Scene #7621: The Power Of Heart (Kingdom, Not Jawline)

Owner	Pose
Xion	The fight with Mashin Chaser, which the roidmude general had called a 'talk', had gone... It had gone not great? Acceptably terrible? Still, tensions ran hot. For a moment, Go thought he was chasing Chase through the residentially zoned areas... Until the trail, real or imagined, ran cold. The thundering valves of energy cooled off, and the photographer found himself in a small lot-park, a swing-set and jungle gym setup with abused grass and sparse trees scattered about. A sparse covering of yellowing leaves breeze across the baked dirt and sand underneath the swingset. It's quiet. So of course now is when he hears it. Her voice is achingly expected. Direct, concerned "Shijima Go." Standing beside the dome of metal bars, Xion's fingers lift to curl about the structure's leading spoke to her, wearing her red hoodie and off-buttoned flannel outfit from Twin Peaks. "I think I know how to help you."
Go Shijima	"Is that right?" Go's voice, by comparison, is suspicious, if not subtly suspicious. His hands are in the pockets of his own red-striped hoodie, when he dismounts the Ride Macher to approach her. His approach is slow, sneakers leaving prints in the dirt, crunching those few leaves that blow underfoot. "That's funny, because from my perspective, I don't need any--and I'm sure I wouldn't ask you even if I did." He stops, perhaps five feet from Xion and those bars. His legs are evenly spaced apart, giving a relaxed appearance with his dropped shoulders, yet noticeably, not terribly placed for fighting, either. "But I am curious. Maybe it's because every time I almost have that damn Roidmude beat, you're right around the corner. I guess I can't help wondering why someone would insist on helping a failure like that." That must be what it is. Why I can't stand him. "Someone who insists on doing what doesn't work, over and over, and comforts himself by saying that people deserve second chances no matter how many times they waste them. No matter how many their actions hurt!" Go realizes only after it's said that he shouted that last part, and reels in his temper. But it isn't all he's angry about, is it--why does it feel like there's something else? Go is nevertheless firm, his shoulders tensed, when he asks, "Helping someone like that, over and over again... what makes you think it's me that needs help?"
Xion	Xion stands there, her deep blue eyes watching him work through his motions physically. His emotions, mentally. "Go..." Xion tilts her head. "Who are you talking about? Are you mad at Tomari Shinnouske? Something that doesn't work, over and over again..." Xion frowns lightly. "When you put it like that, Go..." The Nobody trails off, and her gaze dips to the center of his chest. "Do you think that the power you're using isn't affecting you? ... Dead Heat? The Dead Zone?"
Go Shijima	The thought that he might be changing without noticing it seems to frighten Go. He even turns his head away, when he makes his sullen response. "Of course it affects me," he says, trying to think about it in terms of the suit's functions. But she isn't talking about what it's meant to do, is she? She means... it doesn't matter. "Why should I care?" He asks, suddenly confrontational, taking a step forward. "If you were watching that fight, you'd know how close I came to being rid of him for good. If he won't change his mind about this damn 'resetting' business... what else am I supposed to do but stop him?! I need every advantage I can get!"
Xion	Looking back up, Xion takes a step back while Go becomes confrontational. Concern enters the blank look across her brow. "If you don't care, it must be even harder." The press of accusation, the threat of power. "Two on one - and Drive wasn't holding you back. You can't control Dead Heat because your heart can't contain it. You're along for the ride." Her clenched hand comes up, to rest across her chest, a geometric lattice-bracelet around her wrist. "You're not driving, and you're not riding it. You're a passenger. The Dead Zone..." Xion is pleading. "It's the power of Heart's sadness. His joy at fighting for the reasons he does! You can't control it -- if you've abandoned the will to protect." Xion's hand opens and extends. "You're betraying the heart you're borrowing and the magic of bonds both." It's as if she's asking for him to simply give it up and hand her the item. His power. The power he fought for, his special upgrade after all of Drive's.
