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kamenriderlogik27 · 3 years

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Kamen Rider headcanons part 1: Saber meets Ex-Aid!

I've been thinking about this for a while. Not sure why my brain chose Ex-Aid though. Just kinda happened. hehe. It took me a lot longer to write than I was hoping 'cause I ended up getting writer's block somewhere near the end, and didn't entirely know how to end it. Not much action either since I can't write action scenes, but hopefully ya'll will like it!

- It was a bright, sunny day with no sign of megido activity. Touma and Mei were traveling to Tokyo due to Touma having a book reading scheduled at Seito University Hospital. Rintaro, intrigued by the idea of finally being able to visit a grand medical institution, decided to tag along under the guise that it'd be better for him to go as backup just in case something happened.

- Upon arrival, the trio run into Ogami and his son, Sora. Who the latter is scheduled an annual check up at the hospital and was following a nurse.

- After hearing about Touma's book reading, Sora begged Ogami to let him stay so he could join them. Ogami gave no hesitation in giving his son permission to stay after his check up. This actually played in Ogami's favor 'cause he had something to do down the street (probably to get bakery sweets for his son and wife or something.) So he asked Rintaro and Mei to help Sora with his check up, and left before hearing their response.

- A bit dumbfounded but not surprised, Mei quickly told Touma to check in at the front so a nurse could escort him to set up, then she and Rintaro both took Sora's hands and followed the (surprisingly patient) nurse to their assigned hospital room.

- On their way to the room, the nurse quickly stopped near a scale, asked Sora to take off his shoes and started taking his height and weight measurements. Mei had to stop Rintaro from taking off his second shoe (he already had the first one off) as he thought that they all had to get their measurements taken.

- As they waited for the doctor to come, Mei and Sora talked and played while Rintaro took his time looking around the room at all the different equipment and posters with fascinated eyes.

- It wasn't long a wait. However, as the doctor opened the door to enter, he accidentally (somehow) tripped and face planted the floor.

- *Que overly shocked and confused Mei face and sounds, and an unimpressed Sora*

- Rintaro was the only one who asked if the doctor was ok and if he needed help. This caused the doctor to inwardly blush in shame a bit.

- The doctor (if you couldn't tell by now) is Hojo Emu, as said by the patient nurse who sighed "Not again, Emu...."

- Sora took a quick liking to doctor Emu as he was really nice and tried to make the check up feel like a game. However, Emu was a bit shocked to say the least when he tried to bond with Sora over video games and Sora said that he likes reading more. (score one for Touma!)

- As the check up went on, Emu ended up having to juggle with doing his job as well as try to answer the many questions that Rintaro had. (i.e. Is that a stethoscope?! How clear are you able to hear a heartbeat with it? May I perhaps try it out myself? Do doctors really keep a jar of tongue depressors at their desk? That's amazing! you can also use a stethoscope to hear a person's breathing pattern? etc.)

- After the check up, Emu told Mei and Rintaro that Sora was in extraordinary health, especially for such a young child. (score one for the best Kamen Rider dad!)

- Since Emu had no more scheduled appointments for the next hour or two, he and nurse Asuna both ended up escorting the three to the book reading. They were also really curious as to who this 'Touma' person was that Sora and Mei talked excitedly about.

- The book reading was held in a wide open area outside in the courtyard, right next to a huge wall made of windows. Touma had brought a total of 10 picture books to read to his audience; which consisted of mainly hospitalized children, and Sora sitting in the front row.

- Emu and nurse Asuna were both, to say the least, really impressed with Touma's reading skills and interactions with the children. To them, it almost seemed as if Touma was truly taking them on a magic carpet ride or journeying through the decade a jungle.

- Emu mumbled something about looking up Touma's books one of these days, which Mei over heard of course, giving her the opportunity of handing him Touma's business card which had the bookstore's phone number and address printed on the back.

- Just as Touma is about to finish his last book, screams are heard coming from nearby and Mei's white book starts glowing. Nurse Asuna is the only one that notices the book however since Emu is already running towards the chaos, Rintaro and Touma hot on his heels. Nurse Asuna has so many questions, but Mei just awkwardly smiles and runs to Sora so they can help the children and other patients back inside.

- Once Emu gets to the source of the screams, he finds a huge, bug-like monster with a book on its chest attacking people with its long, blood-sucking spear. Emu gets confused at what he was looking at since the monster didn't look or seem like a bugster. Before he could observe further, Touma and Rintaro rushed past him, both putting on their drivers and shouting "Henshin!" before swinging out what seemed like swords and transforming.

- although super confused at these two new Riders, Emu decided to wait to ask questions and jumped into action himself by pulling out his gashats and gamedriver, wanting to transform into Kamen Rider Ex-aid level 2. However, upon further observation of the scene, he could see people kneeling/laying on the ground, groaning in agony and pain. He would have to rely on the strange Riders for the moment as Doctor Emu was needed, Genius Gamer M would have to wait.

- the two SOL Riders noticed the Doctor by now, with Rintaro gasping and trying to tell Emu to get away before he gets hurt. This attracted the megido's attention and it quickly brushed off the Rider's swords, jumped high into the air and aimed it's spear at the doctor who was now trying to help a poor old lady to stand up.

- Before it could hit the doctor though, a very large, heavy sword blocked it's path causing the megido to fall back, clutching it's spear-nose in pain. Emu looked at the huge sword in shock, before glancing at the wielder next to to. Which happened to be an untransformed man with a smirk on his face.

- "Ogami-san! Nice save!" Touma yelled with relief.

"Huh? OGAMI???" Emu said to himself, putting the pieces together "Eh??? Sora-kun's FATHER?!" Noticing that the man he saved was a doctor, due to Emu's white coat, Ogami-san understood what was going on and told Emu to keep doing what he was doing. "Don't worry, I've got your back!"

- While Emu depended on Ogami-san to protect him and the patients, the other Rider doctors had came to help. Kiriya was helping anyone that could still walk, Taiga and Nico were attending to those that couldn't, and Hiiro took the chance to look into and see if the bugster virus was related.

- The megido took account of the situation and, seeing as he could continue his job else where, started to fly away. But not before seeing a curious Sora staring right at him and deciding that "one more couldn't hurt." and dove down to the boy. But before it could pierce Sora's skin, a frantic Mei pushed him out of the way, getting pierced by the megido's spear in the process.

- I think ya'll can imagine the way Touma and, especially, Rintaro screamed Mei's name right at the moment. Gives me chills just thinking about it.

- The megido quickly flew away before the riders could reach them. But Rintaro quickly de-henshined and rushed to Mei's side, quickly, but as gently as possible, picking her up in his arms and checking to see if she was alright. On the outside she seemed fine, there wasn't even an open wound, but then an electric-like ripple coursed through her body and she gasped in pain. Hiiro was at their sides in an instant, using his Game Scope to assess the situation.

- Emu, who was checking to see if Sora was alright, quickly squatted next to Hiiro and furrowed his brows at the screen. there was a new type of Bugster running through Mei's body. In fact, everyone that was attacked by the megido had been infected.

- They took Mei back to the hospital (Rintaro carrying her with the excuse that it'd be faster for him to do it, when in fact he just didn't want anyone else to carry her.) and set her down in the Ex-aid HQ center (I know it's officially called something else, but I'm tired and have no time to look it up at the moment.)

- Now Emu's a bit overwhelmed 'cause there's a very sick Mei, 2 very worried riders asking questions, another rider who's also a bit worried but is also trying to calm his heart down after getting the scare of his life when Poppy suddenly costume changed next to him without warning, and everyone is just super confused about what the monster is. He literally has to yell "shut up!!!" for the room to quiet down enough so he can add "How about we just take turns asking questions, yeah?"

- and that's what they do, Emu starts by asking Touma and Rintaro what the monster is. So Rintaro quickly explains the SOL organization, swordsmen and the megido. Then Rintaro asks Emu what's happening to Mei and if she'll be ok. Emu, along with the other doctor Riders, started explaining Bugsters and the Game Disease. Emu explained that since they've been battling the virus for years now, and have advanced the treatment extraordinarily well that Emu is confident that they'll be able to heal Mei.

- Even though still worried, Rintaro and Touma visibly relax, the latter starting to think about the megido. He had a suspicion of what the megido could be and wanted to go back to the bookstore to check. Knowing it'd be a long drive back however, Ogami quickly pulled out his book-gate WRB and created a doorway that links the hospital to the Northern Base. Touma and Rintaro head through it without a second thought, shocking the doctor Riders.

- At the Northern Base, the duo find Daishinji who's been trying to track the megido for some time now. As they talk, Daishinji cuts off what he's saying halfway and adverts his eyes due to the doctor Riders suddenly appearing.

- Turns out that Parado had come back after playing games with some of the children in the hospital, saw the doctor Riders staring at a door that he'd never seen before. curious, he opened the door (despite Ogami yelling and Emu trying to stop him) which resulted in him and Emu getting sucked into the vortex-like path between the destinations. The other riders too as they either tried to save the duo or they got pulled in by others *cough!* Kiriya *cough!* trying to save themselves.

- The doctor Riders suddenly finding themselves to be in a library of sorts makes them shocked to say the least.

- By the time Ogami catches up, Rintaro is busy explaining that they're now at the North Pole while Touma has gone off back to his bookstore to look for a specific book.

- Emu had followed after Touma and was amazed by how homey and comfortable the bookstore felt and looked.

- As Emu looked around the bookstore (low-key spazzing about how cool the diorama was), Touma rummaged through a pile of books until he came across a book on insects. He skims through it and confirms that the bug-like megido is a mosquito, which is known to spread viruses like wildfire. Excited, the two go back and inform the others at the Northern Base of what they found.

- Everyone then spends the night doing what they can to help. Ogami found and dragged Ren out to help him look for the megido with Kiriya and Parado offering to help. Parado's involvement caused Nico to see this as a game, so she forced Taiga to help search as well. Hiiro went back to his other patients, checking in every now and then to see if the Bugster in Mei had grown.

