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akinoameI have a lot of good stuff for "Kings and Vagabonds" that isn't making the final cut because it's badly organized and basically a research-dump, but there's no reason not to post it somewhere while I take a chainsaw to editing, right?
Portions of this first draft will eventually make it into the finished version, but this is going to be a whole 'nother beast, guys.
In life, all you really need is a clean pair of underwear to face the day. Everything else will sort itself out.
Since resuming his nomadic life to help the Kougami Foundation with its research into the Core Medals, Eiji had added a few more things to his list: his cell phone and charger, to help him keep in touch with his friends; his OOO driver and case of Medals, in case he ran into trouble; and Ankh's broken Medal, as a promise that he would one day bring him back.
And so his journey brought him to Thuringia, Germany, where eight-hundred years before, the Core Medals, the Greeed, and the original OOO had been born. While the archeology teams there believed they'd unearthed most of the big artifacts there were to be found, Eiji still wanted to learn everything he possibly could. He mostly just let the professionals handle the digging and handling of everything while he wandered around and wrote down notes, but the ruins of the castle made him stop in his tracks.
It must have been majestic in its past, but it had crumbled and decayed, and what stones that weren't being overgrown with plants were blackened from age. It was easy to miss, which was what had made this dig so hard for the Kougami Foundation for ages, but it was the castle the King had ruled from.
"Careful," warned a woman as she came through. "We're still collecting some of it."
"Uh, sorry," Eiji apologized, reflexively in his poor German before realizing the woman spoke Japanese. "Wait, you're from the Japanese branch?"
"Yes," she answered, not looking up. And now that he was looking, he could see her light-colored hair had been dyed, and beneath her glasses, the familiar facial features of someone from his home country.
...Somehow, a little too familiar.
"What a relief," he admitted. "I've been struggling with the language this whole trip. I can get Arabic and English just fine, but something about German is harder."
She nodded politely, but kept her head down otherwise. He stuffed his hands in his pockets and turned to look at the remains of a stained glass window, long since shattered.
"This must have been the chapel where the original OOO sealed the Greeed," he said after a pause. "It's hard to believe no one found it for centuries." He looked back at her, but she was still cataloguing. "Or do you think there was another reason looters didn't take everything?"
"Superstition," she said, still not looking up. "Fear of more Greeed existing, eventually things being forgotten."
Eiji nodded himself this time, then turned back to the window. Reaching for his bag, he pulled out a candroid and started to open it...
A bullet knocked the can right out of his hand. He whirled around and saw the archeologist, holding a gun on him. All at once, Trash Yummies appeared from the forest.
"I thought you looked familiar," he said. "Foundation X—you worked for Kannagi, didn't you?"
"I did," she answered, keeping her gun trained on him. "The Foundation's crumbled since then—no thanks to the Riders."
"What do you want?" he asked.
"Right now, your Medals," she demanded.
Carefully, Eiji reached for his case and tossed it to the ground. The agent motioned for one of her Yummies to bring it to her, and she glanced at the contents.
"It's complete," Eiji said, his voice flat but tense. It wasn't the first time he'd been held hostage, and old memories were weighing on him. "The rest of the Medals were destroyed by PuToTyra."
The agent judged him carefully before allowing the Yummies to grab him. "If you're lying, it'll be harder on you later."
"You're going to kill me anyway," he argued. "What's the point of cooperating?"
The Yummies pulled him forward, and the agent kept up her pace by him, keeping him in sight at all times and never too far away in front or back.
"I'm not Kannagi, who boasted about his plans before they were complete," she said. "Suffice to say, my mission is to bring you back alive."
Eiji kept a look out around him, watching every tree and shadow. Seeing this, the agent said, "If you're looking for an escape route, you're out of luck. My men have already taken out the archeology team and its security detail."
"I already figured that part," he said, with a hint of a confident smile. "You wouldn't be good kidnappers if you hadn't. So I'm glad I called for backup."
