Chapter Text
Deep inside a large mansion lies a box full of memories.
The box harbours all sorts of memories. Happy ones. Sad ones. Bitter ones. Ones you want to cherish forever. Ones you'd rather forget
The box harbours emotions. Regret. Resentment. Retribution.
Shall an unfortunate soul enter to the mansion, they have to solve the mysteries of its past and its present if they ever desire to escape.
It had been around two years since Dan Masamune’s ambitions had been thwarted and the threat of the most dangerous game Kamen Rider Chronicle had been prevented. Despite that, the life of the doctor riders was busy as ever. One could argue it was even busier than before. Sure,the world wasn’t at stake by deadly videogames and they didn’t fight against Bugsters as much as before, but even then things were busy.
Life goes on. Even to masked riders.
Emu Hojo was at the CR quarters. He wasn't really sure why he was even there. Probably some kind of nostalgia. The CR gave him memories, both good and bad.
That has certainly been a wild year, now hadn't it? To think it had been over two years ago.
The CR quarters were quiet. No noises,no people, nothing. Almost no one visited here anymore. It wasn’t surprising really. The CR riders were busy with their own lives: Hiiro with training new interns, Taiga and Nico with having their clinic and Kiriya with trying to figure out how to restore the lost people and to use Bugsters as vaccines as well as helping Tsukuru. The only ones that were in the CR offices were Kuroto, who was locked in his DoReMiFa prison as well as Poppy and Parad.
Speaking of,where were the two bugsters? Neither of them hadn’t come to greet Emu like they usually did when he visited. That was rather strange, and Emu had no idea why. Well, they had their lives too, so he shouldn’t be too concerned over them.
Emu sighed. It was most likely time for him to leave the room.
Just as Emu was about the leave the CR office, Kiriya bursted in the door. He was holding some papers on his hands.
"Hey Ace," the coroner grinned. He playfully touched Emu's shoulder. "Nice seeing you here. How have you been?"
Emu raised his eyebrows. Kiriya came so suddenly.
"As busy as ever," Emu calmly responded. "It feels work never really stops now does it. You?"
"Same here," Kiriya casually responded. "Trying to figure out how to undo Kuroto’s messes is much more difficult than it sounds." He tried to laugh it off, but his laughter sounded hollow. It was understandable, as Kuroto had done more damage to them than either of them liked to admit. He was the reason Kiriya was a bugster now and why the whole Kamen Rider Chronicle mess had happened to begin with.
Emu nodded at Kiriya solemnly.
"Speaking of which, where’s the man with the plan himself? Still locked in that dusty old cabinet?" Kiriya tried to divert from the seriousness. "I actually came here to ask that bastard some questions regarding some breakthroughs I made to my research."
So that was the reason Kiriya had decided to visit CR, Emu thought for himself. It made sense, as Kuroto did know a lot about bugsters and the human restoration progress, being the creator of the technology and all. Emu was happy to hear his friends research had went well, although he wondered what exactly had Kiriya discovered.
"Probably," Emu nodded with visible tiredness in his eyes. "I mean where else would he be? The last thing I remember was him working on this weird adventure horror mystery game. Something called “The Mansion of the Forsaken”."
Shortly after Emu said that, Poppy suddenly teleported. Her eyes were tense of worry.
"Actually that’s not the case," she cried. "Kuroto has disappeared!"
The two riders look at each other and then at Poppy shocked.
"He has what now?" They decided in unison.
"You heard what I said," Poppy panicked. "He hasn’t been in the DoReMiFa cabinet since yesterday. Or anywhere in the CR or Seito hospital for that matter. I spent the whole day looking for him, and couldn’t find him anywhere.
Poppy walked back and forth the room, trying to wrap her head around. She looked distressed. Emu wanted to help her, but had no idea how.
"Is Parad looking for him too?" Emu asked. If Kuroto being missing was the reason Poppy had not been there when Emu arrived, it could easily explain why Parad had been away as well.
"No idea," Poppy responded. "He hasn’t been much around for weeks, even before Kuroto disappeared. When I asked where he has been, he said he went somewhere with Graphite, but couldn’t give any further details beyond that."
That was rather odd. But Emu couldn’t think about it. Kuroto’s disappearance took priority. Whatever Parad was doing could wait.
"So where should we look?" Kiriya asked. He had a pen and paper, and started to write notes on it.
"I don’t know," Poppy responded. "He could be anywhere and we have no idea where to start."
