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Kuroto Dan      A message goes out on various devices. Be it voicemail, text, or email, it all says the same thing and all are addressed by the individual calling himself 'Mysterious Gamer P'. Play with the individual, or he'll release a virus so they no longer have a choice. There's also coordinates attached, unsurprisingly, which leads to a seemingly abandoned quarry.

     Or, it would be abandoned, if not for a single man who's currently relaxing on a folding chair dead in the middle of the place. He's got a game device in hand, which he's putting a lot more attention into playing compared to his surroundings.

     While there would probably be very little doubt that this the supposed 'Mysterious Gamer' just from him being the sole person here, his outfit definitely cements it, what with the black hooded jacket and purple pants with a pixel design printed on it.
Sleek Shimmer     Sleek Shimmer is one of the first to arrive, having followed up on some Watch informants alerting her about the situation. She has no idea what's going on or what to expect and so she's chosen to arrive in her fox form to be as inconspicuous as possible.

    Seemingly oblivious to the man at first, the red-furred vixen keeps her nose to the ground while trotting and hopping about, sniffing here and there and looking this way and that, on the hunt.

    The moseying does, eventually, bring her within thirty feet of the chair, off to the dark-clad man's right, and from there the creature meanders closer... but never once moving in a straight line towards the chair...

    Of course, Shimmer's using this time smartly. All of her senses, including spiritual ones, are on high alert. She's making absolutely sure there is nobody and nothing else in this dreary place... and attempting to take the strange loner's measure. His physique. his spiritual presence. His level of awareness...
Shotaro Hidari How strange!  Such a thread when Shotaro and Philip were investigating the Bugster virus.  Only for this to show up, which of course gets their interest.  The interesting thing is...why make a threat like this instead of just releasing the virus that makes monsters..?  He wonders what's really up with this, besides filling in a guy's boredom.  

So Shotaro doesn't miss a beat, driving off on his bike towards the quarry.  The moment he's there, he slides off the bike and takes his helmet off, places it on the seat, and starts walking towards the only figure here.  He doesn't rush, or run...instead takes a stroll towards him.  

"I'm guessing you're the one who put the threat out.  I have some questions for you...but I'm going to assume you're not just going to answer them for nothing?" he says, of course, they're not.  They're already in the quarry.  

Only fights happen here.
Timespace Riders      Sougo Tokiwa, enjoying a home-cooked meal courtesy of Woz, looks up from his plate. The walls of his uncle's small dining room are plastered with clocks of all kinds, as sunlight streams in through windows. He looks up, as does his retainer, when the Demon King's phone buzzes with a new notification.

    "Mysterious Gamer P..." Sougo's brow knits with brief concern, before it melts away under a bright smile. "Woz, can you find them for me?"

     Woz, seated across from his king, smiles a catlike smile. "But of course, my Demon King." The mysterious book of prophecy is already in the retainer's hand as he rises from the table, dressed as always in his apocalyptic brown double-breasted greatcoat.

     The abandoned quarry soon has two new visitors, appearing from and heralded by the impossible swirling of fabric and sand from a single point in empty air. The grey fabric unfurls and straightens itself into a more possible shape, resting upon Woz as his iconic scarf.

     "Hi," says the would-be Demon King, his smile conveying bright enthusiasm despite the dire threat foretold in the text message. "Are you P? I'm Sougo." He wears a pink-and-white striped short-sleeve button up that's a little too big for him, with pastel blue jeans rolled to emphasize his ankle socks and the colorful checkered red hi=top sneakers he likes.

     "If you want to play, you don't have to make threats. Or..." he takes a step forward."At least, you don't have to, anymore," he states with visible pride and confidence to the figure in the chair. "What kind of game did you want to play?"
Hibiki Tachibana     Hibiki has had it pretty rough lately, all things considered. She's still emotionally recovering from just a day prior, honestly. But not rough enough that she can't take a gaming break.

    At least when said gaming break involves mysterious Gamers (capitalized), threats, and the risk of viruses being released. She's beem around this block enough to have an extremely good idea of what 'virus' is being used for leverage here. And she doesn't like it. She doesn't like it enough that she's hurrying off as soon as she gets the message.

    If anything, she's almost glad for a straightforward problem to deal with again, at least relative to what's been going on. The quarry is only for one thing. On the other, after her last encounter with a gaming Elite...

    "Genm...?"

    Hibiki murmurs to herself, stepping into the site on foot at the same time as the others begin arriving - and catching sight of the one waiting for them. Though after a moment, she narrows her eyes and shakes her head. No. This doesn't feel like him or what he'd do at all, right down to showing up untransformed. So who is this?...? She won't find out just staring. Clenching her hands at her sides, she draws closer.

    "...What's your game, 'Mysterious Gamer P'?"
Petra Soroka     At the time when the message is sent, Petra is playing on her DS, lounging in the Kana. It's been a few days since Petra packed all of her belongings back into her mech and fled the space station, and so far the only boxes that have been opened are her ramen pallets, and, obviously, her gamer supplies. She's back to square one. Living the life.

    She misses daily showers so much already.

    When the streetpass notification for a chemical weapons threat pops up on her screen, Petra closes it automatically, thinking nothing of it. A few seconds after finishing the battle she'd been distracted by, though, she blinks and belatedly remembers that she's parked dozens of miles away from any civilization, and hurriedly rereads the alert.

    The mech's arrival is loudly announced by its jets, as usual, and Petra peers dubiously through the viewscreens at the quarry below. Does the quarry actually have narrative significance? Is that a real thing, or just something Xion made up that one time?

    Either way, Petra disembarks from the Kana after setting it down to rest on the upper edge of a cliff face. Petra has attempted, and succeeded except to the trained eye, at covering up her disheveled state with various beauty products, and wears a blouse and jeans rather than her overalls underneath the bomber jacket. What makeup doesn't obscure, though, is the dark red bruises wrapping around her neck.

    When she jumps down to examine the gamer and squint at his tacky outfit, she steps forwards to join the gathering elites, hands thrust in her pockets. Sticking through the bottom of the bomber jacket's pockets, pierced through with sharpness and weight, are the points of two blades, the heaviness behind them suggesting that they're more than daggers.

    Petra looks around at everyone here, then absentmindedly mutters, her voice still scratchy and hoarse, "I don't know if I have enough extra controllers for everyone...?"
Nephra Tangent     A chain-email-esque invitation to play with someone at a strange quarry is absolutely, positively, definitively not something that should be taken seriously, but Nephra's not one for turning down either suspicious games or her own curiosity, so her schedule was summarily freed to pursue the hopefully-something-fun that the message promised. Showing up to the scene on foot, with a large duffel bag strapped over her shoulder, and a ten-foot steel pike used as the world's least practical hiking pole, she's very surprised to find that the invitation is anything other than a ruse to fuck with people. Haha. Guess I didn't walk all this way for nothing.