Go Shijima	I did used to have joy. When I fought. When things were simple. When I was sure I was fighting to protect. Lilian would be disappointed in me for saying, but... I'm not sure I'm doing that anymore. Damn that Chase... everything made sense before he got involved! "I'm not giving it to you," says Go stubbornly, digging in his heels. "I don't deserve it, but you can't be trusted with it, and especially not some damn Roidmude! Let's..." His hands both dart out of the pockets of his sweater at once. In one hand, the Mach Driver. In the other, the Mach shift bike. They meet at his waist, the belt snapping around him. Signal Bike! RIDER!! "Henshin!" He mashes the bike into its slot. MACH! A sleek bodysuit of lightweight white armor with two red vertical stripes down the left side appears, complete with a blue-visored full motorcycle helmet with V-shaped antennae, and a waist-length shoulder cape also at the left side. On the right side of the chest, at shoulder level, there's a wheel with the hubcap facing outwards. There's no signal bike here--which seems to be just what Go wants. "Professor Harley says the Mach system is designed to be in tune with the user's emotions. If you think you're so good at seeing what my heart can and can't hold, then get your suit on, and come at me."
Xion	Xion closes her hand. Her expression darkens. "Shijima Go." Xion repeats herself from the opening, her cadence identical to that of Mashin Chaser. "You're right. The Mach System responds to the desires of your heart. That's why you can't control it, when you use Dead Heat's power." "You won't understand Heart. Your heart. My heart. Chase's heart. Heart himself. The one who can't be trusted with a Heart..." "Is you." Xion finishes, her finger extending. Kamen Rider Mach's transformation roars into being, flaring into existance and color. Xion's accusatorily pointed finger opens into a 'grasp at nothing' gesture, as three powers - white, blue, and red - flow into her hand. She announces each, as they're flicked through her palm. White: "Mach." Red: "Dead Heat." Blue: "Rider System." Adding a red-and-black medal, and an odd brown one to her hand, a Heaviness-like power begins to rumble in the area. The five Medallions begin to orbit Xion lazily. Three of the powers - Mach's white, Drive's red, and the mystery blue medal, crackle and sparkle with tangible power. "The power of the Rider System is drawing out the power of the heart." Xion begins her narration, both hands snapping out to grab two medallions and press them together. The red of Drive's Type Speed, and the white of Mach's base form twist together. "Drive. Mach." A frame of white and flashes of red and black forms between the pair in the vague shape of a car. The two blue medals - Rider System and the mystery medal - to create something in black medal and a dark red. It's a thundering presence, a beastly machine - An evolved combustion engine. Go knows it's not a real muscle car engine: It more resembles a high performance motorcycle of a make he's never seen. "Rider System. Sonoda Mari." The beastly engine drops into the muscle-car front end of the classic white frame, slotting into place and expanding into the space as it unfolds. Drawing Starlight to hand with a chop of her fist that brings the open-star comb perfectly into line with her orbiting final medal - the Dead Heat medal. Hanging there, medallion caught in the eye of her weapon's top, Xion takes a stance. "The power to protect. The power of bonds. I'm twisting off this lock: My heart doesn't have limits!" She fires the power of Dead Heat from the tip of her keyblade into the constructing super-car in a red wave, the overwhelming 'Joy' of Dead Heat sending the new construction to life. The light is overwhelming as each seam on the car expelled a blinding internal light. A cheery honk-hon-hon-HONK sounds out--! The light clears, and Xion stands in a pentagram of smoking grey medallions. Turning her closed fist over, a palm-sized retro-style white supercar with a stylized M on the front hood, an open-topped convertable, and a trio of colorful number 5's on the side. In her other hand is -- a Mach Driver, though hers isn't the right shade of blue.
