-9-

"I think you're a liar, Elkie."

Someone moves in front of me, blocking my path and cornering me in the hallway. Of course, this hallway leads to the elevator, which is so inconvenient for me right now. I do not want to be blocked in here because someone thinks I'm lying, which I know I am doing.

I look up at Hiiro's face, which looks so cold right now and full of judgment. His eyes are narrowing right now, looking really crossed. How far can he narrow those eyes of his? 

"What makes you think that horrible kind of thing? You can't just go around tossing words that are horrible at me, Hiiro. And I am not a liar," I ask him, not cracking. I'm not going to admit that I'm a liar about everything I've pretty much said. That would be terrible to do to Emu and Parad. They think I'm wonderful since I'm from a made up world where Parad is a king. 

"You can't fool me. You made up your world where that Bugster is a ruler. You know too much about all of us." Is that his only proof? I came up with a reason for that and he should be able to believe me just based off that alone.

"Too much? That is what is making you question me? How is that even proof against me, Hiiro? Are you even hearing yourself right now?" I cross my arms over my chest and sigh heavily. He's so annoying!

"You know too much about me." He is right. I do know too much about him due to watching the show.

I look away. "I knew you in my world, Hiiro. Is that so hard for you to believe?" I look back at him. "Don't be like this right now, Hiiro. You know that Saki wouldn't approve of you tossing hurtful words at people like this." I am sorry, but I have no choice but to play the Saki card right now to get him off my back.

He closes his eyes, hands shaking a bit as they ball up. "Don't you say that ever again!" He greets his teeth, looking pained. "Don't."

"I'm sorry, Hiiro." Now I feel really bad for bringing her up just to get rid of him. "I know how much you love her and all and I shouldn't have brought her up. I'm really sorry for doing so." I feel like a huge jerk right now, but not as huge as a jerk as he is. He has no reason to be a jerk.

"How can you be sorry when you're always lying to everyone?" He opens his eyes, staring at me harshly. "You're making up stories for no reason at all. Why can't you be honest with the rest of us?"

"I am not making up any stories." Yes, I totally am. But it isn't like he has to know. "Hiiro, I wouldn't lie to you about my home world. You can trust me on that." Nope, he can't.

He turns away, probably not wanting to look at me any longer. "This isn't worth talking to you over. When you're ready to say that you're lying, I'll be here to tell you about how I was always right. You are also allowed to do whatever you want since you're an adult. I don't see why I'm wasting my time on something like this." Neither do I.

"Hiiro..." I sigh a little. "You know I'm not lying." I am, but who wants a Bugster to kill them? He's entertained thinking he's some great King of the world. 

"Hiiro, stop being mean to her right now!" 

SMACK!

"Ow!" Hiiro brings a hand to his head as Poppy appears next to him. She's looks really mad right now. "Why did you do that, Poppy?"

"Because you're being mean to her and bothering her over her past," Poppy tells him, looking at me. "How are you feeling right now? Did Hiiro upset you with his bad behavior? Should I tell his dad about how he is being?"

"You wouldn't dare." Hiiro turns to her, facing her fully. "Whatever, I don't need to worry about this. You're not here to defend her right now. You're here because something is going on that needs my attention." How does he know what is going on? I mean, he's not wrong.

"We have to help someone out today! He made us a new Gashat to use!" Poppy exclaims. 

"Jeju Burger is out?" I mutter out, uncrossing my arms.

"Did you say something?" Poppy asks, blinking. 

"Oh, nothing! Uh...I hope that Bugster never becomes a Kamen Rider!" I force a laugh out. Yeah, don't want them thinking that I'm weird. Hiiro already is doubting me and I don't need everyone else joining in on that.

"You're going to run errands for us while we handle our patient. Poppy, come with me while Elkie goes home and cleans herself up a bit. Then she can make me something sweet to snack on and clean some more," Hiiro says. Bossy!

"Hey!" I want to be really cool and have fun with the patient's treatment! 

"Do what I say. The Intern should be showing up soon to help us out. He's always running around and doing something with himself." Hiiro knows Emu so well. He is always doing something when he's not here in the CR. 

Well, I better go and clean. Not like I can get out of what that jerk face told me to do.

~.~

"I'm all fired up right now!" Parad exclaims as I peak out from behind a wall. He's transformed right now and it is kind of creepy.

He is indeed a Kamen Rider! How come I didn't notice this yet? Also, I'm in the middle of a battle field and kind of scared. I should have totally listened to Hiiro and gone to clean up things! But no, I had to come here since it seemed like fun to secretly follow them.

"Elkie?" Emu asks. He can see me? "What are you doing here? You should go and run right now and keep yourself safe!" Yeah, too late for that!

"The girl?" Kuroto asks. Great! Now he knows I'm here! "I should go and grab her. Thanks, Emu, for telling me that she is here."

"Oops...my bad." Emu is a total dork, but I forgive him. It isn't like he meant to tell him I was here at all. He just forgot that wasn't a good thing to bring up.

"You won't be doing that," Parad states. "I'm the one who is going to grab her." He moves up into Kuroto's transformed Zombie face. 

"Why should you grab her? Do you want to do something to her?" Kuroto questions, sounding ticked off. 

Parad laughs. "I have unfinished business with her," he answers simply. Nah, he just wants more of my stories and more coffee. Pretty sure he wants to have more coffee.

"Fine, whatever." Kuroto turns from him. "We need to finish this up and then we can focus on getting her."

