writingpaperghost

[writingpaperghost]

i cant believe none of you bastards told me about the ex aid burger episode, The best episode of television ever aired

[writingpaperghost]

Standin' By Your Side (Chapter 3)

Chapter 3: Armored Upgrade

The Digi Destined find Digi Eggs bearing the Crests of Light and Hope, along with Agumon, Ken, and Wormmon. And then Sea Angel makes his appearance.

AO3: https://archiveofourown.org/works/66149626/chapters/171512854

“It’s been a while since we were here, huh?” Nonchalantly, Tai stretched his arms as he walked with the group. He’d joined Kari, TK, Yolei, and Cody on their visit into the Digital World today, hoping to see Agumon.

“Don’t forget, we still have to worry about the Digimon Emperor and Sea Angel,” Gatomon said.

Tai hummed in assent, aware if not all that bothered.

Three dots had appeared on Cody and Yolei’s Digivices, so they were following them. At least now, they knew that the dots were either Digi Eggs, or Digivices like Cody, Yolei, and Ken’s. Given they didn’t arrive with Ken, they can’t rule out that one of the dots was him, either. Likely the moving one, assuming there weren’t any other Digi Destined that might have Digivices like theirs.

“Looks like Ken reached the other signals,” Yolei declared, “hopefully.”

“Hopefully?” Cody asked, looking up at her. She held her Digivice in one hand and had her other arm wrapped around Hawkmon.

“Well, it’s not like we know for sure that it’s Ken,”

Dryly, TK comments, “It would be useful if those Digivices could label the signals a bit better.”

“At least we have somewhere to look,” Kari sighs, “Maybe one of these days we’ll get some idea of what to do about the Emperor.”

Tai gave Kari a pat on her shoulder, “Don’t get too worried, Kari. The adventure’s just starting, I’m sure things will make more sense soon enough.”

Kari frowned, “This is different from before, though. Myotismon, the Dark Masters, and Apocalymon were Digimon. The Digimon Emperor and Sea Angel are humans, like us.” They couldn’t just… destroy them, like they could with Digimon. But how much could they reason with someone already willing to go this far…?

Once more, Yolei declares, “We’re almost there!” She leads them to a cave. Kari can just faintly make out voices, one more so than the others.

“Agumon!” Tai lit up, hurrying into the cave, quickly followed by the others.

Standing beside Agumon in the cave was Ken, in the same purple jacket he wore the last time they saw him – much like Yolei and Cody, the Digital World must give him a change of clothes when he was there. Wormmon was perched on the back of his shoulders, and the three stand beside two Digi Eggs.

Turning to see Tai, Agumon lit up, waving excitedly, “Tai! You’re here!”

Ken took a step back as Tai ran up to Agumon. He watched the two for a moment, a small smile on his face, before looking at the rest of them and gesturing towards the Digi Eggs. “There’s two more Digi Eggs here,”

Following his gesture, Kari takes a better look at the two Digi Eggs. “They have the Crests of Hope and Light.” She noticed.

“Our Crests,” TK observed. Except unlike last time, they didn’t have any new Digi Destined with them. While they’d been searching for Digi Eggs with the hope that it could give them more of an edge against the Emperor, there was no telling if any of them could even lift the Digi Eggs. After all… they clearly only let themselves be moved by certain people, and having had the Crest associated with the Digi Egg before clearly wasn’t enough.

As Kari approached the Digi Eggs, joined by TK, she could feel Ken’s gaze on them. He remained silent, even as Yolei and Cody discussed who might be able to pick up the Digi Eggs and Tai and Agumon chatted excitedly about what Tai had been up to and what had been happening in the Digital World. If Kari were being honest, she wasn’t sure if she wanted to be able to pick up the Digi Egg of Light or not. On one hand, it had her Crest, and it would let Gatomon Digivolve, which meant she could help the others fight. On the other hand… some part of Kari wasn’t sure if she was ready to have the fate of the Digital World on her shoulders again.

Yet she knew as surely as she knew herself that she would try anyway.

TK looks over to her, a confident smile on his face, “You ready to give it a try?”

It helped to have him with her, someone she knew and trusted, who might even have similar thoughts going through his head. “Yeah, let’s do it.”

Together, they reached out, grabbed the Digi Eggs and pulled. They budged easily, a light flying out of each and making a beeline to their Digivices. Digi Eggs in one hand, they both pulled out their Digivices, which had changed to match Yolei, Cody, and Ken’s.

“You’re Digivices changed too,” Ken observed, eyes widened just a little in surprise and… maybe recognition, but Kari couldn’t be sure.

“Wow!” Tai cheered, “Guess that was easy. Hey, that means Gatomon and Patamon will be able to Digivolve too, right?”

Patamon glided a small circle around TK, before landing on his head, “We should be able to.”

Ken gave a nod, “There’s no reason for that not to be the case.”

“Alright!” Yolei grinned, “With five Digimon, we can probably beat whatever the Emperor or that Sea Angel throws out way.”

Cody, instead, frowned, “Don’t forget, we haven’t even seen either of them.”

“You really don’t want to…” Wormmon said, “They’re so very cruel…” He seemed to quiver, prompting Ken to reach up and rest a hand on his head, giving a few gentle pats.

Tilting his head, Agumon asked, “So what now? There could be more of those Digi Eggs, but we still have the Digimon Emperor and Sea Angel to worry about.”

Kari thought about that. What even were their courses of action? Given every Digi Egg they’d found so far had a Crest associated it, that meant there were eight Digi Eggs, so that left three unaccounted for, now. But could any one of them use more than one Digi Egg? Or would a different Digi Destined have to be the one to pick it up? Knowing, now, that previous Digi Destined could pick up the Digi Eggs at least broadened their options without having to search for new Digi Destined.

Then there was the Digimon Emperor and Sea Angel. Though they’d yet to meet either of them, the effect they’d left on the Digital World had been obvious everywhere they’d gone. Digimon controlled by those Dark Rings, the Dark Spires that seemed to be everywhere, and the fear that the still free Digimon had of them. Even their own partners were wary of the pair, though that could be attributed in part to their inability to Digivolve. Somehow the Digi Eggs at least got around that.

“I say,” Yolei began, interrupting Kari’s thoughts, “That we go find this Digimon Emperor or that Sea Angel, and we go and give them a piece of our minds!”

“What?” Ken startled, “That sounds…”

“Somehow, Yolei, I don’t think that will be so easy,” Cody replied.

Grinning, Tai suggests, “What about freeing some of the Digimon around here from the Dark Rings? I bet if we free enough of them, even without being able to Digivolve, there’s enough strong Digimon around here that they could fend off the Emperor or his forces if they show up here again.”

That was a better idea than trying to find and fight the Digimon Emperor and Sea Angel, at least. As much as Kari would love to just put a stop to all of this at its source, she highly doubted that would be so easy. Starting smaller seemed like a good idea.

“I agree with Tai,” She said, “It’ll be easier if we have more allies on our side. Not to mention, if we cause enough of a commotion…”

“The Digimon Emperor or Sea Angel might show themselves,” TK finished with a snap of his fingers, “That sounds like a great idea.”

Yolei hummed, “I guess that probably would work better…”

“I agree,” Cody nodded.

That only left… Ken. He seemed to stiffen as their gazes all turned to him, eyes widening for just a moment. “Well… um, yes. I think that would be for the best,” He quickly answered, turning his gaze away.

He must be shy, Kari thinks. He had seemed a bit uneasy around them last time, too, though at least seemed to be good at keeping himself mostly together in the heat of the moment. Hopefully he’d warm up to them a bit, at least.

A silence falls, for just a moment, in the air after Ken’s reply. Enough that Gatomon’s ears twitch, prompting her to turn her attention to the entrance of the cave. And then she gasped, “Sea Angel!”

That caused everyone to turn their heads and look in that direction. Standing, casually, at the mouth of the cave was a boy. Lavender hair that fell over his right eye, a long, grey jacket covering most of his body, with a dark blue and white cape draped over his shoulders. He tossed something in his hand, for a moment, before swiftly returning it to his pocket – at this distance, Kari couldn’t make out what it was, just that it was no bigger than his hand.

“Oh, don’t stop your conversation on my account,” He said, “it’s entertaining to listen to you think of ways to try to stop us. Not that any of them will work.”

“You’re one of the ones that have been controlling the Digimon!” Yolei shouted, her anger at him already obvious.

Tilting his head, Sea Angel replied, “And you… you’re the kids that have been ruining the game for the Emperor. That’s very rude.” He takes a step back, aside from the entrance of the cave, “But I tell you what. If you leave and never come back, we can forget all about this.”

Kari takes a step forward, joined by Gatomon, “We’re not going to let you hurt innocent Digimon.”

At that, he scowled, “Innocent? I’d hardly call them innocent. But if that’s the fight you want to have, then so be it. Why don’t you all come out here and we’ll see if your friends-“ there was something about how he said it, something awful and snarling. Angry? Accusatory? Bitter? Kari couldn’t quite tell. “-are as strong as you seem to think.”

Quiet, for a moment, as they all thought it over. Who knew what Digimon Sea Angel had waiting. But this didn’t feel much like a challenge they could turn down, and they had five who could Digivolve now, plus Agumon. That was far better odds than if they couldn’t Digivolve at all.

It’s Ken who breaks the silence, voice even, “If you think the Digimon you’re forcing to fight for you are so strong, then why not a wager?”

“What?” Yolei yelped, “What are you doing?”

Sea Angel’s expression turned amused, “Oh, confident are we? I’m sure you have something in mind.”

“If we win, you tell us how the Digimon Emperor keeps Digimon from Digivolving.” Ken replied, not a trace of the shy boy from earlier there.

“And when I win?”

“I’ll tell you and the Digimon Emperor a way you can have the entire Digital World under your control with ease,” Though there wasn’t the least bit of uncertainty in Ken’s voice and he’d replied with such speed and ease that made it seem like he was telling all the truth, Kari had to wonder if that was the case. The idea of him having any information that the Emperor and Sea Angel might find useful wasn’t unbelievable, but it did seem unlikely. That he knew something like what he claimed seemed even more unlikely. But would he really make such a big bluff?

Sea Angel seemed to consider his words, turning them over in his head. After a few moments of thought, he answered, “Sure, I’ll take you up on that. Not that you’re going to win, so it isn’t as if I have anything to lose…” He then levels Ken with a threatening gaze, “But the Emperor doesn’t like liars.”

Ken doesn’t seem bothered by Sea Angel’s gaze, instead somehow almost amused himself. A smile curls onto his lips, “That won’t be a problem.”

Disappearing out of their view, Sea Angel steps away from the mouth of the cave. He probably won’t go far, but it’s clear he wants them to come out, and if they’re going to fight whatever Digimon he might have, they’d have to. Ken begins to walk first, hand reaching into his jacket pocket and pulling out his Digivice as he approaches the entrance.

Making her decision, Kari and Gatomon follow, with TK and Patamon soon after. Yolei, Hawkmon, Cody, and Armidillomon follow quickly, while Tai and Agumon lag back. That was fine, they probably wouldn’t do much fighting unless they were really needed, anyway. Reaching the outside shows them Sea Angel’s chosen fighter, Tyrannomon, with Sea Angel standing by his legs.

Grinning, he said, “Are you sure you want to fight Tyrannomon? You could save yourself the trouble and just give up now.”

Kari shook her head, “We’re going to set Tyrannomon free and then you’ll have lost.”

“If that’s what you think will happen, then let’s stop wasting time.” Sea Angel jumps back with the sort of agility you only really got used to if you spent a lot of time in the Digital World. An understanding of how physics sometimes bent in odd ways. He snapped, gesturing towards them, “Teach them a lesson, Tyrannomon.”

She spares a glance at the other four, getting a nod in agreement. Together, they all call out, “Digi Armor Energize!”

Wormmon leaps off of Ken’s shoulders, Digivolving into Shadramon. Hawkmon and Armidillomon, who had been on the ground anyway, simply put some distance between themselves and their partners, to accommodate for the change in size as FlyBeemon and Pteranomon. Gatomon leaps forward as she begins to glow, while Patamon flew towards the rest of them when his Digivolution began.

“Gatomon Armor Digivolve to… Nefertimon! The Angel of Light!” True to her name, Nerfertimon was a winged cat, her head resembling Egyptian art.

“Patamon Armor Digivolve to… Pegasusmon! Flying Hope!” Pegasusmon looked every bit like his name implied, now very horse like in appearance, but with wings and armor as well.

Since all of their Digimon could fly, they could attack Tyrannomon from all levels, not just the ground. Sea Angel kept his distance, watching the fight intently. When it seemed like they were going to be able to break the Dark Ring, Sea Angel gestures again and thudding footsteps foretell the arrival of a second Tyrannomon.

That would make things more difficult, of course that was probably the point. Sea Angel looked pretty pleased with himself.

“What’s your deal, anyway?” Yolei yelled at Sea Angel, “I mean, what, is this some kind of power trip?”

Sea Angel looked her way, appearing more annoyed than anything else. “I don’t need to explain myself to you.” He replied, just loud enough to be heard over the commotion.

Pegasusmon and Nefertimon are able to hold one of the Tyrannomon still, while Shadramon and Pteranomon kept the other’s attention on them. This gave FlyBeemon the opening to break both of their Dark Rings, one at a time, freeing the Tyrannomon from Sea Angel’s control.

Though he looked surprised, Sea Angel tried to laugh it off, “I suppose you’re better than I gave you credit for,” He said, “Too bad, I suppose we’ll have to pick this up some other time.”

“I seem to recall we made a little deal,” Ken said, though now his tone sounded a bit less certain, at least compared to earlier.

“Whoever said I was really going to keep up my end?”

Ken seemed to weigh that, for a moment, before he replied, “That’s fine, I think I already know. I’ll just have to get around to testing my theory.”

Sea Angel scowled, then gestured once more. Swooping down from the skies, Airdramon appeared and he hops onto its back, flying off. The Tyrannomon didn’t stick around much longer either, now that they were freed of the Dark Rings. Just said some thanks and left, not that it was a big deal.

As they all calmed from the fight, Kari couldn’t help but steal a glance of Ken, who scooped Wormmon up, quietly muttering praise as he inspected Wormmon for any injuries. Wormmon, not quite as quietly, assured him he was alright. It was sweet, certainly, but felt a far cry from the demeanor he’d had in the cave after Sea Angel showed up. And then there was that wager…

“I have to ask, but what do you know that might be able to help the Emperor?” TK asked, voicing Kari’s own thoughts.

Ken looked up from Wormmon, “Oh, well… nothing,” He answered, “It was a bluff, I knew we wouldn’t lose. So I just had to entice him to see if I could get any information out of him… not that that worked.” He looked back down, frowning.

“It was a convincing bluff,” Cody added, “You seemed like another person entirely, during that time.”

Again, Ken looked up, a surprised expression on his face. One arm moved from holding Wormmon to rest on the back of his neck, gently rubbing there, “I… I guess I was.”

Kari shook her head, she just hoped Ken wouldn’t try too many things like that. It could have backfired badly if they hadn’t been able to free the Tyrannomon. She didn’t think it would stop being all hands on deck anytime soon, so they needed every Digimon that could somehow Digivolve that they could find.

Tai wanders up to her, Agumon beside him. “Some day it’s been, huh?”

“You could say that,” She looked down at her new Digivice, “At least Gatomon and Patamon can fight now.”

“Yeah, and you’ve got a new team, now.” Tai looked over all of them. TK was still near Ken, appearing to be attempting to strike up some conversation, which Ken at least was responding to. Yolei and Cody were a couple feet away, talking about something else. “But they’re going to need someone to lead.”

She tilted her head, thinking, “Well, TK and I have the most experience in the Digital World, so we’ll probably be taking the lead more often than not.”

Her brother nodded in agreement, reaching up for his goggles, “So you should take these.”

At first, she stares at the goggles, before looking up to stare at Tai instead, “What? Why?”

“Think of it like a… passing of the torch, yeah? Every good team leader needs a pair of goggles.” Tai grinned, like he didn’t say something that wouldn’t make any real sense in pretty much any context.

Staring for a moment longer, Kari replied, “That doesn’t make sense.”

“It’s like, symbolic. Just take ‘em, okay? I’m sure they’ll be in good hands.” He holds them out again.

“This is weird,” She said, but awkwardly takes the goggles anyway. “I’m not putting these on my head or my face, though.”

Tai shrugged, “Stick them around your neck or something. I think they’ll suit you well enough.”

---

“My injury hurt a bit, today,” Ken said as he stood in his room, Minomon sat on his bed.

“The one from…?” Minomon nervously asked.

Ken nodded, knowing they were both on the same page. “From when we fought Millieniumon.”

Minomon seemed troubled by that, “I wonder why…”

“I don’t know, it just… did. Not a lot, but… well, it does this, sometimes. Usually just makes my mood worse.” It had a tendency to start aching when he was upset. And Ken didn’t like being upset, but he’d be the first to say his life wasn’t exactly idyllic and there was plenty to be upset about. When Sea Angel acted so awful, it had just made him very… annoyed.

“Oh,” Minomon frowned, “That’s… not good.”

Setting down next to Minomon, Ken sighed, “It doesn’t happen too often and it doesn’t hurt much, but… well, I don’t think it’ll be a problem.” Which might not have been entirely true, but it would hopefully keep Minomon from worrying too much.

---

“There’s five of them, now?” The Digimon Emperor asked, lounging in his chair. He leaned his back against one arm of the chair and had his legs hanging over the other. Sea Angel was used to seeing him in these sorts of ways, he didn’t like sitting in chairs normally, especially not while they were in his empire.

Sea Angel nodded, “Two of them just got the power today. They were able to break the Dark Rings off of two Tyrannomon.”

The Emperor grinned, “So they’ll be a challenge, then.”

“Opposition.”

“We’ll show ‘em how strong we are,” The Emperor declared, “I mean, I’m sure you can handle them, Angel, ‘cause you’re real good at commanding Digimon.”

While the Emperor seemed unbothered by them, Angel didn’t think it’d be so simple. “They could easily mess with our plans if not dealt with quickly.”

From underneath his glasses – Angel had always thought it was ridiculous that the Emperor wore those sunglasses over his eyes and then also wore goggles on his head – the Emperor looks between Angel and his monitors. “We still control most of the Digital World, five kids can’t undo all that work that quickly. So we’ll take care of them, but there’s no point in ruining the fun too soon.”

Angel sighed, “If that’s what you want, Emperor.” Sometimes he really wondered how the Emperor conquered anything before he came along. He was so unserious about even his own goals. It all really was a game to him, though Angel supposed this was the first time they’d ever really faced opposition that could possibly stand a chance against them.

“Heeeeey!” That nuisance of the Emperor’s partner, Veemon, called out. “I’m hungry.”

The Emperor sighed, “Then get some food. There’s plenty here.”

“You should eat with me,”

“I’m busy.”

“But Da-“ Before Veemon could get the Emperor’s name out, the Emperor cut him off.

“I’m busy! Go eat on your own!”

[writingpaperghost]

Standin' By Your Side (Chapter 2)

Chapter 2: Enter, Knowledge and Love

TK starts at his new school, at least he gets to be in a class with Kari. Of course, normal can't stay normal and a portal to the Digital World opens and it turns out that there are two new Digi Destined. Or is it three?

AO3: https://archiveofourown.org/works/66149626/chapters/170656915

Nowadays, that summer sometimes felt more like a distant memory, maybe a figment of his imagination. It had only been a few years, but for TK Takaishi it had felt like an eternity since he’d gone to the Digital World. Still, TK knew that it was as real as he was.

Today was special, though. TK and his mom had just moved to a new place, back in Odaiba, which meant a new school for TK. Thankfully, this was the same school Kari went to, so they were both looking forward to getting to see each other a lot more. He’d be pretty close to all the other Digi Destined too, though Kari was the only one young enough to be at the same school as him.

“Sorry I can’t take you to school,” His mom called out as he got ready to leave.

“It’s alright, it’s not very far, anyway.” TK didn’t mind walking on his own, and it gave him an opportunity to meet other kids before classes started. “Bye mom, I’ll see you later!”

He walks out the door and to the elevator. It stops before the ground floor, letting on a tall girl and a younger boy. He smiled, “Hi, I just moved here, I’m TK Takaishi.”

“Hey, TK,” The girl smiled, “I’m Yolei Inoue, and this is Cody Hida.”

Cody regarded him, for a moment, “We can walk to school together.”

“That sounds great,” TK smiled in return. He was glad to get to know some of the other kids in the building so quickly.

As they left the building and began walking outside, Yolei pointed to a convince store on the corner, “That’s my family’s store,” She said, “Stop by if you ever need to, sometimes I’ll be working there when I’m not in school.”

TK nodded, filling that away for later. He wouldn’t mind stopping at a friend’s store, and it was pretty close to the apartment. They crossed the road and the two begin to outpace him, but he can overhear them talking about Yolei coming over to check Cody’s computer. Must be pretty good with computers.

He passed by the soccer field and paused, seeing spikey hair and goggles playing with other kids. It reminded him of Tai, what were the odds that there were two weirdo’s in Odaiba who both liked soccer and wore goggles. The soccer balls bounces TK’s way and he catches it, more reflexively than much else. The goggled boy, definitely not Tai, ran up.

“Here you go,” TK said as he held the soccer ball out, “Pretty good moves there. I’m TK, I just moved here.”

Goggle boy takes the soccer ball and regards him for a moment, “Thanks, I’m Davis. You can always join us, but I’ll have you know, I’m pretty good.” He has a bit of a smug expression, before waving and running back towards the others.

TK watched him for a few seconds before continuing on. He wondered if Davis and Tai knew each other, he felt like they would get along.

He sees Davis again when class starts, sat on the other side of an empty desk from Kari. That empty desk ended up being TK’s, and he smiled as he sat down. “Together again, huh?”

Kari smiled in kind and nodded, “It’s kind of nice, though.”

From the desk beside him, he can hear Davis muttering something, but TK decides not to pay it much mind.

Between classes, Davis studies TK, before leaning over and asking, “You and Kari know each other?”

Before TK can answer, Kari does, “He’s a friend from summer camp, remember I told you about them. His older brother is Matt, Tai’s best friend.”

TK would admit there was a part of him that was very curious about Kari and Davis’ relationship. Knowing they knew each other, TK could think of a Davis that he recalled Kari talking about, but truthfully he hadn’t heard much about him in a while. Just Kari’s concern.

“Oh,” Davis intoned, his expression turning into something that almost looked annoyed, before immediately blasting into cheerful. “It’s pretty cool that you two get to be classmates.”

If any of that had bothered Davis, he didn’t let it show. Though TK was pretty sure he caught Davis glancing towards them more than once, during the rest of the day. But as soon as school was over, Davis practically jumped up, and ran off, saying something about having soccer practice. Kari looked confused, before explaining that there wasn’t soccer practice that day.

TK brushes the strange explanation off. He didn’t know Davis well and he was sure whatever the real reason was, it wasn’t that important. Probably just something that Davis felt a bit embarrassed talking about.

After school, TK and Kari find themselves in the computer lab, at Izzy’s behest. He doesn’t even attend the elementary anymore, he’s in middle school now, like most of the others, which makes him asking them to meet him in the elementary school computer lab even stranger. He’s sat at one of the computers, when they arrive. But they both knew why he was there, and why he wanted them there.

“Did a portal to the Digital World really open?” Kari asked, already making her way to Izzy to look at the computer screen.

