[guncannon109]

Episode 25: Memory Lapse

Alex opened his eyes to the sight of his own bedroom. He looked around in a daze.

"A dream?" He thought to himself as he rubbed his eyes. He looked over to the clock as he saw that it was almost ten minutes to eight, "Yeah, must have been." He took in a deep breath as he got out of bed and got changed for school.

A few minutes later, he was preparing himself some bacon and scrambled eggs for breakfast as Cole walked through the door.

He walked into the centre of the room and stopped when he spotted Alex.

"Oh... morning," Cole said stepping back a bit, "You're up early."

Alex raised an eyebrow, "This is when I normally get up on a school day."

Cole chuckled, "Yeah, you keep telling yourself that."

"So, mind telling me what you came over here for?" Alex asked shutting off the element on the stove.

"Well, I was going to try and shake you awake like I do every morning," Cole explained placing his hands on his hips "but since you're already awake I guess I'll be heading out now."

"Alright, see ya," Alex said placing his food on a plate he had next to the stove.

"That's my line," Cole said as he walked towards the door, "anyway later." He added as he walked out the door and closed it behind him.

Alex placed his breakfast down on the counter. "Something feels... off," He thought to himself, "Ah well, it's probably nothing."

{Insert Opening Theme - Journey Through the Decade}

After lunch had ended, Alex had gone to his third period class, math. He sat at his regular seat by the window. He moved around a bit with the feeling that something was off. However, at the moment, the thing that stood out to him the most was that the seat behind him remained empty even long after the bell rang.

Cole walked over to Alex's desk noticing the empty one behind him.

"So she's absent today huh?" Cole asked, "That's not like her."

"Understandable though," Alex said looking out the window, “She has had a bit of a rough time.”

"You two get into a fight or something?" Cole asked.

"What, of course not," Alex shouted back.

"Alright, you mind if I sit here then?" Cole asked pointing to the desk behind Alex.

"Go for it," Alex said gesturing to the seat behind him.

"Alright, thanks," Cole said as he sat down and Alex turned his chair around to face him.
About half an hour later, the door at the front of the class room opened and the room filled with the patter of foot steps.

Alex and Cole remained focused on their work as a few voices spoke out.

"How're you holding up?" a female voice asked.

"I'm much better thank you," said another.

"You sure you're okay to be at school?" the first voice asked.

"Yeah, the doctor said it was just a sprain. I should be fine," the second returned, "Sorry, I just need to put my bag down." they said as they proceeded down the aisle.

"Oh, I better move," Cole said as the person who just entered the room approached them.
Alex turned around to see where the voice was coming from. He gasped and his eyes widened.

A blonde haired girl walked up to where Alex and Cole were sitting.

"Sorry, I'll just be a second Sarah," Cole said packing up his stuff as quickly as he could.

"It's okay, I just came to drop off my bag," The girl said as she tucked her bag under the chair Cole was sitting on.

Alex jumped out of his seat, “Alright, what’s going on here!” Cole and the girl blinked their eyes, "You’re a Dopant aren’t you!"

"Um Al, you okay?" Cole asked raising an eyebrow, "You look like you just saw a ghost or something?"

"Don't you find it at all weird that she's standing there?" Alex asked, "and why did you put your bag under Shiore's chair?"

"What are you talking about? Sarah's been in our class since day one," Cole explained, "Ms. Foster even had the seating arrangement changed so she could keep an eye on you. Come on man don’t you remember, or did you hit your head again?"

"Is there something wrong with me being here or something?" Sarah asked, "Well go on, spill it. What's the problem?"

"The problem is that it’s physically impossible!" Alex shouted out loud, "Shiore sits here and… and I… you… I ki-"

"Al, there's no one in this class or even this school with that name," Cole proclaimed, “You sure you’re okay?”

"I think I can settle this," Sarah sighed, "Cole, hand me the class roster from my desk."

"Huh, oh sure," Cole said reaching into the desk in front of him and pulling out a green folder, "Here," He added as he handed it to Sarah.

With a quick motion Alex swiped the folder and opened and read all the names from top to bottom, with no sign of Shiore's.

Alex stood frozen, "Cole... pinch me."

"Um, why?" Cole asked.

"I know, I’m dreaming..." Alex said shaking a little, “I think… I think I'd like to wake up now...”

"Okay," Cole reached out and pinched Alex on the arm as Alex closed his eyes.

He reopened them a few seconds later and rechecked the roster, again Shiore's name was not listed.

Alex collapsed knocking a few chairs over in the process. "Impossible," He thought to himself.

"Al, you okay?" Cole said looking over the desk he was sitting at.

"Mr. Darwin," Ms. Foster called out getting the classes attention, "Is there something wrong?"

Alex sat on the floor quietly for a few good seconds. "Tara, she'll know what to do!" he said as he charged out of the room slamming the door behind him.
Sarah blinked, "Um... mind telling me what that was about?"

Cole shrugged, "Beats me."

Alex charged down the hall, "Let's see, it's third period so what class would she have right now? PE? No, that's her second period class. Damn it, what was her schedule like again? Oh, I know, she would have art right now!"