- Touma and Rintaro also thought about searching, but then Emu and Poppy mentioned how the Bugster Virus reacts and grows via stress. What stresses Mei the most is 1. Touma not finishing his drafts on time and 2. not seeing her friends. So they decided to stay by her side with Rintaro watching over her, and Touma taking up the nearby desk so he can work on drafts for the next two+ months.

- Seeing Mei so pale and frail broke Rintaro's heart. She looked like a different person entirely, as if her warm smile had been stolen. Somewhat tired and worry clouding his mind, he started speaking his thoughts out loud, so loud that Touma could hear.

- "Why can't I do anything?" "What if we can't defeat the megido?" "What if we DO defeat the megido but can't defeat the virus?"

- Touma has to firmly tell Rintaro that they will save Mei, no matter what. He's so adamant about it that he ends up promising Rintaro that they'll both defeat both the Bugster and the megido.

- Emu, who was observing them from afar, takes note of their promise before heading up to the main office of the ward. There, a new face, Kento, is standing next to the window and gazing down at the trio.

- Alarmed, Emu asks who Kento is and how he got in. But Kento doesn't reply, and instead mentions how this wasn't supposed to happen, that this wasn't something he foresaw. He looks back at Emu before opening a black portal and disappearing through it.

- Sometime during the night, Hiiro checks in on Mei, and has a chat with Rintaro about her. He warns the swordsman about waiting and not taking action before leaving him to his thoughts.

- The next morning, Emu finds Touma and Rintaro both asleep. The latter hunched over the desk full of written drafts and the former upright in a chair with his hand clenching Mei's. Poppy, who had came in right behind him, loudly gasped in delight at the cute scene, causing the two Riders to wake up in alarm. Touma ended up falling from his chair while Rintaro awkwardly jumped with embarrassment after realizing he was holding Mei's hand, especially so tightly.

- Emu checks Mei's temperature and vitals. When she wakes up, he asks her how she feels which she groggily explains that she feels way better than when she was turned into the cat megido. Turns out that the boys staying with her and seeing that Touma got a lot of work done really did help in de-stressing her.

- Just then, they get a call from Ogami, informing them that the megido has been spotted. Quickly reassuring Mei that they'll defeat the Megido, the two left to aid Ogami.

-Them leaving however, caused Mei to grow worried and stressed. Resulting in the Bugster Virus inside of her to grow and finally form outside of her body. The form that the Bugster took, was of her Megido monster form, the cat megido. Which slashed at Emu and Poppy before fleeing from the hospital.

- Emu and the other doctor Riders chased after it, bumping into the SOL Riders on the way. This results in them fighting together AND having the SOL Riders react to seeing the doctor Riders transform for the first time.

- "eh?! you guys are Kamen Riders too?!" "What?! B-but! I thought that only SOL swordsmen can be called 'Kamen Riders'?! I have to ask Sophia-sama about this..." "Oi.... What's with the cartoon eyes...? and... is that HAIR?"

- They also run into more bugsters as well, so they break up into teams to fight them off. Touma and Emu vs the megido, Rintaro and Hiiro vs the cat megido bugster, Kiriya and Ogami vs. a megido bugster, and Taiga and Nico vs. another megido bugster and Ren and Parado vs Bugster mooks.

- After defeating them all, the one behind this mess reveals himself; Dan Kuroto with one of Zoous's Alter Ride Books. (possibly given to him by Storious)

-This leads to another huge battle between Kuroto (who fused with the alter ride book) and the Riders (plus Kento who'd been watching the whole thing), which ends with Kuroto being defeated and disappearing, and Mei with everyone else that caught the megido bugster virus to be fully cured.

- Mei reunites with Touma and Rintaro at the hospital, which Rintaro smiling to himself. (He now fully realizes his feelings for Mei and is planning on confessing soon.)

-Later on, Emu, Poppy and the other doctor Riders visit the Kamiyama bookstore, which results in an amusing event.

#kamen rider #kamen rider saber #kamen rider ex aid #crossover #i tried my best #i still want to try and write a real fanfic about this #head canons

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thisisnotthenerd · 4 months

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the dream team's xp leveling

this is complex enough that i needed to create a second spreadsheet. i've doomed myself to an eternity of calculations. anyway:

the unsleeping city:

i did the calculations in the spreadsheet this time, so it's a little easier to follow and there's only one round of arithmetic to do. one key difference here is that contextual multipliers are more common. for the unsleeping city, i used contextual multipliers for the number of opponents as well as other complicating factors that will be listed with each encounter.

mutant santa melee: i separated this encounter into three categories: the mutant santas, the spawn point chrysalis, and the big santa.

mutant santas: based on their hp counts and damage outputs, i'd place the standard mutant santas at CR 1/4, so 50 XP each for 600, with a 2x contextual multiplier because of 1) the number of mutant santas and 2) the complicating factors both the captured santa and things like pete's wild magic surges. total of 1200 XP

the chrysalis: only CR 1/4 because sofia kicked it into the sky. 50 XP

big santa: CR 2, based on damage output and how much it took to kill it. 450 XP

total XP count: 1700 XP, or ~283 XP each

scramble in the sewers: this encounter was fairly standard, and would not be that difficult traditionally; i included the 1.5x multiplier to account for the water level mechanics and the fact that a bunch of the party was trying not to drown while killing the rat king.

rat swarms: CR 1/4. they chased after minor illusion cheese. 75 XP

the beefy boys: technically they are using crocodile stats, at CR 1/2 each. i know this because kug brings them back later on. total of 600 XP

rat king: i'd put him at around a CR 4; with the multiplier that becomes 1650 XP

total XP count: 2325 XP, or ~387 XP each

the war of bugs and rats: first fully standard encounter; varying CRs for each of the opponents, but other than that no major complications

becky the wasp-centaur: based on her level of spellcasting, i'd put her at around CR 5, or 1800 XP

beetle: less challenging than becky at a CR 3 (700 XP). he's gonna have to kill ya.

roaches: proportionally more of them, but they were easy to take care of. CR 1/2, total of 800 XP.

swarms of bugs: same deal as the roaches. CR 1/2, for a total of 200 XP.

bugsters: i went through and calculated DPR and their stats and settled on CR 1, for a total of 800 XP

total XP count: 4300 XP, or 716 each

subway skirmish: only a minor (1.25x) modifier this time, for alejandro summoning the train to nod and the fact that they were sacrificing spell slots to fuel it. this fight notably steps up from the previous fight; recall "i'm gonna kill that dog".

crooked cops: total of 12, but they only defeat 8. CR 4 (1100 XP) for a total of 11000 XP.

epona cirillo: i used her stats & the stats of her weapon to set her CR at 5 (1800 XP), for a total of 2250 XP

total XP count: 13250 XP, or 2208 each

panic at the art show: 1.5x modifier for the environmental hazards; namely the building being on fire adn the fact that they had to evacuate while in combat.

isabella infierno: succubi are CR 4, so i evaluated her stats, which landed her around a CR 8 (3900 XP) for a total of 5850 XP.

artsy devils: standard barbed devil stat block; CR 5 (1800 XP) for a total of 10800 XP

total XP count: 16650 XP, or 2775 each

broadway brawl: another modified (1.5x) fight, due to misty's ritual mechanics and the fact that they needed to fight and perform at the same time.

queen titania: compared a few fey spellcasters from the bestiary and landed on her being around CR 13 (10000 XP), based on her spell use and magic items. total of 15000 XP

seelie dancers: used their stats and dpr to set them at CR 3 (700 XP). total of 4200 XP

pixie mobsters: standard pixie statblocks, but they have guns and kidnapped stephen sondheim, so i upgraded them to CR 1/2 (100 XP). total of 450 XP

total XP count: 19650 XP, or 3275 each

showdown at the stock exchange: this fight was notably difficult; pete dying, the complication of the ritual, and eventually reducing moses to his phylactery.

kiosk vampires: they're blood-drinker vampires; CR 8 (3900 XP), for a total of 31200 XP.

robert moses: using standard lich stats, he's CR 21. i adjusted this with a modifier of .75, because they did reduce him to the phylactery, but the ritual still went off. he wasn't defeated.

total XP count: 55950 XP, or 9325 each

times squaremageddon: the final fight; harder than the kalvaxus fight, easier than the nightmare forest. the american dream is a modified version of robert moses' stats, and has a 1.5x modifier for the individual appeal mechanics and the storm mechanics.

fire maelstrom: not technically elementals, but using similar enough abilities that i'd rate it CR 5 (1800 XP) for a total of 3600

wind maelstrom: same deal as the fire maelstroms: CR 5 (1800 XP), total of 3600

robert moses' american dream: based on a solar (celestial, ac 21, etc.) i would give it a CR 21, but based on the combination with robert's phylactery and the fact that they were fighting on multiple fronts, i'd rate it a CR 23 (50000 XP), for a total of 75000.

total XP count: 82200 XP, or 13700 each.

the unsleeping city total: 196025, or 32670 each. using the overall method of xp leveling (cumulative benchmarks), this would put the dream team at around level 7, as opposed to the level 10 they achieved through milestone leveling.

the unsleeping city chapter ii:

same deal with the contextual modifiers; this season features multiple tower defense fights that require modifiers.

the mystery of the haunted subway: while this fight featured a wide variety of adversaries, many were easily defeated. no modifiers on this fight; it's very straightforward. uses mostly standard statblocks.

zombies: standard zombie statblock; CR 1/4 (50 XP), total of 250 XP

ghosts: standard ghost statblock including the aging ability; CR 4 (1100 XP), total of 4400 XP

skeletons: standard skeleton statblock; CR 1/4 (50 XP), total of 200 XP

werewolf: standard werewolf statblock; CR 3 (700 XP)

vampires: using the vampire spawn statblock puts them at CR 5 (1800 XP), for a total of 5400

spiders: using the giant spider statblock; CR 1 (200 XP), total of 600 XP.

