Stepping into the office Genm Corp’s CEO was always one of your biggest dreams. Or would that be your host’s? You shake your head clearing that thought as you look around the heavily decorated room. Marble statues and roses clashed heavily with posters of your favorite games and series as you tentatively make your way towards the man at the desk. Parado gives you a reassuring smile and leads you towards the man behind it all. You find Amagasaki smelling a rose and speaking on the phone. “Yes! Yes! I think our companies would work wonderfully together to make Kamen Rider Chronicle famous around the world!” He laughs nodding. He notices you and gives you a small nod. “Yes, I look forward to our meeting. Have a good day.” He says before hanging up.

He says up and approaches you two with open arms. “Parado, to what do I owe the pleasure? And who is this lovely young lady? Don’t tell me you’ve fallen for someone?” He laughs. You resist the urge to cringe and stay close to your brother.

Parado smiles. “No. This is my sister, the one I told you about.” He says proudly. “We actually came to talk to you about something.” He says a bit more seriously.

Amagasaki nods. “Of course. I can always spare some time for you. How can I help you two?” He asks cheerfully.

“We want to talk to you about Chronicles.” You say. Amagasaki raises an eyebrow.

“Oh? Do you have some ideas you want to pitch to me?” He asks.

>What does Reiko say?
>Ask Amagaski what the phone call was about. It seemed he was speaking about spreading the game worldwide.
>Be direct. Tell Amagasaki that Chronicle needs to stop. Humans and Bugster can work together to find some kind of balance without having to sacrifice the other.
>Let Parado do the talk. He seems to know Amagasaki better than you.

>>3948182
>Let Parado do the talk. He seems to know Amagasaki better than you.

>>3948225
Letting Parado do the talking. Writing.

You’re unsure of how to broach the subject. After all, you’re basically asking for Amagaski to shut down his entire plan on the promise of finding a way for humans and bugster to play nice with each other. Luckily for you Parado speaks up.

“Lovelica, we have...developments.” Parado starts choosing his words carefully. He glances at you briefly before turning back to Amagasaki. “Cyber Rescue has been brought back together.” He continues. Amagaski nods quietly and smells his rose.

“And we have this lovely lady to thank I presume.” He says politely. “Naturally, I had expected the humans to mount a new offensive against us but to think one of our own would be spearheading the counter attack is quite the surprise.” He smiles and turns to the two of you with a laugh. “And such a great development for the game it will be!”

You feel your headache a bit as he laughs and you aren’t sure if you like this man. Something about him is off putting. Even compared to Kuroto.

“Is this why you’ve been missing my lady? You know you’ve caused Parado much stress during your absence but if it was all to set up the greatest of betrayals I suppose we can forgive you.” Amagasaki says. Parado shakes his head.

“No...that’s not really it.” He says. “I mean she did help form the new group but she didn’t really do it for that.” He says tentatively trying to figure out how to phrase things. Amagaski continues to look straight at you however making want to shuffle your feet anxiously.

>What does Reiko do?
>Take over the conversation. Parado seems unsure of what to say. (This requires a roll.)
>Ask about the other company he was talking about. Amagasaki seems to think you’re on his side so he might trust you.
>Let Parado continue.

Since we might have to roll. Rules are basic 1d20 best of 3 with 1s not overriding.

Rolled 1 (1d20)

>>3948321
>Take over the conversation. Parado seems unsure of what to say. (This requires a roll.)

Hey nice to see you back Nova.

Also being essential video game villains, I doubt the busters will follow or respect someone who doesn't have the balls to speak for herself. Parado has made the introductions, time to take over. (also watch me roll a nat 1 after all this)

Rolled 17 (1d20)

>>3948321
>Take over the conversation. Parado seems unsure of what to say.

File: 001cfac87bc0485fcec9d55ea(...).jpg (6 KB, 202x249)

6 KB JPG

>>3948458
Good to be back. Also, it begins...

>>3948458
>>3948463
We're talking now. Writing.

You place a hand on Parado’s shoulder and give him a nod. “Cyber Rescue is back.” You say. “And we’re not just here to fight bugsters.” You take a step forward and stand next to Parado. “We want to find a way where bugsters and humans can live in peace. We can find a way for both of us to coexist.”

Amagasaki looks at you curiously. “But bugsters need hosts and humans won’t willingly sacrifice their own for us.” He says shaking his head in melodramatic sadness. “It simply won’t do. How can we coexist together if they want to hunt us down for just being alive.” He continues placing a hand on his forehead. “It is our eternal struggle. But...Chronicle is our salvation! Through it we can find a means of continuing through the guise of a game! And should humans go extinct in the process...well it can’t be helped.”

You shake your head. “No it doesn’t have to be like that. We can look for other avenues to help bugsters come into being. We’re based on a virus, maybe we can find a way to cultivate without a human.” You protest. “We don’t have to do it like this.”

Amagasaki lets out another dramatic sigh. “Ahh that youthful optimism. If only I could share in it once more. But I’ve grown and I’ve seen the world for what it is. Running this company, I’ve dealt face to face with what humans truly are. I just want to protect those closest to me. Surely you would understand that. Look at it from our point of view little miss. Like the Gamer Drivers, Chronicle is the bugsters’ way of defending themselves against humans. Without it, we’d be hiding in the shadows. Hoping that maybe a human gets infected and the it’s not caught. That’s not a life I dream of my friends living. Surely you can agree that at least Chronicles is giving us a chance to live.”

You frown. Not out of frustration as you had anticipated that it wouldn’t be so easy to ask him to stand down but this conversation felt...odd. It was almost like a feeling of deja vu or vertigo. Neither could be the case as you don’t remember your real past beyond your human memories nor were you afraid of heights. Rubbing your head a bit, you press on. “I can understand being afraid. But I also know what it’s like being afraid from both sides. It’s not right. None of this is. But we have to find an alternative or else we might end up with a situation none of us are going to be happy with.”

The CEO places the rose on his desk and draws a small mirror out of his pocket. “Miss…?”

“Reiko.”

“Miss Reiko...such a human name you’ve chosen.” He says gently trying to maintain his hair. “I had hoped you’d have a name more in line with ours but I suppose we’ve both taken on human names for the roles we’ve chosen. I know you want the best for everyone but it seems that maybe you’ve spent a bit too much time with the humans.” He grins. “Why don’t come back to our fold? See what it’s like to be on the other end? You could play Chronicles the way it’s meant to be played. As a boss, you’ll see the true face of humans. What you’ve seen is merely a facade they put up when around others.”

Parado steps forward. “Lovelica, she my sister. Don’t you put her as a boss in your games.” He says with anger tinting his neutral tone.

Amagasaki looks at the both of you. “Parado, I understand your attachment to her but it really is her choice to make. So...will you join us? Give it a shot?”

You grimace a bit as a migraine seems to be building in your head. Maybe it was Dangerous Zombie messing with you? Or could it have been Proto Mighty Action X finally catching up with you? You try and push those thoughts aside as you answer Amagasaki.

>What is Reiko’s decision?
>No. Playing Chronicles just to hunt humans down? That’s every you stood against for. You want to help people and bugsters not give them a reason to escalate things. Although...just thinking of trying to find a way to bring peace between both sides is giving you a headache. (I’ll need a roll for this 1d20+4)
>Yes. Maybe you should spend some time seeing things from the other end. How can you say you want what’s best for both sides when you can’t even remember being a bugster? It also sounds kind of...fun...
>Write in.

Rolled 7 + 4 (1d20 + 4)

>>3948651

>No. Playing Chronicles just to hunt humans down? That’s every you stood against for. You want to help people and bugsters not give them a reason to escalate things. Although...just thinking of trying to find a way to bring peace between both sides is giving you a headache. (I’ll need a roll for this 1d20+4)
We must not stray from the path of friendship.

Also we need to look into whatever surgery managed to seperate Parado from Emu. The main point of conflict between humans and bugsters is always going to be that the latter kill the former by coming into existence. If we manage to extract the bugster while saving the host, we can remove a huge obstacle which is in the way of peace. (Reiko ofc doesn't know about the parado emu backstory much, so this whole chain of thought will probably start with 'hey, how the heck can parado and emu exist at the same time?)

Rolled 8 + 4 (1d100 + 4)

>>3948651
>No

File: Spoiler Image (108 KB, 1280x720)

108 KB JPG

>>3948693
>>3948686
I am concerned. But someone isn't

>>3948693
>>3948686
Alright. No it is but can we say it? Writing.

>>3948693
Wait...that's 1d100 friend. Not 1d20. Mind giving us a reroll?

Rolled 5 (1d20)

>>3948779
Ah fuck

>>3948783
>>3948686
Welp. Guess we're mixing things up. Now I'm writing.

File: tumblr_ok0unovzJs1qc7cmzo1_500.gif (1.56 MB, 500x281)

1.56 MB GIF

You are...Parado

You frown, upset that Lovelica would even think to suggest making Reiko a monster for players to hunt. Even though you had promised to help your sister find a way to mediate a truce between humans and bugsters, the idea of humans hunting her down riled you up.

“Parado, I understand your attachment to her but it really is her choice to make. So...will you join us? Give it a shot?” He asks looking at Reiko.

Reiko opens her mouth to speak but seems to be at a loss for words. “I...No-…” She mumbles before looking at her feet blankly and going quiet.

“Reiko?” You ask concerned and gently put your hand on her shoulder. “Hey...It’s ok.” You reassure her but she doesn’t respond. Lovelica smiles cruelty.

“It seems like the young lady is a bit conflicted.” He says and motions towards the window. “Why don’t you come over here miss? Maybe some visualization will help.” Reiko doesn’t respond but shuffles forward, her eyes dull and unfocused.

“H-hey Reiko…” You says trying to hold her but she slips your grasp. “Lovelica! What’s going on?!” You shout. Genm Corp’s CEO ignores you as he pats your sister’s head.

“Just look at the city...full of humans. All of them happy. All of them willing to put us down. Wouldn’t you rather it be filled with our people? Don’t we deserve to be happy?” He asks. Reiko stays silent but you think you can see the faintest movement indicating a nod.

“REIKO!” You shout and try to move forward to get to her but you notice movement out of the corner of your eyes. Several bugster minions make their way into the room, armed with spears and various hunting weapons. Alongside them the Drago Knight players emerge.

“I’m glad you agree but...your brother doesn’t seem to. He wants to stop us from making that happen.” Lovelica continues as he turns to face you. “He’s a race traitor and honestly...we only need one Mighty Action bugster for Chronicle. I think it’s time we discontinue you.” The minions and players step forward but Lovelica holds up a hand. “I think our new friend should handle this. After all they are family.” He smirks. “Go on dear. I’m certain you didn’t come here unarmed.”

Reiko nods numbly and steps forward into the ring of people. She draws and equips her Driver before holding up the Proto Mighty Action X gashat.

“Reiko please...this isn’t you. Don’t do this.” You plead instinctively drawing your Gashat. You look at it and then at her. Yours is level 50 and hers is level 0. In her state you couldn’t tell if she’d have the foresight to back off if things got dire. With your strength, you might accidentally kill her if she wasn’t careful.

Reiko spins her gashat up to eye level and smirks. It felt devious, cruel. A horrible mirror of your sister when she transformed to fight.

Mighty Action X!

>What does Parado do?
>Try and take the Gashat from Reiko. If you can take it away, she can’t transform but you can guarantee the others will try to intervene and stop you. You’ll be unstranformed as well putting you at a huge disadvantage.
>Transform and fight your way out. You won’t engage your sister head on. You only found her and you’d rather die trying to escape than risk killing her yourself. If you can escape, you can get in contact with the others and they can help you figure something out.
> Fight Reiko. This isn’t her. Maybe you can find a way to have her bail out of her transformation or maybe you’ll end up killing her. Either way, it’s better than what she might become. Better than her reputation being tarnished and all her hard work being ruined. The others might not understand but you’ll bear that burden on your own.

1d20 roll for all choices.

Rolled 15 (1d20)

>>3948890
>Fight Reiko. This isn’t her. Maybe you can find a way to have her bail out of her transformation or maybe you’ll end up killing her. Either way, it’s better than what she might become. Better than her reputation being tarnished and all her hard work being ruined. The others might not understand but you’ll bear that burden on your own.
Second option is not an option; she wouldn't forgive herself if she killed any innocents.

Rolled 12 (1d20)

>>3948888

> Fight Reiko. This isn’t her. Maybe you can find a way to have her bail out of her transformation or maybe you’ll end up killing her. Either way, it’s better than what she might become. Better than her reputation being tarnished and all her hard work being ruined. The others might not understand but you’ll bear that burden on your own.

Rolled 19 (1d20)

>>3948890
>Fight Reiko

File: FatherlySoggyAmericancurl(...).gif (842 KB, 320x180)

842 KB GIF

>>3948919
>>3948922
>>3948944
Looks like we're gonna fight Reiko. Things are going to get ugly before they get better. Writing! I wonder if Hiiro will forgive you. Will he forgive himself?

Side note, ever wonder why Reiko keeps getting beat to hell when she fights? It's because she holds back. Now those inhibitions are supressed.

It’s her eyes. From the bottom of your soul, her eyes are what’s killing you. They’re dull and lifeless but you can tell. You can feel that deep down she’s afraid.

Lovelica gives his fake smile once more. “Miss Reiko. You know your brother is quite powerful. We can’t have you giving half efforts.” He says holding up his rose to sniff. “Do it again.” He commands dropping all pretense of freedom Reiko had.

Reiko’s eyes tear up as she holds up her gashat again and pushes the button once more. And then again. And again. She mashes the button until the announcer’s voice blurs together and becomes incoherent.

Mighty Action X!

Mighty Action X! Mighty Action X!

MightyMightymightmightmimimi-

Tears stream from your little sister’s eyes as she continues to press the button. The Proto Gashat glows a dangerous violet as sparks of energy course throughout it. The tears slowly fade away, leaving a cruel and unforgiving smirk on Reiko’s face. Her hair fades as it’s natural black color is burned away leaving only a snow white behind. With a wild look in her eyes she raises the glowing gashat and slams it into her Driver before flinging the lever to the side. The same energy bursts forth from the slow and courses all over the Driver leaving it blackened and corrupt.

“REIKO STOP!” You scream and draw you Gashat. You twist the knob so violently that you fear you might break it.

Knock out Fighter!

Dual Up! Gashatto!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hiYZwV-HkEU

The two of you transform and engage each other in the office as you both slam your forearms together. Reiko’s body vibrates ever so slightly and seems to glitch in some parts as you feel your arm go numb from the impact. Reiko drops to her knees and sweeps your leg but you jump over it the attack as you feel the edge your higher level kicking in. Reiko is slower but only slightly. She’s abnormally fast for someone at her level. You remember Kuroto once telling you that Proto Gashats and near limitless power but it would also destroy the user’s body.

Pushing aside the implications of that idea, you bury your affection for your sister and smash your knee into her chest lifting her off the ground.

She’s so light…

You can’t help thinking about how little muscle your sister actually has. You don’t have time to dwell on it as you feel her plant her hands on your leg and kick you across the head. You grunt as you feel your body corkscrew and crash into a nearby table. Reiko dashes towards you and you barely move out of the way before she smashes her heel into the table and breaking it to pieces.

You blink away tears as your run at her and throw a jab. Reiko raises her hands to block but your sheer strength breaks through her defenses and your first connects with her face. She flies back but manages to handstand and backflip to her feet.

Gashacon Breaker!

A blade materializes in Reiko’s hand and rushes you once more. She jumps and twists sideways to become a spinning blade. You raise your gauntlets and sparks fly as the blade is deflected off of them. You grimace as you slap the blade away and instinctively follow up with an uppercut into Reiko’s gut and then punching her back down into the ground. You back up a bit to make some room but you get too close to the ring of people around you and one of the Drago Knight players takes a swing at you. You throw yourself into a roll and maneuver your way to the center of the office.

Reiko picks herself up and slowly turns towards you as she places her other hand on the hilt of her sword. As you two face each other you notice her blinking health bar.

/////IIIII(10/15 HP)


>What does Parado do?!
>Continue to fight. The ring of minions would make it hard to escape but in your transformation they wouldn’t make it impossible. Even the players wouldn’t make it too hard to escape. But you don’t want to leave Reiko all alone with these people. Especially when she’s not herself.
>Try to escape. Even in her current state, Reiko is still losing against you and that’s the problem. If you continue doing this, she will get a game over and with her Driver the way it is right now, you have no idea what will happen. You have to let others know.
>Try and gather some powerups. If not for offense then for defense as you buy some time to think of what to do.
>Try to and snap Reiko out of it. You have no idea how to do this but your desperate. You don’t want to hurt your sister. (Heads up. You’ll need to roll really high for this option.)
>Write in

I’ll want 1d20 rolls for all options.

Rolled 14 (1d20)

>>3948993
>Try to and snap Reiko out of it. You have no idea how to do this but your desperate
Power of familial bonds go!

>>3948996
Looks like we hit that time of the day again. Where people are heading to sleep. It was a good start guys. Looking forward to running again.

Rolled 13 (1d20)

>>3948993
>Try to and snap Reiko out of it. You have no idea how to do this but your desperate

>>3949708
>>3948996
Those are some good rolls my friends but...they are not high enough I'm afraid. There's still about 40 minutes before I'm going to be free to continue this quest so someone can try for that last roll.

>>3949708
>>3948996
Trying to talk Reiko out of murdering us. Writing.

You raise your fists defensively as Reiko approaches. “Reiko please. You have to fight this. I don’t want to hurt you.” You plead as she takes Hiiro’s stance and swings at you. The blade blurs through the air but you manage to deflect it only to feel a sudden pain in your side as Reiko takes advantage of your opening to strike. You grunt in pain and push her away but she grabs your wrist. She pulls you towards her as she kicks you right in the face again, knocking you backwards.

Your head throbs and your vision blurs a bit as you steady yourself. “Please...you’re my sister. I can’t...I can’t lose you again.” You pant and deflect the blade, countering with a right hook into her side. Reiko staggers to the left from the force of your blow. She falls to one side and rolls to maintain her momentum.

“Come on Reiko...don’t do this. I know you’re more stubborn than this.” You murmur to yourself while you twist out of the way and shove your sister to the side. If you had to engage her then you would have to work hard to not hurt her. Doing so was easier said than done as trying to stick to the defensive left you open at times when you had to rein in your instincts to counter attack.