Xion	She snaps the driver around her waist, holding the odd M-car out with a triumphant look on her eye. "The power of those whose hearts shine beyond -- let's take it for a spin." She brings it back, closer to herself, and then... Xion flips open the supercar like a fliphone. Her thumb types in- 555 Snapping it shut, she rotates her arms at the wrist to snap the phonecar shut and slide it into the belt. SMART BIKE//SUPER CAR! RIDER!! With her other hand, she drops Starlight's hilt onto the loading lever to close it. A whole race of car noises over the standby track of an 80's Hanna Barbara 'DAnananaDAnananaDAA!' finishes its cacophony, streaks of red light tornadoing around Xion until she chops through the speedily racing energy with the vrooming edge of Starlight -- in a similar bodysuit to Go with only mild changes, chiefly a blue top with white highlights rather than the opposite. "I'm in tune with a whole universe of expression, driving among them and righting what is wrong. A warrior whose heart lives beyond the fast lane - Mach 555." Pronounced... Mach FiveS. (The S is audibly capital.) The sheer force of the five-medallion combination is palpable, a thundering heaviness akin to being subjected to Dead Heat passively. "You haven't mastered your own heart. Much less that of the man you think you hate."
Go Shijima	Go's limbs are heavy, when he reaches for the button on the Mach Driver to shake off the passive influence of those medallions. The ignition belches flame, and Mach. "Maybe you're right about my heart. But even if you're right... having a heart doesn't make you blameless!" Mach races towards Xion in a blur of white and red for the scant moment it takes him to reach her. As soon as he does, he's on the attack, using his momentum for an overhead leaping kick. The armor revs again as he makes a blistering 180 to strike at her with a spin from the wheel on his energy pistol. Its high-speed surface adds centrifugal force to the swing. "The two that killed my best friend... laughed as they did it! No one with a heart behaves that way!" He brings the blaster up for a three-shot burst, blue energy bolts zipping out as anger radiates from him. From the Mach system. "He won't admit that his way doesn't work! He says he's our enemy and he damn sure acts like it too! WHAT ELSE IS THERE TO UNDERSTAND?!"
Xion	"Having a heart makes me appreciate the man you hate as a beautiful person." Xion replies simply, standing idle with her sword-tip down even after transformation. The waves of heaviness are mashed through, and the Rider charges down the field at her -- but Xion as Mach 555 snaps her weapon up into the path of the Zenrin Shooter with a frame-snapping flicker of unmotion. Sparks fly as the front wheel meets the silver length of Starlight. She's pressed, but still holds the weapon - dismissively, in one hand even as the surging anger pours down across and over her from the Mach Driver. "If Humanity numbered a hundred and eight, and you were the one they looked to for protection, you would know every name, and mourn every loss even if what you lost was a lingering ache." From under the Mach 555 helmet, Xion's expression is unreadable, but the downtilt of her eyes is clear enough as she follows with with a twirl-and slice out of lock. The swirl of her red cape billows in the cloud of anger, and as it passes by her, the vermilion fury smooths into the simple suggestions of forward motion or passing distance. "The way you described the thing that caused you incredible pain, Go... I still can't find, even in your heart, whether you mean humans or Roidmude! I can't tell if you hate them because they're everything wrong with the world -- or a way for you to work out your own thoughts on who should live and die." "What is there to understand? What are you the Kamen Rider of, Go? Revenge?! Why do you think you can still use the power of Dead Heat? Whose feelings do you think you're synchronizing with, Kamen Rider?!" Like a Kendo strike, Xion halfsteps into a falling chop that does not fully complete before her body snaps through intervening frames with a blur of white and blue. When her form resolves, as the unhandled Starlight continues its vertical chop she carries through with the natural second motion, a horizontal slash -- except with a second copy of her weapon. "Your feelings, and Heart's -- they're the same!"
