore Eyecon back to him from Dan Kuroto’s desk (because of course he didn’t give that to Hiiro to bring back), and the Ghost Driver reappears around Takeru’s waist.

(The, uh, the handle on that thing’s looking a little worse for wear. You guys couldn’t have, I dunno, wiped it down or something? Given it a little touch up?)

“HENSHIN!”

:cue fangirl grin:

Takeru gets to fly again! In base form, no less! …You know, outside of the first episode, and his guest previews in Drive, I don’t think Takeru actually got to use his levitation in his base mode more than maybe once or twice until after his season. I’m pretty sure he didn’t even get to do it in his own movies, outside of the finishing blow to the giant Ganma from the Ghost & Drive film. I don’t recall him levitating at all during Ichighost. If he used that power outside of the final battle in 100 Eyecons, I don’t remember it, and I know that time it was in Infinite.

Basically, I’m in the ‘Let Takeru Use His Powers’ camp. Also, I’m thinking that this might be where he basically… re-unlocked that for his base form? I dunno, just a thought that I might use in ReUnited, might not. Hard to say.

Anyway, Ghost! He’s flying around, kicking Angry Emoji Pac-Man while dodging storms of Pac-Viruses. Emu, in the meantime, is having a slight crisis of personal faith. He’s been getting his ass handed to him all day, even more so than usual, with people berating him left and right for not being good enough at his job – as a doctor or as a Kamen Rider.

Screaming to the sky, he somehow finds his resolve. Pulling out the Kaigan Ghost gashat, a breeze blows his hair back, and he transforms.

…Okay, yes, it’s a level ONE form right now, but he still gets to fight in-air with Takeru, both of them with that cool orange glow effect, so it’s worth it!

–––

At the Next Genome Hideout, Zaizen and Hatena arrive just in time for… Uh. What was his name again? Ah, there we go. Kuruse Soji, also known as the Robol Bugster. For consistencies sake with the rest of his group, I will be referring to him as Robol from here on.

So, those two arrive just in time for Robol to finish the… I don’t even know what it is, some sort of genome re-mapping design.

Hatena is the one to ask Zaizen “Hey, are you sure about this whole ‘using yourself as a lab rat’ thing? You’re putting your life on the line, here.”

But nope, Zaizen’s determined to carry out his plan, and he’s fully intent on becoming a life form ‘to surpass creation.’

Hatena’s response is basically a silent “Well, okay then, it’s your funeral,” before raising his reality-warping staff up, and starting what is basically a reprogramming process on Zaizen.

Additionally, Zaizen seems to very quickly have at least a few regrets with regards to his haste, or at least didn’t think Hatena was going to just go ahead and start immediately. Having ones genetic structure re-written is not exactly painless.

The thing is… I don’t know what Zaizen doing this to himself would prove for any sort of proof of concept. We find out later on that his plan is to do this all over, and yeah, most people won’t survive, but the ones who do will be stronger for it. Which is all standard mad scientist stuff. However, he’s already a Bugster. He’s said as much, so his base makeup isn’t the same anymore. He has no way to prove this will actually work on a normal human! I mean, yeah, he’s trying it on Tougo simultaneously, albeit a little differently, but Tougo’s infected with the bugster virus already, so there’s good odds that the alterations are working with that more than anything else.

Basically, Zaizen, you’re a terrible excuse for a doctor and a scientist, and you should be ashamed of yourself for so many different reasons.

–––

Back at the Giril fight, Makoto uses all three of his regular Legend Eyecons to try and take her down, and even at one point using Houdini’s chains as whips! It gets to a point where we have Specter with Nobunaga preparing a finisher, and Giril sending energy slashes at him, only for Brave to use the ice mode of his sword to freeze the attacks in place so that Makoto can shoot through them.

Seriously, Hiiro, why can’t you use tactics this cleverly more often in show? It’d have gone a long way toward making me like at least watching you fight, even though it wouldn’t do anything for you as a character. The only times I can think of that were anything like this were the few occasions you used the sword to make an ice path to hold enemies still, your first time using Doremifa beat, and the way you got Taddle Fantasy by basically emulating some of Emu’s tactics, in using the energy items to your advantage.

