//------------------------------// // A New Family / Taking Notes / Getting to Know You // Story: Coming Up OOO // by shinigamisparda //------------------------------// Katsuo groaned as his eyes fluttered open, the sun hitting his eyes. He wondered for a moment why his alarm didn’t wake him up, then realizing he wasn’t in his bed. As panic began to set in he suddenly remembered the events of the last week. The lack of shelter and cell phone reception, surviving off the water bottles, granola bars and berries. Hiding in trees to escape the wildlife, before coming across civilization, only to see that none of the people there were… people. He remembered the Yummy attack and his transformation, meeting the girls and Spike, the Princess, and his breakdown. It was at that point he realized how long he’d been on autopilot the last week, surprised at his own survival instincts. It seemed at the end of the day, realizing he wouldn’t see his family again, everything just broke and he crashed. Even going over all the information he still found it all somewhat unbelievable. He hesitated a moment before clutching his hand into a fist. He felt pressure, but no pain. He then shook anxiously for a moment before quickly hitting his fist against the wall. There was some pain, but nowhere near what it should’ve been. Nothing’s broken. It’s real. He sighed and reviewed his situation. I’m in a new world, away from everyone I ever knew. I no longer have to worry about my body breaking at any second, I can become Kamen Rider OOO, and I was even given permission from the ruler of a whole country herself to protect her people. He smiled to himself, happy and thankful for how Princess Celestia had treated him, especially when it became clear that the situation was partially his fault. She really was the perfect royal, as far as he could tell. Regal, wise, commanding, but still kind, and she had some of the most amazing legs that- Ok, I think I need to stop right there, Katsuo thought, cutting himself off. He took a whiff of himself and realized that not only did he not take a shower last night, he also slept in his clothes. Thankfully, his gym bag was still with him, containing some of the other outfits he brought for the con, so he decided to choose his clothes before finding the bathroom to change. He managed to find the bathroom and stripped before getting into the old fashioned bathtub and shower combo. Better be quick. Don’t want to take advantage of their kindness. He quickly doused himself with the water before turning it off, and gently grabbed the bar of soap and gingerly applied it to his body. It was about when he had lathered up his whole armed that he realized something. I don’t have to worry about pressing too hard or going too fast anymore. He then began to quickly lather his body up, noticing the odd an alien feeling that performing the action quickly gave him, like his mind was telling him something was wrong. I never considered this. Just how much of the things I normally do in my life have changed? How long is it going to take me to get used to this? He quickly soaked his hair with some sweet scented shampoo and conditioner before turning the shower back on and washing himself off. There. That probably didn’t use that much water. He stepped out and reached for the towel and began to dry himself off, once again reminding himself that he didn’t have to worry about pressure anymore. Actually, come to think of it, one of the reasons that I have to turn the shower off and then lather up is because it would’ve taken a long time to do so gently, so it would’ve been wasteful to have the water running. Jeez, maybe I should start making a list of everything I can do that I couldn’t do before. He walked back into the guest room and pulled out another one of his outfits. Within ten minutes he was dressed in a T-shirt with green, orange, brown, and white stripes; a dark violet hoodie with orange sleeves; blue jeans with brown and beige patches, and brown boots. Hopefully Rarity won’t complain about this one. Katsuo descended the stairs, hoping that he could grab something for breakfast, when he was met with the unexpected sight of the whole Apple family seated at the table, with one chair left open, clearly waiting for him. “... Am I in trouble?” he asked. “Not at all, Sugarcube. Why don’t ya take a seat?” Applejack assured him. Katsuo slowly sat down, still somewhat nervous. “Now Katsuo, we know that right now ya don’t have a place ta’ live, and ya don’t exactly have a way ta support yerself right now,” Granny Smith began. “So, we wanted ta ask if you wouldn’t mind bein’ part of the Apple family.” Katsuo sat there for a few moments, processing what was said. “You mean… you want to let me, like, rent a room here?” “No, Sugarcube, we wanted ta know if you want ta join our family,” Applejack explained. Katsuo’s eyes widened. “You mean, like… adoption?” “Eeyup,” Big Mac replied simply. “You… You really mean that? I mean, you’re