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writingpaperghost · 3 years

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There is a Me Who Can Become Strong (Chapter 1)

Emu liked working at Seito University Hospital, intern or not. Sure, his coworkers at the CR were a bit… interesting, but not in the bad way. Saki was, overall, pretty nice, even if she could sometimes get really stern. The director was a bit silly, but still took his job seriously. Technically, Nico didn’t work with the CR, and she was often a bit much. Same with Taiga, who was really set on getting the Gashats, for some reason. Kiriya had a bit of a skill for getting into Emu’s personal space, but it wasn’t too bad.

Everything seemed to have been going well, but with the sudden increase of Game Disease cases, it becomes clear something is happening. Unfortunately for Emu, the past doesn’t stay in the past.

My newest project, that struck me like a lightning bolt and made me go, "Huh, that's actually a great idea". Now, you may be asking, "Are you really going to rewrite all of Ex-Aid"? The answer is: Yeah, probably.

It gets angsty, unsurprisingly.

Chapter 1: I'm a Kamen Rider!

AO3: https://archiveofourown.org/works/32857183/chapters/81535450

Emu liked working at Seito University Hospital. He liked the people – the nurses were kind and liked him – he liked seeing the children smile when he’d send them back to their parents (unbidden, he’s often reminded of the words that changed Emu’s life). During his breaks, he’d help entertain the children, by playing games for them. He was really good at video games (in the past, Emu Hojo was Genius Gamer M. It’s been a while since he’d been, but now he was something just as important, Doctor Emu, even if he was still just an intern). The pediatrics ward had become like a second home to him.

---

Two figures stand on a rooftop, looking out at the city.

One had messy light brown hair, which held the appearance that there had, at some point, been an attempt to comb it. His attire was probably the most interesting part about him. He wore a reddish brown jacket, the shirt underneath having one sleeve of a similar color, the right sleeve a green color, and the rest being greyish green in color. He had a necklace of fangs around his neck.

Beside him, stands the other man, wearing a hoodie, clearly inspired by Mighty, the mascot of the up and coming game from Gemn Corporation, Mighty Action X. It was pink, like Mighty, and as he had the hood up, one could see the spikes of hair, just like Mighty’s. Beneath, he wore a Mighty Action X shirt, which had Mighty and his hammer printed on it. Notably, he wore bright pants, cyan with orange stripes, his whole outfit being leagues brighter than his companion’s. His face is obscured by his long bangs and the hood of the coat, but one can make out the faint glow of red from where his left eye, the one unhidden by his bangs, is.

“I can’t believe they finally let you out,” The first of the two said, sounding terribly unamused regardless.

The one in the Mighty hoodie responded in a slightly joyful tone, though subdued, “He said that they thought I had enough control that I could stay calm.”

The first scoffs, “Sure,” He said, “Well, it sounds like today will be big, anyway.”

“Big?” The second asks, “I wonder what they have planned?”

“I guess we’ll find out,”

---

Unfortunately, Emu was a bit clumsy – he tried his best but it was just so easy to catch your foot on even the smallest of things! This clumsiness usually only affected him but sometimes… Well sometimes, he ended up with a towel thrown in his face thanks to his patient. He’s not sure why, but Sota had thrown it and used it as a distraction to run away. Emu, to his credit, got the towel off his face and gave it to the nurse, rushing off after him.

He follows Sota out of the hospital and through the nearby parts of the city. Unfortunately, either his luck or his coordination ran out, and his foot finds a cart, for moving big boxes. Then he goes on an un-asked for rollercoaster ride down the hill, where he can see but a single person at the end. He found himself instead wondering who’s Rollercoaster Tycoon ride he’d wandered into – no, no, focus! The woman!

He crashes into the suited woman, sending her briefcase flying into the street. Scrambling up, Emu frantically apologizes, “Sorry! I tripped! Sort of!”

