-the next day after the previous round-
"*sigh* man this is getting irritating..." Shido growled scratching himself while clearly wanting to avoid a date for some reason. "You okay? you look like you've seen shit." said James sitting down next to him. "It's Kotori! she's trying to get me to go on another date with Tohka but i'm just not in the mood for the time being!" groaned Shido angrily.
"Lemme guess...it involves yesterday amirite?" James asked as Shido gave a brisk nod. "I thought as much..." added James making a small nod. "Look, i almost got bitten, nearly risked my ass to gain points and top of that, i had to deal with an omnicidal lunatic!" complained Shido as James sighed. "You want to take a walk? it might help clear your mind, and plus...school's over for today." asked James making a suggestion as Shido brightened up a bit and nodded.
-a few minutes of walking to clear Shido's head later...-
"Got it out if your system yet?" James asked as Shido made a nod. "Good, last thing i want is you in a bad mood in the next round. So let's keep walking okay?" added James as Shido just smiled. 'Man, it's good to have him for a friend. I mean he's the only one other than Keiwa to be friendly towards me.' thought Shido with a small smile.
Soon Shido and James accidentally bumped into a certain fox. "Well...i didn't think i'd bump into you both here. Well, time for me to fulfil my OWN promise." mused Ace with a smirk. "What promise? AH! that promise!" said Shido shocked upon remembering the promise Ace made to them: namely...eating pizza at a pizza joint and it was the fox's treat. "Remember what i said? how about i treat you two to a pizza joint after the previous round was over?" asked Ace with a smirk as James and Shido made a nod. "Alright, food and drinks are all on me." added the ever confident and smug man. 'So smug...then he's rich...but the kind of rich that i like.' thought James with a small smirk of his own. 'Honestly...he might be the only guy with an ego with skills to back it up.' thought Shido with a small chuckle.
-the pizza joint (pick any, but i prefer Pizza Hut over anything), in a section of the joint where the three can talk without others hearing them-
"Alright, we made our orders. But seriously...four cheese and plain cheeseburger pizzas? nice. i too love such simple classics." Ace commented with a chuckle. "Yeah. i mean you also ordered spaghetti bolongese! that's my personal favorite pasta!" added James with a laugh. "And we ordered four of said two pizza flavours (two four cheeses and two plain cheeseburgers). man i'm loving this day already!" chuckled Shido with a smile. "The waiter said it will take 1 hour and 30 minutes for our orders to be given. So...let's talk about the previous round and the next round shall we?" mused Ace before asking the two in a serious manner.
"Alright, who's first?" Ace asked with a small smirk. "I'll go first." growled Shido taking a deep breath. "Okay...first off, i'm kinda thankful that you introduced me to the DGP where i can get my ideal world granted...but is it really that necessary for us to put our lives on the line for a single wish? even the most diabolical ones?" Shido began clearly stressed. "Yes, did you forget what we all said in the previous round?" asked Ace with a raised eyebrow. "No! but...some people can die like those with families like Mr. Taira...and those who have friends...do we really have to fight for our desires?" asked Shido clearly distraught. "I'm gonna have to side with Ace on this one Shido...but sadly we have to fight, you can't expect for your desire to be handed to you on a silver platter! people always fought for their desires whether it's good or bad. sometimes we have to fight for what we want, or it will never come true." said James as Shido sighed sadly as he knew his friend was sadly right.
"You're both right...even so...it still stinks...the previous round had us deal with Kanato who gave me such a headache and Neon's suffering which made me feel so sad for her...and i don't what kind of round the DGP will throw us next! i'm so...scared...scared of dying and being forgotten...for once in my life...i clearly regret my choices but i've dug too deep to turn back...guess i'll see it through the end..." Shido muttered clearly in despair but deciding to see it to the bitter end. "There there buddy..." said James comforting a despairing yet resolute Shido who smiled in return. "Thanks...buddy." thanked the time travelling blunette as James smiled in return.
"Now it's your turn James." said Ace turning to look at James who took a deep breath and sighed and made a look filled with determination. "I'd have to say this...i'm kinda thankful that i'm given this once in a lifetime chance to have my wish granted. Sure it's a high stakes win or lose game where you can die...but i've always fought for my life in dire situations where i could die anytime, but it only makes more me determined you know?" said James beginning his speech. "I'll do whatever it takes to fight for this one chance for Satou...like i said before we have to fight for our desires right? then i'll fight tooth and nail to have my desire granted for a world where Satou will be happier than before." he added and finishing his speech.
"Then if you're determined...then so will i..." growled Shido inspired by James' speech. "That's nice to hear from both of you, but i'll still win in the end." bragged Ace as James just made a smirk. "We'll see Ace, we'll see..." James said with a smirk as Shido made a gulp. 'I ain't gonna give up! i'm gonna have my wish where a world where DEM doesn't exist come true!' growled the blunette internally while Ace took notice of Shido's expression and began to think.
'What's the blunette thinking about? it has to do something with "Hermit" i guess...but my investigation is far from over...and moving on from that, my other investigation involves the disappearance of a woman named Nia Honjou who possibly might be a Spirit as well. hmm...i have a feeling that Shido's connection to the Spirits are very strong...even so, i must get the answers from Shido himself. But for now...i better keep investigating the Spirits and their mysterious connection to that boy.' thought the DGP champion thinking carefully while planning his next investigation.