To her credit, the agent didn't stop—immediately dropping as the blast from a Birth Buster hit the tree behind her before leaping for the shooter. But it was enough confusion for Eiji to rip his arm free from one of the Yummies and jump up and kick the other one back.
With him free, a contingent of Kougami Foundation security officers burst out of hiding, shooting at the Yummies and the agent with their Birth Busters. The agent had just a moment to give Eiji a shocked look, to which he grinned, holding up his phone.
"Candroids aren't the only way to call for help," he said. "We already knew Foundation X was in the area, so we were ready. Those archeologists you thought you killed were all security agents. They were ready for you." The agent glared at him, her face beginning to transform—a Mutamit, one of Foundation X's augmented human projects.
The security detail was still firing on her as Eiji pulled out the OOO Driver and his second ace-in-the-hole—the Super TaToBa Medals he'd received from a Rider from the future, Minato Miharu. The agent shifted into a golden jaguar and dashed toward him, but he transformed and quickly knocked her aside, getting the case out of her hands. He raced toward it, faster than the Mutamit could perceive, and paused only to start drawing Medals.
"Probably want LaToraTah," he muttered. "This form's a little overkill."
But with him in one place for a moment, the Mutamit was able to attack, striking him with a wooden-looking rod embedded with black blades; Eiji had no doubt that those were specially designed just for him. He didn't have the luxury of changing combos now; overkill would have to do. A security officer tossed him a case. Without missing a beat, he sliced it open with his claws, revealing the Medajalibur. The Mutamit came at him again, and he met her sword, but she produced a small black knife and slashed at him beneath his guard, forcing him to back away. It looked like stone, like obsidian, but it was sharp enough to leave a scratch in his armor.
He was going to have to end this now, and he started to load Cell Medals into the Medajalibur, but the Mutamit knocked the case out of his hand with her knife. He kicked her back to keep her from grabbing them, but it meant he was going to have to improvise. He removed the Core Medals from the driver and inserted them, just as the Mutamit charged him again. He scanned the Medals and slashed at her, just as her sword met his.
A wave of energy tore reality in two. The backlash engulfed them, and for a moment, everything was white. But the rift healed itself quickly, and they both collapsed to the ground, reverting forms. Eiji tried to catch his breath and immediately caught a whiff of something awful. There was an open latrine nearby—he'd dealt with the persistent stench before in some of his travels, and he tried to calm his breathing. The Foundation X agent wasn't so lucky, and he could hear her gagging and retching. This made for the perfect time to escape.
Eiji stood up and realized all of a sudden that he was no longer in the forest, standing before the ruins of a medieval castle. Instead, he was in a village of some kind, with a majestic castle standing not far in the distance. He quickly grabbed his notebook and compared it against what he'd written and drawn—there was no way to prove it for sure, but it looked like the same one.
A voice called out to him in what sounded like German. His difficulties with the language made it impossible to understand what was being said, but it was the voice that made him turn—a voice he heard every time he scanned a Medal. And impossibly, surrounded by a small army of knights, was Kamen Rider OOO.
It took him a moment to put it together—alternate worlds and Riders were possible, but the intact castle and the language still sounding like German were proof of a far more devastating realization: they'd traveled back in time. The Medals that had transcended time had taken them back to the days of the first OOO, when the original Medals they'd been patterned off of had been created. But in the time it took for him to realize this—and realize just how serious the consequences were—the King ordered his knights to seize Eiji and the agent, and the single most suspicious item in their possession.
~~~
In retrospect, trying to argue, in broken German, mind you, "We're not your enemy!" when you have a sword lying on the ground next to you is not a helpful defense. The fact the agent was his enemy didn't help.That was what landed them in the dungeon, in the same cell.
