FINALLY!

God we've been working on this chapter for a while.

Yeah, this is the other story that we got stuck on, and we finally got some good ideas for it, since, you know, fully original chapter.

Now, advance warning, this chapter does feature a cameo of a character from a whole other anime series, but it's just a cameo, so don't think too much about it.

Anyway, hope you enjoy the next chapter of Taiki and Ryuko's journey.

Days remaining: 91

"Okay...this town seems pretty...normal," Taiki mused as he looked up from the map. The new town they were in seemed to have an air of normalcy to it, the people were going about their day to day business...honestly it just seemed so...plain. A rather sizeable contrast to the previous town they were in.

"Well, the place is pretty big, so if any crazies are around, they're probably all scattered about." Ryuko said with a shrug.

"Well, good news then, at least in my opinion. I can sense a LOT of paranormal activity, and I'm POSITIVE it isn't from just one single Ganma or Parka, so we got our work cut out for ourselves here!" Yurusen added suddenly, popping up between the two of them.

"That's both good and bad," Taiki sighed. "Well...guess we might as well get to it. Question is...where do we start?"

"How about some cafe or something where people like to hang out?" Ryuko suggested. "It worked with the ramen shop, it could work again."

"Fair point. Now we just need to find one such place," Taiki mused as they went into town. The next problem: They were spoiled for choice. Like any good town, there were plenty of hangout spots. Unfortunately, with there being so many...it was hard to choose which they'd use.

Eventually they settled on one randomly, and listened around.

Most of the rumors they heard seemed to be about typical teenage gossip and the like, and of course people praising Revocs, and it seemed like it would be a bust, until finally, they struck gold.

"Did you hear those weird rumors? About the university being haunted?"

The two looked at each other, before nodding as they listened to the person talking, making note of the university they were talking about so they could go and check it out.

As it turned out, the university in question was one of the main universities of the town, and rather old too it seemed. When they found said location…

"...odd architecture. You'd think we were in Europe or something," Taiki couldn't help but comment at the rather british looking campus.

"Well...at least it made it easy to find," Ryuko shrugged, before the two walked in. The place seemed nice enough, a generally good feel about it and plenty of students going about their day and working to their graduation. "Now...how do we ask?"

"Yeah...can't really ask them straight about their supposedly haunted campus…" Taiki mused...before turning and walking to...the janitor?

"Good day. Is there something you need?" the janitor said in a friendly tone. "I don't believe I've seen you before. Are you new?" he asked.

"Something like that," Taiki said with a smile. "I'm actually hoping you could tell me about some rumors I heard."

"Oh, you mean the ghosts?" the man asked.

"Those are the ones," Taiki nodded.

"Well...not much to say. I've seen the ghost here and there, but it don't bother anyone. Heck, if it weren't for the fact I saw it in a windless hall, I'd have sworn it looked like some hoodie that got caught in the wind," he said with a chuckle.

Taiki couldn't help but chuckle "So, a ghost who minds his own business huh? Pretty interesting."

"It's also definitely a Luminary." Yurusen whispered into Ryuko's ear, making her nod slightly.

"So...out of curiosity, where DOES the ghost show up?" Taiki asked.

"You know, when I went on this trip, I was expecting a lot of things. Acting like some idiot ghost hunter like on tv...not one of those things," Ryuko commented, as they were now currently at the campus after dark. It had taken some sneaking and roof hopping, but they'd managed to get into the campus in search of the Luminary that was haunting it.

"You're not the only one," Taiki sighed as they went searching for the art wing. Apparently the Luminary that was here liked to frequent that part of the campus.

"You're literally a ghost though." Yurusen added with a snicker.

"I don't need you to remind me." he noted in deadpan. "Anyway, let's hope whoever it is, they're easy to talk to."

"Hope who's easy to talk to?"

"The Luminary we're looking for obviously… wait… Ryuko, Yurusen… that wasn't either one of you was it?" Taiki asked after a moment.

"Nope." "Wasn't me."

Sighing out, Taiki turned around, and right behind them was a floating parka, pale green in color, with white and brown highlights, with paint palettes strapped to it's shoulders.

"Well...that was easy…" Ryuko blinked

"So uh...judging by the palette and everything...I'm guessing you're Leonardo Da Vinci, right?" Taiki guessed.

