Novel: Kamen Rider Ex-Aid: ~Mighty Novel X~

is a novel based off Kamen Rider Ex-Aid written by the series' head writer Yuya Takahashi.
==Synopsis==
Under the title of Mighty Novel X, this story promises that "The past and future of that person will be revealed!"
==Continuity and Placement==
The events of the novel take place three years after Kamen Rider Ex-Aid Trilogy: Another Ending - Genm vs. Lazer and before Kamen Rider Genms -The Presidents-.
==Plot==
Emu Hojo receives an unidentified package, containing a Gashat called "Mighty Novel X". Emu plays the Gashat and gets infected by a new Bugster Virus. Parado, who shares the same mind and soul as Emu, gets infected as well. The Bugster Virus materializes, and Emu transforms into Action Gamer Level 2 and fights it. While fighting, the Bugster calls himself "Kurotopi", revealing himself to be Kuroto Dan.
Kuroto explains that Mighty Novel X is a fictional adventure game. Upon reaching a "novel spot", an event will occur, and selecting a particular branch will lead to different outcomes. Emu, determined to complete the game and get rid of his and Parado's game diseases, chooses to start the game. 
Emu and Poppy enter the game, and they get teleported to a town where Emu had lived in his early years. Emu finds the novel spot by intuition and triggers the event as he was wearing the Gamer Driver. Emu and Poppy revisit Emu's old home, and Emu meets his child-self. His child-self asks, "What is your dream?" Emu and Poppy are presented with three different choices, "Doctor", "Professional Player" and "Other". Emu chooses 'Doctor" and recalls the day he was saved by a doctor after being in a car accident. After that incident, he became inspired to become a doctor... and receives a GAME OVER. Emu disappears from the Game World, into a world of death, trapped in pitch-black darkness as he slowly loses consciousness.
This chapter starts from Poppy's perspective.
Poppy is shocked by the disappearance of Emu and returns to CR upon returning from the Game World. In CR, Hiiro Kagami and Kiriya Kujo are discussing the Mighty Novel X game. They point out that Parado, who was separated from Emu, should not have been infected by the virus. Soon, they understand that the reason that Parado will become infected is due to a psychological factor. This game's illness is psychogenic, and with the heart of Emu being infected, Parado's which binds with it is also infected.
Poppy decides to play the game and save Emu. She remembers the relationship between Emu and Kuroto and uses the Bugvisor II to enter Mighty Novel X. Poppy returns to the scene where the three choices are presented, and chooses "Professional Player". Poppy receives a GAME CLEAR, however, a brainwashed Emu appears, acknowledging Poppy as an enemy and transforms into Maximum Gamer Level 99. Poppy transforms as well but is easily outmatched by Ex-Aid. During the fight, Kuroto appears, and leaves a message, quoting "Enjoy the moment! That very day will change the fate of Emu!" Brave and Snipe appear just in time to save Poppy from being defeated and asks her to leave the Game World.
After Poppy returns to the real world, she reenters the game world and teleports to the scene where Emu was caught in the car accident. She meets her child-self and is presented by a different three choices. She chooses the wrong option and receives a GAME OVER and loses consciousness.
The following chapters follow Hiiro's, Taiga's, and Kiriya's perspectives.
Hiiro, Taiga, and Kiriya enter the world of Mighty Novel X respectively, with each of them entering a scene of Emu’s past. Hiiro meets Emu, who had just recovered from his car accident, Taiga witnesses Emu defeating Nico Saiba in a gaming tournament back in 2010, and Kiriya witnesses Emu being abducted by the Next Genome Institute, hired by Kuroto to remove the now-mature Bugster Virus from Emu's body. There, they are given a different set of choices, with each outcome likely resulting in a GAME CLEAR.
In Kiriya's game world, he meets the brainwashed Emu who transforms into Maximum Gamer Level 99 and deploys invincible Ride-Players to fight Kiriya who transforms into Lazer. Even with Hiiro's and Taiga's interference as Brave and Snipe to fight against Ex-Aid, they are unable to defeat the Ride-Players given their invincibility. Finally, the three Kamen Riders attack Emu simultaneously and manage to create a three-second time gap. They transform back to their human forms and leave the Game World.
This chapter follows Parado's perspective.