    Nephra pauses at the quarry's rim, looking over the lawnchaired Gamer(tm) and new arrivals for a moment, as she tries to think of a way to get down and still look cool. In her head, heel-sliding down a less-steep part of the rocky slope is a good idea. In her head, nothing could go wrong with that. But in actuality, as she takes a steadying breath and hops to skid down the dusty incline, arms held wide, the utter mistake of it is made clear. The first few seconds of heel-sliding /are/ cool- until a rock catches her ankle funny and turns her entrance into an undignified rolling butt-slide down towards the quarry's bottom.

    Nephra's pride is bruised far more than her body, as she rights herself halfway down and executes an embarrassed scamper flat ground below. Her bag and spear aren't lost- their weight probably the only thing that kept her stumble from turning her head over heels- but it's a good thing they're both sturdy. The clear red nylon of her raincoat is scuffed and dusted, despite her best efforts to one-handedly wipe it clear as she walks towards the gathering group. A grin rests on her face despite it all- sheepish, but like she's about to laugh.

    "Heard there was a playdate goin' on today. Haha. What's on the docket? Badminton? Curling? Go fish?" She gives a halfhearted salute to the few people around, her smile already fading.
Futaba Nuki "Mysterious Gamer P... Oh, this'll be good. I wonder what he's gonna be like." Futaba monologues to herself as she darts along the rooftops of various storefronts, apartment complexes, townhouses, and eventually just ends p on nearby construction equipment as she makes her way to the quarry designated in the summons by today's enigmatic caller.

Arriving in a burst of wind after descending from the sky with a suitably dramatic leap, Futaba lands in a three-point landing with her scarf billowing dramatically behind her while her tail just kind of sways languidly also behind her. "Mysterious Gamer P! What kind of foul things do you have...?!"

Rising to her feet, the tanuki trails off as she notices that Mysterious Gamer P is doing exactly what his name says. Glancing towards those arriving, she clears her throat before slowly sliding over to get a better look at what game he's playing.

She's literally sliding over, too, without even moving her feet to get there. "... Hey. Which one's that?" She's obviously curious and doing a terrible job at being nonchalant about it.
Sleek Shimmer     All the noisy tromping and romping around of boots and mecha causes the little red fox to scoot and scamper away about twenty feet... but like any rascally urban critter, she is not too easily deterred, bravely regaining lost ground in no time even though she keeps just out of arm's or leg's reach of the individuals here so long as their attention's on her.

    It's not long though before there's a scampering sound nearby and soon...

    Soon, a familiar-to-some foxgirl's seated atop a nearby excavator's cabin, legs dangling over the edge and hands on her knees. "This place is way too dreary for a party this lively. What's really going on...?"
Kuroto Dan      the gaming handheld P is holding lets out a victory sound as he finally stands up from his chair, his eyes finally peeling off of the toy as he acknowledges the group.

     "Amazing! Quite the turn out. Though... Hmmm..."

     P squints a bit at the assembled group, in particular Hibiki. His face sours when he rescans everyone for just a second as he realizes something, before breaking out in a grin.

     "Ah. Well. Puzzles are much more interesting when pieces are missing and don't fit together, wouldn't you all agree?"

     He doesn't give anyone the time to answer this, instead, he tosses the console he was holding away, reaching into his pocket to remove a dual colored 'cartridge' with some sort of doorknob attached to it as he playfully spins it around in his hand.

     "Hahaha, anyway, you've all got your questions. Too many questions if you ask me, so let me try to condense my answer down for all of you, since there's a lot of overlap. I'm Mysterious Gamer P, or perhaps a few of you know me as Genm. The game we'll be playing today is rather simple, but it's my favorite, so listen to the rules very closely. The first one to be defeated in combat loses."

     Now firmly gripping the weird cartridge, P twists the knob on it, causing the device to start playing looping music until he pushes a button on its side.

     "Henshin."

     Dual up!
     GET THE GLORY IN THE CHAIN! PERFECT PUZZLE!

     A holographic screen appears in front of him, before scrolling back and through him. When it does, he's covered head to toe in blue and gold armor, though the most striking detail is the cartoonish eyes on his visor.

     "Kamen Rider Paradox, Level 50. Let the real game begin!"

     He moves his hand through the air to emphasize each syllable of what he just said, while also summoning forth what look like a bunch of video game power ups of sorts. Sadly, it's for him, and not for the group, as they're raised into the air with what can only be assumed to be 'gaming magic' and funneled directly into him, granting him a large burst of speed that he immediately uses to run around and attack everyone at once in what can only be described as a budget saving blur.
Shotaro Hidari The mad dashing from Kamen Rider Paradox sends Shotaro falling back. He hits the ground but manages to pull himself into a roll before getting back onto his feet. A little dusty, but not significantly hurt. He sighs and adjusts his fedora. "Well, I knew it'd come to this, or else why to meet here of all places?" he says. "You ready partner?"

"I am, let's go," says a voice on the other side of the Multiverse.

A belt appears around Shotaro, with two slots on it. On the other side Philip presses a button on what looks like to be a USB drive, and a voice calls out.

CYCLONE

In the belt, the green USB stick appears, and Shotaro presses down on it to lock it in. The name of the memory calls out again, as Shotaro presses his own USB stick, and a voice calls out its name.

JOKER

It too is slid into the belt, and locked into place. Then he splits the sockets where the Gaia memories are locked, forming a W shape on the belt.

CYCLONE JOKER

What looks like a strong wind swirls around Shotaro. Until the Rider suit overtakes him, and there he stands. Half of him is green and the other half a very dark purple. A scarf appears over his neck as he points toward the Mysterious Gamer P.

"It's time to count up your sins," he says and rushes right for him. Kamen Rider W (pronounced Double) quickly engaged in melee with the other Kamen Rider, aiming to give him a good punch across the chest, but other punches and kicks are thrown, starting to fight as a real brawler.
Timespace Riders >Henshin.

    The Demon King smiles, running a hand through his red-brown hair. "Oh, so you meant that kind of 'playing.' Sure... those rules sound good to me!" Sougo nods, a bulky white transformation belt in his hand. His retainer does the same, procuring a more streamlined silver-and-green model. Both belts are strapped around their respective owners' waists, announcing themselves. Sougo's is deep and authoritative. Woz's is reedy and breathily excited.

                               TIMESPACE DRIVER!                                

                                  BEYONDRIVER!                                  

    Each of them holds a futuristic-looking sort of pocketwatch--the circular face of Sougo's and the square face of Woz's both bearing the visages of armored fighters. Each is slotted into its respective transformation belt, to further fanfare:

                                     ZI-O...                                    

                                 WOZ?! Action?!                                

     The rapid ticking of a clock and a tense hanging bass fills the air around Sougo, while Woz's belt plays a high-energy house beat. A chronometer on Sougo's belt reads AU30 in red LCD font.

     "Henshin!"Sougo mashes the 'stop' on his Timespace Driver, twirling the belt. The people standing near him feel a mild sensation like the stomach drops one feels in an elevator.

