In the cold night, a figure clad in black appeared from a door of light. As the door shut behind him, he looked around at the structures around him. "Takatsuka University," he muttered, seemingly to confirm his place of arrival.

From his cloak, he produced a camera-like device. It was colored silver with red accents, had a small lens on one corner and a large clear screen that took up most of its front face.

"I traced the disturbance back here," he thought out loud. "It should yield good results."

The device lit up when the man flipped a switch on its top. "Search Imager," it announced. He held it up to his face and scanned his surroundings through the viewfinder. Various gauges in the camera's HUD rose and fell according to his distance from the anomaly.

It led him to an open area lined with trees; a small plaza where students gathered between classes. At this distance, the cloaked man could physically hear the anomaly. As soft clicking sounds echoed through the plaza, the man ducked behind a set of steps.

"...I know you're there," the distant voice called, sounding very human and youthful. "Why don't we make this quick so I can get back to work?"

The man clicked his tongue. Under no circumstances was he supposed to engage the anomaly, but it seemed like he had no choice. He slowly crawled out of his hiding place, body wrapped in the black cloak.

The anomaly whistled as he strode closer to the hooded man. Now under the dim lighting of streetlamps, he could be clearly seen as a blonde man wearing the full ensemble of a western cowboy. "That coat seems pretty heavy duty for such a nice summer. You wouldn't be hiding something, would you?"

The man flinched. His identity was discovered that easily? The anomaly had progressed further that he thought.

The cowboy smirked, hand firmly gripping his holstered revolver. "Now let me make one thing clear," he said, slowly lifting the gun up to the man's chest. "I don't care who you think you are, but get in my way… boom, goes the dynamite."

"Sorry, but the only thing that will be exploding… is you!"

In a matter of seconds, the man threw aside his cloak and shot the cowboy with a peculiar white gun. One of the shots landed, grazing the blonde's cheek, while the others exploded harmlessly at his sides.

However, instead of leaking blood, wisps of smoke spilled out and solidified into a glossy white scale over his cheek. "Well, that's just prime…" the cowboy muttered with a chuckle. In an instant, his eyes turned black and his skin boney white. The clothes he wore melted into his body as spikes began jutting out from beneath his skin. With taloned, gauntlet-like claws and a smooth, sinister mask for a face, it was difficult to even call him human anymore. "Not just anyone can ding the face of Kid like that," he sneered. "Who are you?"

The man, now wearing only a plate carrier and boots over a black shirt and trousers, scoffed. "Zeit. That's the name of your executioner." He presented the camera and held it to his waist. As if by magic, a red band longer than what the device could feasibly store coiled around him and snapped into place.

"Battle Imager!" the device cried. Zeit tapped the shutter button, causing a black card to eject from the device's side with a click. He removed it from its resting place and swiped it across the front of the belt, initiating his transformation.

"Henshin!"

"Perfect! Hunter Image!" As the card burned up in flames, a full-scale wireframe appeared around his body. It depicted a black and red armor with white pinstriping, a single flared pauldron on its right shoulder, white gauntlets and boots, and a masked helmet resembling the petals of a cherry blossom.

Kid laughed as Zeit finished his transformation. "Must be my lucky day! Not often y'see a Kamen Rider in the wild!"

The Rider's gaze tightened behind his mask. "Enjoy it while it lasts. Tonight will be the last flower viewing you'll ever attend."

"I doubt that!" he sneered, unleashing a hail of bullets from his twin revolvers. Zeit rushed forward, tanking the shots directly in his way. He tackled Kid to the ground, sending the both of them tumbling down an incline.

They landed in a stone-laid path, 5 meters apart from each other. His mask glowing in the dark area, Kid prepared a new set of revolvers from his holsters. Zeit pulled out another card and scanned it on the side of his gun.

"Slash Image!" Electric sparks crackled at the weapon's muzzle, solidifying into a long metal blade. Using the longer secondary grip, Zeit swung the weapon to adjust to its weight, then recklessly rushed Kid again.

"Guh!" The Rider swatted aside each bullet shot at him, before slamming the blade against the monster's shoulder and making a clean cut across his torso. Kid staggered and fell on his back.

"It's over!" He ejected yet another card from his belt and swiped it across the weapon.

"Laser Smash!"

The sword shone with blue light and twisted into a crude drill shape. It spun and spun, whipping the air around it into a small vortex. He was about to strike the corrupted cowboy with it, before a scream echoed through the night.

"Kyaaaaa!"

"A civilian!?"

"That's my cue!"

The noise was brief, but it distracted Zeit long enough for Kid to shoot the Rider in the back and disappear into the night. As Zeit fell to the ground, he felt his consciousness slip away.

