- Beyond "R" refers to both "revenge" (Terui Ryu finding a bigger purpose in life than revenge) and "Ryu" (who goes beyond his own limits as Accel Trial).
- #35 is titled "The Rain that Became Known as a Monster"; #36 is "Shaking Off Everything".
Our story starts with Ryu at the Fuuto Wild Bird Sanctuary—not because he's on a case or anything, but because his late sister Haruko would drag him here all the time. In fact, he's remembering the time Haruko gave him a pendant as congratulations for getting promoted in the force. It's good to see some traditions being upheld, though. The Sanctuary's got a new bird enthusiast on the job, watching the birds as the kids come up to her and ask questions, while she...shoves one to the ground?
Ryu's definitely not going to stand and watch this time, as he stops the woman from leaving—and spots what appears to be a horribly mutated Memory port on her arm. Things gets sticky as she just screams out at him, slipping away whilst drawing everyone's attention to Ryu, including two of the biggest busybodies in Fuuto, Shotaro and Akiko. They have good reason to be here, though: a bunch of kids came to the Narumi Detective Agency, asking Shotaro to investigate what's wrong with the bird enthusiast Nagi Shimamoto—the very woman Ryu had encountered—who's gone into a horrific mood swing and has been avoiding everybody, the kids included. And naturally, Shotaro can't turn away from this. It would have helped if Ryu could have kept her there, though.
Meanwhile, the Sonozaki mansion is having one of its regular tension-filled mealtimes, particularly since Ryuubei is missing one of his special Dopant Memories, and Isaka is naturally under suspicion. However, Isaka isn't telling anything, only that he's about to finish something he's been working on for the last ten years. And he wants Saeko to be a part of it.
At the same time, our heroes find Nagi at last, where they find out that her change in attitude is more out of fear than anything, which actually gets worse when it rains. Turns out it was raining on the day her father died, from a freak lightning bolt no less, and the black-and-white monster responsible used a device to put that Memory Port on her arm. And by "rain", Nagi's talking about rain that starts up out of nowhere...precisely the form of rain that's over our heroes' heads right now. Ryu gets the idea to hand her the pendant Haruko gave him before, saying it'll keep her from harm as it did for him...before the cause of the freak showers reveals himself.
Dr. Isaka as Weather Dopant, of course, making his big entrance in what's becoming a rainstorm now. At least this time Ryu is on Nagi's side, and with Shotaro also on the scene, it's twice the Rider action as Accel and Double go to it immediately. Unfortunately, Weather has a gameplan this time—by channeling the rainstorm into something akin to a Personal Raincloud, he traps Double in a rapidly-rising pillar of water, before getting Accel with a concentrated lightning barrage. After shoving Akiko out of his way, Isaka's motive is revealed—it's a new Dopant Memory-farming experiment, this time concentrating on making the Dopant port more compatible instead, channeling sheer fear to make it spread across the body. Which may be necessary, as the Dopant Memory that Dr, Isaka did steal from Ryuubei after all is an odd little contraption with huge wings, requiring special attention. That, and Weather wants to relish showing Accel, now reverted to Terui Ryu from the damage, the sheer extent to which he has failed. Double only gets free when the Xtreme Memory pops up, letting him break out the waterspout as CycloneJokerXtreme, but Weather departs, having already won this round. Nagi gets up and runs away from them again—not from fear this time, but sheer disappointment in Ryu.
Back at the Agency, our heroes do a bit of digging about the winged Dopant Memory. Apparently, Nagi was handpicked by Isaka for the compatibility with the Quetzalcoatlus Memory, which is why the cruel doctor had killed her own father in front of her. Isaka intends to cultivate this new Memory from Nagi, just like he had with Lily Shirogane and the Invisible Memory—but the port's not complete yet, and thus Nagi hasn't had the thing inserted proper. Ryu decides that for one he's taking matters into his own hands and storms off, with Akiko trying to follow. At the same time, Dr. Isaka, in a dark corner of the Sonozaki mansion with Saeko, explains a little about how he got his start: obsessed with the human condition, Isaka got into medical science, but fell on hard times as he couldn't get what he wanted out of it. Until he witnessed for himself, the Terror Dopant on a rampage as it took down several people at once with his Nightmare Fuel. Except it had a different effect on Dr. Isaka—not sheer fear, but sheer awe. And in that awe, he promised himself that he would be able to invoke that kind of fear someday.
Ryu, with Akiko tagging along, finally reaches the very location where he'd met Shroud a few times—and sure enough, she's there. He demands greater power from her, and she turns him down to his face—as Ryu (ignoring the events of previous episodes) has somehow forgotten what his revenge is about. But he's not taking that from her or anyone, and she agrees eventually—but he has to follow her. At the same time, Shotaro acts on his own and finds Nagi back at the bird park, reasoning that he's got a better shot than Ryu at making her come round—and it works. Upon learning that Ryu lost his family to the Weather Dopant, just like she had, Nagi now fears for his safety as much as her own—but Shotaro tells her that real men gain strength from the people around them, and purpose from the people they protect. Just a little something Soukichi passed on to him...and now to her.