    "Henshin." Woz closes a gate on the side of his belt, 'loading' his pocketwatch into it.

                                   RIDER TIME!                                    

                              Amazing! Time! Future!                            

     When Paradox rushes in with his budget-saving blur, he is held off from Woz and Sougo alike by their transformations. As analog clocks of various sizes appear behind Sougo, a giant smartwatch screen appears behind Woz, and both of them are protected by large, concentric sets of rotating cogs, some of which fly off to ward the Mysterious Gamer away before he can get in a swing.

                       o/` Ka-meeen Rider! o/` ZI-O. . .                        

                             KAMEN RIDER WOZ? WOZ?!                              

     Zi-O is a pink-and-silver armored fighter, whose cuirass and faceplate resemble the band and face of an analog wristwatch, complete with minute-and-hour hands for the classic rider antennae. Woz, meanwhile, is the smartwatch to Zi-O's analog his faceplate more sleek to evoke the digital look. Both of them bear the word 'RIDER' in color-coordinated katakana where the helmets' 'eyes' are.

     "You're Genm? The one Mr. Dan warned us about... you took something that belonged to him," says Zi-O, whipping his head around to track the speedy enemy rider. He charges in with Shotaro, making a straightforward shoulder check at the first available opportunity, following up with a left hook. "The Gashats were made to help sick people! What do you have to say for yourself?"

     Woz, meanwhile, leaps into the air, sailing overhead both of the other riders to try and attack from behind with an opportunistic leg sweep.
Sleek Shimmer     Sleek Shimmer hears the explanation offered and makes a weird face. Sure, being itching for a good fight's not so weird to her, but calling out a half-dozen random people and WANTING them to gang up on you?!

    She shivers on her perch and finds the need to instantly hop up to her feet, while beginning to circulate her qi more fiercely in preparation for battle. And just in time, too.

    When the blur swings her way, Shimmer's body moves like a laundry sheet pushed by the wind, rolling with the blow and avoiding the worst of the impact even though she's flung off her perch and down to the ground. She rolls to her feet and into a combat stance, both enthused and.. a little worried.

    Just what sort of person puts themselves in Mysterious Gamer P's position? Could he have motives besides just testing his might?

    One major thing's not lost on her though: Kamen Rider Paradox fights the way SHE LIKES TO FIGHT. Hand to hand. And so as Kamen Rider W approaches from one direction, Sleek Shimmer dashes in from a perpendicular angle to put even further pressure on Kamen Rider Paradox, opening up with a flurry of light but swift punches. If she can force any sort of openings she'll easily whip out a fair few spinning kicks with far more force than her unarmored body seems capable of.

    "You know what he's after?" She asks of Kamen Rider W.
Petra Soroka     Petra glances over at Hibiki, noticing the stares between her and the Gamer, her casual demeanor stiffening for a moment. "Hibiki? Is something... is this related to before?" Mysterious Gamer P starts talking midway through her sentence, but she just continues and raises her voice to be heard over him.

    Petra looks genuinely crestfallen when he describes the rules of the game, being basically none. "That's it? No gimmick? You're not transforming the arena into some game level, or magically enforcing rules on how we fight? I feel like I shouldn't have bought into the theme at all, if you were just going to be like this."

    Petra shoves her DS back into her pocket, and she pulls her hand out again, she withdraws a revolver with a heavy blade underneath its barrel, a second one mirrored in her other hand. Both have the Eggman Empire logo on them. She twirls them around her fingers--showing off the symbol?--and readies them in anticipation of the attack.

    Petra gestures at the power ups floating in the air with a gun, and calls out, "See! More of that!" Revolver still upraised, she fires a shot at a glittering power up before Paradox absorbs it, shattering it.

    The discharge from the gun kicks up a cloud of dust around her that Paradox dashes into to attack her, and from within the obscuring cloud, pre-recorded clashing sounds and booming can be heard. Petra sounds off a few more gunshots, rocketing up out of the cloud unharmed, and while she's offscreen in the air, she fires three times at the Kamen Rider.
Hibiki Tachibana     There really are a lot of familiar faces here - Petra included. Hibiki doesn't draw any particular attention to her being here, though the tenseness in her posture increases a little bit. Mostly from concern. She glances towards the other girl when she's questioned, and gives a silent nod. If P brought them here for a fight...

    A concern that's proven very valid in short order, as her eyes widen. "As Genm...!?" She had already written it off...but could this really be him? He has a completely different feeling from the egotistical Game Master she's fought more than once...but there's no chance to actually sit and think about it, before he henshins up. Come to think of it, that's not like any of the other Gamer Riders she's seen before...! "Level 50--"

    The speedy rushdown that ensues catches her before she even can react herself, battering Hibiki backwards, then forwards before she's even done stumbling, then off to the side where she rolls across quarry gravel before stopping herself and pushing up to a knee. "Ngh...! Then maybe you'll give some straight answers after you lose your game!"

    "Balwisyall nescell Gungnir tron..."

    An explosion of golden light bursts free from her body, resolving into a sphere circled by musical notation and words in an unknown language, before shattering apart in flecks of light, and leaving Hibiki clad in her Symphogear - which she immediately puts to use by rearing back a fist as she rises to a stand.

    "Hah!" And she goes to simply use Paradox's own speed against him, by lunging ahead in a sudden jump to clothesline him as he comes back around again. It's a little more damaging than your average clothesline, given that she's going to belt him hard enough to make all the loose stone in a several meter radius go flying.
Nephra Tangent "Awwww. No preamble? Just straight to it? Haha. A man who knows what he wants, huh?"

    Throwing her duffel and coat to the side the second that Mysterious Gamer starts to transform, Nephra's own armor is summoned up, with the dull whir of her penrose reactor shifting itself awake. 'Henshin, or whatever.', she thinks. Theme /is/ important, after all. Metal plating, struts, and pistons all crawl themselves like a lapping tide from where her exosuit had compacted itself into her spine, covering her body just quick enough to catch the brunt of the Rider's blow on armor instead of flesh.

    She still feels the force, and some of the pain- but there is no stumble following it, her body utterly locked down. Gravity swells in the area just beneath her feet, flate plane becoming a well of tugging force, and Nephra grins a wolfish grin.

    "Playing for real now, huh, cupcakes? Haha. You'll have to do better than that!~"

    Nephra launches herself forwards, with snapping motions eerily unlike the ones a running human makes- staccato strides, footsteps falling like touching asymptotes, rather than arcs- taking her on an intercept course with the enemy gamer. Clawed fingers grip her heavy lance into a tight stance, and aim to catch the supersonic man in a trip-up blow- pulsing gravity around her to play his speed against him.
Futaba Nuki P seems to recognize Hibiki, and she him. There's not enough for Futaba to really go on with just that exchange of looks, but it's more than the nothing she had to the start with! Futaba looks over at the rest of the group, too, to see if revealing his identity as Genm rings any bells for anyone else. Sougo looks like he's introducing himself pleasantly enough, and Woz's scarf has her squinting briefly to study it, but she doesn't get that vibe from them.