But I digress. The two Riders switch into Deep Specter and Doremifa Beat to try and finish the fight.

–––

Brief cut to the Doral fight, where everyone is still in base forms, until Necrom gets knocked down and swaps into Grimm. I am reminded of why I would vastly prefer him to be using an eyecon at all times, because the helmet for Necrom is AWFUL without a cover.

Lazer and Snipe are still in level one and two respectively.

–––

Back to Giril.

Everyone launches finishers, starting with Specter, who doesn’t have much effect, but knocks her back a bit. Brave and Giril launch simultaneous ones, which create a huge chain reaction explosion that results in all three participants getting kicked out of their transformations.

Giril is still okay enough to run away.

Hiiro and Makoto are struggling on the ground. Makoto tries to get up to give chase, but collapses. Hiiro, in not much better state, tries to wake him.

–––

Back to Doral.

Necrom is using Sanzo for a bit, before getting dropped back down to normal. Okay, so, I may hate the transitional phase of Necrom, but it’s not fair to Alain for him to go the whole series without an upgrade. It’s even less fair for him to finally get one after the show… in the Specter V-Cinema. At which point he gets his ass kicked. By Specter. To make matters even more devastating? The single upgrade Alain gets is called Yujou Burst. FRIENDSHIP BURST. It’s ugly as all get out, and he only uses it in a single scene, in which, as mentioned earlier, he gets his ass kicked by Makoto. And you can’t even really see it in that scene, because it was so dark, which was not helped by Yujou Burst being black and gold.

ALAIN DESERVED BETTER, IS ALL I’M SAYING.

Okay, okay, lost potential complaints aside, the fight scene. Lazer and Snipe both enter level three, and I’m fairly certain Kiriya curses the day he blackmailed his way into getting a Driver, because he still has to go through the bike form anyway to get to higher levels.

Necrom and Lazer launch their finishers – Necrom with an energy punch projectile, and Lazer with that gloriously massive rain of arrows. This is followed by Snipe’s finisher, which involves a jetpack and LOTS OF BULLETS.

Man, if Jet Combat weren’t so hideous, I’d probably love it.

Doral gets knocked out of his transformation, and runs off. Necrom and Lazer drop theirs willingly, at which point Alain apologizes to Takeru, and drops to the ground, out cold.

Taiga lands. Specifically, TAIGA lands, dropping his transformation MID DESCENT and landing in a three point touchdown. He sneers, saying that Alain’s an idiot who over did it.

Well, at least the three of you came out of your transformations on your own, unlike the actual secondaries of the two seasons, who both got knocked down.

I mean, I really didn’t expect to find more evidence that Hiiro’s not nearly as good at this Rider thing as he thinks he is, but it sure looks like I did!

–––

Okay, over at the FIRST main fight, with Ex-Aid and Ghost versus a literally two story tall Pac-Man, two lads in black and orange land.

Ghost pulls out the Ex-Aid Eyecon, and we get an incredibly chaotic shot of Takeru entering Ex-Aid Damashi, and Ex-Aid leveling up his Ghost form.

Hnnnn I don’t like either of these legend rider forms. I think it’s in the eyes. Takeru winds up with Ex-Aid’s eyes on his faceplate, which makes sense, because that’s what his Legend Rider forms do. He gets their helmet’s appearance on his. It’s just weird with Ex-Aid’s eyes, is all. I’ll give credit to the jacket for being way better than his one for Drive, though.

The Ex-Aid Legend Rider forms, though… are so incredibly cursed. His chestplate takes on the appearance of whatever’s there on the OG rider, which. Okay, fair. I went to go look at his form for Drive, and the tire just Does Not Translate well to 2d. But the real problem is the helmet.

See, I’m okay with the helmets in Ex-Aid. I don’t care about the anime eye aesthetic, I’m all for it, because they manage to make something this ridiculous look good. Right up until that’s not what’s there anymore.

The helmet takes on an appearance similar to a slimmed down version of the legend rider, which I would be fine with… if it didn’t keep the frames from around Ex-Aid’s eyes. It’s unsettling, and invariably cuts across the eyes of the helmet it’s imitating, which just makes the whole thing uncomfortable.

