Hopper1, Houtaro, etc. | Kamen Rider Gotchard

Timestamp: 2011

There were some things Professor Kongo did not miss about the Alchemist Union - but the Chemies themselves weren't on that list. So when certain alumni offered to bring them over to show the children- well, she'd insisted on precautions, she wasn't careless. But she was hardly going to turn them down!

Steeeeeaaaam! MadWheelWHEEL! Kesuzooooo~!

Not all of the Chemies had come along; that was to be expected, particularly with the Cosmic and Fantastical Chemies - the history between the Level 10s of those categories and certain alchemists meant such an association would always be more fragile than any that involved the other categories - but there were still more than enough to hold the attention of all the children under her care, from the youngest to the oldest.

BountyBUN! ~Panpakaparka!~ RenKING!

Which meant... a lot of Chemies. And while she was far from understaffed, and some of the older children had siblings they looked after, that still all added up to a LOT of commotion.
---

Sabeliger hadn't been convinced the other Chemies' enthusiasm about these small, 'pre-alchemists' was warranted. But as one of the more imposing Chemies, he'd seen fit to come along in X-Rex's stead, to oversee some of the likewise-small Chemies in the hopes of providing some needed protection.

... And yet, he had found himself an object of- climbing. They did not pull on his fur, making it more akin to an awkward hug than any of them trying to treat him like Xeggdrasil, but it did cause difficulty keeping track of everyone else.

'Are you all right, Mister Sabeliger?'

Sabeliger nudged one of the kids who had gotten too close to his face - a mild warning, swiftly adhered to - and turned to look down...

Televi. One of the newer Artifact Chemies. An appearance reminiscent of recent human technology, making them 'newer' on more than one level.

'I am unharmed, Televi,' he replied, resisting the urge to shake out his fur. (He could now see that three of the Insect Chemies had found a toy chemistry set. BeetlX had joined this expedition, making that not his problem. Thank goodness.)

'If, however, you are willing to distract some of them for a time, that would be... appreciated.'

One of the small humans leaning against him was purring, which led him to believe this might not work, but his patience WAS limited. He had to try.

Televi cocked their head, then nodded. 'I'll do my best, Mister Sabeliger! Just, hold on.'

They scuttled over to a desk - a clean one, not where the aforementioned chemistry set had been - and started tracking down age-appropriate channels. On silent, not that that stopped all of the kids from noticing.

The reaction was notable. And, thankfully, positive.
---
Smaphone was on a mission.
br
This new place had many computers - but, maybe there was one like him, that was ALSO a Chemy? Then that Chemy could be a trio with Smaphone and Televi!

Which meant putting its Chemy Detection app to work...

Ping! Ping! Ping! Ping! Ping-

Whoops... That was the downside of so many of them being here, but it could deal with that!

"Hello? You're not really a phone, are you?"

Smaphone pointedly did not jump upon being addressed, turning to see... one of the pre-alchemists, small and with brown-blonde hair. Both Chemy and human stood still for a few seconds, sizing each other up.

"Sma sma?"

"... Oh! I know! I can take you to Sabimaru-kun! If he doesn't know the answer, I'm sure his brother will. I'm Amu; what's your name?"

That was easy enough to answer: "Smaphone! Sma sma!"

The two chattered away with questionable amounts of mutual intelligibility, eventually making it to the library. Finally able to sense something different through its detector app, Smaphone grew increasingly animated in excitement.

"Hey, Sabimaru! Do you know what this Chemy can do?"

There was an even smaller pre-alchemist, holding a tablet, hiding behind a stack of books. The little one flinched, and Smaphone couldn't help but relate. 'Hi! We won't hurt you!'

Whether this human could understand it wasn't entirely clear... but the tablet in his hands had something interesting on its screen.

Provoking a muffled "Hey!" from Amu, Smaphone jumped down to get a better look. The center icon glowed, and Sabimaru... calmed down?

The tablet even emitted a voice: 'It is nice to meet you, Smaphone. Amu wasn't bothering you, was she?'