Petra's arrival is a little more concerning, though, as there's plenty of things Futaba needs to badger her about, but now isn't quite the time. Nephra's attempt at a cool entrance has her looking away briefly, but not to laugh. No, Futaba knows full well how much of a hit to the pride such a fall can be, and the least she can do for her fellow coolness warrior (that she's only met once before) is to let her keep some dignity by turning right back to Kamen Rider Paradox with a firm gaze.

"Well, yeah. Puzzles aren't puzzles if the answers are right there." She answers him with a quick nod, crossing her arms over her chest while listening closely to all one rule of his game. She stands in place for a little while longer as she listens for more rules that ultimately end up not coming, and then she hops back reflexively when he transforms.

Naturally, she gets star struck. "Whoa... Another Kamen Rider?! So that's three already..." Futaba looks like she's getting amped up as the transformation happens, leaning from side to side to get a better look at all those powerups and graphics. She snaps out of it when she's lifted into the air, though, flailing briefly to try and pull herself back down while Paradox charges right in at them. His blurry impact looks like it lands a solid hit on Futaba at first, but there's no big fancy effect that comes with it despite the clear strike!

Instead, his blow is blocked by the tanuki's tail growing out even larger in front of her and shining silver, acting as a shield that protects her just in time before she comes back down to the ground. "So fast... But you're not the only one that's got fast moves!"

Shotaro's and Zi-O's transformations, course, are what gets Futaba to really start getting amped up. Anyone paying particular attention to her can see her mouthing 'CYCLONE', 'JOKER', and 'ZI-O' with near perfect timing, but she has to refocus herself now that it's actually time to face off with Kamen Rider Paradox.

"I dunno who Genm or Dan are, but if you're looking for a fight, then we'll give you a good one!" Charging into the fray herself, Futaba whips off her jacket to reveal a ninja-esque getup that couldn't have possibly been worn with her shorts from moments ago. Rushing at Paradox, she starts whipping backhands and jabs at him like someone imitating some kind of fist-fighter, but it's all a ruse as her real attack comes in from above: Her tail, turned even larger and pointed like a scorpion's to thrust up and over her head to try and smash him right into the ground.
Kuroto Dan      Paradox is caught off guard by the counter attack with Nephra's spear, tripping over and skidding across the ground as he's caught in the gravity, at least temporarily, as a power up item appears in front of him which he grabs to create a shield that lessens the effects, long enough for him to get up and away, but not before consuming yet using another power-up to grant him an extending limb which he immediately uses to deliver a punting kick to the woman's gut.

     "Of course I know what I want. That's why I'm a cut above the rest!"

     Shotaro's punch is followed up by Zi-O's fist and Woz's overhead. Unfortunately, more power ups for he and not for thee occur, as a token appears behind him and is consumed to cover his body in an extremely dated looking CGI metal texture, dulling the blows and allowing him to counter attack through it by grabbing hold of Woz's leg and using him as a makeshift weapon to bat the other riders away before tossing him to the side.

     "Help? Hahahaha, I guess if you didn't know anything, you'd think they'd do that! That aside, I don't have any sins to count or things to apologize for. Winners take what they want and all the losers can do is sit and cry in the corner."

     He steps away from the riders now, only to get caught between Hibiki's, Futaba's, and Shimmer's attack. Another three on one is unfair, however, so he evens the odds with even more items, using yet another token to split himself into three. Despite this, he still takes all the blows, sparks flying off of him as a combination of a clothesline, kung fu flurry, and a overhead tail attack all connect. But that is fine, because in the end, the assault was still split three ways, and while the two fakes that Futaba and Hibiki disappear in a cloud of pixels, the real Paradox engaged with Shimmer finally retaliates with another speed boost that he uses to quickly attack the three and get away...

     Only to get shot three times. The damage from the shots seems to be pretty severe given the firework display coming off from his armor plating, but a good chunk of it seems to just fade away as a green sparkly glow begins to cover him. Given the video game inspiration, it's probably a healing item of some kind.

     "Hey! Hey! Hey! No shooting from that far away. Playing lame like that is really boring!"

     He uses another one of those horrifying 'stretching' power ups to try and grab Petra while she's still in the air and bring her down to him.
Futaba Nuki 'Winners take what they want and all the losers can do is sit and cry in the corner.'
'No shooting from that far away. Playing lame like that is really boring!'

"Sounding pretty toxic there, don't you think? I mean, it's not wrong, but..." Futaba really doesn't have any witty retort for what Paradox says, and she looks conflicted about it. Despite that, however, she's still siding with the big teamup against him, so she naturally has to deal with facing one of his three clones.

Alas, it turns out she's only attacking a fake, but it does help give her a better idea of what he's capable of. As Futaba pulls herself over to where her tail embeds itself into the ground with that last stab, she waves off the cloud of pixels while taking a quick look arund to find the real Paradox.

Luckily, the hit sparks from Petra's trio of shots make it all too obvious where he is, but she also takes a moment to peer at the strange logo on the funky weapon. "Is that a...? Wait, you're-"

Recalling what she had heard days ago about what had happened in another world, Futaba stares at Petra for several long seconds before remembering that she's still in a fight and getting decked in the chin. Thankfully, it's more of a glancing blow that sends Futaba flipping backwards and sweeping her leg across the ground to catch herself low to the ground, but she's still somewhat distracted as she gives Petra a serious look. "Hnn.. I'll ask you about that later. Just don't do anything too crazy again!"

So many thoughts running through her head, so little time. Rushing at Kamen Rider Paradox again, Futaba at least is committed to making sure the fight is as unlame as possible by staying in melee range. Her definition of melee range in this case, though, still comes courtesy of giant palm slams after growing them to the size of cars, and even taking more huge swipes at him with her tail after transforming it into an oversized ~~hitbox~~ steel oar.

"If you're really as good as you're saying, then you should be able to win even against the lamest stuff. If you get hung up on lameness instead of getting better, though, then you won't stand a chance at winning when it really matters!" As the oar hits the ground, Futaba slides towards it and Paradox before seemingly disappearing after transforming herself into a beetle (with a gleaming gold ring around the midsection and a leaf covering most of the head). Scurrying along the ground rapidly, Futaba comes up from below Paradox with an explosive leap, launching herself behind him while too many silver ribbons burst out from behind her.

The ribbons, weirdly enough, aren't particularly painful when she tries to wrap them all over his body. They're strong and extremely durable, but instead of trying to put the hurt on him, Futaba's instead aiming to bind the ever-loving crap out of Paradox and yank his legs and arms back behind him all at once.
Hibiki Tachibana     "...!" Unfortunately, Hibiki missed the one-in-three lottery on hitting the real one, and is left blinking and hurrying and locate Paradox again...which is still too slow to stop him before he nabs a second speed-up. The magical girl is put on the defensive and forced to block as he blitzes past again, and now being transformed, she's the one emitting sparks on contact.