not just doing this because you feel like you have to?” “Aw shucks, Sonny! If it was too much of a hassle for us we woulda helped ya find a place in town instead!” Granny Smith explained. “Ah wouldn’t mind havin’ another brother!” Apple Bloom added. Katsuo looked down and stayed silent. “Sugarcube? Are ya feelin’-?” Applejack began, only to see that Katsuo was crying. “I… I…” Katsuo stuttered before burying his face into his hands. “I can’t believe how lucky I am,” he said as he began to openly weep. “I never thought I’d be lucky enough to be adopted twice.” “‘Twice!?’” the Apples all asked, surprised. “Wait a minute, didn’t ya say ya had a family?” Apple Bloom asked. “They’re my foster family. They adopted me when I was only three years old. I never knew my birth parents.” “Wh-What happened to them?” Applejack asked. “I don’t know. From what my family said, the orphanage told them I was left on their doorstep with a note, one that told them about my condition as well. If I had to guess… they probably didn’t want to deal with such sickly child for the rest of their lives.” And intense mix of anger, sorrow, and determination swelled up in all of the Apple family. They now knew what they had to do and what they were going to do. “Well, you ain’t got ta worry ‘bout that no more,” Granny declared. “Yer one of us now, and by the end of the week, It’ll be official.” Katsuo wiped his eyes and looked around the table at his new family. “Thank you so much.” Twilight tapped her foot impatiently, her arms folded and her brow furrowed as she was getting more and more annoyed. “Jeez, Twilight, calm down a little,” Spike said. “They’ll be here.” Twilight groaned. “I know Spike, it’s just… it’s really important that Katsuo tells us everything we need to so we can protect Ponyville from theses… Yummy’s.” “And because you also really want to study the whole Kamen Rider and Core Medals thing, right?” Spike smirked. Twilight huffed, not responding. She, Spike, and everypony else had agreed to meet with Katsuo in the Whitetail Woods so they could go over the information on what Katsuo knew. After about twenty more minutes an interesting sight approached them: Applejack carrying Katsuo over her shoulder while she held the container of Cell Medals and his gym bag in one hand. “Real heroic entrance there, Short Stack,” Rainbow Dash joked, sitting up in a tree branch and letting her still recovering leg dangle. “You give him a break now, Dash,” Applejack retorted as she set Katsuo and his belongings down. “He ain’t exactly had many chances to bulk up.” “It’s fine, I don’t mind the jokes,” Katsuo assured her as he stood up. “She’s got a point, too. If I’m really going to help you all, I need to get plenty of exercise in.” “Wait, if you’re this we- uh… unfit, how were you able to defeat that Yummy so easily yesterday?” Twilight asked. “It’s gotta be because of the transformation,” Spike declared with confidence. “He’s right. It boosts everything. Strength, speed, stamina, and durability,” Katsuo confirmed. “It’s got it’s limits, but it has way more power than I do alone.” “So, what exactly are we out here for again, Darling?” Rarity asked. “From what I understand you intend to fill us in on all the details we need to know. Couldn’t we have done that from a nice cafe?” “Well, before I get into the nitty gritty details, I wanted to demonstrate my powers so you all know what I can do, and I don’t think it would be a good idea to do that indoors.” “Fair point.” “Ok, so let’s get to it,” he said as he reached into his gym bag and pulled out the OOO Driver as well as the case with all the Core Medals. “Now, there are seven colors of Core Medals: Red, Yellow, Green, Grey, Blue, Purple, and Orange. Each color has three different kinds of Medals, and there are a total of nine core medals for each color, making three for each. Luckily, it turns out I have at least one of each type, so you’ll be able to see everything I can do.” He then slapped on the OOO Driver before placing three of the Core Medals inside. “Let’s get started,” he said before angling the Driver, and grabbing the Scanning Disc, running it across the belt. “Henshin!” A few hours later, everyone was seated in Sugarcube Corner, ready to get more into the details that he promised before. In the meantime they had all ordered and were waiting for their food. Just then Pinkie came to the table, bringing a tray of treats. “Apple fritters for AJ,” she began, setting the dish down in front of her before continuing. “Cherry parfait for Rarity, lemon squares for Twilight, chocolate donuts with sprinkles for Spike, chocolate pudding for Fluttershy, bear claws for Dashie, mint chocolate milkshake for Katsy, and chocolate and vanilla cupcakes for me!” she announced before tossing the cupcakes into the air and somehow managing to both catch and gulp them down all at once. “... Should I even ask how she did that?” Katsuo asked, still staring. “Don’t. You’ll be better off for it,” Twilight sighed