Smaphone shook its head, absolutely thrilled at being in this situation. Human and technology, working together to speak!!! What an excellent friend to make.
---
Renkingrobo had had his reservations - not about the kids, or the lab, but about himself. How he'd hold up.

It wasn't possible to be full size in this location, but being so small felt... more vulnerable than he'd like.

Which was why, rather than joining in the hubbub of play and conversation, he had found himself in a work-area with desks, quietly picking up the debris that seemed to accumulate anywhere alchemists worked. Pens, papers, little cardstock pieces - he being one of the Chemies with sufficient articulation, picking things up and moving them out of tripping-hazard range was well within his capacity.

'Hello? Look, Gutsshovel, it's one of the other Level Nines! Maybe he can help us.'

Renkingrobo did not startle, and good thing; one of the Chemies that had spoken was hovering just overhead - the other, just as small as Renkingrobo himself at the moment, rumbled along the hall to a stop.

'... Well, how can I help you?' He tilted his head, mentally placing them. 'Gekiocopter and Gutsshovel - can't find Steamliner?'

The flying Chemy chirped privately to its fellow, then responded to him again: 'Well, we can't, no, but that's not what we need help with - one of the pre-alchemists threw something in a game, but now it's stuck on the roof! Would you be willing to spot for us?'

Renkingrobo put the last of what he was holding (a particularly beat-up eraser) on a stable desk surface, then put one hand on his chin. 'You're used to working as a team, then?'

'Of course! I'm rated to carry any of the other Vehicles, except Steamliner when they're big, or Exceedfighter all of the time, really.'

And Renkingrobo... smiled. 'I'll help, then. And thank you for coming to me. We need to be able to rely on each other, to help at our best.'

The two Vehicle Chemies cheered. And so did the kids, once the frisbee (and a few assorted other knick-knacks) was rescued.

(Each day gets a comment. Each comment centers on a Chemy. Stories may or may not actually be holiday-themed.

There will be Hopper1&Steamliner, of course, plus whatever pair-ships appeal to me.)

Promptfill from Jukebox June! (Initial post here)

( Lachesis POV, post-series )
[OTHER PROMPTS!]

in the snow, the antlers (Lachesis POV, Lachesis and Atropos, post-series)

She never thought she'd return to the Ouroboros Realm. It wasn't her birthplace, not truly, but it was a place specifically associated with alchemy-
And yeah, where Geryon had disappeared. And, yeah, she'd given Minato passage there, but she hadn't stepped on that otherworldly ground herself. It was different.
But today was the anniversary of when their mission to prepare the Driver had begun. And now, she had a bit of a mission herself.
---
There was a fog over the land - patchy, in places, revealing glimpses of a blue sky, or a darkly-gleaming snake biting its tail. The base elements of Life itself resided here...
And one, small homunculus, sitting alone. Thought so.
When it came to their creator, their feelings these days were largely the opposite - but, particularly due to Kyoka's influence, she'd gotten a lot better at hearing out viewpoints that weren't her own.
"You know how he feels about you," Lachesis began, kneeling next to where her eldest sister sat.
Said sister spat on the dirt, glittering fragments of her alchemical artifact at her feet. "... I do now."
"But you still miss him. How he treated you." Out of them all, Atropos was the one he most appreciated - perhaps the circumstances behind her creation were the ones Geryon had most appreciated - but in the end, he'd still only seen her as a doll.
Which, naturally, had bitten him right in the ass, when he'd reasserted that viewpoint. Right when he could have gotten away with everything, started anew.
"I didn't understand what it meant. To not be the favorite."
Lachesis shifted a little, sitting closer to Atropos (who didn't seem to notice, or pretended not to).
"He wanted us different enough to work as leverage against each other, if needed. But in the end, to him we were the same."
"Disposable." Atropos growled, and internally Lachesis agreed wholeheartedly. She sure does understand now, that's for sure.
Still, Lachesis didn't immediately speak again; only look, one which the shorter Abyssalis Sister met slowly.

"... I wish I could only hate him."
"So do I," Lachesis said, taking herself by surprise. "I think Clotho does too."
But those words did have some sort of impact on Atropos; her shoulders relaxing ever so slightly.