"The very same." Da Vinci said with a bow, before floating straight again "Might I ask why you are searching for me?"

"To make a long story short…" Musashi started as he came out of his eyecon "The creature that caused you to appear here is our enemy, and his kind hunts down those of our kind to become more powerful."

"I see…" Da Vinci mused. "I believe you. I could feel the sinister intent of that creature and I saw as the person it used to summon me died in the process. Though...why are you seeking me as well?" he asked.

"Well...simply put, I was killed, and promised that if I can gather 15 specific Luminaries...I'd be able to come back to life," Taiki admitted. "Plus I just can't let the Ganma use people for their own ends."

Da Vinci looked at him intently for a moment...before nodding slowly. "I see...yes, that is an understandable reason, and I don't see any lies in your eyes," he mused. "So then, what happens now?"

"Well, you're not one of the Luminaries that can help restore him, but we'd still like you to come with us so we can make sure the Ganma don't find you." Ryuko explained.

"Well...I don't have any real issues with that," Da Vinci said. "However, I'd still like to stay here for a bit longer," he said.

"Well...we're not rushing you," Taiki said, before turning to Yurusen. "There are other signatures here, right?" he checked.

"Yep! Looks like we're gonna be here for a while," Yurusen confirmed.

"Alright then. We'll go search for others first. We'll come back after we finish our investigations, then you can give us your answer then. Is that okay?" Taiki asked.

"That's perfectly reasonable. Thank you." Da Vinci said with a nod.

"Alright then. We'll come back another time," Taiki nodded. "For now...we might as well see what else we can find."

"Sense anything, Yurusen?" Ryuko asked the cycloptic spirit.

"Hm...okay...that's a surprise," Yurusen frowned.

"What's wrong?" Taiki asked.

"I'm sensing a Ganma...and it's pretty close," she said.

"Is it the one who summoned Da Vinci?" Taiki asked.

"No, while I didn't see who did it, while I was escaping, I lost track of it, and by chance, I saw it being destroyed. I don't know by who, but whoever it was, I managed to escape them as well," Da Vinci said.

Taiki blinked in surprise at that "What did they look like?"

Da Vinci hummed in thought "The best way I would describe them is… a blue demon."

"A blue demon?" Taiki repeated with a confused frown "I see…"

"That...sounds encouraging," Ryuko said sarcastically. "What's next? Its someone who has powers like Taiki?"

"...please don't tempt the universe," Taiki groaned. Someone having powers like his...would be REALLY bad. "At any rate, if another Ganma is around, we'd better deal with it quick."

"Right. Lead the way, Yurusen," Ryuko said, to which they were soon following the small ghost.

The group soon found themselves in what appeared to be a greenhouse...with someone standing before what appeared to be a large apple tree. It was a woman with long blue hair and a… generous figure, wearing a lab coat, with what appeared to be a simple dress underneath, and she seemed to be recording something.

The two blinked as they looked around, so far nothing. However, it seemed they weren't as quiet as they thought, as the woman turned around and blinked. "Huh? I didn't think anyone else other than the janitor was here at this time, and you two certainly don't seem to be students here."

"Ah...sorry to intrude," Taiki apologized.

"We just… uh…" Ryuko trailed off, quickly trying to think of something "We were curious about this school. It's one of our options for later down the line." she said, shrugging with a feeble grin.

"Oh? Well, in that case, allow me to welcome you, my name is Aki Nijou, I'm the science teacher here." the woman introduced herself with a smile. "Though I also double as the nurse, staff is a bit tight this year."

"Nice to meet you. I'm Taiki Kujira, and this is Ryuko Matoi. For now the two of us are...I guess travelers would be right. We wanted to see the rest of Japan before we make our next big step," Taiki said.

"I see. Yes, it is good to broaden your horizons before making such a big decisions," Aki nodded in agreement. "I hope your travels will help you in making the right decision."

"Yeah, so do we," Ryuko nodded. "So...what are you doing?" she asked curiously.

"Well...I'm actually measuring the falling apples," Aki said, revealing she was holding a stopwatch.

"Why is that?" Taiki blinked.