Eiji sat against one of the walls, reviewing his options. There was a chance that the energy flux from the Medals could send them back to their own time spontaneously. Or a portal from the future could open, like the ones Miharu had used to travel to his time a few years before. Or with the very real possibility he could set history off-track with a wrong breath, Nogami Kotaro or Momotaros might have arrive with DenLiner. But each possibility seemed as unlikely as the next.
As for the agent, she'd switched to her Mutamit form and was trying to tear down the walls, with no success.
"This cell must have been built with a Greeed in mind," she growled, shifting forms again. "My powers can't scratch it."
"I don't think capturing the Greeed is the plan," he admitted. "The King wants their Core Medals. But the cell's big enough that he might have built it for some Yummies—collect the Cell Medals, maybe."
"So are we supposed to wait until then?" she asked. "Or do you have something that can get us out of there first?"
"I've got nothing," he said, trying his best not to sulk. "They even took my underwear for tomorrow."
She stared at him with an eyebrow raised. He shrugged. He wasn't about to talk to an evil, kidnapping, merchant of death about his grandfather.
But she wasn't about to leave his past alone. Instead, she grumbled, "I guess I should have expected that. No daddy to pay ransom for you this time."
He tried not to let the comment about the darkest moment of his life to get to him. But his voice was hard as he said, "You would know. You would have had to do your research into the Riders."
"Went on a worldwide tour on your father's money to provide relief to other countries," she recited. "Landed yourself in the middle of a civil war in the hottest region in Africa at the time and refused to leave before it was too late. Your father paid ransom to get you out, then had his men retrieve you from the international aid hospital when you'd only barely seen a doctor. Because he was afraid any news of you receiving psychiatric treatment would affect his career, he never let a therapist near you, and it's amazing you're even still functional because of it. Probable posttraumatic stress disorder, definite martyr complex. No desire for yourself, only for others."
"I've gotten better," he deadpanned.
As if he'd never interrupted, she rattled off, "Took up several temporary jobs and didn't have a permanent address until you came in contact with Izumi Shingo, Izumi Hina, and Shiraishi Chiyoko. Through the Greeed, Ankh, you became Kamen Rider OOO and fought with the assistance of the Kougami Foundation. Upon Dr. Maki's theft of the Purple Core Medals, several of them implanted themselves into your body, drawn by your lack of desire. You spent the next few months slowly becoming a Greeed, only to recover after ejecting the Medals during your final battle. You retired as OOO and began traveling as a researcher for the Kougami Foundation until Kamen Rider Poseidon appeared from the future. You took up OOO again and joined forces with Fourze to defeat Kannagi."
"And you," he pointed out. "But I get the feeling all of this is why you tried to kidnap me."
"You had the power to transcend humanity," she said flatly. "Foundation X is very interested in how that worked. Especially because you appear to have reverted without any ill effects."
"I like being able to taste food and see," he replied. "And in any case, you know a lot about me, but I don't know anything about you."
"That's the point," she argued. "I'm not here to be your friend. The moment we get out of here, I'm dragging you back to headquarters."
"Well, at least until then, you can tell me your name—unless you want me calling you Miss Foundation X Agent."
It was a bit more sarcastic than he'd normally get, but considering how much they disliked each other at the moment, it was almost polite. The agent glared for a moment before admitting, "Solaris. My codename—that's all you're getting."
"Okay," he agreed, holding out a hand. She hesitated for a moment before shaking. "Solaris. I think we should work on getting out of here."
"That's what I've been doing while you sat there and moaned about your underwear," she argued.
He stood up and stretched. "We don't have the luxury of planning ahead, so we'll just have to make things up as we go."
She raised an eyebrow again. "You've got a plan?"
No. No plan, no rescue from future Riders, no time-traveling train, no phone, no charger, no notebook, no Medals, no Driver, no sword, no underwear.
"You speak German, right?" he checked.
"This is a different dialect," she warned. "Between time and location, the language has changed."
"Can you at least say 'We confess'?" he asked.
"Why?"
"Because eventually, they're going to have to come in here—whether to feed us, interrogate us, or kill us. And even if we can fight our way out, we stand a much better chance not making enemies."