As he turned a corner he rammed into something and fell to the ground.

"Ow," Alex said as he rubbed the back of his head.

"Oh my god I'm so sorry, are you okay?" A familiar voice called out from in front of him. Before him stood a girl with short brown hair and glasses. Her outfit consisted of a pale yellow hoodie along with a blank white t-shirt, blue jeans and white sneakers.

"Tara?" Alex asked to the girl in front.

"Um, excuse me?" The girl asked.

"Tara, oh thank god!" Alex said standing up and grabbing the girl's hand, "Listen, something weird is going on, Shiore has disappeared and Sarah is... is..." Alex stopped as he saw the girl beginning to shake.

"Um... I'm sorry. I don't know what you're talking about." The girl stated, “Um... Could you let go of my hand now please?”

"But, you're Tara Archer aren't you? You're the rider of the wind, Kamen Rider Gale right?" Alex asked repeatedly pulling on her hand multiple times. He repeated this motion until he was thrown to the ground by a punch that seemed to come out of no where.

Alex quickly got back on his knees and looked up to see what hit him, "... Carter?" he saw the burning red eyes that he saw when he first encountered Ryu-O with the other riders.

"This guy giving you trouble Thea?" The boy with the burning red eyes asked.

"Um, no... He was just asking me about something," The girl answered, "It was nothing to worry about brother."

Alex’s eyes widened, “Brother?... Wait, what do you mean brother?”

Carter sighed, “Figures you wouldn’t know this but Thea is my little sister,” he walked up to Alex and grabbed him by the collar of his shirt bringing him to his feet, “Got a problem with that?”
"No n-no,” Alex stammered, “I-I… I didn't mean to cause any trouble,"

"I hope not," Carter said, "But if you pull something like that again, there will be." Carter added shoving Alex away from him violently, "Understand?"

Alex stumble over his feet, "Yeah... sorry."

“What’s his problem?” Carter asked, “Thea, do you know him?”

“I don’t know I’ve never seen him before,” Tara returned, “Although… He does look familiar.”

Alex sat at the bottom of a stairwell. He held his phone open to address book and was shuffling through it. After a while he flipped it closed.

He sighed, “I never did get her phone number did I?” He placed his phone down on the stair he was sitting on and leaned over resting his head in the palm of his right hand, “Plus I can’t just go over to her place, it’d be rude to just show up uninvited.” He curled up into a ball and buried his face in his knees, “What am I supposed to do… Shiore?”

“Um… excuse me,” A voice called out as someone tapped him on the shoulder, “Uh... Are you alright sir?”

Alex looked up as he saw a young girl with red hair and blue eyes standing above him looking down on him.

He sat speechless for a moment, then spoke, “... Madison.”

“You might want to check in with the nurse’s office if you aren’t feeling very well,” The girl said as she continued down the stairs walking by Alex, “If you are then you better get to class, unless you want Sarah to get mad at you again.”

Alex reached out and grabbed the sleeve of Madison’s shirt, “Wait a minute…” He looked up to her, “Do you… know who I am?”

Madison turned back to Alex and smiled, “What kind of question is that? Of course I know who you are. You’re Sarah’s friend, the one who keeps getting into trouble.”

Alex let go of Madison’s sleeve and let his arm fall back down to his side, “Would you… consider us friends?”

“A little bit I guess,” Madison shrugged, “Though I haven’t exactly gotten the chance to speak with you all that much. To be honest, outside of class… this would be the first.”

“Oh… okay then,” Alex said slowly getting back up on his feet and walking back up to class, “Sorry to waste your time.”

Madison looked down to see Alex’s phone still on the staircase, “Hey wait up!” She shouted grabbing the phone and heading up a few steps, “You forgot your-” she looked back to see that Alex had already left, “... cell phone.”

Madison looked back at the phone in her hand and noticed a small violet charm in the shape of a diamond with a gold trim hanging off of it. She flipped the charm over and saw a small inscription carved onto the back of it that read, “Never Forget - 05/17/13”

“Ah, so he’s a Madoka fan then?” She said looking up the stairs, “That’s a good thing… doesn’t hurt that he’s kind of cute too.”

After a long and dull afternoon, Alex found himself walking home by himself. He didn't want to talk to Cole, nor did he have anything to say. He just wanted to get home as fast as he could.

He walked up the steps to his apartment, stopping for a moment to look over at the window. He then finished out his key and unlocked the door. He grabbed the doorknob and gulped, after a few seconds he opened the door and stepped into an empty room with no one in it.

He let out a sigh, “Figures she wouldn’t be here,” he said throwing his bag on the couch before collapsing on to it himself. “Was it all just a dream… was any of it real?”

He sat there in silence for quite sometime unsure of what to do. The silence went on until it was interrupted by a large crash. He looked over and saw that his entire DVD collection had fallen over on the ground with the shelf they were on broken in two.

“GAH! Stupid shelf!” He grunted getting up from the couch and slowly walking over the DVDs on the floor, “That’s what you get when you buy ‘em cheap I guess.” He said picking the cases up until he came across the same one that Shiore series had wanted to watch not two days ago, he picked the box up and held it in both his hands “Madoka Magica…” His eyes widened, “Magica.”