witch: there isn't really a standard witch statblock that i'd consider for this one; based on her DPR, i'd rank her CR 7 (2900 XP)

frankenstein's monster: again, one without a standard statblock; the closest undead i could find was a greater zombie, which was CR 5 (1800 XP)

mad scientist: another one without a standard statblock; i'd place him around CR 6 (2300 XP)

total XP count: 18550 XP, or 3092 each

trouble at the tunnel: this fight gets modifiers because of 1) the number of devils coming to fight them and 2) the ritual mechanics for jj, much like the subway skirmish.

swarm devils: i used the spined devil statblock for these; CR 2 (450 XP), with a 1.5x modifier for the sheer number, even though the dream team could oneshot them very easily. total of 13500 XP

siege devils: couldn't find a standard statblock, but based on their dpr and abilities, i'd mark each of them at CR 10, with a 1.25 modifier for the number. total of 22125 XP

jersey devil: high level spellcaster with legendary actions; CR 14 (11500 XP). with modification, total of 14375 XP

total XP count: 50000 XP, or 8333 each. this happened organically.

parade of peril: i will admit, this had the potential to be a really difficult fight. brennan rolled so bad and the intrepid heroes rolled pretty well. i rewatched this to estimate stats and he really fails so much during this combat. still, i left modifiers for the difficulty of fighting on the balloons.

true clowns: what a truly goofy concept. based on dpr and the wild magic surge ability, i'd put them at CR 6 (2300 XP) for a total of 27600 XP

balloon dogs: cute but vicious; CR 3 (700 XP), for a total of 3150 when modified.

total XP count: 30750, or 5125 each

fight at the museum: pretty similar to the clown fight in difficulty--specific conditions that complicate a battle with mid-level opponents. brennan rolled way better, so even if the encounters were of similar difficulty, this one came across as more difficult.

animated armor: basically beefed up animated armor. instead of CR 1, i'd put these at CR 5 (1800 XP), with a 1.5x modifier for the historicity & exploration mechanics. total of 10800

plate & bardings: these are the knights that were originally surrounding the unicorn. CR 6 (2300 XP) each, with a 1.5x modifier, for a total of 13800.

total XP count: 24600 XP, or 4100 each

the battle of the hot dog cart: another tower defense; each enemy wasn't that difficult to deal with, but the fact that they had significant numbers and siege weaponry contributed to the difficulty of this fight. the other thing that contributed was cody's existential crisis.

ant legionnaires: based on their dpr and other stats, i'd put them at CR 2 (450 XP), with a 2x modifier for the sheer number of them. total of 41400 XP

ant centurions: CR 4 (1100 XP), with a 1.5 modifier to account for cody's no good very bad day. total of 9900 XP

ketchupults: based on dpr? CR 6, for a total of 4600 XP

mustard wagon: also CR 6 because it was a construct that kingston basically oneshotted with a lightning bolt. 2300 XP

total XP count: 58200 XP, or 9700 each

history checks & lost dex: this fight is tricky, because it's only the one opponent, but they had multiple critical objectives to get through during it, and most of the time weren't actively doing battle.

null: based on his abilities, he's a combination of a nightwalker and some variation of a mind flayer; i'd say some kind of spellcaster or psychic. based on the combination of abilities, as well as the stun vs ability conditions he was able to inflict, i'd put null at a CR 23 (50000 XP) with a modifier of 1.3333 to account for the objectives.

total XP count: 66665 XP, or 11111 each

treachery at gramercy: another fight with a bunch of opponents. this time, we have tony simos as the big opponent. given the objective of stopping the flow of raw umbra and the fact that sofie resurrected her husband amid pitched battle, i'm including a 1.5x modifier.

concrete fist monks: not powerful enough for evasion, so based on monk stats i'd place them at a CR 5 (1800 XP). total of 16200 XP

gramercy wizards: enough spell slots to do multiple dispel magics and counterspells, as well as banishment. 7th-8th level, so CR 8 (3900 XP) for a total of 23400 XP

tony simos: 20th level open hand monk with a couple of modifications; immunity to stun, mageslayer, mobile, legendary actions, and the ability to disrupt verbal and somatic components of spells. with all that in mind, i put him at a CR 21 (33000 XP), for a total of 49500 due to the fight complications.

total XP count: 89100 XP, or 14850 each

two sides of the same coin: the finale fight. another tower defense with hordes, plus the baby ritual. originally this fight would have had a 1.5x modifier or one that was even higher; i reduced that to 1.25x because of kingston's divine intervention granting advantage on everything, resistance to all damage, and disadvantage to null. brilliant narrative move; it just made the battle less difficult.

sparties: we finally found out their ac (19). i read somewhere that they were based on wights, but that didn't really matter to me because doing the calculations set them at CR 3 (700 XP) anyway. total of 35000 XP

corporate wraiths: standard wraiths; CR 5 (1800 XP), for a total of 11250 XP

null: as shown in the ellis island fight, i placed him at CR 23, this time with a 1.25 modifier, for a total of 62500 XP

total XP count: 108750 XP, or 18125 each.

the unsleeping city chapter ii total: 446615 XP, or 74435 each. using the overall leveling method, this would take them from the level 7 they technically would have earned in TUC to level 12, which is exactly where they ended in this chapter

overall total and final comments:

over the course of two seasons, the dream team earned 642640 XP, or 107106 XP individually, which was enough to get them to level 12.

there's some notable differences in the way that combats are structured between the unsleeping city and fantasy high:

the party composition is different; the bad kids are a mix of spellcasters and martial characters who eventually multiclass to get spells, while the dream team all have some magical element to what they do. the party is majority full casters, and everyone else is either a paladin or a multiclass, in both seasons.

for the dream team. combats are balanced to reflect the fact that they can do a ton of AOE crowd control as well as melee combat, but don't have a tank or ranged weaponry.

each of the full casters is specialized; pete is a glass cannon, kingston heals & buffs, misty/rowan buffs and charms while covering debuffs including counterspell, kugrash tends to work with summons and their buffs, and iga has a mix of damage and mobility/utility.

for the partials: sofia's spells generally go to personal buffs, while ricky does a lot of protection, and cody's spells go further towards damage.

in contrast, for the bad kids, combats are balanced to reflect the opposite; they have range, melee, a tank, and some spellcasting damage, but not a ton of AOE.

caster specialties: adaine's spell list leans towards utility & divination, with ranged spell attacks and concentration spells for her damage. fig, like misty, works with charm, fear, and buffs/debuffs, and a bunch of fire damage. kristen has a lot of buffs/debuffs and heals, as well as spells like spirit guardians.

for the partials: fabian's spells generally go to damage rolls and buffs, while gorgug has minor repair & healing, and riz's only known spell at the moment is silvery barbs.

the bad kids start at lower level, going from 1-8 in freshman year, 8-9 in sophomore year, and starting at 10 in junior year, while the dream team starts at level 3 and goes to 10 in chapter i, and then from 10-12 in chapter ii. thus the dream team starts with higher level opponents earlier.

the bad kids generally face fewer opponents than the dream team; their structure is generally 6-10 smaller opponents and 1-2 larger bosses, or multiple bosses that they have to deal with. they are generally facing their opponents in standard environments, so i don't assign them contextual modifiers unless they have a specific objective or mechanical disadvantage.

by contrast, the dream team is more likely to have mechanical objectives and obstacles that further complicate their combat scenarios. in chapter ii, half of their fights feature 20+ opponents, if not more. there are three separate tower defense combats. thus, they get more contextual modifiers.

setting wise, the bad kids have more humanoid opponents that they have specific conflicts with, starting with doreen and johnny spells, going all the way to penelope and dayne in the finale of freshman year.

the dream team has a couple of those, but they're generally facing a magically-induced threat, like the bugsters from chapter i, or the animated armor from chapter ii.

and that's it for this time.

#dimension 20 #dimension 20 spoilers #dimension 20 meta #dimension 20 statistics #thisisnotthenerd's d20 stats #intrepid heroes #the dream team #the unsleeping city #the unsleeping city chapter ii #tuc #tuc ii #the perils of xp leveling #meta #dnd mechanics

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iristial · 3 years

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Gai: This Bugster is an egotistical, insane and morally corrupt man who fails to comprehend the value of my life! Aruto, putting on a space suit: Tell me about it Gai: Now if there was some way to remove him...where are you going? Aruto: To space. With my friends Gai: But didn’t you complete satellite maintenance a week ago? Aruto: Yes Gai: And you’re going when my life is at risk? Aruto: Yes Gai: Aruto Hiden...I gave you my beloved Hiden Intelligence! The least you could do is help me! Aruto: Well, you said you caught the Bugster virus, right? And you’re great at bugging people. That makes you compatible by 1000%. I think a bug can handle one of its own

#14shyx #kamen rider #kamen rider zero one #kamen rider ramble #aruto ja nai to! gags #kr.zero one (01): aruto hiden #kr.zero one (01): gai amatsu #admittedly gai may be too egotistic to request aruto's help but episode 38 exists.#take off toward a dream.kr

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writingpaperghost · 3 years

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Ghost! It's a Game Against Doctor Pac-Man!

All's normal in the CR, until a new virus breaks out, this time taking the appearance of... Pac-Man? Joined by another Rider, known as Ghost, it's up to the CR to cure this disease. But Emu realizes he's met the so-called Dr. Pac-Man before. He was the one who separated him and his host! And who's Masamune's quiet assistant Mu?

AO3: https://archiveofourown.org/works/33393685

For those working the video game company Gemn Corp, it seemed like it would be a perfectly normal, average day. At least, as normal as things had a tendency to be. Sure, their boss was coming up with increasingly weirder logic for fighting the sentient computer virus and technically they weren’t supposed to know about that, but it was kind of hard to miss. But the point was, it was a very normal day.