Izzy nodded, “It has, Sora got a message from Biyomon earlier and was able to get through, but now…”

Following after Kari, TK glanced at the screen. It displayed some kind of strange program, that must be the portal. But as Izzy said, it seemed to be closed.

“How do we open it?” He couldn’t help but wonder. He wanted to see Patamon, obviously, but he was also worried about Sora and the message she’d gotten from Biyomon. Was something going on? Were Digimon in danger?

“That,” Izzy replied, “I don’t know.”

And if Izzy didn’t know, then that was trouble.

The door to the computer lab opens. TK honestly expected to see one of the other Digi Destined, maybe Matt or Tai, given how close they were with Sora. Instead, he sees Yolei and Cody. Yolei stared, for a minute, before her gaze landed on Izzy, “Hey, that computer’s got a- wait, you’re Izzy Izumi!” She pointed, a clear rise in energy triggering when she realized who Izzy was, “You used to be the president of the computer club!”

“Oh, Yolei, Cody…” TK’s mind was already swirling, trying to come up with some excuse. It sounded like Yolei might have already noticed something was up with the computer, which might make it a bit more difficult.

Cody looked up at Yolei, “That’s the computer you were talking about, isn’t it? The one that somehow got a strange program, yesterday.”

His question seemed to put Yolei back on task, “Oh, right. Yeah, it’s that one. I couldn’t figure out how to fix it yesterday… maybe Izzy can figure it out!”

Izzy, seeing the way to get the two to leave that he’d been given, replied, “Yes! I happened upon this computer and its strange program and I’ve been trying to figure out how to disable it.” He nodded seriously, though TK would admit that his delivery was maybe a bit forced.

“Great!” Yolei cheered, then turned to Cody, “It is a bit strange that the computer got a strange program the same day that those devices shot out of the computer…”

“What?” Kari asked, “Devices shot out of the computer?” She clearly intuited the same sort of thing that TK had. That those devices were probably connected to the Digital World – Digivices, even.

Reaching into his pocket, Cody pulled out a device. It didn’t quite look like their Digivices, shaped a bit taller than it was square, all rounded edges with no corners. “This came shooting at me, yesterday. Yolei said her’s came from the computer, and another shot past her.”

Peering over, Izzy shot up from his seat, “Digivices!”

“Digi-whats?” Yolei asked, “Hey, do you know what these are?!”

The three of them explain to Yolei and Cody about the Digivices and the Digital World. None of them quite say it, but TK’s sure that Izzy and Kari felt just as uneasy about the appearance of two new Digivices as he is. It was clear, more than ever, that something was going on, something bad. And whatever it was, the Digital World clear felt that it needed new Digi Destined to stop it.

Sora was still somewhere in there, on her own, though hopefully with Biyomon.

Yolei peered over Izzy’s shoulder at the computer screen, “So that weird program is a portal to the Digital World?”

“Well, yes, though it appears to be closed right now…” Izzy replied, glancing up at Yolei. Then he looked back at the screen and said in surprise, “Wait, it’s open now.”

Looking over Izzy’s other shoulder, Kari said, “Could it have something to do with Yolei and Cody’s Digivices? Since they’re different?”

“It’s certainly possible…” Izzy hummed, beginning to type something on the computer before Yolei held up her Digivice.

“Then what are we waiting for? Let’s see this Digital World!” Yolei pointed her Digivice at the computer screen.

Startled, Izzy reaches up to lower her arm as Kari does the same, but before they can actually try to move Yolei’s arm, they seemed to be swallowed into the computer. Cody gawked at the sight, shocked and concerned. The portal to the Digital World is definitely open, that’s for sure. Hopefully wherever they’d come out would be safe.

TK rushes over to the computer, grabbing his own Digivice from his pocket and holding it up to the computer. Nothing happened, though, despite the fact the portal still seemed to be open.

He looks at his Digivice, frowning, then looked to Cody, “I think you’ll have to use your Digivice to open the portal.”

Cody looked down at his own Digivice, studying it. He looked a bit unsure, TK couldn’t blame him. Cody wasn’t much older than TK was when he’d first gone to the Digital World, and that certainly frightened him. Being asked to willingly go somewhere so mysterious and unknown was no easy thing. But TK didn’t want to be left out, especially if there was something going on in the Digital World, and it was possible Cody was his only hope of catching up with Yolei, Izzy, and Kari.

After a few moments, Cody looked back up at him, nodding. He walked over to the computer and held his Digivice up to the screen as Yolei had, while TK set his hand on Cody’s shoulder. The two are pulled into the Digital World, just as the other three had been, landing in a heap outside of a TV. Not too far from them were Izzy, Kari, and Yolei, having been joined by Tentomon, Gatomon, and Patamon.

TK pulls himself up quickly, “Patamon!”

“TK!” Excitedly, Patamon glides over, into TK’s arms.

Cody gets up and examines himself, Yolei having been in the process of doing the same. “Our clothes are different,” She observed. Strangely, it was only Yolei and Cody who had a wardrobe change, as TK and Kari were still in their usual clothes and Izzy was still in his school uniform.

“Must have something else to do with your Digivices,” TK wondered aloud, as that was really the only explanation.

“Whatever it is,” Gatomon began, crossing her arms, “we have a lot bigger things to worry about.”

More frantically, Tentomon added, “Like the Digimon Emperor! Or worse, Sea Angel! Who knows if any of them are around here…”

Izzy, Kari, and TK looked towards Tentomon, “The Digimon Emperor? Sea Angel?” TK asked, “Is that why Biyomon needed Sora?”

“It’s part that and part that we can’t Digivolve.” Patamon answers.

Gatomon nodded, “The Emperor’s found a way to stop it, not to mention I’ve lost my tail ring…”

Kari frowned, “You can’t Digivolve… well, we need to find Sora and Biyomon and make sure they’re okay. Then we can worry about this Digimon Emperor and Sea Angel.”

“The Digimon Emperor has Digimon under his control all over here,” Tentomon informs them, “we’ll have to be careful.”

Yolei had gone from studying her clothes to studying her Digivice, fiddling around with it, before speaking up, “Hey, the Digivice seems to show some kind of signal… maybe it could help us find your friend?”

Izzy looked over at the Digivice, curious, “It only shows two signals over there, and then two where we are…”

“Digivices?” Cody suggested, “Yolei and I have the same one…”

“So maybe it’s showing Digivices like our’s, but not like your guys’?” Yolei finished.

Nodding, Gatomon said, “There could be more Digi Destined we don’t know about yet.”

Determined, Yolei placed her hands on her hips, “Well, there’s only one way to find out!” She turned a direction, presumably the way that the signals on the Digivice were. She begins walking that way, to the surprise of the others.

Kari jogged to catch up, “Don’t go on your own, it’s dangerous and you and Cody don’t have Digimon.” The rest of them hurried to catch up in kind. Since their Digimon couldn’t Digivolve, it was probably better they all stay in a group, anyway.

A roar resonates behind them, thudding footsteps telling them that a large Digimon was near. Emerging from the trees was Monochromon, a dark ring wrapped around its leg and its eyes an unnatural red. Somehow, that probably wasn’t good news.

From TK’s head, Patamon exclaims, “One of the Emperor’s Digimon!”

“Run!” Tentomon called, as the kids and their Digimon began to do such. If their Digimon couldn’t Digivolve, there was no way they could fight a Digimon. It was better to just run and try to figure something else out.

Maybe in their running, they’d find those signals that Yolei was talking about.

---

“What will we do if we run into Sea Angel or the Digimon Emperor?” Wormmon asked worriedly from his place on Ken’s shoulders.

It was a good question, one Ken had thought plenty about since he’d left the Digital World the evening before. “You can Digivolve now,” he said, “so we can fight them.” He’s not really sure what they’d do if the Digimon were too strong for Shadramon or really what they could do about the Digimon Emperor or Sea Angel themselves. Digimon were one thing, but humans… Ken wasn’t sure what to do against a human threat.

“Do you think we’ll be able to beat them?”

Ken nodded, “You’re pretty strong, Wormmon.” He leaves out the part where they have to win. Because from what he’d heard, he wouldn’t want to see a future where they don’t.

And beating the bad guy and saving the day is what heroes did, and without anyone else here to be the hero, it was left to Ken. Whether he wanted it or not, he felt too strong of an obligation not to try. He knew Wormmon would be at his side the whole time, and that did make him feel a bit better about it.

At his praise, Wormmon rubbed the side of his head against the back of Ken’s, “That’s very kind of you to say, Ken.”

Unable to help himself, Ken smiled, reaching his arm back to give Wormmon a pat. “It’s true, I know I’m safe with you here.” He’d been scared, before, but now he felt confident that they could face whatever problems the Digital World, the Digimon Emperor, or Sea Angel sent their way.

He was a bit worried about Veemon, wherever he’d gone off to. But Veemon was a pretty strong Digimon himself, so he hoped that wherever he was, he was okay. Maybe he had some other plan. Regardless, Ken felt confident that he’d see him again, sooner or later.

Today they were back in the Digital World. When he’d arrived, he’d been startled to find his clothes had suddenly changed, though didn’t appear to dissimilar to what he usually wore. The biggest change was the purple jacket with a familiar symbol on his shoulders – the Crest of Kindness, in vivid pink. His shoes had changed into boots and he’d found himself with gloves, but those weren’t as noticeable of changes for him.

What caused the change in clothes he wasn’t sure, but he didn’t spend too much time dwelling on it. He’d been fiddling around with his Digivice the night before, trying to see what all had changed about it, and had found something that kind of reminding him of a radar or something similar. Nothing had come up when he’d been in his room, but he was hoping to find something in the Digital World.

To his luck, when he’d arrived, the radar showed two dots, other than himself. He didn’t know what they were, but they were a place to start. Hopefully they’d give him some kind of lead on the Emperor, or otherwise be useful. As he and Wormmon had been walking, two more dots appeared on the screen. At first, they’d been stationary, but now they were moving and towards the first two dots.

Well whatever the dots represented, Ken was determined to find out.

---

Yolei’s Digivice and their race to keep away from Monochromon led them to an old temple. But at least they’d lost Monochromon, for now at least.

Kari would admit, she was a bit worried about all of this. The new Digi Destined, the Digimon Emperor… but they had to stay focused. Their goals for now were finding Sora and Biyomon, and then figuring out how to fight back against the Digimon Emperor. One step at a time.

“Hey!” Yolei gasped, looking at her Digivice, “There’s another dot! And it’s moving this way!”

“Could it be another Digi Destined?” Izzy wondered aloud.

Cody frowned, “If it’s coming towards us then we’ll learn sooner or later…”

Before they can ponder the newest dot more, from further within the temple emerged Sora and Biyomon. Sora smiled when she saw them, “Izzy, Tentomon, TK, Patamon, Kari, Gatomon!” She waved.

“Sora!” TK hurried over to her, “Are you two okay?”

Sora nodded, “We’ve been hiding out here ever since that Monochromon showed up.”

Looking around, Kari asked, “Is there anyone else here with you?”

Puzzled, Sora shook her head, “No, it’s just Biyomon and I…” Then she seemed to remember something, “Oh, but you have to come and see! There’s these weird Digi Eggs!”

Curious, they all follow Sora further into the temple, back the direction that she and Biyomon had come from. The room opens up, revealing two pedestals, with strange Digi Eggs on them. Most notably, one had the Crest of Knowledge on it, while the other had the Crest of Love.

Examining them, Izzy notes as much, “They have our Crests on them.”

“That’s why it’s so weird. I tried to move them, but neither of them would budge.” Sora gestured at the Digi Eggs.

Not looking particularly worried, despite the less than ideal situation they were in, TK suggests, “Well let’s all give it a try. Maybe they just need the right person.”

TK tries first, no luck. Then Izzy, same results. Kari reluctantly tries, but just as she expected, neither egg budges. They all look to the back of the group, where Yolei and Cody had been hanging back.

“Looks like you two will have to try,” TK says as they all move aside to make room for them.

“Us?” Cody responded, looking a bit surprised.

Yolei appear less surprised, more excited, “Alright! Let’s do it, Cody!”

As she rushed over to the Digi Eggs, Cody followed, albeit somewhat reluctantly. Kari felt a bit bad for him, this clearly wasn’t his idea of a good time, compared to Yolei who was clearly enjoying herself. She almost hopes that the Digivice wasn’t meant to go for him and he could just put it all behind him, but she knows that isn’t the case.

Yolei takes hold of the Digi Egg of Knowledge while Cody gently grasps the Digi Egg of Love. “On three, okay Cody? One, two, three!”

On cue, the two pull on the eggs. Unlike the rest of them, the Digi Eggs come up from their pedestals, releasing a column of light from each. Out of those columns comes a Digimon. From the Digi Egg of Knowledge comes a bird like Digimon, not unlike Biyomon, but bright red. From the Digi Egg of Love comes an armadillo, bright yellow in color.

“…Woah…” Yolei and Cody both breath together, in awe of their new partners.

The bird speaks first, “A pleasure to meet you, I am Hawkmon.”

Then the armadillo, “And I’m Armidillomon. Ya’ll sure kept us waiting, didn’tcha?”

“Kept you waiting?” Cody echoed, tilting his head. “But we’ve just met.”

“Well-“ Hawkmon began, before he was cut off by the whole temple shaking.

Looking around, trying to see if the building was at risk of collapse, Izzy wonders, “Was this triggered by moving the Digi Eggs?”

Then Monochromon’s roar cuts through the room, telling them an answer. Probably not, but they had worse things to worry about. Namely, Monochromon. They run towards the entrance of the temple, peering out to find Monochromon at the bottom of the steps. He was a bit too big to really go up them, but instead seemed content to ram at the temple and its steps. Presumably he was still after them.

“What should we do?” Sora wondered, “None of our Digimon can Digivolve.”

Patamon’s wings flapped a little, not quite enough to raise him off of TK’s head. “Maybe we can hold him back long enough for you all to run away.”

TK visibly stiffened and Kari frowned, quickly replying, “That’s too dangerous. Even together you don’t stand a chance against Monochromon. Not when he’s like this…”

Like an answer to the question of what to do, in a blaze of flames something crashes into Monochromon, even succeeding in moving him away from the steps. It was an insect Digimon that seemed to wear fiery armor. Unlike Monochromon, he didn’t have a Dark Ring, so as far as Kari was concerned in the moment, he was on their side.

“Quick,” She called, “While that Digimon’s keeping Monochromon busy!” She began to sprint down the step, Gatomon at her heels. This was their best chance to get away, they just had to hope that Monochromon was kept busy long enough.

As they reached the bottom of the steps, Monochromon roared and threw the other Digimon away, past them and into a tree. It seemed even it was out matched. Beside the Digimon, a boy appeared from the trees, wearing a bright purple jacket.

He looked at the Digimon in shock, “Shadramon! Are you alright?” The concern in his voice wasn’t unfamiliar, Kari had heard it a lot. Had used it a lot. That’s how they all were when their Digimon might be hurt.

The Digimon, Shadramon shakes it off, glancing to the boy, “Don’t worry Ken, I’m alright. Make sure the other kids are okay.” With that, his wings came out again and he raced back to Monochromon – pushing him away from them, again.

The boy, Ken, looked over to them surprised. “There are others here…?”

“No time for that,” TK replied, “We have to get out of here, I’m sure Shadramon will be alright.” The group made their way towards Ken.

It looked like Ken was about to agree with TK, before his eyes landed on Yolei and Cody. Or more specifically, the Digi Eggs they held. His eyes widened and he said, “Those Digi Eggs… if you use them to Digivolve your Digimon, we might be able to break the Dark Ring!”

Both Yolei and Cody looked down at their Digi Eggs, “But… I thought Digimon couldn’t Digivolve?” Cody wondered.

“The Digi Eggs are special,” Ken told them, “That’s how Shadramon’s able to fight, he’s using the power of one of the Digi Eggs.”

“Then what do we do?” Yolei asked.

Ken blinked, like he was surprised by that question, but only for a moment. “Oh, well… I guess I just kind of knew…” He shook his head, “Well it’s like…”

With a resounding crash, Shadramon is slammed on the ground, a light enveloping him as he returned to his Rookie form, a green caterpillar Digimon. Ken froze, for just a moment, paling. Kari knew that expression, she’d seen it plenty before…

“Wormmon!” Ken was already dashing towards Wormmon as he called out for his partner.

It takes a moment for the other Digi Destined to process it before Sora calls out, “Wait! It’s dangerous!”

Yolei looks over at Hawkmon, “We’ve gotta do something!”

Hawkmon flapped his wings and brings himself to eye level with Yolei, “Just say the words.”

And somehow, both Yolei and Cody seemed to understand. They looked at each other, determination in their eyes, and nod. Then they hold up their Digi Eggs and call out, “Digi Armor Energize!”

Light bursts from the Digi Eggs and wrap around Hawkmon and Armidillomon.

“Hawkmon Armor Digivolve to…Flybeemon! The Needles of Knowledge!”

“Armidillomon Armor Digivolve to… Pteranomon! The Wings of Love!”

The two Digimon fly to Monochromon, taking his attention. Kari and TK, with Gatomon and Patamon, hurry over to Ken. Ken picks up Wormmon, cradling him in his arms. He’s mumbling something to Wormmon they can’t make out, when they finally reach him.

“Let’s leave it to them,” TK said, gesturing towards the fighting Digimon.

Looking up from Wormmon, Ken watched the fight, for a moment, squeezing Wormmon just a little tighter. Seemingly trying to comfort him, Wormmon nuzzled his head against Ken, “I’m okay, Ken.”

Ken nodded, silent.

Flybeemon breaks the Dark Ring on Monochromon, he and Pteranomon keeping a distance, until it became clear that Monochromon no longer had an interest in fighting. Then the two return to being Hawkmon and Armidillomon and land.

Rejoining with the others, they all introduce themselves to Ken. In return, quite politely, Ken introduces himself, “My name is Ken Ichijouji.”

“So that makes three,” Cody observed, “Three of us who have Digimon who can Digivolve.”

Silently, Ken nodded.

Yolei tapped a finger against her cheek, “But only two lights came out of the computer yesterday…”

“Oh,” Ken’s eyes widened, “Lights? I think… I was already here. When I got the Digi Egg of Courage, three lights came out. One changed my Digivice, and the other two went past… maybe those went to you?” He pulled out his own Digivice, to show it. To confirm, Yolei and Cody pulled out their own. They all appeared to be of the same design, albeit in different colors.

“The Digi Egg of Courage, huh?” Sora wondered aloud, “Well, you were pretty brave today. I bet Tai would like you!”

Seeming surprised, Ken blinked, “T-Tai?”

“My brother,” Kari explained, “He used to have the Crest of Courage. Ah, I guess you wouldn’t really know what that is…”

“Well I…” Ken seemed unsure, but whatever he might have said was cut off.

TK looked him over, “I take it you don’t go to Odaiba Elementary?”

Again, seeming surprised, Ken responded, “No… I live in Tamachi.”

In response, Izzy asked, “Then there’s a portal over there?”

“Yes,”

“We can at least meet up here.” Yolei said, “And we can email when we’re in the real world.”

Perplexed, Ken asked, “Meet up?”

Wormmon looked up at him, “It would make more sense to work together. Three Digimon are better than one, after all.”

“I… guess that’s true.”

---

Ken isn’t sure what to make of the other Digi Destined. He hadn’t interacted with them much, and even when he had been, he’d admit he hadn’t really known what to do or say. They’re strangers to him, really, and as right as Wormmon was about working with Yolei and Cody being better than not…

He was apprehensive, he supposed. Glad, certainly, to not have to bear the weight of being the hero, now. He could go back to being a helper but not the primary force, like before. He was far more comfortable in that sort of position. But still, he had never been the greatest with people. Ryo had been different – he’d already known Ryo. He didn’t know these new Digi Destined.

But three were better than one, so Ken supposed he’d have to get to used to them.

[writingpaperghost]

Standin' By Your Side (Chapter 1)

Chapter 1: The One Who Inherits Courage

A fateful email brings Ken Ichijouji back to a wondrous world, except this time, it's a lot more frightening and a lot more dangerous. Joining a group of other Digi Destined, they work to save the Digital World from the Digimon Emperor, but his problems don't end there. Between his relationships with the other Digi Destined, his relationships with his parents and his brother, and something from his past nipping at his heels, Ken worries he might drown in it all. Who is the Digimon Emperor and why is he doing this? Why was Ken chosen to return to the Digital World? Why, when the darkness reaches into his heart, does his neck hurt? Meanwhile, Kari Kamiya and TK Takaishi return to the Digital World, now joined by Yolei Inoue and Cody Hida, faced with the terrible threat of the Digimon Emperor, a human like them and not a Digimon. They're joined by Ken, a quiet boy who keeps to himself but seems at home in the Digital World. And lastly, of course, on the edge of it all, a red cloaked Digimon and a little burning sun stone watch. At least, they're on the edge of it for now, and goodness knows that Sunmon won't let his sister help their dream friend all on her own. Now if only big brother wasn't so over protective…

AO3: https://archiveofourown.org/works/66149626/chapters/170485993

Ken Ichijouji’s life had been painfully normal for the last three years, give or take. If one were the ask the eleven-year-old, and he were to answer truthfully, he’d probably say that his life had peaked during his very first trip into the Digital World. Sure, there were a lot of things trying to kill him and that whole Milleniumon thing, but he’d made a great friend in Wormmon, and he’d gotten to go on an adventure with both him and his friend Ryo. Of course, he’d gotten sick right at the end, once Milleniumon was defeated, and when he’d gotten better Ryo had disappeared. Not just from the Digital World but from the real one too.

He'd wondered where he’d gone, but Ken couldn’t find a clue and as much as he still kept an eye out, he couldn’t spend all of his attention on it. Ken’s life went on. His boring, painfully unexceptional life. It wasn’t even really that Ken cared that he wasn’t noteworthy, it was more that he wasn’t and his older brother, Sam, was. Sam was a genius, so of course their parents loved him more. In comparison, Ken was nothing. Sometimes, he couldn’t help but stare at the computer, now a hand-me-down from Sam, who had recently gotten a new one, and try to will it to let him back in, but it never mattered.

Today was one such day, sat at his desk, his studies abandoned in favor of thinking about the Digital World and Wormmon. Everyday, he hoped that Wormmon was okay. He was a capable Digimon, sure, but without Ken, his abilities were somewhat limited, as he wouldn’t be able to Digivolve. And he knew Wormmon well, even in the best of times he could be quite anxious and unsure. Still, hopefully Wormmon had friends of his own in the Digital World, then he at least wouldn’t be alone without Ken.

Alone like Ken was, nowadays.

Just as he turns his attention back to his textbook, he hears the notification sound of an email coming in. He expects it to be garbage or something, but he looks up anyway, eyes landing on the supposed sender and subject line. “Veemon” and “Help”. With a new vigor, his accidentally flings his pencil off the desk in an effort to reach his mouse to open the email.

TO: Ken Ichijouji

FROM: V mon

SUBJECT: help

hi ken!

I no it’s been a wile an all, but we could realy use your help here! I found wormmon and he’s safe, so dont worry about that. lots of stuff has happened sins you were last here, and now we digimon cant digivolve! this mail should have a portal to the digital world in it, so just hold your digivice out and youll be able to come.

please hurry!