    She flips back and catches herself this time, skidding to a halt as her left hand grips onto her right half-cylinder gauntlet and strains to pull the piston housed within back well past its normal limit. "This guy...!" He might call himself Genm, but the attitude coming from Paradox is anything but. The ego is there for sure, but it's not the same. Is he...actually treating this as a game?

    It's when he goes for Petra that she leaps back into the fray, the pilebunker pried back past her elbow. That'd absolutely break any other piece of machinery, but not a Symphogear - and that same arm is brought back as she rapidly closes the distance. All that momentum is not, surprisingly, put into a punch. Instead, she drops low into a sliding sweep with her speed carrying her forward, intent on knocking the Kamen Rider off his feet.

    And then get him from below, while he's mid-fall, with a rising uppercut into the gut. A heavy blow all on its own, followed right behind with the pilebunker slamming back into place with a deafening pound of metal-into-metal, along with an explosion of raw force to blast him up into the air and leave him wide open for some of the others.

    "Got you now, 'Genm'!"
Shotaro Hidari "I have a plan, I'm going to send data to the other people, you need to switch to Trigger and hold your fire to coordinate with them."

"Right. Until then I'll keep us alive."

With that, right as Woz is used as a weapon, to try and strike him down he jumps back, just in time to avoid the blow by inches. During this, the JOKER side of W pulls out its USB stick and grabs a different one, colored in blue.

TRIGGER

CYCLONE TRIGGER

In the hand of the blue half of W appears a gun, called the Triggermagnum. Immediately he fires a shot, but not at Mysterious Gamer P, but instead seemingly in the middle of nowhere...which is just right under where Woz will swing, aiming to free him from his weapon status and allow him to return to being a smug jerk instead.

"Alright, collected. I'm sending it out, swap over to the Luna Memory."

"Gotcha, partner. Lets make this count!"

Like before, the GREEN memory is removed from the W belt, and a yellow one is inserted, as a new call-out is made.

LUNA

LUNA TRIGGER

Now the blue and yellow Kamen Rider keeps his distance, instead of engaging with P like he was before. Instead, he's lining up a shot. He pulls the TRIGGER memory out of his belt and inserted it into the MagnumTrigger. There is a high-pitched sound that seems to get higher pitched, indicating something is charging.

He pulls the weapon directly in front of him, gripping the weapon in both hands as he aims it toward the other Kamen Rider.

TRIGGER MAXIMUM DRIVE

Together both boys shout:

"TRIGGER FULL BURST"

What follows is an explosion of shots, taking the form of yellow and blue balls. They seem to swing in from every direction, aiming to chase Paradox Rider P. They coordinate with the other attacks, aiming to sink into where they have weakened the armor, or burrowed a hole through his upgrade mechanics.

Each shot, of course, causes an explosion because this is Kamen Rider.
Petra Soroka     Petra yelps at the stretchy arms extending towards her, suspended briefly at the apex of her jump. She slams the revolvers in each of her hands together, and with a loud clang and whirring, the two guns combine back into one large shotgun-type gunblade.

    She angles the barrel behind her and fires without expelling a bullet, launching herself between the reaching arms while the kinetic energy of the blast is directed into the bayonet of her weapon. The blade slides forwards with explosive force, snapping onto the muzzle and doubling its reach, and she carves down the length of Paradox's arms before he can pull them back.

    "Scolding me for shooting you at range when you're using healing items? That's just cowardly! You said the *one* rule, you don't get to have a tantrum about being lame now!"


<J-IC-Scene> Petra Soroka says, "I don't know where the theming ends and this all turns into actual murder."
<J-IC-Scene> Nephra Tangent says, "Haha. Pretty sure 'killed a doctor' answers that."
<J-IC-Scene> Shotaro Hidari | Philip says, "This is all deadly serious. Despite apperances."
<J-IC-Scene> Petra Soroka says, "Ah. Yeah. Makes sense."


    Is it weird that I feel this unbothered, bantering with a murderer? I can't tell if it's just adrenaline, or confidence, or if I really am just that-- Petra shakes her head to dispel the thoughts while rising back up to her feet on the ground. Maybe she should just keep shooting from farther away, that's safer anyways.

    Futaba calls out to Petra while she's reloading slugs into the shotgun-blade, and after briefly tensing up with fear, Petra relaxes and smiles in response to the glare, tilting her head back with confidence and swinging the weapon onto her shoulder. "No problem, Futaba, we'll talk later!"

    Raising her voice that much absolutely ruins her throat, and Petra doubles over coughing.
Nephra Tangent     She doesn't expect it, and doesn't flare her defenses, but kicking Nephra's stomach- even with extended limbs- is still just like kicking a lead refridgerator- it doesn't budge an inch, and it really, really hurts. Still, there's a momentary wince from her- immediately covered up by a widening toothy smile. In the quarry's sunlit shine, the metal gleam off one of her fake canines almost comically telegraphs her coming mischief.

    "Gimmick fights. I love gimmick fights. Haha. Bring the crowd, and wow 'em with the shiny flashes. But that don't keep their eyes, y'know! Keep up the same tricks and it loses the magic.~" Echoing against the compacted dirt and stone, her striding footsteps sink in far more than they should- even while Nephra's clad in dense steel. But suddenly, the weight lessens, and the quiet scream of her reactor is replaced with the utter roar of angry jet turbines. She kicks off into the air, careening towards Paradox, held aloft by Newton's oh so generous third law, as her arms spread wide- and lance held straight along her left. She tucks her steel-bound legs up, and /twists/ her body, metal spear directly overhead.

    And then it's time for Newton's second law to kick in- force is mass times acceleration. Nephra brings the spear down- Mass- and kicks her reactor's gravity back to overdrive- Acceleration. She doesn't care what he tries to block with, as she messes with the core math. She's becoming a meteor, and he's in her way.
Timespace Riders      Zi-O's arm strikes solid metal, and he winces in pain, even with the armor augmenting his strength. Amidst cries of "Ow, ow, ow," he shakes his hand as if to banish the pain by doing it.

     Woz is grabbed and used as a human club. Physically, of course, he resists, tucking close to hide vitals while his arms shield his helmet. But this close, Paradox can hear something that perhaps he doesn't expect. As Zi-O makes a startled cry and rolls beneath his retainer--

<J-IC-Scene> Hibiki Tachibana says, "If this really is Genm, he's using something completely different to his usual...!"
<J-IC-Scene> Shotaro Hidari says, "Have you fought Genm before?"
<J-IC-Scene> Sleek Shimmer says, "That's the name he used! Genm."
<J-IC-Scene> Woz makes an amused 'hmh.'

    Thrown clear, Woz flies into the tornado created by W, nimbly channeling his momentum into a backflip, which sees him righted, mid-air, landing gently with both arms held wide and his helmet pointed ever so slightly up--as if he were looking down his nose at Paradox.