Parado enters the Game World but does not get teleported to a scene of Emu's past, but instead gets teleported to a library that records the game's settings. At the library, he meets the trapped Poppy and brainwashed Emu, transforming into Perfect Knock Out Gamer Level 99 to fight the invincible Ride-Players. Parado manages to unplug Emu's Maximum Mighty X and reprograms him, reverting the brainwashing process. 
Kuroto appears and points out that Mighty Novel X is a story of Emu's life. By completing the game, it technically reaches the end of Emu's life. It also points out that, even with Emu's everlasting passion for saving the sick, buried deep in his heart, he keeps a grave secret - his father.
Kuroto says, "Why did your father agree to hand over your body to me? Why would your father choose to be heartless and ignore you? There is only one answer: Your father is the first person to create a Bugster!"
In reality, Emu's father, Kiyonaga Hojo was the culprit of the Bugster Virus. Originally the president of a medical equipment company, in order to avoid the events of Y2K from affecting his medical equipment, he used his computer to carry out simulation calculations with several Bugster data, resulting in the birth of the Bugster Virus. Later, he was invited by Masamune Dan to develop medical equipment capable of fighting the Bugster virus. But later on, Masamune will threaten to expose the fact that Kiyonaga was the culprit behind the virus if Kiyonaga would not comply and assist the development of the medical equipment, as Masamune's true purpose was to create the world's first ever game "Kamen Rider Chronicle". Unwillingly, Kiyonaga hands over his son to Kuroto, where they begin the Bugster separation surgery.
Kiyonaga is forced to bury all that has happened in the dark, requiring him to break off all connections from the Dan family, not knowing each other and interfering in each other's businesses. Soon, he forgets everything about the Bugster virus and even his son, leaving him in the process. 
After hearing all of this, Emu's becomes extremely agitated and angered. Suddenly, Kuroto's body reverts into a human form, dressed in his villain self. Kuroto reveals that his plan to anger Emu was part of his plan to resurrect himself, and calls himself "Kuroto Dan II". Emu asks Kuroto why did he not take any action during the three year period. Kuroto replies that, at the press conference where Emu addresses the victims of Kamen Rider Chronicle and Zero Day, upon hearing his name, knew he was given a three-year grace period. After wandering around on his own, he knew it was finally time to be back. He then mocks Emu's capability of becoming a doctor. 
This chapter follows Kuroto Dan's perspective.
Kuroto Dan II is actually a backup made by God Maximum Mighty X, and Mighty Novel X is a game born from it. Upon completing Mighty Novel X, Kuroto Dan will be fully resurrected. Kuroto and Kiyonaga had met, revealing that they had stored the Bugster Virus in medical equipment developed by companies across the country. Zero Day will have an imminent relapse, and there is only one way to stop it, and that is for Emu to end his life by completing Mighty Novel X. Frustrated and wanting to end things, Kiyonaga grabs the Gamer Driver used by Kagenari Nagumo... 
Final chapter follows Emu Hojo's perspective.
At 12.00 pm, all medical equipment will be glitched and the reoccurrence of Zero Day will happen.
Emu waits for Kuroto at a park near the hospital, as he is given the opportunity and location to determine the future of Mighty Novel X, Kuroto must appear as well. Emu finally meets Kuroto, who has already transformed into Action Gamer Level 2. Emu transforms into Action Gamer Level 2 and the both of them engage in a series of fights. Emu who has fought against Kuroto many times realizes that he is not actually fighting him. "Kuroto" exclaims, "The Bugster Virus was brought into this world by me, and I'll threaten many lives with it!"
"Kuroto" transfigures, and reveals himself to be Kiyonaga. He explains his true desire to defeat Emu and end everything, in doing so, apologizes and admits the truth of his wrongdoings in a lengthy, emotion-fuelled conversation. The real Kuroto Dan II appears, due to Kiyonaga halting the continuation of the game. Kuroto then uses the Bugvisor II to eliminate Kiyonaga. 
Kuroto and Emu finally fight, transforming into Genm and Ex-Aid Action Gamer Level 2s. The two Gamer Riders used Energy Items in the Game World to fight fiercely, After a while, both riders were seemingly unscathed, but Genm uses the last of the energy items, causing the ground to eject magma, resulting in a violent attack. Ex-Aid responds by using various energy items, and a randomizing energy item. The randomizing effect is "reversal", and causes the magma attack to rebound on Genm, causing more damage. Close to victory, Genm unplugs Ex-Aid's Maximum Mighty X, leaving him unable to transform into Hyper Muteki. 