The woman sighed, “Pay better attention,” She scolded, then stood, going to pick up the contents of the briefcase, which had been opened by its fall. Emu stands and looks around, ignoring the strange device in the briefcase in favor of looking for Sota. He had to be somewhere…

He sees Sota, standing with something in his hands. It’s pink, shaped a bit like some kind of cartridge. He thinks, in the back of his mind, that it looks familiar, but he doesn’t focus on it much. He runs over, “Sota!”

Sota turns to look at him, and Emu realizes he’s caught the attention of the woman too. “I want to play it,” Sota said, looking between the two of them and the cartridge. Emu squints, able to make out the logo on the cartridge. Mighty Action X, Gemn Corporation’s new game, which was to be released today. Emu had been looking forward to it, planning to pick up a copy after he was done at the hospital today. But why did this woman have this strange cartridge with her.

The woman’s lips settle into a stern expression, “I’m sorry, but you can’t play that.” Reluctantly, Sota allows her to take the cartridge away, but there’s something in his eyes that hurts Emu. He knows it’s not really the woman’s fault, but for some reason, Sota must really want to play Mighty Action X.

Yet, only a few moments after the woman took the cartridge, Sota collapses, some kind of orange bubbles briefly appearing in his neck. Something about it bugs Emu greatly, like a nagging sensation in some part of him. Something was wrong, and it wasn’t just that Sota had collapsed.

The woman’s reaction was telling enough, whatever this was, she knew. Together, he helps her take Sota back to Seito, down into some underground rooms, which Emu didn’t even think existed. He wants to follow the woman with Sota through the room, but he’s stopped by a man he quickly recognized as the hospital director. “Please just leave and forget about this,” the director had said. He hadn’t seen the man much, but even Emu knew what he looked like. It made sense that the director knew about whatever this place was, but somehow actually seeing him was startling. Then, the director entered the room, leaving Emu standing outside of it.

Something in him wasn’t letting him leave, though. He can’t help but recall the expression on Sota’s face when he held the cartridge, excitement, and then how it fell when the woman, he knew her now as Nurse Asuna, took the cartridge. Recalling the words he’d chosen to live by, Emu had made up his mind. He’d go and he’d help Sota, even if it was just something small. He may not be able to cure whatever disease he had, but he could make him smile. (A part of him was still trying to knock the nagging feeling.)

Luckily, neither the director nor Asuna must have been used to having other people in this area, as they hadn’t locked the door. That meant Emu could easily slip into the rooms that belonged to the part of the hospital known as the Cyber Rescue Center.

---

The director is sitting at the table in the upper room of the CR when he informs Asuna, “Saki will be here tomorrow,” He says, “She’s a perfect fit, I know Director Hinata agreed it would be good to find this Genius Gamer M, but would bringing someone who might not even be familiar with Game Disease truly a good idea?”

Asuna huffs, “Of course, Game Disease is connected to games,” She looks at him, “Who else would be suited to fight it than a genius gamer?”

“But how are you going to find him?”

“I bet I’ll find him at the Mighty Action X launch party, it’s no secret that he’s a fan of Gemn’s games.” Asuna informs him, picking up the briefcase with the Gamer Driver and Mighty Action X Gashat. “I’m going to go find him.”

With that, Asuna leaves the CR, determined to find someone who had barely appeared in the gaming world for six years.

---

It wasn’t hard for Emu to find the patient room, it was right across from the entrance. “Sota?” He called, seeing the small form in the patient’s bed. “It’s me, Emu, you doctor from earlier.”

“What do you want?” The boy asked in a sour tone.

Emu walks over and pulls a chair up to the bed, sitting down at Sota’s side. “Why did you run away earlier?”

“It’s none of your business,” Despite his protest, Emu can’t help but wonder…

“Do you like video games?” Emu asked, seemingly out of nowhere.

“Yeah,” Sota responded weakly, pulling out a Mighty keychain. “I was really excited for Mighty Action X…”

“The launch party is today,” Emu notes, “Did you want to go? Is that why you ran off.” Sota doesn’t verbally answer but nods regardless. It’s then that Emu had his idea, as crazy and questionable as it was.

