<Haruka_Emmerich>    It's somewhere along the lines of ten hours later that the hatch to Aelita's island safehouse pops open once more, the pink-haired woman climbing up onto the surprisingly dry natural terrain of Isla del Monstruo. "Ahhh, cleared up nicely out here. C'mon, Wyll, perfect weather for a beta test!"

<Axel_Wildfire>    Wyll follows with a yawn; there are dark circles under his eyes (well, moreso than usual), but he looks pretty happy at least. "Thanks for the lesson." That's not to say he did everything perfectly, but he still learned fast and redoubled his efforts whenever he messed up.

<Haruka_Emmerich>    "Oh no, thank YOU - I don't think I've ever really enjoyed that since Ingrid and I first shacked up." A stretch before Aelita starts piling the barbecue spit scenery over the trapdoor. "All right...the herd ought to be passing through here in about 10 minutes. It's all you once they come in from over the ridge."

<Axel_Wildfire>    "Well, you have to be hands on once in a while..." he aids with the cover, glancing over at the ridge. "You never *did* explain to me about the wildlife."

<Haruka_Emmerich>    "Oh, you'll see soon enough..." She cracks her knuckles, ZX Belt readied as the duo spy a flash of blue in the thicket. "Hmm...must be coming through early."

<Axel_Wildfire>    Wyll carefully clips the belt into place, drawing a card from the Ride Booker. "Have I ever mentioned how much I hate surprises?"

<Haruka_Emmerich>    "Trust me, you'll-" Aelita's reassurance is cut off by a thump, the blue flash revealing itself to be a blue-and-black-scaled velociraptor leaping over the ridge and landing some thirty feet from the plateau. "...never mind, then."

<Axel_Wildfire>    He groans. "Why did it have to be dinosaurs?"

<Haruka_Emmerich>    "Island of Monsters. The hell'd you THINK would be here?" The Velociprey is quickly joined by a trio of packmates. "Nonlethal if you can manage it - the dead bodies draw MUCH more dangerous targets."

<Axel_Wildfire>    "I was hoping it was a dumb nickname." Wyll admits, spinning the card in his hand; the Proto Driver howls.
<Axel_Wildfire>    >>STANDBY READY<<
<Axel_Wildfire>    "Here goes, well, everything." he eyes Aelita drily for just a second, then turns his gaze back to the Velociprey. "Let's Ride, Decade!"
<Axel_Wildfire>    His hand flashes down across the Driver, slamming the card home, and another flick of his hands sets the outer edges revolving, to the sound of an extended guitar wail.
<Axel_Wildfire>    >>DRIVE IGNITION<<
<Axel_Wildfire>    >>D-D-D-DECADE<<
<Axel_Wildfire>    None of that 'multiple silohuettes' bullshit; the armor starts as a black bodysuit, with the white armor that covers the vitals building over it, providing a second layer of protection. It also lacks the Tiki-Head nonsense, having a simple, streamlined head, with blue eyes. "Well, it worked this time."

<Haruka_Emmerich>    "Don't worry, if anything blows out or something, I've got your back. HENSHIN...ZE-CU-ROOOOOOOOOOSSSSSSSSSS!" A mighty leap and a forward flip, and Kamen Rider ZX was alongside Proto Decade, kunai readied.

<Axel_Wildfire>    "That makes me feel more comfortable than you'd think." Wyll's gauntleted hand drops to his Ride Booker again, rifling through for a card to use. "- how'd this get in here?" he asks as he pulls it out; the image is of some guy in a too-many-buckles longcoat, wearing a helmet like that of a rearing serpent.

<Haruka_Emmerich>    "Strange..." Aelita gives the card a once-over. "Doesn't look like any Rider I'm familiar with. I know I tried to put in a mode that'd augment your CQC, though. Maybe there's a connection?"

<Axel_Wildfire>    "Worth a shot. You said no casualties so I can't exactly use the gun. You worked that over well, by the way." he shrugs and tries the card out.
<Axel_Wildfire>    >>KAMEN RIDE DRIVE IGNITION<<
<Axel_Wildfire>    >>KIIIING COBRAAAAAA<<
<Axel_Wildfire>    The result is that the white parts of the suit turn black, the helmet morphing to match what you see on the suit - only one of the longcoat's tails is present and only the right arm is changed, all the way down to the hand... with a SHOCKER emblem on the back of the glove. Wyll eyes it distastefully and holds a hand out to Aelita. "Lemme borrow a kunai?"

<Haruka_Emmerich>    It's passed handle-first. "Be quick with it. These things tend to explode violently within a minute of leaving my hands."