You feel more and more like a caged animal as the group around you slowly close in, making your fighting area more and more restricted. Your anger rises and you clench your fists. You were not some animal to be penned in and hunted. You want to vent and fly into a rage but every time you see Reiko approach, your anger dissipates. She didn’t deserve this. All she wanted to do was help people. She just wanted everyone to be happy.

You duck under another attack and her blade cleaves into one of the minions. They scatter a bit and she shoves another aside disregarding everyone around her to get to you. You contemplate swapping to Perfect Puzzle. Being able to gather power ups would be a great advantage but unless you were going to fight back, they would only just prolong the fight and the longer Reiko was stuck transformed the more she was hurting herself.

Reiko swings her blade down and your forced to block it again with your gauntlets. Again she thrusts her leg out and smashes her heel into your chin sending you sprawling backwards.

Reiko’s HP” 9/15
Parado’s HP 12/15
>What do you guys do?
>Disarm Reiko. The less ways Reiko has of hurting you the better but it won’t stop her from trying to fight you.
>Try and get away. You don’t want to leave her. You can’t. But at this moment you can’t think of any way to help.
>Continue to try and get through to her. She wouldn’t give up trying to convince someone, and neither will you.
>Finish her. She’s too far gone. Maybe you’ll be able to find a way to bring her back like Kuroto but you know she wouldn’t be able to live with herself if she killed anyone in this state.
1d20 rolls agian. Third option is just as hard as before.

Rolled 13 (1d20)

>>3949873
>>Disarm Reiko. The less ways Reiko has of hurting you the better but it won’t stop her from trying to fight you.
We can continue the talking after she drops the weapon

Rolled 5 (1d20)

>>3949873
>Disarm Reiko. The less ways Reiko has of hurting you the better but it won’t stop her from trying to fight you.

Rolled 3 (1d20)

>>3949873
>Disarm Reiko. The less ways Reiko has of hurting you the better but it won’t stop her from trying to fight you.

>this whole situation
>that spoiler
I didn't ask for this feel

>>3949980
>>3949985
>>3949991
Disarming Reiko it is. Writing.

“LOVELICA!” You scream as your anger boils over. “I’LL MAKE YOU PAY FOR THIS! BUGSTER OR HUMAN! NO ONE TOUCHES MY SISTER! WE’RE NOT TOYS FOR YOUR AMUSEMENT!”

Amagasaki sniffs his rose. “On the contrary Parado. That’s exactly what we are. It just so happens that you’ve outlived your usefulness. Your services are no longer required.”

You roar in frustration as you back into the ring once more and punch a nearby minion. Your frustrations are temporarily abated as you see your sister rush towards you with her blade. You duck underneath it and roll out of the way. As you get to your feet you uppercut another minion in the vain attempt to do something productive. Amagasaki sighs. “It seems like your brother is getting a bit rowdy. Finish him.” He says waving aimlessly at you.

Reiko stops in her tracks and ejects the Gashat from the driver. It was blackened and corroded but still glowed with that ominous violet light as she slots it into her weapon. The Driver’s announcer crackles as it struggles to maintain its stability.

gAShatTo! KImewAZa!

Reiko’s blade crackles with the same energy as it begins to burn it’s way up towards the blade and becomes developed in the dangerous purple glow. She raises it slowly before bolting towards you with unnatural speed.

MIgHTy cRitIcaL FInIsH!

You instinctively reach for your Gashat to initiate your own counter finisher but you hesitate. What if the blow back was too much for her to handle? Her own gear was struggling to function properly as it is. Reiko closes begins to close the gap. She was only 5 feet away and you still couldn’t decide what you wanted to do.

3 feet. You could try and slap away the blade but that wouldn’t make her any less of a threat.

2 feet. Maybe you could dodge and make the attack hit someone behind you but again she’d still keep going.

1 foot. If you had more time you could swap forms and get some power ups to tank the blow.

As Reiko stands in front of you and raises her blade you do the only thing your heart tells you. You drop your hands to your side.

SLASH!

You grit your teeth and you feel the energy burn around you and your shoulder stops the blade. It takes everything you have from screaming in agony but you manage to hold on. As you breath heavily, you gently place your hand on the swords blade and grip it. “It’s over Reiko. You win.” You say gently as you pull it out of her hands. “You can stop now.”

Reiko’s HP 9/15
Parado’s HP 4/15

>What’s the next move?
>Try and convince Reiko she’s done. She doesn’t need to fight anymore.
>Reiko is disarmed. You can take this chance to try and force her out of her transformation. You don’t know how the Driver will react though.
>You’re both hurt. You can get some healing power ups but that might just prolong the fight.
>Write in.

All require 1d20 but the first option gets 1d20+6. Even a suppressed Reiko can't overlook nearly killing her brother

Rolled 13 + 6 (1d20 + 6)

>>3950090
>Try and convince Reiko she’s done. She doesn’t need to fight anymore

Rolled 17 + 6 (1d20 + 6)

>>3950090
>Try and convince Reiko she’s done. She doesn’t need to fight anymore.

>>3950151
>>3950099
Telling her to stop. Writing.

“You don’t want to hurt anyone.” You say quietly. “Remember why we came here? You wanted to stop all the fighting.” You hold your arms out. “But if you really want to end this. I’m open. As long as you’re safe then I don’t care what happens to me.”

Reiko’s hands tremble and her shoulders move as she sobs. “I’m sorry…” She cries. “I didn’t want to...I couldn’t stop.” You pull your little sister close and hold her tight.

“It’s ok.” You whisper dropping the ruined blade. “I know you didn’t want to do it.”

“Parado I don’t feel so good.” She whimpers as her legs start to give out. You hold on tight and steady her.

“Hey, I need you to be strong right now.” You say. “We’re not out of the woods yet.”

Amagasaki claps slowly. “What a beautiful show of affection.” He says as he approaches. With some effort place yourself in front of Reiko. “But really, I do need you out of the way and your sister back.” He says.

Reiko groans. “Are we going to die here? I don’t wanna die…” She whispers trembling.

“It’ll be alright Reiko.” You assure her looking around the room. “You’ll make it out of here.”

The minions and players stand menacingly around you, waiting for the kill command. Alone and at peak health, you might have stood a chance of escape but now you had an injured sister to look after.

“Now Parado, please don’t make this difficult. I’m only thinking about what's best for everyone.” He says.

You glare at a Amagasaki though it’s not apparent because of your mask. “Reiko. Stay close to me.” You say quietly.

"What are you going to do?" She whimpers.

"When I say run. Just go." You whisper. Reiko holds your arm tightly.

"No. I can't leave you. Please." She begs.

>What do you do?
>Try to hold the room off to buy Reiko time to escape. You’re pretty badly hurt but you can still try and buy some time for her to get to safety.
>Work together to escape. Reiko seems pretty out of it but maybe you can snap her out of it and find a way to escape.
>Try and carry Reiko out and just run. Reiko does not seem to be in any condition to fight the best option now is to make a break for it.
>Write in.
That will be the last post for tonight friends.

>>3950272
>Work together to escape. Reiko seems pretty out of it but maybe you can snap her out of it and find a way to escape.

>>3950272
>>Work together to escape. Reiko seems pretty out of it but maybe you can snap her out of it and find a way to escape.

>>3950928
>>3950865
Gonna try to escape. Can I get some rolls please? 1d20+3

Rolled 16 + 3 (1d20 + 3)

>>3950961

Rolled 4 + 3 (1d20 + 3)

>>3950969
I'll give a roll but this works. Writing.

File: ddd.gif (472 KB, 500x281)

472 KB GIF

>>3950993
I'm never rolling again.

Reiko clings to your arm tightly. You gently give her a shake. “Alright. Then we’ll have to work together.” Your sister holds on tighter and you’re forced to give her a shake. “Reiko! I need you focus. I can’t do it alone. I know you’re afraid but I promise. I won’t let anything happen to you.” You say. You pull her into a tight hug and shove her forward. “Now RUN!” You shout as you throw yourself into the crowd blocking your way.

You sink your fist into one of the minions and throw him into another. You thrust your foot behind you and kick another straight into the wall and knocking down several framed pictures causing them to shatter and spray glass everywhere. Pain shoots through your body as your injuries start to catch up to you and leave you wide open for one of the Drago Knight players to take a swing.

Reiko jumps and kicks striking the player in the back and follows up with a slash from the corroded blade you had dropped. She runs towards you to help you up. “Come on. We can’t stop here.” She pleads swinging at another minion making its way towards you.

You grit your teeth and ignore the pain as Reiko engages the player. She parries their blade and you follow up with a series of punches as you both force your way through the crowd. The group closes in around you threatening to overwhelm you but the two of you manage to push back and break through.

One of the players shoots a blast of dragon breath at Reiko but you pull her out of the way. Using the momentum, she rolls off your back and slams her leg into another enemy knocking him to the ground! You spin and punch him down again as he tries to get back up cracking the ground and threatening to break the floor underneath.

The players begin to group up and slowly enclose you two as they realize that taking on the two of you cannot be done alone. “What’s the plan now boss?” Reiko says raising her blade. You glance at her, confused by her change in demeanor.

“We’re outnumbered.” You say.

“Obviously.” Reiko replies flatly.

“We need an escape route. We can probably make it to the elevator if we keep this up.”

“Elevator’s too slow.” She replies shaking her head.

“But we’ll be secure.” You counter. Reiko responds by parrying another blade and responding with an uppercut.

“Whatever it is. You better think of something fast.”

>What’s the plan?
>Make your way towards the elevator. If you can make it there, you’ll have some time to catch your breath.
>Try to get to the stairs. It’ll be a bit slower to descend but the stairways will funnel the enemies and reduce the amount you’ll have to engage at one time.
>The floor is cracked. If you can somehow break through, you’ll fall to the floor below you and the ensuing chaos could give you a chance to slip away.
>Write in

1d20+3 for any of these choices.

Rolled 15 + 3 (1d20 + 3)

>>3951091
>>Try to get to the stairs. It’ll be a bit slower to descend but the stairways will funnel the enemies and reduce the amount you’ll have to engage at one time.

Rolled 18 + 3 (1d20 + 3)

>>3951091
>The floor is cracked. If you can somehow break through, you’ll fall to the floor below you and the ensuing chaos could give you a chance to slip away.

>>3951183
>>3951129
I was about to comment that it seemed like a slow voting day. But now we got a tie. I'll give it about 15 mintues before I roll to decide which choice we take.

Not surprising though considering I took a small break from running. Hope you guys have been enjoying it so far.

>>3951183
>>3951188
Eh I'll switch to this then.

Rolled 20 + 3 (1d20 + 3)

>>3951091
>The floor is cracked. If you can somehow break through, you’ll fall to the floor below you and the ensuing chaos could give you a chance to slip away.

>>3951200
>>3951183
>>3951194
Alright. We're going to be punching our way through. Writing.

Your eyes slowly make their way to the cracked ground underneath you. Reiko seems to notice this and nods slightly to you.

“Hope you have you insurance.” Reiko says looking at Amagasaki. “It was terrible chatting with you but I think it’s time we show ourselves out.” She ejects her Gashat from her driver.

gAShUn

You grab Reiko’s hand. “Wait, you don’t have to.” You say but she slaps your hand away.

“I can handle it.” She says. “You better be ready.”

You grimace but also draw your Gashat. “Alright let’s do this.” You say as you both slot in your Gashats in place.

KIMEWAZA!

Your fists glow and burn as Reiko’s blade is once again consumed in the violet energy and begins glitch out.

“Stop them!” Amagasaki shouts pointing at you. The Ride Players begin to rush towards you but it was too late as you and Reiko raise your weapons before slamming them straight into the ground.

MiGhTY CRitiCAl StrIkE! Knock out Critical Combo!

The ground below you stood no chance as your combined attacks obliterate it and you feel yourself go into free fall. The two of you manage to land deftly on some desks as people run from you screaming in fear. You find yourself looking around for anyone injured but it seems you made enough of a commotion that people made some distance.

“Come on! We need to get out of here!” Reiko says tugging at your arm. “We don’t have time to look around.” You nod and begin to dash down the hallways. You can hear crashing behind you as something heavy lands from where you two made your escape.

“I think we should untransform. We’re too obvious like this. We can hide among the people.” Reiko says.

You’re not sure if that was a good idea. Doing so would leave you defenseless if your caught but you’re already at low HP. Plus the longer Reiko stayed transformed the more damage she was doing to herself. Assuming there was any damage left to do. You look behind you and you see the group of Ride Players making their way out of the office space, shoving people aside in an attempt to get the exit.

>What do you do?
>Continue you way out while transformed. It’s better if you have some defenses while you make your get away.
>Untransform and hide among the people. You should avoid conflict in the state your both in.
>You managed to get away. You can try and call the others to come help you but that means having to stay here and wait.

Rolls for all these too guys 1d20+3

Rolled 19 + 3 (1d20 + 3)

>>3951340
>Untransform and hide among the people. You should avoid conflict in the state your both in.

Rolled 4 + 3 (1d20 + 3)

>>3951340
>Untransform and hide among the people. You should avoid conflict in the state your both in.

>>3951355
>>3951372
Alright untransforming! Fun times ahead! No really. You guys are in a really bad place.

>>3951391
At least it couldn't get any worse, right? It's going to get much worse isn't it??

File: Spoiler Image (42 KB, 640x703)

42 KB JPG

>>3951406
Mfw players ask if it's gonna get worse.

You give Reiko a long look, contemplating what would be the best action to get her out of here. In reality, you weren’t thinking about whether or not you were going to make it out so long as she made it to safety. “Ok. In here.” You say as you force a door open. You take care to try and not damage the door as you do so. Luckily the locking mechanism gives away around the wall so that it would stay hidden when the door is closed. While it won’t be able to lock anymore, it won’t give you away at a cursory glance.

The server room you step into is much warmer than the rest of the building. Rows upon rows of servers line the room and make it easy to step behind and hide. You stay behind at the door for a moment longer to listen. The sounds of footsteps recede and all that you can hear is the hum of the machinery.

Breathing a sigh of relief you walk over to your sister. “I think the coast is clear...for now.” You say undoing your transformation. You feel the weight of your bruises and cuts fall on you but you refuse to heed your body’s screams. Not right now. Not while your both in danger.

Reiko undoes her transformation you feel your heart twist in anguish. Her eyes are still dull and lifeless. Her once black hair is bleached and white vaguely reminding you of the highlights in Taiga’s hair. Reiko gives you a grin and makes her way towards you. “Alright so what’s our next-” She begins before her eyes go wide and she collapses to her knees before emptying the contents of her stomach onto the floor.

“Shit! Rieko!’ You shout running towards her to try to the hair out of her face and rub her back to help her through it. Her hair still felt silky like normal and you could feel her heartbeat going so perhaps the damage was just superficial. That thought almost comforts you until your hand comes back slick with blood.

“I…I don’t feel right...” Reiko shudders before collapsing into the crimson puddle she threw up. She shivers and curls up in a ball. You lift her out of the pool and hold her close.

“Reiko. Stay with me.” You plead. “C-come on. We’ll get you to Emu. He’ll know what to do.” Reiko shivers and sweats profusely. “Please...don’t leave me.” You whisper.

You sister clings to your clothes. “I don’t think this was a good idea…” She says with effort. “Just...leave here. Tell everyone I’m sorry. Tell Hiiro I’m sorry.” She whispers.

“Don’t be stupid.” You say as your voice cracks. “I’m not leaving you here.” You look around the room, feeling helpless for the first time in your life. “I’ll figure something out. Don’t worry.” Reiko doesn’t respond. “Reiko?” You ask worried and looking down at your arms. Your sister is asleep, still sweating heavily but at least the trembling has stopped.

>You managed to evade the players and minions but now more issues have risen! What do you do?
>Carry Reiko out. She’s in no condition to walk but you can sneak your way around the building and escape.
>Try and wake Reiko up. If she can walk along with you, you can slowly make your way out of the building together faster than if you were carrying her around.
>Call the others. Reiko has the Game Scope in her bag. If you can call for help, the others can storm the building. All you have to do is hole up and wait. You’re not sure what the public will think when Riders invade a game company but you’d burn down the city if it meant Reiko lived.
>Try and wake Reiko and have her transform. She seemed perfectly fine while transformed. The Gamer Driver seemed to at least stem the side effects allowing your sister function.
>Write in.
Rolls for all options as before gents. 1d20.

Rolled 4 (1d20)

>3951468
>Carry Reiko out. She’s in no condition to walk but you can sneak your way around the building and escape.

Rolled 1 (1d20)

>>3951468
>Carry Reiko out. She’s in no condition to walk but you can sneak your way around the building and escape

File: 4d5.png (833 KB, 868x569)

833 KB PNG

>>3951607
>>3951483
These rolls. Reiko won't make it to Ex Aid vs Dr. Pacman at this rate.

We need one more roll...

>>3951624
Yep. I could roll it. But I gotta call it a night here. So there's time for other people to vote and roll. I'll see you guys tomorrow!

>>3951626
Thanks for running

Rolled 9 (1d20)

>>3951468
>Carry Reiko out. She’s in no condition to walk but you can sneak your way around the building and escape.

File: AcceptableBoringDegu-small.gif (483 KB, 250x250)

483 KB GIF

>>3951956
>>3951607
>>3951483
Oh dear. Writing.

You remove your jacket and wrap it around your sister. You didn’t want anyone to see the state she was in and panic as you snuck around the building. “Alright Reiko. I’m getting you out of here. Just stay strong.” You murmur and you stand up carrying Reiko in your arms. You take breathe in deeply to center yourself and quickly make your way to the door. You quickly peek out into the hall to find it empty.

Making your way down the empty halls, you strain your ears in fear of hearing someone approaching you. As you make your way to the stairs you glance out a window and notice the front of the building is empty. You assume that everyone's gathering around the lobby or perhaps in other floors.

You wince as every step you take down the stairs causes Reiko to groan in pain. “It’s ok. Just a few more steps.” You say trying to calm her down. The stairs seem to stretch on forever and every noise that echoes around you from the other floors makes you jump and tense up. You can feel the blood soaking into your clothes and make your arms slick and sticky.

You push open a door to another floor and turn to continue only to hear a scream. “That girl is hurt! She’s bleeding!” A woman screams. You panic and struggle to find the words to respond. More people file out of various rooms to look at the commotion and others begin to approach you trying to help or take Reiko from you. They bar your escape and you back up a bit. Suddenly there’s a loud crash as you hear something heavy land behind you in the stairwell. A quick glance behind you reveals two of the Ride Players making their way towards you, weapons raised.

