Archive of Our Own ^beta

“You know, this is a weird look, even for you.”

At this point, they were used to Tsukasa’s outfit changing every time they arrived in a new world. It was just How It Always Happened.

And they couldn’t always tell immediately what or who he was supposed to be.

But now it seemed even weirder than usual.

He was wearing black and white, with even a striped headband tying his hair back, and over his trousers he was even wearing a half-skirt tied over it.

“I’ve never seen you in a skirt before,” Yusuke mentioned, and Tsukasa snorted.

“Well, I obviously pull this off better than any of you could.”

And with that, he was striding forward with confident steps, with Natsumi and Yusuke following him.

“But… where are we?” Yusuke muttered, looking around.

“Or better yet - where are the people?” Natsumi’s voice turned uneasy.

Indeed, there was no one on the streets.

There were broken cars everywhere. Storefronts broken.

There were windows boarded up, and curtains drawn.

Not a single person anywhere.

What happened?

They lost track of how long they walked through the town, before they saw another person.

A man hurried through the streets, hugging a bag to himself.

“Hey!”

Upon hearing Tsukasa’s voice the man jumped, turning to the side - before turning heel and starting to run away.

“People seem to be afraid of being outside.”

The city was empty, as they tried to follow the man, they reached a square - a square where giant screens were still working and flickering.

The symbol of a tanuki’s face flickering on a green background.

Preserve our peaceful streets.

Stay inside.

The Gang Riders will take care of everything for you.

“...Gang Riders?”

It sounded… off. Through the many worlds, they had seen many roles a Kamen Rider could fulfill, but Gang Riders?

“Hey now. Don’t you know the rules of this place? What business do you have outside?”

They turned around, seeing three thugs approach them.

“Is it a crime to just stretch our legs?” Tsukasa asked.

“Get inside. Now.”

Then the three thugs produced a Driver each, and Tsukasa sighed, taking his own into his hand.

Once the thugs ran away, no doubt running off to report to whoever was their boss, they were left with more questions than answers.

“If you stay outside for much longer, you’ll have more of them attacking you.”

Another thing that wasn’t surprising - Daiki’s lazy voice interrupting them, standing in the doorway of one of the broken shops, eating from a bag of chips.

However he got that from.

“You sound so sure about that, Kaito,” Tsukasa sighed, and Daiki shrugged.

“You saw the screens. Besides, this is the World of Geats. Well, it was. Right now, it might just be the World of Tycoon.”

“Tycoon,” Tsukasa muttered, turning his head towards the screens. “I assume that’s who the tanuki symbol is for,” He didn’t even wait for a response before stretching his arms. “Alright. I should probably talk with that Tycoon, then.”

“Meet with you there, then,” Daiki sounded cheerful, and Tsukasa raised his eyebrows.

“Looking for a treasure there?”

Daiki grinned, pointing a finger gun at Tsukasa.

“You know it.”

Natsumi sighed to himself, before looking around - and she saw someone behind a corner.

“Hey…!”

As soon as she took a step that way, the figure disappeared.

“There was someone there…!”

Tsukasa walked next to her, following her line of sight.

“Might be just a resident hiding from the Gang Riders.”

“Maybe it’s someone who needs help!”

“Why don’t you check it out?” Tsukasa squeezed her shoulder. “Try not to get seen. I’ll go and talk with Tycoon.”

Yusuke did go with Natsumi, which was always a positive - a strong presence by her side. Always felt safer the more of them were together - when Tsukasa was also there, and when Daiki also wandered around, they definitely felt unbeatable.

But the two of them were strong enough as well.

And when they turned a corner, there was a chainsaw in their faces.

“Why are you following her?”

The growling voice belonged to the person holding the chainsaw - and he looked like those Gang Riders, with a purple bull head on.

“They fought the Gang Riders,” A new voice spoke up - and a young woman appeared next to them, her eyes sharp. “I saw what happened. Their friend said he is going to meet with Keiwa. I don’t think they are from around here.”