He dropped the other DVDs onto the floor and ran into his bedroom and dashed over to a desk at the far end by a single window. He slammed his hand down the surface of the desk and grabbed the handle of the top drawer. He took in a deep breath then pulled it open, inside was a small black box amongst paperscraps and other random thing, he grabbed the box and held it in the palm of his hand.

He placed one hand on the lid and gulped. Slowly pulled the lid off and looked into the box to see a small purple gem in a silver base along with a ring marked with a large X with a small three on the side of it.

He brought the box to his chest and fell to his knees, “They’re still here… it wasn’t just a dream,” he said as he began to cry, “Thank you Madison… thank you… Marika.”

The next day, Alex sat as his desk in his fourth period math class. He looked down to his open left hand where he held the ring that Marika gave him.

“I wasn’t a dream. It really did happen…” He thought to himself closing his hand around the ring, “all of it.”

“Hey man,” He heard a voice call out.

He looked up to see Cole taking his usual seat in front of him, “Oh... hey,” he said slipping the ring into his pocket.

“So that episode you had the other day,” Cole said pulling his work material out of his bag, “Care to explain what the that was about? You hit your head or watch too much anime before bed again or something like that?”

“Oh… that,” Alex scratched the back of his neck, “Well, you see it’s kind of… complicated.”

“Alex listen,” Cole said placing his hand on Alex’s shoulder, “If something’s bothering you, you can tell me… you know that, right?”

Alex stared blankly into space for a moment, “... I”

Just then, Sarah slammed open the door at the back end of the class and stormed over to Alex and Cole. “A ha, I thought that name sounded familiar!” She shouted slamming a newspaper down on Alex’s desk. Alex and Cole looked at the paper and saw three young girls that appeared to be of Japanese descent in the same black and blue school uniform, “Shiore Fubuki,” Sarah said pointing to the one on the far right.

“Shiore…” Alex whispered taking a closer look at the girl Sarah was pointing to. She had long navy blue hair done up in a ponytail.

“Turns out that she along with the other two in that photo are highly renowned honor students who moved to Ardent a while ago,” Sarah explained, “Currently they’re attending classes at one of the best private school in the entire world.”

“So that’s Shiore huh?” Cole said taking a look at the photo, “How about the other two?”

“Oh, those two?” Sarah raised an eyebrow, “They’re names are Ayu Yukishiro and Sora Yukishiro. They’re sisters but appear to be polar opposites, you can tell just by looking at them.” She pointed to the girl in the centre of the photo, “That’s Ayu, notice how her uniform is to regulation? Everything is where it’s supposed to be and nothing is missing,” she moved over to Sora, “Now her sister on the other hand… Well, she doesn’t have her tie and her jacket is all messed up and-”

Alex then shot up from his seat and grabbed Sarah by the collar of her shirt, “YOU SLITHERING REPTILE!”

Sarah blinked, “What the heck is wrong with you this week?”

“I have no idea!” Alex shouted back, “How long have you known about this?”

“You are one piece of work you know that?” Sarah said pulling Alex off of her, “Seriously, did you see her somewhere and fall in love with her or something?”

Alex grabbed Sarah’s arm and looked her right in the eye, “Where is she!”

“She’s at Ophelia Winston Academy!”

Alex’s eyes widened, “You mean that preppy all girl school?”

“Well duh, were you even paying attention to anything I was say-” Alex pushed Sarah back a bit into a row of desks and grabbed his bag. Sarah jumped back onto her feet, “Where the hell do you think your going!”

“If Ms Foster comes back tell her I’m sick. I have a fever, a cold, and influenza too. I felt like I was dying so I left,” He shouted as he ran for the door. “Oh and Sarah,” he stopped and turned back to Sarah, “Thank you… for everything.”

Sarah crossed her arms and scoffed, “Well… your welcome I guess.”

“One more thing,” Alex said as a smile appeared on his face, “Madison’s a nice girl… you should tell her how you feel while you still can.”

The entire class then turned to Sarah, Sarah’s face slowly turning a bright red. She then rolled up her sleeve and balled her hand up into a fist, “Why you!”

“Later!” Alex shouted as he dashed out the room slamming the door behind him. He dashed down the hall until he came to the door of a stairwell. He pushed the door open and ran down the stairs.

He jumped down to the landing on the first floor and pushed through a set of double doors. As he stepped into the first floor hall Alex noticed Thea turning the corner before stepping out in front of him. The two stopped and looked at each other.
Alex said nothing and simply walked by Thea and made his way to the front door of the school just a few feet away.

“Sorry,” Thea spoke up, “... about my brother.”

Alex turned back to Thea, “What was that?”

“My brother can be a bit of a pain sometimes, but he isn’t a monster,” Thea said with a grin, “He’s just looking out for me, that’s all. I hope your little quarrel the other day doesn’t affect your opinion of him… or myself for that matter.”

Alex smiled back at Thea, “It’s alright, and I get it. He only acts that way because he cares,” He turned away from Thea and continued to the door, “Besides, he’s not the worst brother in the world.”