before popping a lemon square in her mouth. Everyone was starting to take a bite out of their dishes except for Katsuo, who seemed to be examining his milkshake carefully. “...classic design,” he mumbled. “Not the most eye-catching, but nothing particularly wrong with it either… included the whipped cream and cherry on top… they even have the old-fashioned tapper glass...” “Darling, are you alright?” Rarity asked. “Huh? Oh, sorry, just looking it over, that’s all,” he said before putting in a straw and taking a sip. “Not bad.” “I got to say, all those powers are pretty impressive,” Rainbow said. “But I noticed one weird thing.” “Hm? What’s that?” “Why did you never do all of one color at a time? Like all reds, or whatever?” Katsuo inhaled for a moment and closed his eyes. “I guess that’s a pretty good segway into the details I promised you before. First though, I need to ask you all a question.” Twilight immediately summoned a notepad, quill, and inkwell. He opened his eyes, seeing he had everyone’s attention. “Would you say greed is a bad thing?” Everyone looked surprised for a moment. Then Dash broke the silence. “Well, duh. Being greedy and selfish is bad. That’s just, like, common knowledge.” “Then what would you say is the best way to combat greediness?” Rarity glowed with pride. “Why, being generous, of course! As the Element of Generosity herself, I can say for certain that going out of the way to help others is quite fulfilling indeed.” “‘Element of Generosity?’ Oh right, Applejack said something about that,” he muttered. “Moving on, then would you say it would be healthy to live your life being only generous? To not fulfill any desire of your own, and to only work to satisfy the desires of others, no matter how much it costs you?” Everypony just stared at him in shock for a moment, not expecting that response. Even Rarity didn’t have an answer for that. “When it comes to desire all extremes, even extreme generosity and abstinence, are unhealthy. Wanting something is not fundamentally evil, and having some selfishness is actually healthy. Desire is not a demon to be purged, it is a scale that must be balanced.” Everypony just continued to stare, surprised to hear such words of wisdom from the boy. “So cool,” Spike muttered. “Anyway, getting back to the question, we need to talk a little bit about how Desire functions in the world of Kamen Rider OOO. Think of your desire as container, something that can be filled and emptied. The bigger and grander your desire, the larger your container. There is also your own fortitude, which is basically how much you are swayed by your desires.” Everypony looked at him a little confused. “Hm. How should I explain this?” he said, closing his eyes and rubbing his chin. After a moment of thought he opened his eyes and turned to Rainbow Dash. “What is the one thing you want more than anything in the world?” he asked. Rainbow smirked and puffed her chest out with pride. “To be a Wonderbolt, of course!” “‘Wonderbolt’?” he asked. She looked to him in shock. “You don’t know the Wonderbolts!? They’re only the coolest pegasi in the history of ever!” “Rainbow, he’s not even from this world,” Applejack reminded. “Oh… right.” Applejack rolled her eyes. “The Wonderbolts are a team of aerial acrobats and an elite pegasi force,” Twilight explained. “Only the best of the best pegasi get to join up with them.” “Oh, I see. Kinda sounds like the Blue Angels,” Katsu muttered. “Anyway, that sounds like a pretty big desire, one that would take a lot to be fulfilled.” “No kidding. I might’ve made waves at the Best Young Flyer Competition, but I’ve still got a ways to go,” Dash said. “I see. So let me ask this, would you be willing to give up anything or do anything to become a Wonderbolt?” “Yeah, pretty much,” she replied without any hesitation, biting into her bear claw. “So if killing everyone in this room would instantly make you a Wonderbolt, would you do it?” Dash choked on her bear claw and began to cough and hack for a few moments. “What!?” she screeched when she finally regained her composure. “You said you’d do anything to be a Wonderbolt. You have to be more careful when you say things. Words influence thought, both of those around you and yourself.” “But there’s no way I’d do something like that! No way!” “Are you sure? You’ve never had to confront such a choice before. How do you know for certain what choice you would make?” Rainbow Dash, and everypony else, was beginning to feel uncomfortable. “When you say ‘you’d do anything’, you may find out that ‘anything’ turns out to be something you never thought of before. Just look at me. I’m now cured of my genetic defect, I have powers I never imagined, and I can even be a hero like I’ve always wanted to be. And all I had to give up was everything I’ve ever known. My home, family, my entire world. I’ll probably never see any of them again.” He sighed and closed his eyes. “Honestly, I still can’t tell if it was a good trade or