The bull-headed man snorted, before lowering the chainsaw and undoing his transformation.

“Are you from the future? More of the audience coming here to laugh at this world’s misery?”

“I— no!” Yusuke gasped.

“We are not from the future, we are from… another world,” That was the simplest way Natsumi could explain it. “I think we are here to help.”

“We had enough outsiders meddling in,” The man hissed, and the woman just put her arm on his shoulder.

“But we cannot get close to Keiwa, and if they can help at least get us close to him…”

“Keiwa is… Tycoon, right?” Natsumi asked, and the two of them nodded.

“Why don’t you start from the beginning?” Yusuke looked around, worried. The streets were still eerily calm.

“Let’s get off the streets, then,” The woman nodded. “I know a place.”

Her name was Neon, and the bullheaded Rider’s name was Michinaga, and the place they led Natsumi and Yusuke to was a lounge. Almost like a salon, really.

“Is it only the two of you living here?”

“More or less, at this point,” Neon lamented. “There are some others who are helping out, but they are typically in other ends of the city. There are only a few of us who can fight off the Gang Riders.”

And then Natsumi and Yusuke listened.

They listened to the story of the Desire Grand Prix - a game where you fought for your wishes to be granted, but it turned out to bring misery, and an audience who was watching them for their own entertainment.

The story of Geats, the Rider who tried to make everyone happy, and Tycoon, the Rider who broke and became the ruler of this also broken world.

“So where is Geats now?” Yusuke asked.

“Ace had been taken by the DGP admin,” Neon explained.

“He is being used as their new God of Desire,” Michinaga sighed.

They were silent, until Natsumi spoke up again.

“What… what do you want to do?”

“Drag Tycoon out of that hole he dug himself into,” Michinaga hissed. “Once we can get him back, we can focus on getting Geats back. But he is the closest one.”

“He closed himself away,” Neon shook her head. “We hadn’t seen him for months at all. It’s all his Gang Riders who run the streets. We cannot get close.”

Tsukasa was sitting on the fancy couch when Sakurai Keiwa, also known as Kamen Rider Tycoon, walked in.

As soon as Tycoon saw him, he stopped on his tracks, eyes widening, jaw dropping open.

“Who— what—?”

“Don’t even worry about me,” Tsukasa waved his hand. “How about we talk about you, Tycoon?”

Another man walked in, eyes fixed on Tsukasa.

“Decade,” The man slowly grinned. “The Destroyer of Worlds himself. What an honor to have you visit our humble world.”

The same thing over and over again.

How tedious.

Tsukasa just rolled his eyes, as a teenage girl also pushed herself in, and laughed, seeing Tsukasa.

“Oh, how nice. Heard about you a lot, Decade. Are you here to deliver some extra misery here?”

“I’m not here to talk to you two clowns, whoever you are,” Tsukasa looked at them from the corner of his eyes. “I am here to talk to Tycoon.”

“He’s—- he’s dressed like—” Tycoon still looked shocked, and the man just grabbed his shoulders.

“Do not take it seriously. He is no Navigator.”

“Get out,” Tycoon hissed, shaking off his hands. “Get out. Let me talk with him then.”

Both of them left laughing, as Tycoon walked inside, and sat down in an armchair.

“This is not how I imagined the ruler of this world to act like.”

“Why are you even here?” Tycoon sighed. “If you are from the audience like those two goons, there is no fun for you to be had here. Leave. You probably have the DGP running again don’t you?”

There was bitterness and pain in his voice, and he looked like he was a broken man.

“This world was known as the World of Geats, but a certain thief had told me this is more like the World of Tycoon now,” Tsukasa leaned back. “You did something to Geats, didn’t you?”

Tycoon didn’t even react, like it was something he heard so many times - maybe even said it to himself.