“Hey, what’s your name?” Thea asked.

Alex stopped, “You can call me Superstar.”

Thea raised an eyebrow, “Huh?”

“It’s just a nickname a friend of mine gave me a while back,” Alex explained, “My real name is Alex if you’d prefer that.”

Thea burst out laughing, “Whatever you say Superstar,” she cried wiping her eyes, “Anyway, I gotta get back to class. Don’t go and do anything too crazy alright?”

“Yeah got it,” Alex said as he turned on his heel and ran out the door, “and back at you!”

“He sure is a strange one,” Thea thought to herself, “Come to think of it… what was that name he called me earlier? Tara was it?” A devilish smirk appeared on her face, “I kind of like the sound of that.”

Alex ran out the front door of the school and charged down the hill leading to the street below “I’m on my way Shiore,” he thought to himself, “So please… wait for me.”

{End of Part A}
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
{Start of Part B}

The final bell rang signaling the end of the school day. Cole stepped out the front door.

“Everyday it’s something new with that guy,” Cole sighed, “Hey Cole, have you heard of this new anime! Hey Cole, wanna go see a movie based on this new anime! Hey Cole, wanna go see another movie based on this new anime!” He let out a groan, “I swear Alex, if you freak out one more time I’m gonna-”

“Did you just say Alex?” A voice called out.

Cole turned around to see Thea standing behind him with Carter a few feet behind her. He raised an eyebrow, “Yeah… why?”

“You wouldn’t happen to mean Alex Darwin… would you?” Thea asked, “Are you a friend of his.”

“Sort of,” Cole returned, “Though to be honest, we’re more like family at this point.”

Thea ran up to Cole, “Really!” she shouted looking him right in the eye with a giant grin on her face, “That’s so cool! Bet you guys must be like brothers in arms then, huh? Like lone rangers against the evils of the school right?”

Cole laughed a bit, “That’s certainly an… interesting way to look at it.”

“Thea!” Carter shouted pulling his sister back, “Please excuse her behavior,” he pleaded wrapping his arm around Thea looking over to her who still had her giant grin on her face, “She doesn’t get out much.”

“Oh please,” Thea spoke up pushing her brother off of her, “I’m not a little kid anymore Carter, I can look after myself.”

Carter raised an eyebrow, “Thea.”

“And that’s another thing!” Thea interrupted once again, “I would appreciate if you would stop referring to me by that tacky old grandmother name. Starting today I’m officially dropping it and renaming myself.” She pointed her finger into Carter’s face, “Say goodbye Thea Revant and hello Tara Archer!”

Cole’s eye shot open, “So you’re that ‘Tara’ girl that Alex was talking about earlier?”

Tara flipped her long brown hair over her shoulder, “Aw, look at that I’m famous.”

“I wouldn’t say you’re that famous,” Cole chuckled a bit.

“Yeah whatever,” Tara returned smacking Cole in the arm, “Now then, you have Alex’s number right? Would you mind giving him a call?”

Cole raised an eyebrow, “Why exactly?”

“Because, I want to get to know him a little better,” Tara said with a smirk, “Mind asking if he’d like to hang for a little bit?”

“Oh, sure I guess.”

Cole fished out his phone and dialed Alex’s number before placing his phone up to his ear. The phone rang once before going straight to voicemail, “Hey hey, Maddy here! Sorry, but Alex can’t talk right now. Please leave a message and he’ll call you back as soon as he can!”

“Was that... Must have his phone off or something,” Cole put his phone back into his pocket, “Look, we live in the same building so I’ll just give him the message when he comes home and then you two can meet up some other time-”

“Nope!” Tara shouted putting her arms in the shape of an x, “Has to be today, gotta strike while the iron’s hot and all that jazz.”

Cole’s eye twitched, “Look, I get you want to talk with him but he’s somewhere downtown at the mo-”

“Where downtown?”

“I don’t know, some place called Ophelia Winston Academy or something. Point is he’s going to be there for a while so-”

Before Cole could finish speaking, Tara grabbed both his and Carter’s arms and pulled them charged down the hill pulling the two along with her.

“Ophelia you say? I know where that is,” Tara shouted with a smirk, “If that’s where Superstar is you should’ve just told us! Now hold on boys cause this is gonna be a bumpy ride!”

---

Alex stood at the front gates of Ophelia Winston Academy, steel bars standing between him and the old limestone building of the academy. He surveyed the campus with his eyes and saw multiple security guards by the gates as well as by the main building.

He sighed as he slumped over to a bench a few feet away from the gate, “I over shot it,” He said aloud to himself, “That’s what I get for assuming that a private school would have the same schedule as my own I guess.” He looked to his watch, “Two forty-five on the dot… by the look of things it seems that she won’t be let out for a while. Guess I should call Cole and tell him I’ll be coming home late tonight.”

He reached into his pocket for his phone however when he felt around for it he couldn’t find it, “Huh? He checked all of his pockets rapidly “Oh come on, you can’t be serious! I lost it?” He then thought back to when he ran into Madison on the stairs, “Oh crap…” he planted his face into the palm of his hand, “Cole is going to kill me.”

