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Desire Stars	TEN MINUTES AGO...     Maybe you're in the middle of filming a commercial, like Ace Ukiyo, Star of the Star of the Stars. Maybe, like Neon Kurama, you're taking a serpentine path through city backstreets to get away from your house. Maybe instead you're in school, moving from one class to the next, like Kanato Sumida--or maybe you're laying low in a hotel room overlooking a city in another country, rented under a fake name, like Morio Koganeya. Wherever you are, if you've been selected to participate in the DGP as a Kamen Rider, the notification is the same. A unique ringtone on your DGP-provided Spider Phone loudly blares a jingle, followed by a coldly businesslike announcement to...                                   GATHER ROUND                                       The phone provides instructions, relatively simple: just put on your Desire Driver and insert your ID Core to the little slot in the center. Doing so teleports you to... the middle of the desert? BGM> https://youtu.be/jQj7xADRU0U?si=hlTDMNs5sOUi8uiV     The Desire Temple, as it's called, has an interior and an exterior, and the summons has brought you to the latter. You stand atop the flat portion of a large inverted pyramid hovering high in the sky over an expanse of desert that extends as far as the eye can see. Flanking you, stationed equally along the periphery of this platform, are mysterious red and black crystals, the former housed in gold trim and the latter hovering just slightly above, with the stamp of the DGP etched in glowing red. Are they lights? Forcefield emitters? Floating ominously in the empty air beyond those crystals are a series of silver ionic pillars, supported by and supporting nothing in particular.     All of this is likely seen in bits and pieces, because the amount of other Riders here is staggering. There must be over fifty people here, chosen from all walks of life. A middle-aged salaryman chats with an excited old woman, while a high school student broods off on his own. An American girl and an ambiguously English guy of about the same age size up the competition. Ace and Neon in particular have little crowds of starstruck fans form around them. The susurrus of many different conversations is cut short by the arrival of Tsumuri, the Navigator.
Desire Stars	"Good day, everyone," she cheerily announces, from a freshly-raised platform at the center of the gathering area. Her black-and-white outfit remains the same as it was when she met you to provide your equipment, and as ever, she carries a little tablet with a black-white diamond pattern on the back. "I'm Tsumuri, your navigator for this game. Welcome to the Desire Grand Prix!" She exclaims and holds her free hand triumphantly high, to a silent reception. Unfalteringly, she continues. "Our world is being threatened by the Jyamato. Nobody knows where they come from or what they want. In order to protect against the Jyamato, the Desire Grand Prix was created! Some of you were picked from different worlds--but the rest of you have lived in peace, with no memory of the tragedies wrought by the Jyamato. That's because at the end of each Desire Grand Prix, people's memories are reset. Those lost memories are only restored to those who make contact with an ID Core."     "All of you will fight the Jyamato by becoming Kamen Riders. As discussed in your equipment offers, the DGP is a 'collaborative competition;' the ultimate victor, who we call the Desire Deity, will have a wish for their ideal world granted." Another grandiose gesture with her free hand. "Kamen Riders!" She intones excitedly. "If you haven't already, please write your wishes on your Desire Cards at this time. Jyamato activity has been detected, so you'll be mobilizing once we create the Jamar Area."     A blue screen ppears behind her, which she steps aside to indicate with a sweep of her open palm. A map of the Japan appears, rapidly zooming in until a section of wilderness is located. "The first round's mission will consist of... a zombie hunting exercise! Defeat the Zombie Jyamato and recover equipment from them. Be careful you aren't bitten," she adds with a worried note, "Or you'll become one yourself!" And that's it--no time for questions, you're just thrown to the metaphorical wolves, right into...
Desire Stars	NOW - THE JAMAR AREA     Through the teleportation technology of the Desire Temple, the Riders are deposited into the wilderness. Standing in a forest that opens up into a slowly flowing river, they'll also find that their outfits have changed to the distinctive black-navy-white DGP activewear. It's here, in this forest, that any Elites who *aren't* Riders will arrive.     Advance notice is given to those Elites, specifically to make up for the lack of a conveniently nearby Warpgate, though it seems the DGP's ability to forecast Jyamato movements gets less accurate the more in advance they try to plan. In a practical sense, showing up 'late' just means that the DGP will open a temporary hole in the containment field for you, emphasis on 'temporary.' The advisory mentions to . Jyamato wander in between trees aimlessly--until they catch sight of the contestants. From there, it's like a switch is flipped, and they make dead sprints in droves. Easily dozens, enough to completely surround the Riders, dressed in uncomfortably lived-in human clothes. Former dockworkers, businesspeople, firefighters...     Neon, Ace, and the other Riders who have pursued bonus work outside of direct engagements like this have weapons to defend themselves with--     "Hey, Miss Kitty! What do you say we work together?" asks MORIO KOGANEYA, a man in his thirties with red-brown short hair and a car-salesman smile. he, like the overwhelming majority of the Riders here, has -nothing- but his Driver and the ID Core in it. Did they even tell most of these people how to access the baseline armor?     "Sure!" Neon confidently nods. "I'll cover you--grab its treasure when I knock it out! Henshin!"                                 ARMED PROPELLER                                     Na-Go, with the benefit of 'literally any experience beyond None At All,' manages to wipe out a charging Zombie Jamato using the strange Armed Propeller weapon as a makeshift quarterstaff. It drops a pink-black DGP lootbox, which Morio eagerly snatches up.      Looking on, KANATO SUMIDA sneers and wanders off on his own.                                     MAGNUM!                                         The report of Geats' Magnum Shooter is heard throughout the forest, but so is a familiar (well, for Keiwa, anyway) voice.     "Over here!" shouts TAKAHITO TAIRA, the human resources manager from the IT company that turned Keiwa down for a job some weeks ago. He's holding a heavy branch back, for use as a crude booby trap against a Jyamato rushing Keiwa down!      The hordes of Jyamato aren't the only threat, however--a trio of fresh Riders is hit by a violent explosion, all three of them disintegrating into red voxels. The automated announcer ominously intones:                                   MISSION FAILED                                        The culprit is decidedly more inhuman than the other Jyamato--standing easily a head over the tallest, with unnaturally bulging musculature, stitches along its exposed skin, and a head that resembles the infamous rafflesia or 'corpse flower.' It wears the remnants of medical scrubs, dragging one asymmetrically elongated arm behind it.
Hamada Haru	The wilderness should be populated by zombified Jyamato, and partially it is-- the brush isn't so thick as to obfuscate them well, with reasonable sight-lines and corridors that can be maneuvered about readily enough. It's almost more like a park than true wilderness, with a wide creek (or perhaps a river during a dry spell) running through the middle. But the groups of enemies are different than they should be. The zombies and the anomalous jyamato stand out sharply-- the regular jyamato, strange skeletal faces already troubling enough, are dressed in tattered white clothing torn here and there, suggestive of having been out fighting something in the wilds for a long time. The problem, the danger that doesn't fit, are irregular clusters of Jyamato that wear clean red robes with white hakama, wielding spears, swords, and in a few cases distinctive tanegashima matchlock rifles. Rationally, one would imagine that they wouldn't get along with the zombie Jyamato, but... the two groups don't get in each other's ways at all, not even clumsily. They're coordinated in a way that they really shouldn't be, and whether that is simply being Jyamato overriding the 'zombie' element of things or something indicating some kind of remote control function in play isn't clear. Nevertheless, the unfairness of the mix is pronounced. The first Kamen Rider with the misfortune of having to navigate the zombie Jyamato within line-of-sight of the anomalous Jyamato is holding their own when one of the spear Jyamato kneels down to serve as a rifle stand for the rifle-bearing Jyamato with him, and then--                                  MISSION FAILED                                 Blares as the rhinocerous-helmeted Kamen Rider is shot in the chest and dies abruptly, their ID core cracking as they dissolve into red voxels. The rifle Jyamato straightens up and seems to be performing some kind of prayer of all things in the aftermath.
Phantom Thieves	PREVIOUSLY "Alright! That concludes our Q&A on how to fool a self-checkout counter. Thank you to everyone who submitted questions. All... three of you." "Lime..." "Yeah, yeah, we'll cut that out of the final master. Just... we've been doing this podcast for years at this point, you'd think there'd be-"                                   GATHER ROUND                                   "Whoa, what was that?" "That... yeah, that was the phone they gave me. Looks like it's go time for Clover. Let me just... do, do re mi, sibilants, rain in spain, fire from flame... yeah. Got it locked in." "I kinda hate that you're better "at turning the villain voice on and off than I am. I keep slipping. I mean- I keep slipping." "You're getting there! Wish me luck. And maybe standby to cheat, if it's needed. Time to go be a hero! A goody two shoes sweet sugar and plum pie golly gash darn goodness hero of hearts and stars and puppy dreams." "Are you trying to make me throw up or something?" --- DESIRE TEMPLE "Oh gosh! I didn't realize there'd be this many people!" This is a lie. Clover might express surprise, but Limelight has been checking the leaderboard every few days, watching the registration numbers go up. Clover already has her Desire Card ready. It's folded in half, and further secured with a ribbon tying it shut so that nobody can peek! "Oh - it's a competitive... collaboration? Can't we just make it a fully cooperative game instead?" Clover tilts her head. "All this competing... it sounds kinda mean, doesn't it? We should all be friends instead." --- NOW "Oh - I wanted to work with Neon..." says Clover, looking disappointed that someone else got to her first. "... Oh!" There's a near miss from a putty. "Right! I should do the... hen-shin thing." She pronounces it with a pronounced pause in the middle of her pronunciation. Clover grabs her buckle and gently places it on, and then waves a hand in front of her face. "Hen-Shin!"                            READY! KAMEN RIDER, KA-ON!                           And then there's another near miss. "Aaah! Someone, save me! I'm under attack!" Kamen Rider Ka-On goes to hide behind a tree and peek out in dramatic fashion. She's clearly in over her head!