“I did everything to make my family happy, to create a peaceful world,” Tycoon said, his voice blank. “Now I have no family, and the world is shattering under my touch. And Ace— Ace is gone. I cannot undo what I have done. The only thing I can do is to control the Gang Riders. Have them take care of the people in the city, and eradicate crimes.”

“So the only crimes that remain are the ones you and your men commit.”

And Tycoon looked at him, and suddenly there was a fire in his eyes.

“That way it won’t go to waste. It won’t be in vain. If I give this up, then I have done all of that for nothing.”

Tsukasa looked into the man’s eyes, before sighing and kicking himself to his feet.

“Right. Catch you later.”

“Is that really all you came here to do?” Tycoon sounded baffled, and Tsukasa just looked back at him.

“I feel like whatever I say right now wouldn’t change anything in you right now. So, talk to you later.”

“Wait— who are you?”

Tsukasa smiled to himself.

“I’m just a passing through Kamen Rider. You should probably remember that.”

On his way out, he reached into one of the side rooms, pulling a certain thief out by the scruff of his neck.

They had much to talk about, after all.

The four travelers ran into each other quite easily, and Tsukasa wandered if the worlds themselves aligned in such a way, that they’d always find each other - the strangers, the ones who do not belong in these worlds being easier to find each other.

And they sat into a ruined soba shop that had absolutely nothing in the kitchen, despite how Kaito was rummaging through it, while they shared the information they gathered.

“So. There is one thing to do,” Tsukasa nodded. “If those two want to meet Tycoon, and Tycoon is convinced there is nothing he could do… let them convince him.”

“What if they’d fail?” Kaito spoke up, and Tsukasa turned back, looking in the direction of Tycoon’s headquarters.

“I think he also wants to be convinced, more than anything.”

So, maybe he literally had to drag Tycoon out from where he holed himself into. Or maybe he let himself be dragged out, only putting on a show of reluctance.

After all, he didn’t transform.

And when he dragged him there, the other two were there, and there were so many emotions written on their faces.

Everyone was silent for a few moments.

“Keiwa…” Neon started, and Tycoon avoided her gaze.

“Don’t you think it’s time for you to come back?” Michinaga continued, and Tycoon shook his head.

“There is nowhere for me to go back to.”

“Are you really that stupid?”

“After— after it all—”

“I could come back,” Michinaga’s voice was dry. “And in case you forgot, I killed you and Geats both.”

“That’s not— but what I’ve done—”

“Ace still wanted you to come back,” Neon sounded impatient. “He said you just need to open your eyes.”

Tycoon shook his head, clearly troubled.

“If I back down now— the Gang Riders—”

As if summoned, Gang Riders emerged all around them.

Time to dethrone the Head the murmurs sounded between them, and Keiwa sighed.

“If I go back… if I go back, the streets go to hell again. If they—”

Tsukasa sighed, cracking his arms, as he walked, facing the Gang Riders. And he could sense Yusuke and Natsumikan also doing the same, and even Kaito closed the circle, the four of them protecting the three in the middle. Kiva-la’s laughter echoed around them, as Yusuke’s body tensed, 

“You three continue talking it out. We got this.”

Better not let them be distracted, when the four of them could protect them, right?

By the time the fight was over, Sakurai Keiwa was crouched to the ground, his entire body shaking, the other two next to him, talking to him.

“It doesn’t matter,” Keiwa’s voice was breaking. “Ace is gone. They took Ace. I gave Ace to them, alongside Tsumuri, and who knows what they did to her, now that they don’t need her, and Ace—”

“Ace believed in you,” Neon said softly. “Even until he was taken, he believed in you, that he’d come back.”

“What am I supposed to do?” Keiwa whispered. “If I let this world go, then everything goes to waste—”

“You get to start over,” Tsukasa spoke up, walking closer to Keiwa, standing over him. “You tried, you failed, now you get to stand up and start over.”