You chew at your lower lip in anxiousness. “Reiko. Hold on tight. It’s gonna hurt.” You say tightening your grip around her before you burst into a run!

>Run boys! RUN!

Give me 1d20!

Rolled 6 (1d20)

>>3952267
ffs

Rolled 3 (1d20)

>>3952267
Hiiro is the only one who gets good rolls in this quest the dice have spoken

Rolled 8 (1d20)

>>3952267
>>3952267

>>3952339
On my phone in the doctor's office. But sexy surgeon does seem to get the best rolls.

On that note, what do you guys think of the swapping character perspectives? Am I doing it too much? Is it not necessary?

Personally I think it's pretty fun and let's me play around with the writing. Makes it feel like the show a bit more and maybe have some nice end points but I can understand if players want to stick with Reiko's point of view.

>>3952432
>>3952339
>>3952292
Oof. Writing when I get back.

>>3952443
I think the perspective swaps have been pretty goods so far. The fit in nicely.

Rolled 11 (1d20)

Alright gents. I'm gonna do a roll. It's not gonna override your rolls but let's see if we can get some Kamen Rider magic going.

You bolt forward trying to push your way through the crowd but there’s too many people. A few of the employees grab your arms and prevent you from going forward. “Stop! We just want to help.” They say. You struggle to move and keep them away from your sister.

“No! I need get away!” You shout as you see the Ride players making their way towards you. Followed by King, as Taddle Fantasy.

“Stand aside. CEO’s orders.” They command. “He’s a security threat.” The group hesitate but slowly disperse, their fear of “security” overriding their concern for the injured girl. You back away slowly trying to make room between the two of you.

You bump into a door and in a panic you kick it open, running inside. You gingerly set Reiko down in a corner of the room and block the door the best you can with some desks. The barricade doesn’t hold up very well as you see a blade slice through the door and, to your relief, catch on one of the desks. You rummage through your sister’s pockets and pull a bloody cell phone, flinching as you hear the door being attacked. Not wasting any time you call the first number in Reiko’s speed dial.

The ringing tone feels like an eternity as you look at the door being cut down before you. The recipient doesn’t have time to say hello before you speak. “Come to Genm Corp. 6th floor. Reiko’s dying. Don’t look for me, I’ll hold them off while you get here.” You say before dropping the phone and getting up. You give one last look to your sister and grin. “Thanks Reiko. For forgiving me. I’ll make things right. For you. For Emu.”

The barricade finally gives away as the Drago Knight players step aside to let King walk in. He strides with a self assured confidence that irks you. “So how the mighty have fallen.” He says with his hands behind his back. “A fitting end for the vagabond and her merry band of cheaters. Liars the lot of you.” He says. You draw your Gashat and glare at King.

“You don’t deserve to wield that form.” You say. “But it doesn’t matter. I won’t let you get any closer.”

“And what can you do to stop us? A level 50 and four level 5s versus a broken girl and her traitor brother. I’ll take those odds.”

File: KREA-Paradxl99.png (108 KB, 180x412)

108 KB PNG

You glower and take a deep breath. “If it worked for her.” You mutter under your breath. You focus, it was now or never. Everything rode on this one gamble, if it failed then you two were done. You remember why you were here. Why you sister decided to give you a second chance. Because she saw something better inside of you than what you were. She saw that you could be a better person, a friend, family. You raise your Gashat up, ready to prove her right. Ready to give it all up so that she could live and see the world she wanted to create. The words rise unbidden to your lips, words you had always heard others shout but never truly understood what it represented to them until now. The power to change everything. The power to make things right and to protect all that one holds dear.

”MAX DAI HENSHIN!

You shout as you twist the knob on your Gashat.

Perfect Puzzl-

No! It’s not enough! You think you yourself as you continue to push it to one side. The Gashat resists but with a roar you wrench the thing further snapping the knob off! The Gashat glows an eerie red and blue as energy arcs through it.

“What have you done!?” King shouts.

You grin maliciously. “I leveled up.”

DUAL UP! LEVEL UP!

The Gashat vibrates before it shatters to pieces and the energy flows up your arm and into your chest. You growl in pain as you feel yourself transformed, the power uninhibited by the Gashat’s technology. Both of your forms fuse into one as your armor hold the motifs of both Perfect Puzzle and Knock Out fighter.

”Parado-DX. Level 99”

Meanwhile…

Hiiro’s phone breaks as it falls to the ground and he dashes out of his office. He pushes past a nurse bringing him some food after a surgery. She says something but her words fall on deaf ears as the only thing that rings in his heads were.

“Reiko’s dying.”

>Can Parado hold off the group long enough for help to come?!
Roll me 1d20! +10! But all power comes at a cost...what price has Parado paid?

File: scared.jpg (260 KB, 955x634)

260 KB JPG

Rolled 16 + 10 (1d20 + 10)

>>3952738
This is officially Super Not Good

Rolled 5 + 10 (1d20 + 10)

>>3952738

>>3952789
Good roll. Writing.

>>3952830
What about >>3952746?

>>3952843
Oh shit. I thought I clicked on his post. I saw it though. Don't worry.

Clang!

King’s sword bounces uselessly off your armor as you approach. You feel energetic as if adrenaline was coursing through your body, washing away your fatigue and aches away and filling your with strength and vigor. You slam your open palm into King’s chest and send him flying through the door as if he were weightless!

”No one crosses this line.” You say as you step through the doorway. King gets to his feet and growls.

“Don’t just stand there! Protect your king!” He screams and the four Ride Players rush towards you. Everything seemed to move in slow motion for you as you deftly duck under a blade and block another by slapping your foe’s arm away with your wrist. You grab the two by the neck and smash them into each other causing them to go momentarily limp from the impact. You use that to your advantage as you pick them up effortlessly and throw them down the hall into the others, slowly forcing them back into the stairwell. The third player, the one with the dragon breath attack, breathes a large ball of flame and hurls it at you. You merely walk through it, ignoring the heat and casually kick the player away towards the others.

“Fools! Can I not let you do anything for me?!” King shouts and runs towards you charging his blade and hurling a wave of energy towards you. You simply step aside and let the attack fly across the hall and crash into a window. People scream and rush into various offices, avoiding you and your enemies. You engage King in hand to hand combat, blocking his next swing by the elbow and driving your knee into his side.

Meanwhile…

Hiiro runs to his car as he puts on his lab coat on the way down. The coat does nothing to help retain the heat as the cold winter air blasts through his surgical scrubs but he ignores its. Opening the trunk of his car, he draws out the metal briefcase and clicks it open revealing his Driver and two Gashats. Slamming it and the trunk shut, he rushes to the driver’s seat and hits the road at full speed.

>What does Hiiro do?
>Drive straight to Gemn Corp. Reiko needs your help.
>Go to NCR HQ and gather the team. If you’re heading to the Bugster’s HQ you’re going to need back up.
>Call NCR and tell everyone what is going on. It’ll take them longer to get to Gemn Corp but at least you won’t have to slow down and wait for them.

Also roll to see how well Parado is holding off his opponents. 1d20+9

Rolled 2 + 9 (1d20 + 9)

>>3952982
>Call NCR and tell everyone what is going on. It’ll take them longer to get to Gemn Corp but at least you won’t have to slow down and wait for them.

Rolled 16 + 9 (1d20 + 9)

>>3952982
>Call NCR and tell everyone what is going on. It’ll take them longer to get to Gemn Corp but at least you won’t have to slow down and wait for them

>>3952988
>>3953018
Power of family fuels Parado's rolls. But can his body handle it?

Hiiro rushes to the scene while calling back up.

I have class to go to so I'll post when I get home. It'll be late so it'll also be my last post for the night too. Hope you enjoyed the game so far. It's been a roller-coaster and we haven't even gotten cronus yet!

King roars in frustration as he’s thrown into the stairwell. ”You don’t deserve to be a Kamen Rider.” You start.

“I’m a MASKED RIDER!” King shouts. “No! I am KING and Chronicle is my kingdom! Everyone in this city is under my protection!”

You shake your head. “Whatever you are, I saw your fight between you and Brave. And your conversation with my sister. They showed you mercy. They gave you a chance and if it weren’t for them then I wouldn’t do the same. Give up your Driver and Gashat and go home.” You say as you spin out of the way of a ride player’s attack and causing it to hit one of their own.

“I will not! You and your harlot of a sister will pay for trying to take this all away from me!” King shouts running at you. You raise your fists and swing for the face, taking full advantage of the extra speed your new form to dodge his attack and unleash a flurry of punches against King. He grunts and is flung back into the stairs.

”I won’t let you touch her. Maybe I won’t beat you today. Maybe I won’t get away. But the other will stop you. I promise you that.” You say raising your fist in the air and slamming it down into the ground. The ground buckles underneath all of you as it gives away. You fall through and land deftly into the storage room underneath. The others aren’t so lucky as the crash into various shelves crushing them underneath.

“YOU!” King screams standing up. “You ruin everything! Out of all people why do you target me!? I deserve all this! I was promised this city and I will stop you!” King cuts his way through the mess and charges at you. You backpedal as you dodge his attacks but they seem to be off. Slightly faster than before. You have to completely focus to be able to dodge his attacks but they still won’t connect.

-----

Hiiro dials NCR as he speeds down the highway having run back to his office to retrieve his cracked phone. “Hello? Hiiro?” Emu answers confused. “I thought you were still work wit-”

“Intern.” You interrupt restraining your anger. “Why isn't Reiko with you?!"

“Eh?”

“I just got a call from her phone. Parado was using it and you know what he told me? Reiko is dying.”

“WHAT? What happened?! She was with Parado. They just went to-”

“I told you to take care of her!” Hiiro shouts. “They’re at Gemn Corp right now. Bring everyone. Expect a fight. We’re going to get them out of there and leave.”

“Wait Hiiro-” Emu starts but you hang up on him. You take a deep breath and try to focus. To detach yourself from the situation and not let your emotions get in the way of what to do. However, everytime you try, images of Reiko on the ground struggling to breathe flash through your head. Followed by images of Saki smiling as she fades away.

Please... Become the best doctor in the world…

You shake your head and huff as you try to figure out what your next move will be. You’ll be there well before the rest of NCR will arrive.

>How does Hiiro approach the situation?
>Try to sneak into the building. If Reiko is hurt that means bugsters are around and it’d be best if you can get her out without engaging the enemy.
>Lie your way in. Say that you’re a doctor here on an emergency call. It’s technically true and they might let you roam the building unimpeded.
>Transform and force your way in. The time for subtly is long gone.

I’ll need 2d20 for this guys. First is Parado and second is Hiiro. Parado gets a +8 to his rolls now.

Rolled 10, 10 = 20 (2d20)

>>3953368
>Lie your way in. Say that you’re a doctor here on an emergency call. It’s technically true and they might let you roam the building unimpeded.

Rolled 14, 14 = 28 (2d20)

>>3953368
>Lie your way in. Say that you’re a doctor here on an emergency call. It’s technically true and they might let you roam the building unimpeded

>>3953378
>>3953392
Damn. I didn't think you guys would be up by now. Alright. Just for you guys. One more post. Especially after those two sets of doubles you guys rolled.

Hiiro rushes into the lobby of Genm Corp. He pushes past the crowds of people standing around talking nervously and moves towards the woman standing by the desk trying to keep things under control.

“I’m Doctor Hiiro Kagami. I’m here because I heard there was someone who was injured. Please, tell me where they are immediately.” He says as professionally as he could muster. The woman’s eyes grow wide and she nods. “Yes! Some of our employees say there was a young woman who was bleeding heavily was being carried by a young man. The young man is currently being apprehended by security.” Hiiro nods.

“Please ma’am it’s imperative that you tell me where the girl is. Her life is in danger.” Hiiro instists. The receptionist looks conflicted.

“I’m sorry but it might be too dangerous for you. That boy looked dangerous.” She pauses and looks at you. “Alright. I’ll show you where she is. Please follow me this building is quite large but if I’m with you then maybe security will let you pass. If they stop us that is.”

“Thank you.” Hiiro says with a bit more relief than he intended to reveal. The woman walks to you the stairs.

“I’m sorry but security has shut down access to the elevator. Please we’ll have to use the stairs.”

The run up the stairs was arduous, as every flight only seemed to lead to another in a never ending pattern. Eventually the woman leads you to a door that lead into a hallway. “The stairs are staggered in case someone falls down them. The drop is less dangerous than having an entire staircase go from the ground floor to the top.” She explain as you let frustration slip through your stoic mask.

You were about to reply when you hear a loud crash! Taddle Fantasy is flung through a wall right in front of you by an unknown Rider!

The wall finally gives away as you punch King right through it. King rolls with the punches and gets to his knees to swing his blade towards your mid section. You front flip over the blade and land behind King. Raising your arms, you catch his sword in your forearms as you’re not given enough time to dodge. At the edge of your awareness, you begin to feel exhaustion creep back into your body but you push past it. You push the blade out of your face and smash your head into King’s, staggering him. Its after this that you notice Hiiro with another woman at the end of the hall.

“She’s on the sixth floor! Last door on the right!” You shout and immediately smash your elbow into a Ride Player’s sternum before throwing him into another room to give Hiiro space to run by. Hiiro nods and says,

“The others are on their way. We need to extract her and leave. We can’t afford to stay any longer.”

>Two Riders are on the scene! What does the group do?
>Have Parado go with Hiiro back to where Reiko is. King and the others might try and attack him as he goes upstairs.
>Have Hiiro dash through the combat and up the stairs while Parado attempts to hold the group on this floor. If the 5 are contained here then they can’t try anything to Hiiro and Reiko.
>Have Parado try to move the fight outside. There are people in the building that could get hurt and if the others are on their way, then they can easily jump into help rather than try to force their way into the building.
>Have Hiiro transform and help with the fight. If you can defeat the group, then NCR will have access to their full suite of Gashats before they were shut down.

I’ll need another 2d20 for these choices. Like before first is for Parado and second is Hiiro. Parado’s bonus is +7.

Rolled 20, 12 = 32 (2d20)

>>3953415
>Have Parado try to move the fight outside. There are people in the building that could get hurt and if the others are on their way, then they can easily jump into help rather than try to force their way into the building.

Rolled 7, 16 = 23 (2d20)

>>3953415
>Have Parado try to move the fight outside. There are people in the building that could get hurt and if the others are on their way, then they can easily jump into help rather than try to force their way into the building.

Poor Hiiro. At least these shitty rolls are building a good narrative though.

Rolled 14, 4 = 18 (2d20)

>>3953415
>Have Parado try to move the fight outside. There are people in the building that could get hurt and if the others are on their way, then they can easily jump into help rather than try to force their way into the building.

>>3953427
>>3953528
>>3953561
Dat nat20 tho. Can we...can we like tape Hiiro to the rest of the crew? He's like the good luck charm of NCR. Reiko would probably be totally for it

Anyways, writing!

You grab one of your opponent’s arms and flip him over a shoulder, straight into a desk! The poor thing collapses under the impact, sending papers, pencils, and various other office supplies scattering across the floor. King screams and runs at you, only to be sent flying back by a roundhouse kick.

“I’ll kill you! You and your bitch of a sister!” He shouts. “I deserve to be in charge! Ever since I was in high school I-” His rant is interrupted as you uppercut him so hard that he crashes into the ceiling and bounces off. You bounce from one foot to the other trying to keep your mobility. By now it was obvious to you that you were slowing down. Everything seemed to keep up with you, and the fatigue was settling in as well. Your breath is ragged and labored but it didn’t seem to bother you at the moment. Perhaps your current form was doing something to hold that back but even know you could feel it slowly fade away.

You look around the room as you avoid another fireball and sweep the legs of another player, knocking them off their feet. The area was cramped and now, thanks to the previous attack, set aflame. You had to move the fight somewhere else or people were liable to get hurt. King scrambles to his feet, only to find himself smashed against a wall when the body of one of his his underlings crashes into him. You strike another in the chin with an open palm strike, disorienting him, and throw him into the growing pile. As the group struggle to untangle themselves you focus energy into your legs before running and jumping into a Rider Kick!

The wall gives away as you all crash through it and fall freely. You manage to land on a nearby parking roof and hop safely to the ground while the others simply crash through it and onto the cars underneath. The sounds of car alarms come to life, adding to the chaos as you see the rest of NCR running to the scene!

File: 692.jpg (27 KB, 480x480)

27 KB JPG

Hiiro feels the floor underneath him rumble, followed by the sound of an explosion. He rushes to a nearby window just in time to see Parado rocket out the side of the building with King and the Drago Knight Players at the receiving end of his kick. They fall 3 stories down into the parking lot. It was hard to make out but it seemed like Parado managed to land safely while the others crash into nearby cars, crushing them. It vaguely reminded him of how he found his car in a similar condition a few months back. Come to think of it, it was the same day Reiko was brought into the hospital after her second fight. Hiiro clears his head and continues to run up the stairs. Destruction could be found all over the place. Gouges cut deep into the walls, windows and furniture smashed and broken, entire walls knocked down.

By the time Hiiro reaches the 6th floor, his breath is labored and his clothes were soaked in sweat. The woman who was leading him, had run away during the fight but that didn’t stop him from moving forward. He throws open the last door on the right and looks on in horror.

Parado’s jacket lays crumpled on the ground soaked and bloody. Blood was smeared across the ground as if something had dragged a body across it and away from the small puddle left behind. Hiiro’s eyes follow the trail behind a desk and he moves to investigate.

“Good God…” He whispers as he gently pulls an office chair away from the desk and finds Reiko curled up in a ball, her breathing uneven and shallow. “What did they do to you?” He whispers almost afraid to touch her. Hiiro grits his teeth and gently pulls Reiko from her hiding spot. She doesn’t react as she’s moved.

“Breathing is labored, internal bleeding...arrhythmia.” He notes as his voice starts to crack. Despite his best efforts, he feels his eyes water and tears run down his face. I can’t do anything here. He thinks lifting her up and holding Reiko close to his chest. For the first time as a surgeon, this felt wrong. Hiiro was used to seeing her full of life and stubbornly sticking to her ideals, not broken and fragile like this.

Reiko whimpers and clings weakly to a fold in Hiiro’s shirt as he begins to make the long way back down stairs.

>The gang’s all here! What’s the next plan?
>Hold King and his crew off until Hiiro can get away. The fight is only to get the injured out.
>Parado has the group on the ropes! Maybe you can finish this and reclaim the last Gashats!
>Have Parado continue to hold off the group alone while the rest go to assist Hiiro. 90% of NCR are medical professionals, they can probably do something to help.