Masamune’s errand runner (no one knew what the guy’s actual job was, he just showed up one day, but errand runner seemed like an appropriate guess. He was nice to people, if a bit nervous, so no one really cared for the details. Not to mention he wasn’t even always there, some days they didn’t see him at all. Besides they all had more things to worry about than the fact that there was someone allowed to run around Gemn Corp for the single purpose, it seemed, of running the president’s errands.) had just returned to his office, most likely to see what his next task may be, if any. A very normal day.

At least, until it wasn’t.

Because what was not normal – or ever really expected – at a company that makes video games, is for a trio of people dressed suspiciously in white, one wielding a sword, though they all had guns, to show up. So like, that meant they were probably something like terrorists. Armed intruders none the less. Then, after they got rid of Gemn’s woefully underpaid – and probably dead now – security guards, this fourth guy comes in also dressed in white, but the kicker was his mask. His mask was of some kind of demonic Pac-Man.

The four intruders quickly make their way to where Masamune’s office is located, with the first three in the lead and the man in the Pac-Man mask behind them. They don’t waste any time and aren’t really intercepted. Most of those working at Gemn, security or otherwise, were far too scared to try to do that. And again, the security staff is probably underpaid.

Over in Masamune’s office, he’s already received a notification that the intruders are coming and is in the process of putting the Prototype Gashats into a briefcase, hoping to get away before the intruders arrived. Notably, two are missing, the Proto Mighty Action X and Proto Drago Knight Hunter Z Gashats. He has also put a Bug Visor in the briefcase.

“What’s happening?” At one side of the door, in the corner farthest from the door, stands Masamune’s errand runner. A young man with messy brown hair that covers one eye and an eyepatch over his eye, being about shoulder length. He wears a hoodie of the Mighty Action X character Mighty, and a Drago Knight Hunter Z shirt underneath. Beneath his shirt is an orange shirt with sleeves that go down to his hands, having thumb holes. With one eye, he watches Masamune.

“Just let it happen,” Is all Masamune answers.

Just as Masamune is about to leave, the first three of the four intruders enter, the one with the sword raising said sword at him. The two others aim their guns. The errand runner watches from the corner unnoticed.

The woman speaks first, “Masamune Dan, it’s been six years since we last saw each other,” There’s a venom in her voice that would scare a normal person, though Masamune seems unphased. “Hand over the Prototype Gashats and the Bugvisor.”

Masamune doesn’t answer, not until the last of the group enters. The man in the Pac-Man mask. Despite the mask, Masamune seemed to recognize him instantly, surprised. “You shouldn’t still exist,” He finally says.

“But I am quite alive,” The man in the Pac-Man mask says, “And I’d like to complete my research.” The briefcase is snatched out of Masamune’s grasp and opened.

One of the men say, “Two are missing,”

Innocently, Masamune raises his hands and says, “I don’t have them,” Which was a true statement. He didn’t have them, though he certainly knew who did.

The four intruders turn to leave, only for the police to finallyshow up. Of course, they seemed to have planned for something like this – or were really good at improvising. One of the men grabs the Proto Gekitotsu Robots Gashat, activating it and becoming a Bugster himself, allowing him to break down the police’s barricade. The other three members followed after his destruction.

Staring at the carnage, the errand boy walks up to Masamune, “Uh… What just happened?” He asked, then looks at Masamune, “Who… Who were those people?”

---

It was what Emu would very much consider a normal day. He’s just finished helping one of his patients learn how to play this mobile game that was getting really popular, Hatesate Puzzle, and now the boy was having a really fun time playing it.

“Thank you doctor!” The boy smiles at Emu. That was always Emu’s favorite part. Seeing his patient smile. Whether in pediatrics or in the CR. It made it feel like everything that had happened to get him to this point was worth it.

As he looks up sees Asuna rushing towards him, “Emu, we have a large amount of emergency calls!” She grabs his arm, “We need to get to the scene of the breakout!”

“Right!” He called, attempting to follow with her, only to trip. Asuna sighs and pulls him up, dragging him to the hospital.

Finally, he and Asuna arrive outside a high school, where everyone was running in panic. The shocking thing was what they were running from: a large amount of small Pac-Mans were trying to bite people. It seemed like if you got bit, you got infected. So it was definitely a Bugster, if a weird one.

The news can be heard, being played from somewhere. The news announces that the Ministry of health has issued a pandemic alert, that everyone should stay home. Emu checked one of the victims who had been bitten by a Pac-Man. On top of the clear glitching from a Game Disease infection, they also had a terrible fever.

Searching for where the Pac-Mans were all heading, because they all seemed to be looking for something or someone, Emu ran through the area. He wasn’t sure exactly what he was looking for, since all he knew was that these Pac-Mans were probably the result of Game Disease, given how they were infecting people. They were probably looking for something that would stress out their main host, but he had no way of knowing what or who that is.

He’s not sure what leads him the way he ends up, but after a few minutes of searching, he finally sees a trio of people who look like their looking for something. One wears some sort of hoodie with a kimono like print, accompanied by a woman and a monk. Emu wasn’t sure if he was concerned because they were there, or because they stood out so much.

While the man in the hoodie begins to pull something out of his pocket, Emu retrieves his Gashat. He needed to start trying to deal with these Pac-Man, especially since he seemed to be getting closer to wherever they were heading towards. Only, he realized what the man had pulled out. Some kind of belt and a round-ish object.

What the… “Hey! You need to get out of here!” Emu calls out, holding his Gashat tightly. He’s ready to transform when he gets the attention of the trio. Yet before either of them can do anything, the man get’s bit by one of the Pac-Mans. That’s bad.

Still, the man attempts to use his belt and sphere thing, only for them to, presumably, not do anything. Since the man seemed surprised. “What?” The man startles, “Why can’t I transform?”

“What?” The woman echoed.

Now having reached the trio, Emu comments, “It’s probably because Pac-Man bit you,” Though it seemed intentional that it did so. Emu had his hunch about why and just what that belt and object did. “You’re… a Kamen Rider, right?”

The man looked shocked, “How did you…?”

Grinning, Emu activates his Gashat, holding it up.

Mighty Action X!

Let’s game! Metcha game! Mucha game! What’s your name? I’m a Kamen Rider!

Reaching out and hitting his portrait on the select screen, Emu introduces himself, “Emu Hojo,” He says, “Kamen Rider Para-DX.”

Level up! Mighty jump! Mighty kick! Mighty-Mighty Action X!

His red and blue armor appears around him, his weapon in hand, in axe mode. He looks at the trio, “I’ll see what I can do about getting rid of the Pac-Mans. Hopefully it’ll restore your ability to transform.”

He didn’t know much about this trio, nor this Rider, but he didn’t really need to. Obviously, he wasn’t a part of the same game as Emu, but he was still a Rider. There was no reason that Emu shouldn’t help him.

Despite Emu’s best attempts at fighting the Pac-Mans, it was like he wasn’t even hitting them. His axe was obviously making contact with them, but they weren’t taking any damage or anything. It was terribly frustrating.

Out of the corner of his eye, he sees the other Rider running over to a boy on the ground, probably a high school student. As the other Rider tries to help the boy, Emu sees a pair of people dressed in white. One holds what looks like a Gashat, but Emu can’t see what. But he can hear it.

Taddle Quest!

Utilizing the Gashat in a way not unlike how Graphite had a few days earlier, the person transformed into a Bugster. Did that mean they were a Bugster anyway, or was that what happened if someone just tried to use a Prototype Gashat without a Gamer Driver?

Rushing over to the other Rider and the boy, Emu intercepts the Bugster, slashing it with his axe, “You guys, get out of here with the boy!” He calls, then dodges out of the way of the Bugster’s attack, “I’ll deal with the Bugster!”

Though the Rider and the two with him attempt to leave with the boy, the other person dressed in white, a woman with a sword, intercepts them. The Rider attempts to fight her off. Despite the best efforts of both Riders, transformed and not, the Bugster and the woman were able to knock them down, causing Emu’s transformation to disappear.

A man appears, also dressed in white. But he stands out more than the other two did, as he wears a mask of Pac-Man. “You may call me Dr. Pac-Man,” The man says, “And if you can’t tell already, I am responsible for these Pac-Man you’ve been seeing.”

The other Rider examines Dr. Pac-Man, before asking, “Why are you doing this, though?” He gestures around them, “Having the Pac-Mans bite people?”

“Having them infect people with Game Disease,” Emu corrects, but he too is curious, “But yeah, why?”

“To get revenge on humanity,” Dr. Pac-Man answers simply, “Though there are a few in particular.” Apparently having felt that he sufficiently explained his evil plan, which Emu didn’t think he had, Dr. Pac-man and his allies leave.

Standing up, Emu runs over to the boy, who’s now showing symptoms of Game Disease. He must have gotten infected at some point. By now, Asuna arrives and Emu decides that he’s roping the other Rider and his friends into helping them get the boy back to the CR.

As their pushing the boys bed down to the CR, the Rider says, “I’m Takeru, by the way, Kamen Rider Ghost,” Then he vaguely gestures to the two with him, “This is Akari and Onari,”

“I’m Asuna, a nurse with the CR,” Asuna explained, “At the CR, we handle cases of Game Disease.”

“With Kamen Riders?” Akari asks.

Emu nods, “Yeah, turns out the most efficient way to deal with a sentient computer virus is to hit ‘em really hard,” Asuna sends him a glare, “Of course it’s never quite so simple.” He hastily adds, hoping to appease her.

Once they’ve finally gotten the boy to the CR, Asuna finds his file, “Togo Kiyomiya,” She reads, “According to his friends, he’s the developer of that mobile puzzle game, Hatesate Puzzle.”

Using his Game Scope, Emu scans Togo, only to find something odd. “He… isn’t infected?” He wondered aloud, “But he was showing signs of infection.” He fiddles with some of the machines in the patient room and gets the same answer. What the hell? He sighed and left the room, approaching Takeru.