Angela	When Yuri was given the opportunity to be a Kamen Rider, that was before she got 'arrested' for being the L-Corp mole but as part of the goal to lure out The Purple Tear, Yuri's paricipation in the Desire Grand Prix hasn't been revoked. There may be other more spiteful reasons but these are the big ones! Yuri sends word to Petra and any other handlers she may have been provided that she has been called to the Desire Grand Prix's Desire Temple. While her connection to Babble is presently heavily restricted, she can still receive messages. Gebura: Don't fuck around anymore. This is the most merciful it's going to get for you. Yuri is given back her Desire Driver and ID Core. She slots it in and-- Yuri wasn't expecting there to be so many people present. She stares at the old woman, the general presence of folks who probably aren't nearly as physically active as she is. This is going to be a massacre, she thinks. Still, better than in a cell. She gets to walk around at least. She realizes Petra isn't with her right now--she sends an apology through the radio (she can't contact her through Babble right now) and promises to tell her when she's somewhere where--she knows where she is, at least. ''In order to protect against the Jyamato, the Deisre Grand Prix was created!'' Yuri looks at the old woman skeptically. Yuri had one wish. She now has another. She scribbles something on her card when given te opportunity and hands it off to whomever will take it, though she keeps it face down--apparently not wanting others to see it. She tries to get ahold of Ace but he's already being mobbed by fans. She wonders for a moment how Meika would think of this crazy competition. Well, not that it matters now she guesses. "Wait what--" She says. "You mean--" She appears in the wilderness. She pops off a quick message off to Petra more or less going 'I'm outside now??' and then-- Allowed to at least keep Frost Splinter for now, Yuri draws it out but Keiwa's voice serves as a kind of place to head towards as it's someting she recognizes. She runs towards Keiwa, figuring this will make it easier to meet up with Petra--aiming to help Keiwa and the salaryman against the Jyamato, aiming to slice at it once that manager lets go of the branch to make sure it stays down. "Hey Keiwa, right? Want to work with each other? You visited the lab before right?" Yuri offers.
Ishirou	The call from the DGP gives Ishirou enough time to transform into RESCUE, and then again transform up from the base form into the Flight Unit form of RESCUE.  It's a fast transformation rush because then he's through a warp gate and then flying as fast as he can towards the hole in the field that he's directed to from the DGP early warning message.  He clears the hole in the field before it's too late, taking to the skies again to get a good feel for the situation. What he does get is telemetry from a doomed Kamen Rider, and as he goes to try and help them, far too late to get there... there is the rifle Jyamato seemingly performing some sort of prayer rights.  Strange, especially because the majority of them seem more like zombies than anything else... but then again there are those with tools who neither got assaulted by the zombie ones but can use tools.   Ishirou hovers near the strange Jyamato, and speaks towards it hoping to get something out of it.  "Who are you?  Can you understand me?  Why are you attacking innocent people?" as he asks questions towards the strange Jyamato, he runs scans, trying to find out more about the creatures that he couldn't get before, nor would he get from the DGP.  Hopefully, it doesn't end in them just shooting at him, but he's prepared for that if it comes to it too.
Shinmyoumaru Sukuna	Shinmyoumaru Sukuna was one of the Riders teleported up to the Desire Temple. She's easy to miss, because down at four feet tall she's almost certainly the shortest person here, and probably looks like the youngest too. She is wearing her simpler robe, and is sans bowl - did it catch her without it, or did it simply not bring her when she put the ID Core in the slot? "Hey, lemme see!" Shinmyoumaru starts making a fuss immediately because she is mostly getting an excellent view of people's backs. There is a disturbance in the crowd that slowly shifts forward as Shinmyoumaru tries to push herself to the front of the crowd so she can actually tell what's going on, and succeeds, just as Tsumuri starts to speak. She nods, self-assured, at the directions. Shinmyoumaru already wrote HER wish down, though she didn't let anyone else look at it. Still, it's in the pile, so all is well. Though she does look around at the others. She recognizes almost none of them. There's a couple, at least. But some of the ones she doesn't recognize don't look much like fighters... most of them, if she's being honest. A couple of them are old! She opens her mouth to ask something of one, then closes it, because she doesn't want to be given shit for looking like a kid again. But, zombies? Shinmyoumaru has never actually fought zombies before... well, not precisely. It can't be that hard, she figures. She's already fought a lot of things, and zombies are supposed to be stupid, aren't they? Even without her needle she can manage that! BUT THEN TO THE ARENA Shinmyoumaru still doesn't have her bowl, so she's on foot for a change, and she also doesn't have her needle. What she does have is a belt and a blue and orange token, which she slots in while watching the Jyamato instead. Why do other people not put their armour on? she thinks to herself. She figured it out pretty quickly and she figured everyone else would be just as eager as she was to try it out. "Right! Henshin...!" Shinmyoumaru's armour is blue and gold, the same as her token - primarily blue, with gold accents (especially on the helmet), which is stylized like a ... goldfish? It's a koi, as she is quick to declare with a                             "Kamen Rider Ochiba!"                             There, she thinks to herself - and then winces as one of the other Kamen Riders get a loud 'mission failed!' announcement and explode into voxels. She is thinking of that as less deadly than it probably is - surely they can survive a single explosion...? Well, she can! Shinmyoumaru bounds out, now that she's got her armour on and ... raises her fists. The size difference is incredible - and if she's being honest at least half the reason why Shinmyoumaru decided to pick this fight; bigger isn't always better! "I have this!" Shinmyoumaru declares, firmly, followed by: "Ew," when she gets a better look at the flower-like head. She is really glad for the helmet, because she can't smell it. Instead, Shinmyoumaru palms something else, holding it down near her belt as if she was preparing to quick-draw. Or possibly quick-deploy. Whichever it counts as; even she isn't sure.
BB	PREVIOUSLY It was a beautiful day outside. The birds sang, the waves crashed, the Doujin War was still on (the Doujin War was always on), and... Jinako Carigiri laid in a sprawl on her hotel penthouse room, the dark cave drawn with blackout curtains over the windows obscuring the light. Unkempedly dressed in a tank top and pajama pants, she is woken with a 'start' that's still more of a startled trumpet of noise and awkward flailing.                                   GATHER ROUND                                   "Huh? I'm up! Uh..." Without her glasses and brushing sticky hair out of her face, Jinako looks at her phone and blanches. "The DGP? A game?" But her lack of understanding isn't answered in a dark and otherwise empty room. --- Standing in the Desire Temple, while others mill about, talk, and try to form initial bonds, Kamen Rider "Umm, err-" stands in a fresh tank top, with a brown shoulderbag, blue jeans, and sneakers on. Her unkempt mane of brown hair hangs bangs over her shaded eyes, and her large-framed black glasses reflect the light a little and hide her waveringly-uncertain and dissociating-almost-crying eyes. Having only a Very Small, Don't Worry About It large nervous breakdown, the staggering weight of duties and will and Kamen Riding are completely forgotten as Jinako is suddenly flung into a social situation full of people she's never met and doesn't handle it well. --- Sent to the ground and not quite shaking out of it or reacting immediately, the anxious woman gets shaken out of her reverie by matchlock gunfire! Startled to stammering corrective-voice questions, Jinako hears several extremely loud belt reports and moves with the herd for a moment, presenting her own blocky driver from her bag and placing it on her waist, as well as a dark blue powerup she had earned previously.                                  DESIRE DRIVER!                                                                Set! ARMED SHIELD                                 --reporting out, and the metal rings of the transformation sweeping over her, replacing her clothes with the black DGP Rider basic suit, with a large-eared pink elephant helmet with yellow-gold trim, and thanks to her buckle, a blue chest-strap plate featuring a blue shield and in her right hand, what's more of a plastic... buckler. But the practically cryingly-anxious Jinako advances on the Big Nemesis Jyamato, holding her shield in front of her. "I-I-is this right?!" Kamen Rider Leffa asks the surrounds, but there's so much confident cries and belt reports her voice is drowned out and a terrified elephant stares down the tall plantoid threat.
Odette Raskins	Floating around in space is eerie enough at times, but looking down at an endless desert with gravity being an ever-present threat is still somewhat terrifying for Odette. Despite her fear of falling right off the temple, however, the EMT still can't help but peek over the edge, lying on her stomach to minimize the risk of slipping and stumbling off. The morning had been a relatively dull one at work, so this one's breathtaking in comparison even from that prone position. It might be a little dumb looking, but she's seen enough accidents to know that there's no such thing as being too careful! Aside from not looking over the edge, anyway, but she can't NOT look. Besides, maybe Ace and Neon having crowds around them will mean there's fewer people noticing her doing this. Hearing Tsumuri speaking, however, reminds her that she's here for an actual reason, and Odette stumbles back up to her feet with her trusty medical bag in tow. Like always, she's dressed in her usual dark blue uniform, but with a shiny new Desire Driver wrapped over her waist that kind of makes the medical bag jut out even more. She listens intently to her explanation, checks her bag to make sure she has her stuff, then checks the ID Core she had stuck into the Driver she received so recently. She's still kind of worried she jammed it in wrong, but it fit, and she's here! So it's probably okay. Odette's a little too excited to get worked up over little details like that right now, anyway, especially when Tsumuri announces that she's about to be a Kamen Rider! Her excitement is quickly replaced with terror, however, when she sees the Jyamato up close along with three of the contestants getting obliterated by an even larger, bulgier menace. "What in the...? D-d-did those people just get killed?!" She's not having a great time of it as she looks about rapidly, already in a bit of a panic at seeing people eliminated within seconds. Like many other contestants, she's even forgotten to actually get her suit on ahead of time, but hearing others doing so already reminds her, and she... She's forgotten how to actually use hers. Odette presses on her belt randomly, tugs on it, tries to turn it around, but trying to do that and running for cover before she can get eaten means she's having trouble managing either one of those things properly!
Petra Soroka	Barely a day after being informed of Yuri's betrayal to Lobotomy Corporation, Petra is summoned to be her Kamen Rider parole officer for her outings to the Desire Grand Prix. Petra still hasn't sorted out her feelings on that, and after the uncomfortable ending to the radio conversation last night she simply decided to put it out of her mind completely, so being forced to confront her this soon puts Petra on the back foot, awkwardly dragged along with the flow to show up at the forest with little defined intent in mind besides 'she was told to'.     Seeing hordes of typical murderous monsters is barely enough to inspire action from Petra, with her lacking a panic response at the sight, and lacking the heroic impulse to leap to the defense of the scurrying newbies. Standing in the crowd of frantic and fleeing unsuited Riders, her eyes glaze over a bit as she scans side to side, faintly uncomfortable but not distraught by the strangers disintegrating into voxels around her. Spotting Yuri-- and oh! Even Keiwa is a sight she's happy to see, for the sole reason of being a recognizable face and Not Yuri-- Petra starts walking towards them, sidestepping someone cowering in the bushes, and only manages a few steps before being jumped by a zombie Jyamato.     On instinct alone, her morphmetal whips across its mask, tensing into a bar to stop it inches from biting through the arm of her jacket. She freezes for a moment, mid-flinch, heart rate skyrocketed to pound in her ears. The spike of fear actually seems to rejuvenate her after she mentally adjusts, punching the Jyamato in the head to stagger it, and then kicking it in the chest to knock it fully away. She clicks open her Silver FullBottle to reabsorb the orbiting morphmetal, then slams it into her transteam gun, eliciting a different transformation callout than any of the others sounding across the battlefield.             SILVER! STING SILVER!     Black glittering fog pours out of her gun to the appropriate callout of 'MIST MATCH' among a sea of 'READY? FIGHT!'s, and with an explosion that makes another zombie Jyamato stumble back, Petra's clad in her black and yellow armor, morphmetal running down her arms. Any of the newbies watching her-- clearly experienced at *something*-- for guidance will only end up more lost.     "Yuri. Hey. You're supposed to stick by me, so do that." That sounds kind of harsh and unfriendly, particularly with the mild distortion from the mask-- because it is. Petra doesn't know how else to act around her yet.