"Ready to head back home?"
And, again to her surprise, Atropos did not say no, or even correct her.

parentheses, the antlers + spanner/minato (Spanner POV, post-episode 27)

"Wheel!"
"Not now," Kurogane Spanner murmured, one hand drifting to loosely hold MadWheel's card in his pocket.
"I need to do this." The other hand, he brought up to knock.
---
The juniors not understanding him, he could live with - they were kids, and he was pretty sure he was always going to think of them as younger than him, needing to be shielded from the worse truths of life, the ones they didn't discover for themselves firsthand anyway.
With Kyoka - Professor Kyoka - he'd learned slowly that he didn't need to rush making her understand how he felt, the things he did. He did feel that he didn't deserve her, sometimes.

But that wasn't the matter today. He needed to make sure Professor Minato - senpai - understood. To know that he did. Especially now that he was back.
---
The door opened without more than a single knock; Minato had been expecting him.
Spanner could feel his arm just holding position there. Before the voice inside him that pointed out every time he acted a fool could speak up, though, the other man stepped back, gesturing for him to come in.

Good. That was... that was good. "I should be holding the door," he said, even as he stepped inside.
"Please, leave me some things," Minato said - Spanner paid maximum attention to the faint smile on the older man's face - before shepherding the two of them to a familiar couch. Behind them, the door shut of what seemed its own accord.

Knowing Minato, it was a subtle sort of alchemy... or, perhaps, Spanner wasn't the only one who wanted to keep more than just an eye on the man.

"Thank you," Spanner said, and then his voice left him. I'm getting ahead of myself, aren't I? Hell.
"I know you're not talking about how I acted as Dread," Minato said, a note of wry self-deprecation creeping into his voice. Spanner fought off a scowl.

"No - I - you, you went up against Geryon, unarmored."
Not unarmed, because that wouldn't have been the truth.

"I was there when I needed to be. For once," and there was no mistaking the self-hate in the older man's voice then.
Progress made, progress lost.

"Minato - Professor." There was a surge of strength in Spanner's voice, causing the other man to look at him, look up and truly look at him.

"You scared me. Seeing you do such a thing - even the right thing - at such risk to yourself, that scared me."

It was good they weren't sitting across from each other; it made it easier to reach out and, cautiously, rest a hand on the one that had been impaled in an older fight. Spanner watched as Minato didn't flinch.

"Minato. Senpai. You are one of the people I wanted to be strong for."

Where the professor hadn't pulled away at the touch, he did pull back at those words - at which point, entirely unexpected, MachWheel surged out of Spanner's pocket, de-Carding itself and rolling right over to Minato.

"Wheel! WheelMach Mach MachWheel!"

Even without knowing exactly what the Chemy was saying, the fury in its voice reached them both.

"... And you're why I came back. Why I resolved not to let my former master's words reach me anymore."

There wasn't much of anything more to be said after that - though to Spanner's relief, he wasn't the only one of them suddenly possessed with the strong need for a hug.

harbor, vienna teng + hotaro (Chemies Perspective, as of episode 39)

(Fun fact: the charactary used in Minato's name on the official cast list means 'harbor' and I think that's neat-)

If you had asked - as in, actually asked, such that you were speaking the same language as them and could understand any answer - why on earth the Chemies stayed at the Academy when they could probably just go anywhere and hide, live in a peace as free of malice as was possible on this planet, you'd receive a wealth of stories.

Not all of them had been born within these halls. Not all of them had even been made in Japan. All of them (barring two - and now three) had outlived their creators.

But the ones that had been made here considered this a home; the ones who had been brought here believed it to be shelter, better (in turns...) than the places that had raised them. And those who had come here of their own accord - they had the other Chemies to protect.

And now, with the youngest alchemists declaring they would protect the Chemies in turn, nothing short of the cessation of existence itself could pry them out of their place in the world.

never look away, vienna teng + Sabimaru&Renge (Sabi POV, pre-episode 27)

Alchemy spells, Tsuruhara Sabimaru had learned, were meant to be said aloud. It helped channel the flow of energy.

Much to his relief, it turned out he didn't have to shout the spells, and Isaac's presence did not derange any of them either. It had saved his friends more than once.