“You were bit by one of those Pac-Mans, right?”

“Yeah,” Takeru nods, “Why?”

Despite that, Takeru seemed unaffected, other than his apparent inability to transform. It was odd, to say the least. “Are you feeling any usual symptoms?”

“No,” He responds, “I feel fine,” Emu’s hesitant to leave it at that, but if Takeru seemed to be fine, there wasn’t much he could do.

After a while, Director Kagami and Saki arrive, with Director Hinata on a video call. Saki is extremely worried sounding when she speaks, “One hundred thousand cases and counting,” She informs the group, “And no way to cure it. At this rate, there will certainly be deaths.”

At that moment, Poppy pops out of her cabinet, prompting the trio of newcomers to startle. “Those Pac-Mans,” She said, “They aren’t just some virus. They’re just poor game characters infected with the virus.”

“Emu, you said that your attacks had no effect on the Pac-Mans?” Emu nods at Saki’s question, “Then how are we suppose to defeat them?”

Emu pauses for a moment, thinking. Like with some Bugsters they’d faced before, the answer had to be somewhere in their game. Pac-Man wasn’t a very complicated game, though that assumed that the Pac-Mans came from the original game. As Pac-Man, you had to collect pellets, avoiding ghosts while you went. “Oh, ghosts!” Emu declared, earning himself odd looks from everyone, “The only thing that kills Pac-Man is ghosts! That’s probably why they targeted you, Takeru. Because you’re Ghost.”

Poppy blinked, “Well that’s a very literal interpretation,” But she doesn’t dispute the theory.

“It would also explain why they got rid of your ability to transform,” Saki nods, “So that you couldn’t defeat them. They seem to care little about actually infecting you, thankfully.”

While Director Kagami watched the conversation almost like they were all madmen, Director Hinata watched with a smile. “It seems you’ve already started on your efforts to figure this out,” He notes, “I’ll trust the CR to be able to handle it, alongside your new allies.” With that, he ended the call.

Akari frowned, “So now we just have to figure out how to get Takeru’s powers back,”

“We’re doomed!” Onari wailed.

Emu watched for a moment, trying to figure out what they could do. Maybe it had something to do with that Dr. Pac-Man? Not to mention… That Bugster that appeared, it seemed like it had one of the Prototype Gashats. But shouldn’t those be with Masamune? Well, except for the two that Gemn had has, the Mighty Action X and the Drago Knight Hunter Z that he took after they defeated Graphite.

As if on cue, one Masamune Dan arrives, followed by a meek looking young man, with Nico and a tall man with black and white hair behind them. Masamune seemed serious as he entered, while the man behind him looked nervous, his uncovered eye dashing around his surroundings. Nico seemed almost a bit excited, while the man behind her seemed annoyed. When Saki’s eyes fall on the man with Nico, she tenses.

Loudly, Nico notes, “Huh, so this is the CR? Not sure what I was expecting.”

The man beside her rolls his eyes, “I can’t believe you agreed to help.”

“It’s for research, right?” Nico responds smugly, “My own research.” The man just grumbles something that Emu can’t quite make out.

“Ms. Saiba has agreed to assist you with these… Pac-Mans.” Masamune began to explain, “Earlier today, four armed intruders came to Gemn Corp, stealing the eight Prototype Gashats in my possession. Ms. Saiba has also agreed to aid you in their retrieval.”

Nico shrugs at that, like it’s not that big of a deal. Maybe in her mind it isn’t. Emu’s eyes switch between the two unknown men. The nervous one and the annoyed looking one. “Who are these two?” He asks, pointing at each of the two.

Gesturing to the man beside her, Nico explains, “This is Taiga, he’s with me,” Taiga huffs, “He’s here for… moral support.”

“As if,” Taiga grumbles, “You dragged me here.”

“It might be helpful, you never know! Anyway, I help him with some research,” Nico waves Taiga’s grumbles off, “I figured he could be helpful with all these Pac-Mans around. Or something.”

Motioning for the man behind him to come forward, Masamune introduces him, “This is my assistant, you can call him Mu.” Mu waves slightly and hesitantly, “He’ll be assisting you in the retrieval of the Prototype Gashats. Or rather, he’ll be ensuring they’ll be recovered and returned to me.”

Mu says something that might be “hello” but it’s so quiet no one can tell.

Slipping past the two, Nico looks closely at Mu, causing him to shrink away. “He looks like a strong breeze would knock him over,” She says and strangely, Mu jumps slightly at it, though Emu isn’t sure why. “What happens with him when we gotta fight?”

“He’ll stay well out of the way of the fight, I assure you,” Masamune said, “He’ll simply accompany you, but stay far away from any danger.”

Emu supposes they’re not really going to be able to argue with Masamune about this, and if he’s right then it won’t matter terribly if they have this Mu following them around. Though Emu can’t help but think that there’s something… off about this Mu. Nico groans but doesn’t otherwise protest, Taiga says nothing, Director Kagami clearly doesn’t want to argue, and Saki doesn’t look entirely convinced. Poppy’s just studying the man and Takeru and his friends don’t seem to have an opinion.

Before anyone can say anything, though, Mu spots Poppy. His face lights up and he bolts over to where she’s standing, “You look just like Poppy Pipopapo!” It was the most and loudest they’d heard him talk yet. Emu thinks he sounds familiar.

Poppy seems startled by his sudden outburst and how quickly he made it over to her, but gives Mu a smile never the less. Behind him, Masamune clears his throat, “Mu,” He calls.

Mu sheepishly takes a step back and looks down, his hair obscuring more of his face. “Um, sorry,” He says quietly.

“He gets excited about anything to do with games,” Masamune explained, “Now I think that’s everything. I’m sure the CR will be able to handle this.” With that said, Masamune leaves.

“Well, uh, I’ll… leave you all to your jobs,” Mu says hesitantly, pulling a chair out from the table and sitting down. He becomes very interested in his sleeves and the hem of his Drago Knight Hunter Z shirt. “Don’t, uh… don’t mind me.”

Nico shrugs and looks at everyone, “So who’re these three?” She gestures to Takeru, Onari, and Akari.

The three quickly introduce themselves and Emu doesn’t miss how Taiga tenses slightly at how Takeru introduces himself as Kamen Rider Ghost. Nico doesn’t miss it either, “Hey, Taiga, what was that?”

“What was what?”

“You got all tense,” She pushes herself up onto her toes and gets in Taiga’s face, “Like you’re… scared. Of Ghost boy.”

“I’m not scared of some teenager,” Taiga scoffed, “What are you talking about, brat?”

But Nico was undeterred, looking at Taiga with perhaps a bit too much glee, “Could it be?” She wondered, “Are you afraid of ghosts?”

To which Taiga immediately shot back, “What? No, of course not-!”

“Taiga’s afraid of ghosts~!” She sing songs. Taiga groaned.

Watching the two, Saki sighed, “I swear they’ve both made decent Riders at some point or another,” She said, looking at Takeru.

Emu frowned, “Both?” He asked, “Nico’s Snipe but…”

“I’ll explain some other time,” Saki shook her head, “perhaps we should check on our patient?”

Of course, when Togo woke up, he immediately wanted to leave, but wasn’t exactly having much luck since he wasn’t strong enough to stand on his own, let alone walk. Joined by Takeru, Emu and Saki tried to determine why Togo had been targeted, though Togo wasn’t exactly polite in his refusal to answer. At some point Mu slipped into the room, watching from the back quietly, and Emu decides he’ll try talking about Hatesate Puzzle. That only seemed to make him more mad, since apparently he felt that he should be working on improving it and that he couldn’t do that in the hospital.

Obviously, Emu tried to convince him that improving Hatesate Puzzle shouldn’t be at the top of his priorities, given his infection of Game Disease. That he won’t be able to work on it if he was so terribly sick. Even Takeru agrees, saying that his life was more important than a game. Eventually, Saki says that if he will not accept their help, they’re nothing they can do.

Unfortunately, Emu knew that she was right.

So he and Takeru soon find themselves on the roof of the hospital. Which should have been odd, but honestly, despite having only known Takeru a few hours, the two got along pretty well.

“So you’re a doctor?” Takeru asks, glancing over at Emu.

“Yeah,” Emu responds, “Or, well, I mean I’m an intern right now.”

Takeru nods regardless, “Still, it’s impressive,” He smiles, “You seem to be pretty dedicated, too.”

Humming, Emu glances over at Takeru, “It’s… important to me. To be able to help people, not just as a Rider.”

Nodding in agreement, Takeru comments, “Just try not to die, it isn’t pleasant.”

“I can’t imagine-“ Emu cuts himself off when he realizes what Takeru said, “I’m sorry? What do you mean?”

“Erm,” Takeru sheepishly rubs the back of his head, “Well, when I became Ghost for the first time, it was rather literal.”

“You died?!”

“Yes?”

Emu stares at him for a moment. Takeru couldn’t be much older than Nico, if at all. “How old were you when you became a Rider?”

Hesitantly, he answers, “Uh, it was right before I turned eighteen?”

At that admittance, Emu just stares. Takeru… Takeru was younger than Nico was when he became Ghost. Takeru was younger than Emu had been when… And he’d died. Takeru had died and become Ghost. But he’d done all that and he was so young.

”Uh… Emu?” Takeru calling for him snapped him out of his daze with a flinch.

“Sorry,” He apologized, “It’s just… You were so young. You’re still so young.”

Something of an uncomfortable silence falls between the two, until finally, Emu says, “If it means anything, I think it’s amazing that you’re willing to fight for people like you do, even after you had died.”

“I definitely appreciate life more, now that I’ve died,” Takeru admits, “I’m lucky to have had the chance to gain that perspective.”