"Wise decision," spoke a third voice.
It was definitely the voice of the OOO Driver, and he was speaking Japanese—if antiquated. They turned to see the King, flanked by two guards. He was older than Eiji expected him to be, apparently past middle-aged but not yet "old." A scarlet mantle was over a golden tunic, embroidered with silver thread and blue and purple gems. Green hose ended in pointed shoes, and as if there was any doubt that he was the King, a majestic gold crown sat on his head, set with rubies. And if there was any doubt that he was OOO, he wore the driver as a decorative belt.
Eiji finally remembered himself and bowed low—Solaris already had. "Your Majesty."
"You may rise," the King said. He held up Eiji's notebook. "I was not aware you were alchemists."
Solaris took the lead from here. "Forgive us, Your Majesty. My apprentice and I were unfamiliar with your language, and we failed to communicate things clearly. I am Solaris, of the distant land of Japan."
"Your apprentice has a sharp eye for detail," the King noted, glancing through the book. "What is your name?"
It was bad to be caught this off-guard so soon. Eiji didn't want to give his real name and risk any more damage to the timeline, so he wracked his brain for something he could say. The only thing that came to mind was a manga he'd read through childhood.
"Elric, Your Majesty."
It was only thanks to Solaris's experience with professionalism with Foundation X that she didn't turn around and glare at him.
"Well, then, Journeyman Solaris," the King said, "I am sure that you would like a chance to clean before you meet our esteemed masters of alchemy. One of my servants will help your apprentice draw your bath."
"If you please," Solaris protested, "I would like to keep my apprentice within my sight at all times. Your Majesty may have noticed he has a tendency to get himself into trouble if left unsupervised."
The King considered the request for a moment before answering, "Very well. I will have a second tub filled and brought to your chambers so that Mr. Elric may also bathe before the meeting."
"Thank you, Your Majesty," Solaris replied. "You are too kind."
Eiji settled for another deep bow. It figured he wasn't going to get rid of Solaris that easily.
The King and the guards led them out of the dungeon and through the castle. While Solaris kept her cool, Eiji looked around at everything he could, trying to burn all the details to memory so that when he had his notebook back, he could copy them down for Kougami...assuming they ever got back. But a curled red feather caught his attention, and his eyes widened as Ankh appeared from the rafters, flying down in front of them.
His heart was pounding. There was only so much he could do to avoid changing the past. And there was no way to hide himself so Ankh wouldn't see him—at least no way that made him immediately look suspicious. But Ankh only gave him and Solaris cursory glances before the King explained, "Visiting alchemists." Ankh looked away from them, clearly no longer interested. "You've got news?"
"Uva and one of his Yummies are in the village right now."
"Did he see you?" the King asked.
"I made one of my own Yummies to throw him off," Ankh explained. "It's taken the human children into a nest."
"What?" Eiji asked, picking out enough recognizable words, forgetting he was supposed to avoid calling attention to himself.
Ankh didn't seem to hear him—and now that Eiji thought about it, he probably hadn't, with his limited senses. Instead, he added, "I haven't figured out who the parent is for Uva's, but that's hardly the issue right now."
One of the guards saluted. "I'll get the knights to guard the villagers."
"Good," the King replied. "I'll take care of the Yummies—Uva's first. You escort Miss Solaris and Mr. Elric to their chamber."
"Yes, Your Majesty," the assigned guard replied.
Ankh flew off while the King transformed and ran off, the other guard heading in another direction to alert the knights. Solaris was a little shocked herself at how suddenly things had escalated, but Eiji was already beginning to move.
She grabbed his wrist. "What do you think you're doing?"
"I don't know," he admitted. "Helping."
"Without your powers?" she hissed.
He pulled himself free and said, "If I don't try something, then I may as well die from the regret."