V mon

Ken has to reread the email a few times, trying to process it all. The Digital World was in trouble again, and Veemon was asking for him to help, again. He just hoped this time it wasn’t any kind of ruse, though with Ryo gone, he doubted it. Regardless, he wouldn’t take the chance. There was just one problem…

He needed his Digivice. And his Digivice had been in Sam’s drawer since his first adventure into the Digital World. Of course, Sam was at the library studying late tonight, so that would make it easier…

Before he even knows it, Ken’s stood up from his desk, quietly making his way over to his door. He’d just have to hope his parents were too distracted to notice that he was trying to sneak into Sam’s room. When they were younger it wouldn’t be that strange for him to play in Sam’s room for a bit, but that hadn’t been the case in years. Sam left the door unlatched, making it quiet enough for him to slip in, and he knew exactly what drawer the Digivice was in.

The time that had passed since Sam had put the Digivice in there had resulted in it being buried, but Ken got the impression that Sam didn’t use this drawer much anymore, as the top piece of paper was a study sheet dated a year and a half prior. It doesn’t take much searching to find the familiar light blue device, though it felt smaller, now that his hands were bigger.

Still holding it, he slipped back out of Sam’s room and into his own. Immediately, his gaze lands on his computer, the email still displayed. There was a file attached to it, he walks over and clicks on the file to download it.

Once he’s greeted with the portal, he recalls what Veemon said in his email. Just hold his Digivice up…

The sensation of becoming data and being brought into the Digital World wasn’t new, but it wasn’t exactly something Ken was used to. It was like his whole body fell asleep, for just a moment, before waking up in something just shy of a shock of tingles. And then he stumbles to the ground, surrounded in a lush forest, hued a bluish green.

“You’re here!” Rang an excited and familiar voice. Ken sits up, looking to his side where a blue and white dinosaur creature stood. Veemon, he knew, was a very old Digimon, despite his small appearance and youthful energy.

“Veemon,” Ken couldn’t help but smile at the sight of Veemon. “You said there was trouble?”

The second that Ken stood up, Veemon grabbed his hand and began to lead him through the forest. “Things have gotten crazy!”

“And where’s Wormmon? You said he was with you…”

“We’re going, he’s hiding. It’s not really safe for Digimon, right now.” Veemon led him through the forest, either knowing perfectly where he was going or knowing not at all and just confidently walking forward. With Veemon it was hard to tell.

The idea that it wasn’t safe for Digimon was concerning, certainly. Even when there were troublesome Digimon around, there were usually a few other Digimon trying to stop them. Then again, if that were the case, Veemon wouldn’t have asked Ken to come here. Whatever was going on, he obviously felt that it needed the aid of the Digi Destined.

Veemon leads Ken to a tree surrounded by a particularly dense patch of brush. Clearly having seen them coming, Wormmon crawls out, a certain excitement obvious in his eyes when he sees Ken, “Ken!”

“Worrmon!” Unable to help himself, Ken scooped Wormmon up. It had been a couple years, Ken had grown bigger, making Wormmon seem smaller than he had when they’d last met. Still, he fit well in Ken’s arms and there was something comforting about holding him again. There was something comforting about being back in the Digital World, too.

“Oh Ken,” Wormmon began, “It’s been terrible! This horrible boy, the Digimon Emperor, showed up one day with this black Digivice, and ever since he’s been enslaving Digimon with these black rings and forcing them to do his bidding.”

A boy? “The… Digimon Emperor?” A human? Ken had come to the Digital World expecting another digital threat, another Digimon like Milleniumon or Diaboromon. Not a human threat. “He’s a… Digi Destined?” Why would someone who would enslave Digimon ever get a Digivice to begin with?

“He’s got help to boot, another boy, Sea Angel,” Veemon added, “together, they’ve been taking over the Digital World!”

“And… Digimon can’t Digivolve?” Ken recalled Veemon said something about that in his letter, but truthfully, he was still trying to wrap his head around the earlier information. The threat to the Digital World was another Digi Destined. He’d never even considered that possible.

Both Wormmon and Veemon shook their heads, as Wormmon answered, “Something that Emperor’s doing keeps any Digimon from Digivolving.”

“Does it affect you, too?” Wormmon couldn’t usually Digivolve on his own, anyway. He needed Ken and his Digivice to Digivolve into Stingmon, since they were partners. Of course, Ken supposed Wormmon wouldn’t know, either.

“Even partnered Digimon can’t Digivolve,” Veemon answered, though Ken wasn’t sure how he knew for sure. Unless some of the other Digi Destined had been here with their partners and tried. Ken wouldn’t exactly blame the Digimon for turning to other Digi Destined first, but then why resort to him at all? He wasn’t so good at this as Ryo was, Ryo had more practice when Veemon had first asked for his help and worked with him. “But! I know a way that you and Wormmon can specially Digivolve!”

Both Ken and Wormmon looked at him and blinked. Together, they asked, “You do?”

Veemon nodded excitedly, “That’s why I called you two. C’mon, I’ll show you!” He hurries off, Ken only able to keep up due to having longer legs than him.

Despite Veemon’s eccentricities, Ken would admit he was curious just what he was going to show them. He didn’t think Veemon was making it up, but that didn’t necessarily mean he was right, either. He might believe he knows a way that Wormmon could somehow Digivolve and turn out to be wrong. Or he could be right, and then Ken… then Ken and Wormmon could stop the Digimon Emperor and Sea Angel.

Provided, of course, that Veemon was right about this. And Ken wasn’t sure what scared him more, the idea that Veemon was wrong and there wasn’t anything Ken could really do, or the idea that he was right and Ken would be thrust into another quest to save the Digital World.

They walked in silence, for a while, the hues of the forest passing by, occasionally breaking way into clearings. It wasn’t long before Ken could the brown of a cliffside nearby, through the trunks of the trees. The area was unfamiliar to him, nor did he know how frequently locations in the Digital World might shift. He recalls hearing, once or twice, that time in the Digital World, once upon a time, had moved faster than in the real world, though now they seemed to be about equal.

Peeking out above the treetops, Ken spies a black obelisk, its dark form piercing into the sky. “What’s… that?” He asked, pulling one arm from Wormmon to point at the strange structure.

“The Digimon Emperor built those, too,” Wormmon answered, “all over the Digital World.”

“Might have something to do with keeping Digimon from Digivolving,” Veemon suggests, “But I dunno for sure…”

If Veemon was right, which Ken doubted given it seemed mostly conjecture, then finding a way to destroy that would allow Digimon, at least within a certain area, to Digivolve. It would be worth figuring out just what the dark obelisk’s purpose was, regardless. Knowing might provide an idea as to what the Digimon Emperor’s goal was.

They enter a cave, walking into the darkness that he light from outside couldn’t pierce. Something about it made Ken uneasy, maybe it was just trusting Veemon, who was well meaning but not always the most competent, to lead them through without trouble. But Veemon had never knowingly led anyone astray, and even the possibility of having a way to fight back against this Emperor filled Ken with the motivation to brave the darkness. The light from outside faded further and further away, but in return, a new light began to emerge. A soft, warm glow, emanating from what Ken thought at first was a strange rock.

Veemon hopped over to the rock, gesturing grandly, “Ta da!”

Ken set Wormmon down and approached Veemon and the rock. Upon closer inspection, it was more egg-like in shape, colored red, with a pattern appearing like orange flames, with a yellow emblem on it. From the top of the egg-shaped rock, a silvery horn poked up. It was at least four times the size of a regular chicken egg, though, the closer Ken got to it, the more he could feel a gentle heat radiating out.

Wormmon is the first to voice confusion. “A Digi Egg?”

“Not just any Digi Egg,” Veemon says proudly, “The Digi Egg of Courage!”

“The Digi Egg of Courage?” Ken echoed.

Frowning, Wormmon sent a small glare Veemon’s way, “And this will help us how?”

Seemingly remembering that he hadn’t actually explained that much, Veemon elaborates, “It’s kinda like the Crest you used to have, Ken. Except this Digi Egg unlocks a very old form of Digivolution. Since it’s so old, the Digimon Emperor probably doesn’t have a way to stop it.”

Still regarding the Digi Egg, Ken said, “But my Crest was the Crest of Kindness, not Courage.”

“C’mon, everyone’s got more than one trait to them, I bet you could use Courage.” Then, more awkwardly, he added, “It’s also the only one that I know where it is.”

The symbol of the Digi Egg looked familiar, now that he thought about it. A sun. Then Ken placed it, he’d first seen it when WarGreymon and MetalGarurumon fought Diaboromon. This symbol had been on the back of WarGreymon, it was the Crest of Courage. While he’d never ended up meeting the boy who would have had that Crest, he had met his partner.

“Wouldn’t it make more sense to ask the pair who had this Crest to use this Digi Egg?” He doesn’t doubt that Agumon and his partner wouldn’t be willing to, given how ready Agumon seemed to help before.

Veemon considered that for a moment, looking like he was thinking hard, though his expression seemed a bit exaggerated. When finally he was finished, he said, “I think it would be better if it was you. I know you and Wormmon can do it.”

Maybe to some it would be reassuring to have Veemon’s faith, and broadly it was, for Ken. But some part of him felt heavy at Veemon’s words, for reasons he couldn’t explain in the slightest. Still, Ken reached out to the Digi Egg, before hesitating and looking at Veemon again.

“So what do we do?”

Cheerfully, Veemon answered, “Just take the Digi Egg and use it to Digivolve!”

Right, just take the egg… Again, Ken reached out, then grabbed the Digi Egg. There was resistance, for a moment, when he pulled, but it quickly gave way. Once the Digi Egg was removed from its place, a bright light emerged from where it had sat, then the beam of light split into three. Two flew out of the cave, well past Ken, Wormmon, and Veemon, and the other flew towards the waistband of Ken’s pants, where his Digivice was clipped.

The light engulfed the Digivice and it transformed, changing shape. Surprised, Ken picked it up, examining it. Before, it had been entirely a pale blue color, but now it was white, dark grey, and a light blue. Wormmon peered up at it, “It looks… like the one that the Digimon Emperor has.”

Ken turned his attention to him, “Like the Digimon Emperor’s?”

Wormmon nodded, “Not black, but the design’s the same.”

That was… odd. He looks at Veemon, “That light changed my Digivice, but what were the other two?”

Veemon thought for a moment, before shrugging, “I dunno.”

As usual, Veemon was incredibly helpful.

Returning his attention to the Digi Egg, Ken wondered allowed, “So Wormmon can use this to Digivolve?”

Giving a thumbs up, Veemon nodded, “Yeah! It’ll be super cool!”

Somehow, Ken wasn’t entirely sure about that. And until he and Wormmon figured out how to use the Digi Egg, he couldn’t really know for sure if Veemon was even right about what it could do. He was certainly more convinced than he’d been earlier, there was clearly something special about this Digi Egg. He just wasn’t entirely sure if it would really allow Digivolution.

Before he could ponder the Digi Egg further, a roar resonates through the cave, causing Ken’s heart to drop.

Looking over to Veemon, Wormmon asked, “Please tell me there’s a friendly Digimon in this cave.”

Almost sheepishly, Veemon answered, “Uh… well not that I know of.”

No more questioning could be done as a Raptordramon appeared, roaring once more. Its eyes were red and around its arm was a strange black ring. That must be the Dark Ring that Wormmon and Veemon had spoken of, putting this Digimon under the Emperor’s control.

“Uh oh,” Veemon shouted, “Guess you better figure out how to use that Digi Egg!”

As if that was easy to figure out, given how little Veemon had given him to work off of. All he had was ‘use the Digi Egg to Digivolve’. Which wasn’t exactly a lot, since it came back to just. Not knowing how to use it at all. Sure, maybe it could Digivolve Wormmon, but how?

Raptordramon charged at him, causing Ken to dive to the side. Wormmon dived to the other, thankfully unharmed. Veemon, though out of the way of the attack, was still quite close to Raptordramon, having stayed still when it charged.

Looking as determined as Ken had ever seen him, Veemon braced and threw himself at Raptordramon, “V-Headbutt!”

While the attack seemed to cause Raptordramon to pause for just a moment, before it turned its attention to Veemon.

When Ken had first been to the Digital World, it was amazing and wonderous. Even when it was dangerous, he had never really felt terribly scared. Even when he and Ryo were facing Milleniumon. Ken must have gotten more easily frightened, since then, more cowardly, because in this moment, his heart beat so quickly. Terror, he thinks, of Raptordramon and what it might do.

Desperately, he looked to Wormmon, pleading. “Wormmon!” He called to his partner, hoping there was something he could do, but in the moment Ken was too panicked to really think of what.

Webbing spewed from Wormmon’s mouth as he called out “Sticky Net!”. It wrapped around Raptordramon and stuck against the cave floor, but Raptordramon’s size and distance from any other surfaces meant that Raptordramon was able to pull free rather quickly. Still, it was enough time for Veemon to duck away and put some distance between himself and Raptordramon.

Another roar from Raptordramon and Ken’s mind kept racing. “We need to get out of this cave,” He called to the other two. There was no way this tight space was benefitting them, and they stood a chance to run away if they made it out of the cave.

Raptordramon swiped at Wormmon, who quickly jumped away. “That might be difficult, Ken,” Wormmon yelped.

“If you use the Digi Egg-“ Veemon began, before dodging a swipe from Raptordramon himself.

“I don’t know how!” Despite his efforts to stay calm, Ken just couldn’t. They were in danger, Wormmon couldn’t Digivolve, and he was scared. Scared like he’d never been before.

Raptordramon kept its attention on Veemon, unfortunately. Still, he tried to give him some kind of idea of what to do. “Just be brave, Ken!”

Brave. Right now, Ken felt anything but. And yet, watching as Veemon tried to avoid Raptordramon’s attacks, he could help but want to help. Do something to get Veemon away. Finally, Raptordramon bit Veemon and flung him, out towards the entrance of the cave.

“Veemon!” Ken called, hoping that he was okay enough. If Veemon replied, Ken hadn’t been able to hear it. And right now he had bigger things to worry about, as with Veemon out of sight, Raptordramon turned its attention towards Wormmon.

Some part of Ken was grateful not to be targeted himself, another part was horrified that it was Wormmon who was. Wormmon put on a brave face, but Ken knew him, knew that he was surely just as frightened as Ken was. That lights something in Ken’s chest, something that burns and aches all the same, as suddenly his feet are pushing him towards Wormmon, as Raptordramon bares its fangs.

Grabbing Wormmon, Ken tried to just as quickly move away, a bit like stealing the ball in soccer and then trying to put distance between yourself in your opponent. Instead, Raptordramon snaps at him, causing Ken to fall so it bites the air where Ken had once been instead of Ken. Still in his hand, the Digi Egg of Courage burns.

“Ken…” Wormmon begins, “I think we can do something.”

Ken sees it too. Or rather, some part of him knows, intuitively. Maybe it was the Digi Egg that told him, he didn’t know. But he drops Wormmon, just as he holds up the Digi Egg of Courage that burned and burned and called out, “Digi Armor Energize!”

Light exploded from the Digi Egg of Courage as it disappeared from Ken’s hand, the light wrapping around Wormmon. And though Ken was still frightened, he somehow knew that this was good. This was what Veemon was talking about.

“Wormmon Armor Digivolve to… Shadramon! The Flames of Courage!”

Shadramon, much like Wormmon’s usual Digivolution of Stingmon, was an insect, but he wore flame patterned armor, which greatly resembled the Digi Egg of Courage.

“Flare Buster!” Fire burst from Shadramon’s hands, blasting towards Raptordramon.

From behind Ken, he can hear Veemon cheer, “You did it! You used the Digi Egg!”

Compared to Veemon and Wormmon, Shadramon fairs a great deal better against Raptordramon. The best Veemon and Wormmon could do was slow Raptordramon, but certainly not fight back. Shadramon could fight and it seemed reasonable to think he could win.

Standing up, Ken watches as Shadramon destroyed the Dark Ring on Raptordramon’s arm. The moment it breaks, the red disappeared from its eyes. Warily, both Ken and Shadramon watch, trying to see if something might happen.

“You should let it through,” Veemon calls out, “With the Dark Ring broken, the Digimon Emperor has no hold over it.”

Still a bit unsure, Ken steps aside, Raptordramon passing by him without issue. It seemed Veemon was right, as it didn’t seem to be interested in attacking them, now. That was good to know, at least.

Shadramon returned to being Wormmon, and a device that Ken hadn’t thought was in his pocket beeped. It was a small, handheld device, but bigger than his Digivice. Instead, it had a screen and a full keyboard, and on the screen Ken could see the Crest of Courage. Was this where the Digi Egg of Courage had gone.

“So with this Digi Egg… we’ll be able to fight against the Emperor?” Ken asked, partly meaning to and partly wondering aloud without entirely realizing it.

Veemon nodded, “Yeah, it’s not effected by the Emperor, he can’t stop you from Digivolving with it. It’s the only way to fight back.”

In return, Ken nodded, looking towards Wormmon, “We’ll stop the Digimon Emperor, then. Wormmon nodded in kind.

“Great!” Veemon cheered, “I’ll have to leave you guys for now, I can’t really help you…”

“We can worry about that tomorrow,” Wormmon said, “It’s getting late and Ken should get home.”

The three walked towards the entrance of the cave, finding that the sun was beginning to set. Still, Ken didn’t like the idea of leaving the Digital World with things unfinished. “What about the Emperor?”

Wormmon shook his head, “For some reason… the Digimon Emperor and Sea Angel only seem to operate during the day.”

That was curious, “I suppose if they’re both human, they must still have things they need to sleep and get up for, in the morning.” It was possible it would be easier to deal with the two, if that were the case, in the real world. Where they, like Ken, were nothing more than humans, maybe even kids too. Maybe wrestling the Digivice from them, which would keep them from being able to return to the Digital World. It would be a good idea to keep in mind, though Ken doubted it would be very effective, as he’d still have to figure out who the two were.

“Probably,” Veemon agreed. “Head back to the TV you came out of and you’ll be able to go home. And you should be able to keep using that portal from your computer, so you can come back whenever you want.”

Ken nodded. Some part of him was excited to be able to be in the Digital World again, to come and go as he pleased. Another remembered the fear he felt when Raptordramon appeared. And another part balked at the expectations now set upon him. He had to stop the Digimon Emperor and Sea Angel. He and Wormmon, no Ryo to help them this time. They were on their own.

It was up to Ken to be a hero, even though in the real world, he was nothing.

Going through the TV, he and Wormmon – Minomon, rather, tumble out of his computer screen. He hopes the thuds didn’t draw attention from any of his family, though he really doubts it. It’s not like they pay him much mind – why would they, when Sam was right there? Genius, talented, wonderful Sam. In comparison, Ken may as well be a ghost that lived with them.

At least he had Minomon, now.

---

“Yolei?” Cody Hida called out when he saw his friend leaving the computer lab, he clutched the strange device that had come flying out of nowhere in his hand. They lived in the same building, so it wasn’t uncommon for the two to see each other and spend time together.

Yolei Inoue turned to him, surprised for a moment, something too clutched in her hand. “Oh, Cody, do you need something?”

“I’m just surprised to see you here so late,” He replied.

“I could say the same about you,”

He smiled a little, “I was reading in the library and lost track of time. Did something happen in the computer lab to keep you busy?”

She contemplated for a moment, before answering, “This weird program appeared on one of the computers and I was trying to figure out where it came from. Then these lights blasted out of the screen and I got this…” She held up a device, just like the one that Cody had.

He held up his own, “You too?”

Looking between the two devices, Yolei wondered, “But what are they?”

[writingpaperghost]

Between Father and Daughter

Akiko wants to prove herself. Wants her father to stop trying to make her leave. That turns out to be pretty hazardous, though.

This was originally written for the Rider System zine. I procrastinated on posting this, but if you haven't already, you should check out the zine! I decided to get around to posting this properly instead of posting an entirely new fic/au. Which I've written so like the problem is already here but who cares. I can have all the WIP I want.

Zine: https://rider-system-zine.itch.io/rider-system-a-kamen-rider-zine

AO3: https://archiveofourown.org/works/66120625

If Akiko were being honest, she hadn’t planned this far ahead, but now sure would be a good time to figure it out. In front of her, the man who she had been quite certain was the culprit in her father’s current investigation. And she’s still quite confident in that, but there was a wrench thrown in that had moved to the back of her mind prior to this moment. The man had pulled out an unusual USB stick, on that was styled to have rib like bones around it, and in the center a letter “L” in the shape like lightning.

It hadn’t occurred to her that there could be a Dopant involved in this case at all. Truthfully, the concept of the monsters had fallen to the back of her mind, for the most part, despite her rather frightening first encounter with one a couple weeks ago. That time, the Kamen Rider, the same one that Shoutaro had spoken of both before and since, had arrived to intervene, protecting her and Shoutaro from the Dopant. Somehow, she wasn’t sure she’d be so lucky, this time.

…Maybe she ought to learn to keep Dopants in mind next time.

As it were, now was as good of time as any to try to come up with a plan for what to do in this situation – she didn’t have Shoutaro for help, he was busy studying, that just hadn’t been enough to dissuade her from trying to help her dad. So she was on her own, which definitely limited her options but didn’t remove them entirely. The best option would be to find a way to keep this guy from using the USB stick at all – that was what would transform him into a Dopant, after all. Though that was easier said than done, but Akiko at least had the upside of looking very non-threatening, which would surely be helpful in this situation.

“Hey, uh, that’s a bit much, don’t you think?” Akiko called out, holding her hands up. Despite her efforts to sound confident, even she could tell her voice sounded nothing like it. “I know I probably came on a bit strong, what with accusing you of stalking Ms. Hayashi and all… but you know, a firm no or any other denial would get the point across perfectly fine.”

“No,” the man said, “You know too much, obviously.” He seemed to press something on the USB stick, causing a sound to ring out in the otherwise empty air.

Lightning!

Pulling his sleeve up, he revealed on his arm what appeared to be a USB port, embedded in his skin with lines like a circuit board branching out from it. He brought the USB stick over, and it seemed to be absorbed into his body. From there, his body morphed, becoming a monster – a Dopant.

She’d never seen someone become a Dopant before, some part of her hoped never to have to see it again, if only because of the impending danger. If she wasn’t in danger before, she certainly was now.

Akiko takes several steps back, as the Dopant crosses that distance even more easily. She needed a plan, now. Quick. Getting away from the Dopant was the biggest thing, though she suspected she wasn’t going to have much luck outrunning it. Still, she wasn’t sure she had much better ideas, either. She couldn’t fight it off, so really the most she could do was run away.

Whelp, either this would be a story she could tell to Shoutaro to stress him out and get funny reactions, or she would die. She really hoped it wouldn’t be the second one, but that was going to depend entirely on her ability to hightail it out of here and her luck. Spinning on her heel, unfortunately now with her back to the Dopant, Akiko breaks into a sprint.

With a loud cracking sound, something strikes the ground just behind her, she feels heat on her heels. It feels like her hair is beginning to stand on end. She doesn’t know what exactly a “lightning” Dopant can do, but she could make some guesses. Those guesses were not pleasant. Another crack and she falls, thudding on the ground before she can realize it, her foot felt painfully hot. Though she tries to scramble forward, she can tell her foot isn’t going to like having too much weight put on it and there was no way she’d be able to outrun the Dopant while she was on the ground.

The wind blows harder – they’re out in the open, really, very visible and with nothing to hide behind. Still, the wind grows stronger, until it’s to a strength that Akiko has only felt elsewhere when it’s funneled between buildings. She’d think, if there were any light plastic chairs or garbage, they’d be blown away. If only it could blow the Dopant away.

