Chapter 1: Load Game Plus

Disclaimer: I do not own both Kamen Rider and Re:Creators as they both belong to their respective owners.

Siblings...a pack of reliable bunch.

One may consider that they are your first friends before you depart to the society. Despite so, their bonds are far deeper than friends. You argue. You agree. You fought. You love. Yet, you remain close with them. Look deeper… and observe…

"Hey, Emu?" Asked a little girl with glasses and black hair as she looked over the shoulder of a slightly younger boy with the same matching hair color.

"Yes, sis?"

"What are you drawing?" She questioned with all of the curiosity of your average nine-year old.

"Oh, this?" The now named Emu showed his drawing, gleefully telling, "These are the Mighty Brothers! I drew it in case we're gonna have another brother!"

"That's cool! Hey, can I be one of them, too?"

"What? Nu-uh, you can't! Not in here!"

"But I want to be one of the Mighty Brothers, too!" The girl pouted, causing Emu to laugh.

"Hahaha, I'm just kidding! My drawing here is too big, though. Maybe I'll go get another paper so I can fit you in it, too!"

"Okay." She sighed in relief and gratefulness. "Still, your drawing is nice! You could be an artist for this!"

"I want to be a gamer. Oh wait, maybe I can make a game on my own!" the boy resolved.

"You sure will, my brother. You sure will."

He nodded. "Do you like drawing too, sis?"

"Of course!" She happily answered, entering an dream-like trance as she elaborated. "One day, I'll make a beautiful drawing that can impress everyone! And I hope I can impress you!"

"Impress me? Oh, that's if you don't wanna lose from me!"

"Gosh, are we really going on a rivalry, now?"

"You're my big sister, right?" The boy challenged, putting down his crayon and standing up to look his big sister in the eye. "That's why I don't wanna lose from you! I wanna impress you, too!"

"Oh I see." The girl grinned widely at that claim, going on to offer a handshake. "Okay! May the best sibling win, then!"

"Alright! May the best win!" He accepted the agreement of rivalry and clasped his hand with his sister's, matching her own smile with his own.

Seventeen Years Later...

The year was 2017, and the now 24-year old Emu Hojo stood in front of a cemetery.

It has been a rough day for the intern in his days as a Kamen Rider. Though the last fight ended up in his favor, he was still in terms of uneasy allies with Taiga and Nico, who aimed to claim the victory for themselves. This was still unsettling, even though he still had Hiro who stood by him for good terms while Poppy was gone. Fortunately, he still had a lot of time off to look for a fresh air, and that was when he decided to visit…

"Hey, sis."

Emu paused, staying silent as if he were to expect an greeting back before continuing on.

"It's been months since the last time I visited you. I recently got back from my internship, something that you'd probably dreamed of for me, and… yelled at me to look for. Hehe...I had to say that the skills I learned as a doctor didn't go to waste. I mean, look at me now; I got to wear a white doctor coat over my favorite clothes! Young doctors surely gets all the attention from kids, no?"

Once again, he paused before moving forward.

"Anyway, here's the thing. There's so much that I want to tell you…so many things that had been going on since I grabbed that belt and became a Kamen Rider. About how exciting …and horrifying it was at the same time. It was like – I dunno – my fantasies coming to life?"

"You see, I get to use these powers of games developed by Genm Corp., something that'd probably get my little self riled up. I mean imagine the games that we had played since our childhood coming to life! Hell, even VR was still leagues below from this! Though, It was rather unfortunate that it also has a risk of… death. A friend of mine was its victim. He was killed in the day where it was supposed to be of joy. I know how ironic it was… I know it all too well, especially since…well, you know."

"But hey, at least I still get to fight another day. I got these cool power ups so that I can still keep up with the Bugsters that also gradually become stronger. The thing is, they also involved civilians. And as much as I hate to say it… they're dumb enough to play a game that bets on their lives like a gamble. And even after they knew, they're still willing to fight in hopes of getting the lost ones back. But that's just human nature, isn't it?"

"That's why I can still say that the same also goes for me. I know I was dumb back then, and… maybe even until now. But the fact that I'm still standing here is the proof that I got better over time. I got a job, a decent profit, gaming skills , and I can look after myself. Especially, since I can somehow feel that our world is turning into a jungle."

Emu looks up into the air, taking a moment to appreciate the bright stars that lit up the night sky.

"But, even now… I still wish you were here, Setsuna."

As the evening passed, Emu walked home as he passed through a side bus with an anime he seemed to recognize from his days of internet surfing.

Its name was "Elemental Symphony of Vogelchevalier", which was currently popular among youngsters. It was an anime that mixed the elements of medieval, magic, and most of all, mecha genre. As a fan of gaming and pop culture himself, Emu would surely try to find a free time and dig out some infos, including reviews, fanarts, games, and such. Although, he also had to balance it with his business as an intern.

"Vogelchevalier, huh? Guess I should give it a shot tonight." He said to himself as he was still up after his nap at the CR Center.

After a few minutes, he had finally arrived at his apartment, with only him around and his mother on the other side of the city. He was fortunate to have already become a young man capable of independence and self-initiative, and true to his occupation, his room was tidy. It might not be made for upper-class luxury, but its more than comfortable preset was to his preference. The room's size was just what an above average apartment room would look like. There was a sofa, flat TV, kitchen, and two bedrooms, although one was prepared in case he had a guest.

He then walked towards his room, filled with lots of Genm Corp. game posters ranging from Mighty Action X and all the way to Drago Knight Hunter Z. Those were the first games that the gaming corporation had released for the first time. They were incredibly popular despite the pixel graphic due to its ever-changing levels, customizations, and even rewards that enabled you to buy exclusive contents. Recently, those games were weaponized by the Riders in order to combat the Bugsters, who kept evolving from time to time. They had also become more organized, in which the heroes must be wary of.

But, time out's a time out, isn't it?

And so, he took his PC tablet and began browsing through a lot of things, ranging from fanarts to streaming services. Usually, he'd see the former tab because it always reminded him of his late sister, who loved drawing and making characters. She even said that one day, she'd make her creation into an anime. He was also reminded by his promise to Setsuna that he would fill his life with joy and happiness as she always told him in the past days, in which he became a doctor in the first place. Surfing through the net had always been his way to remind him of his good memories he spent with his dear sister.

Until…

Well, best not to dwell on that.

He found a direct link to Vogelchevalier which took him less than a minute to find. Internet services had always been this handy ever since globalization took over the world, so he might as well use the advantage. That also got himself to know the said anime. He looked at its ongoing episode list, which ended in 26.

"Oh well. Looks like this week's episode hasn't come out yet." He then gazed towards its poster, in which he set his sight on a particular character. "Ahh… Selesia's still as cute as always. No wonder Poppy was so jealous at her."

Selesia Yupitilia was Vogelchevalier's main heroine. She was famous among the hearts of young men. Although Emu wasn't as infatuated as they were, he could judge that Selesia have a good character after spending his time watching its series. She was strong, brave, and chivalrous as a knight would be.

However, a sudden static on the pad's scene startled the intern the moment he streamed its latest episode, which turned into a PC error blue screen. He was afraid if something really went wrong with his smartpad. He knocked the screen to make sure it all again. All seemed normal at the first few seconds, then the screen began to display numerous texts of various languages; German, Thai, Hindi, you name it. He was never the one who took language lessons other than English back in his earlier days. The smartpad was then engulfed in a blue Bugster-like static, taking him by surprise that forced him to drop the pad to the floor.

When the light died down, Emu subconsciously knew that everything would never be the same.

All of his surroundings, his own room, was changed into what seemed to be a medieval setting. He found himself standing on top of a huge water body. he checked the rest of his surroundings, and spotted a bridge and a castle nearby. Could a new strain of the Bugster Virus be doing this? It probably sent him to another world that wasn't the Game one, or it could be projecting whatever that might happen in the future. The scenery then went back to his own room again, with his smartpad displaying Selesia who appeared to be on a cockpit.

"You... what on earth is that? Charon? Charon!"

Emu blinked at the all-too familiar voice that echoed through out the area.

"Okaaay, that was weiIIIIRD! OMIGOSH! WHAT THE HELL!?"

A giant white robot appeared behind him all of the sudden. It had several red markings and and a giant horn on its head, carrying a giant sword on its right arm. He recognized that robot all too well. It was the mechsuit Vogelchevalier, indeed. The mech flew above him as if it was about to attack something in front of him. However, the mech was thrown back and barely able to regain its stand by using its thrusters and skidding on the water body.

"It's strong!" Selesia observed from inside the cockpit, clearly not expecting such strong opposition.

"Strong? Who would..." Emu turned his back to what seemed to be a person. "Oh."

In front of Emu was a white-haired girl who was wearing a fantasy-like military outfit with a big hat on top of her twin tail hairdo, wearing a pair of iron gauntlets to finish the look.

A look that seems to be much more familiar than Emu was comfortable with, yet could not fathom way.

Wanting to ignore that dark feeling in his gut, he checked back on his dropped smartpad, seeing Selesia who was still inside the robot.

"You bitch!" Selesia charged the albino once again by thrusting the mech's sword, only to be blocked by the latter's sheer mysterious force barrier. and that was the exact scene that played on the smartpad. Emu, however, couldn't help but feel amazed despite the normal feeling of the crapping of the pants that would be normally called for in this kind of situation. He looked at the clashing warriors again, scratching his head. "What on earth is going on!?"