     "My Demon King is trusting and kind," admits Woz to the enemy rider. "But I am neither. If you will not indulge him, there is no point in continuing this charade. I know who you are, Bugster. Genm sits far from here, smiling at this little play he's orchestrated."

    "What?! Woz, is that..." The minute and hour hands on Zi-O's helmet spin in reverse. His position in the quarry stutters, as if reality had dropped animation frames for a second. In truth, the span of that second had borne an excursion, back in time, to peer at Kamen Rider Paradox's personal history. "He's... he's right!! You weren't there, when Dr. Kiriya was killed... but why take credit for that?!" Zi-O's helmet bobs in a mix of anger and confusion as the question is hurled, charging in with a different pocketwatch in hand.

     "Between my Demon King and I, more is known than you realize, dear Parado." One of Woz's outstretched palms swings slowly, theatrically around to point at Paradox. There is a sense that he's about to say more, hinted at by the tilt of his head, but-- "Ah... but I've said too much.~" Instead, he procures, with a flick of his empty hand, another square-faced pocketwatch. This one bears a helmet like his--but it's brown, like a wolf pelt's been wrapped over his helmet.

                   Archwolf?! Action! Projecting! Future Time!                    

     When he slots it into the gate on his belt and latches it shut, the digital screen on his belt projects an image of that different armor, moments before it's flash-printed onto his body by rotating rings of green-gold light.

             Immovable! Implacable! Futurering Archwolf! ARCHWOLF!              

     Woz's new breastplate and pauldrons resemble the heads of three howling, black-furred wolves, while his boots and gauntlets sport claws that look more than just for show. His helmet is the most strongly defined of the wolf motifs, implying a position of authority over the others on his armor, complete with the hour and minute hands, his 'antennae,' shifting to resemble pointed ears.

     In an instant, his grandiloquent posture is broken by a long leap, his impact upon the ground before Paradox sending up a spray of gravel and finely ground earth. It's clearly a strength form, and with Hibiki setting up for a combination attack, Woz fights at his most vicious, aiming punches for the throat, knees for the ribs, and following up with a standing roundhouse meant to rake those boot-claws against Paradox.
Timespace Riders      Zi-O is hot on his heels, chasing after in a different armor from his usual, as well--

LEVEL UP!! Brave!

     The Demon King's armor has shifted to style him after the archetypical fantasy RPG knight, wielding two wrist-mounted blades of elemental ice and fire. He swings the fire-sword in a broad arc, sending a curved projectile of flame after Paradox, before retracting the iceblade and hurling an upprcut at him.

     "To your virus, thanks, I'm gonna have to pass!" That's not what Brave says.
Sleek Shimmer     For Sleek Shimmer, the scant minutes this battle has taken up have her feeling more alive than everything that's happened in the last few weeks. Her heart has lightened and, even though she's in the middle of dire combat, she's wearing a confident and joyous grin with every blow exchanged with Kamen Rider Paradox.

    A surge of disappointment strikes then, when he blitzes away and in the blur also sends her flying, too fast for her to keep up with or react to in that one moment.

    Shimmer tumbles backwards and slams hard into the excavator she'd been perched on earlier, laughing but clearly pained. She roughly flips to her feet, then claps both her hands together. "Those bursts of speed are hard to deal with... I need to go faster. Much faster. Faster than wind." As her palms part, they sizzle with... lightning! Bolts arc and sizzle between her hands.

    She vaults skyward, the martial artist's whole body now covered in curling and crackling electricity, and the sky responds - whatever the weather might've been doesn't matter, a scattering of what looks like a dozen lightning bolts all strike at her at once, only to be absorbed into her body and leave her form glowing a luminous blue-violet-white nearly too bright to focus on. Taking aim at the distant Kamen Rider Paradox, Shimmer extends her right leg and--

    "THUNDERRRRR!! DRAAAAAAAAAGON! KIIIIIIIIIIICK!" She becomes a living lightning bolt, the very leading edge splitting apart like a jagged maw. She comes in at phenomenal speed and explosive force. Only on impact, should she strike, will all of that power at once try to surge through Paradox, and the power peel away to reveal Shimmer's body once more.
Kuroto Dan      Petra slices at Paradox's arm, and while it doesn't cut through, it is enough to create yet another pyrotechnic display before he pulls it back.

     "And who was playing lame first? Well, whatever, if you need a handicap it's fine."

     Banting is not a free action, however, as Nephra charges into him, sending him flying and stumbling to get back up, giving Hibiki a chance to sweep him off his feet again and send him flying for Woz to take advantage with his savage onslaught and Futaba to grab hold of him in her command grab.

     Stuck, he once again resorts to a power up, utilizing yet another token to turn into a liquid so that he can squeeze out of the girl's grasp, only to get caught slightly off guard by Shimmer's kick as he goes tumbling across the dirt ground yet another time.

     W's gunplay combined with Zi-O's swordplay are the final attacks to connect, though he protects himself just a tiny bit by erecting a barrier of transparent puzzle pieces, stopping the worst of the damage as it also catches hold of Sougo's sword, enough for him to get some words in.

     "The funny thing about puzzles is that if you just take one piece and change it, you can't solve it anymore. Watching you all scramble in the darkness trying to find the missing piece has been pretty fun!"

     Paradox shoves Sougo away just a bit, grabbing hold of his weird video game greeble again as he spins the knob on it and reinserts it into its holster. There's another jingle that plays, followed by a 'transformation'. His head spins 180 degrees, revealing a new red helmet, and his shoulder armor detaches to become boxing gloves.

     EXPLOSION HIT! KNOCK OUT FIGHTER!

     "Gotta say though, the fact your hype man kinda ruined my fine really makes my blood boil. I'm kind of mad, actually."

     Parado's usual friendly tone becomes a lot more sinister, as he immediately launches himself on the offensive, sliding right past Sougo and in front of Woz, a bunch of after images trail behind him as he delivers a series of consecutive punches directly into his gut, one after another as he slowly lifts him off the ground before dealing one final punch to send him flying directly into Sougo for added collateral.

     The rest are spared from a similar brutal assault, but they don't get off scot free either, as Paradox truly becomes the scummiest fighting player known to man and just begins spamming fireballs across the quarry by punching rapidly.
Shotaro Hidari Fireballs come streaming out, while Woz and Zi-O are thrashed heavily. W moves as quickly as he can, his shots aiming to shoot fireballs as they come in. He can't counter everyone, and a few get by, causing Toku sparks as they strike. They don't floor W, but they do give him some pause as the two-in-one Kamen Rider rethink their approach.

The attack was solid, but the result wasn't as potent as they had hoped. Shotaro decides to pull out the Trigger memory, causing the Triggermagnum to fade away once more. This time he pulls out a silver-looking memory.

Metal

Luna Metal

He comes in right over Zi-O and Woz, aiming to grab the attention of Kamen Rider Passive Aggressive. A bo-staff appears in his hands, named the Metalshaft. He swings it once, aiming to catch the large fists of the boxer, before spinning on a dime and aiming a kick toward the side of his head.