"I'm doing some research on gravity. All the factors that go into the mechanic of an object falling. If I can figure out and catalog the various factors and formulate an optimal mix of fast and slow falling, this research could be of use in further experiments my boyfriend and I have planned," she said.

"That so? What kind of experiments?" Ryuko asked, honestly curious.

"Well, to put it simply, we're trying to find various ways motion can generate energy, and we have gravity as our main focus." Aki explained, deciding it was best to not go into the long and boring details since they were just kids.

"Well, sounds like it could do some good if you manage to get nice results." Taiki said with a grin.

"That's the plan, we actually planted this tree together a long while ago, back when we were students ourselves, and it's stayed here ever since, so we decided it would be perfect to observe its apples." she added, smiling fondly as she looked at the tree.

"Well then, I hope everything works out well for you and your boyfriend," Ryuko nodded with a smile, before the two bid her goodbye and continued on their search.

"...and I just realized who might just be the next possible medium…" Taiki gulped not long after.

"Huh?" Ryuko blinked...before it hit her. "...gravity...Isaac Newton…!"

"Right, now problem is...where IS the Ganma?" Taiki frowned.

Days remaining: 90

"One whole night...and nothing," Ryuko groaned as last night proved to be a rather...wasted...time. They spent the whole night searching and didn't find the Ganma, and Da Vinci was still intent on sticking around for now, so that was basically a night with nothing to show for it.

"Could be worse...not that I'm too keen about having used up 9 days already…" Taiki sighed. "Still...where the heck IS that Ganma?"

"Beats me, I'm surprised it hasn't done anything yet," Yurusen said with a shrug.

"Let's...just get something to eat first then we can figure it out," Ryuko sighed.

"You mean you'll get something to eat." Taiki corrected her with a sigh, making her wince as she patted his back, having forgotten he had no appetite anymore and couldn't even taste food.

"Sorry…" she groaned.

"Its...fine. It's...just not been easy," he sighed.

However, before they could actually go anywhere, the screaming started.

"What the-?!" both of them gasped in surprise, before rushing to the scene, just in time to see a statue in the middle of town teetering over the edge of it's pedestal, seemingly about to fall for no reason… except they could see the Ganma pushing it.

Said Ganma looked like his body was actually made out of springs, with arms and legs replaced with them, same for his stomach, while his head had several springs coming out of it like some sort of crazy hairdo, with a long, grey parka over his body, more springs hanging off the bottom trim.

"Okay...that's a pretty odd one," Taiki blinked, but didn't hesitate to summon his driver. "But doesn't make it any less dangerous," he added before activating his Eyecon and inserting it into the Driver. "Henshin!" he called out before pulling and pulling the handle, transforming into Ghost.

Using his levitation ability, he soon got up to where the Ganma was, and shot it with several shots from the GanGunSaber in Gun mode. "Hold it right there!"

"What the?!" the Ganma groaned. "Tch, are you here to get in my way?" he growled.

"What was your first clue?" Ghost deadpanned. "Now stop whatever it is you're doing!"

"No way! I'm not going to stop till I can get that energy for my prince!" the Ganma shot back, before jumping forward...and what a jump he had, as Ghost was caught off guard, and knocked in the face, landing on the ground.

"Well… that's annoying." Ghost said as he got back up with a groan "What does he mean by a prince though?" he wondered.

He ultimately decided not to think about it, when the Ganma came for him with another strike, which he quickly rolled out of. "Think later, fight now," he growled, before pulling out Musashi's Eyecon. "Musashi, lend me your power!" he called out, quickly switching to Musashi Damashii. Switching his weapon to dual sword mode, and charged forward. However, when he tried to strike the Ganma, it leaped out of the way easily.

"Nice try, but you can't catch me!" The Ganma laughed.

"It seems he's going to be a rather tricky enemy." Musashi said, some slight aggravation in his tone.

"You're telling me." Ghost said with a groan, before attempting to attack the Ganma again, only for it to simply continue jumping out of the way.

"Perhaps my power may work for this?" Edison's voice came.

"Worth a shot." Ghost said, before switching out the eyecons "Lend me your power Edison!" he said before the Musashi parka disappeared and the Edison parka dropped onto him, switching his weapon back to gun mode and starting to shoot electrically charged bullets at the Ganma… whom simply leaned his body out of the way.