not.” Everypony’s feelings instantly changed from disturbed to sympathetic. Despite his young age Katsuo was speaking from experience. He was trying to help them. “Your limits and standards should be definite. Don’t use nebulous words like ‘anything’ or ‘nothing,’ unless you can say you truly mean them. When your limits are clearly defined, you can tell when you’re starting to push them, and can keep yourself from breaking them.” Rainbow looked thoughtful for a moment before smiling and nodding. “Alright, I got ya.” “Anyway, that discussion leads nicely into the next part of what you need to know. In order to explain completely, I need to talk about the one who held the title of Kamen Rider OOO, Eiji Hino. Before he took on the mantle of Kamen Rider, he was a world traveller and tried to make friends with everyone he came across. He was also the son of a wealthy politician, and used his fortune to benefit others. He did so because that was how he pursued his desire.” “And what was that?” Applejack asked. Katsuo smiled. “To help everyone he could as much as he could. Actually, you might say his greatest desire was to save the world.” Everypony was awed at the tale of this Eiji person. “He sounds like a very nice pony,” Fluttershy sated with a smile. Katsuo nodded, but then his smile faded. “Unfortunately, during one of his travels tragedy struck, and struck hard. He made friends with the residents of a small village in a foreign country and donated a lot of money to help it out. Unfortunately, due to his politician father, that money eventually helped fund a civil war between the village and another one. A young girl who he had become attached to died in front of his eyes, and he was eventually captured and held for ransom. His father paid the ransom and got Eiji released, but also used the event as a way to garner support for his own political platform.” Everyone was stunned into silence. After a few moments Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie began to cry, Rarity just slumped into her still trying to process what she’d heard, and Rainbow and Applejack seethed with rage over the idea of Eiji’s father causing so much pain for his own son and then exploiting his suffering for his own ends. “That’s… I have no words for that,” Twilight said numbly, unable to even take notes.. “How about ‘that’s the saddest thing I’ve ever heard?’” Spike suggested, also looking completely stunned. “Anyway, after that Eiji… dried up,” Katsuo continued. “He completely abandoned everything he had and lived a nomadic lifestyle, travelling from place to place and working odd jobs just to make enough to live off of.” “What do ya mean ‘dried up’?” Applejack asked. “I mean he completely gave up on every selfish desire he ever had. He gave up on trying to save the world, to make society a better place. The only thing he kept from his old life was his desire to help others. But instead of just being generous it was more like he became a tool to help fulfill other people’s desires. He did everything for everyone else, no matter how dangerous the task, and never did anything for himself.” “I’m… starting to see how it could be possible to be too generous,” Rarity commented. Katsuo nodded. “Somewhat ironically, this made him the perfect candidate for OOO. Since it runs on the Core Medals, which in a way are super concentrated desire, it meant that he couldn’t be influenced by them. After all, how can you manipulate or corrupt a desire that doesn’t exist?” “So, how does that relate to not using all three medals of one color?” Twilight asked, having gone back to her notes. “Using all three of the same color medals at a time does more than just let you use their individual power together. Since all three of the colors are synched up, it provides a massive power boost and added abilities. For example, if I used all the red ones like Dash suggested, I wouldn’t only have advanced sight, the Taja Spinner, and clawed feet, I’d also have another set of fire attacks and I could fly.” “Seriously! Awesome! We should try that next time!” “Dash, Ah’m pretty sure if he didn’t do it before, there’s a reason for it,” Applejack butt in. “Two, actually,” Katsuo began. “First of all, using a Full Combo puts way more stress on the user than doing a combination. It’d tire me out very quickly, and I honestly wouldn’t be surprised if I blacked out or was completely drained for hours on end.” “So they’re your trump cards,” Spike surmised. “They might be powerful but they’ve got a high cost, so you’ve got to use them only when you need to.” “Right. And second… well, I think there might be a problem for me that’s worse than what it was for Eiji. But before that, I have to explain the oddity among the Core Medals.” Katsuo reached into his gym bag and pulled out the Medal Case, taking out the Ptera medal. “All of the other Core Medals are based on a desire to get things, to gain something. But the Purple Medals are based on the destruction of desire. In