Alex sat back down on the bench and let out a sigh, “Ah well, nothing I can do about it now I guess. I’ll just have to cross that bridge when I come to it.”

Alex sat in silence for about half an hour until the bell finally rang. Alex jumped up from the bench, the gates opened and students in the same black and blue uniform started flooding out into the street, Alex’s heart becoming to race as he searched for Shiore.

After about a few minutes of looking, he caught a glimpse of navy blue hair in the corner of his eye. His heart stopped for a moment as he focused on who it belonged to, and there, walking out the gate and only a few feet away with her hair done up in a ponytail… was Shiore.

He stood silent for a moment as his heart began to beat even faster. He balled his hands up, took in a big gulp, and after a few seconds took one step forward, and then another. Before long, he shook his head and ran up to the girl that stood a few feet from him.

“Uh, excuse me…” he called out, tapping Shiore on the shoulder.

She turned around and stared at him through her cold pale blue eyes, “… can I help you?”

“Uh… well I uh…” Alex paused for a moment thinking of what to say next, “You see I-”

Alex felt and tug on the hood of his sweater as he was pulled away from Shiore. He looked over his shoulder to see an angry looking girl standing directly behind him with her hand gripped tight around the hood of his sweater.

“Let me guess,” She said with daggers in her eyes, “you’re one of those low life good for nothings who think this school is nothing but an all you can eat girl buffet, aren’t you?”

“No no, you’ve got the wrong idea,” Alex pleaded as he tried to pry himself free of the girl’s grasp, “I only wanted to talk with her, honest!”

The girl raised an eyebrow, “Uh huh… Yeah, likely story,” she said throwing Alex down to the ground, “Look, I don’t care why you came here but you better scram before security notices what you’re up to.”

“Geez Sora…” Alex coughed, “I didn’t expect you to be so rough.”
The girl blinked, “Hey,” she said grabbing Alex by the collar of his shirt and forcing him to his feet, “Last I checked I didn’t give you permission to call me by my first name. How the hell do you even know who I am anyway?”

“Sis,” Another girl called out from beside Shiore, “Let’s just go.”

“That must be Ayu,” Alex thought to himself.

“Just a sec,” Sora returned, “Listen here, whoever you are, just be sure I never catch you snooping around here again okay?”

“Sora!” Shiore shouted, Sora and Alex turned to Shiore, “Leave him be… he’s not worth it.”

“Alright,” Sora grunted letting go of Alex as he fell to his feet, “Just making sure that guy doesn’t try anything.” She said joining up with Shiore and Ayu, “Geez, you’re pretty much a magnet with that hair of yours, you know that?”

“I know,” Shiore said laughing a little, “Geez, you’ve told me that a four hundred and seventy-six times already.”

“You’ve gotta admit though, you stick out like a sore blue thumb,” Ayu added in, “You ever consider dying it. Maybe black or maybe even a deep green or something like that?”

“I don’t think so,” Shiore shook her head, “I like to keep it natural, just like my mother’s.”

Alex picked himself up off the ground and planted his feet firmly on the ground, “SHIORE!”

Sora sighed and turned back to Alex, “Look do I need to-”

“You shut it for a moment!” Alex shouted at Sora, “Just listen to me for a moment. Sekai the Creator… the wolf, the eagle, the dragon and the minotaur… any of that sound familiar?”

“That’s it!” Sora rolled up her sleeve and charged over to Alex, only to be stopped by Shiore who extended her arm out in front of her preventing her from moving any further forward.

“Hold on a moment,” Shiore said calmly, “Where did you hear that from?”

“From you… actually,” Alex thought to himself, “Though I doubt you’d believe me if I said that.” Alex took in a deep breath and then spoke up, “I heard a long time ago from a friend of mine, though I didn’t really believe her at the time. She told me that you would be able to confirm that it was true… I also hoped that you’d be able to help me with something important.”

Shiore lowered her arm from Sora’s path and let it fall back down to her side, “... what exactly do you need help with?”

“Um…” Alex looked around for a moment, “Could we talk about this somewhere a little more… private maybe?”

“Of course,” Shiore nodded, “Anywhere you had in mind?”

“Oh, I know!” Ayu cut in, “There’s a nice cafe not too far from here.”

“That ‘Average Joe’ one?” Sora asked.

“Yup, that’s the one,” Ayu returned.

“That’ll work perfectly,” Alex said with a sigh, “Finally,” he thought to himself, “some luck at last.”

---

Tara hopped in place in front of a bus stop, Cole and Carter sitting on a bench directly behind her.

“Uh… is she normally like this?” Cole asked.

“For the most part,” Carter returned, “I try to keep her calm but sometimes there’s just no stopping her.”

Cole shrugged, “Can’t stop Tara from being Tara I guess.”

Carter smacked Cole on the top of his head, “Thea, her name is Thea… remember that.”

Cole laughed a bit, “Yeah okay, I got it.”

“Good,” Carter said pulling his arm back, “You should show respect to your elders.”

Cole looked over to Tara, “But, she’s like fourteen?”