I’ll need 1d20+6 for this guys. We’re nearing the end! Can we clinch out good..ish end?

Rolled 19 + 6 (1d20 + 6)

>>3953661
>Parado has the group on the ropes! Maybe you can finish this and reclaim the last Gashats!
Maybe

heading out to lunch. Vote's open til I get back. That 19 though. Remember rolls aren't tied to the votes so even if the choice isn't used the roll will be. See ya in a bit!

Rolled 15 + 6 (1d20 + 6)

>>3953661
>Hold King and his crew off until Hiiro can get away. The fight is only to get the injured out.
We let Parado fight any more and we run the risk of losing both him AND Reiko. No gashats are worth that.

Plus Reiko needs way more specialised medical equipment to have a fighting chance than what the NCR members have access to at the scene.

Rolled 18 + 6 (1d20 + 6)

>>3953661
>Hold King and his crew off until Hiiro can get away. The fight is only to get the injured out.

>>3953728
>>3953778
Wow nice rolls all around guys. It's as if Reiko/Hiiro have the power to rally their friends. Looks like the votes say, just buy time then leave. Writing!

“We’re here!” Emu shouts equipping his Driver and drawing his Gashats. He stops and looks stunned as you smash the heel of your palm just below the ribs of a Drago Knight player, knocking the wind out of him.

“Who is that?” Poppy wonders aloud as Kuroto moves past her.

“Parado?” Emu replies with sudden realization as his connection to you activates.

“YOU!” He screams pointing at King’s group and pulling out his Gashat “Unauthorized players must be punished! So says the will of the Game Master!”

Dangerous Zombie

Kuroto rushes in and swipes at King with his sickles. King fails to dodge as the blades cut into him and slicing into his cape. “You’re not the Game Master! Amagasaki Ren is! My father and I have spoken to him!” King shouts back.

“DO NOT SAY HIS NAME!” Kuroto hisses. “He is a fraud and a usurper!”FF

“Dai Dai Dai Henshin!” Emu shouts as he rushes in to help.

Mighty Action X! Gekitotsu Robots!

“Kuroto! Don’t just run off like that!” Poppy shouts.

Toki Meki Crisis!

Emu and Poppy jump in and kick away two of the Drago Knights away before drawing their weapons and engaging. “Where’s Hiiro?” Emu asks punching a blade down and going back to back with you.

”He’s inside getting Reiko. I moved the fight outside, it was making too much collateral damage.” You say ducking to let Emu punch over you at a Knight. He jumps allowing you to sweep underneath him and knock another Knight down. Emu plants his hands on your back and vaults over to land an axe kick on the staggering Knight he punched.

“You’ve changed.” He says proudly.

“I overloaded my gashat, I don’t know who lon-”

“No. I mean, you changed as a person. The old Parado wouldn’t have cared if people have gotten caught in the crossfire.” He explains backflipping next to you. You remain quiet, unsure of how to respond.

---
Reiko’s eyes flutter open as Hiiro descends down the stairs. “Parado?” She whispers weakly. Her eyes glassy and looking around unfocused “I told you to escape.” Hiiro glances down unsure if he should respond.

“He’s outside holding off King and his friends. He’s buying us time to get out of here.” He replies trying not let emotion creep into his voice or risk Reiko doing something sudden and hurting herself.

“Hiiro? What are you doing here? I thought...thought you didn’t want to be my doctor.” Reiko says quietly. “Thought maybe you hated me...”

Hiiro stays quiet unsure of how to reply. He had a dying girl in his arms and he didn’t know how to comfort her. All his life, he had distanced himself from his patients for this exact reason but now he was holding on the girl who had fought for him. Had expressed his feelings for him and he wasn’t sure if he was deserving of those feelings.

“...I don’t hate you Reiko.” He says quietly. “I hate the fact that I’m afraid to open up to anyone, most of all you. I think you can do better than someone who’s failed those closest to him multiple times.”

Reiko’s grip tightens slightly. “....I don’t think you’re a failure. You’re my doctor...” She whispers with effort.

Hiiro holds his hand slightly over Reiko’s head hesitating before he finally strokes her snow white hair. She relaxes a bit before closing her eyes and passing out again. “Maybe I’m most afraid of failing the one person who believes in me for who I am.” Hiiro says as he shuffles his lab coat onto Reiko just as they reach the lobby.

The people around the lobby look at Hiiro in panic as he carries an unconscious, bloody girl in his arms. “Is she?” Someone dares to ask. Hiiro shakes his head.

“She’s alive but in critical condition. I need to take her to the hospital immediately. Stand aside.” He orders and people move aside to let him through. As Hiiro steps outside, the winter chill hits him and he adjusts Reiko to try and keep the cold from hitting her too hard.

The sounds of fighting nearby spurred him on as he rushes to his car. Hiiro winces at how badly this looked. If anyone caught him now, he’d look like some kind of kidnapper. Reiko groans in pain as he lays her down and buckles her into the back seat.

“It’s ok. Just stay strong. We’re almost out of here.” He assures her awkwardly. He climbs into the front seat and drives off.

I won’t fail. Never again.

>Intermission time! Who do you want to follow now?
>Parado. He as some business with the Bugster.
>Emu and Hiiro as they try to diagnose Reiko/Parado.
>Dan Kuroto as he investigates the Proto Gashat’s effects on Reiko and bugsters in general.
>Dan Masamune. This is simply just a small POV thing. See thing from his side. Maybe learn a bit more about the plot.
I'll need a 1d20+8 if the Emu and Hiiro route is chosen.

Rolled 16 + 8 (1d20 + 8)

>>3953865
>Emu and Hiiro as they try to diagnose Reiko/Parado.

Rolled 10 + 8 (1d20 + 8)

>>3953865
>Emu and Hiiro as they try to diagnose Reiko/Parado.
Actually medical drama? In MY kamen rider doctors quest?? Get out of here

Rolled 12 + 8 (1d20 + 8)

>>3953865
>Emu and Hiiro as they try to diagnose Reiko/Parado.

>>3953929
>>3953919
>>3953907
We're playing doctors now! I wonder if Reiko will join med school after all this. Assuming she survives.

I'd like to apologize ahead of time. I've never written a quest this long before and never a medical drama. So please bear with me if this is ends up a bit shit. None the less, I'll do my best.

File: Hiiro_Kagami.png (1.75 MB, 1600x900)

1.75 MB PNG

The quiet beeping of vitals monitor broke the silence in the NCR patient room. It’s only accompaniment was the soft “woosh” of the ventilator next to Reiko’s bed as it helped pump air into her lungs. The atmosphere in the headquarters was heavy and defeated as it weighed down upon everyone. Finally it was Akihito who spoke up, breaking the silence.

“Is she...Is she going to be ok?” He asks quietly as if speaking any louder would break something. Hiiro shakes his head.

“We don’t know.” He says. Emu sits next to the bed looking devastated.

“It’s all my fault.” He mutters. “I let this happen. I should have gone with her. I should have stopped her.”

“Intern.” Hiiro speaks up sternly. “We don’t have time to be depressed. We have a patient to treat. And no matter how many times your check her pulse, it won’t change.” Emu looks up and nods solemnly.

“Y-you’re right.” He says standing and walking over to the table. Hiiro clears his throat and looks through the papers littered on the table.

“Let’s start with what we know.” He says reading over his notes. “Our patient is suffering from hematemesis, which is vomiting blood.” He explains as Akihito looks puzzled. Said look was immediately replaced as the blood drained from his face and he goes a bit green. “You’re welcome to leave.” Hiiro says but Akihito shakes his head.

“N-no...I-it’s my duty as an adult to take notes of this meeting. Just in case we need to refer back to something.” He stammers. “Don’t mind me.”

“She’s also sweating blood occasionally.” Emu adds. “But I’m not sure why it’s happening. Any cases I’ve read on the subject all mention the patient does so continuously , not on and off.” He shuffles his papers around. “We also can’t tell what Reiko’s blood type. Every time we try to run it through the machines, all we get is errors.”

“It might be because she’s a bugster. From what we know, bugsters and humans are similar when it comes to limbs and the like but we know nothing about them beyond a surface level.” Hiiro suggests. “Kuroto is currently doing some research on the subject but who knows how long that will take.” He goes quiet as he reads through a few medical charts. “...Her host was O negative.” He says quietly.

“I’ll let Poppy know.” Emu says immediately. “We can start a transfusion.” Hiiro raises his hand. “Hiiro...she’s lost a lot of blood.” He says worried.

“I know...but we don’t know how her body will react to human blood. She could reject it outright.” Hiiro replies trying to keep his voice steady. “Sit down. We still have some more to go through before we start anything.”

Emu reluctantly gets back into his chair. “Wait...Parado is related to her. Maybe we can use his blood.” Hiiro gives Emu a look.

“Even if we could he doesn’t have enough blood to give for a transfusion.”

File: Emu_Hojo.jpg (36 KB, 293x440)

36 KB JPG

Emu shakes his head. “No. We can test his blood and see if it works on the computers. At least then we’ll be able to rule out if our machines can detect bugster DNA.”

Hiiro nods. “We’ll keep that in mind. Patient’s arrhythmia seems to have cleared up. Which is impossible without medical intervention. We’ll need to tread carefully in case it starts up again like her sweating.”

“What about her organs? It could be that she damaged them.” Emu suggests. “We’d need to do some scans to see now that she’s somewhat stable.”

“What about her brother?” Akihito asks. Emu and Hiiro look at him in confusion. “I heard Kuroto shouting at him. Something about both of them intaking massive amounts of the virus without a regulator...then he started ranting about Amagasaki trying to destroy his greatest Valkyrie and how his genius would not let it happen.”
Emu thinks. “Hiiro. If they’re both suffering from the same thing, Parado might be a good place to start.”

Hiiro taps the table as he thinks.

>Progress on Reiko’s Diagnosis: 0%
>Kuroto’s analysis: Incomplete
>What should the doctors do?
>Try a human to bugster blood transfusion. You don’t know how Reiko will react but you at least know what her host’s type is. If it works, it could help solidify her stability.
>Talk to Parado. He’s the closest thing to a blood relative Reiko has. Plus he seems to know more about bugster biology than Poppy herself.
>Run some tests on Parado. He may be suffering from the same thing Reiko is. His symptoms might have not manifested but he’s healthy enough that you won’t have the same risks that you’d run if you tried the tests on Reiko. Although because of this many of the test’s results won’t be as obvious.
>Test Reiko herself. She is in the most danger and the more information you have on her condition the better and faster you can treat her. Of course in her condition if you push her body to hard you’ll run the risk of making things worse.
>Contact Taiga. He’s been working on Game Syndrome victims since Zero Day. Perhaps he might have some insight into this that you might not. Even as an unlicensed doctor.
I'll need a 1d20+4 for options 1, 3, and 4. Decided instead of making it just one roll that I'd turn it into a kind of mini game. Hope you enjoy.

Also please vote on a single option. I know you might want to do them all but i need a thing to focus on per post.

Rolled 12 + 4 (1d20 + 4)

>>3954030
>Try a human to bugster blood transfusion. You don’t know how Reiko will react but you at least know what her host’s type is. If it works, it could help solidify her stability.
Stabilization is the first step.

Got to head to class again. Votes open til I get back!

I'm back and it seems like everyone is asleep or probably just barely waking up. So I'll leave votes open until I wake up tomorrow. Everyone have a good day/night. Stay safe.

>>3954088
Slow day today. Looks like we're gonna give Reiko a blood transfusion. Writing.

Rolled 16 + 4 (1d20 + 4)

>>3954030
>Try a human to bugster blood transfusion. You don’t know how Reiko will react but you at least know what her host’s type is. If it works, it could help solidify her stability

>>3954932
I'll take that roll.

File: 72781201_177131873411640_(...).jpg (23 KB, 480x480)

23 KB JPG

“Go get Poppy.” Hiiro says standing up. “We’ll try the blood transfusion. It’s the safest thing we can attempt right now barring leaving her alone. We’ll type O blood. Her host was only compatible with that and it’s universal so it’s our best bet.”

Emu nods and gets to his feet. “Type O? I’m not sure we even have that much here.” He says nervously.

“Don’t worry about that. I’ll take care of the paperwork. A few of the other hospitals owe me some favors for helping them.” Hiiro says ending in a tone of disgust. “As if I needed to be bribed to do my job.” He mutters.”We should have some IV stands around here.”

“W-wait...you’re gonna do the transfusion here?” Akihito asks. “Don’t you need like a sterile environment or something?”

“Don’t worry. A transfusion is pretty safe. The blood is in a bag and we just do it intravenously. Kind of like when you donate blood but in reverse.” Emu explains patiently. “You don’t look so good though. Would mind if you brought us some coffee? You could do with some fresh air. The viewing room might be a good place to wait.”

Akihito nods. “Right...I’ll go get some coffee.” He says awkwardly and hurries off.

“Intern.” Hiiro says. “That reminds me. If the patient needs surgery, there’s only three of us that are qualified to perform it on a “Game Syndrome” patient. Can you handle it?” Emu’s face grows stern and he nods slowly.

“I can Hiiro. It’s my job.” He replies as both call the elevator down. “I have to bring back their smiles.” He adds as his gaze trails to Parado in the viewing. Parado hadn’t moved from the window that looked down into the patient room since they all arrived, his gaze locked on to the bed and it’s patient.

---

“Patient is receiving blood doctor.” Poppy says as she opens the valve on the IV to introduce the blood into Reiko’s system. “If you don’t mind me asking, how did you manage to get enough for a transfusion so quickly? Reik- I mean the patient isn’t officially in our systems.”

Hiiro shakes his head. “I’m her doctor.” Is his only reply. “Keep an eye on her blood pressure and especially her heart rate. Her heartbeat was irregular when I found her and it’s suddenly cleared up. We don’t know how she’ll react to human blood and it might cause her to relapse into arrhythmia.”

“Yes sir.” Poppy replies.

“Let us know if anything changes Poppy.” Emu says. “What’s our next step Hiiro? Hiiro?”

Hiiro was lost in thought as his gaze as stuck on Reiko and the myriad of wires and cables running through her body. He snaps back to awareness and gives Emu a nod. Clearing his throat he says, “The transfusion will take a few hours. So we can’t do anything concerning the patient directly. Let’s explore our other ideas.”

>Reiko’s transfusion has started successfully. Only time will tell if it’s had any effect. What do the doctors do while it’s underway?
>Progress on Reiko’s Diagnosis: 0%
>Kuroto’s analysis: In Progress
>Talk to Parado. He’s the closest thing to a blood relative Reiko has. Plus he seems to know more about bugster biology than Poppy herself.
>Run some tests on Parado. He may be suffering from the same thing his sister is. His symptoms might have not manifested but he’s healthy enough that you won’t have the same risks that you’d run if you tried the tests on Reiko. Although because of this many of the test’s results won’t be as obvious.
>Talk to Kuroto. He’s researching the Proto Gashat’s effect on bugsters. His research could be invaluable to treating Reiko. Working together might be a good way to help him finish faster.
>Contact Taiga. He’s been working on Game Syndrome victims since Zero Day. Perhaps he might have some insight into this that you might not. Even as an unlicensed doctor.

First 3 choices need rolls. 1d20+4

Rolled 10 + 4 (1d20 + 4)

>>3955045
>Run some tests on Parado. He may be suffering from the same thing his sister is. His symptoms might have not manifested but he’s healthy enough that you won’t have the same risks that you’d run if you tried the tests on Reiko.

Rolled 12 + 4 (1d20 + 4)

>>3955045
>Run some tests on Parado. He may be suffering from the same thing his sister is. His symptoms might have not manifested but he’s healthy enough that you won’t have the same risks that you’d run if you tried the tests on Reiko. Although because of this many of the test’s results won’t be as obvious.

>>3955084
>>3955054
Running more tests. Writing.

File: exaid42-(1001).jpg (110 KB, 1280x720)

110 KB JPG

“Let’s run some tests on Parado.” Emu suggests. “It’s our safest option right now.”

“Would he even allow us?” Poppy asks as she sits down and holds Reiko’s hand.
“Yes.” Emu says. “Even if it wasn’t his sister, I think he’d help to save a person.”

“Then you’ll have to convince him.” Hiiro says. “I’ll go prepare an exam room. Let me know if the patient’s condition changes.” Poppy gives him a nod as he leaves. Emu follows suit and makes his way towards the viewing room.

The viewing room was just as quiet as the patient area save for the angry mutterings and rapid typing coming from Kuroto. Parado was still at the window watching intently, unmoving. Akihito sat in a corner, still looking a bit queasy and avoiding looking at the window. He was also typing but he seemed distracted and unfocused.

“Parado?” Emu calls quietly as he approaches. Parado doesn’t respond or look away but gives a slight nod to indicate he was listening. “Parado, we’d like to run some tests on you. We-”

“I’m fine.” He responds curtly. “Just take care of her.”

“We don’t know that.” Emu insists. “You could be going through the same thing your sister is. We need to make sure you’re both ok. Plus...maybe by running a few tests on you we can better understand what’s wrong with Reiko.”

“Emu.” Parado says, “Can you make her better?”

Emu balks at that question. “I-I...I don’t know.” He admits. “But that won’t stop me from trying.”

“I trust you.” Parado says finally tearing himself away from the window, tears running down his face. “Help her. Please.”

“I know.” Emu replies. “I’ll make sure you’ll see her smiling again.”

---

“The machine had a bit of trouble but Parado’s blood went through ok.” Emu says looking through the results. He sits down next to Hiiro who was operating the X-Ray machine.

“What’s his blood type?” Hiiro asks. Emu looks confused.

“It’s Type O negative like his sister’s or at least her host.” Emu says. “Why?”

“Does it match yours?”

“Oh! No it doesn’t. I’m AB positive.” Emu replies thinking a bit. “But Parado also doesn’t look anything like me. From what you told me Reiko looks exactly like her host. Even her parents couldn’t tell she was…” Emu trails off not wanting to broach that subject. “What I mean is that, maybe Reiko is more likely to share her host’s blood considering how close they are in looks and mannerisms.”

“Test Poppy’s blood.” Hiiro says. “I want to check something. She’s the only bugster we know who hasn’t been subject to unregulated doses of the bugster virus.”

“Oh...ok. What exactly are we looking for?” Emu asks.

“Parado, turn please. I want to scan your lungs.” Hiiro calls. “Reiko and Parado are only tangentially related. They came from the same strain of bugster virus. If anything they should share your blood type but instead they have one of the rarest blood types.”