Hamada Haru	The Jyamato either aren't capable of or aren't interested in communicating, because the sword-and-spear wielding Jyamato simply fall in around the rifle-wielding one who immediately shoots at Ishirou rather than responding or letting itself be examined meaningfully. The rifle doesn't actually seem to be a real matchlock, even though it makes the sounds-- it is a real GUN though, for all practical purposes. As for the scanning that Ishirou is trying to get done, the Jyamato are plants-- they were grown recently, and they're identifiably a form of Earth-based life (that is to say they have DNA in common with Earth plants). Nearby, Kamen Rider Ka-On tries to take cover behind a tree and finds that it is inhabited by a sniper. A duo of the red-clad jyamato -- one sword and one spear type -- jump down and swing and stab at her respectively. From above, a rifleman aims at her, trying to line up a nice shot. A group of shamblers being HERDED by one of the spearmen groan towards Yuri as she tries a co-op tech with a salaryman and Keiwa-- though it might not be clear yet, this is definitely a set-up for SOMEBODY to get bogged down and shot at from somewhere nearby. Where, though...? The spearman of this group is visible, but not the swordsman. Who appears abruptly from a nearby treetop, attempting to rake his sword across Petra's back in retribution for her timely zombie-related intervention! Her transformation might be a bit different but this plant swordsman knows a Problem when it sees one.
Dark Horses	BEFORE      KEIWA, despite having already shown up here before not that long ago, is seemingly bewildered as he's summoned into what he can only really describe as a waiting area, a gormless look on his face as the navigator explains what they're doing.      Zombies? Really? Well, they're only slightly worse than skeletons, he gueses. Hopefully, the training he did with Neon pays off.      MICHINAGA, comparatively to Keiwa, doesn't seem that bothered as he pops in. If anything, he just seems impatient, his hands stuffed into his jacket as he just looks at the ground. The only real reaction that's gotten out of him is a smirk at the mention of zombies, but other than that, nothing. NOW      KEIWA, being rather clueless, decides to follow after Takahito as he calls out to him, only stopping as he notices a fellow contestant who's tripped over as he bends down to pick them up. They don't seem keen on joining up with him though, as they simply push Keiwa away, and he fights to maintain his balance and not trip as he travels the rest of the way behind the improvised trap.      His balance is completely ruined, however, as his phone makes a notification noise that he's cleared a mission, a small box suddenly dropping down from the sky and directly onto his head.      "Eh, isn't this???"      Opening it up, he's greeted with two buckles, a smaller one that he's pretty familiar with, the crossbow one, and a larger, more elaborate buckle. One that's completely red and chromed, and looks like someone just ripped off a motorcycle handle and glued it on.      Looks strong. He pockets it immediately and pins the thought of using it as he turns his attention to Takahito.      "Wait? You!? How'd you end up here???"
Ishirou	These creatures are so bizarre, but they at least don't act conflicting.  Ishirou, for his efforts attempting to communicate, has steel being sent his way.  Electromagnetic force is sent up, to send the steel wide, but the shot is more accurate, blasting the armor on the chest area that protects him from damage.  The shot gets sparks, that stagger Ishirou back, but the attack combination could have been a lot more damaging, thankfully!   Grabbing at the damage, Ishirou quickly takes the Flight Unit up into the air and starts soaring.  It doesn't protect him from damage but will give him more options in attacking.  As such, missiles fly from the back of the Flight Unit, sent down in barrages aiming to try and blow up his problems.  His problems, being in this moment, the Jyamato stabbing and shooting at him. Whatever data he /does/ get, however, is spread out to others near him fighting the Jyamato threat.  He aims to provide telemetry, and data on defenses, and attacks.  He hopes this will help prevent those fighting from meeting the fate of earlier Riders, but Ishirou can only do so much.  He's only one force, so he relies on the others here to do their job, while he attempts to support them.
Desire Stars	ELSEWHERE...     A masked figure observes the proceedings on a spread of holographic viewscreens. His mask resembles a simplistic, sterile rendering of a skull, especially with the black mantle and hood that rest atop it.     "Castle Guard Jyamato..." His voice is filtered through a vocoder. "It's too early for those." He briefly looks away from the monitors, towards an ornate, antique phone. The Game Master's gaze lingers on it for a weighty, silent moment, before he returns his attention to the viewscreens.
Desire Stars	THE JYAMATO HORDE Aaah! Someone, save me! I'm under attack!     'Fortunately' for Clover, there is someone nearby who could help! Unfortunately, it's DA-PAAN, who is apparently out to prove that the school shooter vibes he was giving in his DGP roster picture aren't just for show. "Who would?" he answers, from the relative safety of a nearby tree. The panda-themed Rider has apparently gotten hold of an Armed Buckle--a 'Bomber' that appears to be a white breakopen grenade launcher. He's taking potshots at clustered groups of Zombie Jyamato, but decidedly not at the ones menacing her.     When she actually does get help from someone who's not an asshole, he scoffs audibly, his panda helmet dipping visibly backwards. What's his fucking problem? Why is he acting like this? Wait? You? How'd you end up here???      "...oh, it's you! Haha..." Takahito smiles awkwardly, although it seems like there's more than just the awkwardness on his mind. "Well," he says, opening his own reward for assisting another Rider, "I have a wish, too. It's my son," he explains, as he inserts the buckle into his Driver. Takahito frowns with determination. "He's sick. And there are very good doctors, doing their best, but..." He takes a steadying breath to steel himself. "Henshin!"                                 Set! ARMED DAGGER                                     RAFFLESIA JYAMATO     Shinmyoumaru finds that the HQ-unit Jyamato doesn't sound any better than it likely smells--the "JYA" that it bellows is a baritone, phlegmatic noise. She, Odette and Jinako get a close-up view of what eliminated those other Riders:     That asymmetrically misshapen arm terminates in a hand with an eye-like opening in the palm. It lifts its arm, and a visible bulge travels down its bicep, blasting outwards as a head-sized seed pod. The pod zips through the air, red-hot like molten metal, exploding on impact with whatever it strikes.     They have some assistance from a few yards down in the form of Geats--                                  BULLET CHARGE!                                     White-hot laser bolts pelt the mutant Jyamato, causing it to snarl and lift its outsized arm in defense. The impacts cause explosions of their own. The smoke clears, and the Jyamato is still standing and quite upset. "He's going to be a problem." The fox-themed Rider breaks into a sprint, using the trees and the horde of Jyamato as obstacles to break up the enraged Rafflesia Jyamato's line of sight on him. He's trying to keep its explosive seeds from hitting any of the new Riders, but there's only so much forest to run through! Leaping to avoid a blast and kicking off of a tree, he spots a familiar glint of red, just as Keiwa pockets it.      "Hm..."
Angela	''Hey. You're supposed to stick by me, so do that.'' Yuri twists her body and sees Sting Silver there. Petra. She exhales a little. Hurting Petra, Cinder--for her that was the worst part of everything. It's...normal for Petra to be upset with her so... So just. Yuri nods, "...Yeah, um--Sorry. Yeah." She says, not that articulately but now that Petra is here... Yuri raises her ID Core and shouts, "HENSHIN!" A white and blue armored form with an ice-blue and white bee head helmet ripples around Yuri's head, a snowflake pattern forming around her. A similarly patterned armor forms around her. She lets out one more breath and... She swings Frost Splinter at the shamblers, fighting defensively at first before seeing one of the Jyanmato striking Petra from behind--really, she more HEARS it than sees it. Yuri brings out a little ice wall to buy some time from the Jyanmato shamblers before--she turns all the way around, to rush back towards the plant swordsman, trying to cut it down. Letting your parole officer get stabbed by Kamen Rider putties isn't going to look good in front of the hypothetical parole board. "Don't see her either," Yuri murmurs.
Shinmyoumaru Sukuna	'Kamen Rider Ochiba' (that is, Shinmyoumaru, who is absolutely not concealing her identity worth a damn) is very shortly joined by a terrified-looking elephant Rider and a freaking-out person who is not in armour at all! "Stick with me!" she offers the pair of them, working on the assumption that if she covers for them *and* does well that she will get a high rank in the Desire Prix. That's how this works, isn't it? And they don't need to get shot, then; they just have to do not as well as she does. Which means... Shinmyoumaru clicks in the item she was holding into the right side of her belt. It looks like a little spiked ball made of orange plastic... and indeed that's what she gets, as a small bit of upper armour with a shoulder guard is pulled onto her with a call of                               Set! CHAIN ARRAY!                               along with a very plastic-looking spiked ball on a significantly less plastic-looking chain. She doesn't get to use it immediately, though. Kamen Rider Ochiba has already mastered rolling, by the looks of it; when the explosion goes off next to her, she tumbles for a brief distance before managing to catch herself in a much more adroit roll, springing back to her feet as she lashes out with the ball. See? You can totally survive one of those explosions (if you wear armour and also don't get directly plastered by it). "Maybe don't stick too close," she adds, as she begins to spin. The spiked ball on its chain spins out, reaching the end of its tether as Shinmyoumaru rotates, faster and faster as she gets dizzier and dizzier, slowly approaching the oversized zombie in a whirl! Any other zombies (or Jyamato) who get too close are likely to get swatted completely by accident, because unfortunately for Shinmyoumaru all she can see is a blur as she spins and spins and spins... "Aaah, get out of the way!" yells the little whirling ball of destruction's anchor. "I'm getting - really - dizzy - "
Petra Soroka	Distracted wholly by being uncomfortable around Yuri, Petra makes the classic mistake of forgetting to look *up*. The Jyamato's sword crashes against her back to a spray of sparks, sending her toppling down to one knee while morphmetal pours down her arm and trickles between her fingers, accumulating into a spear already gripped in her fist. She twists around on the balls of her feet and lunges upwards to stand again, spear-thrust sparking off the Jyamato's sword and then whirling in an arc to skewer it with the sharp butt of the weapon instead.     She kicks the Jyamato off her spear as it crumbles away, looking up at Ishirou zipping around in the air with a scornfully dubious tilt to her mask despite actually believing him. "Plants? What the hell do you mean, they're 'plants'? Why not tell us something useful, like, weak points, or, why there's two totally different types going on? That wasn't what happened last time, was it?" "Who would?"     Clover's cry for help dissolves into ambient noise for Petra, but Da-Paan's unpleasant retort catches her attention with a sneer in her voice. "Real fucking edgy, dude. What, are you some dumbass hypercompetitive type?" Says Petra, who also has been apathetically avoiding helping anyone this whole time.     "This early in the game," Oh no, she's got a different, worse angle, actually. "It's way smarter to pretend to care about people if you want to win, or you'll make yourself a mark right off the bat. Idiot."     With that bold, heroic declaration, Petra follows Da-Paan's gaze, as it were, to see where Clover is, then rushes in to twirl her spear to clash against both the spear-wielding and sword-wielding Jyamato simultaneously. Droplets of morphmetal knock off her from the impact, floating lazily around her in a three-dimensional cloud.     "Are you alright?" She doesn't recognize Clover until her response, and then takes an additional couple seconds to put together-- "Wait! It's you again! The super do-gooder-y one that came in the radio before! Uh, Clover!" "...Yeah, um--Sorry. Yeah."     Petra shoots a glance over her shoulder at Yuri while fending off attacks from the melee pair, trading ineffective blows without a decisive finisher. She hesitates, then sighs through her mask.     "Just so you know, I basically haven't heard anything. If you end up fucking over Angela's plan, then I'll kill you. Otherwise..." She makes an uncertain, unhappy noise. "I don't know. I don't know what to do about you, Yuri."
