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Emu wasn't exactly sure what to make of what he was seeing.
He was used to most of what he was seeing. Masamune Dan was once again trying to confront him, trying to kill him. Even with Hyper Muteki, fighting alone was still a grueling task. He had confronted Masamune alone, having to insist he would be fine, over the objection of pretty much everyone else. Masamune was standing in front of him, having just fully transformed into Kamen Rider Chronos at the same time Emu finished the full Hyper Muteki Ex-Aid transformation. Even with the infinite power flowing all around him, and his more brash personality restored in this state, he still had a hard time trying to convince himself he could get away mostly unscathed.
He selected the stage; a circular courtyard, with stairs leading down to the center. It had woods surrounding the area, so it would be harder for Kamen Rider Chronicle players to find. It was looking like a normal, if not grueling, match between the two.
But it was the addition of a very young girl that threw him off.
The girl couldn't have been older than thirteen, still in middle school. She was standing in between the two, taking on a determined stance. The way she entered, too, was confusing; she has just run up, yelling "STOP" in a tone that seemed much more confident than what someone her age would have.
"Miss, you have to get away!" Emu said, bending down to meet her. "You could get hurt, especially if you're a RidePlayer!"
The girl turned to meet his eyes (at least, the eyes on his suit). Her eyes were filled with an unwavering determination, and her stance hadn't changed a bit.
"I'm not sure what a RidePlayer is, but if that man-" she pointed to Chronos "- is trying to take anyone's smile away, I won't let him get away with it!" She turned back around, smacking Emu with one of her twintails. Masamune laughed.
"Really? What can a little girl like you even do? You can't even transform!" He started to advance towards her, and Emu rushed past her, trying to stop Masamune in his tracks. Suddenly, from behind him...
"Cure a la mode, Decoration!"
A sudden flash of light knocked both men to the ground. It was like a sudden explosion, over in a millisecond. When he looked back up, the middle schooler had been replaced with... well, he wasn't sure what to call her. A girl with huge, pink twintails, almost as pink as Mighty, in an overly cute dress reminiscent of strawberry shortcake (which made Emu think for just a second that Hiiro had sent her out, but he quicky dismissed the idea), and, most shocking of all, gigantic rabbit ears that only seemed proportionate when next to her giant hair.
"Cure Whip, ready to serve!" The girl struck a pose, just as girly as her outfit. Her voice definetly matched up with the middle schooler's voice. Was it the same girl? It had to be, he was sure of it. Emu was... he wasn't sure what he was feeling, actually. Even Masamune couldn't think of anything to say. The two of them stared for a couple of seconds, trying to process what, exactly, they were seeing.
Cure Whip took out something from a pocket attached to her dress, and opened it up. At this point, Masamune finally regained his senses, and slowly got back up. Emu sprang into action, too, taking out his Key Slasher and going right for the Driver. Masamune deflected the blade, knocking Emu a little bit off his balance, but not enough to try and strike back again.
"KiraKira-Kiramu!" Whip shouted. Emu didn't dare glance back, least he miss a potential advantage, but he could hear... something happening behind him. He couldn't let that take him off his game, though. He lunged forward again.
"Alright, you've had your fun, whoever you are," Masamune said, almost casually deflecting the blade and knocking Emu to the ground, "But I'm afraid it's time for you to get a dose of reality." He once again advanced forward, about to activate the Pause, when Whip suddenly pointed a small whisk at him, and a sudden burst of light pink foam came flying out, tying up both of his hands and yanking him forward. She leaped from where she was standing, dragging Masamune with her, hands bound by the pink substance. She had jumed up at least twenty feet, and when she landed, she flicked her wrist, sending him quickly to the ground, almost ten yards from where he was originally standing. The impact unbound his hands, but she wasn't even close to done, sending out more foam to trap his feet in place.
"Amazing...!" Was all Emu could really say, as he got up. She hadn't thrown out a single punch, but she was already toe-to-toe with unquestionably the most powerful foe any of the CR Riders had ever faced, and from the looks of it, she wasn't even breaking a sweat. She brought out something else, a rod that looked like a candy cane, with a dome filled with sparkling stars in the middle. She leaped up again, raising the rod over her head.
"Enough of this!" Masamune yelled out, realizing his hands were free. He quickly slammed down on the buttons of his Driver as Whip began her decent, activating the Pause.
Emu didn't even have time to react. A wave blasted through the courtyard, stopping everything in it's tracks. Even the wind stopped blowing through the trees, everything suspended in time. Emu felt Hyper Muteki negate the effect of the Pause, but he still felt the impact, pushing on him, trying to get him to stop.
Only three things were moving once the shockwave hit everything. Emu, Masamune...
And Cure Whip, who brought the rod down onto Masamune's head with all her might. It might not have been a very hard hit, Emu couldn't tell, but it was enough to make Masamune stagger back. Emu could only assume the staggering had less to do with the actual impact, and more to do with sheer shock.