“I was referring to me. You’re seventeen, I’m nineteen. I think you can figure out the rest.”” Carter sighed, “Anyway, enough about that. What’s the story on this Alex guy, he escape from an insane asylum or something?”

“I honestly have no idea what’s up with him, just having one of those days I guess.” Cole shrugged, “Next time he acts up or goes crazy you let me know and I’ll smack it right out of him.”

“Deal,” Carter returned, “but only if you make sure to follow through with that.”

“Why’s that?” Cole asked.

“If you say you’re going to do something then do it and take what you want with your own hand,” Carter hunched over and put his hands together looking off into the distance, “Otherwise, you have no right to complain when someone else beats you to it.”

“Geez, you’re just a bucket of sunshine and rainbows aren’t you?”

Carter looked over to Cole, “I’m not too sure if you’ve noticed but I don’t exactly show my enthusiasm in the same way my sister does.”

“Oh really? I hadn’t noticed.”

“Excuse me,” A voice called out, “I hate to interrupt but would you two be able to answer a few questions for me?”

Cole and Carter turned to see a young man in a brown cargo jacket standing to the right of the bench. In his hand was a small black case.

“Sure what do you want to know?” Cole asked.

“I’m a little unfamiliar with the area and I’m afraid I’m a bit lost,” the man said scratching the back of his head, “Would you possibly be able to help me find a friend of mine?”

“Sorry, but we’re busy,” Carter returned avoiding eye contact with the man, “You’ll just have to find him on your own.”

“Oh, but you see I’m on somewhat of a timer,” the man said as he pulled out a black blaster with blue markings along gold and silver highlights and aimed it Carter and Cole, “The way I see it is either you help me out or this bus stop will turn into a crime scene in the next five seconds…” he smirked “so what’s it gonna be dragon boy?”

---

Alex sat in a booth across from Sora and Shiore with Ayu right beside him. The group had moved to a cafe a few blocks away from Ophelia. Ayu had ordered a slice of strawberry shortcake and Sora a simple chocolate, Shiore had ordered a cup of oolong tea while Alex hadn’t ordered a single thing.

She took a sip of her tea then placed it back down on the table, “So,” She said looking directly at Alex, “how much do you know?”

“Well I uh…” Alex cleared his throat, “I know that, or at least I was told that back in the beginning there was that spirit named Sekai who created four elemental guardians to fight some ancient evil. Then if I remember correctly those four beasts formed partnerships with four humans and the formed the four clans that upheld balance in the world… Then a war between them broke out and they fell apart,” He looked back at Shiore, “That sound about right?”

Shiore nodded, “That’s pretty much the gist of it… however, the fact that you know that legend is rather confusing.”

“How come?” Alex asked.

“The four clans were rather secretive, so only their members even knew they existed,” Shiore explained, “The only reason I know is because my family was once servants to the Shirayuki clan… but that was all a long time ago.”

“So, my guess is that the story is true then?” Alex asked once again.

“For the most part,” Shiore returned, “Though I’m curious to know who it was that told you about it. What was their name?”

“Uh… Homura,” Alex spat out, “Homura Kasai.”

“So, a remnant of the Hone Clan then?” Shiore asked taking another sip of her tea, “Figures they wouldn’t have been completely wiped out after the war.”

“Oh come on,” Sora sighed, “You’re not telling me that you actually believe that junk are you?”

“Well, I’m not saying that I do or not, after all it was quite a long time ago,” Shiore turned to Sora and smiled, “So who can say?”

“I never thought I’d see Shiore smile like that,” Alex thought to himself, “It’s rather interesting… seeing a side of her like that.”

“I’d like to think it is,” Ayu butted in, “After all, I find the idea of those elemental beasts to rather cool. Especially the eagle, if I could for a bond with something as amazing as that it’d be the best!... Although,” she looked over to Sora, “The Tatsumakis were primarily yellow, and that’s more your color don’t you think sis?”

“Eh, I honestly don’t care about the color,” Sora shrugged, “So long as it’s not something freaky looking like a bug or what not I’m good.”

At that moment and small jingle began to emanate from Shiore’s bag. Shiore reached into her bag and pulled out a navy blue slim flip phone. Sora got up from the booth as Shiore flipped her phone open and read the caller ID, “Oh, sorry I need to take this.”

“Time?” Sora asked.

“Uh...” Alex checked his watch, “Three forty five.”
“On the dot,” Sora said sitting back down as Shiore walked out the front door of the cafe and leaned against a large bay window next to it, “He always calls her at this exact time.”

“Who always calls her?” Alex asked.

“Her older brother of course,” Sora returned.

“He never misses a single day,” Ayu said resting her head in the palm of left hand, “Wish I had a sibling that cool.”

Sora glared at Ayu, “What’s that supposed to mean?”

Ayu jumped back to sitting upright with her hands in her lap, “Nothing.”

“What I thought.”

“Uh… changing the subject,” Alex interjected as a bead of sweat ran down his neck, “What exactly is Shiore’s brother like?”

“Think Shiore only older, a brighter shade of hair and a guy,” Sora said bluntly.

“Not too mention incredibly smart,” Ayu added, “he held the top score back in Tokyo up until he graduated. At least that’s what I heard.”