When he awoke, Zeit found himself in an unfamiliar room. From floor to ceiling made out of wood planks, it was naturally warm. In a fire pit nearby, he spotted a wrought iron kettle hanging above a large flame, whistling.

He felt his chest; bare, covered only in gauze wrappings. His pockets; empty. Where was the Imager?

Glancing to a nearby cupboard, he spotted the silver camera atop it. Ignoring the sharp pain on his back, he grabbed it and began analyzing its data.

"I managed to collect enough to track down future anomalies, at least."

Suddenly, the rice paper door slid open. A young woman with black hair walked in, carrying a tray with a warm cup of tea.

"Oh, you're awake already," she said shyly, offering the tea.

"Yes… how long was I out?"

"A whole day. That monster must have done a number on you." The girl sat down on a cushion, hugging the now empty tray.

"So you saw it?" Zeit's gaze tightened.

The girl nodded. "...Who are you?"

"Just a wanderer," he answered, taking a sip from the cup. "Where is this place?"

"Well, I'm Mao Tajima. This is my uncle's inn. Sorry if it's a bit shabby; it was the closest place I could think to bring you to."

"Not a problem, I was just about to leave."

"No!" she cried. Zeit raised an eyebrow. "I-I mean, your wounds haven't healed yet…"

She was right. The wound from Kid's revolvers was severe; it could take a while just to start healing. "Alright."

Mao breathed a sigh of relief, though it quickly turned into anxiety. "...That camera… you're a Kamen Rider, aren't you?"

Zeit's eyes widened in surprise. He didn't expect her to know what that was. "Yeah. Saito Sakurada, Kamen Rider Zeit. I came from the future to investigate anomalies in this timeline."

"Anomalies?" Mao raised an eyebrow.

"Inconsistencies. Things that shouldn't exist, yet do anyway. Things like that monster I fought last night."

The girl nodded in understanding. "I-I see… you came here alone?"

"No. There is another Rider I'm cooperating with, but he's currently investigating other points in time."

Again, Mao nodded. As she processed the information told to her, Zeit's stomach began rumbling loudly. "Ahaha, I guess you would be hungry after sleeping for an entire day," she said with a chuckle. "Would you like something to eat?"

"...please."

In a dark, indistinct area, Kid limped forward. His fight with the Rider did quite a number on him, but it was nothing the nurse couldn't fix.

"Kid," called a deep voice. "Your mission?"

"I-"

"It was a failure, sir," answered another voice. It was feminine, yet cold and robotic. "I saw it all."

"Now you wait just a minute!" the cowboy interjected. "I would have succeeded if it weren't for that Rider! Don't you go omittin' details, Tereza!"

As Tereza scoffed, the deep voice hummed. "Rider? I see, so there were still some of them left?"

"Yes, sir," answered another voice, his smooth and calm. "Den-O, Zeronos, Build, and Cross-Z are still unaccounted for. In my professional opinion, Kid's foe would most likely be the former two."

Kid chuckled. "Naw, Holmes, it wasn't either of those. It was a new one: Zeit."

It fell silent, and the three voices made themselves appear before Kid.

The calm Holmes was an older gentleman with combed brown hair and dark eyes. He wore a three-piece black and red suit and carried a burning pipe in his gloved hand.

The fair-skinned Gale had chains dangling off her hands and feet, contrasting the conservative nurse outfit that she wore. Her pale blue, almost faded eyes, gleaming in the light of her lantern, stared at Kid with contempt.

And finally, the deep voice belonged to a regal knight that sat atop a throne of red velvet. His armor was inlaid with gold and looked poorly maintained, as did the wrought iron sword that sat beside him. His face was obscured by the thorned helmet that sat upon his head.

Holmes, Gale, and the traitorous knight Mordred. Along with Kid, they were Alter Ego, mysterious entities that take the shape of famous figures in the World's history.

"Zeit… Kamen Rider Zeit…" Mordred placed a hand to his chin. "An unforeseen foe. You have my pardon, Kid. Gale, tend to his wounds. Holmes, deploy my knights."

Gale bit her upper lip. "Yes, milord," she growled begrudgingly.

"As you command," Holmes said with a bow.

His three subordinates faded into the inky darkness, leaving Mordred with his thoughts. "As long as the Kamen Riders live, the Alter Ego cannot thrive. They must be eliminated."

With that final word, the knight disappeared into the shadows. The darkness promptly collapsed upon his departure, revealing the abandoned warehouse they used as a rendezvous point.

Just outside, however, a black-haired man had eavesdropped on their meeting, and he wasn't happy with what he heard.

"Alter-Ego... man, this is the worst…"