"Yes, my master really likes you too, Your Highness, Selesia Yupitilia." The girl mused outloud as she somehow whipped the giant mech away with her cutlass swords that were aligned to form a whip. "It seems that you still do not fully understand my power yet. Shall I demonstrate you the power of my Holopsicon? I would be very much obliged if I could just carve it on your body."

The military girl summoned a Tommy gun and picked one of the cutlasses that were spinning around her. She put up a gesture like that of a violin player. Just as it suggested, she scratched her cutlass on the rifle's back, causing a massive shockwave that hit Vogelchevalier. The mech suddenly crumbled into numerous blue pixel cubes, leaving Selesia alone to face the adversary without her greatest weapon.

"The Holopsicon is omnipotent. Everything flows in the power of eternal reincarnation. Dust to life, life to ashes. Thus, the world returns her once more."

"Heh, nice sad poem." Emu muttered. He then put his a bit static pad up to see the exact scene occurring once again. "Then again...VR tech has never been this good, before. Not even Genm Corp could do this on a whim..."

"Such nonsense, coming from you! Just because I lost Vogelchevalier, I...!"

Selesia unsheathed a sword grip that soon summoned its edge once it was taken out. The military girl responded by flinging her cutlasses to her. The former easily blocked them with her sword. However, Emu himself was defenseless as the cutlasses had almost hit him directly, cutting his cheek ever so slightly.

"Whoaaa!" He exclaimed. "Looks like I should-"

"You there! Get down, now!"

The female warrior dove towards Emu to further drag him away from the attack. In a slight moment, he witnessed the surprised face that the military girl had. Could it be that he knew that person somehow? The smartpad he held began to act up again, glowing in blue and covered them with blue pixels. The girl threw her cutlass to her targets, only for them to disappear, leaving her in Vogelchevalier's world of fantasy.

Emu and Selesia were teleported safely to Emu's room, where his broken-screen smartpad lied on top of the magazine that displayed both her and Charon, the male protagonist as its cover.

Shaking off his head at the landing, Emu looked up at Selesia, who had seemingly fainted and breathing heavily from the fatigue. He checked her body composure and her otherwordly garments that didn't seem to came out of cosplay materials. He slowly got her grip off from her, and went out from his room to the kitchen.

But not before closing the door and lifted her to his bed, of course. He was raised better than that after all.

"Oh God... Oh God, oh God, this... this is just..."

He picked up a milk box and poured the fresh vanilla liquid to his "Mighty Action X" mug and drank from it, an habit he had since childhood. He was also heavily breathing from the very surprise that had occured to him. Feeling his cheek with an finger and seeing blood on it, he saw that the cut on that he earned from the attack was very...REAL. Then again, he still had to focus on the main event at hand.

"Okay, Emu Hojo. Calm yourself down. There's nothing really wrong here, just uhh... a girl... named Selesia Yupitilia... just saved you from that girl and entered your room. Now where have I seen that girl before? Oh, never mind that, dude!" He muttered quickly, slapping both of his hands to his head to get his act back together. "Okay, ahem, now, let's just go back to your room, and..."

He opened his bedroom to see Selesia, who had just woke up and had her sword ready with a battle stance.

She was really there, the very Seleisa Yupitilia.

One part of the Genius Gamer was fanboying at such fantasy being reality now, while the other, far more sensible part could only see a girl who knew exactly how to use that dangerous sword in her hands.

Okay, one step at a time then.

Calling upon the practices of his pediatrician training, Emu smiled at Celesia like he would any patient of his, "Hi there!" he greeted, pathetically an small part of his mind cynically added.

Selesia for her part didn't seemed to be convinced by his friendly behavior. She suddenly rushed towards him and had her sword pinned to his neck and his back against the open door.

Crap, wrong move! "Okay, listen. I may not be the most heartwarming welcoming committee here, but please calm down and make yourself at home, here!" Emu insisted, eyes darting back and forth from the fiery redhead the incredibly sharp sword at his neck.

Still not convinced, she closed the bedroom's door and turned the lamp on without once breaking contact with Emu on any front, pinning the young hospital intern to the door even harder.

"Are you one of her allies?" She interrogated.

"Ally?" She pressed her knee to his crotch and her sword further to his neck. "Ow! Please, let's not go there!"

"How do you know my name? Where is Charon!? The enemy's wave chant doesn't have the power to transport us like this, so where the hell are we!?"

"Y- you're in my room... and th-that..." he pointed at his broken pad. "Is how we got here."

"What's with that broken machine? Who are you!?"

"I am REALLY starting to feel my blood flowing...and not in the way that can be taken out of context."

"The same opinion goes to mine. Send me back to Earthmelia, now!"

"Earthmelia? Oh, Vogelchevalier's setting. I get it, now."

Not convinced again, she further threatened him to the point of her sword almost slitting up his neck.

"Oh, would you please calm down?! I have nothing to do with this,and I still don't fully believe what's happening right now, okay!?" he half-shouted as he had already been pushed to the edge. "Now, could you please lower your weapon and be more cool about this? Because I'm not here to hurt you, for God's sake."

Seeing the sincerity of this, Selesia slowly complied by backing herself away with her weapon still pointed on him. "Fine, but that doesn't mean I trust you, now."

"Of course. But how do I even..." an idea suddenly struck in his head. He sighed, "Okay listen, I really like your show. It's the best show of the season, and that fight with a heavy machinery iron clump on episode three was amazing. How's that?"

"What in the world are you-?" she was the struck by a realization. "You must be talking about Eizenkavalier. What does this all mean? At the time, no one except me, Charon, and that iron clump you talk about. I've never even of the wave chant that is able to see that far away. So, how do you know about it?"

"Because, uhh...you're from an anime that I was about to watch?"

"...Huh?"

"Just listen to me, okay!?" He ran towards his magazine to show her several illustrations from the Vogelchevalier corner. "Look at this. And this. All of these, you're from here!"

Selesia took the magazine from him. "What is this?"

"The original story! I think I also bought it around a month ago, but where-? Oh, here it is!" he found the book from his bag and showed it to her. It had an illustration of several Vogelchevalier characters including her. "See? this is you!"

"Wh...wha-?"

"Let me read some of its passage. Ahem: 'If you're not sure of yourself, then follow me. and so, you'll be the one who protects my back'. How's that?"

Selesia gasped in surprise. Her face evidently turned red in embarrassment. "That's what Charon said to me! how do you know that, too!?"

"It's here! See?"

"So uhh, long story short, you and I have arrived in a world where people see your journey, your stories, and even your romance in your world. This is a place where imagination runs free and comes to life, like literally right now. We know about you, Charon, Vogelchevalier, your enemies, and even your character developments throughout every single of your journey." He then stretched his hands in a showman manner. "In other words, welcome to my world, planet Earth."

The female warrior's face grew more red. He knew it all! Her moments with Charon, and not to mention everything he said to her! This is unbelievable, again! She slumped to the floor, unable to handle the very revelation she had just heard. She wasn't even in Earthmelia anymore, and she had to deal by that fact all alone. And there she was, buried deep in embarrassment by mere words from her... friend.

"So uhh... does coffee sound good for you?" Emu offered, having the decency to look sheepish at that.

A few moments later...

Emu served a cup of coffee over regular white cup. It was mixed with his milk and a few sugar to add its sweetness. After finishing up, he heads over to the table where his guest is sitting, sword on lap.

Selesia had to admit herself that it smelled really good from where she was, this "homebrew coffee". Cautiously, Celesia picked up the steaming cup set before her by its handle, taking a slow sip. Her eyes widened at the unique taste and she felt very refreshed it made her feel.

"Ooh! This... this is so good!"

"Thanks. Glad you can cool off, although it's not a cold drink, heheh..."

"I humbly apologize for earlier. I should've known that you meant no harm from the beginning." Selesia apologized.

"Oh, it's no big deal! I mean, given the circumstances from Earthmelia, I can sort of understand your ordeals back there." Emu said.

"W-well then... thank you for being so understanding." she sheepishly replied. There was an air of silent, with Selesia filled with uncertainty as she drank her coffee. Perhaps, she was the one who had never been the most welcoming person, after all. "So, you said that this is a world where imagination runs free and comes to life, right?"

"More or less. I mean in this world, there's no such thing as magic chants and huge battle mechsuits like in yours. Everything here is technology-based. But like I said, some people are entitled in making fictional worlds like Earthmelia, bundled in a TV anime show called 'Elemental Symphony of Vogelchevalier', based on the name of your robot."

"So, does that mean I'm also fictional, here? Like, I was a creation of someone from this place... planet Earth?"

"You could say so." Emu nodded after drinking out of his cup. "But as to how you're able to enter this world, I'm afraid that's totally out of my league at the moment."

"I see. Well, I bet that he's so powerful that he could create Earthmelia as I know of now." Selesia commented, taking another sip of her coffee.

"It's not like he has some magical powers of sort, mind you. I mean, most people here are just... ordinary. They might not be that almighty as you thought, but I can only say for sure that imagination is the most powerful aspect of human. Only by that, we're able to create many incredible things, and survive 'til this very moment."

"Ooh..." Selesia was amazed by the pediatrician's explanation. "Umm, anyway... can you please tell me about yourself? I never get the chance to ask it before."

"My name is Emu Hojo. I am a pediatrician, a doctor who specializes in children care." He stated as professionally as someone of his status could, pulling out his Seito University Hospital ID and handing it to Selesia.

"A doctor? Is it like a healer?" She questioned, giving the card in her hand a good look over.