Emu wastes no time in telling Sota his plan, “How about we go? You can play Mighty Action X,” He said, “After all, it doesn’t matter if you’ve been cured or not if you don’t smile.”

Sota lit up at the idea and Emu put his plan into motion. No one seemed to notice that he and Sota left, something that bugged him, but he was thankful for. They make their way to the launch party. There were a lot of people, which perhaps a few years ago would have made him greatly uncomfortable, but now didn’t bother him at all. Sota seemed so excited as they waited in line so he could play Mighty Action X (there was a pang of jealousy, but he could wait until later today, like he initially planned. In the past, maybe Emu would have cleared his schedule to go to a launch party for a Gemn Corp. game. He’d done it before, but now he just couldn’t. He was busy now, he had more than just game).

All was going well until…

“You!” It was Nurse Asuna. Emu feared her wrath for bringing Sota here ever so slightly, but he was certain that this was the solution. “And Sota! Why did you bring him here? How?”

“It was the stress from missing the game’s release,” Emu quickly explained, “I think that’s why he suddenly got sick. When you’re stressed, it’s harder for your immune system to fight off sickness. Bringing him here should cure his sickness and make him smile.”

Asuna did not look pleased with that explanation, “His sickness isn’t so simple,” She reaches and grabs Sota’s hand, “Come on Sota, we’re heading back to the hospital.”

That strange feeling returned as Sota yelled, “No! It’s almost my turn!”

“Please,” Emu begged, “Just a little longer than he can go back,” He didn’t want a scene to be made, nor did he want Sota to get so stressed. The strange feeling was growing.

“We need to go now,” Asuna continued to tug at Sota. At least, until Sota started glitching and those strange orange bubbles from before to appear again and began to grow. Soon they took the form of some kind of monster. Now, the strange feeling was stronger than ever.

Emu’s not sure what to say, at first, before he finds himself saying, “What’s that?”

Asuna answers, “A Bugster,” she says, “A manifestation of his Game Disease, which is a computer virus that can effect humans.” There’s a lot there in that simple statement, but Emu chooses to just file it away for further scrutiny later.

“What can we do to help him?” He was still Sota’s doctor, he still needed to see Sota smile.

Hesitantly, Asuna opens the briefcase, revealing the device and cartridge once more, responding, “These could fight the Bugster and save him,” She says, watching as Emu raises his hand and comes close to the device, “But only if you can use them.”

Looking at the strange device and cartridge, Emu supposed there was only one way to find out. He takes them, placing the device - a belt of some kind - around his waist and clicked the button on the cartridge. He places it in the slot on the belt and -

Error

He pulls it out, clicks again and puts it back in.

Error

Damn.

His mind flashed to Sota. Device or no, he’d that boy one way or another. He’d see Sota smile.

He takes the belt off, pulling the cartridge out and hands them to Asuna, though the cartridge doesn’t end up leaving his hand.

With his free hand, he lunges forward, reaching towards the monster and grasps. “I’ll change Sota’s fate with my own hands!” He means every word. If no one can help Sota, then Emu will. As he grabs at the monster, his hand and the part of the monster he’d grabbed were glitching. Then, the monster changed. Now it looked like… Salty? From Mighty Action X?

His hand tightens around the cartridge and he accidentally pressed the button once more.

Mighty Action X!

Let’s game! Metcha game! Mucha game! What’s your name? I’m a Kamen Rider!

Around him, a wheel of portraits appears, like a player select screen. He can’t make out the features on most of them, but picked the one that lit up, in front of him.

Level up! Mighty jump! Mighty kick! Mighty-Mighty Action X!

Around Emu, red and blue armor forms, and in his hand appears some weird combination of a gun and an axe. He still held the cartridge in his other hand.

Behind him, Asuna gasps.