“You don’t think...Poppy is related to them?!” Emu asks. Hiiro gives Emu a look.

“No. I think bugsters might all univerally have type O negative blood.”

“Oh right…” Emu coughs. “What makes you think that.”

“It’s probably the way the virus adapts to having a body. Type O negative blood can be received by anyone so it would make sense that a bugster would use the blood type that can work with any body.” Hiiro explains. “Although it’s just a theory. Blood type for bugsters could be determined by the game they come from.”

“If that’s true. Then why didn’t the machines easily read their blood if they use human blood types.” Emu asks.

“There must be something wrong with Reiko’s and Parado’s blood. But we won’t know for sure until we test Poppy’s blood. If the machine accepts her with just as much trouble then it’ll throw doubt into our theory.”

Emu winces. “But we just gave Reiko a blood transfer. We can’t test her blood anymore if that’s true.” Hiiro nods.

“If she stabilizes then it’ll be worth it.” Hiiro replies. “Look at that.” He says pointing to Parado’s X-Ray. “He has fluid in his lungs.”

“What?! That’s dangerous. We need to get him into surgery!” Emu exclaims.

“But why isn’t there more?” Hiiro asks.

“What do you mean?”

“If he was bleeding internally he should be drowning in his own blood right now. Even a small cut there would have had enough time to fill the lungs.” Hiiro explains. “We’re done for now Parado.” He calls out.

Parado nods and walks over to the doctors scratching where he has some blood drawn. “What did you find out?” He asks removing the cotton ball.
“I’m sorry Parado but you- Parado I told you to wait 30 minutes until you take…” Emu says as his eyes grow wide. “Where’s the cut?” He asks grabbing Parado’s arm. “I drew blood from here. I’m sure of it! Look even the cotton ball has some blood on it.”

“I healed.” Parado says with a shrug. “Bugsters are boss monsters. We heal much faster than the average human.”

Hiiro thinks. “That would explain why your lungs aren’t full of blood. You must’ve have healed the damage before your lungs filled.”

“Then why isn’t Reiko healing?” Emu asks confused. Hiiro shakes his head and Parado crosses his arms.

“I don’t know but we have bigger problems.” Hiiro says standing up. “We need to scan Reiko. She could be suffering from the same thing. Not to mention she was throwing up blood as well. Parado doesn’t show any damage there, but Reiko must be bleeding around her stomach. We need to prep her for surgery.”

“We can’t! No in her condition!” Emu stands grabbing Hiiro’s shoulder. “Besides, if she can regenerate like Parado then that could throw the operation in jeopardy! Imagine if she starts healing while under the knife. We’d have to repeatedly cut her open to get anything done! The strain on her body would be enormous. We should run more tests to make sure we can do so safely.”

Parado nods. “You can test it on me.” He says. “I’ll go into surgery. At the very least you can try and get the blood out of my lungs.”

Emu shakes his head. “We can’t do a thing like that! It’s unethical! And you could die if we do something like that or worse what if you heal around our instruments? Imagine the damage that we’d do to you.”

“I don’t care! She’s dying Emu! And I’m not getting anything done just sitting here!” Parado shouts back.

“And what do I tell her if we lose you! Do you think she wants to wake up and not see you at her side?”

“ENOUGH!” Hiiro shouts. “We’re not getting anywhere like this and we’re wasting what little time we may have.”

“Then what do we do?” Emu asks. “You’re the head doctor here.”

>The doctors have made several discoveries while testing Parado. Bugsters have a regeneration ability, something is wrong with Reiko’s blood prior to the transfusion, and she may also have blood in her lungs. What’s the next step?
>Progress on Reiko’s Diagnosis: 15%
>Kuroto’s analysis: Slow but in Progress
>Perform surgery on Reiko to try and drain the blood from her lungs and possibly fix her internal bleeding. Due to your limited knowledge of how bugster regeneration works it’ll be risky.
>Perform surgery on Parado. Your limited knowledge of bugster regeneration will still hinder you but you’ll be able to learn more about it by doing so.
>Talk to Kuroto. He’s researching the Proto Gashat’s effect on bugsters. His research could be invaluable to treating Reiko. Working together might be a good way to help him finish faster.
>Contact Taiga. He’s been working on Game Syndrome victims since Zero Day. Perhaps he might have some insight into this that you might not. Even as an unlicensed doctor.

I'll need 1d20+6 roll on the first two choices. Thanks to Hiiro's specilization in surgery your bonus has increased for these options.

>>3955243
>Talk to Kuroto. He’s researching the Proto Gashat’s effect on bugsters. His research could be invaluable to treating Reiko. Working together might be a good way to help him finish faster.
Let's talk to people before we start cutting busters open

>>3955243
>Talk to Kuroto. He’s researching the Proto Gashat’s effect on bugsters. His research could be invaluable to treating Reiko. Working together might be a good way to help him finish faster.

>>3955254
>>3955297
Going to talk to the Game Master! If anyone knows the rules of this game it's him...right? Writing.

Hiiro takes a centering breath. “Before we do anything let’s talk to Kuroto.” He says. “He’s known bugsters for years. He’s made compatible drivers and gashats for them. He can give us a second opinion.”

Emu gives a shaky nod. “Ok. I think that’s a better idea than cutting someone up at the moment.”

“Then I’ll go back to keeping an eye on Reiko.” Parado says. “It makes me feel better.” He says after Emu gives him a hurt look.

“We better get going then.” Hiiro says. “We’ll let you know if we need you again Parado.”

“Whatever it takes, I’ll do it.”

“Let’s hope we don’t have to do anything more.” Emu says as the three make their way back down to NCR.
---

Kuroto was biting down on a pencil as he types, frustration evident on his face. He growls angrily and bites down on the pencil, snapping it into three. “What do you want?” He asks grumpily as he spits out the third piece and sticks another pencil in his mouth. Judging from the mess around him, he’d been at it for a while.

“We’re here to check how your research is going.” Hiiro asks. Kuroto’s eyes narrow.

“Slow.” He grunts. “It’s hard to figure out the effects of a Proto Gashat on a bugster when I have no bugsters to test and I still need to clean those things up.” He adds waving his hand towards the ruined Gashat and Driver.

“You can fix those?” Emu asks in awe.

“Of course! What do you take me for? I’m the Game Master, nothing is out of my reach. That Amagaski!” He roars breaking the pencil in his mouth again and repeating the process. “How dare he mess with my protege! After I had finally found the perfect gamer to complete my perfect game! Don’t you dare let her die Emu! Even if I have to teach myself how to be a surgeon I will show that bugster who’s superior!”

“Well we won’t let it get that far!” Emu says waving his hands in protest. “Maybe we can help? We have questions of our own that we think you might be able to help with.”

Kuroto nods. “Yes yes. If we work together, so on and so forth. If you want to help…” He thinks about it. “I’ll need some samples of Reiko’s blood.”

Emu winces. “Any particular reason why?” He asks trying to avoid answering.

“It holds a bugster’s DNA obviously.” Kuroto replies. Noticing the blank looks he’s receiving, he sighs. “Oh all right. Take notes. When a human is infected by the bugster virus, the virus slowly starts to replace and corrupt the host’s DNA. Eventually once the virus fully replaces the host’s DNA, the host vanishes leaving behind the bugster. The same would apply to a wielder of a Gashat if not for the device’s regulator and compatibility surgery. The Driver makes sure that only a benign amount of the virus is introduced into the body to kickstart the Driver’s transformation. Then it further regulates the amount constantly introduced to the body to maintain that state. Compatibility surgery allows the body to tolerate and purge it once the transformation is over.” Kuroto explains.

“In your case Emu, you’re body is riddled with the virus so I theorize that it tricks the Driver into thinking you’ve taken the surgery, confusing the virus for antibodies. After that, it’s the same process except you don’t purge the virus and the amount introduced is not enough to actually do anything. Once you’re sick, you can’t get double sick. You already created a bugster so you can’t make another. It’s a very interesting development.” Kuroto sighs and leans back into his chair.

“However, because bugsters are born from the virus. They shouldn’t be affected by a Proto Gashat or in Parado’s case, BREAKING MY GLORIOUS EXQUIPMENT!” He screams across the room. Parado is unfazed and doesn’t look away from the window. Kuroto huffs and looks back at Emu and Hiiro. “If I can figure what a Proto Gashat does to a bugster, maybe we can figure out how it affects the body on a larger scale.”

Emu nods. “Well that’s why we came to you. Parado says bugsters can regenerate their injuries but Reiko doesn’t seem to be getting better. In fact, her blood was outright rejected by our machines.” Kuroto’s eyes go wide.

“The machines couldn’t read her blood? Then even more reason I need some! The answer may lie in it!” He says excited.

Emu rubs his neck. “Well that’s a bit of a problem. We don’t have any on hand and we just gave her a transfusion so the blood in her isn’t her own.”

“NO!” Kuroto shouts breaking his pencil again. “You idiot! Do you know what you’ve just done?! You just gave away our only hope!”

“But we have Parado! His blood also had a bit of trouble in our machines so maybe you can test his? We draw a bit more.” Emu says bowing in apology. Kuroto grunts.

“It’ll have to do. Granted it's not a guarantee I’ll find anything but it’s a start. Give me a sample and a day or so.” He says grumpily.

“A day?” Emu balks. “Can’t you do it faster?”

“Not when I don’t have a direct sample of our patient!”

Emu sighs. “Ok, I guess we don’t have much choice.”

---

“Thanks Poppy. This will help us a ton.” Emu says as he corks the vial of blood. Poppy nods and adjusts her bandage. It had been a few hours after Reiko’s transfusion and her condition had no obvious change. “I’m still surprised you don’t know your blood type Poppy.” He says.

“I’ve never actually had a reason to have my blood drawn. I’ve been a nurse since I was created and I don’t think I’ve ever been sick since then. It’s kind of funny when you think about it.”

“Well let’s see…” Emu mutters as he works on the machines. They whirr to life and a few moments later it shows some preliminary results. “Poppy, you’re also Type O negative.”

“Really? All of us being the same blood type is rare enough but to be that...Maybe Hiiro is right. Maybe all bugsters do have O negative blood.” Poppy says.

“Imagine if we could make peace with Bugsters. They could help so much just by donating blood.” Emu says. “I think Reiko would be overjoyed with that idea.” He sighs.

“We’ll find a way to help her.” Poppy says. “I’m a bit worried about Hiiro and Parado though. They haven’t eaten and they refuse to leave their positions unless they absolutely have to. Hiiro just keeps going over old medical charts over and over. I’m not sure what he’s looking for.”

“I think he’s trying to keep busy.” Emu replies. “I’m not sure he’d be able to just sit and do nothing.” Emu grabs his notes and results. “I’ll have a talk with him when I can but we need to do our rounds again.”

Poppy gives an unsure nod but follows Emu.

>The doctors have learned how Proto Gashats affect the human body and have given Kuroto a sample of bugster blood, slightly speeding up his research. However due to giving Reiko a transfusion, Kuroto has to work with less than optimal conditions and it will take a day or more before his work bears fruit. They’ve also learned that its likely all bugsters share the same blood type as well.
>What do the doctors do during the wait?
>Progress on Reiko’s Diagnosis: 25%
>Kuroto’s analysis: In Progress at a slightly faster rate.
>Perform surgery on Reiko to try and drain the blood from her lungs and possibly fix her internal bleeding. Due to your limited knowledge of how bugster regeneration works it’ll be risky.
>Perform surgery on Parado. Your limited knowledge of bugster regeneration will still hinder you but you’ll be able to learn more about it by doing so.
>Wait for Kuroto to finish his research. There’s not much you can do without risk at the moment and his results might prove useful.
>Contact Taiga. He’s been working on Game Syndrome victims since Zero Day. Perhaps he might have some insight into this that you might not. Even as an unlicensed doctor. However it’s late, so you’ll have to wait til the next day before you can get a hold of him.

I’ll need rolls for the first three. 1d20+6.

>>3955480
>Contact Taiga. He’s been working on Game Syndrome victims since Zero Day. Perhaps he might have some insight into this that you might not. Even as an unlicensed doctor. However it’s late, so you’ll have to wait til the next day before you can get a hold of him.
Honestly cutting people up when all we know about their regeneration is literally ??? is asking for trouble. Pretty sure Reiko is as stable as we can get her without surgery, let's gather more info while we wait for Kuroko to work.

>>3955537
>Pretty sure Reiko is as stable as we can get her without surgery
But is that stability enough? How do we know that her condition won't exacerbate overnight?

Getting food because I forgot to eat and class is soon! But quick question, are the posts ok? They've been much longer than my usual ones but I felt like this was a good situation to go heavy on the explanations.

>>3955480
>Contact Taiga. He’s been working on Game Syndrome victims since Zero Day. Perhaps he might have some insight into this that you might not. Even as an unlicensed doctor. However it’s late, so you’ll have to wait til the next day before you can get a hold of him
The long posts are good. Help maintain tension.

Class is starting. So I won't be able to do a write up til I get home. Vote is open til then. I also won't be free to run tomorrow so I apologize in advance if I stop in an awkward place. You guys have a good night/day. Stay safe.

>>3955624
>>3955537
Waiting a night to go talk to Taiga. Writing Hopefully that transfusion roll was high enough.

That night was the longest night for the members of NCR. Perhaps it was the fact the doctors had no one to rotate with and thus had to be on constant vigilance. Perhaps it was the fact that it was one of their own who lay broken on the bed, her fate unknown.

Parado refused to leave the room once he was allowed to enter. He sat next to his sister and held her hand as if her life depended on it. He flinched and jumped every time someone entered the room or the monitor let out a beep he perceived to be louder or quieter than usual. By the middle of the night he was fast asleep, head resting on their hands.

Poppy, Emu, and Hiiro had an easier time by virtue of their training and the fact their work pulled them away from there every so often. Eventually the work ceased, and as night rolled by they were forced to sleep in shifts to stay rested.

“I…I don’t feel right...” Reiko says shuddering before collapsing into the crimson puddle she threw up. She shivers and curls up in a ball. Parado lifts his younger sister in his arms, only to find her eyes glassy and her heart silent. Reiko was dead.

Parado wakes screaming and breathing heavily as he looked around for danger that wasn’t there. His screams only continue when he finds his hand and face painted scarlet. Emu and Poppy rush into the room in alarm.

“Poppy! She’s sweating blood again! Keep an eye on her blood pressure and have some ready for another transfusion if she starts to lose too much.” Emu says. “Parado, calm down. Everything is going to be alright.”

“Emu, I think this is from last night.” Poppy says. “Her temperature is pretty high though so it’s mixing in with regular sweat and making it seem like there’s more. I’ll get some cooling pads to keep it in check but I’m more worried about her hematemesis. If she really is bleeding internally she might just vomit out what we put into her.”

“Parado go get washed up. I’ll be with you in a moment.” Emu says gently. Parado holds himself and shudders.

“I…” He stammers. Emu shakes his head.

“Poppy. Can you let Hiiro know Reiko’s starting to sweat blood again? I’m going to keep an eye on Parado.”

“I’m sorry Emu but Hiiro isn’t here. He went off to talk to Taiga.” Poppy says. “I’ll try and get in touch with him but you’re the only doctor on scene.” Emu nods worriedly.

“Alright. I’ll be back as soon as I calmed Parado down a bit. We’re going to have to pull double shifts until Hiiro gets back.”

File: 1088full-taiga-hanaya.jpg (132 KB, 1088x1600)

132 KB JPG

---

“...I understand. I’ll try and be as fast as possible. Let me know if her condition worsens.” Hiiro says hanging up the phone and looking over the ruined building.

The inside of the building fared no better than it’s exterior. Various doors were closed and locked, while others were simply broken down. The deeper Hiiro explored the tidier the building became, until there was some semblance of sterilization on the aged decor.

“What are you doing here?!” A voice calls out behind him. Hiiro turns to find himself facing Nico. “We already said we don’t want to be part of your little gang.” She huffs. “Taiga and I can handle this ourselves.”

“Where’s Taiga?” Hiiro asks coolly. “I need to talk to him.”

Nico opens her mouth to retort but Taiga appears from a room behind her looking annoyed. “Nico, I told you to be quiet. I’m running some tests.” He says looking straight at Hiiro. “What do you want, perfect doctor.” He asks in the same cold manner as Hiiro.

“I need your help treating Reiko.” Hiiro replies trying to keep his emotions in check. Taiga tilts his head and looks warily at Hiiro.

“And you came all the way over here to consult an unlicensed doctor? Must be some injury-”

“She’s dying Taiga.” Hiiro interrupts quietly.

Taiga’s eyes narrow as his face grows stern. “What happened?” He asks, his voice now professional. “If you’re here then it’s not something normal.” He waves Hiiro over and steps back into the room. The room was filled to the brim with medical equipment and computers which only served to class with the various girly clothes and decorations littered about.

Hiiro ignored the classing decor as he stepped in and explained his case. “I only know what Parado told me. Amagasaki forced her to overload and use a Proto Gashat. By the time I arrived the damage was already done. We have her at NCR but there’s only so much we can do with what little we know about bugster physiology.” He says as he hands Taiga his notes. Taiga reads through them with a trained eye. His demeanor only getting more stern.

“Judging by the intern’s notes, you haven’t told them have you? She might not make it, even with proper care.” He asks coldly.

“I won’t fail.” Hiiro replies. “I can’t.”

“Is that you saying that?...or is it your ego?” Taiga asks quietly. Hiiro doesn’t respond. “I suppose we’ll see then.” Taiga concludes. “What do you want to know? I’ve never treated a bugster before so I’m not sure how much I can help.” He finally says turning his chair to face his computers.

“Reiko’s damage comes from the Proto Gashat. Kuroto states her overloading the Gashat broke the Driver’s limiter. She’s sweating blood and was vomiting it at the scene.”

“Hematemesis.” Taiga says typing quickly on his computer. “A regular human who tries to wield the Gamer Driver without compatibility surgery suffers the same thing...unless said human has Game Syndrome to provide a buffer or to let the Driver know they aren’t compatible enough.” He explains glaring at Nico. Nico gulps and ducks outside. “If a bugster is suffering from the same thing then the amount of virus in her must be astronomical. Her notes say that you can’t test her blood, that goes in line with what I’ve studied.”

Taiga pulls up a blood sample on the computer labeled “Patient 0: Hojo Emu.”

“Where did you get-”

“It doesn’t matter.” Taiga says pointing to the data. “Look at that. Emu’s DNA is warped as the virus was replacing his DNA with theirs.”

“I already know. Kuroto appraised us of how the virus works.”