“Tried, failed, became an evil dictator,” Kaito’s voice was amused. “Tsukasa can relate.”

“Daiki!” Natsumi hissed.

“What? I’m right. And Tycoon might not even need to have amnesia for him to change his ways.”

Keiwa looked at him with a lot of different expressions in his eyes.

“People make mistakes. Some of us made bigger mistakes than others,” Tsukasa continued, as if he didn’t hear the thief’s interruption. “And even if there is no forgiveness, we owe the ones we wronged to stand up and try to set things right.”

Keiwa opened his mouth to answer, and Michinaga’s hand was on his shoulder, and even he had a lot of different expressions running through his face, and then—

“Boooooo~ What kind of speech is that? I expected more misery from the Destroyer of Worlds. This is boring.”

The two weirdos who accompanied Keiwa back in his headquarters showed up, annoyed expressions on their faces, and odd, gun-like Drivers in their hands.

“Come on, Sakurai Keiwa,” The man spread his arms. “You won’t let these strangers take away what you worked for? Your ideal world… one with world peace is at your fingertips. Don’t waver now.”

Keiwa took a deep, shaky breath, pushing himself to his feet.

Took a deep breath.

“That’s right,” The man almost cooed. “Come back home.”

“That’s not my home,” Keiwa said in a soft voice, before turning to face them. “And I am not your toy to have fun with anymore.”

And the Driver was in his hands, as he looked back at Tsukasa.

“You protected us. These two are mine to defeat.”

“Ours,” Michinaga corrected him, also grabbing his own Driver. “I have a score to settle with them as well.”

“As do I,” Neon agreed, walking to Keiwa’s other side.

So now it was their turn - a demon bull, a soldier tanuki and a magic cat all appearing in front of their eyes.

The two of them disappeared, and Tsukasa figured there was a reason for that - a reason he didn’t know, nor did he bother to ask.

They had more important things to focus on, after all.

“How could we even save Ace?” Keiwa asked, pleading. “Is there really a way? They took him to the future—”

“I have an idea,” Natsumi started. “Come with me.”

Eijiro was very ecstatic seeing three more visitors, who just seemed confused.

“Would this even work?” Yusuke muttered. “We don’t want to go to another world, after all. Only this world’s future.”

“Oh, if someone wishes for something strong enough,” Eijiro chuckled, bringing in some bowls of soba for them. “Nothing is impossible.”

“That’s what Geats always said too,” Michinaga said in a low voice, before turning to Tsukasa. “What should we do?”

“Just grab the chains together. Focus on your desire to see him again. And then pull it.”

Three hands grabbed the chain, as they closed their eyes.

Tsukasa wondered what they were thinking of. What memories flashed before their eyes, what were the wishes, the feelings they grabbed onto stubbornly, pulling on the chains.

A screen fell.

A picture of a city with shining neon lights everywhere.

Well, it definitely looked like the future.

“Tsukasa, your outfit didn’t change.”

“Why mess with perfection?”

“I just meant that this means that we are still in the same world,” Natsumikan sounded tired. “But what now?”

“Even if we break into the DGP building, how should we save Ace?” Keiwa asked. “They… turned him into a statue. And we need a Vision Driver to undo it.”

“I don’t think we have to be afraid of that,” Tsukasa rolled his eyes. “Right, Kaito?”

Kaito leaned by the wall, lazily lifting a Driver from his hand, that made Michinaga lounge at him - and Kaito just held it out of range.

“Hey now. It’s my treasure. Can’t turn it on anyway. It’s fingerprint-activated.”

“I can do it,” Michinaga hissed, lifting the purple gun-shaped Driver the teenage girl dropped. “Beroba copied a Game Master’s thumbprint before. I’m sure they did the same thing and the data is still stored in this, that’s why they still had the Vision Driver around, just in case. We can activate it.”

“Which means,” Neon continued, putting her hands on her hips. “You can’t use it either.”