essence, they are a desire for Nothingness.” “‘Nothingness’?” Fluttershy asked, whimpering a bit as she shrunk down. “Sometimes what someone wants most is to lose something, not to gain it. It can be as mundane as ‘I wish I could lose all this weight’ to ‘I wish this whole world would just disappear.” Everypony gulped at that last idea. “Anyway, at one point the Purple Core Medals were unleashed, and some of them were attracted to Eiji for the very reason he was able not be influenced by the other Core Medals.” “Because he lacked desire,” Spike surmised. “Right. Except instead of just going to him, they actually went inside him. After that, whenever Eiji was in mortal danger, the Medals activated and went Full Combo on him. It was by far his most powerful transformation, enough that no Yummy or Greeed could stand up to him, but at cost. Namely that he just attacked everything. Whatever had his attention, friend or foe, and when he was done with one target he moved on to the next. Some of his friends were able get him out of the transformation, by both being able to reach out to Eiji to help him fight off the rage and by getting close enough to deactivate the OOO Driver themselves. And the other issue was that it tired him out far more than any of his other Full Combos. It truly lived up to it’s name of ‘Berserker.’” “So, he just went crazy every time he was in danger?” Rainbow asked. “At first, though he eventually learned to call it out on his own, he still didn’t have control. Then eventually he actually did manage to transform without losing control, though the form was somewhat weaker because of it. Unfortunately, the reason Eiji was able to control it was because he had finally gained a desire: he wanted power. That desire eventually overwhelmed him and he ended up turning into a Greeed himself.” “You mean it’s possible for anypony to become a Greeed?” Applejack asked, concerned. “With the assistance of Core Medals, yes. Eiji was eventually able to become human again by getting a better handle on his desire. He realized he didn’t just want power, he wanted the power to help anyone and everyone. In essence, he had regained his desire to save the world.” “I see," Twilight muttered as she continued to take notes. “But hold on, I don’t get it. All you need to do is avoid that one Combo, and you’ll be fine, right?” Dash asked. “Darling, haven’t you been listening?” Rarity rolled her eyes. “Unlike Eiji,I do already have desire in me, and I doubt I have as much control over it and the willpower to keep control over myself,” Katsuo explained. “Which means it’s very possible that every Full Combo will be a Berserker Mode for me.” “Oh… But you don’t know for sure, right?” Dash asked. “True, but I don’t want to risk it.” “Well, that was very interesting. Can we move on to the Greeeds and Yummy’s now?” Twilight asked. “Sure. First, the Greeeds. As I mentioned before they were created from the imbalance of the ten Core Medals of each color. Their story is actually rather tragic, as they are born with a sense of being unfulfilled, with having a void they cannot fill. Their vision is muted, unable to see colors in their full glory, their hearing is muffled, even their taste is virtually non-existent. In the show one of the Greeeds couldn’t taste the difference between a hard candy and plastic toy ball, eating both of them and insisting they both tasted good. And even worse than all that, it can be argued that they don’t actually feel emotions. They might go through the motions, but they might truly not actually feel anything.” “Oh, how awful!” Fluttershy squeaked. “Yeah. They’d be more sympathetic if it wasn’t for what they did in response. Namely that in order to fill those voids they’ll step on everyone and do anything for even a little taste of what they want, even going so far as to fight each other. Since they don’t have all nine of their Core Medals right now, getting them back will be their main concern. As they get more Core Medals their power will spike up. And if they managed to get all nine, their power will become exponentially higher, to the point where even a Full Combo would have trouble taking them down. Moreover, they’ll stop going after Medals and instead focus on trying to fulfill what they want most. For example, one of the past Greeeds desired to feel motherly love more than anything else, so she ended up kidnapping mothers and their children, imprisoning them in spheres, and draining the feeling of love from them. Though she didn’t get far, it was outright stated she was going to do this until they died. And more importantly, no amount was ever enough, so she was just going to keep doing this over and over.” “Goodness! This is more dangerous than I thought!” Rarity gasped. “Yeah. But Core Medals aren’t the only thing the Greeeds need, they need Cell Medals as well, and that’s where the Yummy’s come in. A Greeed can implant a Cell Medal inside a person, and the Yummy will be created based on that person’s