There’s something about his words that remind Emu of six years ago… It was hard for him to treat a patient’s life as anything less than a treasure to be safely guarded, sometimes. There were time when that exactly true, when Genius Gamer M particularly outweighed the rest of him, but for the most part… Takeru’s outlook on life is very unique, not something most people his age had.

“Oh, that reminds me,” Takeru fished something out of his jacket, holding out one of those sphere things, Eyecons, he called them. This was interesting though, as it was clearly connected to Para-DX, “This showed up at the temple a while ago.”

While Emu puzzled over the Para-DX Eyecon, eventually, Masamune greeted them, walking onto the roof. He asked to borrow Takeru’s Eyecon, the one he usually used to transform, hoping to be able to determine some way to defeat the Pac-Man with it. Easily, Takeru agreed, though some part of Emu wanted to stop him. After all… he still didn’t trust Masamune. Something about him was still very, very, wrong.

But he didn’t say anything. Not a word. He didn’t want to worry Takeru, figuring he could determine whether or not to trust Masamune on his own. He may have been younger than Emu, but he was technically more experienced in Rider business.

---

When Emu next finds Asuna, Togo, and Nico, Asuna is glaring at Nico. Nico is glaring right back, while Togo is a ways off, on his computer.

“Obviously their after him,” Nico said, “So let them come.”

“You want to use him as bait?” Emu asked, prompting the two to turn to face him. “Seriously, Nico?”

“Yes, M,” Nico groaned, “There are a whole bunch of people infected, aren’t you worried about them?”

“Togo’s our patient,” He counters.

“The CR’s patient,” She corrects, “I’m neither apart of the CR nor a doctor.”

She leaves, telling him to keep an eye on Togo. There’s not much Emu can do, so he waits. At least, until Togo, who had been working on that game for five hours straight, collapses. Now it was up to Asuna and him to get Togo back to the CR. Good going Nico.

But Togo wasn’t unconscious and just resisted their efforts.

Asuna was the first to scold him, “You can’t just work for that long and neglect your wellbeing,” She says, “Especially when we warned you about stressing yourself.”

“I’ll die when it’s time for me to die,” There’s something about Togo’s words that strike Emu cold. Who thought like that? Who would just care so little-

Shouldn’t I have reset? Why didn’t it reset? Did I load the last save point? But that wouldn’t be… here. That would be at home, maybe, or before I tried to cross the road. At least my headaches gone but… Where am I? Is this a hospital? What’s a hospital…?

Emu shakes his head, trying not to get too distracted by the memories. He couldn’t focus on those right now. He had to focus on Togo. Not that Emu got much time to do that, as Dr. Pac-Man appears. Some part of his brain thinks that Nico might have had a bit of a plan going, actually. Not a good one, but one.

But if Dr. Pac-Man was really after Togo, then they had to get Togo out of here. Picking up Togo, Emu looks at Asuna and the three begin to try to retreat. Before they can really get anywhere, more of the members of Dr. Pac-Man’s group appeared, leaving them nowhere to go.

Glaring at Dr. Pac-Man, Emu asks, “Why are you after Togo?”

“You see, the Pac-Man virus was just a tool for searching for a certain young programmer,” Dr. Pac-Man explained, looking right at Togo, “In the Pac-Mans is a program that detects a very specific strain of virus.”

In that moment, Togo clutches his chest and gasps, glitching began to appear on him. Despite his lack of symptoms, at least according to the machinery in the CR, he was showing signs of infection. Then, Emu noticed the strange feeling that always appeared when he was around someone who was infected and their infection would flair, or when there was a Bugster. At this point, he’d started tuning it out but… Surely Togo was infected. But why didn’t the machinery show anything?

Then he comes to his realization, “It’s a new strain of Game Disease,” Which was very, very, bad.

“The strain that he has is very important to our plan,” As Dr. Pac-Man spoke, the glitching grew and soon Emu could see a Bugster beginning to form from Togo. Now they had another Bugster to worry about, as well as Togo.

Once the Hatena Bugster had appeared, Emu wasn’t sure what to do quite yet, though he was prepared to fight, about to take out his Gashat. Then, Takeru rushes in, followed by Akari and Onari. Emu wasn’t sure what they’d been up to prior, but he hoped they found something useful out.

“You’re Michihiko Zaizen,” Takeru points at Dr. Pac-Man as he speaks, “But how are you still alive? You should have died six years ago.”

“I am Dr. Zaizen,” Dr. Pac-Man nods in response, “And I am still alive, because I am a Bugster. Six years ago, in that experiment, I was removing a Bugster from someone who’d been implanted with Game Disease, when it infected all of us. Now, I simply want to finish what I started.” Emu tensed at what he said. Six years ago and it was all far too much to be a coincidence. Could Zaizen have been the one to…? But then that would mean…

“You call yourself a doctor,” Emu begins, “But you use those skills to hurt people?!” All he can recall is the pain that Emu felt six years ago. Then the thought of what everyone Zaizen had infected now was going through. It made him terribly mad.

“Anyone who gets in my way,” Zaizen says, “Will die.”

The still newly emerged Hatena Bugster attacks, most likely due to Zaizen, in some way. Falling from the sky were what seemed to puzzle pieces that exploded whenever they hit the ground. After a few minutes of dodging two more people show up. When is dressed in dark blue and black, while the other wears a bright green poncho.

Recognizing the two, Takeru greets them, “Makoto, Alain!”

His attention is quickly drawn to one of the falling puzzle pieces though, which was about to land on Akari. Takeru rushes over, shielding her from the block and its blast. She’s dazed though she quickly soothes Takeru that she’s alive, though Emu can slightly see glitching from the both of them. Akari soon passes out, prompting Takeru to begin worrying again.

It was then that the Hatena Bugster decided to tell them a bit about itself, “My infections have a time limit,” He said, which nearly caused Emu to groan in annoyance, “You only have twenty-four hours to defeat me before your friends and anyone else infected by me die.”

Takeru’s two friends, Makoto and Alain, look like their about to try to fight the Hatena Bugster, Emu figures that their probably Riders too, so he’s not too concerned there, only for a one of Zaizen’s goons, the woman with a sword, to stop them. Emu was about to take his Gashat out and try to fight Hatena, only for one of Zaizen’s goons to stop him. Unfortunately, this one was very good at fist fights, not giving Emu the opportunity to transform.

“Onari!” Takeru calls, “Get Akari back to the hospital.” Aided by Asuna, she and Onari work to carry Akari back to the hospital like Takeru asked. Despite the distraction from various members of Zaizen’s goons, the three other Riders could see that Takeru was heading towards Hatena. His two friends yell at him not to, since he can’t transform.

Emu can hear Togo pleading for someone to save him. Yet despite how much Emu wants to, he’s currently stuck in a headlock. For a moment, he contemplates using his best way to get out of it, he could probably get the three other Riders to not tell the CR… He could just teleport out easy, but that would also reveal to Zaizen that he was a Bugster – really he wasn’t worried about Takeru and his friends knowing, just Zaizen and his goons.

Despite their best efforts, Zaizen’s goons were getting the better of them. Using that strange device that they’d seen Graphite use, Zaizen somehow manages to capture Togo in it.

The guy who Emu was fighting was immediately kicked to the side. The perpetrator being Kiriya, “Gee Ace, should’ve told me you guys had a problem.”

“Kiriya!”

“Emu!” Following behind Kiriya was Saki and Nico. Saki holds a Gashat out to Emu, “From the president,” She said. It seemed to be a Gashat that was based on who he could only assume was Ghost.

Turning her attention to the now Giril Bugster, Saki transformed into Brave, joined by Makoto who also transformed – Emu was gonna hazard a guess and say his name was Specter. There was also a bunch of Bugster grunts aiding Giril too. Nico, Kiriya, and Alain turn their attention to the Doral Bugster from earlier. The three transform into Snipe, Lazer, and Necrom, ready to fight.

Takeru attempts to fight Hatena, prompting Emu to get up and try to join him. Given Takeru’s inability to transform at current, he wasn’t fairing well at all. When Emu was about to grab out Mighty Action X, Zaizen speaks.

“Without Ghost’s powers, it’s hopeless. You don’t stand a chance. Now…” Behind Zaizen formed a mass of glitches and pixel which quickly took form into the appearance of a demonic Pac-Man.

With a giant, demonic, Pac-Man chasing after them, Emu and Takeru were forced to leave the building. While everyone was distracted, Zaizen was able to escape with Hatena too. Still, they had more pressing matters to worry about at the moment.

But Takeru was hurt, especially after trying to fight Hatena. “You need to get somewhere safe,” Emu tells him.

“No,” Takeru shakes his head.

“You’re hurt-!”

“I’m scared to die again,” Takeru admits, like that wasn’t something anyone would be afraid of, even if they’d already died once. “But I’m more scared of seeing Akari die.” As he finished his declaration, his belt appeared around his waist once more. Something comes flying to him, the Eyecon that he’d given Masamune earlier. He stares at it for a moment, before realizing that he could transform again.

Ore! Let's go! Kakugo! Go Go Go! Ghost! Go! Go! Go! Go!

Given that Ghost has the ability to fly, he’s able to easily avoid the giant Pac-Man’s attacks. Watching Ghost fight, Emu wonders if he should even try to help. He’d hesitated enough earlier that Togo had gotten captured… But still, if Takeru was willing to risk his life for Akari, then Emu should be willing to at least try to help. He activates the Gashats.

Kaigan! Ghost!

Let's Ride! Metcha Ride! Mutcha Ride! What's your Ride? I'm a Legend Rider!

Choosing the character on the player select screen that greatly resembles Ghost, the armor begins to appear around Emu.

Level Up! Inochi moyasu! Kakugo Kimeru! Ore ga Ghost!

Joining Takeru now, the two attempt to fight Pac-Man. Eventually, Takeru calls out, asking Pac-Man to snap out of the virus’ control, though that didn’t do much. If anything, it might have made Pac-Man more upset, but it was hard to tell. After, Takeru pulls out the Para-DX Eyecon he’d shown Emu earlier, using it to transform into a form that looked a bit like Para-DX.