The three looked at each other. Should they try to call Hiiro and Taiga for no help? Emu thought for the idea a bit, only to shrug it off. Hiiro and Taiga were too busy with their jobs. There was no way a they knew where Kuroto was.
As the three continued to wonder, strange noise started to hear across the room. The sound was piercing, yet strangely quiet. As if it only existed in Emu’s mind.
"What is that?" Kiriya asked.
"I have no idea," Poppy responded.
The piercing continued to become louder and louder. The louder it became, the muddier Emu’s vision turned. As if the noise played around with his other senses too, making it feel muddy and confusing. Everything just became blobby and foggy.
Before Emu even knew it, everything turned black.
You are now entering….The Forsaken.
The next time Kiriya woke up, he was in a dark room, lying on a cold metal bed.
The last thing he could remember, was being in CR with Emu and Poppy, wondering about Kuroto’s whereabouts.
The next thing he knew, everything went dark and he was here. No, that was not it. He heard a strange voice. What did it say again?
You are now entering...the Forsaken.
Kiriya shuddered at the memory. That voice sounded chilling. Who did it even belong to? Kiriya had no idea, as it was the first time he had heard anyone like that. The voice felt quiet yet loud. It was determine whether the speaker was a child or an adult. The voice felt like it was devoid of any concept of time or space, of age, gender or any other marker of identity. It felt completely void yet that made it unique.
Where even was he? It didn't look like CR, that’s for sure.
Was this the “Forsaken” the voice referred to? If it was, that didn’t help much to figure out where he was. What even was the “Forsaken” to begin with? Why was he transported here? There was only one way to find out.
Kiriya stood up, looked around his surroundings. The room had barely anything in it. Only the metal bed he had been laying on and a box. To be fair, the room wasn’t exactly lit, so there could be much more than Kiriya saw.
As he continued exploring the room, Kiriya noticed a figure hunching at the floor,laying beneath another metallic bed. As he continued approaching, the person's details became more and more clear. A man with brown wavy hair, dressed in a messy mitchmatch of colors and fabrics.
Was that...Graphite?
As Kiriya went closer to the man, he could confirm that indeed, it was Graphite. There was no mistaking it. The strange clothes and the stern yet handsome facial features couldn’t belong to anyone else.
Graphite noticed Kiriyas arrival. He looked at the coroner in the eye, with an expression that was hard to determine what it meant. Anger? Surprise? Contempt? Usually Graphite was rather easy to read the few times Kiriya had encountered him, as he mostly expressed either anger, smug pride or honor. This time however Kiriya wasn’t sure. Tho that could be because they weren’t fighting, which usually was Graphite’s environment. Kiriya didn’t really know how the bugster behaved outside fights.
"Lazer..." the draconian bugster gruffed. "So you are here as well."
"Indeed," Kiriya responded with as much confidence as he could muster. "Did you miss me?" He playfully winked at Graphite, trying to ease the tension between the two.
“No,” Graphite gruffly muffeled. “I did not miss you,Lazer.” So much for trying to ease the tension. Graphite clearly wasn’t having it.
"If you are sure about that," Kiriya responded, sighing.
"I am."
The two stared at each other for a moment. Kiriya pondered his options. If he wanted to figure out what was going on, he had to ask Graphite what he knew and try to join forces with him. He wasn’t just sure if this plan could work. Graphite wasn’t exactly a teamplayer, so trying to get him to co-operate wasn’t going to be the easiest task. But there wasn’t really anything else Kiriya could do either.
"Are you going to say anything, or are you going to just stare?" Graphite asked. "I’d rather have you leave, unless you have anything smart to say."
The stage was set. Kiriya couldn’t back from it now. He had to get Graphite on his side and he had to do it quick.
The hunt was on.
"Did you hear some strange noise before falling asleep and waking up here?" Kiriya asked. This was going to be as good of an ice breaker as any.
"That’s the case," Graphite responded. "Although “falling asleep” may not be the correct term. We bugsters don’t fall asleep the same way you humans do. We rather shut down like machines."
Well, this went better than expected. Kiriya internally sighed of relief. Maybe this would turn out well. Although it was too early to tell.
"I see," Kiriya mumbled half to himself, half out loud. "Do you have any memories of what happened before you collapsed and awakened here?"