Phantom Thieves	"... Mmm?" Ka-On looks up. "Oh, hello!" she says to the jyamato, right before they jump down at her and ambush her. It doesn't go well. That is, it doesn't go well for Kamen Rider Ka-On, who gets hit with multiple Toku Spark Clashes. "Probably should tone down the helplessness a bit.." she mutters to herself mid-ambush. Luckily, Petra comes in to rescue her! "Oh! Sting Silver, right? This is, what, the third time you've saved me?" Second. "Thank you so much!" "Everyone's using weapons and things, I guess I should..." She looks around, and finds... ... A buckle! She probably should have been looking for these already. Ka-On slots it in, on the house right side.                            GET READY FOR: ARMED CLAW                             "Okay - here we go!" Ka-On's shoes are sporting some extra hardware now, which she immediately sets about trying to kick some plant monsters with! There's not really any strategy to it, just lots of kicking.
Hamada Haru	Understandably, Ishirou doesn't take well to simply being shot at and bombs his assailants in return. This has a great effect on the zombies that shamble around them in general, but the Castle Guard Jyamato actually survive the bombing! They get thrown around and comically scrabble out of explosions but they're still alive. It appears that these putties are Z-Putties, and will therefore only die if you punch them in the large weak point on their chest. The weak point isn't clear in this case. (It's probably just an extra buffer of HP, in these guy's case, honestly.) The spear-wielding Guard Jyamato rears back with it and tosses it at the skybound-Ishirou; there's only so far he can go within the Jyamar Area, and it's not far enough that these guys don't have the strength to use their weapons on him. He's safe from the zombies, at least, though. Nearby, Yuri rushes the swordsman that attacked Petra -- who goes staggering backwards in a shower of sparks -- only to immediately have the zombie-herding spear jyamato turn and jab at her flank. The jyamato swordsman that Petra stabs doesn't crumble away -- these seem to be more minibosses at this stage than regular enemies -- but stumbles back making noises that are probably agitated at being hit so hard! He falls back and waves the shambler swarm that's been herded this way forward. Nearby, Kamen Rider Ka-On wields ARMED CLAWS against the Jyamato Swordsman and Jyamato Spearman, cyclically driving one and then the other back-- but her effort is distributed; these aren't fair enemies at this stage of the game. Staggered and giving off sparks, the spearman backs off and jabs at the back of her knees, while the swordsman takes a swing at her ribs, probably hedging against going too low because of his ally. In the meanwhile, the gun-aiming that began a short while earlier pays off, as as a rifle goes off and a gunshot travels towards Ka-On's stomach!
BB	Eliminated Riders isn't the gentle kind of 'now you're in it for real', and despite being a somewhat veteran presence, Jinako Carigiri is not a veteran Rider of the Desire Grand Prix. She has transformed, now, total twice. This second time, she has a shield that doesn't even cover her chest and memories of death games before filling her head and sending tremors through her. Quaking-legged and crying-whining, Jinako - Kamen Rider Leffa puts up her shield when the heavy plant based heavy grenade rounds burst on her, and instead of just exploding and immediately game overing... Her shield projects a bigger shield with glittering plastic hexagons in a swoop of shield energy that buffers both the fire from the big Jyamato and the scattering of Three Matchlocks From Offscreen making poppy little powder bangs and then driving a TV Asahi compliant Plant Based shot on the flanks of her barrier, staggering and dropping Leffa onto her bottom with a yipe. "Wh-wh-what's going on?! Isn't this boss too hard?" Direly complains Leffa, scrabbling to her feet to circle around the big grenade launcher's nozzle and weilder's attention and shove through the zombies with her shield! Confident, at least, that it will protect her, Leffa looks around to find a buddy to partner up with, like Neon earlier, and instead... "Geats! Geatsss!" The freaking-out elephant begs, probably drawing attention. "Let's partner up! J-just shoot it lots, this shield's no good for attacks!" Though Leffa calls for aid from Geats, her Anxiety Freakout Tanking might create openings for everyone!
Phantom Thieves	This feels... ... rather unfair, yeah. These enemies don't feel like they're properly weighted for a first challenge of a competition! Clover takes a tough pair of hits, first from the swordsman and then a direct hit in the stomach from the gunner. Toku Physics and Kamen Rider Armor mean that she emits a ton of sparks instead of having a bullet lodge in her stomach, but - ow. "... Peace and - and love..." she gasps out. "And... puppy dreams..." Supervillaining is a game. And like any game, there's rules. You don't go and attack the hero's house for example (sorry Meika) or do table-flipping type actions if you're losing fair and square, or... ... Well, throwing overleveled lieutenants at the heroes on your first meeting! (Limelight and Stagehand do not have lieutenants, they're just a two person operation, but they still know this instinctively.) So if this game isn't going to play fair, then... neither is Clover. If the game's going to be geared towards veterans while pretending to be newcomer friendly, then two can play at that game. Clover waits until she's reasonably certain everyone else is too busy with their foes and obstacles... and then her stance shifts. It's a striking difference - if you're paying attention and watching closely. Limelight lifts up with one clawed foot - and snap-kicks at the nearest jyanmoto with professional form and enough force to break down a brick wall. Perfect followthrough, and no small amount of passion behind it - the flare of anger of a career supervillain, not the clueless excitement of a starter hero. And then instantly afterwards, back to civilian stance, and the same wild kicks she'd been using before. "Ha ha, they're kinda tough, aren't they?"
Odette Raskins	Just when things couldn't get any worse, the boss Jyamato doesn't even give Odette a chance to figure out her transformation before attacking! Her eyes go wide as she sees that arm coming up and the arm cannon staring her right in the face, and she only narrowly manages to throw herself out of the direct path of that shot. The explosions still sends the EMT flying and rolling around on the ground painfully, though, and she's momentarily dazed as she tries to piece together what just happened while touching her head to make sure she hasn't started bleeding out. "Guh.. H-huh? Right... Wait. No. I-I-I gotta fight, too! Gnh..." Odette stammers out to Shinmyoumaru as she pulls herself back up from that explosion, stumbling a bit as she gets her bearings straight. Seeing Leffa advancing with that shield raised has the EMT steeling her resolve, too, as she's reminded that she actually needs to move forward to achieve her own wish. Thankfully, it doesn't take THAT long for her to finally remember how to activate her own Desire Driver, especially after seeing Jinako and Shinmyoumaru doing it (and also getting some sense exploded back into her). While they get their weapons equipped, Odette takes the opportunity to try and do her own version of the cool arm-waving poses she's seen other masked heroes and magical girls perform prior to their own transformations! Unfortunately, Odette's coordination and practice are both nonexistent when it comes to something like this. Instead of a well-coordinated maneuver, she awkwardly swings one arm around in several huge and overcompensating circles that knock her EMT cap off while the other hangs stiffly off to the side like she's A-posing or something. "Henchin!"               DESIRE DRIVER!             KAMEN RIDER ZUMINE The black DGP Rider suit comes on, and a brown and white helmet slides on over her head with simultaneously raised yet half-flopped ears and a crest over the forehead that make her look like some kind of mouse-themed Rider. Without a weapon in hand, though, Odette is still scrambling to find something to use against the Rafflesia Jyamato (after scooping her cap back up onto the top of her helmet). She's about to resort to just throwing random branches and rocks at it, too, when Geats' timely interference buys her some time to actually find something to just slam right into her Driver.             SET! ARMED SPEAR A fancy-looking spear appears in front of Kamen Rider Zumine, and she grabs for it just in time for it to start falling. She yelps briefly as she dips down to catch it, smacks it up into her face, then catches it on the rebound. Luckily, the helmet hides Odette's face, so she just takes a moment to breathe before turning to the boss Jyamato and promptly yelps again when the ambient Jyamato threat keeps her from staying in place for too long. "Okay okay okay. Spear means... Stabbing? Just like in the movies... O-okay! I'll come in from the other side, Pochiba! A-and we'll get through this alive, Leffy!" Odette calls out as she gives both Ochiba and Leffa a wide berth, shimmying around them and the Rafflesia Jyamato to find a decent angle of attack. She's still a little too jumpy, though, so she ends up rushing in sooner rather than later, shouting frantically while starting to swing and thrust the Armed Spear at it with moves that practically scream 'tried this with a broom after watching a martial arts movie once'.