Instead of the wind blowing the Dopant or anything else away, it brings that hat wearing masked hero, the Kamen Rider. He arrives swiftly, punching the Dopant and dragging it away from Akiko. Using this opportunity, she scrambled away, relieved that the Dopant was now far more focused on him instead of her.

She makes her hiding spot quite aways away, behind a fence covered in bushes. Peeking around the corner, even from this distance, she finally gets a chance to get a good look at the Kamen Rider. Black, with armor that was patterned like white bones, even his helmet resembled a skull. He had a tattered white scarf, and a white fedora, not unlike her father’s. It seemed Sokichi Narumi was not the only person in this city with that peculiar penchant for fedoras. She hoped that the Kamen Rider had better tastes in books, at least.

Bringing her head back around, so that her back was now to the fight and she was still hidden, Akiko sighs. Her attempts to prove to her father that she could help him were… not going that great. Both times had led her to encounter Dopants! What were the odds of that? Either Dopants were way more common than she thought, or she had awful luck. Either way, it was a real hindrance. She hadn’t even told her dad about her first misadventure, and she hoped to avoid telling him about this one, too.

Though, looking down at her foot and her quite singed shoe, she suspected that it would be easier said than done. It seemed like the Dopant had burnt through her shoe and had probably burned the back of her foot at least a bit. Hiding that from her dad would be tricky, but not impossible, if she gets Shoutaro’s help. She could probably play it off as something far more mundane, as long as he didn’t see it until after she tried to do something about it and replaced her shoes.

While she had been in her thoughts, the sounds of the fight had died down, and the wind had calmed, though it was still stronger than in most cities. Prompted by the sudden silence, she peeks her head around the fence again. The Dopant and the Kamen Rider were gone, scorched marks on the ground the only sign that anything had happened there at all. Well, at least the monster was gone…

“Akiko,” Her father’s voice causes her head to snap back around. There he was, standing in front of and looking at her, his gaze as serious and unreadable as ever. For a moment, the wind kicks up again, causing him to place a hand on his hat.

So much for hiding her foot.

Still hoping that he might not notice, though, she quickly stands up, unable to hide her wince. Her foot wasn’t as bad as she thought, she could stand and she thinks she could walk, but it’s definitely unpleasant. That was good, technically, but she’s not sure it’ll help her much in it evading her dad’s notice. “Hey dad,” She said awkwardly, “Funny seeing you here…”

It's hard to tell, with his expression, but she doesn’t think she was convincing enough that he bought it. “You’re hurt,” He said, gaze moving down to her foot.

“Oh,” she had really hoped he wouldn’t notice, “It’s not too bad…”

He pulled his hat down as he turned away, “I hope you’re beginning to understand why I tell you my cases are dangerous. The Kamen Rider won’t always be there to save you.”

That caused her to frown, narrowing her eyes a little, “Not all your cases have- have monsters involved. That’d be ridiculous.”

“Many do, and you can never know for sure which do until it’s over.” He replied, beginning to walk away. He probably knew Akiko would follow him, just to continue the conversation. Which she did.

“But I can help, anyway,” She argued, hurrying to catch up with him and get to his side, just so she could be arguing with something other than his back. The wind blows at her back, almost as though it was trying to push her towards him. “You can go do all the bits you’re convinced are dangerous, but I can help you. Let me help you.”

If Akiko were being honest, she doubted that she’d have any better luck than Shoutaro. Realistically, her dad knew Shoutaro far better than he knew her, and thus would have plenty more reason to be willing to let him help. Akiko didn’t have any of that, just a couple months of having been in Fuuto and eight years of never hearing from him. But she still had to try – and maybe then she could figure out just why her dad stopped talking to them. Why he disappeared.

If nothing else, she wanted to prove to him that, whatever his reasons were, he was wrong. That she could prove herself, and with little influence from him.

“It’s too dangerous,” He responded, like he always did.

“That’s what you always say.”

“Because that is the truth. Fuuto is a dangerous city, and even more so when you do what I do.” He paused for just a moment, casting a glance her way. Then he begins to walk again, the whole moment so brief Akiko barely caught it.

Frustrated, Akiko’s steps were a bit heavier and harder than she meant them to be, her injured foot protesting the action. “Then why are you doing it!?” She asked, her frustration evident in her tone, “If it’s so dangerous, why would you put yourself in it? What’s so important about this city that you’d be willing to risk yourself for it? That you’ve left-“ the rest of her last question catches in her throat. In that moment, the wind seemed to stop entirely.

In the end, isn’t that question what it’s always been about? What’s so special about Fuuto that he’d leave his wife and daughter, cut off contact until she forced it on him? It was something that had plagued her for years, ever since she realized he was never answering her calls again, let alone coming home to visit. The thing that had drove her to Fuuto in the first place.

When she’d told her mom, her mom had studied her for a moment, before telling her that she truly was her father’s daughter.

She hadn’t really understood that, at the time. She still didn’t. The man she was begging for answers from, trying desperately to pry them from, was nothing like her. They were nothing alike, that was more apparent to her now, having seen him again, than it was when she left Osaka two months ago.

This outburst caused her father to stop, his feet planted firmly on the pavement beneath him. He doesn’t look at her, instead staring starkly ahead. For a moment, she can see his eyes, until he pulls the brim of his fedora down again, the shadow hiding them from her sight. How frustrating that was, how he hid himself from her. From everyone.

A silence falls between them, tense, heavy, and stressful. Infinitely more frustrating than if he just said something. Her father was awful at saying things.

Though her father stopped walking, Akiko did not, placing herself so that she now stood in front of him. In the early evening sunlight, not quite hidden behind the buildings of Fuuto, she can’t see much of his face at all, even if he wasn’t wearing the fedora. But that didn’t matter to her.

He had to see her standing in front of him.

After another moment, he looks up, actually looking towards her. For a moment, she wonders just what he sees, when he looks at her. A little girl? A teenager? A woman? Or maybe just something to regret, something he wanted to put behind him. Something he wished would go back to Osaka – had stayed there and never came to Fuuto in the first place?

Finally, Sokichi Narumi – the stoic and serious Sokichi Narumi – simply said, “You’ll listen to me, when I tell you something’s not safe and you need to leave.” He began to walk again, walking around her with such a breadth that you’d think Akiko was diseased. The wind picks up again, blowing against Akiko, once again trying to shove her towards her father. “And Shoutaro can teach you some things to help keep you out of trouble.”

Akiko blinked, turning so her gaze could follow her father as he walked, not waiting up. “…What?” Was he… agreeing to let her help?

Despite her shock, he paused again, turning to look back at her. “You may have gotten yourself into danger, Akiko, but you did good today.”

“I… did?” She wanted to be confident and proud, but she felt more confused and unsure.

“The only reason I knew where you were was because you told Shoutaro, and he told me. He was worried about you,” Her dad continued, and for once she can see his face properly. It’s still so serious, but Akiko thinks she can see something… fond in it. Maybe even something a bit like pride, though the rational part of her brain told her that was incredibly unlikely. “I hadn’t been able to pin down who was stalking Ms. Hayashi.”

She swallowed the strange lump that had formed in her throat. She’d… been able to figure out something before he had? Had found the culprit? Sure, that had been the goal of going through all this in the first place, but she hadn’t thought that she’d be able to do that good. Her expectation was to mostly just come to the same conclusion as her dad and best-case scenario beat him to the culprit.

But she’d done better than that. She’d figured it out before him. So much so that he only figured it out when he did because she’d told Shoutaro who she was confronting about the stalking, and Shoutaro had blabbed to her dad! That was better than she ever could have hoped for. Maybe she really could pull off this detective thing, at least enough to help her dad.

Akiko stared at her dad, the setting sun shining on his back, the wind having calmed to a gentle, comforting breeze. Before he turned away again, she thought he might have been smiling, just a little.

It feels like one of Akiko’s childhood birthdays again, the ones that her dad had been able to come up and visit for.

[writingpaperghost]

RIDER SYSTEM ZINE IS OUT NOW!

"Let's Go!! Rider Kick!" Rider System is a collaborative community zine, bringing together 25 illustrators and 9 writers to express a shared love of Kamen Rider... and it's free! Check it out on itch.io! https://rider-system-zine.itch.io/rider-system-a-kamen-rider-zine

[writingpaperghost]

That Boy

In some of Ken's hazy memories, there's another boy, with a Digimon of his own. If only Ken could remember him.

Offhand mention of The Beginning, but it's pretty vague.

This is pretty much just me trying to sort of... reconcile the kind of weird integration of the video game tie in stuff in 02. And mostly the fact that neither Ken nor Wormmon comment about the fact that there was someone else there in some of those memories. I tried to keep in roughly compliant with what we're shown in the anime and what happens in the games, but I'm not super familiar with the games, so it might be a bit off. Mostly I keep it vague, though.

AO3: https://archiveofourown.org/works/65784211

Even after the defeat of MaloMyotismon, Ken's memories of his time as the Digimon Emperor, and even of the Digital World before that, remained hazy, if there at all. He thinks he met Wormmon in a forest, that would make sense, given Wormmon's insect appearance. Wormmon wasn't Wormmon at the time, of course, instead being Minomon. He remembered a vast and amazing world, even though he couldn't remember any specifics, that sense remained with him even now. It was all new, all so wonderful.

He wasn't there alone, there was someone else, another boy. He can't see his face or recall his name, but Ken thinks he might have known him before coming to the Digital World. He was a Digi Destined too, had been before Ken had become one. And things happened, he doesn't remember any of that, either. But he knew for sure... somehow, it was all connected to the day he was embedded with the Dark Spore, that the other boy was the one he was trying to protect that day.

That was... before Sam died, though. Was that all his one trip into the Digital World, when the Digivice had first appeared to Sam and him? It had to be before Sam died, because the next time that Ken had entered the Digital World, he'd found himself in the Dark Ocean and his Digivice had become a D3. Though Ken can't remember for sure, he knows somewhere deep inside of him that the Digivice he had at the time wasn't a D3. Had that whole adventure, with the boy he can't really recall, been that fateful day?

Then again, the older Digi Destined said that time in the Digital World was once much faster than in the real one. So maybe that whole adventure had happened in the short amount of time that had passed over here. Enough that no one would have known... if Ken hadn't so earnestly told Sam. He didn't regret telling Sam, the older he was, and as he talked with some who had younger siblings themselves, the more he at least understood where Sam had been coming from.

At the end of the day, they'd both been only children, and Ken was far past blaming himself for the accident. His wish had nothing to do with Sam's death, it couldn't have. Because it was nothing more than a wish.

The gaps in his memory had been troubling, at first. Especially when those circumstances and his past had been so important to trying to understand the plan of Oikawa - or rather Myotismon. As time passed, though, it bothered him less. The boy was still a haze, no name or face to him, just a presence, but the rest of that trip into the Digital World, and then his later sins as the Digimon Emperor, had come back to him. He tried not to let the latter get to him, even if there were moments when his remorse felt almost too strong to bare.

Sometimes, he'd ask Wormmon about his missing memories, and Wormmon would do his best to answer. Though Ken had yet to ask him directly, he seemed to dance around the other boy, trying to avoid even bringing him up. Ken should probably just ask him straight up, specify that he wanted to know more about his friend. Maybe it was guilt that stopped him. Another person who he might have hurt or disappointed, someone who he hadn't seen in years and could be upset by that.

It was only after meeting Lui Ohwada that Ken began to find the courage. As much as it had been necessary, Lui had reached out to an old friend, one who'd hurt him and he'd hurt, and they... talked it out. A happy ending, really. Maybe Ken wouldn't so lucky with that boy, if he could ever even see him again, but waiting around wouldn't help him. If anything, it would just make it more likely they'd never be able to reunite.

Leaning back, stretching as he took a break from his studies, he glanced over to Wormmon, curled happily on Ken's bed. The only person who knew what happened during that adventure, who knew anything about that boy... was Wormmon. Pushing his chair away from his desk, he stood up, walking over the bed.

"Wormmon?" he called, hoping that it was early enough in the evening Wormmon had yet to fall asleep.

He sees Wormmon lift his head up, "Yes, Ken?"

Ken brings himself to sit beside Wormmon, "There's... something I've been meaning to ask you. About the first time I went to the Digital World."

"Oh, we've talked about that a lot already... is there still something we haven't? I guess you wouldn't exactly know if I was forgetting something..." For a moment, Wormmon sounds troubled, before adding, "Or did you remember something?"

"It's more... there's something you never bring up, when you're telling me about that time, or helping me remember. Someone, who's never brought up." Ken tries to think of him. Anything hint of an identifiable trait... but still, he's met with nothing.

Wormmon tilted his head, "Someone?"

Looking down at Wormmon, Ken replied, "Yes, there was another boy with me, I remember him. Not much, but... who was he?"

He's met with silence, Wormmon staring at him curiously. He seemed in thought, too, like he was also trying to remember something. Finally, after several moments had passed, Wormmon said, "I thought I'd gotten confused."

"Confused?"

"About him being there. I... also don't remember who he was, or why he was there. I don't even know if I'd recognize him... but he had a Digimon, too." That matched what Ken recalled, not that he could quite remember what Digimon. But Wormmon couldn't remember the boy well either? He'd always assumed that there was something to do with the Dark Spore that was keeping him from remembering, but Wormmon wasn't effected by the Dark Spore.

"So... you don't remember him either?" When Wormmon nodded in agreement, Ken frowned. "So it's not because of the Dark Spore... I remember I'd been trying to protect him from the Dark Spore, but then... that day was the last time I'd saw him. Or at least, I never saw him after I left the Digital World, that I can recall."

Wormmon let out a nervous, troubled hum, "Oh... I wouldn't know if you saw him after you left, since I hadn't gone with you... but he'd helped me, I think, when you were recovering from being infected with the spore. For a while at least." Again, that troubled hum.

"Maybe he lives far away," Ken pondered, though it was really just an effort to distract himself from the more worrying details. If this boy was his friend, then why couldn't Ken remember seeing him in the real world? Or maybe... he had and Ken had driven him away, after Sam's death? If only he could remember a name, then he could ask his parents...

"Maybe," Wormmon agreed, still sounding nervous. "I wish I could remember more, but I guess my memories are messed up to, at least about him. I'm sorry, Ken."

A small smile came to Ken's face as he gently patted Wormmon's head, "It's alright, it's not your fault."

That seemed to alleviate some of Wormmon's tension, as he lets out a pleased sigh, "I hope that you remember the boy, one day. I think you could be friends again."

"I hope so too, Wormmon, I hope so too."

---

I wanted to put here some thoughts I have about why Ryo's presence in the flashbacks is never mentioned. While I don't really state it directly in the story, my thought is that the whole dimension traveling ends up... not necessarily erasing Ryo, but it makes it so no one, at least involved in the Digital World stuff, can really remember him. So Ken and Wormmon know he was there, knows he did things and that they knew him and Ken was his friend, but they can't remember what he looked like, really acted like, or what his name was.

[writingpaperghost]

Anyway my very very coherent thoughts about Digimon Adventures 02 is:

Man I Love Wormmon

[writingpaperghost]

Finally got around to watching all of Digimon Adventure Tri (I watched the first movie several years ago when I got it on DVD, but it's been years and it was just that one), and. Man. I mean, I had fun, there were some parts I really liked. The OST was great, and it feels very much like it was meant to be one last big thing for Adventure (at least the original cast). I should say, I haven't actually watched the first season of Adventure, just 02.

Anyway, thoughts:

I really feel like this should have been a 25is episode tv season and not six movies. That would be about the same run time but segment it up a bit better, I think it would also let you have a cliffhanger episode end. One of my complaints is that they never cliffhang in a way that actually like. Made me want to know more. They continue an extra 10-20 minutes before ending and I'm like. what. Plus there's very much enough content for that style of show.

Then there's. The plot, lol. It's mostly okay, I liked them having to face problems in their life before they can reach Mega level. There were definitely a few moments with Meiko and Meicoomon where it felt. A bit forced. And also like. I dunno, some parts I can't quite believe. Obviously Tri takes place over several months, but like... You'd think Kari and TK, at least, would notice their friends are missing. And given how Ken's parents reacted to not knowing where he was in 02... obviously it's been a couple years, but I find it hard to believe that the parents of these four kids wouldn't be like. Calling their kids' friends to see if they knew where they were. And presumably TK and Kari still go to at least the same school as Davis, if not Yolei and Cody (kinda unclear on everyone's ages so maybe they might not be, but Davis was their classmate, so he would be unless Davis' family moved). (can you tell I really like the 02 cast?). And then there's the whole thing with Meicoomon having data from all the Digimon in her, which I would love to know why. Does it have something to do with her be the Libra? What even is the Libra? What was her intended purpose, before Apocalymon's data got into her?

Also, like, King Drasil. I don't mind him existing as an intangible force pulling the strings. It's just. They introduce him as an antagonistic force, but by the end of the last movie, we're just told he's just. Gone. Removed by Homeostasis (an equally intangible force and one that is only sometimes antagonistic). I don't know, it feels really anti-climatic. Not to mention he's such an intangible force that we don't even know he exists until over halfway through. Like sure, Alphamon attacked Meicoomon for a reason, but we don't have any clue what that is or that someone's ordering it around until the fourth movie. and that's not a big deal, but it makes King Drasil just feel... unimportant. because he doesn't actively cause anything again until the fifth movie. Sure, he's the catalyst for a lot of the plot, he corrupted Gennai (or rather, one of the Gennai's, as the real Gennai appeared to be in cryostasis with the 02 cast), used Himekawa's desire to see Tapirmon again to get her to cause a Reboot, all that. But it just feels... like there needed to be a bit more. Also, it's just... if Homeostasis could remove him this whole time... why didn't he do it sooner? Even if it was too late to avoid Meicoomon causing trouble, I feel like it would have made Hackmon/Jesmon's life easier. Although I'd love to know why he couldn't just. Delete Meicoomon, even if his power was limited to the Digital World... well, she was back there for a bit.

Speaking of Himekawa... her ending with the Dark Ocean makes sense, but it just kinda brings back my thoughts from my 02 watch last week. Which is man, I really wish they got to do or would do something with that proper in the coming future. Tell me more about this place.

In regard to Dark Gennai, I don't mind him as a villain, but I do have to question why he took the appearance of the Digimon Emperor. I assume the reasoning was because he was the only living human villain from either Adventure or 02, as well as being a bit of a way for the DigiDestined to notice that the 02 cast was missing, but I feel like it would work better in something more 02 related. And then... I assume Dark Gennai was destroyed with King Drasil, but I feel like... they both could have been interesting to have as antagonists again.

I feel like most of my complaints with Tri could really be resolved if Tri was a proper season, maybe even a full 50 episode season. Like, the first half could be what we got in the movies, and then the second half could be about doing something about King Drasil. Maybe this is also helping Homeostasis with getting rid of him, but they'd definitely wouldn't be doing it because of him. Maybe even they get occasional help from Hackmon/Jesmon along the way. And in their attempt to defeat/change the mind of/otherwise put a stop to King Drasil, they're stuck having to deal with the Royal Knights, but at the same time, not all of them would probably agree with what King Drasil is doing. (I know some of the Royal Knights are antagonists in at least one other season of Digimon but I've only actually seen 02 right now). Although I guess that does start sounding a bit like the latter half of Digimon Story: Cybersleuth. I still wish they did a bit more to resolve King Drasil and Dark Gennai than just having Homeostasis make them go away off screen.

I think that's all my thoughts, at least for now, coming off of the watch. Over all, it feels like a good bookend to Adventure, even if it's lacking in some ways. I have no intention of watching Last Evolution Kizuna any time soon. Because ever since I saw the trailer back when it was coming out I have despised the premise (I hate coming of age stories where people are forced to abandoned parts of their childhood forever for completely arbitrary reasons) and thus it is noncanon in my heart.

[writingpaperghost]

The Wind Will Take You Along (Chapter 4)

Chapter 4: Don't Touch the M/Play With a Joker

Akiko and Phillip head to the Million Colosseo to try to stop the Money Dopant. This is not what one would call smooth sailing.

AO3: https://archiveofourown.org/works/57870910/chapters/164850646

There’s a flash of people. A couple and two girls and he knows them very well. But he can’t see their faces or hear their voices or remember anything of note. Nothing to tell him who they were.

When Phillip wakes up, on the floor of the upper section of the garage, he’s overcome with a very specific feeling. He knows those people he saw. They were his family. He needed to know who they were. Taking a deep breath, closed his eyes and let himself fall into that familiar, comforting place.

The Gaia Library was a vast, infinite expanse of white, broken up by infinite shelves, filled with book after book. All the knowledge in the world was here, at his fingertips. He only ever just had to find it. He’d spent much of the past twelve years here, reading and researching, finding something or other that would catch his interest for days or weeks on end. Sometimes even months, if the topic was broad enough.

Now his research was often shorter, broken up by Akiko trying to make sure he slept and ate and such, or her needing his help with a case. It was different, far different from everything he had known before. But not bad, he didn’t hate it in the slightest. For all of Akiko’s flaws, she had done her best with him, though she’d clearly hadn’t a clue what she was supposed to do. Protect him, sure, but that had seemed quite the daunting task, at first.

Phillip was in the unique position of being privy to Akiko’s thoughts, at least when they were transformed into Double. Whether she knew it or not, her thoughts would bleed over, even if they often lacked distinction. It was enough to tell Phillip things. Though they had not always gotten along, still didn’t sometimes, they had learned to work together. He simply came into her life at a bad time, even if he didn’t see why she had seemed so cold to him at first. He had little control over her father’s death. But people were strange like that, and Akiko was no exception.

But back to his task at hand. He searched through the shelves of the Gaia Library, picking words to narrow down what shelves and books were even showed to him. Really what he wanted was quite simple though, something so specific. “my family”. The book appears soon enough, and breathlessly, Phillip opens it.

All the pages are blank, except, most likely, the ones that were torn out.

He’d never seen this before. Never seen information in the Gaia Library that he couldn’t access. So then why was this different? Why was his family the knowledge that eluded him?

---

Akiko accepts that by the time she woke up, there was no way she was going to be able to catch up with the bus and find the Million Colosseo. She’d just have to wait until tomorrow… or maybe Shoutaro might actually tell her, though she wasn’t going to get her hopes up.

She’d deal with it tomorrow, she had enough stuff to worry about. Like Phillip, who just… froze up, at the mention of family. It wasn’t entirely a mystery – Phillip couldn’t remember anything prior to the organization he’d once been held by. Not even a name, as he told her not long after their meeting that it had been her father to name him Phillip.

So if he had any family, he knew nothing about them.

She’s brought out of her musings by the jingling of bells and the calling of her name, “Oh, Aki!”

Turning towards the source, she’s greeted with the ever-joyous Santa-chan, dressed as ever in his Santa Claus costume, carrying his red bag. What was in it she never knew, it seemed to change every time they met. He, like Watcherman, often helped her on her cases with finding information. Much like Watcherman, she was introduced to Santa-chan by Shoutaro.

“Santa-chan,” She smiled, “Hard at work, huh?”

He nodded, “Passing out presents to all the good people of Fuuto,” he rummaged around his bag, before producing a little gift bag and holding it out. The bag itself was pretty nondescript and gave no clue as to what its contents were. “Here, ,erry Christmas!”

Never mind that it was September, Akiko accepts the gift, “Thanks, I guess.” This was pretty normal for Santa-chan, but Akiko was never really sure what to do when he did things like this. “Any occasion?”