Go Shijima	Why won't this damn suit go faster?! Why can't I break her guard? Her counterattack catches him off guard, forcing a reprieve in his assault. Go leaps backwards, catching a slash in his left arm and growling as sparks fly from the suit. He dips backwards, one hand catching the top of the swingset. The other, holding the Zenrin shooter, extends outwards to fire upon her with two more three-round bursts. If her sword work is that good... then I have to wear her out from afar, first! Mach springs backwards off of the swingset, making a midair flip to place his feet firmly upon the ground. A signal bike is exc hanged, but he hesitates. Xion can feel that he's lost, for a moment, drifting between two memories. An American boy about Go's age falls to the hard, red earth on a backwoods Colorado highway, smoking hole in his chest. Fear, anger, helplessness--and later, resentment. From that memory, a brief departure to a much older one--of a young boy, dressed in a gi. The adults, the parents of the other children here--don't think he can hear them talking about how 'brave' he is to be here, 'so soon.' "It's both!" SIGNAL BIKE//Signal Change! TURN Mach's shoulder-tire now displays a blue arrow indicating an upcoming turn on the highway. He races across the playground, running a spiral up the nearest tree and nimbly leaping from branch to branch. As he feathers the trigger on the Zenrin shooter, "No one ever asked that question without having a reason. Roidmudes are like the worst of us with none of the redeeming qualities!" Like tiny meteors influenced by her gravity, the energy bolts whip around at unusual angles to home in on Xion's position. "I've cried for my family. For people I couldn't save!" Now's my chance! He leaps from the top of the tree to land upon the exterior wall of the playground, a waist-high sort of fence, along which he runs, keeping up the pressure with the Shooter-- "Because I know just how precious joy is, I fight to keep it alive! So why..." So why doesn't this feel like that? NO! Don't stop... Go makes an abrupt sideways flip to leap over Xion, his body turning like a corkscrew to deliver a kick meant to drive her back against the fence, Shooter blasting a spiral lotus of angrily zipping energy bolts. "So why is it -my- heart you're worried about?!"
Xion	The blasts don't seem to be dodged -- they're off target, flying through empty air. No change of momentum, no shift in position, but the shots are off target. Correcting as he moves, the next sets of snapshots spread to 'fill space' and these draw a reaction, Xion taking her keyblade in both hands and revving up an American Baseball bat-swing of her weapon across the shooter blasts with the tearing woosh of rubber biting pavement. The shots detonate at her flanks in poufs of energy, Mach 555 still restrained. Mach can tell he still has the speed advantage -- even boosted with five different medallions, Xion's Mach 555 armor simply presents no opening towards his withering assault. As he corkscrews fire above her, she splits into a racing streak in five different directions at once, the blurs reconvening over Mach in mid air with a flutter of red scarf. spinning in the air leading the edge of Starlight. The entire area under Starlight's sweep, after a fractional delay, suffers from a blistering explosion of directed Heaviness that rips a tear into the ground before the swingset. "Abuse, pain, loss, anguish, the destruction of a family -- The power of the Dead Zone -- is one you can't face alone!" She lands and twirls, sweeping another of the `bvvvmp`-ing Heaviness force cone horizontally across the battlefield to rattle and vibrate into a tree at the far end of the park. "The one you can't punish is yourself. Absolution is what you crave -- so I'm here to reset your heart."
Go Shijima	Mach growls in frustration, unable to press his advantage further than keeping Xion locked down. She's right--he does blame himself for much of what Roidmudes do. The anger and hate and blame twist back around, aimed at them for making him feel those things in the first place. I can't face that pain, but Heart can--is that it?! "Then I'll learn to!" He takes off again, his speed carrying him behind the point of that cone of Heaviness. He runs up the fence and leaps into the air, the Mach System's thrusters carrying him higher and higher. "I won't let people be hurt because I'm too weak to stop it!" SIGNAL BIKE//Signal Change! DANGER Go makes one pass, pulling the trigger twice. Two hard-light bullets slowly drop to the earth, rapidly growing to the size of small cars to latch onto her with razor-sharp teeth. As he pulls a tight loop to come back around, he cuts the thrusters off, spins the Shooter's wheel, and strikes with it in a furious hip-to-shoulder slash.