Angela	"I..." Yuri's own emotional struggles aren't likely to help her out much here. Her ability to use ice fields to funnel Jyanmato help keep her from getting overwhelmed which gives her some opportunity to talk to Petra. "I'm not as cool as I pretended to be. I was scared and...wanted to change my own fate." Yuri says. "But I didn't want to hurt her, or you, or Cinder--not even Lilian or Rita. I didn't know it'd be used for something like that. I don't even know why it'd help her." She pauses. "Guess the 'her' is confidential but...That's why I'm still fighting here. To try and lure her out. That's the term Angela gave me." "...I wish I knew I'd..." She trails off again. "...Is Cinder handling it..okay?" As she asks this, that dang spear Jyamato catches her in the side. She hisses through her teeth, throwing out her foot to kick the Jyamato back, stepping back closer to Petra. "...I know I messed up. So I'll fight to make sure it doesn't hurt Angela's plan." She can't afford for it to fail either, even for her own sake, but she doesn't know how to explain seeing someone in a mirror that she wants to meet right now. "She showed me a mirror," She explains to Petra. "I can at least tell you about that if you...want to know. But right now--" She swings towards the jyamato spearman's eye, hoping to punch right on through it in a single pushing motion, hoping that taking one down will make defending against the rest easier.
Ishirou	"What do you mean?!  Knowing what they're made out of is interesting and information that is needed!" Ishirou calls back towards Petra.  This distracted talking gets him speared, dragged down to the ground, and forced to fight the Jyamato on their terms.  Ishirou forces the spear out, causing more damage and sparks to rain down the armor of the Flight Unit.   "Ugh... alright, how about this!" he says, firing a field of electromagnetic force out, attempting to force their weapons down, before he draws out a giant laser sword, and swings it in a frightening matter around himself.  The attempt is to force the Jyamato away from him so he can get into the sky again, and he ends up exchanging blows with them instead.   The flight unit has taken too much damage, and he jumps out of it, landing on the ground before the Jyamato.  The pieces of the Flight Unit Fly back into his subspace pocket, and he charges them again.  All the while, he sends information and telemetry data to both Yuri and Clover, giving them more options in where to put their shots.   POD deploys in its gunfire form and starts blasting the various Jyamato around it as Ishirou aims to try and put distance between himself and the spearmen, using the machine gun-like fire from the POD to keep them suppressed.
Petra Soroka	"Oh! Sting Silver, right? This is, what, the third time you've saved me?"     That sounds right to Petra. She doesn't contradict it, because she just trusts Clover at face value.     Petra shoots a glance over to the team engaging the larger boss, as the bellowing and scaled attacks keep going on despite it being surrounded. Shinmyoumaru staggering around as her flail teeters her off balance, Jinako desperately swinging her shield to try to knock away attacks and calling for help, Odette only barely transforming in time and then using spear technique that Petra intuitively registers as absolute dogshit, Keiwa existing. Even with Geats around helping-- and she's already internalized him as someone reliable, mostly from the radio but somewhat from seeing him in action-- they're really obviously struggling.     "Hey, I think I might need to--" Petra tries to warn Clover that she'll need to step away, but when she looks around, she lost track of the inexperienced Rider. Briefly, Petra considers that she might have just fucking died and Petra didn't even notice, which actually makes her a bit frantic despite being exhausted of the 'love and peace' routine.     Then she spots her, some distance away in the zombie swarm, managing to clumsily hold her own, and wades in to give her an extra breather and warning. Pinging morphmetal globules slam into the Jyamato's helmets to deter them with flashes of sparks, giving her the room to pick out a few of the weaker zombies to skewer and knock away until she reaches Clover.     "If you can hold on for a sec, I'm giving the others a hand." She reaches her hand to the side, floating Silver flattening into a mirrored plane, and pulls out a ratbot with a brick of plastic explosives strapped to it without looking, which she drops to float stationary in the air. "Try to guide them near this, if you can." "What do you mean?! Knowing what they're made out of is interesting and information that is needed!"     Petra flips away from the zombie horde with a pulse of energy from her armor, double jumping back in the air to end up close to Ishirou, hanging at the top of her arc for a moment. She flips out her transteam gun, affixing a rifle extension onto the end, and snarks back at Ishirou before firing a series of blasts down around the boss to give the floundering new Riders some breathing room. The callout of 'Rifle Mode' is slightly different from Geats' similar callout of 'Rifle'.     "Uh huh, yeah, and let me know if you brought fucking *weedkiller*, Ishirou." A series of explosions later, recoil keeping Petra up off the ground seconds longer. "It *is* weird though, right? Why *plants*? Did they just, like, evolve like this? Plants are such a specific thing for them to be. Like, alien spores, or something, maybe?"
Dark Horses	"I see.... Also huh? Oh, right, yeah. I worked there for a bit... Uh, I guess we can all work toge-"      Now a bit more situated, Keiwa finally responds to Yuri as he also listens to Takahito, though he's cut off mid response as a menacing jyamato shows up.                                  Set! ARMED ARROW                                                                   Ready, Fight!                                        KEIWA doesn't really get the time he'd like to process what was said to him as they're basically jumped by what looks like the boss of this encounter, so instead he just takes a deep breath and slides the buckle onto his empty belt, reaching for Takahito's shoulder and pulling him back as he transforms into Kamen Rider Tycoon, assumedly to take the initial first hit that luckily only grazes him, allowing him to level his crossbow at the Jymato as he fires a return volley at it.      Unfortunately, the volley from enemies outside his sight are a lot harder to deal with, and he's sent tumbling on the ground as sparks fly off of his lightly armored suit, though he's quick to get back up with only a bit of struggle.      MICHINAGA, having been seemingly absent since the start, finally comes charging in as Kamen Rider Buffa head first, the unmoving bodies of defeated jymato hugging onto him as he charges into the larger jyamato horns first, attempting to tackle them against a nearby tree before bringing his chainsaw sword out to slash against the monster's throat.
Hamada Haru	The truth, of course, is more complicated. The game itself didn't plan for this to happen... indeed, no planning occurred whatsoever. A great, heavy snap-kick sends the sword-wielding Jyamato to the edge of the Jamar Zone entirely-- out of the battle but, surprisingly, not killed. It ceases to be visible on the peripheries, and it sends the spear Jyamato scrambling to get some distance. In the meantime, however... Yuri does punch through the jyamato spearman's face. It crumbles to dust around her, and as it does so...                               SECRET MISSION CLEAR                                                  Defeat an endgame enemy in the early game.                   A box tumbles out of the air into Yuri's hands, bearing within it a goofy-looking Raise Buckle. The Monster Buckle is blue and neon yellow-green, has a face on it with widely opened red eyes. It looks mad! Pumped up, even. That it's more than a passingly big deal is obvious just by its size and structure; it's not as awkward to handle as the weapon-based buckles, and just having an animate face on it -- however plastic -- speaks to it being a tier above what's normal right now. The jyamato that Ishirou is fighting don't seem bothered by the electromagnetic pull on their weapons-- and they just try to engage closer whenever he produces the giant laser sword. One of them actually gets sliced right through, turning to ash and dust in the aftermath. There's no second secret mission clear, though-- it looks like that one was first-come-first-served. Either that, or a non-player like Ishirou just can't trigger it. Sting Silver handily guns down jyamato while avoiding the zombies-- the zombies aren't too hard to lure into the explosives she plants, and by the time it goes off and she's having her conversation with Ishirou, the collective efforts of the group have narrowed things down to only zombies... though one of those castle guard Jyamato is still out there on the peripheries somewhere. Whether it's actually doing anything or is lying low on purpose is unclear. All that remains is shamblers, and the amount of damage they can put out -- shuffling here and there, crowding people through the trees, occasionally attempting a bite -- is relatively low. Those bites are a problem, though. Even with the riflemen and their support down, there's still plenty of room to come to a messy end here... or at the very least end up on Doom timer of some kind. The sound of lethargic shuffling, groaning, and the occasional not-as-half-hearted-as-anyone-would-like lunge-and-bite attempt fills the surroundings. But the energy of it is... low. If one simply wanted to walk smartly away they could. This phase of the battle would be a truly intolerable place to take a serious injury-- but not risking it DOES involve just walking away from potential easy points. Less of a decision for the 'helpers' than the actual DGP participants.
Desire Stars	It's way smarter to pretend to care about people if you want to win, or you'll make yourself a mark right off the bat. Idiot.     Da-Paan laughs. "Spend your energy on pretending, then. Everyone already does anyway. I'll spend mine on winning." Yeah, maybe he's the hypercompetitive type. Or maybe it's something worse!
Desire Stars	RAFFLESIA JYAMATO     Geats! Geatsss! Let's partner up! J-just shoot it lots, this shield's no good for attacks!     "That's the idea with shields," Geats unhelpfully replies, opening up with another few rounds between weaving in and out of the trees. "Hang in there. You're doing great." His laser bullets and Tycoon's bolts punctuate the din of combat, peppering the pumped-up monster with explosions.     And she is! Kind of. While it's true that Shield isn't a *great* offensive buckle, her freakout is drawing the Rafflesia Jyamato's attention in the way that... well, frankly, in the way that the cries of wounded animals draw attention to them in the wild. But unlike those animals, Leffa has the benefit of technology, and the Shield is actually remarkably resilient, so long as she keeps her guard up. It's enough to take a sustained beating from the beefed-up Jyamato, long enough for Shinmyoumaru and Odette to wail on it with their respective attacks.     Shinmyoumaru's Armed Chain Array is one of the more straightforwardly effective Armed Buckles, unlike the awkward, obtuse Propeller Buckle that Na-Go is flying around with or the support-oriented Shield Buckle that Leffa and Mary have. Thus, without much fuss from her, it proves pretty effective at knocking aside the wandering Zombie Jyamato and it even socks the Rafflesia Jyamato across the head, throwing its aim wide and into the air.     This leaves it vulnerable to Odette's spear strikes, with its center of mass exposed. Even if they aren't the most expertly made strikes, well... it's a lot better to be using an Armed Buckle with a clearly defined use case than it is to be stuck with one like the 'Armed Water' Buckle that just got a frog-themed Rider a few yards away killed for his trouble.     She receives some additional assistance in the form of GIN-PEN, the crested penguin-themed Rider who'd helped Keiwa. In the chaos, through her dizziness, she might even notice him flick the Dagger Buckle at his belt, causing a buildup of purple energy around the weapon as he charges in.                                  DAGGER STRIKE!                                     The weapon is in the hands of an amateur, wielded more like someone off the street would hold a dagger--overextended, sweeping, desperate swings. But the damage caused by the explosive crescent of purple aftershock is enough to draw a response from the Rafflesia Jyamato--a half-circle of its oversized arm, its reach wide enough to hit Odette, Jinako, Shinmyoumaru, and Gin-Pen! In particular, it strikes Gin-Pen dead on, the oversized fist connecting directly with his helmet and sending him flying backwards.     Another one like that and he'll be out of it--but fortunately, Buffa charges in to fight Zombie with Zombie! The space that the Rafflesia Jyamato had cleared for itself is taken up again. The flower isn't just for show--for his aggressive assault, Buffa is repaid with a blast of corrosive green acid from the center of the brightly-colored head.     "Hey. Keiwa, right? Let me borrow that Boost Buckle, and I'll buy you enough time to get him to cover. One more hit like that and he's out." Geats extends his hand behind him, keeping an eye on the Rafflesia Jyamato with his Magnum Shooter still trained on it.