"Only without healing spells, of course. Oh, and I'm also a professional gamer, well... former professional gamer who competes in national gaming contest."

"A doctor and a gamer? Hmm, I didn't quite get the last part, but it seems that you're a busy person for having such jobs."

"Pediatrician is my current occupation, while gaming is my hobby thank you very much."

"Hm. I suppose we can all use one." Selesia said, handing Emu's ID back, "So, a pediatrician you say?"

"Yes?"

"Remember that time when she attacked us? For a moment back then, I felt like you were about to do some means of counter attack. I was kind of wondering what it might be. Could you happen to have that sort of power you speak of? Something tells me that you're not that much of a healer."

"R-really?" Emu sighed. "Well, as expected of you, Selesia." He puts his cup down before folding his hands "Okay... how do I say it? you see, I'm-"

A bright light appearing from the kitchen's window interrupts that line of explanation. The light soon formed into blue pixels, which then gave form of the very girl in the military uniform, shocking both Emu and Selesia.

"Your level of confusion was quite mild." The girl observed. "I was certain to expect nothing less from you, Selesia Yupitillia of 'Elemental Symphony of Vogelchevalier'. How impressive."

Selesia response was to pry open the window by stabbing her sword to it, much to the owner's dismay. "Hey, I just cleaned that window, Selesia!"

Ignoring Emu's remarks, Selesia glared daggers at the floating girl before her. "Who the hell are you!?"

"Would my name be the answer you are seeking for?"

"Answer me, Magician of the Avalon Brigade!"

"Avalon Brigade?" The girl echoed, understanding coming over her features. "Oh, I see. that must be the enemy forces you are fighting against in your world. Just so you know; I am not affiliated to them, nor they even exist in this world."

"Don't count your chickens before they hatch." Emu muttered.

"And this is the most important thing: you are not from this world, Selesia."

"So I've been told." Selesia replied, sparing a glace to Emu.

The girl smirked, knowing that this had saved her explanation a lot. "But still, the occurrence of you being transported to here is truly a curious development. Now, do you really want to know how you arrived here?"

"Now THAT I most certainly do."

"It is none other than I, who summoned you here. I summoned you and induced your manifestation. Welcome to the horrific world of the Gods of pleasure." The girl explained ominously.

Emu stood up from his seat. "Y'know, it's too late for any welcoming speeches, young lady. I welcomed her first, and what was that again? 'The Horrific World of the Gods of Pleasure'? Seriously, you really got the knack to have that kind of point of view. Now, where did you get that from? Poem sheet? Library? And don't say that you got the 'pleasure' part from Kama Sutra."

"What in the world are you even talking about?" Selesia sweatdropped.

The girl laughed. "Ahahaha! Such a mouthful babble from YOU of all people. You sure had lots of things inside that huge brain of yours, aren't you now... Emu Hojo?"

"Y-you know my name?" Emu staggered, feeling the crawling chills over his body, immediately grabbing his chair for protection. "Oh... don't tell me you were one of the stalkers that my Social Hub warned about!"

"Seriously, are you incapable of just paying attention to the matter at hand!?"

"Shall I tell your new friend about what you hide in your browser history? Or maybe even...under your bed?"

"YOU HAVE NO PROOF OF WHAT I HAVE!" Emu shouted in denial before remembering just who was next to him. "B-but it's not like I have something that actually important there, I can tell you that much. Hehe..."

"Ughhh! This is getting nowhere!" Selesia frustratedly groaned.

"Now, where are we, hmm? Ah, that's right." The girl then continued her dialogue, turning back to Selestia. "Your Highness, I suggest you to come with me. this is for your own good. I shall explain the details later."

"I refuse!"

"And why is that so?"

"Because someone who laughs like that is NOT someone I want to come with. I don't trust you at all!"

"Please, we are in need of a conversation here." The girl summoned a blue magical rune that summoned her cutlass.

"Not in my apartment!" Emu whined once again.

"Then let's take this somewhere else! Come!"

"W-wait! what're you going to-?"

"We're going to fly."

"What!? Whooaaaa!"

Selesia grabbed Emu's hand and literally took a flight from the balcony. Emu was surprised at how it went on at first, but he tried to hold himself together as he had already taken flight on his own before. Luckily, he didn't get an airsick, and he used this chance to take a look for somewhere out in the open.

"Okay... okay. Focus Hojo, focus!" he said to himself.

"What is it?" Selesia asked without looking at her passenger, noticing Emu's loud mumbling.

"I'm trying to find somewhere open and away from any residence! I remember there's a park here, but uhh..." he said until he spotted and pointed at the aforementioned location. "Oh, there it is! we can take the fight there!"

"Are you sure about that?"

"Yeah! It's already 9 o'clock and the park's already empty at this point! There won't be any bystanders nearby!" Emu confirmed.

"Good! Then this won't be that hard!" Selesia sped up her flight to the aforementioned location.

"Umm, about that 'hard' part, you might wanna hurry 'cause our perp's catching up on us!" Emu said as they were about to be rained down by the military girl's cutlasses.

"What!? How did she even get here so fast!?" Selesia dodged the raining swords and even forced to shield herself with her sword. However, one problem remains with the defenseless Emu who didn't seem to have a weapon of his own.

Until...

"Can you fly faster than this?"

"This is as fast as I can go!" Selesia replied.

"In that case...!"

Emu then took out a lime-colored device that turned out to be a belt once he strapped it on. On of its notable features were its pink handle that also covered its mid-section, two slots on the left and another separate slot on his left waist with two orange holders. On the holders also materialized two cartridge like devices, one pink 'Mighty Action X' and the other red Gekitotsu Robots' Gashats.

Just as a cutlass was directed to Emu himself, a circling thumbnail appeared on him. It depicted a stylized hammer with 'A' and 'B' buttons, along with a solid spiky pink swing effect on top of it. he quickly drew it out once it reached his right hand and knocked its 'A' button to his thigh.

GASHACON BREAKER!

JA-KIIN!

The pediatrician successfully blocked the incoming cutlass with his words and countless others of it, too. Selesia was also surprised at how adept Emu was in dealing with this sort of situation.

"Whoa! How-?!"

"How close are we?" he asked as he batted away more and more cutlass aiming to send the duo crashing.

"Just a little closer! We should be able too - LOOK OUT!"

All of the sudden, the military girl was already in front of them with her violin position ready. She sled her cutlass, causing a massive shockwave that sent the two down to the ground.

"Hold on tight!"

Selesia quickly took Emu into her arms and cushioned him from the landed on a red car, which turned out to still had its male driver inside. Luckily enough, they were already nearby the park.

"H-hey, the hell's going on, man!?" The man squeaked.

"You need to get out of here, right now!" Emu ordered, his weapon still in hand.

"Uhh, why would I have to do that?" The man questioned, looking back and forth from Emu and his weapon.

"Because... that's why." Emu pointed at the descending girl with her cutlass circling around her, grinning menacingly.

"I-Is that a new Bugster from Kamen Rider Chronicle?"

"Kamen Rider...Chronicle?" Selesia overheard.

"No clue, but I'll try to look for it." Emu promised to the man, currently ignoring Selesia's curiosity, "In the meantime, you should run away from here as fast as you can. Doctor's orders."

"Okay then! I...I stopped playing that game alright?"

"Good. Now go!"

At that, the man ran away as far as he could. Emu looked around to see if there's still any citizens nearby, confirming that there were none left. The redhead warrior, on the other hand, was still astonished by what Emu had been holding in his hand, never seeing a hammer design quite like it.

"Oh? Quite an extraordinary skill you have, Emu Hojo." The girl in the military dress praised condescendingly from, floating closer down to her two prey, "But as much as I want to appraise you, I'd really appreciate it if you both could save me the trouble."

At this, Selesia went in front of her new friend, sword in hand and ready to directly confront her chaser, though not before ask Emu some very important questions.

"Emu, just...what is that weapon? Who are you really? And what's with that 'Kamen Rider Chronicle'?" She questioned slowly, no breaking her gaze from her air bound opponent.

"It's...not really something I am capable of explaining with just words alone."

"'If I win, then let me have my way with you'." The military girl in the dress injected, staying in place as she elaborated, "Is that what I should say? To be honest with you, I despise such simple negotiations, but if you insist on following such protocol, then I'd be happy to oblige. I can change my customs to your liking, too." The girl boasted, readying her weapons as Selesia did the same.

"Selesia..." Emu then laid his weapon onto the ground, piercing through a bit of the street's concrete. "About who I really am...I'm gonna explain it here and now."

At that claim, Selesia looked back just in time to see Emu take out what looked like an odd green belt with the lever is located on the left side; the Gamer Driver. Her surprise increased when he lowered the device and saw it attach itself to his waisted right before Emu drew forth an pink cartridge- like device from his pocket.

Before Selesia could ask just what in the world of those were, Emu pressed the button on the device in his hand.

MIGHTY ACTION X!

The Gashat's game screen then appeared behind Emu. Much to the outlanders' shock, the environment was suddenly surrounded by pink pixel waves that the screen omitted. The area was filled with coin-like Energy Items with various illustrations. At first, the environment was pixellated for a moment.

"Oh?" The girl in the air mused, dropping her smile for the first time.

"E-Emu, what is the meaning of this?" Selesia asked, looking around wildly at the items appearing out of no where.