The yellow hand of W snaps out following it, aiming to grab the leg of P, and trip him, allowing another follow-up from the Metalshaft...aiming for the side of his head.

"If you're not the one responsible for the murder, and you're continuing this...then you're either blackmailed into this or covering for someone else," Shotaro says, quietly. He moves to make sure they're nice and close in the clash, as the Yellow side of W speaks. "So which one is it?"

Philip uses this time to see if he can find a keyword in all of this, trying to see if he can actually deduce who they're fighting.
Sleek Shimmer     Having slammed quite solidly into Paradox, Sleek Shimmer rebounds off him in a spinning flip, landing neatly on the ground but clearly winded after exerting such a terrific amount of qi. Every bit of her body's suffered considerable strain in that brief transformation to living lightning.

    "Ghhhhhh....!!" And seeing fireballs just being PUNCHED her way results in a panic reaction in this moment of weakness. Shimmer flings both hands forwards and focuses. Space in front of her palms bends and twists inwards as the very air is consumed along with the first few waves of fireballs. As they approach, they appear to at first slam into some kind of strange barrier, a region where space itself is twisted. The fireballs come apart into streams of swirling energy spiraling in with the air. This goes on for a while. At first, it seems to be a good thing, as Shimmer quickly regains her lost breath. But the longer she keeps it up the more she looks to be going right back into straining and winded.

    Finally, several fireballs break through as she's forced to cancel whatever the heck it is she just did, and they knock her over to go tumbling across the dirt and rocky ground. Scorched and bruised, but still intact.

    Still full of the will to fight.

    Shimmer rises once more. As she does so, her body flickers and glows. "How long has it been since I encountered someone who knows how to put up a fight like you? Weeks? Months? Easily months! ... impressive skills..." Her skin tone shifts towards the paler end of the spectrum, a wave of blue flows through her hair, overtaking the red-orange-ginger of her fox-fur shade. And when her eyes snap open, they're golden.

    "But that's not enough! You can have these back!" With a mighty machine-gunning of kiais and punches, in no time at all the air is filled with YET ANOTHER wave of cheap-shot fireballs of the exact shape and color.
Nephra Tangent     Nephra can't help but pause for a split second, with the massive mix-ups coming into play. Game power-ups are one thing to contend with, but watching someone's head twist around into an entirely new head is... frankly, unsettling.

    "Aw, man, this ain't boxing!" She calls out, crossing armored wrists to cover her bare face. Fire and heat aren't tangible enough to react to gravity, so she's stuck to the tried and true method of applying layers of metal to the danger at hand. Wires and sensors start to glow red-hot on the fringes of her suit, sending neural feedback that shocks through her suit, limbs, and interneurons.

    "Fine! Have it your way! If my mug's not punchable enough for you and your shiny gloves, then I can throw things too!" It's only fair, after all. She realizes after she says this that it's not the /wisest/ of moves to throw her only weapon- after all, there's nothing else stylish enough to toss at him- but wisdom's never been her strong point and now's not the time for that to change. Stepping forward, and cocking her left arm back behind her head- right still guarding her vulnerable face, Nephra rears back and launches her pike forwards, the duct tape-wrapped (turqoise and red, of course) pole catapulting past the large claws of her fingertips. None of her gravity manipulation involved, no fancy tricks, just a neon-colored spear thrown with the strength of a human-sized military tank.

    "Y'know, you better give that back, after! Haha!" It's.... unfortunately an honest request, on her part. This is partly still a game, and Nephra'd be looking to play even if it wasn't- but her thoughts always follow a half-second after she's already acted, and there's no point in regrets.
Hibiki Tachibana     "Bugster--?" Hibiki jumps back to her feet just in time to turn in Woz's direction, eyebrows raised. "Parado...?" Her attention shifts back to the blue Rider, understanding slowly beginning to settle in alongside many other questions. Important ones that get momentarily held up when her eyes return to Woz, just to get a good look at his form. "Hiromi!?" She sounds like a belt now.

    The magical girl is snapped out of it by another form change, courtesy of Paradox apparently doing his best to speak her language, followed by an absolutely gross amount of legally-distinct mid-range projectiles. She hastily crosses up both arms in front of her to absorb one, two, four, six, nine, twelve--she's buried under layered SFX in short order.

    Just to dramatically burst out from them in a sudden lunge towards Parado right through the atorm, weaving past shots and outright punching through one fireball as she closes distance. "Everything with Genm was already confusing enough, and now you're showing up using his name...!" A Bugster... ..."If you're gonna give this crap about puzzle pieces out of place..."

    Mid-run, she hops forward, slams a boot into the stone, and uses it to launch high overhead. A leg is lifted up to the point it's near-vertical.

    "...Then I'll just smash it back into place by winning this game!" A Rider Kick it is not quite, and while her spear is one she's wearing rather than a literal one like Nephra's, Hibiki sure descends like one thrown with superhuman force. She drops down on Paradox in the span of a second, flipping into a seriously vicious heel drop that's going to leave the ground beneath his feet sunken a few meters deeper with how hard she's coming down.
Timespace Riders      Zi-O's flame sword struggles against the barrier, sparking and unable to push through. "Missing piece...? What--ngh!!"

     Zi-O can't get his guard up or react quickly enough to coutneract the unexpected shove from Parado. With distance created between them, he has to push himself into a sprint just to catch up, extending the ice-blade and giving chase, boots pounding a rapid pursuit into the gravelly terrain of the quarry.

     "Ruined your *fun?*" It's all Woz says, before Parado is upon him. The flurry of blows lands--sparks fly from the Archwolf Armor, and Parado can hear Woz's pained breaths and attempts to counteract the blows. But the claws on his boots dig stubbornly into the earth, and even Parado's final attack fails to send him flying. What it does do, however, is overload the armor's tolerance. Following the vicious shockwave that passes through Woz's body, the armor dematerializes, and the Retainer falls to one knee, chest heaving, forehad damp with sweat, skin pale from exhaustion and patched over with cuts in several places.

     "WOZ!" Zi-O's ice sword hurls a freezing crescent of supercooled air at Parado from the side, before he closes the distance and makes a hip-to-shoulder cut with the flame sword. An elbow strike aimed at the chest follows, then a thrust with the ice sword again.

     Woz falls from his knee, drawing a ragged breath and halting himself with a palm thrust into the rocky ground. "No," spits Woz, forcing himself to rise shakily to his feet. "I ended an insulting charade. My Demon King is not yours to toy with, nor your accomplice's to deceive."

                   Archwolf?! Action! Projecting! Future Time!                    

     Woz spitefully slots the belt back in despite his exhaustion. "Henshin!"

             Immovable! Implacable! Futurering Archwolf! ARCHWOLF!              

     The wolf armor returns, and Woz strides with silent determination back into the fray, cutting across Paradox's strikes with a right cross, stepping between his legs and willfully taking a trade that doesn't budge him, in order to deliver a haymaker bodyblow, pushing past another strike to ferally headbutt him.

