Zetsubou: "I both welcome and congratulate all three of you who had made it this far. You have proved to be part of the small percent of people capable of shaping the future." Zetsubou started his speech, standing on a raised platform overlooking a massive room with the sunlight leaving him a shadowed figure.
Cocky Guy: "Well it's only obvious. I always knew I was a special case."
Business Lady: "Oh, shut up. You aren't the only person who managed to make it this far."
Cocky Guy: "True, but I'm clearly the most important one here."
Shy Student: "Can we not fight this early...?"
While the three volunteers argued amongst each other, Mercy and Connor watched from the balcony, both letting out a sigh.
Connor: "These are the people meant to replace Kibou? I wouldn't trust them to hold my drink at a bar..."
Mercy: "You aren't the only one with that sentiment... I'm sure that not even AI trusts them." She tapped the railing, watching her phone carefully, waiting for something. When she finally got that notification, she pushed herself off the railing and walked toward the exit.
Connor: "Hm? Where are you going?" He asked, knowing that what Mercy was going to do would be far more important than this.
Mercy: "I'm going to go check Mahiro's old room..." She responded, her voice shuttering as she mentioned that old name.
Connor: "Chrono Prime's old room...? Why would you want to do that?"
Mercy: "Because Mahiro was a smart man... He must've left something behind, something to explain what had happened to him."
Connor: "I thought he died to the Dragon Zodiac?"
Mercy: "...Do you truly believe that...?" She asked, knowing Connor's answer.
Connor nodded and followed after Mercy just as Zetsubou began to explain what this final section of tests would consist of. A simple practice battle between a copy of a Zodiac, to see if they truly were capable of replacing Kibou.
The first one up was the shy student from Seven Sisters. The other two left the room to a safe spot where they couldn't intervene, and Alter had stepped inside. It held up the Alter Rabbit Coin and waited for Aibo to join with the girl.
Aibo: "Just remember that if things get too rough, you can call off the fight."
Shy Student: "R-Right..."
She took in a deep breath as Aibo wrapped around her waist. She stared at the device, wondering how it works exactly before Aibo rolled his eyes and opened himself up.
Aibo: "Ready, Go! Steady, Go! Time to Go! Kamen Rider Chrono!!"
(Compatibility: 67%)
Alter-System: "Let's Loading! U-U-Usagi!"
The altered version of the Rabbit Zodiac wasted no time, dashing straight at the student. She jumped slightly as she found it rough to see past the sand, so she covered her head and started running away.
Running from the Rabbit proved far more difficult than she thought, because it easily caught up to her. It grabbed her by the neck and slammed her down to the floor. It raised its fist to punch her when a chain wrapped around its arm, yanking it back.
Aibo: "Get your head in the game."
Chrono: "I-I'm sorry." She apologized, her helmet filling with tears as she picked herself off the floor.
Chrono held out her hand, thinking of any weapons to summon, just like the actual Chrono she had seen out and about. Eventually, she managed to summon the gun and pointed it at the Alter Zodiac.
The Rider squeezed the trigger, firing a bullet that launched the Zodiac back a few feet, but the recoil twisted her wrist, causing her to drop the gun and grab her hand.
Chrono: "I-I can't do this! Please, stop! I just want to go home now!" She cried out, wondering just how the old Chrono could do this.
The Alter Rabbit faded away and Aibo detached from the girl, causing her to run out of the room with tears streaming down her face.
Business Lady: "Poor girl..."
Cocky Guy: "She was weak, that's all."
The next one up was the Business Lady. She strolled into the room and held out her hand to grab Aibo. He ignored this, though, and instead wrapped around her waist. She simply shrugged and pushed open the middle of the Driver.
Aibo: "Ready, Go! Steady, Go! Time to Go! Kamen Rider Chrono!!"
(Compatibility: 52%)
Alter-System: "Let's Loading! I-I-Inu!"
The Dog rushed her down in a similar manner to how the Rabbit did the girl, but this lady was different. She waited for the Dog to get close, for it to swing at her before raising her right arm to block it, and punch its stomach.
The Dog recoiled and she wrapped her arm around its own arm, dragging it closer and slamming her knee into the monster. What she didn't expect was for the dog to slam its head against hers. She was the one to recoil this time, leaving the dog open to sweep her legs.