Petra Soroka	"Spend your energy on pretending, then. Everyone already does anyway. I'll spend mine on winning."     Being laughed at instantly sends Petra into a malding frenzy, smacking a Jyamato away furiously with the butt of the transteam gun as she balls her fists at her side and stomps. ""I'm not even a fucking *player*, jackass!! Win these fucking *hands*! That's what I mean, idiot, you've pissed me the fuck off and now I'm going to personally make *you specifically* miserable! Pretending to be good is worth something when it's fucking *tactical*!"     Petra backhands a zombie Jyamato to snap its head to the side, then grabs it by the back of the neck like a kitten. Lifting it up one handed, she hurls it at Da-Paan up the side of the tree he's camped on, escalating far more than he did. She makes a tongue-sticking-out noise, then immediately gags as she presumably accidentally licks the inside of her mask. "Guess the 'her' is confidential but...That's why I'm still fighting here. To try and lure her out. That's the term Angela gave me."     Petra heard, earlier, when Yuri spoke to her mid-clash, but it's not until she falls back down, bladed plastic rifle extension burying in the ground to support her stance, that she says anything back. Pulling it out and straightening up standing, Petra swipes a finger along the bayonet to flick the dirt away, not quite looking at Yuri.     "... You're kind of an asshole, you know that?" After the instinctive flinch-response of hearing 'asshole' and expecting contempt, Yuri can actually tell that Petra's tone is more whiny than it is vindictive. "This fucking sucks of you to do. Whatever it is, like, if you were threatened to do it, or-- or needed something from this mysterious fucking *'her'*, like-- you--"     Petra clicks her transformation off, armor dispersing into fog and being sucked back inside her transteam gun. She sighs and looks away from Yuri, staring a hole into a knot in a tree with a Jyamato-sword scar carved through it. Petra expresses her heart intentionally, naturally-- but not *easily*. It's exceedingly difficult for her to formulate words from messy feelings, especially when Lilian did very little to help her understand them.     "Not trusting us with jack shit and then still.... You don't *get* to be all, fucking, puppydog eyes apologetic and trying your best to make up for it thirty seconds later. You don't get to just, acknowledge you messed up, use yourself as bait for someone Cinder and I don't get to know anything about, talk about being weak and not understanding things and--" As she rambles, Petra gets choked up more and more near the end, cutting off with a phlegmy frustrated noise. Her shoulders droop, muttering to the side, "... Go through an arc first. Bitch. Act like you learned something, not just that you're immediately fucking sorry."
Ishirou	Ishirou cuts down the important-looking monsters around himself, leaving only the zombie-like ones.  They claw at him, but he dances out of the way, keeping his distance and using POD to release energy bullets that punish them for coming at him.  He does this repeatedly, deciding to focus on this instead of getting on Petra's shit list because she seems like she has a target already.   He doesn't feel the need to stroke that fire anymore.   Once more, he sends data out to the others, to make sure they have up-to-date information on what's a deadly hit and what's not, and how to perfectly match their swings to avoid being swarmed, but right now, Ishirou is focused on not getting swarmed himself.   He also catches information between Yuri and Petra, and has put two and two together.  He could say something and risk pissing Petra off but... well... It seems to be handled, and he knows Lilian was heading that up so he decides to simply go by what Angela and Lilian have decided, whatever that is.  They know what they're doing! "What was that secret mission though?  'Endgame' enemy?  This is all being treated like a game..." he says, frowning at it.  Sure there was a competition with the Riders, but now this talk of 'endgame enemies' and the like has him worried more is to this all than he thought.
Odette Raskins	Kamen Rider Zumine certainly has her hands full with the Rafflesia Jyamato as she just wails on it with her spear, most certainly showing a display of skill that could use a lot of work. Indeed, it's probably the best match for her at the moment since, if all else fails, it's still a spear and not some funky finesse weapon that she'd probably just end up hurting herself with. She almost misses the aid coming from Gin-pen, too, and only narrowly manages to see the penguin-themed Rider after pushing herself off of the Jyamato with the butt of her spear to catch her breath. And when she sees that flick and charge... "Is that a...? Is that another attack?" She's piecing it together, and she's already glancing at the Spear Buckle in her belt to see if there's a convenient spot for her to do the same. Of course, Odette's overreliance on just swinging and stabbing with the spear means she still has a lot to learn about when to pull back and shift to defense. Namely, the fact that she already tuckered herself out a bit with that initial rush enough that she even needs this chance to breathe. That, combined with having her attention drifting elsewhere to figure out her belt again means that she's caught off guard when the Rafflesia's giant arm starts swinging back out. She only has enough time to bring up her spear to eat some of that strike for all the good that does, yelping painfully at getting hurled back several yards from the impact of that hit. Rolling to a stop besides Gin-pen, Zumine whimpers painfully inside her helmet and pushes herself back up with the spear, stumbling briefly and clutching her side. As she tries to determine her own injuries, however, she notices that the same penguin Rider that showed her how to use the Buckle's charge is the same one that's in danger now. "G... Get somewhere safe. The rest of us... W-w-we'll take care of it from here, and then I'll get you treated, too!" For all her attempts to sound brave, Odette's still stammering fearfully all the while. Even with the suit, she's still feeling like she's in way over her head. She can't exactly leave one of her companion Riders alone in case he doesn't flee, though, and she takes a moment to balance the spear against her shoulder while flicking and smacking her Buckle to get it to start charging. She taps on it a few more times for good measure, and-             SPEAR STRIKE Zumine nearly drops the Armed Spear at the sudden callout, still jumpy as ever around her own weapon. With the tip glowing with charged up power, though, she puts two and two together, then grabs it in both hands near the back and around the center. "N... No more screwing around. J-just gotta... Get this in there really hard, right? Steady hand, steady..." Odette's breathing gets heavier and faster as she starts psyching herself up, arms visibly trembling while she lines up her weapon with the Jyamato even while it's in the middle of clashing with Buffa. She's still terrified, sure, but maybe being loud enough can fool everyone else into thinking she isn't! Well, maybe if she wasn't half-blubbering and half-screaming while sprinting right at Rafflesia, Armed Spear braced across her midsection like she's going jousting on foot to try and ram it right through the Jyamato in one (more) decisive strike.
Phantom Thieves	"Secret mission clear...?" Huh. So there's secret things to uncover... suddenly this is a lot more interesting. Clover weathers another hit, and goes in to deliver a finishing blow with her claw strike. "... This game is hard," she complains.
Angela	Yuri pants for breath after, bringing a hand to her wound but unexpectantly she gets a notification...! Even if it's expected that she's going to be hit by some unexpected shit. When the box appears, Yuri hurriedly pulls her hand free from her wound to catch i. She blinks in confusion, sheathing her blade as she examines it. She doesn't get an immediate chance to slot it in as Petra gets into the meat of it. Yuri listens to it. Periodically she has to kick or punch a jyamato as she's trying to figure out how to slot the buckle in while her hands are shaking. The emotions are screaming louder than the noise of battle right now. "I--I know being sorry right now isn't enough." Ishirou is sending data over but it's less effective in her hands right now even if it probably keeps her from getting stabbed in the back while she's trying to come to terms with her own betrayal and her willingness to turn against the very benefactor that she betrayed them all for--Instead of beseeching the Purple Tear for aid in escaping she turned herself in. "I didn't... I didn't expect to like you, I didn't--didn't THINK it'd hurt Cinder. I only knew Angela as someone who did 'something' that was going to get me and my friends killed. I should've ... spoken to you and Cinder once I realized. But...Agh...Nothing is how I expected it. I thought it'd be like working at any other Wing, nobody actually caring--about anything. I know I'm a coward. I just...clowned things up!" That FUCK is actually at the buckle about as much as it is about her life. She finally forces the buckle into the slot and BGM: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eYuMcTWMceU Yuri is treated to the goofiest second henshin of the night as a pair of bright yellow and blue boxing gloves appear on her hands. She loses her train of thought for a moment completely as it feels like The Secret Mission agreed with her on the matter of clowning things up. She can't hold Frost Splinter with these gloves! She throws punches at jyamato, backpedaling towards Petra as she tries to avoid getting CHOMPED in the process. At least so far she's only been stabbed! Zombie free spears, hopefully. "Trying...to just... desperately have a life with an arc, to have a life of meaning... Is what got me here." She says, seeing that Petra has dehenshined--so she follows suit. "I should've... I should've trusted you and Cinder instead of being so afraid I'd be...I'd be alone again if I shared everything. Cinder's the first friend I ever had, and you were the second.I can't... turn back the clock on being sorry, but I'll tell you what I know about her if you--want to know."
Hamada Haru	ELSEWHERE... Hamada Haru has been observing through one of a multitude of VIP sponsor lounges. He hasn't been pleased with what he's seen. Too many of the participants weren't just unable to breathe properly in a fight-- but worse than that, they hadn't been taught how to henshin. A tablet in hand shows him the slate of participants in a 5x5 grid, and too many of them are already gone. The ones that he helped train, he observes, are there. But... he had assumed all of them would get at least the basic help necessary to muddle along for the first little while. That this appears to have not been the case at all... He lays the tablet on the table in front of him and plucks up his strawberry lassi, a beverage that has become his regular in the DGP VIP Suites. He breathes out slowly as he sips, rolling things over in his head. Then he stands and replaces the glass on the table, the heaviness with which he sets it down causing it to tip precariously before rolling back onto its broad base. The hallway connecting the smaller VIP viewing areas rolls past as he walks, his eyes sliding onto a side-chamber and its occupants as he passes. A thoughtful hum rumbles in his throat as he exits the VIP area into those shared by the players. Technically, he doesn't think he's supposed to be in here, but he hasn't been rebuked yet-- and in this case he's looking for the Navigator. But he thinks better of it partway through, stopping just inside the lounge door to answer a question...