"This is what I've been meaning to explain before that perp showed up." Emu answered calmly. "As ordinary as our world may seem, some people are also entrusted as Earth's protectors, with my kind granted with extraordinary videogame powers to defeat a lethal virus that has been looming over this world."

"Protectors? Virus?"

"Perhaps this can enlighten you both a bit." Emu grinned as he went on a pose and chanted his magic word. "Henshin!"

He lifted his Gashat high with his left hand and placed it on the first slot of his Gamer Driver.

GASHATTO!

LET'S GAME! METCHA GAME! MUTCHA GAME! WHAT'S YOUR NAME?

A series of portraits appear that surrounds him in a circle, with Emu streching his arm in front to select the one with the vibrant pink hair using her right hand.

I'M A KAMEN RIDER!

He was then engulfed in a pink pixel light that formed into a bulky body. it was then enhanced by a pink wafe that went from the bottom to the top, turning the pixellated body into a white chibi bulky armor. it had the looks of what you might call as a mascot suit. The helmet had a unique design with a spiky pink hair and a pair of googles. a pair of digital yellow eyes were opened from the google, which implied that they were emotive.

"I am the fighter champion of the game world, defender of Earth, Kamen Rider Ex-Aid!" He declared by striking his arm-up victory pose, his hammer in hand now. However...

To say Selesia Yupitilia was dumbfounded by the Rider's appearance would be like saying the ocean was little wet.

Never in her life had never seen such warrior fighting in a clown suit, for the lack of better word.

"Wha-what on earth is that!?"

"I'm Kamen Rider Ex-Aid. Something wrong?" Emu nonchalantly responded, tilting his head innocently.

"It's your armor! All that spectacle, and you're actually a clown-suit wearer!? How do you even expect to survive in a situation like this!?"

"This is not a clown-suit!" he justified. "This is an over-the-top full body armor that can amplify the strength of weaponized games! Heck, I dare to say that this is military-grade!"

"Military grade!? What kind of nonsense is that!? How do you even move around with something so...so..." There was a strange sensation the more she looked at it, the mixture of laughable and sheer adorableness. "So chubby!"

Ex-Aid face palmed. "Oh God, have your parents really taught you about not judging the book by its cover? Shouldn't YOU of all people know not to underestimate any opponent or ally in front of you!?"

With everything just going really awkward now, Ex-Aid had to admit the fact that his Level 1 armor WAS very disorienting. He knew that he could even use it as a temporary mascot suit when push comes to shove, especially when he was at a pop culture event. But to be scolded at by Selesia Yupitllia in the flesh because of such trivial matter... was enjoyable at the very least.

The military girl was clearly amused by such the sight, if her loud laughing and jeering was anything to go by.

"Ahahahaha! Oh, what an entertaining sight! I have to admit that I've never laughed this hard over something so trivial." The girl guffawed. "Although, I am not sure if I should expect more from a clown like you are, "Kamen Rider Ex-Aid"!"

"Well, look who's talking." Ex-Aid scoffed, turning his attention to her once again and picked his weapon up. He pointed it at her, too. "Then let's see if you can handle the harsh reality that this clown packs a wallop!"

He jumped towards the military girl who had been expecting him with her circling cutlasses.

What she wasn't expecting, however, was Ex-Aid managing to break through the cutlasses and almost landing a hit on her if it weren't for the girl blocking it with her picked sword. She then pushed him away and sent her swords to her, in which Ex-Aid responded by curling himself to deflect the incoming attack, which surprisingly worked seeing how sturdy the Rider's Level 1 armor was, causing her to widen her eyes. While backing from her, he pressed the 'B' button to turn his sword back into its hammer mode.

BA-KON!

He spun to her direction and threw his hammer exactly at her head, forcing the female warrior to shield it with her iron gauntlet. A 'HIT' balloon also appeared the moment the attack literally hit her. She then moved her arm away only to see Selesia already charging at her.

"Don't forget about me!" She roared, charging head first towards the white haired girl.

'Celesia's fighting now!?' Ex-Aid thought in geeky glee. Oh, he really should see this himself!

The two swordwomen then clashed in the air, their blades against each other and with a capability of flight. Selesia fought graciously in the air dodging the military girl's incoming cutlasses as if she was dancing it off while blocking them off at the same time. Even without the Vogelchevalier mech to assist her, she was clearing an exceptionally adept swordswoman and Ex-Aid knew this all too well. He was geeking himself all over again, and he couldn't help but blushing and smiling under his armor. he was grateful that he was gifted as an Otaku and a gamer.

On the other hand, the military girl couldn't be underestimated as well. She kept on retaliating by using cutlass after cutlass on both of her hands, not even hesitating to use her tommy gun and fired it at her enemy, though she much preferred on using her cutlasses than the rifle. The girl and Selesia kept on clashing to a higher altitude, causing people to notice them in the air as mistook them as drones. Then again, it was visible without an active stage select effect.

"Oh yeah, now that I think about it, I can't really back her up like this." Ex-Aid disgruntled as his thoughts quickly came back down to the earth. "And I really don't wanna resort to 'that' for now, so... let's see if this upgrade really works!"

The Rider went towards a yellow energy item nearby and bashed it to activate its boost effect.

SPEEDING-UP!

Feeling the effects spreading from head to toe, he then ran towards the direction the female warriors were at. From his HUD that was linked with his own neural systems, he summoned several chocolate cubes that acted as his stepping platforms, directed toward the fray. Affected by the Energy Item, Ex-Aid's movements became incredibly fast as he was able to move from one cube to another in a matter of seconds.

On the other side, the battle between the summoner and the summoned warrior still ensued. Both seemed to be evenly matched, showing how much prowess they respectively had. The two then engaged in a deadlock, with Selesia choosing right there to demand everything she needed to know.

"Who are you!? And what do you know of this world!?"

"What I am is none of your concern. And I told you already; this is the world of Gods, a hideous world in which dubious creators throng about. You will soon understand how they bloated their powers, abusing our world for their own amusement."

"Abusing our...world?"

"The reason of your suffering, your pain, and your rage...it all comes from them. This is the time we with hold our world's revolution by punishing the gods of Earth. That is my reason of wanting you to join me, so that we can purge them all and bring about true justice by our own hands!" the girl declared manically.

"Stop spouting your nonsense already!"

"Nonsense? Have you already forgotten how little you know of this world too, Selesia? Only I can guide you through this forsaken land. I have summoned my lambs solely for that reason. My powers are beyond your reach, and I will evolve no matter what you do to me as of now." The girl gloated, pressing forward physically. "Think this through, Your Highness: what chances do you have of standing against me?"

Slowly, Selesia began losing her grip. She was unsure of the sudden clarification, but she still had to fend her off regardless. Breaking the standstill, the enemy rained her with the cutlasses. She blocked them as best as she could, but she was also noticeably got hit a couple of times.

Noticing this, Ex-Aid sped up to reach her quickly. He attempted to reach the altitude where the female warriors were at, but his display showed that he had almost reached his limit. He then lined up the cubes as his running platform directed towards the girl and jumped out from it, successfully bashing her away after getting through her cutlass barrier. Selesia was snapped out of her uncertainty, quickly grabbing Ex-Aid's hand as he was unable to fly on his own.

"Selesia, you okay? What happened?" He asked, worry clear in his tone.

"I...it's fine. I'm just a bit distracted." Selesia answered. "But, how did you even get here? Is it with those chocolate blocks?"

"Oh that? They're actually crates made to store those coins around this area. It was all uninstalled after a battle, but I managed to find its software a few days ago and finished the work to make them as platforms. Turns out that it wasn't so hard to reinstall it that I finished it some hours ago. I didn't have time to test it, but it worked well so far."

"I see..."

Ex-Aid, however, could tell what really went on just by her face alone thanks to his interpersonal skills he built up as a doctor. Whatever that military girl might told her, it must be something that was too big for her alone to handle. Every people could've felt the same thing should they were suddenly teleported into another world without their consent. They had no prior knowledge of what was truly going on.

Speaking of which, Selesia was a protagonist of the Vogelchevalier anime. That alone raised a question on how an anime entity could appear on the real world. So far, only Genm Corp.'s video game creations made their way here through the Bugster Virus, so how could an anime character do the same? Moreover, who was that white-haired girl, really? So many questions at hand with so little time for explanations as they were already in the fray. For now, all he could do was relieve the red-haired warrior of her uncertainty.

"Selesia..." Ex-Aid prodded gently. "Whatever answers you're looking for, it's also my mission too. I can only say that there are, and might be some others like you, here. I can't really explain the full details right now, but I assure you, we're going to find those answers together. There might also be a reason why you were summoned here, and I believe that you're a deterrent of whoever's going to bring about a ruin to this world. So, that means we're in this together."

"Emu..."

"Well, what do you say, then? How about we turn things up the notch?"

Selesia stared, knowing that Ex-Aid was never a trivial figure like how the girl was. Somehow, she knew that the Rider was very trustworthy. She didn't see any lies from his eyes nor any dishonesty in his voice as he comforted her, only pure sincerity and altruism even towards a total stranger like her. Perhaps, this might had been built up from his times as a doctor...and a "Kamen Rider".

"You're right. I can't stay in confusion for long. As a royal warrior, my duty is to protect innocents. I might not know a lot of this world, but I can say for sure that none of us expected this. That's why..." the female warrior clenched her sword. "I'll fight to protect this world!"

"So, you've decided then? Very well, then I have no more reasons to hold back. Prepare yourselves, O brave warriors." The white-haired girl declared, getting all of her weapons ready.