Combat alchemy, however, required that one did not speak at all. Logically, then, he should be better at it than regular spells.

But-

"Hiyah! C'mon, Sabi, you're doing great! Isn't this fun?"

Launching another deactivated charger, Ichou Renge smashed through her fifth target of the day - and Sabimaru was only on his second.

"We're not doing this for fun, Renge," Isaac reminded her, as Sabimaru sought to hold another piece of junk without using words.

And sure, she was right, but he was right too; they were doing this to get better as alchemists and seniors, to do their part in protecting the innocent and their friends, to stop Malgams and free Chemies. To stand up to Geryon.

He needed this little garbage can lid to move as part of that, that was all.

Taking a deep breath, he tried to make himself relax. To see the target like his friend probably did: a goal, something harmless, a benchmark to tell how they were doing.

Bonk!

Opening his eyes, he stared in bafflement at a dented target. "How'dya managed that one, Sabi?" Renge asked, about as surprised as him.

"... I think I need to try this another way." He wasn't going to give up - absolutely not! - but with a result like that, clearly he needed a new approach.

"Renge, what do you think of, when you're using combat alchemy? Why you're doing it, or something else?"

He'd said it aloud, not through Isaac, but Renge clearly had no difficulty hearing him: "It's not really thinking. It's more... feeling? That I know you're at my side, that the enemy is in front, and that what I'm movin' is only gonna hit them!"

... Now he felt a little like an idiot; that explanation was quite straightfoward, really. "Thanks, Renge!"

With another breath, and not letting himself close his eyes this time, he affirmed those truths for himself. My friends - my partner - are beside me. The threat is ahead of me. And I'm going to hit-

BOOM!

Them! Even with his eyes open, the demolished target ahead of him was a hell of a sight.

"Woohoo! Now let's keep at it!"

"You're on, Renge." He smiled, and he knew his partner was too.

Houtaro blinked himself awake, the dark of his bedroom replacing the dark from his dreams - or rather, his memories.

He sat up in bed, muscles tense, listening instinctively for the voices of his friends, human and Chemy. Slowly, his breathing returned to normal, realizing belatedly that it was the middle of the night.

But I did hear something, Houtaro thought. But... if it hadn't been something from a nightmare, what had woken him up?

Slowly, carefully, he got up out of his bed, feeling for the stack of rescued Chemy cards, only to feel the stirrings of panic when two of them weren't there.

The cards for the two Chemies closest to him, as a matter of fact. And sure, Hopper1 really didn't like its card, but where could Steamliner be-?

Feeling his heartbeat practically in his throat, the next two minutes felt like an eternity.

But, once he crept into the bathroom, he heard rustling behind the shower curtain. And, given he'd already seen the door to his mother's room was closed, that lead him to one hopeful conclusion...!

"Hopper1? Steamliner?" he asked, in his quietest voice. Briefly, he caught a glimpse of familiar antennae peeking up from underneath the curtain, only for them to duck back down.

Fear giving way to bafflement, he walked a few more steps forward. "Guys? What's wrong?"

Parting the curtain, the sight that greeted him left him at a momentary loss for words: both Chemies were out of their cards - it never became less strange to see Steamliner smaller than Hopper1, nevermind that apparently the train was used to the alternate form - and it was like they were two cats, snuggling close to each other for comfort.

It didn't take much putting together to guess what could have driven them to this, even with the parts of it that didn't make sense; after all, if he had been shaken by the recent events in the Ouroboros Realm - the battle with Geryon, and his abuse of the Chemies - then why wouldn't the Chemies be upset?

And yet - "Why didn't you wake me up, you two? I wouldn't have minded..."

Or, simply because he had helped them, charging back into the fight again and again, no matter the toll on his body, they hadn't wanted to interrupt his rest.

Still: "Come on, let's get you back to bed. You could at least let me give you a blanket!"

Both Chemies only made token noises of protest, but it seemed they were too tired to really put up a fuss. Holding them close - one grasshopper, one toy train - Houtaro quietly retreated to his room, making a little nest-space for his friends on the bed.