BB	Mission >Failed...< still rings in Jinako's ears, the draining away to videogame voxels and the direct line from being-hit to 'dying' removing the suspicious apostrophes almost completely. The DGP Admins hadn't been willing to explain what happens when people lose, hadn't been willing to share the stakes, had... ... a whole room full of people... ... and almost all of them were fighting like Gin-Pen. Like amateurs, flailing with knives against enormous, powerful nemesis enemies. Flailing and getting *hit*. Despite the incredible danger on display, and Jinako fighting in a competition suit that makes her look more like the mook and the Jyamato across from her. Only the ones with full buckles - like Geats and Buffa - really look like 'rival characters'. The rest of them just feel like. . . Extras. > Hang in there. You're doing great. "Easy for you to say, White Launcher!" Leffa complains at a full, wailing 'awawawa!' as the broken-tusked elephant Rider stays on target and in front. Even if she's terrified, the pressure of being the Tank, having the role of attracting attention and drawing hits alights her gamer brain and lets her complain and whine and sound like the biggest pathetic coward while taking up the followup blasts and barrages of shots that come in threes from offscreen with a trumpeting stress. Ochiba seems like they can handle themselves, but Gin-Pen... "Dagger penguin! Don't attack while they're looking! Help Tycoon!!!" She calls out, hot and frustrated like a real main tank while her most veteran help is filthy DPSmaxxing ranged trash, while the foolish elephant does her absolute best to feed those opportunities to her allies. She needs them to live -- to do damage!!! Still, being blasted and battered is a lot for Jinako, and taking Ochiba's blasting takes its toll on the tough elephant, the woman in the armor blinking past sweat beading on her brow and daringly not looking at her armor gauge. No, that's a lie. Leffa is extremely minding that armor gauge.
Shinmyoumaru Sukuna	One thing becomes very clear about this Kamen Rider Ochiba: She might not be afraid of a battle, and she's skilled in her own style. She's much better at not getting hit than a lot of the Riders here, who don't seem to have the skills; several more go down, and while Shinmyoumaru is still not really mentally reading them as 'dead' she knows they're 'gone' for now. (It lacks the visceral impact of some of the deaths she's seen in the Multiverse... maybe she *is* a little childlike.) But she definitely needs more practice before she can keep that ball and chain under control. "Wa~a~ah!" Shinmyoumaru's voice is shaky as she continues to spin, and spin, and spin. She can feel the ball slamming into things and she mostly just *hopes* they're Jyamato or zombies for the moment; she's wobbling her way toward the big one Okay. She's SURE she hit the big one that time. But she is interrupted a moment later when the spiked ball hits a tree, and the tree wins, the ball literally embedding itself slightly into it. But all that momentum has to go somewhere, and it goes into Shinmyoumaru, picking *her* up on the other end of the chain! Reflexively, Shinmyoumaru tucks in, and then stretches out - and that's exactly the right thing to do in this case, because it means when she's scythed around like that, she's delivering a spinning kick the whole way, now anchored against the tree. She plants feet, rebounds off, and catches a sweeping blow from the Rafflesia, which launches her some distance. It takes her a moment to catch her breath... and stop wobbling from dizziness. She squeezes her eyes shut for a moment. "It's Ochiba." she calls back to Odette. "OCHIBA! Like the fish!" Shinmyoumaru raps her knuckles against her helmet - yep, stylized koi, though even Shinmyoumaru didn't know that before she got the suit because it's a breed too new for her to have known from home. (She'd recognized the word as 'autumn leaves', and the orange is indeed about that colour.) Petra gives her some covering fire, though Shinmyoumaru looks around hastily to see if it's being fired at *her*. She gives Petra a big thumbs-up with one hand while winding in the ball on its chain with the other. She has an idea. As the ball returns to her, Shinmyoumaru runs. She's small, and fast, and not adverse to hiding behind things - or even people; when Leffa steps in front of her, she deliberately uses her as cover to finish preparing... whatever she's preparing. "Thanks!" she calls. "We should team up like some of the others, maybe...?" But that's for later. Right now she has a plan! Shinmyoumaru snaps the ball and chain up, well over the Rafflesia's head. And then, with her other hand, Shinmyoumaru surreptiously raps the base of the chain with her Miracle Mallet, a painted wooden mallet that looks a little like a toy itself. "Be big!" she almost whispers, though it still makes a flicker of magic. The magic isn't directed at the zombies, though, nor any wandering Jyamato that remain. No, it's all directed at the Armed Chain... specifically, the spiked ball on the end of it. The spiked ball expands to an enormous size - nearly six feet across, a gigantic sphere (well, polygon... it's got pentagonal and hexagonal segments) with a whole series of pointy spikes poking out of it. Shinmyoumaru just lets it drop while she tucks the Miracle Mallet away again. It's not cheating! She didn't hit anything with *anything* except a proper Rider weapon. Totally fair, in her definitely unbiased opinion. But she's still not going to leave the Miracle Mallet out. Just in case.
Dark Horses	"Yeah? Really?"           Tycoon perks up at the offer of help, only hesitating when he realizes he might be throwing away his chance to win by doing so. He really does not have the time to mull something like this over though, not to mention that even with this buckle, he's not even sure he can win this fight to begin with.      He grabs hold of the Boost Buckle, gripping it tightly before simply handing it to Geats and nodding.      "Come on, we gotta get outta here!"      Leaving the Raffelsia Monster to Geats, Tycoon runs on over and grabs hold of Gin-Pen, picking him up off the ground and throwing one of his arms over his shoulder as he leads him out of the fight.      Buffa, catching the exchange from the corner of his eye as he continues to fight the jymato, simply scoffs.      Trying to score more bonus objectives by saving his fellow riders, no doubt. Unfortunately for him, he's not going to get enough points to win this round. Fine by him, honestly, less competition to deal with in claiming the real game winner.      Though less competition doesn't make it any easier, and he staggers back a bit when the Jyamto unleashes a spray of acid at him, covering his face with a clawed hand to protect himself from the worse of it.      Even while he's getting attacked though, he plans his own counter offense, leaning the Zombie Breaker over his shoulder as he then pulls it forward, causing the foregrip on it to catch on his armor and pump itself.                                  POISON CHARGE                                        The sword glows with a sinister purple aura as Buffa now grasps the sword with both hands, charging forward and attempting to run the sword through the Jyamato before pulling it out and then bringing it down to chop it in half, leaving a streak of energy behind as he does so.                                   TACTICAL BREAK
Petra Soroka	"I--I know being sorry right now isn't enough."     Irritatedly, Petra performs an unnecessarily brutal takedown of a zombie Jyamato in the middle of Yuri's speech, flowing between kicks and knee jabs to keep it off balance, leting it get just close enough to her skin that its helmet splits open to reveal the zombie mouth. When it does, she snaps her hand out to grab the top of its jaw, wrenching it backwards and forcing a fistful of morphmetal inside with the other hand. She squeezes it in her fist, causing it to explode outwards in a razor sunburst inside its mouth, piercing out of every direction of the helmet and turning the zombie to ash as she roughly shoves it away.     "It's not just not *enough*. It's fucking *bullshit*. I hate that nothing needed to *happen* to make you sorry. Yuri, I--" Petra clenches her fist, Silver jutting between her fingers as knives and then softening into an amorphous mass around it. Her teeth grit, forcing words out slowly and effortfully. "I thought I learned with Tachibana. That all of you are unreliable when it counts. That you're just, like, driven entirely by weakness and inertia and apathy, instead of really stopping to look at the basic fucking facts of the world around you. You being sorry immediately means nothing. It's exactly what she'd do every time too."     A rough noise escapes Petra's throat with a heavy exhalation, rocking back on her heels and looking up through the patchy forest canopy to the red barrier above. "I'm pretty sure I'd be able to get permission to beat the shit out of you like her if I asked. But it's not even worth it at this point. Suffer longer. You did hurt Cinder, and she doesn't even know what to do about it other than keeping caring about you." "Trying...to just... desperately have a life with an arc, to have a life of meaning... Is what got me here."     "Pick better meaning." If that doesn't summarize Petra's philosophy entirely, then it's at least pretty close. "I can't... turn back the clock on being sorry, but I'll tell you what I know about her if you--want to know."     Petra shrugs, head lolling to the side as she continues to face away from Yuri. "Does it matter to keep helping the people I care about? Is it going to be relevant for me to help them? If it is, then I'll hear about it from you later. I'm not-- I'm not going to fall to my fucking knees and learn and do everything I can to manufacture some kind of sympathy to you. If all you have to say is for explaining *yourself*, then-- then you had your chances, you know? You had-- months and months of chances. And all that's different now is I know about it, and that's the only reason you feel guilty."     Petra isn't inclined to just walk away from the shambling hordes, but the main reason she's still taking steps to hunt down stragglers and execute them with morphmetal-enhanced brawling is for the same catharsis as punching walls that punch back. This eventually brings her over near Ka-On, currently whining.
Petra Soroka	"... This game is hard,"     "Look, you've really got to get some fucking guts for this, Clover." Petra's mood has soured, and she doesn't have the wherewithal to put up with her helplessness anymore. "People are dying. I won't be around to pull you out of every shit situation you bumble into. I don't even know why I've done it so far, I barely even know you. I guess it's just because you're--"     She doesn't actually know the answer. As endearing as Love's routine of hope and heart is, Clover's rings hollow and pathetic instead, and Petra has barely interacted with her besides pulling her ass out of multiple fires. She tiredly wracks her brain for an answer that feels truthful, pulling up the dim memory of princess carrying the other girl to safety and just going with it. "... pretty? Fuck, that-- that answer sucks. Oh my god. Just don't-- don't go die."
Desire Stars	That's what I mean, idiot, you've pissed me the fuck off and now I'm going to personally make *you specifically* miserable!     The -thoonk- of Da-Paan's Armed Launcher is mysteriously absent. He's missing from his tree, even. There wasn't a MISSION FAILED. So where did he get to? Surely, Petra couldn't be so lucky that he'd blow himself up. (She isn't.) The only hint as to what might have happened are claw marks on the bark and a snapped branch--he must've gotten forced from his perch.