Placing the cartridge into the holding slot at his side, he runs towards Salty, slashing with his axe. Salty, seemingly startled still by his existence, further startled by Emu’s transformation, doesn’t have much time to try to dodge. He follows his slash up with a kick, knocking Salty back slightly. Once he’s knocked Salty back, a bunch of strange grunts dressed in chef uniforms appeared.

“Some low level grunts?” Emu wonders, “Well, that’s not too bad.”

He breaks one of the blocks that had spawned when he used the cartridge. A token appears, with the image of a person running quickly. Emu grabs it and feels the power rush through his body, able to run quicky and cut down the grunts. “And powerups too!”

Now it was just Emu and Salty, staring each other down. He quickly switches his weapon to gun mode, shooting at Salty, “The one who’ll cure Sota will be me, Genius Gamer M!” While Salty was stunned, he switched his weapon back to axe mode, breaking a block for a power up, grabbing it and realizing it was a strength enhancement.

He hits Salty a few more times, before jumping back and taking ahold of the cartridge, blowing on it, then placing it into the slot on his weapon.

Mighty Critical Strike!

Running at Salty, he slashes his axe and the power with it. Salty took the hit and was defeated.

Game Clear!

Pulling the cartridge out of his weapon, the armor around Emu remains for a moment, before it disappeared. He sees where Salty had been, now Sota laid on the ground. He runs over, not thinking much at the moment about what happened.

“Sota, are you alright?”

Sota looks up at him and seems happier than ever, “Yes,” He said, then he smiled at Emu, “Thank you, doctor.”

“You’re welcome,” Emu smiled back, “I’m glad you’re happy now,”

---

A teenaged girl is holding up her phone, looking at the screen, the camera zoomed in on the screen. She has long black hair, with a galaxy baseball cap on her head. Her jacket is red and her backpack pink, beneath she wears a shirt for a different Gemn Corp game, Bang Bang Shooting.

It seems she saw the fight between Emu and Salty and had saw what had happened at the launch party. She brings her camera down and frowns.

“That’s him, alright,”

---

A man with a red jacket, ripped capri jeans, and an ugly floral patterned shirt with sunglasses hooked on it wandered the area where the Mighty Action X launch party had been held. He looked around, interested.

“So,” He said, “The game’s begun.”

---

A woman with brown hair held back in a bun, wearing light blue blouse and black slacks sits in the back of a car. Beside her, sits a Gamer Driver. She frowns at her phone as it rings and rings.

Finally, she sighed, “He’s probably busy,” She nods to herself a quietly says, “I’ll just have to surprise him tomorrow.”

---

“This,” Asuna says, gesturing to the CR, “Is the CR. It’s a department dedicated to fighting Bugsters and Game Disease.”

She spins and in a flash of colors and music notes changes her clothes, her hair now a pink bob, and her clothing all yellow and green. “I’m Poppy Pipopapo,” She says, “But outside the CR you call me Asuna.”

“How?” Emu wondered, unable to help but think aloud.

“Oh, well I’m also a Bugster,” She said, “We Bugsters can change parts of our appearance, like hair and clothing.”

He nods in response, “I see…”

“Anyway,” Poppy says, “There are ten strains of Game Disease, corresponding to ten games. The one you fought today was of the Mighty Action X strain. To stop Game Disease, we need to clear all ten of them.”

Emu looks at the games displayed on the screen. He recognized all of them, but at least one hadn’t even been released. He hummed to himself, “Well, I think I’m pretty well suited for the job.”

Poppy nods in agreement, “You’re not just Genius Gamer M,” She cheered, “But also an intern here at the hospital!” Emu can’t help but laugh a little at her enthusiasm.

If there were two things that Emu thought he was good at, it was video games and making his patients smile. He’d clear those games with no continues, that was his new goal now. (Something in the back of his head wanted to analyze all the information he got today with a fine-tooth comb. There were definitely some answers in all of it. He just wished they pointed to something a little different.)

#kamen rider #kamen rider exaid #emu hojo #poppy pipopapo #asuna karino #my writing #there is a me who can become strong

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