“You just looked like you could use it,” He laughed, before walking off, still calling out “merry Christmas!”

Looking inside the bag, Akiko finds a deck of playing cards. She was pretty sure they had some at the office, but truthfully, she’d never found much use for them. And she probably wouldn’t for these, either. Still, she sticks them in her pocket and heads back towards the agency.

Once she’s back there, she decides her first order of business was to check up on Phillip. Opening the door to the garage, she finds Phillip scrawling furiously on the whiteboards. Phrases like “why are they gone?” and “missing pages?” are discernable, but Phillip had a terrible habit of writing in many languages, not just Japanese.

“Phillip?” she called out, concern lacing her voice. “You okay?”

He spun to face her, this sort of frantic expression on his face, “I can’t read the pages, Akiko. They’re gone.”

She approaches, confused, “What pages?”

“The pages on my family,”

He must have meant in the Gaia Library, that’s usually what he meant when he mentioned books or things related to them. But she’s never heard of pages from the books being gone. “What do you mean gone?”

“Torn out. But I don’t understand how.”

She wasn’t really sure what to tell him. Still, she could see that it was bothering him greatly. “I’m… sure there’s some reason. And I’m sure you’ll figure it out.”

“Perhaps…”

Akiko wasn’t sure what more to try to say. This wasn’t exactly something that had happened before – and maybe if it wasn’t the book about Phillip’s family, it wouldn’t be so bad. But it was and there wasn’t much she could do.

And then her phone rings. Shoutaro, it looked like. She hoped he was alright, but odds were, he’d made it to the Million Colosseo. She takes a few steps away from Phillip to give him space.

The moment she opens her phone, she hears Shoutaro speaking, “I found Yuko Izumi.” He said. There was quite a bit of noise in the background.

“So she is at the Million Colosseo,” it was good to confirm it, but it brought a new worry as well. Primarily, how long before Yuko became one of those coins that the Dopant had. “Listen, Shoutaro, I think there’s a Dopant there, and if she loses too badly…”

“I’ll make sure it doesn’t get that far,” He assured.

She frowned, “You should get her out of there. Or as many people as you can. Otherwise, it’s only a matter of time…” She shook her head, though he couldn’t see it. “Where is the Million Colosseo, anyway?”

“Don’t worry about that, I’ve got it handled.”

“Shoutaro,” If they were in the same place, she’d hit him with her slipper again.

“Just leave I to me, okay? Neither of us may be Kamen Riders, but I can at least arrest the Dopant.” Though Akiko can’t hear it well, she hears some kind of commotion begin on the other side of the call. Shoutaro cursed then said, “Guess I’m gonna have to figure out how to intervene with the Money Dopant, now…” She doesn’t think he meant for her to hear that, though, given how it sounded a bit like he was hurriedly shoving his phone in his pocket, though he hadn’t closed it or manually ended the call. That he had to be doing on purpose.

Most of what she hears for the next few moments is just the rustles of fabric. By now, Phillip has wandered over, listening just as intently to the phone call as she was. Vaguely, she can hear Shoutaro’s voice and what sounded like the Dopants, but she couldn’t make out any of what they were saying, either.

Finally, there was something they could make out, Shoutaro angrily calling out, “I’m not going to let you just… turn her into some coin! This is ridiculous!” It sounds like he fishes his phone out of his pocket, “Akiko, I’m going to-“

It sounds like the phone is snatched out of his hand, prompting Phillip to gesture to Akiko for her own phone. She figured he must have a plan, so she hands it over.

“You are the one who runs the Million Colosseo, yes?” He asked, sounding not all concerned about the fact that Shoutaro could be in a lot of danger.

It’s the voice of the Dopant that speaks, “That I am.”

“I have a challenge then. I believe I can beat you.”

Shocked at his declaration, Akiko hissed, “Phillip, what are you doing?”

Phillip ignored her, continuing, “I’ll even bet the Gaia Memories we possess.”

“I didn’t hear about this!” She barely kept her voice quiet enough not to be picked up on the phone, pulling out a slipper. Oh, Phillip was going to get it when that phone call was over!

“Well isn’t that an interesting bet,” The Dopant said, “I’ll take you up on that challenge. You just come here to the Million Colosseo, and we’ll begin.”

With that, the call ended and Phillip handed Akiko back her phone. As she took it back, she whacked him with her slipper. “What the heck? You bet our Gaia Memories?”

Phillip rubbed the side of his head, where her slipper had come in contact with him, “I won’t lose. There are games in gambling which are entirely matters of statistics.”

She sighed, “I hope you’re right… I guess we better get going to the Million Colosseo, then.”

---

By the time that Akiko and Phillip get off the bus and arrive at the Million Colosseo, the casino is empty, save for the Money Dopant and Shoutaro. Akiko plans to change that and figure out how to get Shoutaro out of there. After all, they couldn’t have him there if they were going to fight the Dopant, and the odds were that they were going to have to do that, even if Phillip could out play the Money Dopant.

Phillip spent the whole trip researching, making sure he was ready for the task he’d set up for himself. She supposed he wasn’t entirely wrong that a lot of gambling was statistics, and she knew he was good at that sort of things, but she also doubted that the Dopant would play fair. Though knowing Phillip, he’d at least taken that partly into account.

“Alright, we’re here,” She said, gaze moving between Shoutaro and the Dopant. “Phillip will keep good on his challenge.”

Shoutaro looked between her and Phillip, “Just what exactly did he do?”

“Challenge the guy who runs a casino to see who’s better at gambling, pretty much,” She replied, before grabbing Shoutaro’s arm and pulling him towards the door, “Now you get out of here and let us handle it.”

“What? Shoutaro dug his feet in, “No way!”

She gave another hard shove, “We’ve got it handled! Phillip is good at these things!” Through some miracle, she managed to get him to the door.

Shoutaro still protested, “Akiko!”

With one last shove, she gets him through the door and shuts it. Now she and Phillip could just focus on the Dopant, and she wouldn’t have to worry about Shoutaro figuring out they were the Kamen Rider. The Dopant and Phillip had already begun their competition, a game of roulette.

True to Phillip’s assurances, he was doing well. She supposed roulette was pretty much just statistics, although Phillip’s proficiency was still pretty impressive. Already, he was winning the Money Dopant’s coins, the ones that held his victims inside. As long as he could keep it up, they wouldn’t have anything to worry about.

Which is why it shouldn’t have surprised Akiko when the Money Dopant found a way to change that. Though really it was more surprise that there was anything to find at all.

Though given his previous reaction to the topic, it shouldn’t have been either.

“You are pretty good at this,” The Money Dopant said, and then continued in a cheeky tone, “Bet your family’s pretty proud of you.”

And at the mention of family, Phillip froze. It all started going downhill from there. Though she was sure that Phillip was doing his best to focus, he clearly couldn’t. Too shaken from the mention of his family, even though he had to know that the Dopant had only said anything at all to try to get under his skin.

Soon enough, all that work, the coins and then one by one Gaia Memories, were in the hands of the Money Dopant. There was no way Phillip was going to be able to turn this around as it was. He just couldn’t focus. With just the Joker Memory still in their possession, Akiko puts a hand on Phillip’s shoulder.

“Hey, why don’t you let me take a go?” She said. He stared at her, confused and surprised. But silently stood up, letting her take his seat. “Alright, you let Phillip choose roulette… well I’m going to choose something even simpler.” She pulled out the deck of cards that Santa-chan had given her.

Truthfully, Akiko was shit at cards, but she liked to think she had gotten good enough at bluffing and dodging the truth – she did it enough when it came to her father and her role as Kamen Rider. And that was half of what you needed for card games, being able to convince your opponent that you were better off than you really were. And the game she had in mind really only needed her to keep her expression from telling too much.

“A card game,” The Dopant observed, “I’m sure you have something in mind.”

“Old Maid,” Akiko answered, “but this should be even higher stakes than before, since I’m not the one who challenged you to begin with. If you win, you’ll get the Joker Memory, but if I win… well, winner takes all, I say.” It was easier to act like she was confident about this than it was to actually be confident. Her heart was racing but at this point they were too deep in to come up with another plan.

The Money Dopant laughed, “Then let’s begin.”

Old Maid is not a game of skill, not really. You could perhaps judge by someone’s expression what card you might be reaching for, once you’re out of pairs, but even that was easy to hide. And the Money Dopant didn’t exactly have an expressive face, so Akiko was at a disadvantage in that regard. It was mostly luck, really.

The table they sat at was high enough, though. High enough to hide the W Driver when she placed it around her waist. Even if Phillip wasn’t the most focused, she hoped that maybe he could focus enough to help her out. She could tell, though, that he was distracted. It took a bit of effort to keep her mind off of that.

It turned out that Akiko was not… having the greatest luck today, though she was already thinking that when she’d started this game. Still, the important part of the game was the end. It didn’t matter, in a two-person game, how many pairs you’d made. What mattered was that you made the last one. And now there were only three cards in their hands, two in the Dopant’s, and one in Akiko’s.

One of those cards was the queen, and if Akiko grabbed that one, then the Dopant would know which of the cards she held was the joker. The other card that the Dopant held was the joker to match Akiko’s. She needed to choose the right one.

And Akiko was at a loss.

“Choose carefully,” The Dopant said.

Reaching out, Akiko studies the Dopant and the cards he held, doing her best to keep her breathing steady. As her hand approached the cards, she felt an unnatural feeling going down her arm. They’d never tested it like this, but Akiko was willing to bet it was Phillip. She had no reason to resist his effort, she trusted his judgement.

Grabbing the card, Akiko turned it to look at it. With relief, she let out a breath she didn’t know she was holding, seeing that it was the joker.

Grinning, she said, “We win.”

That, of course, made the Money Dopant quite upset – he swipes up the coins, but Akiko beats him to the Gaia Memories. She tosses Phillip his and they take their places beside each other.

Cyclone!

Joker!

Now it was time to deal with this Dopant properly. Fighting monsters was something that Akiko felt far more confident in her abilities in. Of course, the Dopant seemed a little less interested in fighting, fleeing out the door. Akiko and Phillip follow suit, Phillip switching the Cyclone Memory out for the Luna Memory, extending their arm out to grab at the Dopant.

Changing the Joker Memory out for the Metal Memory, Akiko swings their staff as they bring the Dopant within range. Seemingly understanding that he wasn’t going to get out of the fight, the Money Dopant turns his attention to them. He fights back, now, which really just makes Akiko feel less bad. It’s one thing to fight someone who won’t fight back, it’s another when they will.

“Come on now,” The Dopant sounds more desperate this time, “Does your family know you do this?”

There’s a moment where Akiko can feel the knee jerk reaction in Phillip. Like when he froze before, but this time it doesn’t last. It’s a spike of emotion, but then it simmers down, more like normal.

Phillip changes the Luna Memory for the Heat Memory, “She does.” Flames lick around the end of their staff, “That won’t work on me again.” Akiko feels an… unusual warmth, not from the Heat Memory, but from Phillip.

“So then…” Akiko begins, knowing for certain that there was nothing this Dopant could do now to distract them.

They point at the Dopant, “Count up your sins!” Swinging their staff, they strike the Dopant, not all that bothered by the retaliatory punch that they received from the Dopant.

From there, they defeat the Dopant with practiced ease. They’d done this enough, and the Money Dopant couldn’t use its trick on them, and Phillip seems to have worked past the trouble from his family, at least enough to keep it from being a problem. And once the Money Memory broke, the Dopant’s victims were freed from the coins.

Slipping away from it all, they separated, and Akiko’s thankful that Phillip was able to slip out of the Million Colosseo before the police showed up. Shoutaro probably called them. She was just glad that he’d actually somewhat listened to her, this time.

As she and Phillip head back to the agency, Akiko notes, “I guess you’ve made some peace with your whole… family situation.”

Phillip looked over to her and gave her a small smile. “It’s simple. While I would still like to know about them and why that information is inaccessible to me… I cannot truly miss what I do not remember.”

She laughed a little, “I don’t know about that…” Sometimes, she missed all the things that she never got to do with her dad. The things that she’d hoped she one day could but now they would never come to be.

“Besides, I have you.”

“Me?”

“You, Akiko, are my family.” Phillip tells her, plainly.

Her walking pauses for a moment, though Phillip’s does not. Once her brain catches up to what he had said, she hurries to catch up to him. “I- hold up. I’m glad you feel that way and all but…” She stops herself from finishing the thought. He didn’t exactly have a lot of options, after all, so few knew he even existed, and even fewer truly cared about his wellbeing.

He tilted his head, “But what?”

She turned her attention forward, not quite able to meet his eyes, “Well, I’m just surprised. But… I do think of you as family, too.”

Out of the corner of her eyes, she sees Phillip smile, just a little.

---

The next day, Phillip wanders up from the garage to turn on the radio – he’d seemed to have acquired an interest in Princess Wakana too, now. Not that it was that unusual, she was quite popular, for reasons that Akiko didn’t really understand. At least she was already used to listening to Healing Princess, thanks to Shoutaro.

“And now it’s time for Fuuto Mystery Tour!” Came Princess Wakana’s voice. “What’s our newest rumor? Hmm… let’s see… wow, there’s a lot of letters about the Kamen Rider!”

That caught Akiko’s attention, at least more than normal. People had seen her and Phillip as the Kamen Rider a fair amount, sure, but this is the first time she’s really heard anyone talking about them.

Princess Wakana continues, “I hear that he’s protecting the city from monsters, now let’s see what our listeners have to say…” There’s a pause, and then she begins to read, “Princess Wakana, I got to see the Kamen Rider with my own two eyes yesterday! He was fighting some rotund, gold colored monster. It was pretty cool, though I didn’t get to see much.”

Akiko’s eye twitched, as she had to remind herself that when transformed as Kamen Rider, there wasn’t much to really identify the body there as a woman’s. They were just assuming. And it annoyed her they were assuming she was a man, but it was. Whatever.

She could deal with that.

---

Wakana watched as her sister’s fiancé walked through the gardens of the Sonozaki family home. She didn’t know what about him had caught Saeko’s interest, but knowing her, it was just that he was good at his job. All the things she could gather about him, though, just made her question why he was here at all. But if Saeko was going to act like she was so much better than Wakana, then so be it. She could retaliate in kind.

“Kirihiko Sudo,” She called out, leaning on the railing above the garden.

He paused, turning around and looking up at her. “Wakana, good afternoon.”

“You’re awfully calm for someone about to marry into the Sonozaki family, in just a few hours.” She notes, studying him.

“I have no reason to be worried.” He replied.

In response, she frowned, “Tch. Well, perhaps you should be. Father gave me permission to give you a little… test. See if you’re in anyway worthy of the Sonozaki family name.” She produced her belt and the Claydoll Gaia Memory. “So let’s find out.”

Claydoll!

She placed the belt around the back of her waist, the buckle coming around at the front. Moving the Gaia Memory, she brought it to the belt, back where she had placed what would otherwise be the front. The Memory enters and clay wraps around her, forming a more monstrous form, though not without its own elegance.

“If that’s what you’d like,” He still seemed calm, to her annoyance. He produced the Gaia Memory and belt that he’d only recently been given.

Nasca!

He transformed, just in time to dodge Wakana’s attack. How annoying.

[writingpaperghost]

The Wind Will Take You Along (Chapter 3)

Chapter 3: Don’t Touch the M/How to Get to Heaven

Akiko investigates a woman who's been acting oddly, joined by Shoutaro.

AO3: https://archiveofourown.org/works/57870910/chapters/164150074

It was a rarity for Phillip to ever actually leave the garage. He had a tendency to get so into his research he rarely had much reason to. But today was one of those days, where he was up in the office proper, making a beeline to the radio to turn it on and change it to a specific station. A familiar jingle comes on, one that Akiko has heard often from when Shoutaro visits.

Healing Princess, and Phillip’s tuned in just in time to catch the start of a new segment.

Shoutaro perks up, turning his attention to the radio.

“Now, everyone,” The voice of Princess Wakana comes through, cheerful as ever, “it’s time for our Fuuto Mystery Tour! Here we read submissions from our listeners and learn about all the rumors in Fuuto. It’s always so exciting.”

For most of the Healing Princess segments, Akiko usually tuned it out, but the Fuuto Mystery Tour could actually come in handy, sometimes. They were easily accessible rumors, even if there was no verification on the radio stations’ end. But it something sounded Dopant related, or relevant to a case, it could be useful. Not that she had any cases, right now.

“Dear Princess Wakana, have you heard about the Million Colosseo? I’ve heard that it’s some special casino, and that the people who go there either get really rich or lose it all. Some even disappear entirely! From D. Morimura.” Princess Wakana read, still cheerful. Then she comments, “Wow, something like that in Fuuto… well, you’d never catch me somewhere like that, but I wonder how it could hide so easily? You’d think something like that would be more talked about.”

“A casino, huh?” Shoutaro said, “It’s a surprise that something like that is only a rumor.”

Akiko rolled her eyes, “You can hide plenty of things if you know what you’re doing,” After all, somehow the organization creating and selling Gaia Memories has managed to keep themselves quite hidden. The only real sight of them she’s ever had was on that night…

The door to the agency opens and in walks what appeared to be a couple. The agency was no stranger to cases brought to them by couples, usually parents concerned in some way about their children – those were usually easy cases, worst case scenario the child had some delinquent tendencies, but very rarely were they ever getting in any real trouble. Sometimes the case would be for a missing child, instead. Those were harder, always made Akiko want to help even more – how awful it must be, to have your child missing and not be able to do much to find them? She made sure to try even harder, on those cases. Still, delinquent children were far more common of a case, so Akiko suspects this will be an easy one.

Thus, she’s a little surprised when it wasn’t quite either, “Our daughter, Yuko, has been acting strange.” The woman said.

“Dressing odd and she doesn’t seem to have any interest in our business anymore, either.” The man added.

Well, that was a bit different, but not too unusual. Sometimes kids lose interest in their family’s business as they get older. Still, it was obvious to Akiko that the two were concerned, so she figured it couldn’t hurt to look into it for the two. “I can try to see if I can find what it’s all about, then.”

---

As Akiko makes her way to the Izumi family’s business, she glances to her side and can’t help but wonder, “Shoutaro why are you coming with me?”

Shoutaro blinked for a moment, like he was surprised about the question, “It’s not that weird.”

“Maybe,” They investigated together frequently enough, sure, but… “Don’t you have work?” It was midday after all and she knows his break time isn’t this long.

“Oh, well…” He makes a bit of a face before answering, “It’s my day off.”

“You get those?” She asks, mostly jokingly. Everyone knew Shoutaro was practically married to his job – all he wanted was to keep Fuuto and its people safe, and in his mind that obviously meant getting Dopants and Gaia Memories off the streets.

This time his face is more of annoyance, “Of course I do.”

She laughed, “I know, I know.”

It’s only a few minutes later that they arrive at the Izumi family’s business, just in time to overhear what sounds like an argument. It seems to be between Yuko and her parents, though Akiko can’t make out too many of the details. Soon enough, they see a young woman, matching the picture that she’d been given of Yuko, hurry out.

“That’s her,” Akiko says to Shoutaro, “Let’s follow her and see what she gets up to.”

Keeping their distance but making sure that Yuko won’t notice them, they follow after her. They make it all the way to some distance, when a bus begins to pull up and Shoutaro grabs her wrist, stopping in his place.

He looks a bit like he’d just remembered something, “Hey… I don’t think you should keep this case up.”

“What? Why not?” Akiko pulled free of his grasp easily, he hadn’t been holding on very tightly.

“It’s, well…” He continued, “It’s just… I’ve heard some things… I think that this could be dangerous.”

She rolled her eyes, “There’s nothing wrong with a dangerous case, I’ve taken them before. Even if there’s a Dopant, there’s good odds that the Kamen Rider will show up and take care of it.”

His frown only deepened, “You could get hurt, and Boss asked me to keep an eye on you-“

At the mention of her father, she pulled out a slipper and gave Shoutaro a good hard whack, “Dad isn’t here right now! I don’t need you acting like I always need your protection.”

She turned to head towards where Yuko had been going, only to find that she wasn’t there anymore, the only thing she could see was a bus pulling away. For a moment, she can only stare in disbelief, before turning back to Shoutaro. “Now look what you’ve done! We’ve lost her!”

Shoutaro looked away, “It’s probably for the best.”

Shaking her head, Akiko began to walk away, “I’ve got other ways of finding her.”

---

“You see, this guy, Murasame, he’s lost an awful lot to the Million Colosseo.” Watcherman told her as they arrive at a house. “Not a penny left to his name. Or anyone he cares about, either.”

“Damn,” Akiko says. She knew people could get into gambling a bit too much, but she didn’t think it could get this bad. Then again, there was no proof that the Million Colosseo was a normal casino, either. “Well, thanks for the tip,”

Akiko knocks on the door, though there’s no response, so she just… lets herself in. It was empty, the only thing she ends up finding is a despaired man – Murasame, she assumes. He really had lost it all, if he was sitting here in a completely empty house.

“Mr. Murasame?” She called out, keeping some distance, “I was wondering if you could tell me about the Million Colosseo? I’m a detective, and I think it has something to do with my current case-“ She cut off by his wailing.

She can only make out some words, but it seemed to mostly support what Watcherman had told her, so she slips back out of the house, giving Phillip a call. As per usual, he picks up and is already ready to tell her all about his research.

“I’ve been reading about card and dice games, apparently they’re games that are commonly used when gambling,” Phillip began, and she can faintly hear him cap a whiteboard marker.

Unable to help herself, she smiles a little, “You’ll have to tell me more about it later, I’ve found some more info on the Million Colosseo.” She suspects that his current interest might have been born from overhearing about it on the Fuuto Mystery Tour, so he’d probably like to hear even if it wasn’t case or Dopant related.

“Oh?” Though she can’t see his face, she’s sure that there’s that glimmer of interest in his eyes.

“Found a guy, Goro Murasame, lost everything from his gambling at the Million Colosseo. Currently curled up in his empty house, though I doubt that’ll last much longer.” She felt a bit bad for him, really. “Guess his family must have left him or something.”

There’s a pause, before she hears Phillip mutter, “Family…”

“Phillip?” It was odd he was so quiet, unless he was looking something up.

She wanders back towards the front door of the house, waiting to see if Phillip would respond. Instead, she hears a commotion from inside, prompting her to flip her phone shut and hurry in. “Mr. Murasame?” She called out.

Instead of Murasame, she finds a rotund golden monster – surely a Dopant. It must have something to do with Murasame’s sudden disappearance. Pulling out the W Driver and placing it on her waist again, she calls out for Phillip but gets no response.

She’ll just have to handle this on her own then.

The Dopant swings at her and she ducks to the side, doing her best to keep up her mental nagging of Phillip. What had caused this, anyway? She retaliates with her own punch, though this Dopant was clearly strong enough that a bare punch wasn’t all that effective. Realistically, she probably just caused more pain for herself, but it would be fine, she could deal with that.

Finally, she hears Phillip’s voice breaking the silence, “Ah, a Dopant.”

“Yes!” She hissed, “Now hurry up!” Quickly, she puts a bit more space between herself and the Dopant, so she could actually have time to transform.

Cyclone!

Joker!

With just a moment more to spare, Akiko feels the wind wrap around her, despite their location in an enclosed space. They dodge out of the way of the Dopant’s attack, then point at it, calling out, “Now count up your sins!”