<Axel_Wildfire>    "Thank you." He takes it reverse grip and drags the blade harshly down across the back of the right hand, tearing the emblem in half. "Not again. I lost you to SHOCKER once. I won't suffer for them to live much longer, and certainly not as part of my own armor." Wyll says coldly, throwing the kunai over his shoulder.

<Haruka_Emmerich>    "Heh." Aelita smirks under her helmet as the discarded knife flashes out of existence behind the pair. "Just like a proper Showa. Now get ready!" The flash-bang of the exploded kunai had caught the raptors' attention, and they began to charge at the two Riders.

<Axel_Wildfire>    "Born ready." Wyll doesn't glance back - cool guys don't look at explosions - instead raising his fists into a Flicker stance, considerably different than his usual soft style. "Heh, this Rider really doesn't want to fight soft-style. Well, that's fine by me. Go Dutch?"

<Haruka_Emmerich>    "Two and two, fine by me." A peculiar bracelet finds its way onto ZX's wrist, the silver parts of its armor taking on a gold inlay before the accessorized arm mutates into a crimson dragon-headed gauntlet. "Think I'll stick to fire support for mine. No pun intended."

<Axel_Wildfire>    "Very funny. How is the Smurfette anyway?" he asks this with absolute calm as he throws himself at the first of his 'pair', meeting it's attempted chowdown with his right elbow and following it with a jabbing left upper to the chin that rocks the miniature dinosaur.

<Haruka_Emmerich>    "Better. Kinda." A [STRIKE VENT] fireball coldcocks one of the Velociprey in the rear. "Still has it totally wrong about her brother, last I heard, but they'll manage."

<Axel_Wildfire>    "Good. She's a good kid." As Wyll's prey rises, he draws his right hand back and open-palms it in the chest - and to his surprise, it staggers, thoroughly stunned. He examines his fist, now glowing black. "Aelita, I reiterate my comment about how amazing you are." Wyll's voice holds not even the merest hint of sarcasm as his left hand drops to retrieve another card.
<Axel_Wildfire>    >>FINAL ATTACK RIDE MAXIMUM DRIVE IGNITION<<
<Axel_Wildfire>    >>KIIIING COBRAAAAAA<<
<Axel_Wildfire>    The punch that he throws has barely any windup but somehow it still picks up the Velociprey and literally hurls it across the landscape, depositing it in an unconscious heap on the ground a good forty metres away. "Awesome."

<Haruka_Emmerich>    Aelita whistles. "Didn't expect THAT much punch...lemme see if I can match that!" ZX's form begins to shift into that of Kiva as she bounds towards another target. "Batty...PUNCH!"
<Haruka_Emmerich>    The haymaker connects, the Velociprey keeling over with an oddly-shaped burst of energy spreading from the impact. "Damn, now I know why Emmerich's so hot for the original! This thing's power is ludicrous!"

<Axel_Wildfire>    "I think the monstrosity we've created actually tops it, /beau/." Wyll's assessment of this is accompanied by him *hip throwing* his second 'prey, leaving it sprawling in the dirt. "It better, anyway, if we're going to light SHOCKER up like a Dutch Brothel, which would please me greatly."

<Haruka_Emmerich>    One stomp, then another. "Hoo boy, think I overdid it with that roasted raptor." A quite large, tyrannosaur-like beast emerged from the other end of the ridge now, bellowing as its meaty arms slammed into the dirt. Whether it was here to avenge or feast upon its brethren wasn't too evident, but somehow the pair of doppelganger Riders would have to deal with it.

<Axel_Wildfire>    "That's 'good'. Are those lethal locks off?" he asks, reverting his transformation and choosing a different card, though he doesn't use it quite yet.

<Haruka_Emmerich>    "May as well be." Aelita shifted from Kiva to G Den-O, training the Gun Mode DenGasher on the Tigrex's head.

<Axel_Wildfire>    "Well now, in that case." Wyll spins the card between his fingers and flashes it across his belt.
<Axel_Wildfire>    >>KAMEN RIDE DRIVE IGNITION<<
<Axel_Wildfire>    >>SUUUUUUUUPER OOOONE<<
<Axel_Wildfire>    The black-and-white once again burns away, this time silver and those weird little rope-glove things. So very cowboy. Wyll selects another card.
<Axel_Wildfire>    >>ATTACK RIDE DRIVE IGNITION<<
<Axel_Wildfire>    >>CHANGE HOT/COLD HANDS<<
<Axel_Wildfire>    The right hand flickers, an odd digitized pattern scrolling over them, and then reasserts itself in a brilliant shade of blue. "This'll do. I'll get up close and slow it down."