"The last thing I remember was that Parad and I were chasing after some strange rogue Bugster," Graphite started explaining. "Looked like a circus clown mixed with a gothic assassin. Not from any Genm games as I can recall. According to Parad she was from some recently released strategy RPG about three factions or something. Well, doesn’t matter what game she was from, just that it wasn’t a Genm property. "
A bugster that wasn’t from the Genm games? That was rather strange. Bugsters were a Genm creation and Kuroto wasn’t someone who was willing to share bugster data with any other developers.
Wait a minute, Kiriya wondered. Could this appearance of a bugster from a non Genm corp game have anything to do with Kuroto’s disappearance? Kiriya knew he had to ask Graphite if he had any idea of Kuroto’s whereabouts. But not now. He had to first listen to the dragon knights story before bringing up Kuroto.
"We were chasing her for a while," Graphite continued recounting. " We tried to fight her. She was too fast for either of us, so we had no choice but try to play catch-up. Just as we were catching up with her,I start to hear this strange noise around me. Things went blurry. The next thing I know, I’m here. Parad’s nowhere to be seen. I don’t even know if he was transported here."
"A bugster that wasn’t even from Genm games?" Kiriya tried to press Graphite further on the subject. "That’s rather odd. I thought that Bugsters could only come from Genm games. "
"So did I," Graphite responded. "But apparently not. In fact, that strange girl wasn’t even the only non-Genm bugsters we encountered. There were others from other games as well. Over the past month we have encountered three or four of them. None related to Genm properties."
There were other non-Genm bugsters too? This was getting odd. Kiriya knew that he had to ask Graphite more details, but for now it could wait. There was too much Kiriya wanted to ask him, so he had to plan his questions carefully.
"You and Parad have tried to chase these strange bugsters during the last month?" Kiriya asked.
"Yeah," Graphite confirmed. "We have tried to investigate these strange bugsters. So far we haven't found much concrete detail expect that they seem to be complete bugsters with the way they can teleport and shapsift at their free will. Although there is a major difference. We aren’t sure if they are capable of respawning.
"Did you manage to catch or defeat any of them?"
"No, we didn't." Graphite responded "Whenever we thought we defeated one, they vanished to thin air.Like phantoms."
Strange phantomlike bugsters.
This was his chance for Kiriya to ask about Kuroto.
"Do you think Kuroto could have anything to do with this?" Kiriya asked.
"It’s possible." Graphite responded. "Although I’m not sure why he would do this. Kuroto would never create bugsters from games that aren’t his own. Besides, why would he even do stuff like this, when he is inside that stupid cabinet."
"Actually he isn’t," Kiriya responded. "Kuroto’s gone."
"He's gone?" Graphite asked. His expression and tone seemed shocked of this revelation.
Kiriya nodded.
"Poppy hasn't seen him since yesterday."
Graphite fumed. He was back to his angry expression again
"That darn bastard." Graphite stood up. He started walking, as if he tried to find the exit. "Come Lazer. We have to find that fool and ask him what the heck is going on."
Kiriya couldn’t do anything but nod and follow Graphite.
Kiriya couldn't help but let out a sigh. Teaming up with Graphite had been easier than he thought. At least he had an ally now. This certainly made matters slightly better
Before too long the two found the exit, which led them to a mysterious hallway.
The duo started to wander around the mysterious location. They hallway was surprisingly fancy and well lit, nothing like the room either of them awoke in. Candles were all across the hallway, along with beautiful.
The hallway felt so fancy, yet strangely hollow.
"Do you have any idea where that bastard could be?" Graphite fussed.
"Not really," Kiriya shrugged. "I mean, who knows if Kuroto is even here."
"You suggested that he was involved with this," Graphite said.
"Fair enough."
As the two continued walking towards hallway, the started hearing footsteps. Graphite tensed up. He was ready to attack whoever was heading towards them.
Could it truly be Kuroto?
When the person was finally visible, Kiriya sighed. It was just Emu. Not only that, he seemed to have Parad with him.
Upon seeing Parad, Graphite loosened a bit.
"Parad," Graphite decried relieved, running towards the other bugster as if he was reaching for a hug. "So you truly are here. And with Ex-Aid."
Parad was surprised.
"Graphite," he responded. "You’re here too?"
Graphite nodded.
"Kiriya," Emu sighed in relief.
"I would love to have this reunion and catching up,but we need to find a place to sit down and discuss," Kiriya said. " This hallway may not be the best place to chat."
"We could discuss at the dining hall," Emu suggested. "Parad and I were there, before we started to search if there were anyone else."