As Kamen Rider, it’s a lot easier to fight the Dopant and they’re able to move the fight outside. There was more room here, and Akiko would frankly feel a bit bad if more of the house got destroyed than needed. They trade a few blows with the Dopant before Phillip brings them back a bit, pulling out the Cyclone Memory.

Heat!

“I believe this shall work a little better,” He said, inserting the Heat Memory. Whatever had been bothering him before seemed to have worn off, it seems.

Just as they were preparing to finish off the Dopant, though, Akiko feels something hit them hard in the back, sending them down and out of their transformation. Though she tries to turn around to see it, she wasn’t fast enough as it seemed to be long gone. Gritting her teeth, she looked towards where the Dopant was, only to find it gone as well.

---

Akiko had been to the Wind Wave radio station before for other cases, though it wasn’t often. This was… a little more unusual, given she’d arrived to try to get more details on the Million Colosseo. Hopefully someone would be willing to give her access to some of the write ins for Fuuto Mystery Tour, though she somehow suspects it won’t be quite so easy.

“It’s not even all of the letters, I just want to know if there’s anything more about the Million Colosseo,” She said, trying very desperately to convince the person she was speaking with either let her see the letters or bring her to someone who she might be able to convince. Or at least tell her whether any of them even had anything to do with the Million Colosseo.

The person she was speaking with just shook their had, “We can’t do that, miss.”

Unable to help herself, Akiko frowned and let out a heavy sigh, walking away. Okay. Plan B. She didn’t have one but she’d have to come up with one, now. Whatever, she could make it work.

And then she sees a woman, one who she knows she’s seen before. It takes her a minute to recognize her, despite the fact that Shoutaro owns every magazine she’s ever appeared in in the last few years. Well, no one had ever said Akiko couldn’t be bold, so she approached the woman.

“Wakana Sonozaki, right? Host of Healing Princess?” She can already tell Princess Wakana wasn’t very interested in her presence, though she quickly hides it with a polite smile. “I’m Akiko Narumi, I work as a detective and I believe one of my cases has to do with the Million Colosseo, which you covered on your most recent Fuuto Mystery Tour segment.” When Akiko introduced herself, she noticed that Princess Wakana’s demeanor seemed to change, though it was so subtle she’s more convinced she was imagining it.

“Someone did send in a rumor they’d heard about it,” Princess Wakana confirms, “If you’re here, then you think you could learn more?”

Well, this was going better than Akiko expected. She nods, “Yeah, I was wondering if anyone else had sent in any rumors about it.”

Princess Wakana considers that for a minute, then gives a small nod, “We still have the submissions, why don’t we go take a look? They’re sorted through before I ever see them, but I have access to them and would be happy to let you take a look, Ms. Narumi.”

“That would be great.”

Princess Wakana leads her through the building to a room where they seemed to store things, pulling out a box of letters. She gives them a quick look over before telling Akiko, “These should be it.”

“Thank you,” Akiko quickly began to search through them all. Most of them were unrelated, but she did find a few about the Million Colosseo. Those letters all had one new detail in common between them. The way to get into the Million Colosseo was by getting on a bus, one that wasn’t apart of Fuuto’s actual public transit.

Well, Akiko can work with that.

---

Wakana watched as Akiko Narumi left the radio station. Though she’d heard plenty about her before, this was her first time meeting her. It was a bit of a surprise – she’d been annoyed when some detective had approached her, but learning just who she was had changed thing.

Before she heads home for the day, though, Shoutaro shows up. His hair’s a bit messier than usual, despite it being his day off. “I… just saw Akiko leave the radio station.”

“She wanted to know more about the Million Colosseo, and we had some more letters talking about it.” Wakana replied, “Something about a fake bus.”

He sighed, “Figures. Wait, shit, she’s going to try to find it.”

“Is that so bad?”

“Given the sort of person who’s running the Million Colosseo, yes.” Without another word, Shoutaro hurried out. Wakana watched him leave, curious, but figuring that Shoutaro would be fine. She had more important things to worry about, anyway.

Like convincing her father to let her test her soon to be brother-in-law.

---

Using the reports of where this fake bus was spotted in the letters to Fuuto Mystery Tour, Akiko was fairly confident that she’d be able to track down where the bus would stop. Then it was just a matter of getting on. Odds were, solving the Million Colosseo case would solve both her case for the Izumi family and have that Dopant dealt with. She’d just have to get herself to the Million Colosseo.

She sits on the Hardboiler, waiting. Her plan was simple, wait for that bus to come by – likely the one that had been by when Yuko disappeared – and then follow after. That would lead her to the Million Colosseo. She doesn’t have to wait too long, as the bus pulls up, stopping at a place that she knows isn’t a bus stop and letting a couple people on.

As it drives off, she follows suit. Soon enough, she realizes she can make out an awfully familiar looking person in one of the windows, prompting her to move even closer to take a better look.

“Shoutaro?” Not that he can hear her, but still somehow he knew how to look through the window out at her.

He had a smug look on his face, flashing her a thumbs up.

What was he doing there? He told her not to pursue this case and then he goes and does it himself? How hypocritical. She’d have words with him, after this.

Of course, her stewing and annoyance is interrupted by that gold Dopant again, causing her to have to focus less on the bus and more on it. Just their luck. She pulls to the side, the Dopant blocking her way.

She placed the W Driver on her waist, calling out, “Okay Phillip, the Dopant’s here again, let’s get rid of it, this time.”

“Naturally,” Phillip responded, “This time, we’ll just have to keep aware for anyone possibly intervening.”

Cyclone!

Joker!

“Sounds like a plan to me.”

They get off the Hardboiler as the wind wraps around them, facing the Dopant. Akiko runs at it, swinging a punch, though the Dopant seemed prepared for it. She frowned.

“I’ve been thinking about the best way to defeat this Dopant,” Phillip tells her, “Without knowing which it is, it is somewhat difficult, but not impossible.”

They dodge an attack from the Dopant, then block another. “Care to share?” Akiko asks, kicking the Dopant and giving them some space.

“The Metal Memory,” Phillip answers.

Already pulling out the Joker Memory, Akiko replies, “I can do that,” she replaces it with the Metal Memory. If Akiko was being honest, she had the same problem with the Metal Memory that she did the Trigger Memory – it was a bit difficult to use with her left hand, but at least the staff often required the use of both her hands. That seems like it would be worse, since Phillip had quite the control over her right hand, but when it came to the Metal Memory, she and Phillip could often keep on the same page. Not always, but it was generally easier.

“What did you do to Mr. Murasame?” Akiko called out as they swung their staff at the Dopant.

Just when she thought they were gaining the upper hand, the Dopant pulled away, pulling out a coin, “He’s right here. And so is his family.”

At the mention of the word family, she felt something strange. A distance and quiet from Phillip, and the right side of her body tensing in a way that felt almost unnatural. It was Phillip’s doing, not her own, not even unconsciously. Mentally, she nudged him, but go no response, nor a change in the part of her body he controlled.

She tries to take a step forward, and while her left leg will move, her right will not.

The Dopant laughed, “Oh, did I strike a nerve? Well, you look awfully stuck… See ya!” The Dopant launches one last attack at Akiko before he goes, knocking the two out.

---

Shoutaro gets off the bus in a tunnel and, mask in hand, enters the Million Colosseo.

Soon enough, there would be a Dopant here, and if something happened to the Money Dopant or the Money Memory… well, Museum probably wouldn’t be able to trace it back to him. Especially if he makes sure that Mr. Kaga doesn’t talk.

[writingpaperghost]

The Wind Will Take You Along (Chapter 2)

Chapter 2: The W Search/Those Who Make the City Cry

Akiko searches for the identity of the T-Rex Dopant.

As of now, I have finally plotted out this entire AU, yay! I've also made some edits to the first chapter to fix some errors, but by and large nothing major has changed.

AO3: https://archiveofourown.org/works/57870910/chapters/164026927

“I don’t get what you’re still worrying about,” Akiko said, watching as her father reviewed his notes on the case. The case he’d solved – someone’s boyfriend was causing trouble, out to get revenge on some perceived wrong. She hadn’t really been paying that close of attention, more preoccupied with keeping the office some semblance of organized. It wasn’t like he let her go with him on cases, anyway, and this one didn’t seem interesting enough to be worth the trouble of sneaking along on this time.

He glanced up from his notes, “Sometimes, Akiko, a case isn’t over as quickly as it seems.”

“What else is there? You found out who was responsible, right?” She walked over to him, picking up the empty cup on his desk that had once been filled with coffee.

“Sometimes, the seeming victim isn’t as innocent as they seem,” Was his response, standing up from his chair and walking from the desk. He reached for one of his hats from the rack.

Glancing at the notes on the desk, the pictures and evidence that made up his case, Akiko thought she was beginning to see what he meant. Not only were some of the crimes things that should only really have been possible with two people committing them, but they all happened close to where their client had been. At first, it seemed like their client was the target, but now…

Their client was responsible for it too.

She looked back up at her father. “What are you going to do?”

Her father was at the door, now, “Our client and I will have a chat. Don’t stay up for me, Akiko.”

Even though he told her not to, Akiko didn’t go home to her apartment until her father got home that night.

---

While Akiko had technically found Togawa, she’d also found another Dopant. And that brought the mystery as to who that Dopant was and why they bothered taking out Togawa. Obviously they wanted to keep him from spilling something, likely their identity, but who?

“Morning, Akiko,” Looking up from her desk, she smiled to greet Shoutaro as he entered. “You’re up working bright and early, I see.”

“Something’s been bugging me.” She replied, taking a drink out of her cup of coffee. She’d never been much for it and couldn’t tell if the awful taste was because she made it badly or if that was just how coffee tasted. Regardless, she did her best to hide how badly she wanted to make a face.

Shoutaro watched her, “You found Togawa though? By the way, have you told Marina yet?”

“I did, but he was taken away by another Dopant,” She reminded. “And no, I haven’t told her yet, I don’t think this case is over.”

He watched her, for a moment, before saying, “You’re going to try to find out who this other Dopant is, aren’t you?”

She stood up, sighing, “Someone has to.”

“Just be careful, alright? Leave the Dopants to the Kamen Rider.”

Shoutaro wandered over to the radio. Akiko kept it because it was her father’s, and because they didn’t have the room nor the real funds to have a proper TV in the agency. She kept up on the news well enough, anyway, so it didn’t matter much. But usually, when Shoutaro was here, at this time, he used it to listen to…

He turned the radio on, and a cheerful woman’s voice came through, “Welcome to Healing Princess!”

Sighing again, Akiko said, “I know half the population of Fuuto is obsessed with her, but I still can’t believe you’re a part of that half.”

Glancing over at her, Shoutaro responded, “Princess Wakana is… amazing. There’s a reason everyone loves her so much.”

Just for good measure, Akiko sighed once more.

---

“One last letter for the show! Let’s see… Tsuki T. wrote in saying, ‘I love your show so much, Princess Wakana! It always makes me feel better, even when I’m having a bad time. I always have something to look forward to.’ Aw, thanks Tsuki! I’m glad I can help cheer you up!” At this point, the broadcast booth at Windwave Radio had become a second home to Wakana. More so than even her real home, she felt comfortable there. Even if she put on the appearance of a cheerful and lovable girl when she was in there. “Well, everyone, that’s all for today’s Healing Princess! Thank you all for tuning in and for all your love and support, I hope you’ll all listen in tomorrow!”

Another moment and they’re off the air. Princess Wakana fell, and Wakana Sonozaki takes her place, standing up from her seat in the booth. She loved being the host of Healing Princess, and at least it got her out of the mansion – away from her father, Saeko, and Saeko’s new fiance.

God, Saeko’s new fiance. Kirihiko got on her nerves something fierce. He was too goody two shoes, even though he was involved with their family. Marrying her sister. But still, it was all about how much he loved Fuuto and how much he was willing to do for the city.

Wakana thinks he’s in denial or something.

Speaking of Kirihiko… she thinks she’ll have to give him a little test when she got home. She’d love if she could prove him less worthy of the Sonozaki name than her own boyfriend. Just because her family hadn’t felt he’d proven himself… well, she’ll see how Saeko likes having her newest toy on the receiving end of that.

---

If anyone in the city might know just what the deal with the Magma Dopant and the other Dopant was, it was Watcherman. When she was working with her father, he had varying groups of people who owed him favors or such that he would get information from. Akiko had no such things, instead, she stumbled into various unusual members of Fuuto’s populace, ones who were often quite aware what was going on in the city. Especially things that weren’t exactly common knowledge.

And the first step to figuring out who the other Dopant was would be to figure out what their relationship with the Magma Dopant was. Hopefully, that was information that had reached Watcherman.

“Hmm… well, word is that Togawa and whoever’s becoming that T-Rex are partners,” Watcherman tells her as Akiko pays him in exchange.

“Partners, huh,” She hummed. So then, who would be partners with him? “Thanks Watcherman,”

Soon enough, she arrives at the scene of the Magma Dopant’s last crime, where she and Phillip had stopped the Dopant. Though she doubted there would be much, certainly not much that wasn’t related to Togawa, she still hoped that she could find some kind of clue. Anything to lead her to who the T-Rex Dopant could be, and with Phillip’s abilities, it took a whole lot less than what she’d need otherwise.

She scans the area, wandering over to where the T-Rex Dopant had emerged to eat Togawa. If there was going to be anything of note, it would be here. The pavement was still broken up, it would probably take a few days, at least, for it to be fixed. It’s there that something catches her eye, what appears to be a scrap of clothing. It didn’t look like what Togawa had been wearing, so then there was a good chance that it belonged to the T-Rex Dopant instead. She grabs it, turning it around in her hands.

Right, this was something. She spies the Windscale logo on it, which would help narrow down who had gotten it. If she were on her own or apart of the police, she could attempt to search through records to see if it was possible to find who had bought it, if it was recent enough, at least. But Akiko had something better, she had Phillip, and there were few things Phillip couldn’t find with the right amount of information.

Pleased with her discovery, Akiko makes her way back to the agency.

She finds Shoutaro there, firstly. He watches her for a moment, before asking, “Found any clues?”

“Yep,” Akiko grinned, “It should be enough to figure out who the Dopant is.”

He frowned, “You be careful,” he wanders towards the door, “I’m going to meet with Marina for a bit, but if something happens… call me, okay? I’ll come running to help.”

Rolling her eyes, she responds, “I can take care of myself, Shoutaro.” Whether he knew it or not, she was more equipped to stop a Dopant than he was.

“I just don’t want you getting hurt,” With that, he left. Akiko makes her way back into the garage, where Phillip mumbled away about something – Takoyaki, it looked like.

Akiko watches for a moment, Phillip’s marker whipping across the whiteboard as he rapidly wrote notes, both in Japanese and in other languages she didn’t know. Finally, she called out, “Phillip,”

His writing paused for a moment, before he whipped around, “Akiko, I was just researching ‘takoyaki’ – I recalled you mentioned it once from your home and-“

“That’s great, really,” She said, feeling a bit bad about cutting him off, “Hey, I found a clue about who the T-Rex Dopant is.”

He watched as she pulled out the scrap of cloth, “I see… then you think it will be enough for a look up?”

“I’m hoping,” She replies with a small smile. “So let’s see… T-Rex, Windscale…”

“Well,” Phillip began, “I certainly do have a match.”

“Who is it?”

“Marina Tsumura,” With that, Akiko felt her heart drop. Oh boy, not just her client, but Shoutaro’s friend…

Wait, Shoutaro said he was going to meet with Marina.

Turning around, Akiko hurried towards the door, “I’ve gotta go find Shoutaro!”

 Phillip watched her leave, “How come?”

“He’s going to see Marina!” She’s out the door before she can hear his response.

---

By the time Akiko finds Shoutaro and Marina, things seem so normal that she almost wonders if maybe she was wrong. Maybe Phillip had found the wrong book. But she knows better than to assume that – Marina just wouldn’t have any reason to feel threatened by Shoutaro.

“Shoutaro!” Akiko calls, catching his attention.

He looks over at her, surprised, “Akiko, what are you doing here?”

Standing by them, she looks between him and Marina, then answers, “There’s something we need to talk about.”

Frowning, he asked, “Can’t it wait?”

“No,” She shook her head, “Because Ms. Tsumura here… is the T-Rex Dopant!”

“What?” Shoutaro whipped his head to look towards Marina.

Marina frowned, “They fired me, I just… wasn’t sure what else to do.” Her remorse seemed off, not quite real. Akiko doubts she was really that regretful of seeking revenge.

Shoutaro takes a step towards her, “Then turn yourself in, Marina. Stop using that Memory.”

As he spoke, Akiko catches sight of the arrival of the Fuuto PD. “I already called to let them know. So just make it easy on them.”

Marina’s remorseful expression morphed into a scowl as she produced the T-Rex Memory. Activating it, she pulled down the collar of her blouse and inserted the Memory. Akiko and Shoutaro jump to the side, away from the T-Rex Dopant. Her focus first lands on the police, attacking.

Shoutaro calls out to Akiko, “Akiko! Get out of here!”

Akiko would, sure, but it would be so she can avoid being seen transforming. She slips away, cringing at seeing the destruction that the T-Rex Dopant had brought. They’d just have to try to keep her from causing more.

She places the W Driver on her waist, already pulling out the Joker Memory. “Let’s stop this dinosaur, Phillip.”

Phillip puts his book away, into his pocket and pulls out the Cyclone Memory, “Of course. I’ll have to remember to research dinosaurs after this…”

Cyclone!

Joker!

With the two Memories slotted into the Driver, they transform. They’re quick to intervene, attacking T-Rex so that it would stop attacking the police. They were far from equipped to deal with a Dopant attack. Hurrying over, easily making up the lost distance, Akiko grabs onto T-Rex, pulling her away with a heave.

Now aware of the presence of the Kamen Rider, T-Rex changing once more, now growing into quite the large T-Rex, more like what a real one might look like, rather than the monstrous form Dopants generally took. That was going to make things more complicated, they didn’t have a whole lot of practice fighting a Dopant this size. “Got any ideas?” Akiko asked Phillip, hoping he could have something to work with. Brute force would probably work, but that was sometimes a bit more difficult than coming up with a plan, Akiko had found.

Without another word, Akiko’s right hand takes out the Cyclone Memory, replacing it with the Heat Memory instead. That side of her body changes from green and yellow to red and orange. “Perhaps turning up the heat will make her change her mind.” Phillip finally said.

“I didn’t think you made jokes,” Akiko observed, dodging past the jaws of the T-Rex Dopant.

Punching T-Rex, flames arcing across Akiko’s right fist, Phillip comments, “It’s merely a coincidental turn of phrase.”

“If you say so!” Finding that this alone wasn’t quite working, Akiko pulls the Joker Memory out of her side of the Driver, replacing it with the Metal Memory. “I think I’ve got a way to make this work even better!” The black and purple of Joker gives way to the grey of Metal, providing Akiko with a handy staff to better hit this lizard with. More range would make it easier to avoid the T-Rex Dopant’s jaws.

They spin the staff as flames surround it, then land a strong hit on T-Rex. Akiko had never thought of herself as one who was much for a fight, but becoming Kamen Rider had… accustomed her to it, she supposed. Shoutaro had taught her how to fight, while her dad was still alive, but she’d only really started needing it since meeting Phillip. Since she became Kamen Rider.

Focusing now, she feels a brief moment where she and Phillip are on the exact same page – the T-Rex Dopant has been weakened, now. Just one more strong attack and they could destroy the Gaia Memory. With flames licking the end of their staff, they throw all their might into hitting T-Rex with it.

Marina falls to the ground, the T-Rex Memory shattering beside her.

Akiko huffed, but seeing the police making their way over, she knows she doesn’t need to worry about Marina trying anything else. Not that she was likely all that dangerous without a Gaia Memory. Then, it’s time to slip away and head back to the agency.

“Revenge is such an odd thing,” Phillip noted, “Perhaps I will have to research it.”

She scoffed a little, slipping into an alley way and becoming herself once more. Since she still had the W Driver on, she could still hear Phillip, and he her, though Phillip himself was once again in his own body. “Good luck with that,” She said, “I don’t think I’ll ever understand it.”

---

Akiko wasn’t all that surprised when Shoutaro showed up at the agency again, that evening. She glanced up from her case report, watching him for a moment. He didn’t seem to bothered, and Shoutaro was never that good at hiding his feelings. “How are you holding up?”

He sighed, sitting down, “It’s… a bit hard to believe Marina was also a Dopant.” He said, “I know I haven’t seen her much since we were kids, but…”

“People change, I guess.” Akiko knows she is hardly the sort of person she was when she was a kid. She’d changed even just since coming to Fuuto.

“I guess,” He watched her, almost mindlessly.

Tilting her head, she asks, “Is something else bothering you?”

Snapping out of it, he shook his head, “What? No, not me.”

Unable to help herself, Akiko laughs, “Are you sure? Maybe you had a crush on Marina.”

“Marina? No!” Shoutaro seemed flustered by that comment, and Akiko laughed again. It was fun to get him worked up, in part because it could, at times, be rather easy to do. “Hey! Don’t laugh!”

“Sorry, sorry,” She attempts to reign it in, though she isn’t all that successful. “You just make such funny faces! And anyway, it’s not like it would be a big deal if you did. It’s not like you’re dating anyone.”

Again, he shook his head, “Marina and I were never anything other than friends, and I’ve never felt any other way about her. I wasn’t even thinking about that when we were kids.”

Still smiling, though her laughter had calmed, Akiko props her chin in her palm, “So, have you ever had a crush on someone? You definitely have. Other than Princess Wakana, that is.”

“I don’t see why that’s important,” Shoutaro answered almost too quickly.

“It’s nothing to be ashamed of.” She continues, “I had all sorts of crushes growing up.”

He regards her for a moment, before asking, “Yeah? Well what about now?”

She shrugged, “No one in Fuuto has caught my eye.” And truthfully, since becoming the Kamen Rider, the idea of trying to date anyone hadn’t felt right. It would be putting them in danger, getting them involved in something they didn’t have to be. It just wasn’t on the table, not until this organization creating the Gaia Memories was dealt with.

Now, she understood why her father had done what he had even more. It was just that instead of being too careful to form those sort of relationships, he had no choice but to cut off the ones he already had. Akiko was ten when it happened, how different things might have been if it hadn’t. But that was far in the past and there was no changing it.

“Maybe you’ll find someone on one of your cases.” Shoutaro comments, absentmindedly.

Akiko snorts, “Maybe, but I’m not too worried about it.”

[writingpaperghost]

As I still slowly watch through Faiz (nearly a year after I started), at 34 episodes in I've been thinking about why I sometimes am not excited to watch another episode, especially compared to W and Fourze where I could easily watch two episodes a day. I've been more excited for Gavv than going through Faiz, and usually I don't like interrupting watching one show for the currently airing one.

I think it's just... Faiz is so unfun. Like, I don't think I've actually laughed at all while watching. I don't know if it just genuinely fails at any of it's attempts at humor, it used to or would be funny if I remembered the year 2003, or if it's just not funny to me specifically, but like. I've gotten more second hand embarrassment than anything.

And so the end result is it feels like there's never a real chance for a breather. I think that's why Kaido and Keitaro get misadventures here and there, sometimes, but. It just doesn't work for me. So I'm sitting here as something really dramatic or big happens and I'm just like. The tension has been up for several episodes and it isn't really build up at this point. I think the only things that get a reaction out of me at this point are really out of pocket shit (Kusaka declaring that Mari was the only one who could take the place of his mother and fix him) or the end of episode 34 (which was less because I was surprised about what was revealed and more because of the way it was revealed).