<Haruka_Emmerich>    "Be careful about it! These guys are like fleshy tornadoes!" As if to punctuate Aelita's claim, the Tigrex spin-thrashes in anticipation of fresh prey, its winged forearms whipping violently through the air along with the rest of its surprisingly agile bulk.

<Axel_Wildfire>    "Hey, I'm not so bad mysel-" *smack*.
<Axel_Wildfire>    Wyll hits the ground and rolls, sprawling hard, his senses briefly rocked by the impact. "... disregard, I'm an idiot." he shakes his head and kips up onto his feet, instead seeking an opening in it's attacks..

<Haruka_Emmerich>    The beast shifts its weight and spins once more on its opposite foot, narrowly missing Wyll before bellowing in consternation. The roar is answered with a shout of "PERFECT WEAPON!" from somewhere within G Den-O, a teal barrier forming around Aelita as she clocks off shot after shot from the G DenGasher.

<Axel_Wildfire>    "Kkh, thanks beau!" Wyll rolls out of the way, comes up on one knee, and lines up a shot - then blasts the Tigrex's rear leg with a jet of supercool air issuing from his Cold Hand, trying to freeze it to the ground. /Work for me, baby./

<Haruka_Emmerich>    The supercooling spray works its magic, locking up the Tigrex's calf muscles and sending it slumping over for making the mistake of attempting another spin on the frozen leg.

<Axel_Wildfire>    "That'll do." he stands up, drawing yet another card.
<Axel_Wildfire>    >>FINAL ATTACK RIDE MAXIMUM DRIVE IGNITION<<
<Axel_Wildfire>    >>SUUUUUUUPER OOOONE<<
<Axel_Wildfire>    The flush of silver covering his body shifts down, reverting most of him to standard Proto-DCD - except for the right leg of the armor, which now matches Super-1's. "I'll try that, then." Wyll sets himself. "Rider Kick...!"
<Axel_Wildfire>    There's no huge leap, Wyll takes a more orthadox approach - he leaps forwards and throws a solid side-kick straight into the Tigrex's head, his belt howling all the while.

<Haruka_Emmerich>    One last guttural scream from the wyvernoid before it finally falls silent, its skull clearly caved in at Wyll's point of impact. "Well...I'd say this was a fruitful test run." Aelita's form mutes back into that of vanilla ZX as she strolls forth to inspect the corpse.

<Axel_Wildfire>    "It worked, yeah. I like how all the power is condensed where it matters." he nods as his own form switches back into normal.

<Haruka_Emmerich>    "A side effect of half-assing the power distribution, but then the usual Decade boosts didn't do much to enhance defenses anyway. Heck, nor do mine..." Zecross's green eyes survey the damage. "I believe the tradeoff is quite acceptable."

<Axel_Wildfire>    "Isn't it just." Wyll takes one last glance around and disengages his transformation; there's already bruises forming at the neckline of his undershirt (and probably below it) from taking that smack. On the other hand, something catches his nose. "Is that...?"

<Haruka_Emmerich>    A sniff as Aelita reverts herself. "Maaaaybe. I don't remember you lighting up before we started, though..."

<Axel_Wildfire>    "I didn't." Following his nose he finds, partly-crushed under the unconscious body of one of the Velociprey, a rather large lemongrass bush. Wyll grins. "Beautiful." he grins, teasing one of the stems between his fingers; it springs back into shape. "Healthy, too. Yum."

<Haruka_Emmerich>    "Leave it to the wicked hypoglycemic to appreciate organic produce, I guess." The pink-haired woman takes a whiff. "Shame we've barely the time to really partake."

<Axel_Wildfire>    "Ah-ah, I only smoke the stuff because I can't exactly carry the sap around with me. I take it you've never tried actually drinking the stuff." he looks up at her, smiling - this is not Wyll's usual smile; he looks peaceful, and infinitely less stressed out than usual.

<Haruka_Emmerich>    "Was always more of a coffee person than a tea person, sadly."

<Axel_Wildfire>    "You don't put it in tea." Wyll grins and reaches down to the base of one of the stems and plucks it, then with a practised motion, uses one hand to split the bottom two inches off the base; he offers the rest to Aelita. "Suck the sap out, the flavour's kind of bitter, but sweet as well."

<Haruka_Emmerich>    "That's what SHE said." Aelita partakes regardless, her lips puckering from the initial bitter shock, but mellowing out - accompanied by her wonky circuit lines flaring and easing green - as the sweetness kicked in.