"Hold still dammit!" Ghost shouted, getting frustrated as the Ganma evaded everything he tried.

"Nope, but I got more important things to deal with, so I'll be seeing ya hopefully never!" the Ganma laughed, before using its springing ability to jump away and soon vanished into the buildings.

Ghost just stood there for a good moment, until "Are you fucking kidding me?!" he shouted in annoyance "Just like that?! The jerk runs away?!"

"It seems some Ganma are not interested in fighting per say," Edison mused. "Let's just be glad this one was one of them for now."

"Yeah, you're right. Let's focus on what we can for now," Ghost nodded with a sigh, before going back to where Ryuko was. She couldn't actually join in because there were other people around, and the last thing they needed was people thinking her crazy attacking 'thin air'.

"How'd it go?" Ryuko asked, having only seen rough bits of the fight.

"Not so great. Aside from literally not being able to hit it, it ran off by itself...though it DID say something about a 'prince'," Ghost sighed, before quickly reverting to Taiki.

"A prince? So the Ganma have some kind of royalty?" Ryuko mused.

"Looks like it. And if they have a prince they probably have a king as well, question is, why are they invading our world?" Taiki wondered.

"Heck if I know," Ryuko shrugged. "Still...that's not really comforting to know that these things are organized," she frowned.

"Well...nothing we can actually do about it right now. Let's try and figure out what that Ganma was doing and who its affecting," Taiki mused.

"Well, it was making something try to fall, so… maybe it was that Aki woman from last night," Yurusen suggested, suddenly popping up.

"I was thinking that too. Guess we should check on her," Taiki nodded with a frown.

"...okay...she seems normal," Ryuko frowned as the two of them were back at the campus and saw the woman, collecting data the same as last night.

"...and she's really hard at work," Taiki mused. "Gotta respect her dedication though."

"Well...guess we were barking up the wrong tree," Ryuko sighed, as they turned to leave. However, as they were passing a few students, they overheard something that caught their attention.

"I'm getting worried about Ms. Nijou," one of them mused.

"Yeah, hasn't she been spending WAY too much time in there lately? Feels like all she cares about is recording that data. She's even had to be dragged to meals just to eat," another nodded.

Ryuko and Taiki both paused at that, before looking at each other, and sighing "Oh goddammit…" they groaned. With that they turned around, and ran back to the greenhouse...only to find it empty. "...shit."

"If you're looking for the woman who was here, she's already left," came a familiar voice, to which they turned and saw Da Vinci floating down. "I sensed something strange, and arrived to see her acting like a woman possessed, and that creature hovering around her. She suddenly started muttering about gathering more data, and ran off with a crazed look, that creature following her," he explained.

"Shit, we gotta hurry." Ryuko said urgently.

"Right." Taiki nodded, before turning to the spirit of Da Vinci "Leonardo, would you please help us?"

Da Vinci's spirit closed his eyes, before opening them after a few moments, nodding "Of course, I think my abilities may be able to help. I just hope we won't be too late." he said, Taiki smiling as he made the driver appear around his waist, before Da Vinci flew into it, creating a new eyecon, one that was lime green in color, featuring the letters LV over an image of Da Vinci's famous anatomical sketch, albeit as a green silhouette, and beneath that was the name DA VINCI.

"Okay, so she ran off wanting to get more data...on things falling…" Ryuko frowned, before gulping when she realized the implications.

"They're gonna make things fall. All sorts of things just so she can record the data, and I doubt she's fully aware of what she's doing," Taiki nodded with a frown.

"Well...if there's ANYTHING that might be good from that, they can't be too hard to find," Ryuko frowned as they ran out of the building. They didn't have any time to lose.

Ryuko's words proved to be quite true, as it wasn't long before they found a small trail of destruction. Stuff tipping over, sections of buildings breaking off, and even a car going off a highway (though thankfully the passengers managed to get out before it tipped over and fell.)

"Damn...it REALLY puts into perspective how those Ganma can twist even the best of intentions to something awful," Taiki growled.

The two didn't waste time, following the trail of destruction, and soon saw a statue fall over and break...with Aki scribbling away not too far away, muttering something under her breath.

"Ok so… do we talk to her first or…?" Ryuko asked unsure.