Xion	"Alright then." Xion's neutral reply comes, while Go shouts his determination and slots in the HIKEN bike while his jets boost him high into the air. "If it's as simple as saying you'll do it, then this should stop me, right?" Xion Mach 555 tosses aside her weapon which disappears much like her previous 'extra copy' had - into a fast-eroding darkness that faded into thin air. Opening her arms wide, the two bullets connect and hide her from sight as their large NATO-nose Bullet Bull sharks falling upon 'her'. Landing and striking, Go swings his weapon through... Nothing. The bullets had impacted, but they did not contain her. For a moment, Go senses an 'oncoming' presence from his back like a teleporter about to gut him and simultaneously, Mach 555 standing at the rear of one of the bullets, both arms crossed. "That's not Dead Heat's power. That's just a power that says 'Danger'." Spinning about, Xion Mach 555 kicks the bullet into Mach with a glowingly-traced arc that skids through the air with a vnerrrrrrrrrrrrrROOOOOOOOM swash of kick drift light. "Show me how you've mastered it, just by saying so."
Go Shijima	Go is struck in the back, reaching for the Dead Heat shift bike. One of his bullets strikes him, too, flung by Xion--but gritting his teeth, he keeps from hitting the ground by meticulous application of controlled bursts from those jets on his suit, spinning himself into an upright position to land on both feet. SIGNAL BIKE//SHIFT CAR - Dead Heat! Just as with Chase, Dead Heat makes an appearance here. "I said I'd learn--and I'll start by beating you!!" I can't seem to make anything stick. Damn it! Is it because... No. No! Go mashes the button four times, and the tire explodes, its red line now jagged to resemble a blowout. I'll show her! If it's really about my heart... what am I missing? What am I doing wrong?! Go's aggression seems, for now, more controlled. For once, he's thinking, conservative in his attacks but no less decisive when making them, trying not just to read Xion's movements for openings, but his own emotional state. What is it about this Roidmude he's heard so much about, that he should be able to use the Dead Zone's energy without being overwhelmed? Go uses a series of kicks aimed low, high, midsection--a light sweep, a crossup jumping side kick into a high roundhouse--to try and space Xion out, winding up for a haymaker swing with the Zenrin Shooter if he should find an opening...
Xion	Crackling, overwhelming power explodes outwards as Dead Heat Burst is unleashed onto the field. Now, Go has the speed advantage. His headset can tell - the Mach 555 system should, on paper, be faster: It's Xion holding it back. And it's why she's slowed it down to this level. Dead Heat Burst's speed brings him over that level... But even so, by tightly executing with the superior reaction time of the Mach 555, Xion catches the flurry of kicks with her raised foreleg low and mid, and ducks the third high kick, crouching to swing a rising uppercu-- She meets fist to front wheel in the rising strike, and space dialates between them, Dead Heat Burst and Mach 555's speed energies crashing between them and creating a burst of air. There's no opening. Xion skids back, her feet leaving a symphony of crackling colored sparks as she drifts to a stop, fists raised. "You know how to draw out the Dead Zone's power. Instinctively, you reach out. The man you hate the most, the so-frustrating man who embodies everything about your father you despise. You see him, and more than anything, see what you think you have to destroy." Striding forward in a relatively docile pace, at a clip that would step between raindrops and heatbeats but to Go is a deliberate walk, Xion draws forward her right hand, the gloved fingers closing around Starlight's hilt once more with sound of an engine revving rather than a metallic shwink. "The power to stand up to an abusive creator... That's the power of the sons of Banno." Whipping around, Xion wings her Keyblade in a rotating remote arc, dashing the last short distance between herself and Mach from her ground crouch. As she does, blue speed-potentia copies project from her. One flurries punches, another sweeps in a pair of twisting kicks. A third simply shoves Go from behind, while Xion gathers energy into her fist, draws back, and delivers a straight punch to his center. "From where I stand, Kamen Rider Mach is the agent of destruction, a final act of violence against a tortured people. And the one who wields it... is the brother of all those harmed!" "Set that right, Kamen Rider! Your Dead Zone -- Can't outrace the truth!"