And, of course, he still has the duplicate faceplate on his back, which makes it really weird when he’s facing away from the camera in the upcoming scenes, because we’re still getting Ghost looking at us. I don’t know why it doesn’t bug me nearly this much with Regular Ex-Aid, but this is really unsettling with a different rider’s helmet.

–––

Okay, okay, sorry, back to the show.

Emu’s gotten Ghost’s ability to levitate, and Takeru’s picked up Ex-Aid’s jumps. So they’re still able to bounce around Pac-Man, but they aren’t both flying anymore.

And then he eats them.

Like, I’m not even kidding, Pac-Man opens his mouth, they get pulled in, and WHOOPS suddenly they’re falling toward a suspiciously familiar maze!

Oh, man, I wish I were better at screencapping, but this goes by too fast for me to catch it. When they land? Takeru has a color-burst effect right out of one of Ex-Aid’s special effects. Nice touch!

Oh, and the walls of the maze, along with the dots, are an appropriate size for a two story tall Pac-Man. So, you know, the lads are a bit dwarfed by the scenery.

If you look carefully, you can see that when Pac-Man’s chasing them through the maze, the dots he passes by aren’t there anymore! He’s still actually playing by his own rules! … right up until they jump out of his way when they’re backed against a wall, and he just plows on through.

(Pac-Man, noooo! You can’t do that! That’s illegal!)

So they just start trying to slash at Pac-Man amid the rubble from the wall he just broke through – and then he starts shooting out beams of light every which way?

I don’t remember that being part of the game…

While they’re jumping and dodging, Emu’s still got Ghost’s glowing effects, and Takeru still has Ex-Aid’s impact stars, so that’s cool. They do that neat cross slash, where one rider goes horizontally around the Giant Kaijin and the other goes vertically… and it’s still not the finisher.

Emu, sweet, game-loving Emu, tells Pac-Man that it’ll just be a little longer. (Emu, he’s currently trying to KILL YOU. You don’t even know if the Regular Pac-Man is IN THERE, for all you know this is just an evil duplicate!)

So, actual finisher time.

Interestingly, the visual flairs when Emu puts the Kaigan Ghost gashat into his finisher slot and pushes the button are all orange. Nice touch. Even nicer is the touches on the emblem that appears behind Takeru when he does his finishers. Usually it’s a glowing orange, or rainbow, in the case of Infinite. But this time it’s pixellated and pink.

(please ignore the awful neon blue lines in the background, those are part of the maze.)

I’d say that “lasers don’t chase people like that” and “jumping doesn’t let you curve in mid-air”, but I don’t think the laws of physics actually apply to these two in most battle circumstances. Also, they’re about to kick Pac-Man in the face because that’s just what we’re doing today, I guess!

They land back out in the real world, where Pac-Man slowly changes back to normal.

(THE BACKS OF THESE SUITS ARE SO CURSED)

Pac-Man dissolves into the air.

Takeru, sweet precious cinnamon roll that he is, is still only thinking of saving Akari.

“I have… to save Akari…”

He falls to the ground, out cold.

–––

Asuna and Onari make it to the hospital, with him carrying the unconicious Akari, to see specks of yellow light streaming down to the infected patients.

Asuna thanks Pac-Man for curing those who were hit by his strain of the Game Disease.

–––

On a nearby rooftop, music from 2012 plays as a man with rings steps into view.

––– –––

Well, that seems like as good a place as any to cut off, narratively speaking! I’m about halfway through the movie at this point, so this should only take one or two more installments to finish.

I have work the next three nights, so I’m not going to be able to pick this back up until Saturday, at the earliest. It sucks, because I really, really wanted to watch this movie again, preferably a lot faster than this whole “three to four hours to get twenty five minutes” deal, but I guess that’s just how I’m watching Ex-Aid, now!

(Disclaimer before anyone gets on my case: Yes, I switched order of those last two segments. Partly it’s to have a better liveblog ending, and partly because that’s the order they should have been in, dang it! It flows way better to have the Pac-Man Fever subplot end before Haruto first shows up, instead of awkwardly inserting him between the last two related scenes.)

#kamen rider ex aid #kamen rider ghost #sailorcressy says

4 notes · View notes