"Best to try and get the Ganma away from her." Taiki said, summoning the driver once again and pulling out his new eyecon "Lend me your power Da Vinci." he said, before inserting the eyecon and closing the lid, earning the usual jingle as the parka flew out "Henshin!" and then he pulled and pushed the lever, causing the eyecon to change, showing the face now, as the armor formed on his body and the parka deposited itself on his shoulders "KAIGAN: DA VINCI! ISSAIGASSAI! CHO TENSAI!" and the faceplate slid up along with the horn, the same as was on the eyecon.

Not wasting time, he surged forward, a brush appearing in his hand, before with a flourish, he sent a stream of ink which caught the Ganma by surprise, allowing him to kick him away. "That's enough from you!" he growled.

"You again?! Stop getting in my way!" the Ganma growled.

"Only when you stop using Ms. Nijou's dreams to further your own!" Ghost shot back.

"What's wrong with that?! She gets what she wants and I get what I want, everyone wins!" the Ganma countered, shooting out his fist which stretched and narrowly missed Ghost.

"Not if she gets killed in the process!" Ghost countered, using the brush to create projectiles and throwing them at the Ganma, who evaded.

"I don't have time for you! I've got the biggest fish to fry!" the Ganma growled, before throwing several more Eyecons which broke and turned into Commandos. "Go play with these guys first!" the Ganma laughed, before jumping away.

"Dammit, wait!" Ghost shouted, but the Commandos soon rushed him, forcing him back.

With the Ganma gone, Ryuko noticed that Aki seemed rather dazed, running to her and helping her stand "Ms. Nijou, are you alright?"

"Oh… what… what was I doing?" Aki muttered, rubbing her forehead.

Ryuko didn't get to try more though, before she felt herself get shoved away, looking back to see the Ganma standing next to Aki.

"It's time for the final experiment." he whispered into her ear, and just like that, Aki gained an intense look on her face.

"Yes… the final experiment…" she trailed off, before she started running.

"Hey, hold up!" Ryuko shouted, trying to catch her, but the woman was surprisingly fast "Dammit… how does she run with those huge things?!" she asked incredulously, before chasing after them.

While that was happening…

"Take this!" Ghost shouted, spinning around and creating waves of ink which hit and destroyed several Commandos. "Okay, this is taking too long!" he growled, before pulling the lever.

"DAI KAIGAN! DA VINCI: OMEGA DRIVE!"

The paintbrush became multi colored, before Ghost began painting like crazy. "Great Artistic Experiment!" he called out as the waves of paint trapped all he Commandos, before with one final flourish, the Ganma were suddenly slammed into a canvas that appeared and became part of a scenery painting...which looked rather messy. "No no, this just won't do," Ghost sighed, before the painting fell over and exploded.

"We'd better hurry. I think I noticed them going back to the university," Da Vinci urged.

"Right, let's go!" Ghost nodded.

Ahead of him, Ryuko reached the university just a minute behind Aki, following her through the halls, till coming back out near the greenhouse, her eyes growing wide in realisation as she ran in, seeing Aki about to swing an axe onto the apple tree with a mad look in her eyes, before she tackled her to the ground, getting the axe away at the same time "What are you doing?!"

"This is the last bit of data I need! With this we can get the final piece of data and the next step can begin!" Aki shouted back, her eyes practically glowing with madness.

"What about your boyfriend?! Isn't he going to be back soon?! What would he think if he saw the tree you two planted together chopped down?!" Ryuko shouted, hoping that would get through to the woman.

"Don't listen to her. She's trying to-" the Ganma whispered, but stopped short when a blast of ink sealed his mouth shut, sending him flying back.

"Do us a favor and shut up," Ghost said flatly.

THAT had an effect, as Aki stopped. "He...he...he wouldn't want this…" she started to realize.

"Then stop it already! Don't give up what's really important for something you can do in time!" Ryuko shouted.

"That...that's right...we wanted to use this to help the world...to make it better...that's what science and knowledge is SUPPOSED to do!" she realized, before the madness seemed to leave her, and her body glowed...along with the apple tree.

"Here it comes!" Yurusen shouted in excitement.

"Got it!" Ghost nodded before forming the seal, and the light from the tree collected and formed a new Parka.