Don't get me wrong, I don't dislike Faiz. I'd say it is Good*, overall. I just can't watch more than maybe one episode a day, and honestly sometimes that feels like too much.

*excluding the women, but that's pretty normal for Kamen Rider and I pretty much always have a complaint of some kind

[writingpaperghost]

It's been several months but it is still insane to me that the conclusion of Spanner's... well everything really does just end up on "agree to disagree". Like, sir. You had beef with a seventeen year old, and sat through the entire plot of the show and went. Yes. I will still hold the same beliefs that are also shared by villains in certain Pokemon games. But it's okay because you've decided you just won't be constantly beefing with a teenager over it.

Like, okay, sure. He doesn't hate Lachesis by the end. Congrats, bare minimum. Hell, it's even reasonable to say that that the whole "destroy all the Chemies because without them Riders wouldn't be needed" thing was also super recoverable from. But he just... doesn't? He goes through everything and just decides that he'll start being more normal about how he behaves in relation to Hotarou's actions. That's it. Spanner, the difference between a Chemy - especially the more human-like ones like Zukyunpire and X Wizard - and your not quite girlfriend are negligible, one of them just has human DNA.

[writingpaperghost]

Linking With the Only One Called You (Chapter 2)

Chapter 2: Space Superiority

While the search for the Switcher continues, Nozama tries to help Ryuusei understand Utahoshi a bit better, and Ryuusei tries to get back on Utahoshi's okay side.

AO3: https://archiveofourown.org/works/56095588/chapters/162998731

It was Ryuusei’s second day at Amanogawa High School and he’s not even to the gate when Nozama approached him. She had a serious expression on her face, book clutched to her chest.

“Orion’s still out there,” She said.

He frowned, “Orion got a bit blown up.”

“Utahoshi told me that the only way to really defeat a Zodiart is to deactivate or destroy the Switch that transformed them,” She explained. So there were switches of some kind involved. He’d have to see one for himself to know if it was the same as what Jirou had…

Sighing, he responded, “I don’t think Utahoshi wants me involved any further.”

She scowled, “You’re the only one who’s been able to use the Fourze Driver. We need your help, whether he likes it or not…” She shook her head. “For now, focus on trying to find the Switcher. It’s likely to be someone at the school.”

Well, Ryuusei could play detective.

Another few days pass, and despite Ryuusei’s best efforts, he can’t exactly find a lot of leads. No one really knows much about the monsters that have been appearing, and even less about who might be the monster. But Orion hadn’t appeared again yet, either, so that was good. If he wanted to, he could try to go after Ryuusei, and without the Fourze Driver, it would be like their first encounter.

As the end of the day drew, the seat behind him was empty – Utahoshi was gone, probably down at the nurse’s office, as usual. Or at the Rabbit Hutch. Probably for the best, Utahoshi was ignoring him, and if they talked, as things were, it would only be trouble. He and Utahoshi had opposing personalities. Jojima seemed to notice Utahoshi’s absence, too.

“Utahoshi’s always so sick…” She frowned, “I wonder if the stress of school is getting to him?”

That prompted Ryuusei to look over at her, curious, “What do you mean by that?”

She laughed a bit awkwardly, “Well, I remember last year, he wasn’t so sick… actually, I think it only really started sometime this last summer?” She frowned a little in thought, “Maybe around the time he and that Nozama girl started spending time together. Honestly, I’m worried she could be putting something in his food…”

Nozama poisoning Utahoshi? It didn’t seem impossible, but she didn’t seem to dislike Utahoshi so much, not enough to purposefully poison him. On accident didn’t seem impossible, he’d glanced over to her at lunch sprinkling god knows what into her food. Still, it could be a coincidence. And who was to say if it was piloting that mech or a preexisting condition that left him so strained.

He shook his head, “I really don’t think that’s what’s going on, Jojima…”

“Still, it’s really weird…” She shook her head and her smile returned, “So! How have you been liking Amanogawa?”

Bright and loud? Awful? Well, awful would be a bit of an exaggeration. He hadn’t had a lot of time to focus on that outside of class due to his investigation into who was Orion. Outside of trying to look for Orion, he really hadn’t done much around AGHS. He had no desire to join any club, and he wasn’t here for friends.

“It’s… fine, I guess. Teachers aren’t awful.” He finally answered.

“Only fine,” Jojima pouted, this almost exaggerated pout, “It’s Amanogawa High School! How could it just be ‘fine’?”

He sighed, “I never wanted to go here in the first place, it was my parents’ idea.” He shrugged, “Maybe it’ll warm up to me.”

“Give it some time, I’m sure you’ll learn to love it here,” Jojima’s smile returned, before she glanced back at Utahoshi’s seat. “I really am worried about Utahoshi though…”

“I’m sure he’s fine, he’s the loner type, anyway.”

Jojima hummed, thoughtfully, standing up and swinging her bag onto her shoulder, “I wonder if Chairman Gamou realizes that he goes to school here…?”

“Chairman Gamou?” The name wasn’t unfamiliar, and as Jojima said, he was the chairman of Amanogawa High School. It’s founder. He used to work with JAXA and that was how he allowed students so many opportunities in aerospace and related skills.

She smiled a little, “He used to work with Utahoshi’s father, you know.”

That was news, Ryuusei didn’t even know anything about Utahoshi’s father, so he couldn’t exactly say if what Jojima said made sense or not. But, it wouldn’t be a stretch that Utahoshi, who somehow got the highest grades in class despite being gone so much, inherited his smarts from his father. He’d consider bringing it up with Utahoshi, but given they didn’t get along, he’d probably have better luck with Nozama.

With her peace said, Jojima skipped off, singing a song under her breath, “My name is Hayabusa-kun,” he’d heard her sing it a few times. Some song about the Hayabusa satellite. She sure did love space.

He sighed and shook his head, he had to focus on finding Orion, someway, somehow. So he stood up, lifting his bag onto his shoulder, and left the classroom.

Ryuusei only makes it halfway down the hall before he’s cut off by another student dancing into the space in front of him. He skidded to a halt, startled by the student. His uniform barely resembled the Amanogawa High School uniform, the jacket more the style of a hoodie jacket, filled with pins and colorful patterns, bangles all over his wrists. His hair was a bit longer than most, still stopping above his shoulders, a sort of bleach dyed lighter brown, with a few colorful streaks and hair clips.

“Yo,” He said, “I hear you’ve been looking around for a troublemaker.”

Ryuusei blinked, surprised at the student’s younger appearance, “What… who are you?”

He smiled, throwing an arm around Ryuusei. Ryuusei stiffened, though the student started talking. “You can call me Jay-Kay, pronounced ‘Jake’.”

Grabbing JK’s hand and pulling it off of him, Ryuusei rolled his eyes, “Do you need something?”

“Maybe I can help you find who you’re looking for, right? Someone’s after the football players, that monster that showed up the other day.” JK went on. He must be talking about Orion, it seems some knowledge of that had made it to at least some of the student body.

“Do you have someone in mind?” It was worth a shot. Maybe if Ryuusei could find the Switcher, Utahoshi might give him another chance as Fourze…

It’s the only way to save Jirou. Surely one of these Zodiarts might give him some solution to Jirou’s predicament. Surely one of them could wake Jirou up. Maybe that wasn’t something Utahoshi would agree with, but Ryuusei didn’t care. They all had their own motivations, their own fights. Utahoshi could deal with it.

JK looked a little sheepish, “Well not someone specific, perse, but I’ve got a few ideas where you could find some leads.”

That was… something, at least. “Lead the way, then.”

“You got it!” He spins around and begins to walk down the hallway, “You won’t regret it.”

“I wasn’t thinking I would…” Until you said something.

Still, Ryuusei followed after JK, unsure where he’d lead him, but any leads were better than nothing. There were a few head turns from the handful of students still in the halls, but most were absorbed in themselves. JK chattered as they walked, mostly about things going on at the school, even if Ryuusei didn’t pay it all much mind.

Though it seemed JK was the kind who kept up on school gossip – it would make sense why he might have some idea as to a lead on Orion. “You know a lot about what’s going on around the school, don’t you?” He asked.

Glancing back, JK grinned, turning to face Ryuusei, “Of course. If you want to know about anything going on at Amanogawa, I’m your guy.”

He backs into someone, “Already bothering the new student, JK?” Nozama said, voice as quiet ever, though there was an annoyance to it.

Jumping, JK spun back around, hands raised placatingly, “Hey, hey, I’m not bothering him…”

Nozama didn’t look convinced, so Ryuusei added, “He says he might know where there are some leads on Orion.”

With a sigh, Nozama walked around JK, grabbing Ryuusei’s wrist, “Come on, Sakuta. I have something to show you.”

“What?” What could she have to show him? Why now?

“Just come along,” Ryuusei figured it was best to go along with it, he could track down JK later.

She leads him to the Rabbit Hutch, Utahoshi thankfully not present. That meant he was probably down at the nurse’s office, at least right now. This couldn’t be what she wanted him to see, though.

Opening a door, she revealed spacesuits, pulling two out and handing one to him. “Put it on,” She said, “We’re going out.”

“Out onto the moon?” Ryuusei couldn’t help the disbelief in his voice.

“That’s what the space suits are for.” Nozama replied. He still didn’t understand what she was trying to do, but he followed her lead and put the spacesuit on. And then he followed her out, onto the moon.

The moon was broad and empty, each step feeling different. The rational part of him said that it was just the difference of gravity. The part of him that, like every child, once dreamed of the stars said that it was the beauty of the moon. Of a place so few had ever seen, and even fewer while still so young. On the moon, it was quiet, empty, and in its own way, serene.

It took him a little bit to get the hang of movement, but he was a fast enough learner, and Nozama guided him. Then, not too far from the Rabbit Hutch, they stop at the edge of a crater. They just stand there, for a few moments, only the sound of their own breathing.

Then Nozama says, “This is where Utahoshi’s father died.”

“What?” Ryuusei says, as equally confused as before, though now because that was quite an out-of-pocket thing to say.

“Eighteen years ago, this is where Utahoshi’s father died.”

Ryuusei considered that, “In a crater on the moon,” What a way to go.

“This crater only appeared eighteen years ago,” Nozama told him. That… said a lot about how Utahoshi’s father died. Just what had happened?

He glanced at Nozama, who stared out at the crater, “Why are you telling me this?”

She looked over at him. “So you can understand him a bit better. So you can understand why he’s so protective of the Fourze Driver.”

So he could understand… Ryuusei had his parents. He grew up with them, with no real responsibility or legacy to carry. But Ryuusei did know what it was like to cling to something or someone important. For Ryuusei, that was Jirou. For Utahoshi, that was the Fourze Driver and the Switches. The work of his father, now in his own hands. The work of his father, which Ryuusei had used and in moments, had little care for or for Utahoshi’s opinion.

“I… think I understand. Not perfectly but…” He thinks he knew how to get off of Utahoshi’s bad side. Or at least try.

---

Utahoshi was at a dirt track, riding a motorcycle around and around. It was pretty impressive that someone prone to getting so sick could manage so well. But Utahoshi probably knew his limits well, or at least Ryuusei would hope as much. Nozama had told him that he was here, so Ryuusei set out to walk there, though it thankfully wasn’t far from the school.

“Utahoshi!” He called, standing to the side of the track as Utahoshi approached.

To his surprise, Utahoshi did stop, pulling off his helmet to glare at him. “What do you want?”

“I think we got off on the wrong foot. A couple times, really.” Ryuusei said, “I’ll spare you the boring mushy feelings things, but the simple way to say it is… we can help each other.”

“I really don’t think you can.” Utahoshi said, shaking his head.

“Maybe you don’t really need my help, but I need yours. So I’m offering my help, one more person to try to find the Zodiart, someone who can fight with you.” Ryuusei sighed, “I’m not saying we have to be friends or anything. I’m not saying you even have to like me.”

The glare from Utahoshi didn’t weaken in the slightest, “Maybe I don’t want your help.”

It wasn’t a surprise that Utahoshi wasn’t budging so easily. Ryuusei was prepared for that, “You need someone to be Fourze, whether you like it or not. It’s the best way to stop a Zodiart. So let’s try it again, I know how to fight, but not anything about Fouze or those Switches. So I listen to you, properly. We’ll do it right, this time.” He held his hand out, “Let’s give it another shot, Utahoshi.”

Utahoshi stared at the outstretched hand, still frowning, but now seeming to consider what he said. And then, Utahoshi took it. “Fine, one more shot. But we have to find the Switcher first.”

“The stadium,” Nozama said, appearing from… somewhere. It startled Ryuusei, but Utahoshi didn’t seem bothered. “The Switcher is a football player. Toshiya Miura. He’s got something against the football team, and they’re going to be at the stadium right now.”

Pulling the helmet back on, Utahoshi got back on the motorcycle, “To the stadium, then. Get on, Sakuta.”

While Ryuusei had no helmet, they wouldn’t be going far and he figured Utahoshi would be particularly trying to kill him. “What about Nozama?”

Nozama shook her head, “I’ll catch up, focus on stopping Miura.”

Utahoshi got them to the stadium quick enough, and they headed for the locker room. That was their best bet for finding Miura. Then all they had to do with get the Switch away from him, though Ryuusei was sure it wouldn’t be so easy. They found the football team quick enough, though their presence obviously drew attention.

“What are you two doing here?” Someone asked.

Ryuusei spoke up, “We’re looking for Miura? Think we could steal him for a minute?”

And then all heads turned to look at one student, who was in the midst of cleaning something up. The student – who Ryuusei assumed must be Miura, looked up. And then his eyes narrowed at Ryuusei – if he was the one who’d become that monster, surely he’d have seen Ryuusei before he’d transformed and recognize him.

Miura reached into his pocket, pulling out a Switch, different from the ones that worked with the Fourze Driver, but not so different that it seemed like something else entirely. Ryuusei had seen it once before, briefly.

Last One

Those words were still burned in Ryuusei’s mind. As Miura gripped the Switch it morphed, covering itself in spikes and overall, just being more… menacing. This one… this was the sight that Ryuusei saw whenever he relived that night. Just in his memories, it was Jirou, not Miura.

“Don’t do that,” Utahoshi called out, but Miura ignored him. He clicked the Switch.

Orion

And with that, Miura morphed into the monster that Ryuusei had fought before, except instead of becoming the monster… his body fell to the floor, wrapped in something like thick spiderweb. The football players, thankfully, had the sense to get out of there when they realized what was happening – it was tight, but they all were able to push past Ryuusei and Utahoshi. It helped that Miura was in no hurry to attack.

Utahoshi shoved the Fourze Driver at him, Switches already inside. “Do it properly this time, Sakuta.”

“Leave it to me.” Ryuusei placed the Driver on his waist once more, straps coming out to wrap around him. Quickly, he flipped the Switches.

3…

2…

1…

Pulling the lever, he called out, “Transform!”

Fourze’s suit was an unusual but not unwelcomed feeling, this time. This time, Ryuusei at least had a better idea what he was doing. “Now, you and I are going to settle this.”

As Ryuusei fought Orion, Utahoshi set his briefcase down, typing away quickly at the computer in it. Beside it was a strange mechanical device, which greatly resembled a hamburger.

After a few moments, Utahoshi calls out, “I’ve found where the Switch is in his body, you’ll have to get it in order to get rid of this Zodiart.”

Blocking a punch from Orion, Ryuusei asks, “And how am I supposed to do that?”

“Enough damage to the body should cause the Switch to be ejected, for a time. If you can turn it off then…”

That was enough explanation for Ryuusei, at least. “So just give him a few good hits,”

Closing his briefcase, Utahoshi adds, “It would be best to do it somewhere a little safer.”

Right now they were fighting in far too narrow of a space. The best and safest place would be up. “I can find that.” Flipping the Rocket Switch, he braced himself for the incoming thrust.

Rocket on!

Soon he was blasting out of the building, Orion Zodiart in tow. He tosses Orion, then kicks him, letting the rocket push them even higher. Once the rocket’s thrusters died down, he switched one of the other Switches out for a different one.

Parachute on!

At a quite reasonable pace, Ryuusei floats down, finding the Switch having landed in around the same spot, still intact despite the height that it fell from. Curiously, he picked it up. Utahoshi said that he had to turn it off and it should… fix this, he supposed. He pressed the button on the Switch once more, and a moment later it disintegrated, leaving not even a residue in the white of Fourze’s suit.

Leaving the transformation and removing the Driver from his waist, Ryuusei made his way back to Utahoshi, Nozama having finally arrived. Miura was still unconscious, but the webbing is gone.

“Sakuta, you did it,” Nozama said, “Like a real Kamen Rider.”

Utahoshi rolled his eyes, “Enough with that nonsense,” He squatted down, checking over Miura. “We should take him to the nurse’s office and they can get him to a doctor.”

Ryuusei couldn’t help but keep his eyes on Miura. It felt… too familiar. Was this… common? Did using the Switches really have this much of an effect on people? Or did it have something to do with the way the Switch changed? – Utahoshi had seemed a bit surprised by that.

Was Miura doomed to become like Jirou? Or… was this different? Would he wake up? Would Jirou ever wake up? Ryuusei couldn’t let his mind stay on that thought too long. He’d find a way to wake Jirou up – especially now that he knew more about the Switches. It was only a matter of time.

[writingpaperghost]

Without You (Chapter 31)

Chapter 31: Defeat the Deadmans, Capture Giff!

There's a plan and though Fenix gets something they want, they also lose something they want. In the meantime, Makoto gathers a couple more puzzle pieces, but a lot of people seemed to be in the dark as well.

Hello. I'm back. After like. Ten months. Whoops. This chapter really didn't want to come out. But here it is. Hopefully it won't be quite so long between now and the next one. We'll see, inspiration is wild and crazy. And also evil, sometimes.

AO3: https://archiveofourown.org/works/43371954/chapters/161892307

About a week or so after Vail had made his first appearance, Mr. Buu came by Happy Spa. Though neither Makoto nor Yukimi knew for sure, they suspected he might have been looking for Genta. Or, if Vail had relinquished control of Genta, been trying to make sure Vail didn’t get out again. Seeing him at Happy Spa was a good enough sign, at least. It meant, if nothing else, Vail hadn’t killed him – then again, Vail didn’t show much interest in fighting anyone other than Jeanne and Revi, before.

Mr. Buu smiled, the sort that was polite, though a bit awkward and nervous. “Makoto, is Yukimi around?”

“She just came back from the store, so she’s in the kitchen putting things away.” Makoto answered, “Do you know if papa is alright?”

He seemed a bit surprised by Makoto’s question, though he likely didn’t know that Makoto knew anything about Vail or Genta’s past. Still, he recovered fairly quickly and answered, “He’s alright, for now at least.”

Makoto took that to mean that Vail had left for the time, though that wasn’t likely to last. Unfortunate, but it meant they’d have a bit of time to try to come up with a solution before Vail appeared again. Not that Makoto had any idea what their solution might be – Vail was too strong for them to fight, and there was no telling if him being caused differently than other demons they’d faced would affect anything.

As Mr. Buu went to speak with Yukimi, Makoto got a call on his phone. Tamaki, who’d otherwise spent the time since Vail’s appearance avoiding and ignoring him. Most likely, he was only calling because the Deadmans were in the middle of trying something. He wasn’t exactly in the mood for fighting, but he never really was and didn’t exactly have much of a choice. Fenix was far more of a headache.

Before he can even get out a hello, Tamaki said, “Seems like Jeanne’s showed up, get over here.” Gave him the minimum amount of information required for Makoto to know where “here” is, and then hung up. Well, he was still pissed at him, it seemed. Hopefully it wouldn’t get in the way of fighting Jeanne – though given Tamaki was probably still upset about Yusuke, Makoto really doubted it. He sighed, but hurried out the door.

Upon arriving, he found… very little. Just Tamaki, Tabuchi, and some Fenix soldiers. Which struck him as odd, as Jeanne, generally speaking, wasn’t much for subtlety. So then, what was going on? Sticking his hands in his pockets, settling on the Driver and the icy Anomalocaris Vistamp, he commented, “I sure don’t see Jeanne around here.”

“Igarashi,” Tabuchi turned his attention to him, “Yes, it seems she has since left. We’re checking to see if she’s left anything.”

Showing up and then leaving before Fenix could even arrive didn’t make much sense. Not unless Jeanne was up to something more unusual than what she would usually be trying. But that raised the question of what?

Not that they were left to ponder long, as an annoyed and familiar voice rung out, “Don’t point a gun at me! What do I look like, some kind of monster?”

Undeniably, that was Hana – right down to the indignation. Tamaki’s ears perked, a surprised but wary look coming across his face. “Hana?”

Glancing over at him, Tabuchi asked, “Your sister?”

“Yeah,” Makoto answered, narrowing his eyes as the Fenix soldiers led Hana closer. She was dressed in her usual sort of clothes, not her Aguilera outfit. Other than looking a little disheveled, though, she appeared fine. Why was she here though, and why not acting as Aguilera?

Hana pushed past the Fenix soldiers, sprinting at Makoto before hugging him, tightly, “’Koto! I missed you!”

Something was definitely up.

“Hana…” Tentatively, he hugged her. Though now was not the time, Makoto might be willing to admit that he’d missed Hana’s hugs. She was always a bit more physically affectionate than he and Tamaki, and that made her absence more noticeable in another way. He missed her as a whole, really. But there was a nagging feeling that he knew something was going on here, even if he had no clue as to what.

She sniffled, just a little. Hana never cried, she refused to let herself, at least when others could see her. “It was so scary…” She said.

Tamaki watched them, clear confusion written across his face, “What is going on…?”

“Ms. Igarashi,” Tabuchi said, “The Deadmans had kidnapped you, hadn’t they?”

Hana lifts her face up from Makoto, looking vaguely over in Tabuchi’s direction. He probably couldn’t see her face that well. “Yeah…” She responded, and her hands clutched Makoto’s jacket just a little tighter. He was beginning to feel it through the layers of his jacket, sweater, and shirt. “I… I was supposed to meet with Sakura, but Jeanne was there instead.” Sakura, who at this point, even Tabuchi likely knew was Jeanne.

“Did they do anything to you?” Were the circumstances different, Makoto would probably snark at Tabuchi about interrogating his sister here and now. But something wasn’t right here, and while he didn’t think Tabuchi would get much in the way of answers, there might be something there to explain even a little.

“No…” Hana answered, “They just… kept me there.”

Tabuchi frowned, “Then how did you get free?”

“Jeanne wanted to… I dunno, use me as bait or something?” She shrugged a little, “I got away, though.”

After clearly thinking on that, for a moment, Tabuchi asked, “Then perhaps you can tell us something about where their base is.”

“I could just show you,” Hana said, like that wasn’t a big deal.

Holding back his shock, though it was still evident in his somewhat choked voice, Tamaki repeated, “Show us?”

“Yeah, duh. I saw where it is and how they get in and out.”

The fact that Hana was offering this information was very suspicious. Either she was betraying the Deadmans, or… she was in some way lying. There was no way she’d simply just show them where their base was, that was too easy, too unlike Hana, given how much she seemed enamored with Jeanne. Then again, it wasn’t impossible Jeanne had somehow betrayed Hana’s love… but that she was here without Hikaru, and that Jeanne had supposedly been here before…

Something was certainly up, and Makoto didn’t trust this one bit.

Makoto narrowed his eyes, pulling Hana off him, though perhaps a bit roughly as she made a face. “You seem awfully calm about all of this.”