desire. If the desire is too simple and easily fulfilled, like ‘I want a piece of candy’, a Yummy can’t be created from that. But harder to fulfill desires, whether they be difficult to complete or difficult to satisfy, those are what makes Yummy’s.” “I see. What exactly happens after that?” Twilight asked, still writing notes. “Depending on the Yummy it can take some time for it to take a unique form, but once it does it will go out and attempt to fulfill the person’s desire, usually a twisted version of it. Another thing it could do is cause a person to indulge in that desire more than they usually would. Either way, doing so causes the Yummy to build up Cell Medals inside of it. The Greeeds use Cell Medals both as a way to keep their form and also as a way to use their abilities. If Core Medals are the heart and soul of a Greeed, then Cell Medals are the body and blood. Yummy’s however, are made entirely out of Cell Medals, and though they may have some personality exist solely as a means to gather Cell Medals, unlike Greeeds who can make decisions. In addition, the people under influence from Yummy’s tend to feel a sort of euphoria, sometimes to the point that they don’t find anything odd about the Yummy’s existence when they see it. The more a person indulges in their desire, the more Cell Medals a Yummy creates and the more powerful it grows.” “Then can you snap somepony out of it?” Rainbow asked. “It’s possible, but it doesn’t always work. For some, the shock of the Yummy existing is enough for them to reject it. For others, they hesitantly go along with it because it’s doing what they want. Others are perfectly happy with having a Yummy fulfill their desires and want their existence to continue.” “Who would want one of those dreadful things around?” Rarity asked, aghast. “Well, and this is on the darker end of the spectrum, imagine you’re a criminal that was sent to jail because your accomplice ratted you out. Your greatest desire becomes a need for revenge and to kill that person, and now suddenly you’ve got a super powered monster that not only breaks you out of jail but wants to kill that person for you, as well as anyone that gets in your way.” “Sweet Celestia,” Applejack muttered. “But what if your desire is good?” Spike asked. “What if what you wanted most was to help people?” “I’m glad you brought that up, because that happened once or twice. One time there was someone who had a desire to uphold the law and punish evildoers, and a Yummy was born from that. The first thing it did was beat up a purse snatcher, and then it even returned the purse to the lady who it was taken from. But things just went downhill from there, as it started just attacking anyone who did anything bad. Bullies picking on an old lady, teenagers playing their music too loud, kids on their skateboards where they weren’t allowed to: all of them bad guys that needed to be punished. And it dealt with them all the same way.” “Beating them up,” Spike finished. “Exactly.” “Jeez. So there really is no way it can turn out well.” Katsuo hung his head. “... I’m sorry.” “Huh?” Applejack asked. “I… I’ve made this world a lot more dangerous for you all. If I never indulged in my selfish desire you all wouldn’t be in this dangerous situation. I’m sorry.” Twilight smiled. “Physician, heal thyself.” “Huh?” Katsuo asked, raising his head. “You were the one telling us about how desire isn’t a bad thing in itself. You should take your own advice.” “B-But-” “So you caused some problems, we’ve all done things that have caused problems before. We just make sure to do what we can to fix them. Just like you’re doing.” “Yeah, Katsy!” Pinkie added. “Just look at all this stuff you’re doing to help us! You’re even going to go fight those scary Yummy and Greeed thingies yourself!” “Got to admit kid, I was a little worried, but I think I trust you now,” Rainbow said. “‘W-Worried?’” Katsuo asked. “I was so caught up in everything that I didn’t even think about it until last night, but I was kinda suspicious of you. I mean, a monster shows up and you suddenly come in like some old-time hero? It just felt a little too convenient, and the fact that you were sleeping at AJ’s house made me a little nervous. But I guess I was just overthinking it. You’re a good kid, Short Stack.” “Y-You… You thought I was a spy or something?” Katsuo asked, looking both surprised and hurt. Rainbow flinched. “Geez. Now I feel really bad. You never even thought about that kind of thing, huh? You really are a stand-up guy.” Katsuo stared for a few more moments before smiling widely. “Thank you for trusting me.” “How about a lighter topic?” Rarity suggested. “What exactly did you do before you came here, Katsuo? You mentioned you had sewn your outfit yourself. Are you a tailor, or a costume maker perhaps?” “Actually, those are just hobbies. Something I could do that wouldn’t hurt me, you know?” “Hurt you?” “Oh, right. Ah forgot ta tell ya. Katsuo here said that he was born with