This parka was blue in color, with silver shoulders, and attached to to said shoulders wear a pair of large, spherical gauntlets, the left one having a ring shape around it, a pair of glowing blue eyes within the dark hood "My… how curious… I do believe I was supposed to be dead."

"Sorry Mr. Newton, but we don't have that much time to explain, to make a long story short, that monster over there is trying to use you for evil, while we're trying to protect you. There's a whole lot more, but that's the short version." Ghost said quickly.

"I… see…" Newton said slowly, humming as he looked around the greenhouse "Well… I think I would much prefer to be under your protection young man."

"Perfect, just come in here." Ghost said, putting a hand beneath the eyehole of his driver, Newton's parka flying into it a moment later, forming a blue eyecon that depicted an apple falling with an arrow pointing downwards above it on the top portion, with the number 04 over it, and the name NEWTON underneath.

"You are SERIOUSLY getting on my nerves!" The Ganma roared after ripping the ink off. "I am going to put you out of my misery if its the last thing I do!"

"Bring it!" Ghost glared. "Newton, lend me your power!" he called out as he switched out Da Vinci's Eyecon with Newton's, summoning the new parka as he pulled and pushed the lever quickly, the parka depositing itself on his shoulders "KAIGAN: NEWTON! RINGO GA RAKKA! HIKIYOSE MAKKA~!" and the face plate slid up, his hands covered with the large gauntlets.

"Give me those Eyecons!" the Ganma shouted...before he stopped in mid-air. "Huh?"

"Gravity can be a real harsh mistress sometimes," Ghost chuckled as the Ganma was caught in a wave from the gloves, stopping it in mid-air. "But in this case, I call it karma," he added, before the Ganma was suddenly launched back.

"Tch. Not bad, but you'll never catch me!" the Ganma shouted as he started jumping all over around.

"Sorry, but I'm not in the mood for these games," Ghost growled, before pulling the lever thanks to the power of the gauntlets.

"DAI KAIGAN! NEWTON: OMEGA DRIVE!"

"Great Graviton Press!" Ghost called out, crossing his arms, and catching the Ganma in the field and pressing him down.

"This...is...heavy!" he gasped, his springy body pressing down but able to withstand it. "You're...wasting...your...time…! I...can...hold...this!"

"I noticed. Too bad for you, that's not what I was going for. Have a nice trip though," Ghost smirked, as he increased the pressure till the Ganma was nearly flat...then abruptly stopped.

"Yaaaaaaa-hoo-hoo-hoo-hooey!" was all that was heard from the Ganma as he flew up into the sky… becoming nothing but a twinkle.

"...you think he's gonna come down anytime soon?" Yurusen asked as she popped up next to him.

"...how much mass DOES a Ganma have and can they just phase through anything?" Ghost asked.

"Not much, they ARE somewhat like spirits," Yurusen shrugged. "Ooooh, I get ya. Guess that Ganma is going to the moon," she laughed.

"Pretty much, yeah," Ghost nodded.

Meanwhile…

"Okay, nothing seems strange, all systems are normal," a random astronaut said from within the station they were in. Idly looking out of the window, they blinked when they could have sworn they saw something fly by, but the instruments didn't pick anything up and it was just a moment, so with a shrug they went back to work.

"Thank you again for helping me come to my senses, I honestly don't know what came over me." Aki said with a sigh as she thanked the two once more.

"We were happy to help Ms. Nijou. Hope things turn out well for you." Taiki said with a smile.

"Who knows maybe your boyfriend will be interested in the weird data you found without him." Ryuko added with a laugh.

Aki laughed nervously "Yes… I certainly hope so."

And there!

So, what did you all think?

First off, another double eyecon chapter, this time we get Da Vinci and Newton.

As well, cameo from Maken Ki in the form of Aki Nijou, aka miss massive milk tanks.

We mostly just decided that since, hey, we used Santa-chan from W last time, what's stopping us from pulling a cameo from a whole other franchise.

But yeah, don't worry people, she's just a cameo, though maybe she'll get some appearances again later on, she won't be part of the main cast at all.

Anyway, before we go, time for the eyecon count!

Ghost: Ore, Musashi, Galileo, Edison, Santa Claus, Robin Hood, Da Vinci, Newton

And there we go people, hope to see you all next time!