"I agree." Parad nods and he lifts his hand up, moving it around. He's doing something with his hand. I think he's getting power-ups for himself. Yeah, he's totally doing that right now and I am not going to stop him. 

"Wow," I mutter out. This is really cool to see! How is he moving them around like that? Then again, this is a TV show for kids that I'm in and nothing is supposed to be actually happening because it is fictional. Somehow it is real now though.

"It is time to end this with a critical strike. What do you say, Elk?" Parad snickers, sounding amused. Why is he calling me that?

"Elk?" Taiga asks. Oh, I forgot Mr. Evil Doctor was here. My bad.

"Hey, how do you know her nickname?" Emu asks. "I didn't tell anyone that. Did any one of you do that?" He is getting so lost right now and it is just precious. He should really focus on the game right now, but I'm sure my being here is throwing things off from how they should typically flow.

"How can I not know that when I'm following her around to keep tabs on her?" Parad asks, laughing a little. He does something with his belt, activating his finisher and he moves towards them. Emu and Taiga go back, getting knocked out their transformation.

"Oh...my!" I gasp, covering my mouth with my hands. That was brutal and it happened so fast! I didn't see it properly because of the shock of it. 

I move out of my not so secret hiding spot as Parad cancels his transformation, ending it. "Parad!" I exclaim.

"It isn't safe for you," he says as something knocks me to the ground. I look up as my body throbs, in pain from what he just did. Did he just teleport over to me to stop me from getting closer to the battle field? "You should really watch yourself."

"No, Burgermon!" Hey, the patient is here still! I totally forgot about him too. My bad again.

I sit up a bit, my eyes going to the battle field as fire burns. Did Kuroto just blow up a Burger Bugster? I didn't personally know him, but he was a good Burger Bugster. He just wanted to be happy with the patient who I have no idea what to call. 

"He's...gone?" I can't believe that I just witnessed that! Why did Kuroto attack the Bugster? Isn't he supposed to be helping Parad and them?

"He killed him..." Parad sounds surprised. I don't think it was planned just based off his reaction just now.

"You didn't have to do that! He was harmless!" Emu shouts, getting off the ground as the flames clear up a bit. 

"Are you really going to favor one of those Bugsters? He infected someone and you care about him?" Kuroto asks, taunting Emu. "Maybe it has to do with your body."

"I got to go right now," Parad tells me suddenly and I turn to him.  He looks away from me, his face looking dim. He's not happy right now. "You need to get away right now so Kuroto doesn't catch you. I'll see you some other time."

"Do you-" 

"I can careless about you humans," he says, cutting me off. Ouch, that is harsh! "Bye." He vanishes, leaving me alone as his random pixel colors flash a bit. And he's gone now!

"Taiga!" And Taiga's buddy is here to assist him like always.

"Elkie, what was that? Parad got you out of the way of Genm's attack," Emu asks. I turn, facing him. He looks a bit rough right now due to Parad's attack on him. When did he get done with Kuroto?

"Where is Kuroto?" I am so lost right now. 

"I can't believe he helped you."

I shake my head. "I do not know what is going on right now. Uh...is that patient alright?" My concern shouldn't be on what is going on around me, but what is going on with the patient. This is a medical Kamen Rider show, not some typical kid's show. 

"Yes, he's alright." Emu nods and smiles. "He didn't get hurt and he's cured now. However, Kuroto killed Burgermon. I wish he didn't because he was harmless like Poppy. They should be allowed to live in peace."

I nod my head, forcing a smile onto my face. "Good, we should get back to the CR now." I look around us as the sky shines a bit from the sun. It is still bright out, so we still have things to do today. And I'm sure I'm going to get yelled out for not doing what I was supposed to.

"I will make sure Hiiro doesn't yell at you. Just say you accidentally bumped into us when Kuroto came after us to kill Burgermon. It'll sound less horrible if you say that," Emu tells me, advising me to lie. Is he even allowed to do that? "What?"

"Uh...thanks, Emu." My mind is kind of a mess right now. Everything just happened so fast. 

"No problem." 

He's so nice. I don't think it is a good idea to lie to Hiiro, but Emu is trying to protect me. So, I should do what he wants. I'm sure he has lied to Hiiro many times. Just like he got them to use that one Gashat to defeat Graphite. Good times, good times.

"Come on, let's get you back," Emu says, holding out his arm. "I'll hold onto you like this so you don't get taken from me suddenly. I can protect you with my Gashats."

"Oh, right." I forgot he could. "Yeah, let's do that."

I need to get back to the CR before Kuroto comes back for me. Parad didn't grab me like he was supposed to and I'm sure Kuroto isn't happy about that. I'm in serious trouble.

I take Emu's arm and step towards him. I'm safe with him as long as he can defend me. Hopefully, I'll be able to defend myself. But I don't want to be a Kamen Rider. I just want to learn self defense. 

"Are you hungry?" Emu asks, changing the subject. He doesn't want me to worry about Kuroto does he?

"A little."

"We'll grab food on the way then." 

Good idea.

A/n: Sorry for the delay! My weekend got a bit busy due to the furnace at my house being replaced and my dad popping down to see me and we went to my grandpa's house. So, this got delayed. I'll probably type up chapter 10 to make up for it tomorrow. I would do it now, but I don't want to make my hands ache since I just finished typing a chapter for a Nanowrimo story I've been doing (which also delays chapters). 

Thanks for waiting and enjoy!

PS: Sorry for any typos and what not. I sped through typing this to get it up. Again, thanks :D