While the guard didn't seem to understand a word they were saying, he was able to pick up on Eiji's intent. But he wasn't able to stop him as he ran after the King. Solaris waited only a moment before chasing after him.
Portions of this first draft will eventually make it into the finished version, but this is going to be a whole 'nother beast, guys.
In life, all you really need is a clean pair of underwear to face the day. Everything else will sort itself out.
Since resuming his nomadic life to help the Kougami Foundation with its research into the Core Medals, Eiji had added a few more things to his list: his cell phone and charger, to help him keep in touch with his friends; his OOO driver and case of Medals, in case he ran into trouble; and Ankh's broken Medal, as a promise that he would one day bring him back.
And so his journey brought him to Thuringia, Germany, where eight-hundred years before, the Core Medals, the Greeed, and the original OOO had been born. While the archeology teams there believed they'd unearthed most of the big artifacts there were to be found, Eiji still wanted to learn everything he possibly could. He mostly just let the professionals handle the digging and handling of everything while he wandered around and wrote down notes, but the ruins of the castle made him stop in his tracks.
It must have been majestic in its past, but it had crumbled and decayed, and what stones that weren't being overgrown with plants were blackened from age. It was easy to miss, which was what had made this dig so hard for the Kougami Foundation for ages, but it was the castle the King had ruled from.
"Careful," warned a woman as she came through. "We're still collecting some of it."
"Uh, sorry," Eiji apologized, reflexively in his poor German before realizing the woman spoke Japanese. "Wait, you're from the Japanese branch?"
"Yes," she answered, not looking up. And now that he was looking, he could see her light-colored hair had been dyed, and beneath her glasses, the familiar facial features of someone from his home country.
...Somehow, a little too familiar.
"What a relief," he admitted. "I've been struggling with the language this whole trip. I can get Arabic and English just fine, but something about German is harder."
She nodded politely, but kept her head down otherwise. He stuffed his hands in his pockets and turned to look at the remains of a stained glass window, long since shattered.
"This must have been the chapel where the original OOO sealed the Greeed," he said after a pause. "It's hard to believe no one found it for centuries." He looked back at her, but she was still cataloguing. "Or do you think there was another reason looters didn't take everything?"
"Superstition," she said, still not looking up. "Fear of more Greeed existing, eventually things being forgotten."
Eiji nodded himself this time, then turned back to the window. Reaching for his bag, he pulled out a candroid and started to open it...
A bullet knocked the can right out of his hand. He whirled around and saw the archeologist, holding a gun on him. All at once, Trash Yummies appeared from the forest.
"I thought you looked familiar," he said. "Foundation X—you worked for Kannagi, didn't you?"
"I did," she answered, keeping her gun trained on him. "The Foundation's crumbled since then—no thanks to the Riders."
"What do you want?" he asked.
"Right now, your Medals," she demanded.
Carefully, Eiji reached for his case and tossed it to the ground. The agent motioned for one of her Yummies to bring it to her, and she glanced at the contents.
"It's complete," Eiji said, his voice flat but tense. It wasn't the first time he'd been held hostage, and old memories were weighing on him. "The rest of the Medals were destroyed by PuToTyra."
The agent judged him carefully before allowing the Yummies to grab him. "If you're lying, it'll be harder on you later."
"You're going to kill me anyway," he argued. "What's the point of cooperating?"
The Yummies pulled him forward, and the agent kept up her pace by him, keeping him in sight at all times and never too far away in front or back.
"I'm not Kannagi, who boasted about his plans before they were complete," she said. "Suffice to say, my mission is to bring you back alive."
Eiji kept a look out around him, watching every tree and shadow. Seeing this, the agent said, "If you're looking for an escape route, you're out of luck. My men have already taken out the archeology team and its security detail."
"I already figured that part," he said, with a hint of a confident smile. "You wouldn't be good kidnappers if you hadn't. So I'm glad I called for backup."