Taiga nods. “Good then, you’ll be able to keep up. If the machines can’t read her blood then it’s simple to conclude that it’s no longer blood. If the virus is capable of rewriting human DNA, then imagine what a vast amount would do to a bugster. It would try to rewrite something it wouldn’t know how to. Like junk data in a computer. It would only corrupt and confuse the way the body is supposed to work. Corroding her DNA into something unrecognizable.”

“She has cancer.” Hiiro concludes. “Or something equivalent.” Taiga nods.

“Best case scenario she would. Have you scanned her?” He asks only for Hiiro shake his head.

“No, we don’t know if moving her will exacerbate her injuries.”
“You might want to see if she does have cancer. Otherwise, it’s possible her body has tried to cannibalize itself as the ruined portions of her DNA try to rewrite her intact portions,ruining them. You gave her a blood transfusion...at the very least she’ll have something her body can actually use.”

“What about bugster regeneration?” Hiiro asks. “Do you know anything about that?” Taiga shakes his head and he taps a few keys in. A nearby printer prints out several pages. Taiga staples them together and hands them to Hiiro.

“These are all the notes I have on the bugster virus’s effect on human DNA. Give them to the mad genius. He might be able to make more use of them than either us in this situation.”

Hiiro takes the pages, speechless. “I...why...Thank you.” He eventually says bowing deeply. “I’ll take these to him immediately.”

Taiga waves him away. “Sure, just get out of my office.” He says as Hiiro starts to leave Taiga adds. “Hiiro, don’t you let her die.”

Hiiro nods. “I don’t intend to.”

File: taddle_fantasy__by_ramend(...).png (2.23 MB, 1920x1920)

2.23 MB PNG

As Hiiro’s car drives away Nico looks at Taiga confused. “Why’d you help him? He hates you. You hate him!”

Taiga turns to head back into the building. “The girl has nothing to do with our feud. To let someone else die because of that is idiocy. Besides...he doesn’t live with that kind of failure on his shoulders. I’ll be the one to bear those burdens. Now this time be quiet. I want to work in peace.”
---

Hiiro quickly exits his car and begins to walk towards the entrance of the hospital as someone calls out to him and runs up.

“Yo Doc Kagami! Wait up man!” A teenager boasting a pompadour and black jacket shouts as he runs over to him. “Yo man! I got a gift for you.”

“Sorry I don’t accep-” Hiiro begins before the teenager bumps his fist into his chest with a grin. The young man leans in and whispers, his voice full of cruel intent.

“Oh you want this. The King and Boss send their regards. It’s best you take a look as soon as you can. Be a real shame if something happens to your girlie downstairs.” He says. Hiiro’s eyes grow wide as he reaches to draw his Driver. The teen grabs his wrist and his grin grows wider.

“Now now doctor. Ain’t do no harm one of your oaths? ‘Sides, I also have friends in high places.” The teen says nodding towards the roof of another building. Standing ontop was King and the other Drago Knights. “We’ll be in touch. We’re always watching.” The young man laughs and walks off with his hands behind his head. Hiiro clenches his teeth and looks down at the parcel in his hand. Inside was a single disk.
>Thanks to Taiga’s notes, Kuroto can work even faster. The doctors have also gained better insight on Reiko’s condition and the effects the virus has on human beings. Unfortunately, it seems like trouble is brewing.
>What does the crew do?
>Progress on Reiko’s Diagnosis: 50%
>Kuroto’s analysis: Nearly Complete
>Perform surgery on Reiko/Parado to try and drain the blood from their lungs and possibly fix any internal bleeding. You still don’t know much about their regeneration. (Choose who you want to work on.)
>Scan Reiko like Taiga suggest. Moving her might cause more injuries but knowing the extent of the damage to her body will make any surgery attempts easier.
>Wait for Kuroto to finish his research. He’s almost done but you still don’t know how long you have to wait.
>Check out the disk King’s Knight gave you. If he’s planning anything, it’d be best to know incase it could hurt Reiko’s chances of recovery. Doing so will eat into the time of the day, delaying any scans or treatment you might want to give her. The minimum you can do with this option is continue giving her blood transfusions as they require little input.

I’ll need rolls for the first three options. 1d20+6 for the first two and 1d20+10 for Kuroto to see how fast he finishes.

>>3956059
>>Check out the disk King’s Knight gave you. If he’s planning anything, it’d be best to know incase it could hurt Reiko’s chances of recovery. Doing so will eat into the time of the day, delaying any scans or treatment you might want to give her. The minimum you can do with this option is continue giving her blood transfusions as they require little input.
We might as well wait until we have all the info to hand before we start aggravating Reiko's injuries. Time to check out what the bugsters are doing.

Rolled 14 + 6 (1d20 + 6)

>>3956059
>Scan Reiko like Taiga suggest. Moving her might cause more injuries but knowing the extent of the damage to her body will make any surgery attempts easier.

Just as a heads up in case you missed it last night. I won't be able to run for majority of the day. Vote is open til whenever I can. If you have lore questions I can answer them. I just can't set aside enough time to put up a long post. Stay safe guys.

Game will be back up in about an hour. I'll need a tie breaker by then or I'll just roll for it.

Rolled 2 (1d2)

>>3956358
>>3956255
Alright rolling for one of these.

Scanning Reiko it is. King and cronies can wait. Writing.

“You what?!” Emu shouts looking worried. “Hiiro! What do we do?”

Hiiro shakes his head. “I told you, I saw King and his underlings. They know where we operate. Not surprising considering how close Genm Corp was with Cyber Rescue affairs. And what we’re going to do is continue to treat our patient. We’re doctors. No amount of threats will stop us from doing our duty. Call Taiga. He needs to know.” Emu moves over and video calls Taiga. The large monitor comes to life and shows an odd angled view of Taiga’s office.

Taiga moves into view and looks through his monitors. “I’m here.” He says looking at something off screen.

“Taiga. Genm Corp knows where we operate.” Hiiro says giving him a brief rundown of what had occurred. “He gave me a disk. No doubt he wants us to watch it.” Hiiro says placing the disk on a table. “But if he thinks he can stop us from doing our job, then he’s underestimating us. Nonetheless, it reasonable to assume they’re tracking you as well.”

Taiga nods. “They’re trying to close their grip on us. I’ll rendezvous with you at NCR tomorrow.”

“Can’t you come right now? It’s dangerous to be alone.” Emu says.

“I have a few things I need to back up before I can leave.” Taiga says coolly. “Besides, if they’re keeping an eye on us then no doubt they’ll think we’re planning something if I suddenly change my routine. I’ll see you tomorrow. If I’m not here by 6 in the afternoon, assume they got us.” Emu looks helplessly at the group.

“We’ll see you then Taiga.” Hiiro replies. “We’ll hold off on looking at the disk until you arrive.”

“Very well.” Taiga says as he stands up. “Nico! Get your things! We have work to do.” He says as he walks off camera and cuts the connection. Emu sits down and fidgets nervously.

“So what do we do while we wait?” He asks.

“Our job.” Hiiro replies. “We need to scan Reiko to see what the damage is to her body. Hopefully by then Kuroto will have finished his work with Taiga’s notes.”

“You think what Taiga said is true? That she has cancer?” Emu says.

Hiiro shakes his head. “I can only hope it’s as simple as that.” He admits. “At least then we’ll know how to treat her.”

----

“This isn’t good Hiiro. This isn’t good at all.” Emu says looking over the results and the scanner. “Her lungs are full of fluid, most likely blood.”

“So is her stomach.” Hiiro says. “No signs of cancer either.” He continues doing his best to not rub his temples in frustration and tension. “I think we’re dealing with worst case scenario here.”

“We still don’t know how risky it is to try and drain it from her system.” Emu says.

“We also don’t know if she’ll simply continue to bleed internally if we did. If what Taiga hypothesized is right. She may have lost the ability to heal at all.”

“Is that even possible?” Emu asks in surprise. “Then...if we operate on her…”

“She’ll bleed to death.” Hiiro says through gritted teeth as he slams his fist on the table. “Damn it!”

“Hiiro…” Emu says at a loss for words. “Hiiro? Hey look!” He shouts noticing something on the monitors. Hiiro quickly makes his way and glares at the monitor. The display showed a dark spot grow quickly on Reiko’s body. At the same time she begins to bleed through her skin. “Poppy we need your help. Reiko’s sweating blood again.” He says standing up. “Hiiro can you please keep an eye on the monitor? I want to try something.”

Emu gently lifts Reiko’s arm and starts to wipe it clean only to have it bleed again. “Maybe we can figure out what’s behind this if we keep an eye out while it happens.” Emu continues to clean Reiko’s arm for a few minutes before Hiiro stops him.

“Intern. Stop.” He says. Emu looks up confused. “Is her arm still bleeding?” Emu looks down and shakes his head.


“No.” He responds. “Did you find anything?”

“There’s no injury in her arm. None of the blood vessels are ruptured anymore.” He says looking up. “She regenerated.”

“But...then why did she bleed in the first place? Why isn’t she healing?” Emu asks confused.

“I don’t know. But at the very least there’s something wrong with the way she’s healing. We can’t operate on her like this. Let’s move her back to the patient room once we cleaned her up.”

The members of NCR sit around the table next to Reiko’s bed. “Kuroto, tell me what you have found.” Hiiro says. Kuroto gives him a grin.

“Thanks to all the information you gave me. I can give an accurate prognosis! It’s only natur-”

“Now is not the time!” Parado shouts. “What do you know!?”

Kuroto glares at Parado and clears his throat. “Taiga’s notes were correct. Reiko’s DNA is corrupted. Judging by the same type of corruption in Parado’s DNA, it’s safe to assume that the virus is trying to rewrite it and failing. The only thing it leaves behind is junk code. If we apply it to a larger scale, her organs might have liquified if she had spent any longer transformed.”

The room goes silent at that. “So why isn’t she regenerating?” Emu asks. “And what about Parado? Is he going to be ok?”

Kuroto shuffles through his notes. “Judging from what you told me happened earlier. She is. Only her body thinks it’s a mistake and reverts the change. She’s basically cutting herself open and closing it again. Parado on the other hand will be fine. The damage to his body wasn’t done by a Proto Gashat and he didn’t stay in the transformation long enough for the virus to break down anything too important. From a few tests I’ve run, it’s slowly clearing up.”

Hiiro laces his fingers together. “So even if we were to operate on her…”

“She wouldn’t get better.” Kuroto says. “Granted, I have figured out how to suppress a bugster’s healing ability but at this point. It’s rather moot.”

“How do we do it?” Emu asks.

“Proto Gashats.” Kuroto says. “Their ability to lower a bugster’s level allow suppresses their ability to heal. Simply by doing the surgery while transformed should be enough. I could build a machine to have the same effect but I’d need more time.”

“So that’s it then?!” Parado shouts. “All we can do is just sit here and watch her waste away?!”

“Parado I…” Emu says

“There has to be something! Anything!” Parado shouts.

“There is one way…” Kuroto says quietly. “Gamedeus.”

The room slowly turns to face Kuroto. “What is that?” Hiiro asks.

“Kamen Rider Chronicle’s ultimate boss. A bugster with the power that surpasses all others. His ability to use any bugster’s power or abilities could be the key. If I could get a sample of his virus...I may be able to fashion a vaccine. His strain of the virus is strong enough to override any other. I could simply program it to restore Reiko’s DNA back to its original form. Then you’d be free to operate on her.”

“What’s the catch?” Parado asks.

“Gamedeus is the ultimate boss. Once the virus is in Reiko’s system, it’s up to her to overpower it and take control. Otherwise...Gamedeus will take over her body.” Kuroto explains.

“Wait...if we need to reprogram Reiko’s DNA. I can do it!” Emu says. “Maximum Mighty X could do it!”

“Don’t be daft Emu.” Kuroto says. “You’d have to use a finisher to reprogram someone. You’d kill her!”

“What if we use Mighty Brothers…” Parado says. “It’s the strongest level Gashat we have.”

“We don’t know if Mighty Brothers even works on Reiko. Plus the damage she’s taken could be inflicted on whoever shares the second form let alone the reprograming at the end.” Hiiro points out.

“There’s also the matter of getting to GameDeus’s data.” Kuroto continues. “It will be heavily guarded against hackers...and only bugsters would be able to enter that space.”

“So only Kuroto and I will be able to go.” Poppy says.

“No. I’m going too.” Parado says. “I’m done just sitting around and watching everyone pull their weight. We can go ask Graphite too.”

“We’re not asking him.” Hiiro says. “I won’t allow him to get close to Reiko.”

“We haven’t even decided what we’re going to do yet.” Emu says looking around.

“I won’t put her through a level 99 finisher.” Kuroto says. “Gamedeus is the safest option.”

“In her condition? She’s delirious. Gamedeus would take over her body!” Hiiro points out.

“So you’d rather pit her against Emu again?” Parado shoots back.

“I wasn’t in control!” Emu shouts standing up.

“Guys! We need to stop fighting! Someone’s life is at stake!” Poppy shouts.

“So then what do we do?!” Parado screams.

>Reiko’s diagnosis is complete! Her DNA is corrupted to the point that her regenerative abilities continuously undo themselves. Ontop of that, the virus is slowly rewriting her DNA into useless garbage, killing her and causing her body to slowly fail. However the three methods of treating her are so risky it’s driving NCR apart. What route should they take?

>Ask Emu to perform a finisher as Maximum Mighty X. If he’s carefully enough he can mitigate or completely nullify the damage as he reprograms Reiko.
>Ask Emu to reprogram Reiko while she’s using Mighty Brothers. The damage might be split between both users but there’s a chance so will the reprogramming. However, in this state, the users can load up on defensive power ups to try and lessen the impact.
>Send the bugster/resurrected members of NCR to find the Gamedeus strain. It will be dangerous for everyone involved looking but the battle to recover will be a mental one for Reiko rather than an endurance test.
>Sad End: You’ve done all you could but you simply can’t risk any of these options. Perhaps it’s better to let Reiko pass on in peace. Doesn’t have to be the end of the game though.

Oof these are some tough options gents. If you are going to try to perform a reprogramming then I’ll need a 1d20+5 to try it and set how difficult it will be for Reiko to survive.

Rolled 11 + 5 (1d20 + 5)

>>3957626
Fuck, man. All these options suck.

>Ask Emu to reprogram Reiko while she’s using Mighty Brothers. The damage might be split between both users but there’s a chance so will the reprogramming. However, in this state, the users can load up on defensive power ups to try and lessen the impact.

I need to head to sleep. I'll leave the votes open over night. Been a long day and I did take a pretty long time to write this up. So that's my bad. Hope your enjoying the game. See you guys tomorrow!

Rolled 8 + 5 (1d20 + 5)

>>3957626
>Ask Emu to reprogram Reiko while she’s using Mighty Brothers. The damage might be split between both users but there’s a chance so will the reprogramming. However, in this state, the users can load up on defensive power ups to try and lessen the impact.
Thank god we didn't try to operate

>>3957701
>>3958371
Huh...I would've guessed you guys would have chosen the Gamedeus option. Well I'll be able to run in about 2 or 3 hours. Plenty of time left for votes.

>>3958371
>>3957701
Alright we're gonig with trying to use Maximum Mighty X to reprogram Reiko's failing body. Not the best rolls though...

File: 1000114651_1_grande.jpg (65 KB, 560x560)

65 KB JPG

“I don’t know…” Poppy says quietly unsure of how to proceed. Parado turns to Emu and holds out his hand.

“Give me Mighty Brothers Emu.” He says.

“What? You’re insane! You’d risk a finisher in her condition?” Kuroto shouts. “Gamedeus is a better option!”

“We don’t have that kind of time!” Parado shouts. “Who knows how long it’ll take to find it and then to make it work on her.”

Emu hesitates. “Do you think she can use it?” He asks.

“I don’t know but if you’re using Maximum Mighty X and she uses Mighty Brothers...I think I’ll still be the other half.” Parado says. “Even if I start to get corrupted like she is...I trust you.” He finishes. “It’ll work out.”

Emu looks around the room. “Is this really the best option?” He asks slowly drawing Mighty Brothers from his pocket. Hiiro looks away angrily.

“We don’t have much of a choice do we?” He growls. “Poppy and I will prepare a surgery room for when you get back. Kuroto, get Proto Mighty Action X fixed. You’re going to be suppressing their regeneration. We can’t have Emu or I dying during surgery and you’re the most acclimated to using it.”

Poppy nods and hurries away while Kuroto goes back to his desk grumbling. “If you kill my protege, I’ll be taking my work elsewhere!” He shouts. Emu leads Parado down to the patient's room. Reiko’s robes had been changed but her skin was slightly pink from the bleeding. Both arms were stuck with IVs and her eyelids tremble as the eyes underneath were moving rapidly. Emu quietly removes the machinery and IVs from her causing the machines to flatline and beep in alarm. He then draws Maximum Mighty X gashat and activates is.

“Max Dai Henshin.”

Maximum Mighty X!

Gashatto!

“Reiko...I’m sorry but I need you to bear it just a little longer.” Parado says gently stroking her head. He winces as the Driver locks around Reiko’s waist and he activates the Gashat.

Mighty Brothers! Double X!

Gashatto!

Parado fades away before reappearing from Reiko’s position in his Orange themed armor before immediately doubling over in pain and falling to his knees.

“Parado!” Emu says moving over to the bugster before Parado lifts his hand up in protest.

“T-this is nothing…”/ He grunts and struggles to his feet. “I got off easy last time.. This is just catch up for her.” He continues breathing heavily and slowly getting to his feet, trembling slightly. He steadies himself and gently lifts his sister. “Change the stage Emu.”

Stage Select!

The three of them are moved to a large quarry area, far from the city’s limits. The wind blows heavily, making things hard to hear but the Riders are unaffected within their armored suits.

File: KREA-Exaidl99.png (318 KB, 319x569)

318 KB PNG

“Parado...are you still sure about this?” Emu says looking down at Parado as his breathing got heavier.

“We’re already here. Just let me get...let me get some energy items.” He struggles to say as he sets down Reiko and goes to open boxes scattered around.

Iron Body!
Iron Body
Muscle Up!

”I hope this is enough.” He mutters quietly before giving them all to his sister. Turning to Emu he kneels next to her and holds her close. ”Do it.” He says. Emu nods and clicks his Gashat into place.

“Parado…” Emu starts but Parado shakes his head.

”No words. Just do it! We know why it’s come to this!”

Emu hesitates before letting out a scream and activating his finisher.