"Still got anything under that suit?" Selesia asked rhetorically, her eyes nervously looking at everyone of the various cutlasses aiming at her and Ex-Aid.

"Exactly what I thought about." Ex-Aid then made a pose of which he stretched his right hand to the left, with his other hand on the top of his Gamer Driver. He chanted the word as he opened the belt's mid-section cover from its handle.

"Dai Henshin!"

GACCHAN! LEVEL UP!

MIGHTY JUMP! MIGHTY KICK! MIGHTY MIGHTY ACTION X!

As the Gashat-like gate went through the Rider, Ex-Aid's bulky armor exploded away its parts into pieces and soon vanished into pixels, leaving only its faceplate intact along with his inner body that was covered by pink pixels. The faceplate circled to his back and turned its emotive eyes off. The pixels soon dissipated, revealing a more humanoid full-body armor from the bottom to the top.

Much like the faceplate, Ex-Aid's helmet also had a pink spiky hair and a pair of googles. his armor looked like a pink short-sleeved jumpsuit composed of lime accents and light iron platings, resembled an old-school 90's color trend. There was also an asymmetrical circuitry lines that went from the abdomen to the thighs. His chestplate had a game pad with its buttons consisted of red, blue, green, and yellow. It also had a digital screen that soon displayed his health bar and weapon selections. He also had a pair of pink shoulder guards over his short sleeves. The short sleeves were also connected to a pair of black gauntlets and knee pads respectively, all noticeably took a form of synthetic muscles. Of being looked closely, some of the armor's joints were covered with thick fiber clothing. His armor soon activated once the googles opened its yellow emotive eyes.

"Now then, let's clear this game with no continues!" Ex-Aid declared as he completed his Level 2 transformation.

"He...he can change his form too?" Selesia looked upon in wonder. "At the very least, he's not clunky anymore."

The girl in the military uniform smirked, simply amused by the sight and proceeded to attack her enemies, in which the latter noticed as much. Selesia dodged away the attack and rushed under the fray, while Ex-Aid stepped on the swords and jumped from one to the other with his HUD showing him the swords' trajectory. In his Level 2 form, his movements became much more nimble as he was based on action-platformer games, with him being able to perform acrobatic movements to navigate through the battlefield as shown in the aforementioned action despite not gaining the ability to fly. this was proven effective as he was able to reach the girl and swung his hammer right to her face. The military girl, however, was able to barely dodged it as she was also an adept combatant herself. Ex-Aid predicted this, and that's why...

JA-KIIN!

He switched his weapon into blade mode for a longer hit range. The girl dodged it to the right again, ignoring the scar it caused to her left cheek that bleed blue pixel particles. She went under him only to find Selesia striking her with her sword. She was pushed back by the sheer force the warrior princess had despite being able to shield it with her sword. Ex-Aid then summoned another array of chocolate blocks as his platform once his attack succeeded, circling towards the clashing warriors to gain more momentum. He also noticed how Selesia's confidence had fully returned, with her displaying her prowess in airborne swordsmanship. With his Gashacon Breaker, he double-teamed the military girl with the warrior princess.

Selesia was still amazed by how adept Ex-Aid was as a combatant. She noticed him using the platforms as his means of fighting the girl in mid-air. They continued their assault at her, clashing their weapons against hers. She retorted to use her tommy gun and fired at Selesia. Ex-Aid quickly got in the way and blocked it with his back. As mentioned before, he was wearing an armor, which means that her gun barrage didn't faze him at all. Selesia smiled in relief, returned with the Rider's visor wink.

The military girl then summoned more cutlasses and rained it on both him and her. In a rush, the Rider quickly mashed the weapon's 'B' button a couple of times as the cutlasses got more closer. The attack was retaliated by Ex-Aid's swing that became powerful enough to swipe the swords away in a strong gush of wind, surprising both Selesia and the girl in the military uniform. However, he didn't wait long to unleash his more powerful attack as he rushed towards the girl, in the most Kamen Rider style possible, grabbing two red energy items along the way to power his attack up.

MUSCULAR! MUSCULAR!

GASSHUN!

The pink Rider took his personal Gashat out and inserted it to the Kimewaza slot, pressing its silver button to activate another command. He waited for a few moments to gather more cartoonish lighting energy at his boots before pressing the button once again.

GASHATTO! KIMEWAZA!

MIGHTY CRITICAL FINISH!

Ex-Aid charged towards the weakened military girl with cartoonish lightnings blazing on every step he took on top of the platforms. He jumped it out once he was close enough and delivered a barrage of kicks, along with some powerful bicycle kicks that sent the white haired girl crashing into the ground.

And of course, he wasn't done yet.

"Selesia!"

He called out to his airborne ally, in which she quickly realized at what he was trying to do just by looking his hand reaching to her. She spun him in mid-air a couple of times before throwing him at their enemy. Stretching his feet to her, he executed one more powerful Rider Kick in hopes of neutralizing the threat once and for all. The impact caused a huge explosion that had almost damaged its surroundings and cratered the ground.

However...

Ex-Aid found his finisher being blocked by dozens of cutlasses, aligned to form a circular shield. He also noticed that his attack was already strong enough to penetrate its outer layer, signed by broken and half-cracked cutlasses nearby his right foot.

"What!?"

Noticing her ominous smirk as she performed the violin gesture, Selesia quickly rushed to the Rider. "Look out!"

As the girl scratched her cutlass, the swords burst out lethally in front of the Rider to the point that it could damage the area. Selesia quickly swept him away in time and flew to a nearby tree. Some of the cutlasses noticeably injured the warrior princess in several areas, though it wasn't lethal. The burst also knocked them to a nearby tree.

"Selesia!"

"I'm okay... just a bit scratched, that's all." She grunted, holding to her injured arm.

"Scratched?" Ex-Aid was disgruntled. "Selesia, you don't have an armor like I do! That could've been much deadlier to you!"

"And risk yourself getting all stabby-stabbed? No can do. After all, it's in my blood to always protect an ally." She nonchalantly smiled through the pain.

"Oh, you... okay, just... I'll be more aware of my surroundings next time, okay?"

"Emu..." Selesia was a bit taken back by how humble the Rider was, not blaming her for getting herself hurt, at all.

Suddenly, a rocket missile was launched at the girl in the military uniform, in which she quickly blocked it with her cutlass. It exploded almost nearby to her. She checked on the area to see another person entering the fray. It was what seemed to be another, albeit, with much short hair, white-haired girl wearing an RPG mage garment. She was seen holding a book with a bunch of RPG launchers summoned with several magic gates on her back.

"Oh? Is that you, Meteora? You still haven't found your creator, yet?"

"Creator, huh? Just as I thought...there could be more." Ex-Aid muttered.

The now-named Meteora fired her weapons at the girl again, only to be blocked by the cutlasses again. This confused Celesia, knowing that such thing was futile if she attempted to strike her down. But Ex-Aid knew better. This might be told merely as a sign of aggression, meaning that this Meteora also didn't agree on the girl's terms.

Apparently, the military uniformed girl agreed, chuckling sinisterly as blue pixels begun to come out of her body.

"Well, it's fine then. We still lack more strength and manpower. A riot is precisely what I wished for, but the symphony wouldn't sound harmonious without the correct headcount. After all, a glorious song requires all players present in the field. I shall pay you all a visit later, O brave warriors. On behalf of this foul world, I welcome thee with all my heart."

"So, you're still not telling what your name is? How about we call you Bugsterina, huh?" Ex-Aid bluffed.

The white haired girl simply chuckled once again. "You are EXACTLY what my master described to me. I will tell you in time, Ex-Aid, for I do not want to spoil the surprise. That is...unless you managed to find out about me first."

And thus, the military girl completely disappeared into a blue haze, leaving nothing behind.

With the battle finally over, the three remaining warriors descended to the ground. Selesia was the most exhausted of them all, to the point that she almost collapsed to the ground if not for Ex-Aid quickly held her up.

"Damn that girl! If only I have Vogelchevalier with me...!" she cursed under her breath.

"Save your breath, okay? Look, we still don't know what else she's capable of. So at the very least, all we can do now is live today and fight tomorrow. I'm sure we'll be able to solve this problem, together."

She sighed. "You're right. we should be grateful that we're still able to breath until this moment."

"Anyway, thanks for the big help. Meteora, right?" Ex-Aid thanked while calmly on the the outside.

On the inside, however, was a completely different story.

'OhmygoditsMeteoraandshehasherspellbookandshotmisslesandiscuteand-'

As Genius Gamer M was nerding the hell out in this headspace, Emu was neurally commanding his helmet to deform into pixels itself, revealing Emu's own head. "My name's Emu Hojo, but as you may have heard, I'm Kamen Rider Ex-Aid in this armor." He then gestures to his more tired and wary companion, "This is Selesia Yupitilia from the Vogelchevalier anime."

"A pleasure to meet you both." Meteora responds politely as walking closer to the two, her voice as calm and monotone as Emu remembers it from her game, "It appears that I'm not the only one summoned to this world. For that alone, I am grateful... and filled with lots of questions that needs to be answered, right away." She spoke in a surprisingly petite voice, and a very polite one.

"So, you haven't met your Creator, right? Does that mean you didn't know which...medium you're from?" Selesia asked.

"Sadly, no." Meteora shook her head. "I was summoned here just tonight, so I didn't have enough time to search for further clues, here."

"I see...then, how about if you join us? I'm sure we can work this out together!"