Sliding back in after them, he smiled reassuringly. "We'll all be okay. I promise."

"Steeeeaam."
"Hop-pa-1!"

Humorous Mode:
The reason the Geats/Gotchard branches of the multiverse haven't been absorbed by Zein? Simple: the Chemies can sense an individual's emotional constituence, and Zein's profile in particular reminds them too much of Geryon, as someone who only cares about himself and sees genocide as both an end and a means.

With Zein stopping in Ace's neighborhood, the Geats Chemy (aka Kon) finds a way to beat logic and alert Ace. Since the man trusts his dog, he will never take Zein at his word. Nor will his companions cooperate, since they've spent time as Chemies and are thus all left with the impression that Zein is Bad News. (The downsides of going after a Kamen Rider who has successfully attained godhood - all versions of him can gain an impression of you both back and forth across time. Whoops!)

In the second phase, the main obstruction for Zein is timing. He can either isolate Hotaro, which won't help him for the span of time where the kid simply doesn't HAVE the Gotchardriver, and for any time after he gains it the Chemies near him attack Zein on sight. The Dreadriver being a knockoff, it simply doesn't interest Zein... meaning if he wants to eliminate the possibilities of the Gotchard 'verse, he needs the cooperation of the Chemies.

And they don't give it to him! Eventually Kesuzo makes its abilities known, and Zein writes off that entire universe in disgust.

But what about Legend? Surely, he's just a sillier version of Decade, with naivete to match, yes?

... But then, there are MORE CHEMIES. Putting Zein off his guard, and giving Legend the chance to soundly knock the wannabe totalitarian around - and down, and out.

(Bonus round where Legend goes to Zein's home universe and takes over Foundation X, I guess???)

---

(Serious Mode)

Just focusing on the Gotchard side of the crossover pitched above:
Zein first makes itself known while the Chemies are stored at the Alchemy Academy. Seeing him for what he is, and his true intentions, they collectively refuse to hear him out, and he retreats rather than fight Fuga (and risk proving the Chemies assessment of him right).
He does however, visit them every day during the years of their seeking refuge in the Ouroboros Realm from Geryon. Saying that if they will only let him rid the worlds of malice, then existence will be safe. But the Chemies resolve to wait him out, refusing to give any willing aid to genocide.

Then, halfway through the canonical ten year period, Zein loses his patience and goes to 'cut the knot', killing Geryon while introducing him (by methods of cheating) to the man's beloved 'Door of Darkness' and what waits beyond. As he is not there for the Abyssalis Sisters, he offers them the option of joining him but doesn't immediately press them into his service; they are villains, after all, and surely it will preserve drama if he draws this out.

He goes back to the Ouroboros Realm to make his new pitch - only to find the Chemies and Fuga already fleeing, with only a homunculus clone of the man available to point out he didn't actually swear anyone involved to a contract beforehand, let alone an unbreakable one. Zein vents his frustration... and then goes to set himself up as this world's Kamen Rider.

-Scenes of protagonists bonding with their re-formed families - Rinne demands her father spill the beans, or else she turns him in; the man obliges, and warns her about Geryon having the ability to rewrite people's memories. The Ichinoses have an entire anger-born-of-worry moment when the traveling father returns. Even Ryo gets word that his father had a hand in taking care of secret beings, when the man was alive...
-Chemies quickly join in the mix (the Cosmic and Fantastical with the Kudohs, Supana meets Madwheel five years early, etc...), but so do accidental Malgams.
-Zein makes a point of being the one to rescue any Chemies (at least when he's able to get there first) - and in turn, the Chemies make as much of a point of still refusing his initial offer, even alongside thanking him for freeing them.
-Zein's frustration grows.
-Steamliner and Hopper1 have settled in at the Ichinoses (because why not, really?).
[More to come?? Zein continues to become more than his canonical self, much to his consternation, even developing a proper sense of empathy for the Chemies, which are accidental artificial creations like him. But at the same time, he is not like them, seeing 'malice' as a thing that is simply Bad, rather than emotions overall being something he can really see. The Chemies, on the other hand, begin to first pity him, then act as incentive for him to question himself.]