     Woz then mashes the green button on his Beyondriver, opening and closing the gate.

                                 BEYOND THE TIME!                                

     Crackling orange energy travels in crawling bolts, from the 'wolf' on Woz's helmet, down to the ones on the shoulders and at the chest. It gathers in his forearms.

                               ARCHWOLF EXPLOSION!                              

     Woz makes a backflip, gaining distance from Paradox as Zi-O is forced to back off from the multitude of projectiles Parado is throwing, both swords up in a defensive stance. Woz, however, armors through all of them, taking the damage to sprint straight at him, before leaping into the air, clotheslining with his right arm, and locking his neck into the crook of his elbow for a running drop. When they hit the ground, the energy discharges in a violent explosion.
Kuroto Dan      Between the Time Rider's joint assault, W's metal shaft, Hibiki's air super (I can't believe she spent meter on this), Shimmer's return fireball spam, and Nephra's spear chuck, Paradox is sent flying back several feet as a pixelated explosion engulfs him. When he eventually lands back down on the dirt, there's a loud shrill beeping noise that comes from his suit.

     "Tch. You can give it all the justification you want, but at the end of the day, you're little more than a guy who spoils the ending to a game."

     Standing up, Parado removes his greeble from his holster, undoing the transformation and revealing his bruised and battered form. He turns his back to the group for a bit as he goes to grab the folding chair that he had set down prior.

     "Well, you've won round one, but this is a best of three game. You all go rest up, you hear? I thought I'd only ever have one person in my life to play with, but it looks like my potential partners have increased quite a bit!"

     Parado grins at the group and begins to laugh as he disperses into a cloud of orange cubes, his presence now completely gone.
Sleek Shimmer     After unleashing all of those fireballs, Shimmer's left gasping for breath again. A spasm strikes and she's suddenly falling down to her knees. "Used up... too much qi..." The strange coloration shift that came over her evaporates and soon it's back to the ginger hair, green eyes, and dark tan skin complexion.

    A few moments later and her human-like form evaporates too. Her body glows, a few streams of qi flash out into the air and she's once again in her true form, a simple red fox.

    "Well. That was a great way to clear my mood." Although she's clearly exhausted, the little vixen bursts out into a weird mixture of human laughter and equivalent fox-noises, like a great deal of stress was just lifted from her.

    The laughter dies down quickly though and soon she looks this way and that across the battlefield. Her sharp ears have certainly heard a distressing amount of dire dialogue with far more meaning and personal involvement with this warrior than she's been dealing with, and with that in mind, her bright mood softens greatly.

    Stepping lightly, and without much energy, she makes her way towards the others. "Did that man draw everyone here... just to show off and see what everyone can do? He fought hard, but didn't target vitals... was this a distraction for something else? Issuing a challenge is one thing but what I heard sounded like more of a threat..."
Nephra Tangent     Best of three....I like the sound of that. The danger of this precedent of encouraging threatening people into playtime roughhousing is lost on Nephra, as her own suit disengages itself. Left in the quarry sun, her composure wilts without the support of her armor. She lets out a laugh- turning it into a slight sigh halfway through.

    "....So. Haha. Uh. You armor-folk lot.." She looks between the three remaining Riders, and Hibiki. She is, in fact, assuming the magical girl is One Of Them.

    "...This was a victory, right? Haha. Hopefully?" She doesn't really expect an answer, but putting words to thought is good for processing. She hopes the lack of any obvious virus is answer enough to the pressing threat, as she shuffles off to collect up her raincoat- unecessary, weatherwise, but as important a piece of armor to her as the suit in her back is- before grabbing up her duffel and spear from where they lay scattered in the quarry's dust.

    "Good fight." She mumbles, into the air and nobody in particular. When it's all said and done, without an audience, the afterwards of a brawl never really leaves Nephra knowing what to do. So she stands there, a nervous and dopey grin on her face, waiting for the adrenaline to die down enough for her to want more- and for anyone else but her to dare to leave first.
Timespace Riders      Woz opens the gate on his belt and removes the Archwolf watch. His usual smug smile is here replaced with an annoyed sneer, as Parado leaves. Effort is being put into maintaining his characteristic poise, though he can only do so much to conceal the heaving of his chest.

     Zi-O removes his watches from the bulky white Timespace Driver around his waist. His armor fades in a wash of pink light, and he's moved to stand beside Woz. "Thank you for helping, Woz. Taking us here and... the other thing." he frowns, somewhat uncomfortable with what he learned--and the implication that Woz saw it in the book but kept it close to his chest anyway. No... Woz is only doing what he thinks is best, isn't he?

     "'That man' is a Bugster," explains Sougo to Shimmer, himself fairly tired from the exhange. "Someone got sick with the game illness, then it advanced so much that the host is completely gone now. Parado... you could call him something like a person grown from that virus."

     "To borrow Parado's way of seeing things," says Woz to Nephra, with a theatrical sweep of his hand, "This is neither necessarily a victory or a defeat, but 'advancing the game state.' My Demon King has taken an interest in pursuing the thief known as Genm, as a favor for Kuroto Dan. This brings us closer to the thief's identity, by revealing who it isn't." His lips purse, at this.

     "Thank you all for coming." Sougo frowns slightly. "The last thing we need is for the virus to spread even more than it has."

     A look over the quarry, then a worried furrowing of his brow at the sight of his retainer. Sougo's hand rests gently on Woz's shoulder. Almost imperceptibly, Woz steps closer to his Demon King. "Parado is right about one thing, though--rest will do us some good. If you run into him again, or Genm, please call on us. Woz?"

     "At once, my Demon King." The retainer flings his scarf outwards, and it expands impossibly, until it encircles and envelops the two of them completely. As sands swirl around it, the garment then shrinks into a single point, as if it were water disappearing down a drain. Empty air fills the space where they stood, a moment ago.
Sleek Shimmer     "Oh? So he's one of those Bugsters you mentioned and not Genm?" Shimmer's too exhausted to return to human form, and she doesn't sound all that enthused about the notion this was one of those Bugsters. Because...

    "If a lot of people get sick, will they turn into something like him? Because one of him's tough enough. Glad there weren't three or four. Amazing opponent! But also... a monster. His head's not on straight." She replies to Sougo.
Shotaro Hidari Shotaro pulls the two memories out of the belt, and the form of Kamen Rider W fades in a whirlwind of particles, leaving the detective there as before.  

Parado puts a new spin on the case, but through Woz's book...he was not responsible for the death.  But he /is/ a bugster.  He did threaten to release the virus...but why didn't he?  Why here?  He could have done this in a more populated place...

No...maybe that's part of the game.  More than that, Woz knows more than he is letting on...and before Shotaro can say anything, the two are gone.  

It seems he has a few more leads.  

With that Shotaro moves back to his bike and sits on it, sliding his helmet over his head.  Time to get back to work.