"Hmm, she's right, though. I say we round up the, uhh...otherworlders with us and see if we can do something to solve this problem. I'm sure there must be a lot like you guys out there, so why not lend a helping hand? Perhaps if we find your Creators, we can find more clues about what's really happening, here. I also know some people that might be able to help us with this too." Emu offered.

"After all, beggars can't be choosers. We'll take whatever you serve us with." Meteora affirmed.

"Alright, it's settled then!"

Suddenly, the group heard a loud explosion occurring somewhere nearby the park. Emu also heard a beep from his collar, which then he put his helmet back on and searched from its displays. He found out a familiar life sign readings that he soon recognized as a threat.

"This is...! There's no mistaking it. It's Salty!"

"Salty?" Meteora and Selesia asked in union.

"One of the monsters that threaten the Earth. Looks like he's still in for some business." Ex-Aid briefly explained.

"Monsters!?" Selesia gasped.

"Yeah, like I said: if it hadn't been for Bugsterina, I could further elaborate my story." Ex-Aid reclarified.

"Anyway, we should all hurry to the location and see if we can rescue the civilians." Meteora said. "And I also want to see what kind of threat this world has."

The explosion took a place nearby the city's plaza. Dozens of civilians running away from what appeared to be the monster, the Salty Bugster. The monster had an appearance of a blue, bulky armored figure. His notable features were his white hat, black cape, and an snail-like left hand knuckle. He was seen destroying numerous public properties and beating up several civilians. He was accompanied by several chef figures with monstrous orange heads. He then closed in on a female civilian nearby.

"Ahh, you must be one of the Ride Players! Come now, play the game and claim your prize!" he persuaded.

"N-no way!"

"Eeeh, what's wrong? Too scared to fight!? And I thought you had the guts to compete for your life!" Salty taunted.

"I won't waste the life that I have! Besides, it's not even my job to beat a monster like you!"

"Then who do you think it is!?"

"It's my job!"

Ex-Aid delivered a normal Rider Kick to Salty and sent him away from the civilian. Selesia went on to guard her as Meteora attended to her.

"Can you still move?" Meteora asked.

"I'm fine, thanks."

"You did a good job holding on to yourself, there. Now you better go get to safety." Ex-Aid said, replied with the woman's nod as she ran away from the battlefield.

"Ex-Aid... just what are those things?" Selesia asked, looking wide eyed at the many things scouring the place like some kind of plague.

"They're Bugsters, a malevolent breed of virus that threatened our world."

"Ooh! There you are, Kamen Rider Ex-Aid!" Salty greeted, arms wide. "And those are fine ladies you have there!"

"Salty! What do you think you're doing here!?"

"Just some clean up duty that the bosses ordered me to."

"Clean up?"

"You see here, Kamen Rider Chronicle sales has constantly been dropping after that statement from CR. I'm just here to keep the game going! Those humans have started this game in the first place, so they better get their straps back on whether they like it or not! This is what a never-ending game should be, Ex-Aid! And there's nothing more you can do to stop us!"

"A never-ending game? Ex-Aid, what's he talking about?" Selesia asked.

Ex-Aid remorsefully answered, "This... is what happened to my world, guys. A a real life battle royal game called Kamen Rider Chronicle was commenced a month ago. It's a game where the civilians become Riders in a massive death match, fighting against each other in order to grant their own wishes once they're victorious. What's worse is that whenever a player loses...they lost their own lives."

"What!?" Selesia widened her eyes in horror.

"Losing...your own life in a game?" Meteora repeated lowly, also shock.

"That's right! After all Ex-Aid, you of all people should know better that you're also an NPC in Rider Chronicle! That's why I'll keep coming back, because you could never kill me as an NPC! Hahahahaha!"

The warrior princess was visibly angry at his remarks. "You...how dare you endanger innocents!"

"Hahahah! What's wrong? Too salty for you!?"

"Selesia... I think you and Meteora should stand by." Ex-Aid held her shoulder.

"What are you talking about!?"

"I can see your vital status from my helmet. You're not in condition for another long fight."

"But-!"

"Listen. I have a feeling that he's gonna come up with something real bad if you push yourself too hard. Besides, part of it is my fault, too. I should be the one who's taking him on. Also, I want you to still be able to hold on if the minions come after you." The Rider instructed.

"I...okay. I understand."

"Meteora, keep yourself close to her and disable any incoming Bugsters with extreme prejudice."

"Understood." Meteora accepted.

"Good. Now then, listen up!" the Rider set his sights back on Salty. "No matter how many times you come back, no matter how many times you endanger civilians, I'll keep on stopping you! So, let's have this fight once again, Salty. Mano-a-mano."

As Ex-Aid went on his stance, the Bugster general replied."Oh, but this mano has something for you! Bugsters, unite!"

The Bugster minions all gathered into two groups, each of them melted into orange puddles that soon formed two huge creatures. They looked like twisted gorillas with a pair of menacing orange eyes, with some of their bodies being covered with blue armor plattings much like the Bugster himself. their arms were also shaped in the likeness of Salty's left gauntlet.

"A Bugster Union!?"

"All-new and updated! Rider Chronicle also strengthened our Bugster-making capabilities and my saltiness! Hell, we don't even need hosts just to make these unions. I even start to become very pessimistic on how you're gonna hold on to yourself!" Salty remarked.

"So that's how we're gonna do things, huh? Fine, then. I'm not really in the mood to drag this any longer, so..." Ex-Aid took out a new, bulky orange-cobalt Gashat with the size of two Gashat slots and pressed its button.

MIGHTY BROTHERS XX!

"Let's even the math, shall we?"

DOUBLE GASHAT!

GACHAN! LEVEL UP!

MIGHTY BROTHERS! FUTARI DE HITORI! MIGHTY BROTHERS! FUTARI DE VICTORY! X!

Ex-Aid chose another thumbnail that soon went through him, engulfing him in orange and cobalt pixel haze. The thumbnail also changed into a big faceplate similar to his Level 1 form, only that it had a differently-styled spiky hair ornament with orange on the right and cobalt on the left. The faceplate was first appeared to be split apart in half before combining to each other and later to the pixel haze. The haze dissipated and revealed him to be in another bulky 'clown-suit' armor with a different chest plate. It had orange, yellow, and blue key pads instead of the original buttons and had more amounts of health bar. Ex-Aid then completed his Level X transformation as he opened his bichromatic digital eyes with respective colorings.

"Ueeeehhh? Another clown-suit?" Selesia flabbergasted, causing a deadpan from the Rider himself.

"UPGRADED clown-suit, thank you very much."

"A warrior with an ability to change forms. How interesting." Meteora observed. "Then again...it's very kid-friendly."

"That's the purpose of this armor's creative idea, I believe." Ex-Aid replied. "Now then, let's see if I could still stretch up with Level X."

"Hmph! I thought you said you want to even the numbers, but fine then! Bugsters, attack!"

The battle began with the minions charging at Ex-Aid first. All of them brought lancers and thrusted the Rider with it, only for him to jump it out and delivered a ground pound that shattered the lancers and pinned the unlucky Bugsters to the ground and destroyed them. he continued his assault by jumping and stomping the rest of them much like in the manner of action-platform games. He also didn't hesitate to use his own body to slam the enemies as his weight was enough to smash their heads into orange haze. After making his way through the horde, he set his sights on Salty Bugster. On his attempt, the Bugster Union stood in his way.

And this is how Ex-Aid rolled up his ace.

"Do you really think you can just charge up at me?"

"Do YOU really think I'm that stupid?" Ex-Aid remarked as he closed the Driver's cover and rolled both of his arms in the air. At the same time, the giants were about to hit the Rider with their fists. "Daaaaiiiii~ Henshin!"

GACHAN! DOUBLE UP!

ORE GA OMAE DE! OMAE GA ORE DE! (WE ARE!) MIGHTY MIGHTY BROTHERS! (HEY!) XX!

The moment the fists were about to hit him, a Gashat gate went through him and his Level X Armor exploded to pieces and released two pixel haze that split apart from one another. As usual, the orange was on the right, and the cobalt was on the left. The faceplate parts were also relocated as the two haze began forming new armors of their own and delivered Rider Kicks to the Unions to drive them away. The haze landed and revealed what completely became the most shocking and bizzarre view even to the Creations.

Ex-Aid was literally split apart into two individuals. Both of their armors had a complimenting color mixture of orange and cobalt that went to their jumpsuit parts and accents. The right orange one had the faceplate half on his right shoulder and the left cobalt side of his hair part was seemingly combed back as opposed to his right orange one. the left cobalt one was simply a palette swap of the former, with the faceplate half on his left shoulder and the right orange side of his hair was the one that was combed back.

"We'll clear this game with no continues!" The two Ex-Aids declared in perfect sync as the Double Action Gamer Level XX was completed.

"Eeeehh!? W-wait a minute, whaaaat!?"

"If this isn't the most bizarre thing I've ever seen in my life, then I don't know what else it is." Meteora commented with wide eyes while Selesia had her mouth open agape.

"Right!? I mean, like... how's this even possible!? What about his sense of self, or...or whatever his mind has just become into?"

"I believe we should leave Emu himself for the explanation."

GASHACON BREAKER!

GASHACON KEY SLASHER!