The pair enter Pac-Man’s mouth, finding a maze not unlike in Pac-Man’s games. Inside, their able to fight the virus controlling Pac-Man, using a finishing attack to destroy it. As they leave, they see that Pac-Man’s smiling at them, before he disappears.

---

Everyone made it back to the hospital in one piece, at least. While defeating the virus infecting Pac-Man cured everyone who’d been infected by the Pac-Mans of their Game Disease, Akari and Takeru were still infected by Hatena. The only way they were going to cure that was to defeat Hatena and that would probably also result in having to defeat Zaizen.

Zaizen, a man who Emu had never thought he’d even have to get near again. He supposed he was right about those involved six years ago getting infected and dying, though he’d have never thought that they’d come back as Bugsters. Though, he did wonder how Takeru learned who Dr. Pac-Man was. He’d ask, but frankly he was more hoping that Takeru would find a way to actually rest.

But still… that wasn’t exactly what was bugging him, either. What was bugging him was…

“Are you alright?” Poppy calls, which strangely prompts Mu, who still sits at the table, though now playing what sounds like Mighty Action X, to pause and watch the two.

“I couldn’t save Togo,” Emu admits, “I hesitated too much and now…”

“Emu…”

Shaking his head, Emu holds in his tears, “I’ll be fine, Poppy. You’ve got things to do, don’t worry about me.”

Hesitantly, Poppy leaves. Emu’s not even sure why he’s bothering at this point. If he’d just teleported out of the grasp of Zaizen’s goon… Then he might have been able to save Togo.

He can feel someone staring at him. Looking up, he sees Mu looking at him, though Mu quickly looks away when he’s caught. After a moment, Mu asks, “Para-DX,” There’s something that rings uncomfortably familiar when Mu says his Rider name, “Why did you become a doctor?”

---

Poppy’s trying to shoo Kiriya out of the CR, like the fact he’s generally not supposed to be there had ever stopped him. Which, honestly, confused Kiriya. They invite Nico, but not him? Not that Kiriya cared much.

Instead, he can’t help but wonder, “Wonder why Masamune tasked his assistant with making sure the Proto Gashats are retrieved?”

“Does it matter?” Poppy asked annoyed.

“It’s strange, certainly.”

---

Eight hours. The clock in Akari’s room read eight hours left before the twenty-four hours was up. If Togo was infected with Hatena’s virus then… They had eight hours left to save him, as well as Akari and Takeru.

Mu stands in front of him, “Ghost has left, you know. He told his friends he’s going to Zaizen’s hideout.”

Standing, Emu looks at Mu, “Thank you, I need to go meet up with him.”

As Emu leaves the CR, he hears Mu call after him and the sound of running footsteps, “I’m coming with you!” Mu says, “To make sure you get the Gashats back from Zaizen!”

Finally, Emu meets up with Takeru, Mu following behind breathless, and they head to Zaizen’s base. They’re greeted with a man, who Emu thinks is… odd.

“Took you guys long enough,” The man says. There’s something about the man that just seems a bit too off. Emu can’t quite place what, though.

But Takeru just smiles at the man, “Haruto,” He says, “What are you doing out here?”

The man, Haruto, told them his plan. He’d convinced Zaizen to let him be lookout for them. Emu thought that Zaizen was terribly gullible if he was so easily convinced to let a complete stranger be lookout, but he wasn’t going to complain. Easier on them.

“I’m Wizard, by the way,” Haruto says as he begins to lead them into the base. Emu wonders if he has magic too, because that would add to the list of “Riders with really on the nose names”. At this point, Emu would definitely believe in magic.

Glancing back at Mu, Emu tells him, “Mu, you should stay out here, it’ll be safer.”

“But the Proto Gashats-!” He tries to protest, before cutting himself off, “Ah, well, I guess I… yeah… you’re probably right… they might notice me… this time.” Emu wonders what he means by this time, but instead just gives Mu a smile and a promise that they’ll be as quick as they can.

Once their inside, Zaizen and his goons quickly realize they’ve been tricked, which they probably should have saw coming. The three Riders are forced to fight the goons, to varying levels of success. Takeru’s fighting some Bugsters that Hatena had summoned, only for them to get shot.

The one who shot the Bugster was a man in a suit, with a gun. Police, it seemed. Takeru seemed to recognize him too, “Shinnosuke!”

“Even though I can’t transform,” Shinnosuke says, “I’m still a Kamen Rider and I can still help!” Emu thinks this must be where Takeru learned his mentality earlier from.

The last of Zaizen’s goons appear, knocking down Shinnosuke. Takeru helps him up, but before either can try to fight him, a man in samurai armor themed around oranges crashes through the ceiling, holding some kind of belt.

“You’re here?” Haruto asked, “Didn’t think you would come.”

The orange samurai holds out the belt to Shinnosuke, to which the belt, surprisingly, cheered, “Shinnosuke!” The face on it’s display showing a happy face. Well that’s… something.

“Mr. Belt?” Shinnosuke wondered, “How?”

“Gaim came and retrieved me, saying my help was needed again.”

Shinnosuke blinked, then had a look on his face that meant that he’d gotten his answer, “Well what else should I have expected from a space god?” Emu paused for a moment at that. Space god? You know what? This might as well just happen. This is the crazy shit his life is now.

As Shinnosuke and Mr. Belt spoke, a bit, Haruto looked at Takeru and Emu, who were standing off to the side watching these interactions and said, “Takeru, Emu,” Then gestures to the fruit Rider, “This is Gaim. Gaim, this is Takeru and Emu, Ghost and Para-DX.”

Distracting them from… whatever they were doing now, Zaizen began to speak, holding up the Bugvisor in his hand, a terrified looking Togo in inside it. Togo was glitching, more so than any normal person infected with Game Disease should be. “I’ll combined his DNA with Game Disease,” Zaizen declared, “Creating a perfect lifeform immune to all disease!” That was crazy sounding, but given Game Disease’s… everything, Emu didn’t think it was impossible. “Then, I’ll give the treatment to everyone.”

“That’s not how medicine works!” Emu yells, clenching his fists, “You can’t just do that to people without giving them a choice!”

Zaizen doesn’t respond. Instead, his goons use three of the Prototype Gashats, Taddle Quest, Gekitotsu Robots, and Giri Giri Chambara, to transform into their Bugster forms. Behind them, Zaizen too transforms into Genomes. The four untransformed Riders pulls out their belts and devices, ready to transform.

Mighty Action X!

Drive Type Speed!

Flame, Please! Hi-Hi, Hi-Hi-Hi!

Ore! Let's go! Kakugo! Go Go Go! Ghost! Go! Go! Go! Go!

Level up! Mighty jump! Mighty kick! Mighty-Mighty Action X!

Drive’s armor was red and black, with a tire flying onto his shoulder and across his body. Wizard was primarily red and black, with a tailcoat and crystal like design on his helmet. Before any of the five Riders could do anything, Hatena uses a Stage Select to sends Drive, Wizard, and Gaim alongside Zaizen’s goons to different stages. That left just Ghost and Para-DX to fight Genomes and Hatena.

---

Mu watches from his position against the wall as Ghost and Para-DX begin to fight Genomes and Hatena. He knows he told them that he’d stay outside, but he really couldn’t care less whether Genomes was defeated, so long as he could retrieve the Prototype Gashats. Of course, three of them were being used by Zaizen’s lackeys, but he could still get the other five. Admittedly, though, he had been expecting someone to notice him sooner, but apparently the Kamen Riders weren’t very observant.

Ghost changes form and couple times and Para-DX levels up to Level 3, yet neither Hatena nor Genomes seem terribly effected. But the four are busy with each other, so Mu uses this opportunity to make his way towards a sort of desk area. There, he finds the briefcase with the five Gashats.

He glances up, seeing Para-DX use a Gekitotsu Critical Strike on Genomes, but Genomes just blasts him away, knocking him out of his transformation and to the ground. Mighty Action X skitters across the floor, prompting Genomes to walk over to it and pick it up. Against Hatena, Ghost changes form again and again, only for what was clearly supposed to be a strong attack to get blocked by Hatena. He changes form again, this time to a sparkly one and tries to attack again, only for Hatena to fire a beam, knocking him out of his transformation.

Still, Ghost rises, making his way towards Hatena. Even when so beaten and close to death, he still tried to fight Hatena. And for what? Mu wondered. For his own life? For his friend who was infected? He’d risk his own life for her. Mu supposed… If Mu were in his position, then he would too. So he can’t judge Ghost.

Yet when it seemed that Ghost was done for, Hatena firing a beam at him once more, Ghost just. Disappeared, only one of his funny spheres left behind. What? Soon Ghost returned in a flash, holding a new sphere.

Nobunaga, Hideyoshi, Ieyasu! Hatasunowa itsu! Tenka Touitsu!

Mu watches as Ghost began to fight Hatena once more, this time truly having enough power to stand a chance against the Bugster. Really, he seemed to be stronger than Hatena. Which Mu supposed was good.

Though he probably shouldn’t get so distracted watching the fight he wasn’t supposed to be anywhere near. After all, he needed to get these Gashats out of here. Before Genomes decides to do something… Speaking of… Where the hell was Genomes?

The chainsaw end of a Bugvisor is held to Mu’s throat from behind him. He can see the hand and arm of who it belonged to, realizing it was Genomes. A voice spoke from behind him, quietly in his ear. “I know who you are now…” He says, “At first, I thought Para-DX was you. But now I see. Masamune thought he was clever?”

With a terrible, sinking feeling, Mu realizes he recognizes that voice. He’d only ever heard it once but… He freezes, whispering, “No… You’re the one who…”

A dark room. Scientists and doctors, all dressed in white. They’re on the floor, writhing in pain, glitching. A confused teenager, waking up in pain and fear. The ever-present voice in his head, whispering, “It’s your fault”.