Genm transforms into God Maximum Gamer Level Billion and launches a cosmic chronicle at Mars, crashing it on Ex-Aid. Thought to have suffered a heavy damage, Ex-Aid emerges unharmed, in his Level 2 form. He proclaims that, with invincibility, it would be nearly impossible to suffer a defeat at the hands of others, but one should never underestimate someone else's powers. It could take five years, ten years or even a lifetime to complete the game, but everyone has a time limit. 
Emu takes out the Mighty Novel X Gashat and attempts to transform, but to no avail. It turns out, that the Gashat does not work on the Gamer Driver as it does not carry a game function, and the ability to Level Up. In a last-ditch effort, Emu combines with Parado, merging Parado's virus into his own genetic genes, reversing it onto the Gashat, successfully activating it. Emu transforms into Novel Action Gamer X. 
Statistically, Ex-Aid’s Level X is weaker than Genm’s Level Billion, but the Novel Gamer has the ability to overwrite reality, such as implementing his own speech to determine the damage received from Genm’s attacks such as, "Your attack won't hit me", "Eat my attack" and "I feel pain". Gaining the upper hand, Ex-Aid finishes Genm with a Novel Critical Destiny. Suffering defeat at the hands of Emu, Kuroto disintegrates into thin air.
At the CR, Emu promises to treat Kuroto back to health, depending on the future to decide Kuroto's eventual return. All riders receive a GAME CLEAR!.
Epilogue
On the relapse of Zero Day, which was halted due to the defeat of Genm, everybody went to the hospital to have .
Kuroto is revealed to be alive, dwelling in the world of the Proto Mighty Action X Origin Gashat. There, after his memories merged with memories of Kurotopi, he talks about Emu, learning about his self-sacrificing fearless attitude, as well as his new form. He remarks that the form's ability to predict the future simulates his talents and will be used in future game creations.
The novel ends, with a message to all readers, "ENJOY THE GAME. TILL NEXT TIME"
==Characters==
===Kamen Riders===
Kamen Rider Ex-Aid 	Emu Hojo
Kamen Rider Genm 	Kiyonaga Hojo ► Kurotopi
Kamen Rider Brave 	Hiiro Kagami
Kamen Rider Snipe 	Taiga Hanaya
Kamen Rider Lazer 	Kiriya Kujo
Kamen Rider Para-DX	Parado
Kamen Rider Poppy 	Poppy Pipopapo/Asuna Karino
Ride-Player 	NPCs
===Other Characters===
*Nico Saiba
*Saiko Yaotome
*Sakurako Dan
*Masamune Dan
==Notes==
*Count at novel end
**Gashats in Ex-Aid's possession: Mighty Action X, Gekitotsu Robots, Shakariki Sports, Bakusou Bike, Mighty Brothers XX, Maximum Mighty X, Hyper Muteki, Mighty Creator VRX, Knock Out Fighter 2, Mighty Novel X
**Gashats in Brave's possession: Taddle Quest, DoReMiFa Beat, Drago Knight Hunter Z, Gashat Gear Dual β, Taddle Legacy
**Gashats in Snipe's possession: Bang Bang Shooting, Jet Combat, Gashat Gear Dual β, Kamen Rider Chronicle, Bang Bang Tank
**Gashats in Lazer Turbo's possession: Bakusou Bike, Giri Giri Chambara, Proto Jet Combat, Proto Shakariki Sports, Proto Taddle Quest, Proto Bang Bang Shooting, Proto Bakusou Bike, Proto Gekitotsu Robots, Proto DoReMiFa Beat, Proto Giri Giri Chambara, Proto Drago Knight Hunter Z,
**Gashats in Genm's possession: Proto Mighty Action X Origin, Dangerous Zombie, Proto Mighty Action X, God Maximum Mighty X
**Gashats in Para-DX's possession: Gashat Gear Dual
**Gashats in Poppy's possession: Toki Meki Crisis
**Unknown owner: Ju Ju Burger, Doctor Mighty XX, Gashat Gear Dual Another, Hurricane Ninja
**Kuroto Dan's Life Points remaining: ∞
*The story of this novel takes place in 2023.
*It is the first official novel that shows a dark counterpart Kamen Rider on the cover.
*Theoretically, a hit from a Cosmic Chronicle results in a GAME OVER (When Genm beat Cronus by doing the exact same thing). However, Ex-Aid did not receive any damage.
Category:Kamen Rider Manga & Books
Category:Novels