Kimewaza! MIGHTY CRITICAL BREAK!

Emu runs at full speed towards the two before jumping and extending his leg as it fills with unimaginable power. Parado never breaks eye contact with Emu and as the energy of the attack fills his vision he thinks with a small laugh.

Emu. Reiko. I hope we can all play together again sometime.

Roll 1d20+4.

Rolled 7 + 4 (1d20 + 4)

>>3958849

File: 1554176312576.jpg (17 KB, 192x279)

17 KB JPG

>>3958852
I need somebody else to roll, right now.

>>3958852
>That roll
Justice pls. We need your guidance!

Should I...roll for this too? I don't know if I should leave it longer for others to give it a shot because it's a pretty important roll and historically, mine have been shit.

Rolled 9 + 4 (1d20 + 4)

>>3958849

File: Dl1YohMX0AAxwo_.jpg (134 KB, 1200x675)

134 KB JPG

>>3958901
B-better...Just one more roll.

Rolled 16 + 4 (1d20 + 4)

>>3958849

File: tumblr_inline_psjrxcqfj11(...).jpg (189 KB, 1280x720)

189 KB JPG

>>3959015
You absolute mad man. You saved the world.

Crap. Something's come up. I'll need to be away from my computer but i'll have the post up asap. We're not out of the dangerous waters yet guys!

BOOM!

Parado screams as he and Reiko are launched by the explosion of the attack. He holds on to his sister and uses his body to take the impact as they crash into a nearby dune of gravel. The two slide to the ground as they’re forced out of their transformations.

Game Clear!

The three are transported back to NCR as both Parado and Reiko crash into the patient bed. Followed by two Gashattrophies clattering to the ground. “Parado!” Emu shouts ignoring the items as he untransforms and dashes towards them. Parado groans and waves Emu away.

“I’m fine.” He grunts. “Take my sister to surgery. It worked right?” He asks grimacing and looking at his sister.

Emu nods. “Yes! But I’m more worried about the impact to you two right now!”

“I’m talking and I can move. That’s good enough for me!” Parado argues.

“He’s right Intern. I need to get her on a stretcher and you to get washed. I won’t have you contaminate my surgery room.” Hiiro says rushing in. “I trust you can keep your stomach in check while we operate right?”

Emu nods seriously. “Yes sir!” He says and dashes off, throwing his coat and driver on a couch as he rushes to get prepared.

Hiiro turns to Parado. “Don’t think about leaving. Your surgery is next. Tell Taiga to give you a check while we’re operating. You might be more messed up than you think.”

“Just save my sister.” Parado grunts sitting up. “...and thanks...All of you.” He says awkwardly. “I know I don’t deserve any of this.”

“You don’t.” Hiiro says leaving the room. “But it’s our job to make sure you two are ok...as both of your doctors.”

Parado shuffles in his seat nervously, casting glances every so often to the operating room doors. Taiga waits quietly as he leans against a wall.

“Looking at those doors won’t make it go any faster.” He says. “I saw her charts. They’re going to have to pull an all nighter.”

“How bad was it?” Parado asks nervously.

“Pretty bad. It’s an unusual operation judging from Hiiro’s notes. They’re not so much draining the blood out of the girl’s lungs so much as trying to cut her in the right ways so he can regenerate her body properly. Assuming Emu didn’t botch it, her ruined portions of her body should be back to normal and all they need to do is sutur them. Though because of how fast you bugsters heal, regular sutures won’t have enough time to degrade so they need to remove them mid surgery after the mad genius untransforms. It’ll be a back and forth between cutting and healing.” He explains eyeing Parado. “And you’ll be next too.”

Parado nods but doesn’t say anything as he tugs idly at some of his hair. Just like his sister and Tiaga, some of his hair was bleached white giving him the same unusual highlights the unlicensed doctor had.

”...you and your sister will probably have those for life. The cosmetic damage doesn’t seem to have been repaired. Emu must’ve been focusing on the more important repairs...” He remembers Tiaga saying. It’s a small price to pay. Parado thinks quietly glancing at the doors one more time.

Inside the surgery room...

“Sponge.” Hiiro says. Poppy moves over and quietly pats off the sweat from Hiiro’s forehead. “Making a lateral incision on the right lung. Preparing to drain away excess fluid found there, suspected to be blood.” He announces in a professional tone. “Intern, get ready. Kuroto, her regeneration is halted correct?”

“Yes, yes. She’s not healing and yes it’s working properly. You saw her arms. The wounds were the IVs were are completely gone.” Kuroto says in a bored tone. “You asked this with the left lung already and that healed properly.”

Poppy checks the various monitors as she walks around to grab some spare tools. “Doctor, patient’s vitals are lower than normal” She says trying to keep her voice calm. Despite her programmed training, Poppy hated surgeries. Seeing people cold and lifeless conflicted with how she was programmed. She wanted to have fun and see people smile but for her job, she put aside her discomfort if it meant making people well again.

Hiiro nods. “Keep an eye on it nurse. Patient had been suffering from irregular heart beats before, and we haven’t had the time to take precautions for minimizing blood loss. Intern, clamp. Kuroto remove your transformation on 3. 1...2...3.”

Kuroto sighs and does as he’s told. This process continued for several hours as the team worked. The work was slow, Reiko’s wounds would take hours to completely heal over. While miraculous, the healing factor meant she had to be left open while it happened and continuously cut open to make sure everything closed properly.

Finally all seemed to be ending as the blood was drained from her stomach when…


“She’s flat lining!” Poppy shouts moving to grab the defibrillator. Hiiro immediately moves into place to start performing CPR as he pushes down on Reiko’s chest to restart her heart.

“Emu grab the conducting gel from the shelves.” Hiiro orders. Kuroto steps back and growls.

“What did you do?” He shouts.

“Nothing!” Emu responds. “We did everything right! She was healing up exactly as we wanted her too! Did we push her too hard? Or...is she giving up?” He asks looking at Hiiro and tearing open the gel pack.

Hiiro doesn’t respond as he continues to perform CPR.

Not like this! Not when we’re so close!

>Intermission time!
>Got a lot of things that are about to go on! We’re reaching the end of The New Riders arc. Who do you want to follow?
>Parado, Taiga and everyone outside of the operating room.
>Hiiro, Emu, and the rest of the operating staff. More medical drama!
>Or Reiko for a weird near death experience adventure? Alternatively you can just say this is dumb and we don’t gotta do it at all.
>We also got Dad Masamune. He’s got bad guy background stuff you can see.

>>3959306
>Reiko for a weird near death experience adventure

>>3959306
>Hiiro, Emu, and the rest of the operating staff. More medical drama!

>>3959313
>>3959309
A tie! I'll give it 20 more minutes and do roll for it.

Rolled 1 (1d2)

>>3959313
>>3959309
Ok heres the roll. Writing on the winning choice.

Huh...I kind of meant the near death thing to be 1 but I guess I clicked medical drama first. Drama it is!

“Clear!” Hiiro shouts as he presses both pads into Reiko’s chest. The pads whine are a current runs through them and into her. Her body bucks upward as all her muscles tense up due to the electricity coursing through her. The vitals monitor beeps once and goes flat again. “Again!” Hiiro announces.

Poppy charges up the device and the whine reaches a high pitch before the pads once again are pushed on to Reiko. Her body jumps once more and the vitals monitor beeps steadily. The trio let out a shakey sigh as fatigue is starting to settle in from the all nighter. Hiiro steps back and grabs a surgical sponge and wipes his face before washing his hands and repreparing for surgery again.

“Do we continue?” Emu asks as he does the same. “I’m not sure if her body can handle it.”

“We have too. The longer we take, the more likely she might go into shock.” Hiiro says. “You should know that on and off surgeries are the most stressful to the body. Scalpel.”

Poppy hands Hiiro another knife and he looks towards Kuroto. “Kuroto, dampen her powers again.” He orders. Kuroto rolls his eyes and does as he’s told.

“Melodrama.” He mutters.

“Intern, where are her injuries?” Hiiro asks. Emu moves a backlit board nearer to the operating table.

“Her major injuries were her lungs and stomach. Currently we’ve managed to treat her lungs. Her stomach still needs to be stitched together for use to regenerate it.” He winces and looks ashamed. “Her small intestine is torn...because of me. She also has a broken leg we need to splint or it might not heal right.”

“We will begin on her lower intestine.” Hiiro says. “That might interfere with her stomach operation if we don’t treat it first. Prepare some sutures and we’ll make another incision into her abdomen.”

“Yes sir.” Emu says moving to grab some clamps and sutures from the nearby table. The work was arduous as the doctors had to patch up a length of Reiko’s small intestine only to find another tear forcing them to stop and wait for the first area to heal up before moving on to the next part only for the process to repeat itself again.”

“Doctor her vitals are dropping fast!” Poppy says.

“She’s lost too much blood.” Hiiro mutters. “Prep a transfusion.”

“I think we only have enough for one more.” Emu says.

“We’ll have to make do.” Hiiro responds. “But it’ll add to the wait time…”

“I don’t think we can wait the hours required. Her body might give out again.” Poppy says bringing an IV stand.

>Reiko’s body was badly hurt during Emu’s attack and the hours spent under the knife have started to cause her body to start giving out. The doctors only have enough blood left for one transfusion. Do they administer it and wait or continue on with the surgery?
>Continue. The faster the operation is done the sooner the stress on her body ends. Waiting only increases the chances her heart stops beating again or she goes in shock from being cut open for so long.
>Wait on a transfusion. It’s better that the doctors take their time lest they risk injuring her more trying to finish faster.
>Attempt to do the surgery while giving Reiko an operation. This is the riskiest option. It’ll put the greatest strain on her heart as it tries to pump blood as it losses it but if done right, the doctors will be able to work as fast as if they don’t do a transfusion and the constant blood flow will help from Reiko’s body from giving out but only if they do it right.

Any choice will require 1d20+8 as Hiiro is the lead surgeon.

Rolled 2 + 8 (1d20 + 8)

>>3959509
>Continue. The faster the operation is done the sooner the stress on her body ends. Waiting only increases the chances her heart stops beating again or she goes in shock from being cut open for so long.
Come on!

File: maxresdefault.jpg (76 KB, 1280x720)

76 KB JPG

>>3959542
Nngggh...dice gods why?

File: ELIqXodWsAkuL-v.jpg orig.jpg (127 KB, 1080x2160)

127 KB JPG

Where the hell is that other guy that voted?

Hopefully the near death experience becomes just death.
Inb4 I have to turn this into a Kamen Rider Ghost game.

>>3959627
OK I meant doesn't become a death experience! I meant doesn't!

Rolled 12 + 8 (1d20 + 8)

>>3959509
>Continue. The faster the operation is done the sooner the stress on her body ends. Waiting only increases the chances her heart stops beating again or she goes in shock from being cut open for so long.

Rolled 18 + 8 (1d20 + 8)

>>3959509
>Continue

>>3959809
>>3959787
Coming through with the those saves! Writing.

Hiiro looks down at Reiko. The girl who had risked her life to get the team back together. She was stubborn and prone to making impulsive decisions but she always did it to keep the people around her safe. At first it annoyed him as if she was deliberately trying to push his buttons but after a while he realized her actions for what they really were. She was being a doctor.

Time and time again she would come back injured but that only pushed her to do better, to be better. Just like she had started to push him to do so as well. When she approached him and confessed her feelings, he had pushed her away. He had lied to himself and said it was because he was getting to personal with is patient. That it would take away his edge as a surgeon but deep down he knew the real reason why and seeing Reiko on the operating table only made him come to terms with it. He loved her, and he was afraid of facing the possibility of losing another person he had come close to.

My inaction cost me Saki. I won’t let it take Reiko away from me. Never again.

“Hiiro?” Emu asks. “What do we do?”

https://youtu.be/bpWU8LRFXXE

Hiiro looks up at the group. His eyes blazing with determination. “We continue.”

“Are you sure?” Emu asks concerned.

“I am Hiiro Kagami, Reiko Yukihara’s doctor. And there’s nothing I cannot cut.” Hiiro announces confidently. “Scalpel.”

Emu and Poppy look at Hiiro and nod as his confidence burns away their doubts. Kuroto smirks and moves towards the table. “So, it looks like we’re ready to really put in some effort.” He says activating his Gashat.

Mighty Action X!

The team works through the hours like clockwork. Hiiro’s hands worked deftly as he made the most precise incisions, making sure every cut had a purpose and were big enough to do their job and nothing more. Emu works swiftly, keeping up with his superior’s cuts to clamp open the cuts and staunch the flow of blood to keep the blood loss to a minimum. Poppy moved around the operating room, supplying the surgeons with instruments and supplies, her natural aptitude of rhythm allowing her to spot the patterns and habits of her co-workers so that she could work assist well before they needed to call for help.

Kuroto for his part kept quiet, finally seeing the true skill of the people he worked for. Even for an arrogant God he knew real skill when he saw it and could come to respect it. He did as he was directed, if only so he could appreciate the grim artistry of the work being done.

The team worked their way through Reiko’s injuries without respite, slowly making their way to her stomach to drain it of blood and coax it into regeneration. No longer did they hesitate or stumble at the monumental task before them. Finally the last cut was healed over and Hiiro stepped back, removing his mask.

“Operation: Successful.”

----
Parado and Tiaga were both awoken when the doors of the operating room were thrown open. They both turned startled to see Emu and Hiiro thoroughly soaked in sweat step through. Emu gives Parado a happy grin before it fades and his legs give out from under him as he trembles looking slightly green. “I don’t think I’ll ever get used to seeing someone under the knife.” He mumbles.

Hiiro rolls his eyes. “And you were doing so well.” He says. “Nonetheless...good job Emu. I couldn’t have done it without you.” He adds awkwardly.

“So...is she?” Parado asks. Hiiro nods.

“The operation was a complete success.” Hiiro says exhaustion washing over him. “All that’s left...it’s up to her.” He admits. “We’ve done all we could with the physical damage.”

Taiga smirks. “So you managed to pull it off then, perfect doctor?” He asks impressed.

Hiiro was about to respond when he and Emu are pulled into a tight hug. “Thank you.” Parado sobs holding them tightly.

“Parado…” Emu says emotionally. “Don’t mention it. It’s our job. And I promised you that you’d see her smile again.”

“Parado…” Hiiro says awkwardly coughing. “We need to rest and eat. Otherwise we will be performing suboptimally when we go through your procedure.” He says looking away.

Parado pulls away grinning and teary eyed. He opens his mouth to say something when they are interrupted.

”ATTENTION MEMBERS OF CYBER RESCUE! YOUR TIME IS UP! HIS MAJESTY MASKED RIDER KING DEMANDS YOUR RESPONSE TO HIS TERMS!” A voice announces through a megaphone. The 4 make their way towards a window to find King,carried by some regular ride players atop a golden throne, along with his 4 Knights and a small battalion of regular Ride Players trailing behind him…

>From one problem to another the members of NCR find themselves faced with another situation. What do they do?
>Don’t reveal yourselves. It could be a trap set up by them. Instead get everyone down to NCR and figure out a way to lure King away from the hospital and look over the disk. It clearly has some sort of demands on it.
>Try and talk King to give you more time. If a fight breaks out, tons of innocent patients and their family will be well within the crossfire.
>Put the hospital under lockdown. This will alarm everyone inside but at least it will prevent King from entering. The hospital has some anti bugster intrusion barricades but against a level 50 player and his small army, who knows how long it’ll hold out. At least it will buy you some time to think of a way to deal with King.

>>3959980
>Try and talk King to give you more time. If a fight breaks out, tons of innocent patients and their family will be well within the crossfire.

>>3959980
>>3960010
Actually, I'll switch to
>Don’t reveal yourselves. It could be a trap set up by them. Instead get everyone down to NCR and figure out a way to lure King away from the hospital and look over the disk. It clearly has some sort of demands on it.

looks like we hit that time of night again. Vote is open till I wake up. Night everyone.

>>3959980
>Don’t reveal yourselves. It could be a trap set up by them. Instead get everyone down to NCR and figure out a way to lure King away from the hospital and look over the disk. It clearly has some sort of demands on it.

>>3960020
>>3960402
Being sneaky boys. Writing.

“We need to get back to NCR.” Taiga says ducking back out of view of the window. “What is he talking about?”

“Whatever was on that disk probably.” Hiiro replies. “We had more important matters to attend to than to follow the whims of someone who wants to play king.”

“I’ll go move Reiko downstairs.” Emu says. “She shouldn’t be up here if people are going to strike against us.” He quickly makes his way back into the operating room to warn Poppy.

The group quickly make their way to the elevator. The doctors wore their surgical masks while moving Reiko’s stretcher covered in a blanket. The rest followed silently crouched and hidden by the stretcher avoiding windows as best they could. Outside the amplified voice kept shouting towards the building.

”CYBER RESCUE! YOU THREATENED THE KINGDOM AND IN GOOD FAITH OUR LORDSHIP EXTENDED THE OLIVE BRANCH! YET YOU BAND TOGETHER IN YOUR FORTRESS AND HIDE BEHIND INNOCENT LIVES!”

”YOU CANNOT HIDE FROM JUSTICE! COME OUT AND GIVE US YOUR ANSWER OR FACE JUSTICE!”

“Do you think Genm Corp sent them after us?” Poppy asks as she punches in the secret code to lower the elevator to NCR’s base. Taiga shakes his head.

“Genm Corp would know better than to send an open and obvious attack on innocent people. No one would want to play Chronicle then.” He says crossing his arms.

The door dings and opens. Akihito leans over to see the group walking in and he rushes towards them. “Guys! We have bad news. The internet is exploding with news on King and his group.”

“Not now Akihito.” Hiiro says. “We have bigger problems. He’s here.”

“What?! What does he want?” Akihito says.

“We’re about to find out.” Taiga replies as he grabs the disk on the table and slides it into a nearby computer. The disk contained a single video file that auto ran by default.

King is sitting on his throne and holding a copy of Chronicle. “This game was supposed to be fun for everyone.” He says quietly and overdramatically. “But a certain someone had to ruin it!” He shouts and throws the gashat to the ground, shattering it. “This game is everything to me! It made me better than who I was before!”

King stands and paces around the room as the camera slowly follows. “I had admirers, fans. Then she had to come and start spreading her lies! People stopped playing! She sent her boyfriend after me! The made me doubt my purpose.”

King looks directly at the camera. “Then my father spoke to a great man. He gave me another chance. Gave me back the power to do what is right. I gathered my team, ready to protect my kingdom. But by then that bitch had gathered her own little gang and then had the gall TO ATTACK MY MENTOR!”