Snapping himself out of his thoughts, he pulls out his Gamer Driver and the Proto Mighty Action X Gashat. He had to hurry and transform, his mind told him in a panic. He knew he wasn’t strong enough to beat Genomes, but he could at least get away, at least-

Genomes grabs Mu’s hands with the hand that isn’t holding the Bugvisor, taking away the Proto Gashat.

Para-DX stands, glaring at Genomes. “Let Togo and Mu go!”

Behind Mu, Genomes scoffs, “Why would you go so far to try to save them?”

“Because they both love games. I want to share that with them and see them smile!” Para-DX declared, “I want Togo to be able to continue making games and smile!”

Inside the Bugvisor, Mu can hear something. He can feel it too, there’s a drastic change. Then, Togo somehow projects himself in front of them, from the Bugvisor. In doing this, he’s clearly weakening Genomes slightly.

“Thank you for trying so hard to save me,” Togo says, “I’m sorry I didn’t listen earlier.”

Shaking his head, Para-DX responds, “It’s fine,” He gives Togo a smile, “I’ll do whatever I can to save you.”

“Save me, please,” With that, Genomes forces Togo back into the Bugvisor, prompting Mu to wince. That couldn’t have been pleasant. Then he realized the next sounds he heard. Dual sounds of both the Proto and finished Mighty Action X Gashats being activated. What was Genomes doing?

He realizes what was happening as he sees Para-DX’s eyes widen in fear, calling out, “No!”

Mu looks down, seeing as Genomes placed the two Gashats into his Gamer Driver and flipped the lever. Genomes let go of him, causing him to stumble forward, gasping. It hurt. It hurt so badly. His body was glitching and glitching and there was something rising over him. He couldn’t explain it but-

---

Emu has no choice but to watch in horror as Mu stumbled and cried out in pain as his body began to glitch. The Prototype Gashats alone could cause the user pain, but both the Prototype alongside the complete on someone without the compatibility surgery? He was amazed Mu was still standing, though he wondered when Zaizen had gotten a Gamer Driver.

“When I awoke,” Genomes said, “One of my biggest goals, alongside completing my research, was to get revenge on the one who did this to me.” Emu couldn’t believe he’d go so far to get revenge on him. To harm someone else… Well maybe he shouldn’t be surprised.

The glitching around Mu changes, now oddly orange and blue. Then, something knocks Genome back, and the glitching around Mu begins to take a definitive form. They can’t deal with another Bugster right now… Only it’s not another Bugster. Instead, Mu splits and now standing is something that looks like two Kamen Riders. One blue, one orange.

Genomes is clearly shocked by the turn of events, Emu was too. Though Genomes didn’t have a lot of time to think on it, as the two Riders turned and began to fight him. While the two Riders fought him, Ghost continued to fight Hatena with his new form.

Finally, Takeru defeats Hatena, causing a Game Clear. That meant he, Togo, and Akari were cured now. At least he and Akari. The two new Riders defeat Genomes, knocking away the Bugvisor. Togo is freed of it, seeming tired but no longer infected.

Then, the two Riders combine together once more, leaving Mu on the floor. Emu and Takeru rush over, hoping that whatever happened hadn’t killed Mu yet. Mu squints at them, letting out a groan, “Ugh… what… what the… ouch.” He finally settles on.

The two help him up, “We need to get you back to the hospital,” Emu said.

Mu grumbles a bit, “’M fine…” He said weakly, “…Just… owie…”

Alongside helping Mu out, they help Togo. They encounter the three Riders who helped them and thanked them. Then they found Poppy, who was still carrying Akari, with Takeru’s friends with them.

“Akari!” Takeru smiled, then collapsed. Handing Togo and Mu off to the others, Emu immediately began chest compressions. He kept it up, even when Onari told him to stop. He wouldn’t let Takeru die. Even as he could hear Poppy start to cry, even as he began to cry.

Then, Takeru sputters to life. Emu gives him a smile, “I’m your doctor, I’m not letting you die.”

“Thank you,” Takeru says, though a bit weak, “I’ll make sure to use this life well.”

Groaning again, Mu says something that sounds a bit like “what about the Gashats?” before he promptly passes out himself, his glitching increasing. Emu remembers what happened and they rush to get everyone back to the hospital.

---

Takeru and his friends have gone home, though all of the CR Riders remained. They’re worried about Mu, who’s infection level is already incredibly high. They think it’s because of the use of both versions of Mighty Action X, but no one’s sure. They haven’t seen a Bugster, so there’s not much they can do about it.

“Doesn’t matter now,” Nico says, almost sounding sad as she looked through the window into the patient room.

Kiriya looked at her surprised, “What do you mean?”

She gestures vaguely into the room and answers, “He’s gone.”

Looking into the patient room, it’s clear that there isn’t a sign of Mu. They can only assume he succumbed to his Game Disease. And there’d been nothing they could do to help him.

Sadly, Saki sighed, “I’ll return the Proto Gashats to Masamune and inform him. Hopefully he can tell us how to get in contact with Mu’s family.”

“Are you sure?” Taiga asked, though he received a flat look in response.

“Yes, now you all should call it a day.”

---

Saki enters Masamune’s office with a grave look on her face, briefcase of Gashats in hand. Masamune is certainly surprised to see her.

“I was expecting Mu,” He said.

“He was infected by Zaizen,” She said, “Forced to use both the prototype and the complete Mighty Action X Gashats at once. He disappeared too quickly, there was nothing we could do. We did retrieve the Gashats, though.”

Masamune examines the contents of the briefcase, then says, “I see,” In a terribly unconcerned manner, “I’ll ensure his… family is informed.”

She’s startled by how little he seemed to care but… “Then I’ll be leaving you.”

---

When Mu had woken up, he’d been in the CR’s patient room. Which was bad. He hurt, terribly, but he couldn’t stay. Quietly, he retrieved his Gashat and Gamer Driver, thankfully unnoticed by the Riders and left. As much as he would like to do something to them, so they could understand his pain at Graphite’s death, he doesn’t have the energy. He’s in too much pain, even by his standards.

Somehow, he’d made it back to the hideout, though he stumbled the whole way. He just hurt and hurt. Even his thought hurt. It was terrible and he could never remember something so painful. When he’d gotten back, he’d made it into the room, well into the doorway, when his legs just. Gave out.

Kuroto, though startled, managed to catch him, “What happened?” He sounded horribly worried. Mu felt bad about making him worried.

“Uhm… well… the, uh… science guy… he… put two Gashats in… the uh…. Proto and the finished… and, uh… ouch.” Mu mumbled while Kuroto helped him to the nest, which was still pretty much his bed, “And uh… I dunno… pain? I hurt…”

Taking the Gamer Driver and Gashat from Mu, Kuroto pulls a blanket over him. “Rest,” He said, “I’ll hold on to these for now. I have a use for them, anyway.”

“Mkay,” Mu muttered, “I… hurt.”

Kuroto couldn’t help but watch for a moment, seeing all the glitching. He’s never seen Mu this bad. Still, he regards the Proto Mighty Action X Gashat thoughtfully, “The prototype and completed Gashats at once?” He sighs, “I’ll need to look more into that.”

---

“Yo, Ace!” Kiriya greets Emu at a park bench. Emu wasn’t in his usual appearance, instead letting his actual appearance be seen, rather than his Emu disguise. He smiles at Kiriya, though it doesn’t seem quite right. “Something wrong?”

Hesitantly, Emu answers, “I was thinking about Mu,”

“Yeah,” Kiriya agrees, “It sucks what happened to him.”

“Not just that,” Emus says, “But it’s what happened when we were fighting Genomes. He put a Driver on Mu and put both of the Gashats in… But then Mu split and became two Riders. He – they – they were the ones to defeat Genomes and save Togo.”

Kiriya looks at him in shock, “No way,” He peers over his sunglasses, “You’re joking.”

Shaking his head, Emu can’t agree, “No, that’s what happened.”

“…But how?”

“I don’t know…” Emu fiddles with the cords around his jacket, “But also… This isn’t the first time I encountered Zaizen.”

“It’s not?” Kiriya didn’t really see why Emu would have ever met Zaizen before.

Glancing at Kiriya, Emu begins to explain, “He was the one… he was the one who separated Emu and I six years ago,” He rushes to finish his explanation. “I didn’t realize at first, not until he’d said what had happened to them.”

“It would line up with what you’ve said,” Kiriya can’t help but admit that it lines up scarily well. He wonders if it’s all coincidence that Zaizen returned now or what. And what about Mu? He’d have to look more into him, especially since it sounds like Masamune wasn’t too concerned about his apparent death.

He’d asked Nico to look into Mu, but Nico couldn’t find anything, not with just Mu. By the looks of it, Mu wasn’t his actual name. Then again, Masamune had never said it was. It was just strange. He’d have to go to Gemn Corp himself and ask around.

But that was for later. Right now, he was spending time with Ace.

“Cheer up,” Kiriya says, resisting the urge to throw his arm around Emu. “These things happen. There’s nothing we can do about. Besides, you saved Togo, Akari, and Takeru, alongside all those infected by Pac-Man.” A phrase he’d never have thought he’d have to say.

Still, Emu didn’t seem entirely assured, “Yeah, I guess so,” He sighed still, “I’m just… that form that Genomes created with Mu and the two Gashats… It was so strong, but why? And how come Mu wasn’t immediately killed?”

“Hell if I know,” Kiriya sighs, “But as it is, we aren’t going to get much in the way of answers.”

At that, Emu smiles, “I guess,” He looks over at Kiriya, “Thanks for that. And for being willing to spend time with me… like this.”

“No problem, Ace. When you’re not suspicious, you make good company.”

Emu rolls his eyes and laughs, “Sure, Kiriya, sure.”

#kamen rider ex aid #kamen rider exaid #kamen rider #kamen rider ghost #my writing #there is a me who can become strong

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