<Axel_Wildfire>    He laughs at the joke, busily snapping off a stem of his own. "Good, huh?"

<Haruka_Emmerich>    "It's...interesting. I like interesting." Another quick suck. "Maybe if I ever get the chance to settle down..."

<Axel_Wildfire>    "That can be arranged." Wyll stands up and stretches; his undershirt rides up far enough to show that the rapidly-darkening bruise is running all the way down to his left hip. "Just one more battle to win, right?"

<Haruka_Emmerich>    "Naturally. It's far easier to make sure your last affairs are put in order when you're already dead." Aelita gestures to the waiting rowboat. "Grab what you can for the road, we've got the mainland to get back to and an arms cache in America to hit in like, three days."

<Axel_Wildfire>    "Well, if I die, you can have my stuff." he winks at her. "That's my affairs in order."

<Haruka_Emmerich>    "The hell else you got that you didn't pass around LAST time?"

<Axel_Wildfire>    "What, that? I only gave Alex my LostDriver and T2 Joker Memory, and that was actually a gambit which has thoroughly paid off." Wyll's grin grows wider. "I don't have access to the Library quite yet, but I'm getting close."

<Haruka_Emmerich>    "...I saw Django try to DM with her caboose staff. Not a pretty sight."

<Axel_Wildfire>    "Yeah I avoided that shit like the plague, thank you." he grimaces, then gathers himself. "Aelita, listen."

<Haruka_Emmerich>    "This better be good." She finally gets a good look at /him/, rather, all them bruises. "Especially good enough to stay standing for it."

<Axel_Wildfire>    "Unless you got a ring in one of those suicide capsules that part's going to have to wait until we back to the mainland." Wyll gives her an apologetic smile.

<Haruka_Emmerich>    "W-what?" A cool blue shock. "Erm...no dice on the ring...but hey, who knows. If you think you can ride with the devil THAT long..."

<Axel_Wildfire>    "I'm here, aren't I? I don't have any intention of leaving now, or soon." he runs a hand through his hair, not blushing, but his tone is soft enough that it gives the same effect. "- that's not what I wanted to say, though. Well, not *yet*, anyway. Gah, hell of a time to get tonguetied..."

<Haruka_Emmerich>    "Jeez, it's like Jeremy got duct-taped to Haruka here...we'll see, I guess."

<Axel_Wildfire>    Wyll takes a breath. "Look, you. It doesn't even begin to make up for it - but I'm sorry I wasn't there for you when SHOCKER... well, you know. Driver or no, I should've been there to help you."

<Haruka_Emmerich>    "Wyll...seriously..." A sigh. "...these things happen sometimes. I mean, look at me not being able to save Ingrid. Look at Haruka getting weepy over doing the morally and tactically right thing. You can't beat yourself up over it, and you SHOULDN'T. We're here...together...we're able to fight. In the end...that's all that matters."

<Axel_Wildfire>    "Not to me. I always was a perfectionist when it came to my own actions, but..." he wraps her in a hug, drawing her tight, almost a little too tight, like he's worried she'll slip away. "I failed you."

<Haruka_Emmerich>    "Dumbass..." Aelita sighs again before reciprocating. "...fuck it, may as well be MY dumbass..."

<Axel_Wildfire>    "I kinda like the sound of that." Wyll admits softly.

<Haruka_Emmerich>    "Suit yourself, Emmer-er, Ascher." The slip is deliberate - enough for Wyll to take note.

<Axel_Wildfire>    "Fuck you." he finds himself grinning anyway.

<Haruka_Emmerich>    "Not sure how hard you're trying."

<Axel_Wildfire>    "Is there a good way to answer that?"

<Haruka_Emmerich>    "Let's get the ambiance out of the way first and we'll talk. And by 'ambiance' I mean 'tearing SHOCKER enough new orifices Haruka and her doms will be busy for a solid month'."

<Axel_Wildfire>    "One thing." Wyll tilts her chin up and kisses her gently.

<Haruka_Emmerich>    "..." Aelita glows pink at that.

<Axel_Wildfire>    To be fair, Wyll is doing the same thing, except not literally. "... consider that a start, and we can save the rest for after we win."

<Haruka_Emmerich>    "Quite."

<Axel_Wildfire>    "Sounds like good incentive for me to stay alive, anyway." he smirks faintly and slips free, taking her hand on the way. "Well, come on. SHOCKER's not going to spontaneously combust, unlike SEES."