To her credit, the agent didn't stop—immediately dropping as the blast from a Birth Buster hit the tree behind her before leaping for the shooter. But it was enough confusion for Eiji to rip his arm free from one of the Yummies and jump up and kick the other one back.
With him free, a contingent of Kougami Foundation security officers burst out of hiding, shooting at the Yummies and the agent with their Birth Busters. The agent had just a moment to give Eiji a shocked look, to which he grinned, holding up his phone.
"Candroids aren't the only way to call for help," he said. "We already knew Foundation X was in the area, so we were ready. Those archeologists you thought you killed were all security agents. They were ready for you." The agent glared at him, her face beginning to transform—a Mutamit, one of Foundation X's augmented human projects.
The security detail was still firing on her as Eiji pulled out the OOO Driver and his second ace-in-the-hole—the Super TaToBa Medals he'd received from a Rider from the future, Minato Miharu. The agent shifted into a golden jaguar and dashed toward him, but he transformed and quickly knocked her aside, getting the case out of her hands. He raced toward it, faster than the Mutamit could perceive, and paused only to start drawing Medals.
"Probably want LaToraTah," he muttered. "This form's a little overkill."
But with him in one place for a moment, the Mutamit was able to attack, striking him with a wooden-looking rod embedded with black blades; Eiji had no doubt that those were specially designed just for him. He didn't have the luxury of changing combos now; overkill would have to do. A security officer tossed him a case. Without missing a beat, he sliced it open with his claws, revealing the Medajalibur. The Mutamit came at him again, and he met her sword, but she produced a small black knife and slashed at him beneath his guard, forcing him to back away. It looked like stone, like obsidian, but it was sharp enough to leave a scratch in his armor.
He was going to have to end this now, and he started to load Cell Medals into the Medajalibur, but the Mutamit knocked the case out of his hand with her knife. He kicked her back to keep her from grabbing them, but it meant he was going to have to improvise. He removed the Core Medals from the driver and inserted them, just as the Mutamit charged him again. He scanned the Medals and slashed at her, just as her sword met his.
A wave of energy tore reality in two. The backlash engulfed them, and for a moment, everything was white. But the rift healed itself quickly, and they both collapsed to the ground, reverting forms. Eiji tried to catch his breath and immediately caught a whiff of something awful. There was an open latrine nearby—he'd dealt with the persistent stench before in some of his travels, and he tried to calm his breathing. The Foundation X agent wasn't so lucky, and he could hear her gagging and retching. This made for the perfect time to escape.
Eiji stood up and realized all of a sudden that he was no longer in the forest, standing before the ruins of a medieval castle. Instead, he was in a village of some kind, with a majestic castle standing not far in the distance. He quickly grabbed his notebook and compared it against what he'd written and drawn—there was no way to prove it for sure, but it looked like the same one.
A voice called out to him in what sounded like German. His difficulties with the language made it impossible to understand what was being said, but it was the voice that made him turn—a voice he heard every time he scanned a Medal. And impossibly, surrounded by a small army of knights, was Kamen Rider OOO.
It took him a moment to put it together—alternate worlds and Riders were possible, but the intact castle and the language still sounding like German were proof of a far more devastating realization: they'd traveled back in time. The Medals that had transcended time had taken them back to the days of the first OOO, when the original Medals they'd been patterned off of had been created. But in the time it took for him to realize this—and realize just how serious the consequences were—the King ordered his knights to seize Eiji and the agent, and the single most suspicious item in their possession.
In retrospect, trying to argue, in broken German, mind you, "We're not your enemy!" when you have a sword lying on the ground next to you is not a helpful defense. The fact the agent was his enemy didn't help.That was what landed them in the dungeon, in the same cell.
Eiji sat against one of the walls, reviewing his options. There was a chance that the energy flux from the Medals could send them back to their own time spontaneously. Or a portal from the future could open, like the ones Miharu had used to travel to his time a few years before. Or with the very real possibility he could set history off-track with a wrong breath, Nogami Kotaro or Momotaros might have arrive with DenLiner. But each possibility seemed as unlikely as the next.