As Ex-Aid L summoned the main weapon, Ex-Aid R summoned a new weapon, taking the form of a sword with a tilted handle in the likeness of a gun. In truth, it was also a combo weapon like how Gashacon Breaker was. It had a solid blue streak on the sword portion, yellow on the barrel, and orange on the lower portion. It also had the same key pads like Level XX's. The two warriors began charging at the Unions. They ran towards the giants' grounded arms and knowing how strong they were, Ex-Aid L pressed the 'B' button three times and Ex-Aid R pressed all of the four orange key pads.

ZU-ZU-ZU-PAAN!

The two Ex-Aids slashed their heads with their weapons. Ex-Aid L's Breaker sword delivered a single slash that caused several 'HIT!'s at the enemy and Ex-Aid R's Key Slasher emitted a huge orange light that turned into a giant axe, grazing the enemy's head. while the giants' movements were still disoriented due to the attacks, they swung their weapons towards Salty from above. Due to the Bugster's Level X factor, he was still able to block the attack with his own bare hands while the weapons' effects were still active. The warriors broke away from their deadlock and start clashing against each other.

Salty started by dealing with the cobalt Ex-Aid L first. The sword that was swung to him had little to no effect once the Bugster blocked it with his back arm. He relied more on bare-hand fight with his right arm and waited for the right moment to strike the Rider with his electric left gauntlet. After he got numerous 'HIT!'s, he already had the momentum and struck the Rider with his gauntlet. The amount of the stockpiled energy was enough to stun the Rider, sending off sparks to his armor and kicked him away. However, before he fell to the ground, Ex-Aid L switched his weapon mode and threw it at the enemy after he pressed its 'B' button.

BA-KOON!

The weapon hit exactly the same spot of Salty's right arm. However, the temporary power-up effect caused the 'HIT!' to be more powerful to the point that it almost paralyzed the Bugster's arm. Thanks to the same Level XX factor- which was actually X for each- Ex-Aid L quickly got up to his feet after he recalled the weapon to his hand and he picked up a yellow Energy Item nearby, depicting a taunting Rider.

INSTIGATE!

"That's right! over here~!"

Ex-Aid L shouted at the giants who had just recovered. The effect caused them to be drawn towards him, effectively drawing them away from his 'brother' who was currently engaging the Bugster general. He pressed the weapon's blue key pads, causing a new command to activate.

"Hey, eyes on me you obese gorilla!"

"Gorilla!? I'm a superiorly evolved snail!"

JA-JA-JA-KIIN!

The orange light axe was then replaced by a blue light sword. he swung it at the Bugster who blocked it with his left side cape and attempted to strike him with his electric gauntlet. The Rider narrowly dodged it and delivered a spinning slash to the monster's abdomen. Salty also dodged it and the two clashed their weapons once again, making the fight seemed to be evenly matched with both of them trading hits against one another.

"Heheh, whaddup? Too fast for ya'!?" Ex-Aid R taunted.

On the other side, Ex-Aid L took out a lime Gashat depicted with a sport biker and activated it. he also put it on his Kimewaza slot.

"Alright, this should do it."

SHAKARIKI SPORTS!

GASHATTO!

A Gashat gate appeared right beside the Rider and summoned what appeared to be a mountain bike. It had fuschia and lime colors that also complimented Ex-Aid's regular armor. he quickly jumped on to the bike and circled around the Bugster Union as fast as he could while looking for a weak spot in hopes of informing it when he switched targets with his orange 'brother', a vital role that he'd always do.

"The joints seem to be weaker than it looked, huh? Well then-!"

However, his focus was suddenly shifted towards the Bugster minions that had already assaulted Selesia and Meteora. The two of them had already fought well after the time the Ex-Aids bought for them to recover. Selesia used her mid-air sword combat as usual, enabling her to swiftly dodge enemy attacks, while Meteora used her magic gate to summon several combat rifles and fired them all at the Bugsters, to which they had no power against. Despite the retaliation, the overwhelming amount of the Bugster horde had could always tire any warrior out should it kept on going any longer. Not only that, Selesia who was also close to exhaustion could collapse at anytime, and Meteora couldn't keep her focus even if her weapons seemed to be very effective to reduce the horde's numbers.

This was why Ex-Aid L was placed in the role of defender and tactitian as opposed to Ex-Aid R's assault and strike specialist. He could still think of such possibility with him having to avoid the giants' attacks that were directed at him. Surprisingly, the Bugster Unions' fists were also empowered with electricity. All the more reason he had to rely on his Sports Gamer bike to absorb the electricity using the tires' rubber fabric.

One of the Bugster Unions was about to land a hit on him, and he quickly backflipped right when the fist hit the bike's tire. It sent him inches away and he quickly spun to adjust his landing position, to which he landed with both tires backing him up, preventing him from falling to the back. Once he regained his composure, he also saw his 'brother' having some difficulties in facing Salty Bugster. The latter slowly gained the upper hand as he became more acquinted with Ex-Aid R's rather brash fighting style.

"Hey bro, got any ideas? Salty's just getting much stronger and- I dunno -smarter?" Ex-Aid R asked. He was also noticeably exhausted.

"There's something that I wanna try. Get the Robots Gamer ready." Ex-Aid L answered as he relayed the details to his 'brother's display. It was said that they had to use the Level 3 armors with their own Level XX base armors.

"You sure about this? I gotta admit that this is just so excessive."

"I believe that by doing this, we could still maintain the upper hand and hopefully, turning on the tables. This could work, bro. Trust me."

"Heh, like you have to ask. Copy that. Initiating Level... uhh, 26?"

"Yep. 2 Level X Riders equipped with 2 Level 3 armors equals Level 26. I'm sure the math will do just fine." Ex-Aid L then took his Gashat out and pressed its button once again, with Ex-Aid R doing the same with his red Gashat.

SHAKARIKI SPORTS!

GEKITOTSU ROBOTS!

GASHATTO!

Two new game screens depicting the Gashats appeared behind the respective Riders. The former changed the bike into a more bulkier version of it and the latter summoned what appeared to be a red robot sentry. The support sentries attacked the respective enemies before attaching themselves to the Riders, granting them new set of outer layer armors and as always, status increases. While the armors were attached , the faceplate halves disappeared into a haze for the armors' convenience. They also gave the Riders new headgears as their streaks were 'combed' back to the spike hairs.

Ex-Aid L's Sports Gamer armor was visually quite simplistic. It had an outer pink chestplate that covered his inner one and a lime headgear that resembled a biker's helmet. The most notable features of this armor were its shoulder guards, which were the Sports Gamer's wheels. The wheels' inner frames were also covered by metal platings. Both also had silver handles on both sides and they were adjusted to give off an impression that they were shoulder gyros. The left lime wheel was the front one, and the right pink wheel was obviously its rear.

Compared to that, however, Ex-Aid R had a rather bulky Robots Gamer armor. the way it attached to the Rider was a quite bizzarre one that it looked like that the robot chomped his body. Ex-Aid's red chestplate was the inverted side of the Robot Gamer sentry, with his shoulder guards being its feet and its head went to Ex-Aid's back. He also had a red headgear with a yellow 'V' horn on the top. The armor's most notable feature was its left hand knuckle gauntlet made of the sentry's arms. It had three robotic fingers and pistons on the gauntlet's mid-section, further emphasizing that this armor was made for pure brute strength.

"Hell yeah! This rocks!" Ex-Aid R grinned.

"I know right?" Ex-Aid L replied. "Now, let's go even the odds in this evening!"

"Oh no, what a Salty Pun! And your excessiveness is so Salty!" the Bugster was clearly agitated.

"That's one helluva pun ya' got there, bro!" Ex-Aid R remarked as he swung his gauntlet arm to Salty. "And here's my one helluva punch! Hyaaah!"

"Well, look who's talking."

As his 'brother' did his sortie, Ex-Aid R kept on using his robot gauntlet to clash against Salty's electric gauntlet. Sparks were sent out of it, but it looked more like Salty's being repelled by the force. They kept on hitting each other, trading blows and clashing their gauntlets, but Ex-Aid R gained the upper hand this time. he was unaffected by the electrocution no matter how powerful Salty released it. the Bugster then finally resorted to the unexpected, or so it seems. The moment they went head-to-head, he generated an electric spark from his right hand and aimed it towards the Rider's head. It hit him, but he quickly shrugged it off thanks to the headgear. He then gave a heavy blow to the Bugster general's chest and several shots from the Rider's Key Slasher gun config.

ZU-ZU-ZU-KYUUN!

"Ugh, so this is how you're doing it, huh? Bringing a gun to a fist fight?" Salty scoffed.

"Oh, I'm not gonna let myself bein' cheated alone! And who said that it's always a fist fight? After all, I knew for a moment that you're going to shoot me with your spark in my face!" Ex-Aid R countered. "You don't have any honor, Salty! Let alone have one!"

"Hehahah! Yeah, that's right! who said anything about honor!? After all, all that I care about is to get rid of you!"

"Hmph! Like that's gonna shock me." Ex-Aid R calmly scoffed. The two then continued their fight by also firing their respective long-range weapons. it all soon turned into an all-out brawl in an instant.

On the other side of the fray, Ex-Aid L detached the right tire and threw it to the Bugster Unions. Despite the attack's strength wasn't enough to break their bodies apart, he kept on throwing the chakram wheel at them in order to exhaust them. with the help of Sports Gamer armor, his dexterity increased to the point where he did various jumps, hops, slides, and flips to avoid their attacks. He could see the attack patterns clearly and memorize it, enabling him to hit their blind spots and ruin their composure. Not forgetting his other priority, he climbed one of the giants' arm and threw his chakram at their heads first before jumping down and threw his chakram once again at the horde that was about to attack Selesia and Meteora. He quickly came to their aid, shielding them from the attacks with the armor's right wheel shield and bashed the enemies away.