They are rudely interrupted as the birds are suddenly roused into a panic, and Dr. Isaka shows himself yet again. Yes, his plan to farm the girl and her Dopant port is still underway, and he's here to execute the next phase: he's reproduced a circuitboard based on the Quetzalcoatlus Memory in order to duplicate its effects, while taking out all the safeguards so it'll take effect immediately on anyone who's even marginally compatible. For example, one of the birds Nagi loves so much. Simply chucking the winged circuitboard at an unsuspecting parrot causes it to mutate and grow, into the massive Quetzalcoatlus Dopant! A creature with a wingspan of nearly 50 feet, a triple-jawed beak and a screech meant to wet the pants of lesser people, it immediately grabs Nagi and takes to the skies. There's no time to waste as Shotaro immediately goes into Double, takes the Machine HardBoilder and gives chase.
Without any way to actually reach the airborne creature, Double summons RevolGarry to switch to the HardTurbular configuration...but for some reason, the Gunner-A is already filling the empty slot, seemingly eager to help. Going with Shotaro's gut, Double locks the Machine section to the Gunner drone to form Machine HardGunner, allowing him to make a long-range shot that hits the creature and allows him to lasso Nagi to safety. The Xtreme Memory shows up out of nowhere again, allowing Double to go into CycloneJokerXtreme, and try out a new move with Gunner-A—by using the Prism Bicker to take a direct shot from Gunner, he's able to ride the shield like a hoverboard and execute a Bicker Charge Break on the flying creature (which leaves the parrot flying away, none the worse for wear). Unfortunately, this involves leaving Nagi alone for far too long, and Isaka gets his hands on her anyway...and realises that the Memory port didn't growing like he had expected it to. Demanding that Nagi tell him what is reinforcing her heart, Weather just barely slips away when Double pulls a Bicker Illusion on him.
Back at Narumi Detective Agency, our heroes figure out that Ryu having her back actually did help Nagi with the Memory port business, preventing it from developing as Isaka had planned on. Which is when Nagi realizes that the pendant Ryu gave her had slipped out of her hands back there, but it's not a good idea for her to go outdoors at this point, particularly with Ryu now MIA. Where's Ryu gone to, then?
Why, to Shroud's little place in the woods, of course, where she hands him the new Trial Memory, a little traffic-light-looking device that replaces the Accel Memory and causes Ryu to turn into the all-new, electric blue Accel Trialnote ! But it's not that easy, not by far—there's still the Training from Hell Shroud prepared for him, as going into Accel Trial means Ryu will have to battle in a completely different fashion now, making use of the excessive speed the Trial Memory grants him to multiply the power he already has, or be overcome by it.
Isaka is currently de-stressing, hot towel on his face while Saeko breaks out the shaving kit and starts working on him...until Ryuubei himself literally turns up out of nowhere, wordlessly taking the shaving razor from her and going over Isaka's face himself. He finally remembered meeting Isaka all those years ago—and Isaka pretty much spells out his agenda: to channel enough Dopant Memories to surpass Ryuubei's level of power, all to seize control of the Terror Memory. Which is when things get violent, as Ryuubei as Terror tries to melt Isaka into the floorboards—until Saeko as Taboo takes his side, and they both escape.
Ryu's Training from Hell moves into phase 2—this time involving a modified motorcross bike, with the Trial Memory plugged into it. Apparently all he needs to do is navigate a course, about 150 to 200 feet long, within 10 seconds. Simple enough on its own—but every time, he falls just over 10 seconds, getting the same power surge from Trial Memory as before when he couldn't balance his newfound speed and power. Every time he fell short of 10 seconds, over and over and over...
Back at Narumi Detective Agency, Shotaro gets a call from Akiko, telling him (in a panic) about the Training from Hell that might actually kill Ryu if it kept going on. Which leads Nagi to think that losing Ryu's pendant is the actual cause, and she slips out of Narumi Detective Agency to find it. Similarly, Wakana slips off on her own to find Saeko and try to talk her round, which fails big time as Saeko, tormented for being The Un-Favourite all these years, goes Taboo and gets violent. Fortunately, Mick as Smilodon Dopant shows up to bail her out—but Nagi has none of her luck, as Dr. Isaka also comes out of hiding. He's figured it out too—how Ryu has been the Spanner in the Works for once—and he's already worked on a solution: lure him into a trap, with Nagi for bait...so that he can crush Ryu in front of her and drive her over the edge in fear.