"Impossible!" He yelled. "How can you move, even when I've Paused everything?!"
"Don't underestimate the power of sweets!" She yelled back, holding the rod out in front of her. "You may not be using KiraKiraru, but you're still using your powers for evil, and I can't let you do that!" Suddenly, her eyes lit up. "I just had a flash!" She dashed over to Emu. "Who are you?"
"Kamen Rider Ex-Aid!" He said, confident and slightly confused.
"I need you to keep him on the ground as best as you can," she said, one of her ears twitching a bit. "When you hear me call out my attack, get out of the way, fast! And once it hits, I need you to hit it too, with everything you got! Your cue will be when I yell out "Wonderful"."
"Got it. But... what is your attack called?"
"You'll know when you hear it." Whip winked at him, sticking out her tongue a bit, and then hopped away. Emu, not wanting to waste any time, activated the Key Slasher's Axe mode, and charged at Masamune, full force. He was ready for him, though, already putting the Bugvisor onto his wrist, and striking upward, meeting the axe swing and neutralizing both their attacks. Luckily, Emu still had enough momentum to swing from the side, hitting him with enough force to knock him off balance. Quickly changing his strategy, he changed his weapon's form to Gun mode, and sent out a few quick laser shots, before once again reverting it to it's base Sword form and hitting him on the oppisite side. Masamune staggered again, but quickly recovered, hitting Emu full force with another swipe from the chainsaw. While it did knock the wind out of him, he still ran towards him again, this time getting their weapons crossed together, glaring into each other's eyes.
"KiraKira-Kiraru! Kirakiraru! Candy Rod!" he heard Whip shout. "Ex-Aid, remember what I said!"
He didn't need to be told twice. Quickly retreating, he switched his weapon back into Gun mode, just in case, and put as much distance between him and Masamune as possible. Looking up, Whip was suddenly at least fifty feet in the air, spinning the middle clear container as fast as she could. The sparking substance seemed to grow brighter as she did this, and she pointed the Rod at Masamune.
"Enough of this game! Girl, I'm afraid you're out of commission!" He pressed the A button on the Bugvisor, the chilling voice of the Driver calling out the final move, the Critical Sacrifice.
"Whip Decoration!" she yelled, lobbing a giant blob of whipped cream at him, surrounded by strawberries. He tried to meet it with the Critical Sacrifice, but it didn't even have time to reach her. It completely neutralized the attack, and suddenly, he was surrounded in the cream. The cream did something that he didn't even know was possible.
RESTART.
Suddenly, everything started moving again, as if the Pause wave never hit it. Somehow, Whip's attack not only neutralized the Critical Sacrifice, but also neutralized the Pause in general. She landed, still spinning the dome, faster and faster.
"Three! Two! Wonderful!"
And with that prompting, Emu didn't even hesitate for a second before activating his Hyper Critical Sparking. A flurry of kicks, too fast for anyone to see or even for him to comprehend, hit Masamune five, ten, fifteen, twenty times, or was it twnety five? He had lost count, by the time he finally landed.
"Sparking Decoration!" Cure Whip shouted, pointing her Rod up into the air. As if on cue, all the hits registered on Masamune, ricocheting his body every which way, until the final phrase was yelled out from his Gashat, and Masamune lost his transformation. Emu went to step forward, but Whip held out her hand, stopping him from trying to approach him. Masamune was... laughing?
"I must admit," he said, a subdued yet chilling smile on his face, "I wasn't expecting much of you. Clearly, I was wrong. But I'm afraid I can't continue this little game with you; after all, you are not affiliate with Gemn Corp in any way." He limped away, but still leaving a haunting laugh in the air.
Whip turned to Emu, bowing. "Thank you so much, Ex-Aid! I'm not sure I could've beaten him without your help!"
"Are you kidding?" Emu said, not paying attention to what he was saying. "Without your help, that battle would've lasted for hours, I'm betting. I should be the one thanking you, Cure Whip."
Whip flashed out of her transformation, the extremely girly dress being replaced by a normal looking one, and the only hint of the shortcake warrior left being two strawberry pigtail holders. "If you ever need help from the Pretty Cure again, I'll make sure my whole team is with me! I'm even stronger when I fight with my friends!" Emu nodded, but he was sure that if her whole team came together, they'd probably end the entire conflict then and there.
"Do you want me to make you a sweet? I can make you a sugar cookie with frosting! I'm sure you'll love it, and they're easy to make!" Whip was already trying to drag Emu along, but he held up his hands.
"Sorry, Whip, but I have to get back to my friends. I promise that if I see you around, I'll have one of your sweets."
Her face lit up, nodding. "Alright! Thank you, Ex-Aid!"
"See you soon, Cure Whip!"
With that, he finally took out the Gashats, and the "stage" of the fight, as well as Whip herself, quickly faded away.
Yet somehow, Emu knew that fight wouldn't be the last one she would help him with.