King rushes to the camera to wrenches it out of the camera man’s hands. “Listen to me you little shits. I’m going to give you 24 hours to make your choice. Give us the girl and her brother. If you do so I promise their deaths will be quick and merciful and your group will have the honor of joining us or giving us your Gashats and going back to your normal lives before this all happened. I will protect you and you will never fear anything again. But if you cross me. If you deny me my justice...All of you will die by inches. I know where your group hangs out. Meet me at my castle or I will come to you. And you don’t want me to come to you…” He finishes before throwing the camera down and breaking it.

The feed fades out and shows the image of a cathedral with an address for a while before the video cuts out and end.

“He’s gone mad…” Emu says finally tearing his view away from the screen and looking at the team. “What do we do? We can’t just hand Parado and Reiko over to him!”

“This is why I don’t allow unauthorized users!” Kuroto screams. “The bugster virus has finally started destroying his sanity.”

“Well it’s obvious!” Nico says walking up the stairs. “We go and fight him! Those Gashats aren’t even his! Come on Taiga!” She says tugging at his sleeve.

Taiga ignores her for a moment. “Nico. Go to the patient room with Reiko.” He says quietly.

“What?!”

“You heard me. This is beyond you.” He says. “Beyond us at our current strength. We need a plan.”

“We can’t fight him directly.” Emu says. “There’s too many innocent people here we need to move him away.”

Parado stands up. “I can’t fight anymore.” He says. “I don’t have a Gashat but I can give myself up to buy you time if there’s no other way.”

“Sit down! You know better than us that, that’s not an option.” Hiiro snaps. Parado crosses his arms and thinks.

“...I can go get Graphite. This has stopped being a fight between bugsters and humans. Genm Corp is threatening us all.”

Taiga and Hiiro glare at Parado mentioning the name. Poppy nods. “Graphite would also probably with the other me. Maybe…we can ask her to help us.”

“While it’s incredibly cute that the players and humans are banding together to defy my grand game. We’re still stuck here. We need to find a way out.” Kuroto points out.

The team grows quiet in agreement. As long as King was outside, his group would spot any attempts to leave.

>NCR is cornered and trapped in the hospital. One of their hardest hitters,Parado, is incapable of fighting and their diplomat, Reiko, has not woken up. What does the team do?
>You’re all more than welcome to distribute the team as you wish but write ups tend to be scarce so here’s a few options you can vote on.

>Keep Parado, Nico, Akihito, and Reiko downstairs while the others pull King away from the hospital. While they did offer to try and turn some bugsters to your side, Graphite and Fake Poppy doesn’t seem to be the most trustworthy. Better to be sure of your allies than hope they won’t turn on you mid fight.

Kuroto and Emu can attempt to draw away King as they both have the strongest Gashats while Hiiro, Taiga and Poppy can attempt to divvy up the remaining forces. They can all reach level 3 so the discrepancy between the level 5 Drago Knights won’t be too big.

>Buy time for Parado and Poppy to try and convince the Bugsters to help out. You can use all the help you can get and if it succeeds, you’ll have a strong surprise attack to unleash.

Like before Emu and Kuroto handle King while the rest split the knights up.

>Have Taiga to make guerilla style attacks to draw King away from the hospital and let the others try and escape to another hideout. In this instance Kuroto’s level 50 Gashat would be a monumental help with his ability to deprive nearby players of their senses. However King’s Taddle Fantasy makes him a being of darkness thus he will not be affected much like Dangerous Zombie’s immunity to the effect.

>Send one of the team out to try and talk King down or at the very least try to buy some time. If you can play to his delusions of justice maybe you can have him slip up somehow. Please give a brief description of what your bartering for and who you send to talk.

For all these I’ll ask for 1d20+6.

Rolled 13 + 6 (1d20 + 6)

>>3960881
>Buy time for Parado and Poppy to try and convince the Bugsters to help out. You can use all the help you can get and if it succeeds, you’ll have a strong surprise attack to unleash.

Can we also put the hospital on lockdown now? At least it will buy a little more time to talk them over, and there is essentially an armed terrorist at the gates.
Stash all the non-combatants/injured who aren't Parado in the basement.

>>3960974
Yes locking down the hospital is allowed. Seeing as your leaving people behind in NC HQ with that option there will be someone who can operate that protocol.

Rolled 7 + 6 (1d20 + 6)

>>3960881
>Buy time for Parado and Poppy to try and convince the Bugsters to help out. You can use all the help you can get and if it succeeds, you’ll have a strong surprise attack to unleash.

>>3961038
>>3960974
Going to buy time to see if we can convince the bugsters to help us. Writing.

“Hiiro, Tiaga. I think we should let Parado and Poppy got and try to get help. There’s too many of them for us to safely keep track of.” Emu says. The two other doctors glare at him.
“Emu’s right.” Poppy agrees. “We can’t do it alone right now. We need help.” Kuroto nods.

“As much as don’t wish the balance of my game to go awry. I don’t want all our hard work to go to waste.” He says motioning towards the patient's room. “Just because some child isn’t getting what he wants.”

Akihito adjusts his glasses. “But he can still send people in after us if you guys do fight.” He says. “And like you said. There’s too many to keep track off.”

Hiiro and Taiga look at each other and grumble. “The hospital has a fail safe. It was meant to be used in case a massive pandemic of Game Syndrome. We can put it in lock down. It’ll barricade the entrances and prevent anyone from leaving or going in.” Hiiro explains.

“We’ll need someone on the inside to start the lock down sequence but with you and Nico here that shouldn’t be an issue. The patients above us however might not be so understanding.” Taiga adds. “I’ll go and speak to the director.”

Hiiro gets up along with Tiaga. “And I’ll go appraise the staff. Everyone get ready. Once the lockdown begins we’ll be stuck on either side. Then the real fight begins. We’ll try and hold them off as long as possible.”

---

King taps on the armrest of his throne impatiently. “What’s taking them so long…” He grumbles. “I give them mercy. I give them a chance. And what do they do? They spit in my face!” He screams to no one. The various players nearby shuffle uncomfortably. “You there!” King screams at one of them. The player jumps and faces King.

“Y-yes, My lord?” He stammers.

“Go into the hospital. Grab someone. Bring them to me.” King says pushing the tips of his fingers together.

“Y-you want me to get a hostage?” The player balks. “But...they haven’t done anything-”

“THEY HAVE DEFIED MY LONG ENOUGH! DO YOU WANT TO SEE YOUR GIRLFRIEND AGAIN? WE CAN’T WIN THE GAME WHILE THOSE PEOPLE ARE TRYING TO INTERFERE WITH ME!” King screams. “If any of you want to see the loved ones that have vanished in this game then you’ll do as I say.” He says looking at his group.

“That won’t be necessary.” Emu says as he walks out with Hiiro, Taiga, and Kuroto. Each of them drawing their drivers and equipping them. Behind them various metal shutters begin to descend down the doors and across them.

WARNING! LOCKDOWN IN PROGRESS! BUGSTER PANDEMIC HAS BEEN REPORTED. ALL PATIENTS AND VISITORS PLEASE REMAIN CALM AND STAY AWAY FROM ALL EXITS. DOCTORS WILL SOON COME OVER TO PERFORM A ROUTINE CHECKUP.

A female voice announces over speakers. The message loops several times until the doors are fully barricaded.

“King.” Emu calls out. “Stop all this. We don’t need to fight.” He pleads. “You’re being used! Chronicles is dangerous and we can help you.”

“SILENCE YOU COWARDS! YOU HOLD HOSTAGES AGAINST ME?!” King screams. “I should have known better than to trust you!” He stands and walks off the platform the throne was on. “Give me the girl and I’ll make sure that you only lose your jobs!”

Hiiro draws his gashat and the others follow suit. “You’re a danger to all my patients. It’s time I cut you out.”

Kuroto let’s out a mad cackle as he holds Dangerous Zombie and the Proto Gashat. “A boy who pretends to be king wants to give orders to me? The Game Master? It’s time I let you know who’s really in charge.”

Taiga clicks his Gashats. “King. You’re Gashat is mine.”

Emu looks pleadingly at King. “Please. We can help you. You’re not well.”

King draws his sword. “It’s death then...Kill them!” He orders his troops. The players hesitate before they finally break rank and charge.

Mighty Action X! Taddle Quest! Bang Bang Shooting! Dangerous Zombie. Do Rei Mi Fa Beat! Jet Combat! MAXIMUM MIGHTY X!

LEVEL UP!

----

The fight rages on as Poppy and Parado snuck away. Sparks and explosions flew as players were flung around and bullets fly. Nearby cars and fixtures were broken and smashed in the crossfire as the two run towards the bugster’s hideout.

“How long do you think they’ll last?” Parado asks as he looks behind him to catch a glimpse of the fighting. As he faces forward he skids to a halt.

“Hi~!” The fake Poppy says with a smile and jumps off a building. “Looks like you and your friends broke the rules again!” She says with a grin. “You know what that means~!” The fake draws her Gashat and the real Poppy does the same.

“I’ll leave this to you.” Parado says. Poppy nods and steps forward.

Toki Meki Crisis!

Buggle Up!

Parado runs off as the two Poppy’s crash into one another and begin their fight.

Parado arrives at the abandoned building, out of breath. He shoves the door down and stumbles in. “Graphite! Graphite where are you?!” He shouts. A young man, dressed in green looks out of a door.

“Parado? Where the hell have you been?! We’ve been worried about you!” He says clasping his friend’s arm. “Last we heard what Lovelica told us. Some human girl had restarted NCR and was hunting us down again. We thought she got to you.” He says but grins. “Guess I shouldn’t have doubted you when you get serious huh?”

You nod and double over to catch your breath and mentally preparing yourself to break the news to your best friend.

>We’re approaching the finale to this Arc! This game has been running for over a month or so and I’m so glad I managed to keep it running this long thanks to you guys. Now to juggles three maybe 4 senarios.

I’ll want 3d20 please. Too first is The Old Guard vs The New Riders to see how they’re holding up, Second is the duel of two Poppys, and third is Parado.

>What does Poppy do against her clone?
>Try to convince her to help everyone. This isn’t her. She used to be a bugster who just wanted to play games with everyone and make them smile. She can still go back to that.
>Try and weaken the fake Poppy. If you can tire her out maybe you can force her to submit and assist you.
>Fight to death. This fake poppy is everything you don’t want to be. Everything you’re afraid of other bugsters becoming. You can’t trust her and it would be best for everyone if you stop her for good.

>What does Parado say to Graphite?
>Explain to him the entire situation. It will take a while but it’s best he knows the whole truth. He’s your best friend and he deserves to know. About Reiko, about helping humans, and of Lovelica’s betrayal.
>Give Graphite the bare details. Time is of the essence. All he needs to know is that lovelica betrayed the bugsters and has hired a player to hunt down anyone who threatens Chronicle. Now that player has gone mad with power and you need his help to fend him off.
>Lie to Graphite. Tell him the humans are fighting among each other. And among them is Hiiro and Taiga. King is trying to take away Graphite’s kill by finishing them off.

Phew. This is gonna get busy. I'm going to grab lunch and prep for this.

If you want we can split this up and focus on a single group. Or we can keep it as a large epic.

also in a bit of a meta gaming sense. Would you like Reiko to be able to join mid fight or should she stay recovering?

Rolled 16, 6, 12 = 34 (3d20)

>>3961390
>Try to convince her to help everyone. This isn’t her. She used to be a bugster who just wanted to play games with everyone and make them smile. She can still go back to that.

>Explain to him the entire situation. It will take a while but it’s best he knows the whole truth. He’s your best friend and he deserves to know. About Reiko, about helping humans, and of Lovelica’s betrayal.

Rolled 3, 7, 12 = 22 (3d20)

>>3961390
>Try to convince her to help everyone. This isn’t her. She used to be a bugster who just wanted to play games with everyone and make them smile. She can still go back to that

>Explain to him the entire situation. It will take a while but it’s best he knows the whole truth. He’s your best friend and he deserves to know. About Reiko, about helping humans, and of Lovelica’s betrayal.

Reiko should still recover, let's have the NCR she put together shine.

>>3961399
>>3961473
Alright these are the choices. The Old Guard is doing well, Poppy not so good, and Parado has a start. Writing.

King’s blade crashes into Kuroto’s sickles with a loud clang before Emu kicks him across the parking lot. Before crashing, King turns into a cloud of darkness and dissipates harmlessly before reforming and sending a blast of darkness towards the two. Emu slices the blast in two with his own sword just in time to turn around and parry several attacks against him by the ride players.

King rushes down Kuroto and they start their fight anew. “Emu! You’re level 99! You can’t lose to those players!” He shouts flipping over King and slicing him down the back. King roars in pain prompting Kuroto to cackle. “I am the Game Master.” He laughs bending over backwards and looking behind him. “A child like you could never reach me. Especially one as deluded as you.”

King screams in frustration and blasts multiple balls of dark energy towards Kuroto, only to miss and nearly hit Emu. Emu grabs the players attacking him and he jumps out of the way. “Kuroto! Watch out! These players are still people!” Emu shouts.

“They chose their side!” Kuroto shouts.

Meanwhile, Taiga runs firing his gun at the ride players as they fire back with their dagger pistols. He slides behind a car and swaps his gun to rifle mode, bracing it against his shoulder and leveling it long the back of the car. He fires in short bursts, knocking them off their feet. The dragon flame Drago Knight shoots a fireball towards him, forcing him to fly up into the air as the car explodes in a violent fire. Taiga makes a fly by as he opens fire infront of a few Ride Players trying to make a rush towards the door. He lands in front of them, bashing them away with his miniguns.

“They’re trying to get to the doors!” He shouts at Hiiro who was dueling with two Knights. Hiiro cartwheels to one side and rolls. Cutting the Ride players with his sword. He parries their small daggers and kicks them back before swapping his sword to ice.

“We need to start thinning the crowd!” Hiiro says freezing a player in place. “See if you can start making them unstranform!” He ducks under a Drago Knight’s blade and back hands him in the jaw. Taiga clubs the other in the gut by ramming his minigun in and pulling the trigger blowing him away. With the other gun, he opens fire wildly and spread fires into the larger group.

With every player they knocked back, it seemed another 2 took their place as the two doctors are slowly pushed back towards the doors…

---

The fake Poppy buries her chain into her counterpart’s shoulder. Poppy staggers back and trips. She rolls out of the way of another attack and swings her leg, missing. “I just want to talk!” She shouts. The fake shakes her head and shrugs.

“I’m sorry but rules are rules! No bootlegs allowed~.” She says swapping modes and firing laser blasts at her.

“No! I mean, I want to talk about why you’re doing this! This isn’t you! It’s not us! Don’t you remember? How much we love to play games and make people happy! We became a nurse because we wanted to see people smile!”

The fake pauses to think, placing a finger on her lip. “Hmm~ But this is fun! Seeing who wins and who loses!” She says pirouetting into a kick. “Don’t you feel the excitement? The dance of life and death? This is the most exciting my life has ever been!”

Poppy blocks the kick and drives her elbow into the fake’s leg. “No! It’s not! You’re scaring people! You’re doing the exact opposite!” The fake scratches her head.

“I think you’ve spent too much time with the humans! They’re so confusing. But don’t worry. Soon only us bugsters will be left and then we’ll all be happy!” She says walking closes as Poppy draws her chainblade.

Parado leans against a wall. “It’s kind of a long story.” He says. “But I think you need to know all of it.” Graphite raises and eyebrow but nods motioning him to another room. The room was sparsely furnished, having only a table and a few chairs. Parado takes a seat and settles in.

“Remember when I told you I had found something interesting?” Parado asks. Graphite nods.

“Yeah, you were really excited about it. I figured you had found another one of us to take in.” He replies.

“Well yes and no.” Parado says grinning. “I found her.” He says.

“Found who?”

“Reiko- I mean my sister.” Parado says excitedly.

“What?! You did?” Graphite says before catching himself. “I mean...I guess she was too stubborn to die. Seems like her. Where is she anyways? I thought Emu said he killed her.” He coughs. Parado frowns.

“Well that’s a bit of the story.” Parado says. “Not to jump around but she’s the one who remade Cyber Rescue.”

“What?!” Graphite says. “That little traitor!”

“She didn’t mean it!” Parado shouts. “I mean...she’s had her memory wiped. She thinks she was her host.” He lets out a large sigh. “Emu killed her alright. He wiped her memory of being one of us.”

Graphite balks. “He what?! He didn’t even give her a warrior’s death. Even she didn’t deserve that.” He spits. “She was a feisty one. So then...why have you been missing? Try to avenge her?” He asks. “...I’m sorry by the way. I knew you two were close.”

Parado nods. “We still are.”

“What do you mean?”

“I spent those days with her. She didn’t want to fight.” Parado explains. “When I got a chance to fight her, she convinced me to go with her. Said she just wanted to find a way so bugsters and humans can live together in peace.”

Graphite scoffs. “And you believed it?”

Parado grins. “She’s got a way with words. I did. We talked. She didn't know what she was but she also didn’t seem to mind it beyond the initial shock of her life being a complete lie.”

Graphite snorts. “So she’s a traitor still then?”

“She really wants to do it. I believe her wholeheartedly. And so are the humans that are helping her.” Parado explains.

“I think maybe you’re blinded by how much you loved your younger sister. She doesn’t sound the same.” Graphite says.

Parado shakes his head. “It...right now it doesn’t matter. Lovelica has betrayed us. He tried to kill me and Reiko. She’s still in a coma.” He says angrily. “And his lap dogs are attacking us at the hospital!”

“Us? You make it sound like you’ve joined them.” Graphite says quietly.

“I have. I believe in them. The cycle needs to end.” Parado says. “I came to ask you to help us. We could use your strength Graphite.”

Graphite shakes his head. “No. I don’t trust humans. Especially Taiga and Hiiro. They still think they can save Saki.” He grins. “I’ll make sure they meet her soon enough.”

Parado frowns. “Graphite. You’re my best friend. It doesn’t have to be like this.”

“I just don’t belive it. It’s too convenient. CR coming back and trying to make peace with us, lead by your dead sister. Lovelica betraying us.” He shakes his head. “It’s just seems to fantastical.”

“I’d think that’s exactly why it’d be believable.” Parado says. “It’s too fantastical not to be true.”

I'll need 3d20 again to see how each team is doing. If you want to change tactics or approach write ins are always welcome.

Rolled 20, 18, 15 = 53 (3d20)

>>3961732