It's not like Ryu is doing any better, really—he fell off that bike and passed out for who knows how long. There's no time to recover though, as Ryu gets a call on the Beetle Phone from Isaka of all people, now with Nagi in his hands. There's nothing to do now but ride out to face him, but Ryu wants one last shot at getting the Trial Memory to work—so Shroud lets him.
And he nails it.
So Shroud hands him the Trial Memory, watching him ride off, before junking all the equipment she brought her and taking her leave. Akiko goes after her while picking up that stopwatch she'd been using the whole time...before seeing it's actually stopped at 10.07 seconds. Yes, Shroud had it figured early on: Ryu would be fighting for someone else's sake, not that of his own revenge, which was why she could no longer depend on him to fulfill her motives anymore.
Isaka himself is also left with a bit of a loose end. With his goals all but set in stone now, and Saeko tagging along out of necessity, he doesn't really know where to go from here. He doesn't really need Saeko anymore...and yet he can't just leave her on her own... Unfortunately, future plans will have to wait, as Ryu arrives to take Nagi back.
It's straight to business as Ryu goes into Accel right away, batting away lightning bolts to get within range before busting out Accel Trial—which only makes him go faster and hit harder, allowing him to survive the concentrated lightning barrage that got him the last time. Which is when the Narumi DA gang show up, with Akiko spilling the fact about the stopwatch—but it doesn't matter anymore. Because Ryu's not only found the strength to leave his obsession with revenge behind, but the speed to keep moving forward—thus shaking off everything. It's time at last for a new Finishing Move, as Accel Trial pummels Weather at super speed...and nailing it within 9.8 seconds. Isaka falls to the ground as the Weather Memory is broken at last. Nagi's Memory Port finally disappears as Accel Trial snaps the Quetzalcoatlus Memory with one hand. Reverting back, Ryu unties Nagi, who returns his pendant to him.
But it's not quite 100% positive: almost immediately before Ryu can think of arresting him, Dr. Isaka comes to a grisly end, as losing the Weather Memory causes all the other Dopant Memories he's been using to overload, and consume him from within. But before he goes, he warns Ryu and the Narumi gang that their fates have been sealed by Shroud. And as Saeko watches Isaka die, she drops to her knees in disbelief...as Shroud watches the whole thing from farther away.
Our story ends on a high note as Nagi goes back to her bird-guide job to the joy of the kids, with no need to fear their safety being jeopardized; while Saeko is literally left stranded, and Shroud has to move on to Plan B. The thing is, not only is Nagi able to smile again...but so is Ryu.
Yes, things are going to be very different from now on.
Tropes include:
- Attack of the 50-Foot Whatever: While Nagi never actually jacks in, the Quetzalcoatlus Dopant born of a test model Memory and a poor parrot is definately this.
- But for Me, It Was Tuesday: Why Ryuubei doesn't initially remember Dr. Isaka's Start of Darkness.
- Call-Back: Philip refers back to the Invisible arc regarding Isaka's Memory cultivation methods. Later, the Gunner-A arrives to lend Double (or perhaps Philip?) a hand, just like when the Claydoll Dopant suddenly attacked the Agency.
- A Death in the Limelight: Much like Kirihiko before him, we get a look at just what drives Doctor Shinkurou Isaka...before Accel Trial and Isaka's own absorbed Memories finish him off.
- Enemy to All Living Things: The birds taking off when Dr Isaka shows himself. Could also be a Visual Pun, with Isaka being the Weather Dopant, since animal reactions are one way of predicting the weather.
- Family-Unfriendly Death: Isaka's demise. Without the Weather Memory to keep them in check, Isaka's extra Living Connectors—and by extension, the Gaia Memories he's been cultivating and absorbing—grow out of control and effectively devour him, leaving nothing behind.
- Kidnapping Bird of Prey: The parrot-turned-Quetzalcoatlus-Dopant grabs Nagi and flies off with her, as part of Isaka's plot to grow her Memory Port through fear. Luckily, Double and the Gunner-A put a stop to that; and Isaka finds that it doesn't work this time.
- Not What It Looks Like: Nagi screams that Ryu is a pervert in order to get away from him. Shotaro and Akiko act before actually looking, causing further confusion among the crowd.
- Pet the Dog: For Ryu and his failure to save his family from the "W" Dopant.
- Robot Buddy: Gunner-A hitches a ride on the RevolGarry to help Double take down the Quetzalcoatlus Dopant. Philip notes that Gunner-A showed up at the Garage before.
- Start of Darkness: Dr. Isaka in a flashback, after witnessing the Terror Dopant's power firsthand and being left in awe of it.
- Stealth Hi/Bye: One of Ryuubei's best yet.
- Shroud, too. Which is pretty impressive, considering they're outdoors in broad daylight.
- Subverted Catchphrase: A variation at the end of the arc. When the kids crowd around Ryu (whom Shotaro cites as the real hero of this case), he catches himself...before politely asking the kids not to ask him questions.