As for the agent, she'd switched to her Mutamit form and was trying to tear down the walls, with no success.
"This cell must have been built with a Greeed in mind," she growled, shifting forms again. "My powers can't scratch it."
"I don't think capturing the Greeed is the plan," he admitted. "The King wants their Core Medals. But the cell's big enough that he might have built it for some Yummies—collect the Cell Medals, maybe."
"So are we supposed to wait until then?" she asked. "Or do you have something that can get us out of there first?"
"I've got nothing," he said, trying his best not to sulk. "They even took my underwear for tomorrow."
She stared at him with an eyebrow raised. He shrugged. He wasn't about to talk to an evil, kidnapping, merchant of death about his grandfather.
But she wasn't about to leave his past alone. Instead, she grumbled, "I guess I should have expected that. No daddy to pay ransom for you this time."
He tried not to let the comment about the darkest moment of his life to get to him. But his voice was hard as he said, "You would know. You would have had to do your research into the Riders."
"Went on a worldwide tour on your father's money to provide relief to other countries," she recited. "Landed yourself in the middle of a civil war in the hottest region in Africa at the time and refused to leave before it was too late. Your father paid ransom to get you out, then had his men retrieve you from the international aid hospital when you'd only barely seen a doctor. Because he was afraid any news of you receiving psychiatric treatment would affect his career, he never let a therapist near you, and it's amazing you're even still functional because of it. Probable posttraumatic stress disorder, definite martyr complex. No desire for yourself, only for others."
"I've gotten better," he deadpanned.
As if he'd never interrupted, she rattled off, "Took up several temporary jobs and didn't have a permanent address until you came in contact with Izumi Shingo, Izumi Hina, and Shiraishi Chiyoko. Through the Greeed, Ankh, you became Kamen Rider OOO and fought with the assistance of the Kougami Foundation. Upon Dr. Maki's theft of the Purple Core Medals, several of them implanted themselves into your body, drawn by your lack of desire. You spent the next few months slowly becoming a Greeed, only to recover after ejecting the Medals during your final battle. You retired as OOO and began traveling as a researcher for the Kougami Foundation until Kamen Rider Poseidon appeared from the future. You took up OOO again and joined forces with Fourze to defeat Kannagi."
"And you," he pointed out. "But I get the feeling all of this is why you tried to kidnap me."
"You had the power to transcend humanity," she said flatly. "Foundation X is very interested in how that worked. Especially because you appear to have reverted without any ill effects."
"I like being able to taste food and see," he replied. "And in any case, you know a lot about me, but I don't know anything about you."
"That's the point," she argued. "I'm not here to be your friend. The moment we get out of here, I'm dragging you back to headquarters."
"Well, at least until then, you can tell me your name—unless you want me calling you Miss Foundation X Agent."
It was a bit more sarcastic than he'd normally get, but considering how much they disliked each other at the moment, it was almost polite. The agent glared for a moment before admitting, "Solaris. My codename—that's all you're getting."
"Okay," he agreed, holding out a hand. She hesitated for a moment before shaking. "Solaris. I think we should work on getting out of here."
"That's what I've been doing while you sat there and moaned about your underwear," she argued.
He stood up and stretched. "We don't have the luxury of planning ahead, so we'll just have to make things up as we go."
She raised an eyebrow again. "You've got a plan?"
No. No plan, no rescue from future Riders, no time-traveling train, no phone, no charger, no notebook, no Medals, no Driver, no sword, no underwear.
"You speak German, right?" he checked.
"This is a different dialect," she warned. "Between time and location, the language has changed."
"Can you at least say 'We confess'?" he asked.
"Why?"
"Because eventually, they're going to have to come in here—whether to feed us, interrogate us, or kill us. And even if we can fight our way out, we stand a much better chance not making enemies."
"Wise decision," spoke a third voice.