a condition,” Applejack explained. “Really weak bones. The way he tells it, Ah probably coulda broken his hand just by shakin’ it. Somethin’ that the feller who sent him here fixed, though.” “Seriously?” Rainbow asked. “No wonder you’re such a twig.” “Yeah. I never really thought I was going to be able to do anything physical in my life. One of the reasons I decided to go to culinary school,” Katsuo admitted. “You’re a chef?” Fluttershy asked. “In training. I mostly focus in desserts, specifically pastries.” “Oh, is that why you were looking over the milkshake?” Spike asked. “Yeah. It’s a really classic design, but it’s not my style. I like adding a little flair to my creations.” “Hey, maybe you can work here!” Pinkie suggested. “The Cakes probably wouldn’t mind the extra help!” “Yeah, I’m sure they could use another pastry chef,” Rainbow added. Katsuo suddenly seized up. “... ‘Pastry chef?’” he muttered before suddenly shooting up out of his chair, startling everypony. “‘PASTRY CHEF!?’” he shouted. “I AM NO MERE PASTRY CHEF! I AM A PATISSIER! I DO NOT SIMPLY BAKE COOKIES AND CAKES! I MAKE ART!” “U-Um, is there a problem here?” Mrs. Cake asked, nervously walking over, wanting to make sure that the unexpected hamminess wouldn’t scare away other customers. “Dude, calm down! What’s the big deal!?” Rainbow asked. Katsuo’s face contorted into a scowl. He then grabbed Mrs. Cake and ripped her apron off her, much to her shock. “I’m commandeering your kitchen,” he said forcefully before tying the apron around himself and stomping into the bakery, grabbing a startled Mr. Cake and pulling him along, leaving the ponies and dragon behind to simply stare. “... Should we stop him?” Spike asked. “I’m a little too afraid to get close to him right now,” Mrs. Cake replied. For the next two hours there was no noise from the kitchen aside from the numerous sounds of cooking until finally Mr. Cake and Katsuo walked out, both of them covered in all manner of cake batter, frosting, powdered sugar, and fruit juice, with Mr. Cake holding a tray of sweets. He set it down on the table, Katsuo standing proudly as he directed everypony’s attention to treats. “Strawberry Shortcake, Mango Jelly Cheesecake, Chocolate Mousse topped with strawberry, Lemon Raspberry Cheesecake shots, Whole Watermelon Jelly, and Fruit Medley and Granola Parfaits. Ladies, Spike, enjoy,” he said before bowing. Everypony was stunned. They didn’t all just look good, they looked like something out of a cooking magazine, something that would be irreplicable by any except the most expert hands. Despite their watering mouths, they almost didn’t want to touch any of them, feeling as if they would be touching a clay pot before it had finished hardening. Eventually, however, their stomachs won out and they all took a bite of something. Euphoric moans filled the room as shivers of delight ran up and down their bodies. None of them had ever had anything so good. Katsuo glowed with pride as from the reaction, not noticing Mr. and Mrs. Cake whispering to each other behind him. “Um, Katsuo, was it?” Mrs. Cake began. “Hm?” “Would you perhaps be interested in a job here?” Mr. Cake asked. Katsuo blinked a few times. “M-Me?” Katsuo had been hired and was expected to start working at Sugar Cube Corner starting next week, with the caveat that he had to be allowed to leave any time he needed to do any Kamen Rider work. He was ecstatic, not only at the fact that he had a job in a field he had been training for, but also because he could contribute to his new family. Afterwards, Spike had asked if the two of them could hang out for a bit, which Katsuo agreed. Now they were in the basement of the Golden Oaks Library, Spike having gotten Katsuo a bowl of popcorn and set up a projector with a sofa in front of it. “So, what exactly did you call me for here, Spike?” Katsuo asked. “Just wait, you’re gonna love this, I can tell!” the dragon insisted. He reached into a box and carefully pulled out a film reel, treating it like it was more delicate than a jewel before placing it in the projector. “Oh, you have no idea how hard these are to get ahold of! Not to mention, I managed to get a guy back in Canterlot to add subs instead of the dubbed version.” Katsuo perked up at that. “‘Subs?’ You mean ‘subtitles?’” Spike just smiled and started the projector. What came on made his jaw drop as he saw a pony dressed in black armor, with a helmet bearing a wolf design and golden muffler around his neck driving towards the screen in what looked like a motorcycle. The theme song started the moment the title came. JUSTICE HUNTER Katsuo turned to Spike. “No way.” “Yup. Straight from Neighpon. It hasn’t gotten much attention in this region, but the series has been going for thirty years. Not as long as the Kamen Rider series you mentioned, but still.” Katsuo couldn’t believe it, even the theme song sounded similar to the first Kamen Rider. “Spike, I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship.”