As the lady fell to the ground, she summoned the twinblade and stabbed it into the floor, breaking her fall. She had tried to reach up to detach the twinblade, but the Dog Zodiac beat her to the punch. It stomped down on her and took the other half of the weapon, aiming to kill her with it if it wasn't for the fact that she summoned the gun to her side.
She fired a couple bullets into the Alter Zodiac and kicked it off of her.
Chrono: "I gotta be more careful when fighting, I suppose."
Aibo: "Don't take this lightly. You'll be fighting stronger Zodiacs, after all."
Chrono: "I'll keep that in mind."
She charged forward, aiming the gun for the head as she fired shot after shot. The Dog weaved between each bullet and raised the blade to strike her down, but the Rider spun around and kicked the weapon out of its hand. At the same time, closing and opening the Ai Driver.
Aibo: "Time stop..."
Chrono: "Timely Rider Kick!" She shouted as she flipped into the air and brought her leg down on the Zodiac.
Aibo: "It's...! Nevermind... Time Resume."
Time began to flow like normal as the Dog Zodiac exploded into a mixture of gold and grey sand. Chrono stood up straight, turning to the cocky guy with a smirk hidden under her helmet, then back up to Zetsubou.
Zetsubou: "It seems like... We found our new Kamen Rider Chrono."
...
(HOME Base: Mahiro's Room)
...
Mercy peeked around the corner, looking up at the camera to see that it was indeed deactivated. She motioned for Connor to follow her. Now the both of them stood outside Mahiro's old room, and just like she thought, it was locked.
Mercy: "Great... Chances are Zetsubou keeps the key in his office. It'll be significantly more difficult, but if we're careful, then—" There was a click behind her.
When Mercy turned around she found Connor standing up and putting away some tools.
Mercy: "Wha...? You can lockpick stuff?"
Connor: "It's honestly not that hard if you have the correct tools."
Mercy: "...Remind me to call you whenever I lock myself out of my house..."
She had pushed the door open and they both walked inside. Mahiro's old room was neat and organized, if not covered in dust from just how long it had been used. It had a cot pushed into the far corner, small shelves of books on the opposite wall with a stool nearby, a desk with an old PC, and even a mini fridge next to it. It looked like such an unimpressive room that it felt like nothing could be hidden in there.
Connor: "What are we even looking for?"
Mercy: "A note of any kind, maybe? Mahiro was here since the beginning of HOME, so he's bound to have known SOMETHING..."
The two looked at the PC, but then shook their heads. There was no way he could leave a note on a computer that could easily be traced and found. Especially since all the computers in the building were monitored and recorded.
That left the only logical thing. The books. They started pulling books off the shelves, looking in between the pages for a loose sheet of paper, maybe even a fake book that had its middle removed, but nothing...
Connor: "Nothing... Nothing at all? Maybe Zetsubou has already searched his room?"
Mercy: "Maybe... but I doubt it... Where else could he hide something?" She turned around and placed a hand under her chin. Connor had began to search the mini fridge while she was thinking. For the first time in a long time, she was stuck. Mercy stomped her foot down on a book by accident and slipped on it.
Connor: "Ah, Mercy!" Connor rushed over to her side, holding her head as she let out an annoyed groan.
Mercy: "Even in death, Mahiro continues to annoy the Hell out of me! Why couldn't he just...!" She started to slow down as she picked up the book to throw it, only stopping when something clicked in her head.
Mercy: "The books... They... They all have dust jackets..."
Connor: "Dust jackets? What the heck is a dust jacket?"
Mercy: "They're removable covers for books so that the book doesn't get damaged..."
Connor: "Ah, okay...! Why is that important?"
Mercy: "Removeable covers... Hey, what if he knew Zetsubou or someone would search his room, and instead of hiding it between pages or a fake book... He used the dust jacket?"
Connor: "That... That's actually smart... I assume, anyway."
And so they began to remove the dust jackets from all the books. It wasn't easy since he had over fifty of these things, but they had finally found it. It wasn't a note or anything, but it was written directly on the back of the dust jacket using a similar color so it was hard to see.
As the two began to read Mahiro's final words, they froze in fear, wondering if this was even real.