“Top score?” Alex raised an eyebrow, “Top score in what?”

“Pretty much everything,” Sora stated, “Academics, athletics, arts. If there was a grade for it, Satoshi got a hundred on it. Haven’t heard much from him since he’s been busy preparing to take over as the head of his family, but he still makes sure to make time to check up on his little Imou-Chan.”

Alex leaned back in his seat and groaned, “Greeeat, sounds like a real Marty Stu.” He stood up and began walking away from the table, “I’ll be right back.”

“We’re you going?” Ayu asked.

“Bathroom.”

“Oh…” Ayu said slowly, “alright then.”
Alex took a steps away from the booth before coming to a halt and leaning against a counter on the other side of the room. He slapped himself in the forehead, “Okay… did not think this one through too well.”

“Here you are sir,” a familiar voice called out to Alex placing a cup of coffee on the counter, “one double double.”

“Wait I didn't-” Alex spoke out only to be immediately silenced by the shock of who it was that stood before him. The very same face that caused him and many others so much misfortune, how could he forget it. He quivered as he forced out a single word, “... Fury…”

“Hm?” The man turned to Alex, “Sorry, what was that?”

“Derek Mavrick, also known as... Fury,” Alex growled balling his hands into fist, “You think I’d forget someone like you?”

“Perhaps you’re confusing me with someone else,” The man behind the counter chuckled lightly, “That is indeed my name, however I’m afraid the only fury I have is after I read a negative review and even then it’s directed at yours truly.” He picked up a plain white mug from a sink behind the counter and began drying it off with a small cloth, “You see I am but an average joe just trying to get by the only way he knows how. Hence the name of the cafe,” he placed the mug down on the counter, “Average Joe’s.”

Alex tightened his fists, “Do you expect me to believe that?”

“Believe it or don’t believe it, doesn’t make it any less true,” Derek said with a grin. He turned to Alex and looked him in the eye, “Look kid, I get that you’re young so I’ll put it bluntly. Sometimes things just don’t work out the way you’d expect them to, when that happens all you can do is the best to make sure things turn out alright… You understand?”

Alex sighed, “Yeah… I guess you’re right.”

Derek raised an eyebrow, “Bet you had a rough day huh?”

“You could say that,” Alex returned.

“Wanna talk about it?” Derek asked, “Maybe I can help out a bit.” Alex said nothing, “Complicated?”

Alex nodded, “More or less.”

“Well listen here,” Derek pulled up a chair and leaned in close to Alex, “You want to know why I opened up this little cafe?”

“No… why?” Alex asked.

“My sister was sick with a cold once. It was so bad that even when it was boiling outside, she still felt so cold,” Derek explained, “Our parents were out one night and I was left alone to take care of her, so I wiped her up a bowl of hot soup however that only went so far… I stayed up with her that whole night, I even missed a few days of school in order to make sure that she was okay.

“She was okay… right?” Alex asked.

“Of course,” Derek returned, “After about a week or so it cleared up and she was better than she had ever been in her whole life. However, she told me that she never would have made if it weren't for me refusing to leave her side. I then realized that now matter how cold the world may get, if someone has even just a little bit of warmth, things will be okay… That’s when I decided to be that warmth, and once I had enough money together I opened this cafe.”

“And… you’re happy with this?” Alex asked.

“Of course,” Derek said with a grin. He pointed over to Sora and Ayu on the other side of the room “Just look at those friends of yours over there, they seem happy don’t they?”

“Yeah… I guess they do,” Alex said quietly.

“Exactly, and in the end isn’t that what makes it all worth it in the end?” Alex nodded. “Great,” Derek slapped Alex on the back, “Now then,” he said handing the cup of coffee on the counter to Alex before turning on his heel and walking off towards the kitchen, “Enjoy the coffee and have a nice day.”

“But I didn’t order any-”

“It’s on the house kid,” Derek said waving over his shoulder, “Take it as a thank you.”

“Thank you for what?” Alex asked.

Derek turned back to Alex with a grin, “For listening,” He opened the door to the kitchen, “As I said have a nice day.” He said before closing the door behind him.

Alex looked down to the cup of coffee in his hand. He sniffed it before taking a small sip, within a few seconds he gagged and spat it out, “ARGH! The heck am I doing? I don’t even like coffee!”

“Alex?” A voice called out to him.

Alex turned to see Ayu standing beside him, he blinked, “Oh… yes?”

“We’re leaving now,” Ayu said pointing over her shoulder to Sora and Shiore who were waiting by the door, “you coming with us?”
“Oh, of course,” Alex returned placing the cup back down on the counter, “Sorry about that, got a little distracted.”

The four exited the cafe and began making their way down a long busy street. After a few minutes of walking they came to a fork in the road.

“Well, I guess this is where we split,” Sora said turning back to Shiore and Alex, “you alright walking the rest of the way?”

“Yes,” Shiore nodded, “You worry too much.”

“Alright then, guess we’ll see you tomorrow then,” Sora said as she began walking off down the road to the right, “Come on Ayu.”

“Right coming,” Ayu said following her sister. She waved back to Shiore and Alex, “Sayonara.”