Kaito tried to snatch the Driver from Michinaga’s hand, and now it was his turn to keep it out of Kaito’s reach, and Neon put her hand on Kaito’s chest, pushing him away as well.

“How about it,” Neon continued. “Let us use it until we save Ace. Afterwards you can have it, and the ways to use it too. Okay?”

Kaito snorted, and threw the Vision Driver at Neon.

“I wonder what kind of other treasure we can find at the DGP then.”

So now it was time to have a little adventure.

Obviously they split up.

Neon, Michinaga and Keiwa went with the Vision Driver to look for Ace.

The four of them decided to be the distraction.

Well, three of them.

One of them was busy trying to look for treasures.

In some way, it was still a distraction, wasn’t it?

Out of all the weird things in the world, a floating cloak was not the weirdest.

Certainly up there, though.

The others were fighting and the floating figure seemed to have willingly shutting him off from the others, and he laughed.

“Let me guess, you are a Game Master?”

“More than that - I am the creator of the DGP. I am Sueru. And I also know who you are, Decade.”

“As a lot of people seem to claim.”

“I do have… a proposal for you.”

Tsukasa raised his eyebrows, as Sueru floated around.

Keiwa’s breath hitched, when they found Ace.

He was a statue - a chained up statue, hung up in the air, nine tails crowning him, his face frozen in an almost serene expression.

It looked… wrong.

“Ace…”

Michinaga held the Vision Driver in his hand, before grabbing Beroba’s Driver.

“Let’s do this.”

The explosions and sounds of fighting were loud from outside the room.

But they had to focus.

Sueru was still floating around Tsukasa.

“You did not take the role of a Navigator for no reason. Navigators have the power to turn into a Deity of Creation - someone who can reshape worlds. Someone we can build the DGP around. And you - you could be the most powerful Deity of all, Destroyer of Worlds.”

Tsukasa snorted.

“I heard from your former players what you do to your Deities. I have no intention of becoming a statue.”

“We could… negotiate,” Sueru’s tone of voice didn’t change. “I could awaken these powers within you. The entire world… no, with your own innate abilities, all the worlds would be at your fingertips. You would be the most powerful God of Creation, and we could even let you keep your free will, as long as we can work together. Anything you want. A place for you to stay at. And endless entertainment.”

Tsukasa looked at him, before rolling his eyes, and taking out his Driver.

“I have enough titles, thanks.”

Ace fell on his knees, and Neon closed him in her arms, rubbing his back.

“It’s okay. It’s okay. We got you.”

“I knew you’d figure it out,” Ace breathed, looking up, eyes locking with Keiwa. “I knew you’d.”

“Ace…” Keiwa whispered, falling on his knees. “Ace I’m…”

Ace shook his head.

“We’ll have enough time to talk once we are back. We need to find Tsumuri.”

No time.

No time.

Had to hurry.

They pulled Ace up to his feet, and by the time they got to the door, Ace’s steps were steadier.

By the time the two groups reconverged, all of them were transformed, and Tsukasa heard a laugh from the white fox.

“Destroyer of Worlds, huh?”

“So do people say. God of Creation huh?”

“So do people say. I guess we should work together well, don’t you think so?”

“Oh?”

“You have to destroy things before creating them anew.”

Tsukasa stopped for a few moments, looking at the fox, before nodding.

“You got that right.”

By the time the place exploded, all of them were outside, together with a woman whose outfits were just like the ones Tsukasa was dressed in, and they ran.

The place burnt.

They even found more Vision Drivers, and even though he couldn’t see Kaito’s eyes through the DiEnd suit, Tsukasa was still pretty sure his eyes were glinting.

“You won’t let them have it, right?” Keiwa asked, hand gripping the Vision Driver. “You won’t—”

“Don’t be stupid,” Kaito snorted, yanking the Driver out from his hand. “Once I get my treasure, I don’t let it go.”

Tsukasa rolled his eyes, before looking at Ace, and it seemed like the exhaustion was catching up with him.