Desire Stars	RAFFLESIA JYAMATO     Zumine finds that, regardless of the level of finesse with which she uses it, the Strike ability of an Armed Buckle is practically a necessity for doing meaningful damage to a beefed-up Jyamato like this one--the explosive lance of energy that rockets through it does a lot more to stun it than her previous flurry had. 'Stun' is the operative word, it's still standing, and still pretty pissed, but the more that it's staggered, the less it can fight back.     Ochiba's improvised modification to the Armed Chain draws the biggest reaction yet, not just visibly staggering the Rafflesia Jyamato but pinning its massive arm to the ground beneath its weight. It makes a wet, raspy noise of distress, yanking ineffectually at its oversized arm in an effort to free itself.     Leffa's armor gauge, accordingly, stops ticking, and she even has a moment to get in some extra damage herself, as well as Buffa, who gets in his Tactical Break with virtually no resistance, the explosion leaving an angry, glowing red wound down the huge Jyamato's body--but it doesn't, troublingly, do the expected dramatic fall-into-two-pieces. Rather, its whole body turns that angry shade of red, as a gradually louder and louder roar of rage rises up from it. Its free arm bashes into its chest-wound, and a shockwave full of corrosive miasma explodes outwards, buckling the circle of trees and even lifting Ochiba's Armed Chain into the air.     Tycoon hands Geats the Boost Buckle.     "Thanks," says the filthy DPSmaxxing trash to Tycoon. "And thank *you* for being patient, Leffa."     Geats inserts it, and revs the motorcycle-accelerator handle of the Boost Buckle.                          Set! DUAL ON! Get Ready For...                                                         BOOST & MAGNUM!                                     A hardlight display, almost like an advertisement for the buckles, appears behind him, as a mechanical manipulator arm affixes red armor plates to his thighs and shins--the shin-plates in particular sporting two metal exhaust pipes like a motorcycle's, annealed at the ends from heat.
Desire Stars	"Now... here comes the highlight." BGM> https://youtu.be/fYj5FQqh_Y8?si=8GRX293n3Op4KPvn     Geats revs the 'engine' twice more, to an announcement of BOOST TIME! -- he takes a knelt position as would a sprinter at the starting line of a race, before taking off with a crack that spews up clouds of disturbed earth and roots, shaking the branches of the trees. As he sprints, flames spit from the exhausts on his ankles, one stride of his legs easily carrying him the distance of three or four without the Buckle's help.     He vaults the falling tree created by Buffa's slash, running down the trunk as it falls just in time to launch a rocket-assisted whirlwind roundhouse to the Jyamato's jaw, spinning it fully around from the force of the impact. A litany of revs from the Buckle's 'engine' reverberates from the trees as he opens the Rafflesia Jyamato up with a flurry of superpowered kicks so fast that the heat distortion and the speed make them almost impossible to follow.     A rocket-assisted rising knee catches the underside of the Jyamato's jaw and knocks it flat on its back, as Geats hits the Buckle's action a final time--rising high into the air, the exhaust pipes change direction, and he extends his leg. Bright tails of fire extend far behind him, rendering the Rider into a falling star, while he feathers the trigger on the Magnum Shooter, and little wrist-mounted cannons extend to prolong the grounded stunlock state. His impact sends a dramatic plume of fire upwards that occludes his form, but for the fiery impression of his mask and visor.                            BOOST MAGNUM GRAND VICTORY                               When the smoke and ashes clear, Geats stands in a crater, atop the spot where the Rafflesia Jyamato once lay.                                  MISSION CLEAR!                                     The leaderboards are updated--with Geats securing a narrow but calculated lead. The groupings are just as tight, with Tycoon just barely managing to stay in the runnings. There are only a handful of you left--the overwhelming majority either got elminated or 'failed.'     "Thanks for the points," he says, nodding towards the withdrawing Tycoon. "I had a feeling you'd fall for that." The Boost Buckle, as it turns out, is one-and-done, which it demonstrates by rocketing off of Geats' belt and heading straight for Tycoon. Does it have a problem with him or something?
Angela	Yuri was told to stick by Petra and so unfortunately she can't even storm off or anything or give space. That'll have to happen after the battle is over. "...Then I'll be sorry later too, and Il'l prove it. I'll prove I can be sorry and mean it and actually do someting about it." ''Suffer longer. You did hurt CInder, and she doesn't even know what to do about it other than keeping caring about you.'' Yuri flinches. She lowers her head. She doesn't hae an answer for that. Eventually, she says, "Okay, Petra. I'll suffer. Eternally if I gotta." ''Pick better meaning'' Yuri doesn't have an answer to that. If she had a better meaning she wouldn't be here. ''Does it matter to keep helping the people I care about? Is it going to be relevant for me to help them?'' Oh. Suffer longer. She chose suffering. ''And that's the only reason you feel guilty.'' "...I felt guilty before. That's why I stayed." She insists. But she's silent after that, the only noises from her is fighting and goofy greeble noises.
Odette Raskins	Zumine pants wearily as the Rafflesia Jyamato gets beaten on by so many different Riders at once, then lets out a confused and frustrated whine when it doesn't fall over and explode like it should be. "How tough is this thing...? M-maybe we're supposed to get all the survivors out of here instead...?" Before she can really consider the merits of falling back and evacuating whoever's still here and in over their heads even more than she might be, she hears Geats, and she hears the callout from the Boost Buckle and Magnum Shooter. It's easy to see just from the slow tilt of her helmet and the slight turn of her head that she's staring right at the hardlight display operating on Geats' armor, barely even moving from her spot until the upgraded Geats does. Having not seen this up close before, Odette's is likely predictable as it would be for many of Ace's fans: Excited cheering, staying still to not miss a moment, and tired fist-pumping. The latter is mostly from actually just being tired from the fight, though, but there's a visible relief in her shoulders as the Jyamato disappears following that fiery blast. Even after hearing the MISSION CLEAR, however, Zumine stays transformed, and she's back on her feet once she catches her breath. "G-good work, everyone! Okay, uh. Let's... Gotta find any survivors. And wherever those..." She trails off, first to grab her medical bag from where she had left it, then to look around as she realizes something. "Where'd those... The rest of the people that came with us. D-did they end up back at the Temple?" Zumine asks, clearly not getting it yet as she's still half-distracted with checking on Leffa, Ochiba, and Gin-pen while gesturing for them to take off their helmets. She still needs to do her post-fight checkups, after all! "E-easy now. If it's stuck, don't force it. Might need some ice if there's any swelling..."
Shinmyoumaru Sukuna	Honestly, Shinmyoumaru wasn't sure how well that was going to work. She's dropped things before but never quite like that, and never on the end of a chain... but she's good at snagging things with her fishing hooks, and it's a lot like that. Or, at least, if she thinks of it like that she can do it by instinct, which is good enough. THe hardest part is using the handle, which grew along with the rest of it and now requires both hands just to hold onto. She tugs on the chain but can't actually move the spiked ball when it's that big - she's not strong enough to do so, so it just kind of rocks in place while keeping the thing pinned for a few moments. "I got it! I got it - !" She does not got it, not forever. The burst of miasma lifts up the Armed Chain, and though slams *right* back down, it's enough to give Geats his victory. Shinmyoumaru herself is blown away by the shockwave - anything strong enough to buckle trees and lift her gigantic Armed Chain is certainly strong enough to lift her. She loses her grip on the chain (and it returns to normal size a few moments later), but hits the ground on her feet and skids rather than bouncing off some trees. "Wow...!" Even she's impressed, and Shinmyoumaru didn't want to be impressed by another contestant; she wanted to come out ahead after all. But Kamen Rider Ochiba stands for several moments in sheer awe. She wants to applaud. (She liked the motorcycle theming, as it turns out.) Ochiba looks over toward Zumine afterwards. She, too, remains transformed. But she addresses Luffa first: "Thanks!" she says, bright and cheerful despite... despite everything. She holds out her hand for a shake, standing on tiptoes next to the elephant Rider. THEN she looks over at Zumine. "Uh, maybe?" Shinmyoumaru didn't ask that part. "And I'm fine...!" (She's mostly fine. By which we mean she hurts and will have some hellacious bruising, but nothing feels broken.)
Desire Stars	The rest of the people that came with us. D-did they end up back at the Temple?     A pillar-shaped cascade of blue voxels deposits someone into the forest. "I'm afraid not." The voice is unfamiliar, to some of you. Others, who have visited the Desire Temple between rounds, will recognize it immediately.     It's Girori, the Desire Temple's concierge. His "First and foremost, let me offer my congratulations to you, Kamen Riders, on clearing the first mission. As well, my most sincere thanks to our Elite allies--our staff will be in contact for proper compensation, of course." He lowers his head respectfully.     "As for your question, Odette..." Girori gestures to his right, where a holographic blue screen displays. "These are the current standings." A wall of little photos of the current players--each with a title card, bearing a cameo of their Rider motif, their Rider names, and below, in smaller font, their given names. Those who 'didn't make it' have ugly, apathetic red font stamped over their grayed-out photos.                         GEATS BUFFA FUYUBEE KA-ON OCHIBA                                                LEFFA NA-GO ZUMINE DA-PAAN GIN-PEN                                                  MARY TYCOON RET. RET. RET.                                                  RET. RET. RET. RET. RET.                                               LOSE LOSE LOSE LOSE LOSE                                               LOSE LOSE LOSE LOSE LOSE                                               LOSE LOSE LOSE LOSE LOSE                                               LOSE LOSE LOSE LOSE LOSE                                               LOSE LOSE LOSE LOSE LOSE                                               LOSE LOSE LOSE LOSE LOSE
Desire Stars	"Those listed as 'Retired' didn't score highly enough to make it to the next round. But those listed as 'lose' are permanent casualties of the Jyamato, and will not return on the next iteration of the world." Taken with Girori's explanation, the sight is harrowing-- more like a memorial, rendered much too briefly and much too callously, than a scoreboard.     "The people who lost their lives here today," says Girori with a frown, "Will be remembered by their friends and loved ones as having passed away in accidents, disappeared mysteriously, or any of countless other rationalizations. If that seems harsh... it's because it is. Areas where Jyamato emerge victorious over Riders are erased from humanity's collective memory entirely--which is why the DGP searches for those capable of fighting the Jyamato and preventing such catastrophies from occuring. Our Riders win more than they lose, but loss *is* possible--so while I encourage you to be mindful of the gravity of this contest, those of you who have made it this far shouldn't downplay what you've accomplished."     He pauses, allowing the information to sink in, both hands clasped patiently before him. The buzzing of summer insects gradually rises to fill the silence. "Now," he says, "Riders, if you'll please come this way, we'll take you to the Desire Temple for treatment and some well-earned rest. Ms. Soroka, Mr. Ishirou, if you'd prefer not to make the journey back to the Warpgate, we'll have a sponsor arrange for transport promptly. Oh, and... the production staff is aware of the circumstances with Ms. Yuri," he says, specifically to Petra. "Rest assured, she'll be back to see to her... obligations in short order." It's the polite way of saying that the DGP staff is grateful for a prisoner being allowed to participate, and doesn't want to step on the toes of the institution doing the allowing overmuch.     The Riders, once they gather as instructed, are teleported away, along with Girori, in that same blue-voxel light, leaving Petra and Ishirou to either wait for transport or use their own means to return.