It was definitely the voice of the OOO Driver, and he was speaking Japanese—if antiquated. They turned to see the King, flanked by two guards. He was older than Eiji expected him to be, apparently past middle-aged but not yet "old." A scarlet mantle was over a golden tunic, embroidered with silver thread and blue and purple gems. Green hose ended in pointed shoes, and as if there was any doubt that he was the King, a majestic gold crown sat on his head, set with rubies. And if there was any doubt that he was OOO, he wore the driver as a decorative belt.
Eiji finally remembered himself and bowed low—Solaris already had. "Your Majesty."
"You may rise," the King said. He held up Eiji's notebook. "I was not aware you were alchemists."
Solaris took the lead from here. "Forgive us, Your Majesty. My apprentice and I were unfamiliar with your language, and we failed to communicate things clearly. I am Solaris, of the distant land of Japan."
"Your apprentice has a sharp eye for detail," the King noted, glancing through the book. "What is your name?"
It was bad to be caught this off-guard so soon. Eiji didn't want to give his real name and risk any more damage to the timeline, so he wracked his brain for something he could say. The only thing that came to mind was a manga he'd read through childhood.
"Elric, Your Majesty."
It was only thanks to Solaris's experience with professionalism with Foundation X that she didn't turn around and glare at him.
"Well, then, Journeyman Solaris," the King said, "I am sure that you would like a chance to clean before you meet our esteemed masters of alchemy. One of my servants will help your apprentice draw your bath."
"If you please," Solaris protested, "I would like to keep my apprentice within my sight at all times. Your Majesty may have noticed he has a tendency to get himself into trouble if left unsupervised."
The King considered the request for a moment before answering, "Very well. I will have a second tub filled and brought to your chambers so that Mr. Elric may also bathe before the meeting."
"Thank you, Your Majesty," Solaris replied. "You are too kind."
Eiji settled for another deep bow. It figured he wasn't going to get rid of Solaris that easily.
The King and the guards led them out of the dungeon and through the castle. While Solaris kept her cool, Eiji looked around at everything he could, trying to burn all the details to memory so that when he had his notebook back, he could copy them down for Kougami...assuming they ever got back. But a curled red feather caught his attention, and his eyes widened as Ankh appeared from the rafters, flying down in front of them.
His heart was pounding. There was only so much he could do to avoid changing the past. And there was no way to hide himself so Ankh wouldn't see him—at least no way that made him immediately look suspicious. But Ankh only gave him and Solaris cursory glances before the King explained, "Visiting alchemists." Ankh looked away from them, clearly no longer interested. "You've got news?"
"Uva and one of his Yummies are in the village right now."
"Did he see you?" the King asked.
"I made one of my own Yummies to throw him off," Ankh explained. "It's taken the human children into a nest."
"What?" Eiji asked, picking out enough recognizable words, forgetting he was supposed to avoid calling attention to himself.
Ankh didn't seem to hear him—and now that Eiji thought about it, he probably hadn't, with his limited senses. Instead, he added, "I haven't figured out who the parent is for Uva's, but that's hardly the issue right now."
One of the guards saluted. "I'll get the knights to guard the villagers."
"Good," the King replied. "I'll take care of the Yummies—Uva's first. You escort Miss Solaris and Mr. Elric to their chamber."
"Yes, Your Majesty," the assigned guard replied.
Ankh flew off while the King transformed and ran off, the other guard heading in another direction to alert the knights. Solaris was a little shocked herself at how suddenly things had escalated, but Eiji was already beginning to move.
She grabbed his wrist. "What do you think you're doing?"
"I don't know," he admitted. "Helping."
"Without your powers?" she hissed.
He pulled himself free and said, "If I don't try something, then I may as well die from the regret."
While the guard didn't seem to understand a word they were saying, he was able to pick up on Eiji's intent. But he wasn't able to stop him as he ran after the King. Solaris waited only a moment before chasing after him.