Go Shijima	Abusive...? Go's attempt to evade her is made too late. It's not the suit--it's him. As he hits the ground, he comes to a realization. She's right. I don't know about my father, but I know I'm not protecting anyone, doing this. Good Work! The armor disappears, and Go is facedown, in the dirt. He's breathing, but he isn't moving. Punishing isn't protecting, no matter how good you are at it. Now matter how hard you hit, people are still hurting... A pained, choking noise comes from him as his fists scrape up handfuls of dirt. It isn't a noise from any physical injury. I haven't helped anyone since I started doing this. I don't know what she means about Dad, but I know that. Even now... The world is all motion and blurred colors as he attempts too soon to get to his feet. Go has to lean on a tree cracked by Xion's earlier Heaviness to keep his footing. "You, Chiroptera, Roxas, Mashin Chaser... what is it you want from me? Even Strawberry winces when I talk about the Roidmudes. When she thinks I'm not looking." Just uttering that seems to tire him further. "Kiriko, too. And Tomari... even though we're on the same side, I feel like we're worlds apart. So if I'm wrong..." "What am I supposed to do with this sorrow?!" He hurls it at her like a stone, hanging from the tree as sweat trickles down his temples. "I eliminate, Tomari arrests, Chase resets... but still people hurt!" I still hurt. The tenuous grasp breaks, bark scraping off of the tree in uneven shingles as he falls to the ground in a heap. "If you're so damn sure you know what the truth is... I'd sure like to hear it," Go says, openly in tears and no longer attempting to hide it. The Dead Heat car is clutched protectively to his chest with both hands, as he rests his head against the cracked earth, refusing to meet her gaze.
Xion	As Go starts going down, Racer X in the Mach 555 continues her approach, fist clenched. The mask leaves him- The often-smug ending of the Mach Drive's simple ending is joined by another: Nice Race! The Mach 555 disengages in a cyclone of blue and the triumphant squeal of tires braking. Xion stands above Go, slowly removing the Mark 555phone-Car from her borrowed driver. Leaning in towards his hands clutched around the Dead Heat car, Xion places the Shift Mach 555phone into his hands, before stepping back with a soft smile. "Well, I want you to hold onto that. Even if I love driving around, I don't love Racing. I'm more of a... Racer X." She giggles lightly, crossing her arms across her chest and squatting down to be at Go's comfortable level for having a fall-on-the-ground-and-recover. He doesn't see it, but she smiles. "You can't beat love with hate, Go. You can't beat the will to protect with the will to destroy. Even with your brother's power, Dead Heat, you don't have his will to preserve..." Xion reaches out to tap Shift Mach 555phone. "And you can't come close the power of simply racing for the joy of racing. All these powers are yours, Go. You need to reset your heart, and run your engine with better fuel." Xion leans back. "The only way for me to help you was run you dry, Go. Now you've got to clean that gunk out of you. Even if it happened, even if it leaves a stain, you'll feel better when you clean off and show your inner shine."
Go Shijima	Go accepts the Shift Phone, but is otherwise silent and still while he listens to Xion. It's only once she leans back that he bothers rolling onto his knees to get back up. When he does, he brushes the dirt and tears from his eyes with the sleeve of his hoodie. The Dead Heat Shift Bike and the Shift Mach Faiz Phone disappear into his pockets. "I told you I would learn. I meant that." I will. Somehow... I'll change my way of thinking. Whatever it takes, to stop this hurting... mine, and anyone else's. He turns his back on her, and makes for his white superbike. "Tell that 'beautiful person' you bought him a break. I've got better things to do than chase him down right now." It's not great, but it's an improvement over constantly trying to kill him.