He also used his still-intact Gashacon Breaker sword as his chakram flew through the enemies after he threw it. this technique effectively reduced the Bugsters' numbers and with the final wave circled them, he picked up his lime Gashat, put it on the weapon's slot and pressed its trigger for the finisher.

GASHATTO! KIMEWAZA!

SHAKARIKI CRITICAL FINISH!

Ex-Aid L threw his empowered chakram wheel in the air. It spun round by itself and sliced its way through the circling Bugsters and with his empowered weapon and boots, the Rider sled around the monsters and sliced them all with a deadly combo of his arsenals. He stopped right in front of the Creations as the Bugsters exploded, with the wheel chakram soon returned right to where it belonged.

"You guys alright?"

"Yeah. Thanks to you." Celesia smiled from her exhaustion.

"Then all that is left are those three, I believe." Meteora said.

"Yep. Okay, gotta roll again." Ex-Aid L then called out to his 'brother'. "Hey bro, let's switch targets!"

"Got it! but first..."

ZU-ZU-ZU-PAAN!

The two warriors went towards each other and traded a high-five as they switched targets. Ex-Aid R went towards the giants and launched his robot gauntlet to one of them. the arm kept flying around the Union te kept it busy. he then engaged the other using his Key Slasher, set on its axe mode. He delivered a heavy slash and gave a deep cut to the Bugster Union's arm. As he giant lifted its injured arm, Ex-Aid R quickly dove under the giant and slashed one of its feet, causing it to roar in pain. He then attempted to slice its left foot, only for it to be a deep cut. However, it was enough to bring the monster down, enabling Ex-Aid R to execute his finisher by inserting his Mighty Brothers Gashat to the Key Slasher's slot.

GASHUN!

DOUBLE GASHATTO! KIMEWAZA!

MIGHTY DOUBLE CRITICAL FINISH!

The Rider ran towards the Bugster Union and delivered an empowered energy axe slash that sliced the monster in half, resulting in a huge explosion. He then turned his attention towards the other giant that had its head got hit hard by the Robot gauntlet that had almost trip it down. The monster couldn't catch up the gauntlet's speed and had its body constantly being hit by the gauntlet.

ZU-ZU-ZU-KYUUN!

He shot a barrage blast at the Union's head that temporarily immobilized it. another finisher was then set up by Ex-Aid R putting the Gekitotsu Robots Gashat at the weapon's slot.

GASHUN!

GASHATTO! KIMEWAZA!

ROBOTS CRITICAL FINISH!

The empowered gauntlet that floated in front of the weapon was fired towards the monster's head and caved it through. and like the other one, it exploded into an orange haze.

Ex-Aid L engaged Salty Bugster with his Breaker sword. pressing the 'B' button for a couple of times, he increased the weapon's damage to get through Salty's electric gauntlet. Dozens of 'HIT!'s sent sparks flying from the enemy. However, Salty managed to got ahold of Ex-Aid L's arm and punched him on the head with his gauntlet. He electrocuted the Rider to prevent him from moving around, in which he quickly took the armor's right wheel to block the attack. While doing so, he scanned the area to look for any Energy Items he could use. Once he was done, he broke out from the deadlock and went towards a red-violet medal. While grabbing it, he shrunk the item through his HUD's command and waited for the right time to use it. he also went towards another pale red Energy Item while avoiding Salty's lightning strikes.

"Alright. Now!"

STRETCH!

Ex-Aid L launched his stretched-up sword hand towards Salty. The latter had a trouble catching up to the swing's speed, having himself being constantly hit by the Gashacon Breaker all over again. However, he quickly caught the flailing arm and attempeted to electrocute him through it, only for it to backfire due to Ex-Aid's first item.

"Haha! Do you really think you can beat me just with stretch!?"

"Think again."

"Huh?"

REFLECT!

The Energy Item returned the shock twice than normal, sending lots of sparks from the Bugster's buddy and effectively weakened him. He was immediately sent down to his knees as the shock greatly affected his body thanks to the combined effects of the item's damaging effect and his own electrocution.

"Bro, you ready?"

"Heh, like ya' hafta' ask. Let's wrap it up!" Ex-Aid R remarked as the two closed the Driver's cover before opening it again and activated the Kimewaza Slot.

GASHUN! KIMEWAZA

DOUBLE MIGHTY/SHAKARIKI/GEKITOTSU

CRITICAL STRIKE!

The Riders were engulfed in a cartoonish energy burst along with their respective auxillary weapons. both of them gave a barrage of punches and kicks to the monster, giving him no room to counter at all. Ex-Aid L then took the lead by continously throwing his wheel chakram in a boomerang manner. He did the final throw by jumping and flipping to add more force. He ended his turn by offering the armor's wheel shield for Ex-Aid R to jump on. The latter punched the monster and launched the Robot gauntlet as soon as he hit Salty's chest, letting out a cartoonish lightning burst. He then ran towards the enemy and sled his left arm back into the gauntlet to further damage him. Lastly, the two Ex-Aids delivered a barrage of energized Rider Kicks. A huge explosion occured with a 'PERFECT!' text balloon popping up.

"You... you'll pay for this! AAAAARGH!"

KAISHIN NO IPPATSU!

GASHUN!

The battle was finally over. The two Ex-Aids powered down by taking out their Gashats, causing them to merge into Emu Hojo once again. He then checked the two Creations. It had been an eventful night for the intern himself. he never thought that he would gain unlikely allies as the new crisis arose. After all, it was always fun to see how awed his new friends were at his actions.

"Anyone hurt?"

Selesia shook her head and responded with, "Emu Hojo... you got some serious explaining to do."

After a rather lengthy explanation, Emu and the Creations decided to part ways for a while. They said that they wanted to have a look around on this world. They had to admit that their lack of knowledge was already a good enough reason for them to do so. Planet Earth sure did contain many things even beyond their reach. They wish to know more despite the exhaustion that Emu was concerned about. Moreover, they didn't have any shelter to rest on. When asked about this, Selesia simply told him not to worry to much. They still had their own ways to cope up with everything.

The night had passed and the sun replaced the moon. Another day had arrived. Thankfully, Emu got a short-time schedule that enabled him to go home much earlier than yesterday. No Bugsters were also sighted at the time, so he could still have some breather. He also stopped by a market to buy some of his needs. After all, a Rider can't fight with an empty stomach.

However...

The moment he arrived at his bedroom, he saw Selesia and Meteora expecting him there. They sat on the floor with a completely broken window behind him. And that was how Emu being struck by an unimaginable horror.

"My... MY WINDOW!"

"E-eeeh?" Selesia was dumbfounded and clueless.

"Why? WHY, OH WHY MY LIFE HAS BEEN LIKE THIS!? OH, WHYYYY!?" Emu lumped to the floor as the surroundings darkened and a spotlight was pointing at his sorrowful state.

"So... that is not an entrance, then?" Meteora nonchalantly asked.

"Of course it's not a FRICKIN' entrance!" Emu retorted and pointed at them. "Have YOU ever learned what a window IS!? First, you stabbed my window, and now THIS! Can you imagine how mosquitos are gonna suck my blood dry? What else's gonna protect me from those demented bloodsuckers and the cold breeze of a lonely night time!? WHAT ELSE!?"

"W-well... first of all, windows aren't covered with that glass thingy! And second, anything that gives way to a room is considered an entrance! So how's this any different?" Selesia tried to defend herself.

"If anything blocks our path, we might as well get it out of the way." Meteora added.

"Hehehe, see now?" Selesia's remarks however was responded by the young intern's glare that went beyond the horrors of Genm Corp.'s games, Drago Knight Hunter Z and Dangerous Zombie.

"Now listen here, you two: this is MY world, and as much as I want to condone you both as outworlders, there are strict rules that must be obeyed in order for you two to live here, so from now on, you two are gonna have to obey every rule that I'll say! The last thing we ever wanted is to cause any unwanted commotion ourselves! IS THAT CLEAR!?"

"Y-yes sir, I understand!"

"Yes, sir."

And with that, Emu's days would never be the same.

"Oh God, help me..." he murmured with tears flowing down from his eyes.

(A/N)

Hey, y'all! And welcome to this new fanfic, Blood on The Hands of The Healer!

It's been a while since I posted stories, seeing how college stuffs and exams can always be overwhelming *Phew!*. not only that, my favorite shows and games are also having a blast, and I can help but brimming with ideas! However, I still have my life to handle, and I pray that I can have further assist in maintaining my daily schedules.

Anyway, this is my first collab fic with another author, BigHead98. He requested to me about this crossover fic and I found the reasoning for it interesting, actually. The idea of this fanfic was that both Ex-Aid and Re:Creators had some themes and ideas that could run well with each other. the idea of anime and game characters coming to life is actually interesting for us to use. Both shows also ran at the same time. not only that, I also figured that maybe I could extent some of Ex-Aid's forms and weapons in this fanfic, like the use of Proto-Gashats, forms and whatsoever. Having Emu replacing Souta's position is also a part of BigHead's creative idea.

A new adversary came in the form of the Military Girl- or rather the Bugsterina -has arisen. With the help of new allies, Ex-Aid must solve the crises altogether. Will he be able to solve it all? What kind of challenges that awaits our genius gamer?

As always, please leave your comments below and remember, BE CONSTRUCTIVE.

Until next time.