“Oh,” Hana’s face contorted into something of annoyance, for just a moment, before it quickly became cheerful, “That’s because I know I’m safe with my big brothers here.”

“Right…” Tamaki intoned, glancing between her and Makoto. He was clearly trying to make sense of this situation, just as Makoto was. He probably saw that Hana was acting off too. “Are you feeling okay?”

“Of course, why wouldn’t I be?” She frowned, eyeing the two carefully.

Tamaki barely held back from rolling his eyes, “Because you’d rather die than imply that you couldn’t handle protecting yourself?”

She laughed a little, “Well… even I can admit when I someone’s out of my league…”

“You can?” Makoto remarked, unable to help himself. He just couldn’t shake the nagging feeling in the back of his mind.

“She’s lying. We know she is. She’s up to something, and she wants Fenix to believe that she’s just an innocent girl.” His demon reminded, “They don’t know she’s Aguilera, but we do. She joined the Deadmans willingly.”

Such stinging words. Not that Makoto ever considered himself the greatest brother, but to think such things about Hana, even if they were true… He hated thinking poorly about her. All three of them had rough childhoods, even if that might not excuse… the Deadmans. Even Makoto knew that.

Hana had aided horrible things, but… Makoto wanted to convince himself that it wasn’t true. Or that she was just… tricked. Misguided. He wanted to convince himself that it wasn’t all her fault.

“She’s made her choices.”

Even if Makoto wished she hadn’t.

“Fine,” Hana pouted, just a little. Far more in character. “I won’t help you.”

Tabuchi stepped in, “If you are able, we would like you to show us where the Deadman’s base is.”

A little smile came to Hana’s face, “That’s easy, yeah.”

---

As if Makoto’s secrets and lies weren’t bad enough, now there was Hana. God damn Hana. She could be sweet, when she wanted to be, but the honey exterior was really only there to hide the stingers underneath. Makoto has always been more sharp words and sarcasm, even if he wasn’t afraid to fight if he had to (those years on the streets had taught them this well, even if Makoto wasn’t very good at it). But Hana… Hana was a shoot first, ask questions later sort of person. She was always ready to fight, her gaining the ability to summon kunai more recently has only really compounded that.

Hana had always been the least secretive about her past – there wasn’t really much to hide. Where Tamaki and Makoto kept quiet about their lives before running away, likely due to wanting to leave those memories behind, Hana was fairly frank on the matter. She hadn’t left much behind, as she’d never had much to begin with. An orphan with no family and no real friends. It was hard to say how much of that shaped the person she turned out to be.

She and Tamaki were prone to butting heads. While all three could be fairly stubborn, Makoto tried to avoid conflict, or perhaps just felt he had to take the role of mediator. Thus, the arguments came from Tamaki and Hana. There was always something, it seemed, though it rarely mattered much. Once they’d started karate, they’d settle their disagreements that way, though to Hana’s dismay, Tamaki always won. When he’d first joined Fenix, Hana had declared she’d one day get strong enough to beat him.

Was that what drove her to become Aguilera? It had to be. She had said something about showing them how strong she was, when they first saw her transform into Aguilera.

Still, there was no denying that Hana was up to something, that was the only thing that could explain why she was leading them to the Deadmans base. If that was even where she was really taking them to. Tamaki really should speak up, say something about how Hana was Aguilera… yet even now, he sort of hoped that maybe she wasn’t doing this of her own accord. That she’d been fooled, or somehow brainwashed, or that it wasn’t her at all, that it was like the Chameleon Deadman. Hana, for all her flaws, wasn’t a villain.

Then again, he was beginning to have his doubts about Makoto, as well. When had all the lies and secrets started? Was it with the Anomalocaris Vistamp? Earlier? Maybe when they met Weekend…? Tamaki needed to know more about Weekend, actually. But then... Weekend wouldn’t explain the outbursts of ruthless violence that Makoto had, the ones that he claimed not to remember. How could he not remember doing those things?

Just where did he get the Smilodon Vistamp from?

It wasn’t Karizaki, like he initially claimed, and his later answer of “a ghost” made even less sense. Who out there was capable of creating Vistamps? Not knowing certainly brought Tamaki some wariness when using it, though he thankfully didn’t suffer the same side effects Makoto had from using the Anomalocaris Vistamp. The burning wasn’t too severe, and it didn’t seem all the consistent, either. Manageable, even if something of an annoyance.

Hana led them to a club. It was closed, wouldn’t be open until the evening. For a second, Tamaki had to wonder if she was pulling some kind of joke on them. “This is a club. It’s not even open.”

She laughed a little, “Well, you wouldn’t expect anything suspicious about it.” She pushed the door open, strangely unlocked despite it being closed. “Doesn’t that make it a good place to hide? In a way, at least.”

Inside was eerily quiet, just the hum of the building’s ventilation, the outside coming through the walls, and their own footsteps. As Hana checked her phone, the phone she strangely still had, she led them into the main room of the club. The walls were painted black, so was the floor and the stage, red curtains adorning it. Reminiscent of the stage that the Deadmans filmed their livestreams on, but not quite the same. Slowly, almost deliberately so, Hana leads them up a set of stairs, onto a raised catwalk that went around the room. She paused at the top of the stairs, once everyone had walked up them.

“Now… I… uh, don’t remember which one, but… it was one of these walls. Somewhere.” She said, tapping a finger against her lip.

“A wall?” Captain Tabuchi asked, glancing around.

She nodded, “Yeah, it like… how to describe it… well we just sort of… walked through it. That really stood out.” She laughed a little awkwardly, “I just… don’t remember which wall or where on the wall.”

“Seriously?” Tamaki grumbled. Well, there was only four walls, so it could only take so long. He walked over to the nearest wall and placed a hand against it, then began to walk. It was the best way he could think of.

Again, Hana laughed sheepishly, “Sorry…” She took a step closer to the stairs, “Ah, well, I don’t really want to go back in there, so… I think I’m just going to… head home.”

“Thank you for your help, Ms. Igarashi.” Captain Tabuchi said, before too turning his attention to the walls.

Makoto glanced over at her, showing no interest in the walls and instead leaning against the railing, “Walk safe, Hana,” He said, though the there was something else in his expression. Skepticism.

She gave a smile, “Of course!” with that, she weaves between Fenix soldiers and climbs down the stairs. Makoto watched her go, and though Tamaki himself didn’t pay her much mind, visually, he kept an ear out. He didn’t hear anything unusual. Then again, Hana would know better, she had a pretty good idea as to how far away she had to be before Tamaki could no longer hear. If she was going to anything even slightly suspicious, she’d wait until she was out of his earshot.

 As the soldiers continued to search the walls, Makoto continued to watch, still leaning against the railing. Tamaki couldn’t help but roll his eyes. Figures Makoto wouldn’t even help, right now. Finally, Tamaki’s hand enters the wall, as he felt it. This must be the wall that Hana was talking about.

“Over here!” He called. Makoto pushed himself off the railing and walked over, Captain Tabuchi and the other soldiers close behind.

Makoto stared at the wall, “Huh, guess Hana was right. Just sorta goes through…”

“So it seems.” Tamaki turned his attention back to the wall.

As Makoto came up beside him, he said, “After you,”

With a sigh, Tamaki walked up to the wall, and then through it. On the other side were even more black walls – a but this area Tamaki recognized. This was where the Deadmans’ live streams took place. The Smilodon Vistamp seemed to burn in his uniform pocket. Soon, Makoto arrived beside him, then Captain Tabuchi and the soldiers. It wasn’t too cramped, here, but it wasn’t the most open, either. Tamaki didn’t like the idea of having so many soldiers present.

It was… strangely quiet, but somewhere here had to be at least one of the leaders. The question was simply where.

He hears footsteps, fairly hurried, before into the room comes Hikaru, carrying bags in his hands and arms. He freezes, then looked over at them, eyes widening just a little and frowning. “Uh… you’re… early.”

“Early?” Makoto echoed, just a bit sarcastic.

Hikaru looked down at the bags in his hands. “Uh… yeah. Listen, could you just… like, wait here another… five minutes?” He shifts the bags, “I’ll let Revi and Jeanne know you’re here.” He didn’t say anything about Evil and Aguilera. Aguilera, Tamaki could understand, but… there hadn’t been a sign of Daiji since.

Captain Tabuchi took a step forward, raising his gun. Hikaru seemed to shrink, obviously wary of the action. “We aren’t letting you-“

“Captain,” Tamaki isn’t sure what possessed him to cut off Captain Tabuchi. Now that he had, he had to continue. “Maybe… it would be best to let him go. He’s not that big of a threat, and anyway…” His eyes landed on the bags Hikaru carried.

Food, containers, dishes and utensils. Why was he carrying them, and where to? Hikaru’s wings fluttered just a little as he felt everyone’s gaze on him.

“I think it’s fairly important he make his delivery.” Tamaki finished. He couldn’t say exactly why he thought that, but… it was this feeling in his gut. Hikaru gave him a small smile.

Makoto nodded, crossing his arms, “I think Tamaki’s right. I doubt there’s much harm, anyway, and surprise won’t do us much good.”

“If we let him go, we’ll lose any surprise,” Captain Tabuchi reminded, clearly not convinced.

“And,” Makoto said, “We’ve already caught them off guard, and I don’t believe there are that many people here we’ll have to worry about fighting. After all, it’s only ever been Revi, Evil, Jeanne, Aguilera, and occasionally Papillion.”

Frown deepening, Captain Tabuchi said, “We can’t let him walk free…”

Rolling his eyes, Makoto took a step forward, “Then I’ll go with him.”

All eyes were on him in surprise, but Makoto seemed unbothered. Hikaru eyed him with a new wariness.

Finally, Captain Tabuchi relented, “Fine.”

Unsurprisingly, there was a satisfied little smile on Makoto’s face. He walks up to Hikaru, taking a couple bags from him. “Lead the way.”

A little stunned, Hikaru nodded, and the two left.

---

Makoto and Hikaru walked through the halls of the Deadmen’s base, Hikaru in the lead, still clearly unsure about everything. Makoto eyed the contents of the bags, figuring there must still be civilians – or at least non combative members of the Deadmen, here. That was the only real explanation.

“Is this the last of what you need to deliver?” He asked, shifting his hold on the bags.

Hikaru’s wings twitched, just a little, and he glanced back at Makoto, “Uh… yeah. There’s just a few people left and once we get these to them, they’ll be out…”

As Makoto expected. He wonders how Tamaki might feel to learn that, or others at Fenix. “Jeanne certainly seems to value civilians.”

He can’t see Hikaru’s face, but his tone seems a bit sullen, “She doesn’t want anyone to else to get involved if it can be avoided.”

“I assume your involvement, then, was because of your injuries?”

“In part,” Hikaru answered, shifting his bags and sighing, “But I wanted to help. Be there for Hana.”

That was about what Makoto had expected the answer to be. But no one had really had much of a chance to talk with Hikaru since he became Papillion. He was always with Jeanne or Aguilera, or there were members of Fenix around, or there just wasn’t a good opportunity. There were other things Makoto wanted to ask Hikaru about, though, things that were frankly more important and more interesting.

He glanced at the dark walls, somehow brightly lit despite their black color. “Tell me about Weekend, Hikaru.”

Hikaru visible stiffened, even his wings seeming to freeze in place as opposed to their usual bobbing and fluttering. “I… well, I take it you’ve went and talked to them…”

“Your parents are cagey and Mr. Karizaki even cagier, unless I practically force them to tell me about something.” They didn’t trust him, which he couldn’t exactly blame them for. He probably trusted them even less. “I doubt they’d tell me what I want to know.”

Glancing back at him again, Makoto can see Hikaru’s face scrunch up, just a little, “I can’t promise I can tell you either.”

“I think you can answer this one, at least. How did you become involved with them?”

Hikaru sighed, “It’s nothing all that interesting. When my parents died, Weekend took me in, and I would eventually become a part of their attempts to be close with your family. That’s all there is to it.”

“Did… you want to join Weekend?” How young had he been? How long had he been apart of Weekend before they met him?

“Not really, but I was… too young to really understand. And scared. It had been a demon that killed my parents, and Weekend… just assumed I’d want back at the Deadmans for it.” There’s a certain tenseness in Hikaru’s voice, an annoyance and an uncaring. He didn’t like Weekend much, it seems. Not that Makoto was all that surprised.

Still, the fact that Hikaru was made to join Weekend, regardless of his feelings on the matter, made Makoto… angry. Not that it was a surprise to Makoto. “You shouldn’t have been forced to join them.” Despite his best efforts to sound calm, there was a tightness in his voice.

He doubts that Hikaru didn’t notice it, “It is what it is,” He responded, then stopped, holding out for the bags. “This is it. I’ll take them in, then I’ll take you to Jeanne.” Makoto handed over the bags and Hikaru slipped into the room for a few minutes.

Soon enough he was back out, leading Makoto back the way they came. The building was a maze of halls, really, but Hikaru seemed to know them well. Finally, Makoto notes, “You said we were early. That meant you were expecting us. And given you’re so loyal to Hana…”

Again, Hikaru’s wings seemed to freeze, “It’s… complicated.”

“I really doubt it is. If she was betraying the Deadmans, you would have gone with her. You all wanted Fenix – Tamaki and I, at least, here.” Makoto narrowed his eyes, watching as Hikaru grew even more uneasy.

After a few more moments of walking, where Hikaru doesn’t respond, they finally stop, outside a door. “Here. Jeanne’s, um, in here.”

“It would make more sense to get everyone else.”

Hikaru glanced at him, “Maybe… but you don’t really want them here, do you?”

Looking at the door, Makoto replied, “No, I suppose I don’t.”

“Go on, then. I’ll make sure the others get here… at some point. I doubt they’ll be too suspicious.” With that said, Hikaru takes off, though he showed little urgency, walking at a leisurely pace. Makoto paid him little mind.

He opens and door and walks into the room. The first thing that greets him is what must be Giff’s coffin – it made him uneasy, something sinking into his bones. Not unlike Giff’s stamp. In front of the coffin was a coffee table with two sofas on each side of it. Jeanne sits on one, tense shoulders betraying her relaxed posture.

She turns to look at him and smiles, “Olteca. Just who I hoped to see.”

He rests his hands in his coat pockets, one hand on his Driver and the other on the icy Anomalocaris Vistamp. “It would be either me or Tamaki. And I can’t imagine you and Tamaki being in the same room together and alone would go well.”

“He’s got quite the temper, doesn’t he? Almost reminds me of Daiji…” She shakes her head, “I’d say we have a few minutes, Hikaru is wonderful at stalling. Sit down and let’s talk.”

He doesn’t, instead walking to behind the couch opposite of her, “I think I’d rather stand. And I doubt we really have that much time to spare.”

“You’d be surprised,” The smile she wore, faded. It didn’t suit her, like this, anyway. Makoto knew as well as she did that it was fake. “We have things that we really should talk about.”

He studied her. Jeanne was a wonderful actress, but in times of duress the cracks showed up quite easily. Right now, he’s not entirely sure that she’s even really trying. Something was bothering her, and somehow he thinks it’s only partly to do with this whole set up. “Like what?”

“Your father, for one.” She said, then her gaze moved to Giff’s coffin, “Our own, for another.”

Of course she’d have questions about Vail – he’d attacked her and Revi, after all. And as for their father… “I suppose it would be odd for him not to have a hand in all this. The director of Fenix and… what? The true leader of the Deadmans?”

“It seems kind of unfair that he has his hands so deeply in both, right?” She tilted her head, her smile something more of a grimace. “Playing some game we’re not privy too in the slightest.”

With a huff, his hands tightened into fists, “Then I suppose you don’t have too much useful to tell me.”

She laughed, “I didn’t say that.”

“Then out with it, Jeanne.”

“First… tell me what you know about that… you said it was your father’s demon?” Jeanne watched him closely. He wouldn’t be surprised if she suspected he might try to lie to her.

Just a little, he hummed. “It was, as far as I can gather. I don’t know much more about it, or why it targeted you and Revi.”

“I’m afraid I can’t give you much more about our father, either. Just that he seeks to retrieve Giff’s stamp, so I suspect he has a bigger plan that has led you here.” Again, she glanced at Giff’s coffin.

Makoto followed her gaze, unable to shake whatever it was about this coffin that perturbed him. “The stamp is in Fenix’s possession.”

Finally, Jeanne stood, “It would be suspicious if it simply disappeared, and we’ve run out of loyal moles to steal it, anyway. If he were to take it himself… it would risk certain people becoming too suspicious.”

“Certain people?”

She doesn’t respond, the sound of fighting soon reaching their ears. “It seems that Hikaru’s run out of time to stall. Well, let’s give them a good show.” She pulled the Cobra Vistamp out, quickly stamping herself. Makoto supposed he didn’t have much choice but to follow suit, pulling out his Driver and the Anomalocaris Vistamp and transforming.

Jeanne wastes no time in leading him out into the bigger room they initially encountered Hikaru in, which seemed to be where Hikaru was fighting Tamaki, as well as the Fenix soldier, though clearly he wasn’t paying them much mind. No other demons, though, and no Revi. Hana makes sense, it might be a bit difficult for Aguilera to slip in without Fenix noticing, but why wasn’t Revi here? Was he still too shaken from Vail?

---

“This is quite the plan, Ikki. I’m honestly surprised you went along with it.” Hana shoved her hands into her pocket, her Driver and the Bee Vistamp a comfortable weight.

Ikki glanced around the painfully white hallways of Fenix. His unease is palpable, a hand reaching up to pull his hat further down his head. The faint outlines of his horns protruded from the top, not enough that anyone seemed to notice. This hallway was empty, anyway, they’d passed few people, though their presence did clearly garner some attention in those they did.

The director’s eldest son and two of the Kamen Riders’ sister were a notable pair, after all. Ikki especially, given the scene Daiji had made before he left. But no one would risk crossing the director, either.

“It’s not exactly like I have much choice,” Ikki’s voice is hushed, obviously wary of being overheard. There was an unspoken “you know how father is”. Hana knew enough, at least, to know that Ikki was right about that.

They arrive at a particular door and Ikki stops. He hesitates for a moment, before fishing out a card – Daiji’s old Fenix ID. He swipes it in the card reader, puts in some code Hana doesn’t pay much mind to, and the door opens.

Glancing to Hana, he tells her, “Wait down the hall a bit. I’ll be out in only a few minutes, but if someone comes…”

“I’ll come up with some excuse,” Hana grinned. As Ikki entered the room, she wanders down the hall, coming to a stop at an intersection between it and another hallway. Boredly, she pulls out her phone to pass the next few minutes. Obviously Sakura, Hikaru, and her brothers were busy, so she couldn’t really bother them.

She opens a game on her phone, though she doesn’t get very far before she hears footsteps coming down one of the halls. Deciding that it was better to appear distracted, she didn’t look up from her phone. Of course, the footsteps came to a stop when they reached her.

“Well, well, Karate Girl.” Just her luck, it was someone who actually recognized her. That was probably worse than someone who didn’t. “Neither of your brothers are here, so why are you?”

“Ah, Mr. Kari. Well…” There was no way she could use either Makoto and Tamaki as an excuse. She’d need something else… “Well, I was going to go visit Sakura, since, you know, it’s been so long since I’ve seen her, but then I ran into Ikki and he asked me to come with him and then we were here.”

“…Akaishi?” Mr. Kari looked at her like she was crazy.

She tilted her head, giving her best confused pout, “Of course, who else? Sakura’s my girlfriend and Ikki’s her brother.”

He narrowed her eyes at her, “Did no one tell you about Daiji Akaishi’s grand reveal?”

Obviously he wasn’t quite believing that no one had told her – though no one had. Her brothers knew that she knew anyway. “Um… no? What happened?”

“He-“ Mr. Kari was barely even able to start his sentence before the sound of the Revice Driver and T-Rex Vistamp echoed down the halls. Ikki must have finished up, and he must have noticed Mr. Kari was here. Then Revi comes barreling into Mr. Kari, knocking him over, while Vice scooped Hana up.

Unable to help herself, Hana yelped, “Hey! What are you doing!?”

“We’re getting out of here,” Revi answered, Giff’s Stamp clutched in one hand.

The pair continue running through the halls, no doubt making quite the scene. Hana gave Vice a solid whack, “Put me down.”

“Sorry,” Vice said, sounding not the slightest bit sorry, “This is quicker!”

[writingpaperghost]

The Reason Half the Riders Don't Answer Their Texts

Takes place sometime after the events of There Is a Me Who Can Become Strong. At least for now I'd say somewhere in How Do You Measure a Year In the Life?

AO3: https://archiveofourown.org/works/62107192/chapters/158852008

CyberCat has added BraveKnight, TigerCat, Paradox, Motorcycle, M, DragoKnight, PipopapoPanic and ZombieLoser to Virus Exterminators CyberCat: welcome everyone Motorcycle: yo Paradox: isn't there like. a better name for this? DragoKnight: Four of us here are Bugsters, after all. CyberCat: you got any better names? Paradox: uh... ZombieLoser: May I suggest "Saiba Name Me Something Like This Again and You Will Regret It"? M: I don't think anyone here is good at naming things. Maybe graphite is, actually CyberCat: i don't fear you CyberCat: zombieloser ZombieLoser changed their name to Kuroto Kuroto: Very funny. Motorcycle: lol Paradox: let's not get on anyone's nerves more than needed... M: Kuro looks... really annoyed CyberCat: kuro? you never call him that M: It's just. Easier. Kuroto: You can't see, but Graphite is sighing right now. Paradox: how is it that everyone here is an adult and there is. this. DragonKnight: Snipe is why. TigerCat: So this is why my phone is dying? Really Nico? TigerCat: And what is this name? CyberCat: after everything, I thought it would be good to have CyberCat: we're all friends now CyberCat: and you're tigercat because your name sounds like tiger and we can match like this Paradox: I feel bad for Saki's phone. PipopapoPanic: Shouldn't some of you be working? PipopapoPanic: Emu, Graphite, and Nico might not have be things to be knowing, but I know the rest of you do. Kuroto: If I find one more segfault in this code I am going to die. M: don't be so dramatic Kuro... M: i'd also be really sad if you died. Paradox: to be fair, Saki is probably busy working and that's why we haven't heard from her Paradox: I'm on break rn Motorcycle: im watching kuroto suffer rn Motorcycle: which is kinda like a job DragonKnight: I'm no where near her, but I'm certain Poppy has sighed heavily just now. Motorcycle: lol TigerCat: I'm going back to work. CyberCat: you're so lame Taiga! CyberCat: this could be lots of fun DragonKnight: Or chaos. Kuroto: Or my personal hell. M: i've never been in a group chat before... M: mostly cause i never really had friends Paradox: Honestly I barely even use my phone most days Motorcycle: well now yall can have lots of texts to make your phone explode Motorcycle: and then you can ask kuroto to fix it Kuroto: As if. MightyActionµ has joined Virus Exterminators MightyActionµ: HIIIIIIIIIIII!!!!!!!!!!! Paradox: what M: ??? Motorcycle: huh MightyActionµ: I MU! HERE! Kuroto: ...Mu? CyberCat: wtf MightyActionµ: WANT FOOD MightyActionµ: HUNGEE Kuroto: Oh really? MightyActionµ: FOOD WANT MightyActionµ: VRY HUNGEE Kuroto: Graphite has dragged Emu off to eat. MightyActionµ has left Virus Exterminators Motorcycle: that kid...