“What are you going to do now?”

Ace smiled a little, before looking at the others - Tsumuri was eating from the food Eijiro brought in for them, Keiwa looked like he was going to get sick, and Neon and Michinaga seemed tense, looking out the window - there was definitely chaos going on out there, seeing as their leader disappeared from the headquarters.

“This world needs to be fixed. Don’t worry about it. That’s not your job. But I do appreciate the help you gave us until now.”

“Might be easier to fix it for you either way, God of Creation.”

Ace smiled, tilting his head to the side.

“Maybe. But I need to recover my powers first. Might do a bit more hard work first.”

Tsukasa slowly nodded, before frowning.

“Can I ask you something?”

“Sure.”

“Did you know about me from the DGP Admin, or someone told you about me?”

Ace actually laughed this time, pushing himself to his feet.

“No, nobody had to. But don’t worry about it.”

He limped over to the others, smiling down at them, and Tsukasa pointed his camera, snapping a picture of them.

“Let’s go home,” Ace said, leaning on Michinaga a bit, letting him support him.

Home somehow still became the DGP lounge, even though the DGP was nowhere anymore.

And hopefully never.

Ace dropped down to the couch, with a deep breath.

Then Na-Go dropped down next to him, hugging him closely, and Ace smiled to himself.

“Missed you so much.”

“Did you?”

“You know about it exactly,” Buffa sighed, sitting down on Ace’s other side.

“And you missed us too, didn’t you?” Na-Go whispered.

And of course he did.

Even without being able to move or think about it, there was this longing deep in his soul.

He saw Tycoon talk with Tsumuri, his head hung low, and Tsumuri looked at him, and she nodded, before walking to the back, and Tycoon walked inside.

Ace reached out with one hand to Buffa, pulling him closer to his side, and Buffa actually let him, and he locked eyes with Tycoon.

“Ace—”

“Are you going to come here or are you just going to stand there?”

Tycoon struggled forwards, dropping on his knees in front of Ace, hugging his knees, and he started to sob.

“I’m sorry, I’m so, so sorry, I’m sorry—”

Ace let go of the other two briefly, just so he could put his arms around Keiwa.

“You are back now,” Ace said softly, burying his fingers into his hair. “We can fix things. I’m also here now. We are all together now.”

They were together now.

“Do you think they are going to be fine?”

Natsumi asked, looking out the window - the streets were loud now, because Gang Riders were making chaos outside again.

Tsukasa looked at the photo in his hand, the overexposed picture he took the four of them, and it looked like Geats IX’s tails were wrapped around the other three, protectively.

“I’m sure they can figure it out.”

“People should clean up their own messes,” Kaito said offhandedly, lying on his back, looking at the Drivers in his hand, clearly delighted. “Don’t you think so?”

“Nothing bad could happen from helping,” Yusuke argued, and Kaito snorted.

“I’m pretty sure Tycoon just wanted to help too.”

“Hey now—”

“Could you all stop arguing?” Natsumi snapped, grabbing one of the Drivers, and throwing it away - and it caused another screen to fall down.

“Ahhh, what a shame,” Kaito stretched himself, hiding the other Drivers from Natsumikan’s wrath. “As soon as Tsukasa leaves the studio in this world, this outfit is gonna be gone.”

Tsukasa raised his eyebrows, before turning around, the skirt moving around him, and he could feel the look of all three of them on him.

“Well, I’ll look good no matter what I wear.”

Tsukasa sneered, started moving outside.

Yusuke stepped in his way, with a giant, dorky smile.

“No point in rushing now, is there? Not like the world outside will run away~”

Kaito was laughing, grinning up at Tsukasa, and even Natsumikan was moving closer to him, and Tsukasa crossed his arms in front of his chest, trying his best to look annoyed.

Maybe he was failing.

Oh, well. He could entertain them for a bit.

They were together, after all.