“Sayonara,” Shiore and Alex waved back.

“Oh, that reminds me,” Sora turned back to Alex looking him in the eye, “Darwin! You try anything and you’re dead you got that?”

Alex sighed, “Yeah, I got it.”

“Good! Just making sure that sticks!” Sora shouted back.

Ayu and Sora continued down the street eventually disappearing in the distance.

“She brings up a good point you know,” Alex said to Shiore, “You've never met me before, so you have absolutely no reason to trust me.”

Shiore shook her head, “You’re wrong… The thing is, I have.”

“What do you mean?” Alex asked.

“I was new to this city, so I didn't know my way around it very well… Sora and Ayu were busy that day, so I figured I’d go explore on my own. However, when it was time to head home I realized I didn't have enough money left for the subway. I didn't want to bother Sora or Ayu so I just stood there looking pathetic. However, that’s when something unexpected happened. A complete stranger came up to me and introduced himself to me before instructing me to go through the gate with him. He then told me that the pass he had was good for up to four people at once. I didn't know what to say, so I just stood there without saying a word”

“I see…then what happened?”
“After that, he boarded the west bound train while I waited for the east. I thought that I would never see him ever again, but then I was let out of school earlier today and… there you were,” Shiore looked up to Alex, “It always bugged me that I was never able to thank you properly for helping me that day… so thank you.”

“Uh… you’re welcome?” Alex scratched the back of his head, “Though to be honest, it really wasn't...” Just then, Alex heard the faint chime of chains fill the air, “Hold that thought.” He surveyed their surroundings then turned back to Shiore, “Get down!”

Alex pushed Shiore down to the ground as a dark figure jumped out from the shadows and kicked Alex aside. Alex looked back to who kicked him to see a dark, rider like figure with bright yellow eyes clad in black, red and silver armor with silver chains adorning his shoulders and right leg guard.

Shiore felt someone grab her by her shoulder as she was forced to her feet. She looked back to see a pair of blank red eyes behind a set of two gold horns staring back at her.

“I was wondering when you’d show yourself…” Alex proclaimed gasping for air, “Decade.”

Just when things seemed to be at their worst, two riders jumped out from the shadows. One clad in red and gold armor than resembled a beetle and the other a deathly white with dusty blue whose appearance resemble that of a bat, a sword with a bat wing shape guard held tightly in her right hand.

The red rider beetle kicked the figure cloaked in chains to the ground releasing Alex from his grasp. Without wasting a second, he charged a punch and threw it at the figure causing it to dematerialize upon impact.

The white bat rider dashed over to Shiore and jabbed her capture in the side of the neck with the hilt of her sword, releasing Shiore from it’s grasp. She then delivered two quick strikes causing it to dematerialize the same as the other one.

The two undid their transformations revealing them to be the young man and woman from the photography studio that Tara, Cole and Shiore met only yesterday. The white bat being Natsumi and the red beetle Yuusuke.

“Kiva and Agito,” The bat rider said quietly lowering her sword, “Rather fitting choices considering the situation.”

“Using the illusion attack ride card along with form ride cards to create clones of other riders. That’s a new one,” The beetle rider proclaimed. “Though I’m curious to know where you picked up that trick,” He turned to where Alex lay on the ground, “Tsukasa.”

Alex looked behind him as Tsukasa emerged fully armored in his standard rider from around the corner.

“Should’ve figured you two would follow me,” Tsukasa said looking at the two riders, “Yuusuke… Natsumi.”

“Tsukasa, why are you doing this!” The white bat rider demanded, “Please… tell me.”

“The riders of this world challenged me to a duel,” Tsukasa proclaimed, “I believed that I destroyed them all once Ryu-O was dealt with… however,” He looked down at Alex on the ground, “It’s seems that one rider still remains in this world, and so long as there is still a single rider left, my fight against them shall continue.”

“Looks like we agree on something then,” Alex grunted as he forced himself to his feet, “If you want to fight, then let’s go… right here… right now.”

“There will be a time a place for that, but it is not now,” Tsukasa proclaimed, “You’re in no condition to fight me, plus this place simply won’t do as a battle ground.”

“Alright, then what is?” Alex asked. Tsukasa pointed over to a large tower far off in the distance. Alex’s eyes widened, “Ardent Tower?”

“That structure in the center of the city, that is where the final battle will take place,” Tsukasa said as his arm fell back down to his side, “If you wish to fight me, meet me at the top… alone.”

“That’s completely unfair!” Natsumi shouted.

“It’s simply a one on one duel, that seems to be relatively fair all things considered,” Tsukasa said as he turned to Natsumi and looked her in the eye, “You wanted to know why I’m doing all of this… to tell you the truth, not even I know the answer to that anymore.” He turned back to Alex, “As for you X, accept my challenge or don’t, that’s for you to decide… I hope for your sake that you make the right choice.”

As soon as Tsukasa finished speaking he vanished just as quickly as he had appeared.

“I’ve made my decision,” Alex proclaimed as he looked over to Ardent Tower off in the distance. He balled his hands into fists, “Decade… Your rampage, ends here.”

To be continued