"So what are we waiting for" Kiriya said. "Let’s go."
The dining hall was vast and beautiful. It had similar furnituring to the hallway. The group were sitting on wooden chairs with comfy pillows on them.
"So, let me get this straight," Emu started. "You heard that weird noise I did and awoke in this strange dimly lit room, where you encountered Graphite"
"Right on the money, Ace," Kiriya responded. "And you, did you wake up in this dining hall?"
Emu nodded.
"I was certainly surprised to find Parad here," Emu said. "And even moreso, when I found out that he had been knocked out the same way both of us were."
"Yeah, Graphite told me that he and Parad were chasing some kind of strange clown lady that isn’t even from Genm games before he blacked out and arrived here."
Parad nodded.
"That is the case."
"Why didn’t either of you tell about these bugsters earlier?" Kiriya asked.
"I’d rather have my data erase than force myself to mingle with you humans," Graphite hissed. Kiriya sighed internally.
"I thought we had made a truce," Kiriya sighed.
"We have it because I have to," Graphite responded. "Not because I want to.It’s not like I care about you humans or anything."
"If you say so," Kiriya teased.
"Even then you could’ve told us,Parad," Emu diverted his attention to Parad. "Why didn’t you say anything to me or Poppy?"
"It’s because I wanted to keep the existence of the forsaken bugsters a secret between me and Graphite before we knew more about them," Parad responded. "It was best to find out of our potential foes as much as we could before alarming CR."
Emu looked disappointed at Parad’s response. He sighed for a moment, before he backed out confronting him.
"Forsaken bugsters," Kiriya repeated Parads information. "Why are they called that?"
"We dont know what they are called," Parad responded. " We just are referring them as that. Each one of them seems to talk about something that they call ‘the forsaken’. Neither of us has any idea what that could mean."
The forsaken. Wait. That sounded very familiar.
You are now entering….The Forsaken.
These strange bugsters had to do with wherever the four of them were.
"The forsaken...That’s like what I heard before blacking out," Kiriya said. "Did you guys hear it as well?"
The other three nodded.
"I do wonder how its connected?" Parad wondered.
"Do you think this could have anything to do with Kuroto’s disappearance?" Emu asked.
"Could be," Kiriya nodded.
Before they could continue a booming voice could be heard across the room.
“ Welcome to the Mansion of the Forsaken. “ The voice was grandiose and sounded familiar.
Then it hit Kiriya.
Dan Kuroto.
"So you were behind this, bastard," Graphite spat.
"Now, Now, don’t be so rude, Graphite," Kuroto responded. " I didn’t invite you here just so you could threaten me, the one and only Gamemaster. "
"Why did you “invite” us then?" Graphite asked.
" To test my brand new game of course, "Kuroto responded.
"Alright we bite," Emu said, sounding completely done. "Tell us the rules, Kuroto."
" Exactly what I wanted to hear, Houjou Emu, " Kuroto responds. " I will tell you the rules of the game. "
"This mansion once was a glorious mansion that belonged to the prosperous Melville Family, " Kuroto starts explaining his game." However, slowly the family started to deteriorate, until they fell to ruin. Now nothing but this mansion remains. "
" This mansion, while glorious, hides dark secrets and mysteries. Solve those mysteries of the Melville Family, the Mansion and it’s true nature, if you want to escape from this game. "
"Can we just get out if we lose?" Graphite groaned frustrated.
“No, I’m afraid not,” Kuroto responded nonchalantly. “ Either solve the mysteries and escape..or you stay here forever. ” The last sentence has an ominous aura surrounding it.
" Actually no, not just stay here forever, " Kuroto corrected himself. " If you dont solve the mysteries in 64 hours you will disappear and die. "
64 hours or you die? This was getting too ridiculous, even by Kuroto’s standards. And that was saying a lot.
"Wait a minute," Kiriya protested. "You cannot just, kill us off if we fail this game."
" My game, my rules, " Kuroto smugly remarked.
"Darn it Kuroto." If he had been any closer a wall, Kiriya would have smacked his head towards it.
"Can you even give us like, clues or something?" Parad asked.
" I’m afraid that’s against the rules,” Kuroto responded. “ If you desire to escape , you have to solve the mystery on your own. You can use clues you find or help from each other, but any outside help is forbidden. "
The gamemaster's voice quieted, and thus, our brave gamers were left on their own.