-1 hour and 10 minutes later-
"Your orders are here Lord Ace and good sirs." said an employee with a smile as James' face brightened up. "Awwww...yeah!" said Shido in joy. "And if you both can't finish it, then we do take-out." added Ace snarkily as Shido and James snickered at it. "That might be true...but it is also worth having take-out as well!" James commented with a snicker.
Soon said orders were finally served and the three Riders ate their meal without hesitation.
-50 minutes later-
Soon the three were unable to eat anymore but there were still leftovers and two pizzas still untouched. "Take-out?" Shido asked as he held out his wallet. "Take-out." replied James with a nod. "I'll pay extra, as a tip for good service and good food." Ace added with a smirk as Shido and James rolled their eyes in amusement.
After that, Shido and James along with Ace left the pizza joint while carrying two pizza boxes and a box containing the remaning pasta. "Man, Satou is gonna like what i'm gonna give her!" cackled James holding a pizza box which contained the four cheese and the leftover garlic bread and some plain cheeseburger leftover slices. and Shido had the plain cheeseburger with the leftover pasta. "She will alright!" Shido said with a smile as James laughed. "Alright, this is where we part ways you two. see you in the next round." said Ace with a soft chuckle as he left. "See you in the next round Ace!" said Shido waving the DGP champion goodbye. "Alright, let's go to our respective homes." mused James as Shido nodded with a smile.
-40 minutes later-
Shido and James soon went on their respective ways to their homes. "Man, i guess it was worth eating out at my sister's expense!" cackled Shido knowing Kotori would fume in anger due to him not listening to her orders for a date but knew she wouldn't do a thing about it.
"Where were you!?" Kotori shrieked as Shido made a passive look. "I went out to eat with James and Ace. is there something wrong?" asked Shido with a raised eyebrow as he set box of pizza down along with the box of pasta as well. "Urgh...no...nothing's wrong with that..." grumbled Kotori unhappily as she left for her room. 'I wonder if Tohka's asleep?' thought Shido wondering if the purple haired Spirit was asleep.
Shido then shrugged and decide to reheat the remaning pasta and some pizza slices for a small dinner.
-the next day-
VWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWNNN
The spacequake alarm had rang once more.
Reine arrived to pick up Shido up and bring to the Fraxinus. But things weren't going to be same in this timeline.
"Shin, we have to go. Tohka you stay with the others in the bunker. " Reine wanted Tohka to stay but Shido knew that this wouldn't be a good thing, knowing what happened in the original timeline. "Wait! why not bring Tohka along?" Shido asked while leaning closer to Reine's ear. "If we leave her here, she might wander off on her own. she doesn't know what a spacequake is, does she? she might get in the way in the sealing." whispered the blunette to the stunned Reine's ears.
Reine's eyes widened out of shock upon hearing Shido's suggestion. She was understandably blindsided by Shido's observation and words. Was Shinji ever this smart? The silver haired woman couldn't help but feel suspicious but decided to put that aside for now. 'I know i have every right to be suspicious...but if it will be beneficial to my goals...then i better stop worrying...' thought Reine still feeling worried but decicded to not let it bother her. She'd let it bother her, when the information is too much to ignore.
"Alright then. Shido, Tohka, follow me." ordered Reine as Shido nodded and took Tohka's hand. "Wait! Murasame, where are you going!?" yelled Tama as her shout was ignored. The trio then went outside and were teleported into the Fraxinus.
When they finally arrived, Kotori greeted them with an annoyed look. "Finally! what you guys so long!?" asked the red twin tailed commander as Shido frowned. "Ask that later, Shin check the screen." said Reine interuptting Kotori as she pointed to the screen.
The large monitor on the wall showed the predicted area of the spacequake. 'I just hope Ace and the others are okay...' thought Shido worried for his fellow DGP contestants (barring Michinaga and Morio whom he dislikes). Within minutes, the area began to start blurring and distorting in an irregular manner, slightly distrupting the camera that was recording the footage. 'She's here...' thought Shido knowing who it was.
Then suddenly, the screen went white as a large explosion took place. Shido gasped in mild shock as the screen showed a large chunk taken out of the surrounding area. 'Concerning that Michinaga is a construction worker...he's going to have a lot on his hands if he and his co-workers are called to help.' thought Shido almost feeling bad for Michinaga and returned to look at the screen showing the destruction. No matter how many times he witnessed this, it remained an awe-inspiring display of the power that the Spirits could unleash. But Shido then remembered that Tohka even before her sealing was heavily injured by a Fortress Jyamato, even he knew that Spirits might have competition with the Kamen Riders. 'Even if we don't have Reiryoku, our skills and determination as Riders is more than enough!' thought Shido a bit grim.
Standing in the middle of the large crater was a familliar small girl with blue hair and a green Astral Dress in the form and shape of a bunny. On her left hand was a rabbit puppet that seemed to move with a mind of it's own.
Yoshino at last had finally appeared.
Shido looked at the screen filled with determination. "Yoshino..." he whispered clearly determined to save her.
The time travelling blunette knew that things could be different from the choices he would make, but he also knew that even with changes, some things would be the same after all. Shido vowed to remain one step ahead of Mio while keeping his battles in the DGP a secret. He has to win. He has to succeed where he failed. He won't fail. He will not fail.
Author's notes: finally done with this chapter. Now the following chapter is about meeting Yoshino and the unexpected chain of events in the new timeline. How will this play out? find out in the next chapter. And as always, see you all later.