A quick note from Nightman: Welcome to the start of what I hope is a fun and enjoyable story. I know what you're probably thinking… "He's ripping off Decade!" Yes, Kamen Rider Decade was a cool series but I see this as more of a tribute to the whole world/time traveling theme.

All that aside, enjoy!

Stop 1: A New Journey Arrives

June 1, 20XX…

Walking along a sidewalk, a lone human is busy trying to find some kind of marker to give his position in the busy city of Tokyo. "Bah, why did I even do this stupid six month overseas study?" Looking up from a note scribbled in broken English lettering an American college student spots several signs. Unfortunately for him they were all written in Japanese. Pulling out his cell phone, he is unable to get any service due to the large buildings. "Of course… what else can go wrong?"

Seconds later, a building explodes and crumbles to dust in front of the lost individual. Panic ensues as people try to escape what seems to be a terrorist attack. Getting bumped around, the young man notices a child crying as a large slab of debris falls towards the child. "Hey!" Running at the child, time suddenly starts to slow down around him. "Huh, what the hell is this feeling?" The sound of a steam engine echoes as a strange looking two-car train bursts out of the ground and knocks the debris away with a large drill before vanishing back underground. As time returns to normal, the child's mother grabs her kid and flees the area. "What did I just see?"

After the chaos in the street, the lost individual was able to make it to his hotel and called his professor. Finding out that the college was a short cab ride across town, the tired individual plops down on the bed and sighs. "I know what I saw…" The unknown train continues to appear in his mind as he hears the same whistle echo in his room. Looking up from his pillow, he doesn't find any sign of the train. Confused and unsure if he is losing his mind, the closet door to the hotel room slides open and a young woman walks out. Speaking in Japanese, the western looking girl tried to speak with him.

"How did you get in my room?" Frowning at the male's confusion, the visitor grabs his right arm and starts pulling him towards the closet door. "What are you doing?! Let go!" Pulling his arm free, he stares at the female and backs away. "Guess there's no way to avoid it… Deneb!" Hearing the unknown female suddenly speak his native language, he blinks at her. "Wait, you speak English?" A menacing shadow appears behind the college sophomore and lands a blow to the back of the human's head. The male hits the floor with a thud and twitches. Looking up, his vision became blurry as he drifted out of consciousness. Before his eyes closed, he heard the following conversation between the two individuals.

"Was it really necessary to have me knock him out Sei?"

"Shut up Deneb! You know we need to find the next Den-O."

"Yea, but… "

"No buts! Just get this guy into Zeroliner now!" Checking his wallet, Sei finds out the identity of the now KO'd male. "Kai Strider? Pfft, typical loser American name…"

An unknown period of time had passed since the young college student was attacked in his room. Groaning, he finally recovered from being struck in the back of his head and looked around. Feeling the floor vibrate a little, he got up and moved to a small window. The scenery looked like an inhospitable desert as he heard the same train whistle again. "Don't tell me… this has to be a dream."

"OH!" Hearing someone come into the car, he turned around to come face-to-face with the ninja-looking imagin. Falling against the wall of the train car, he watches as the creature reaches into a basket and pulls out a lollipop with its face on it. "I'm sorry, Sei tends to get upset when things don't go her wa-" The same brown haired female comes through the door to the train car and smacks the creature in the back of its head hard. "Deneb! What did I tell you about making stir-fry with carrots?!" Putting the creature in a headlock, the female continues to attack without giving Deneb a chance to explain himself. "You know I hate them more than…"

"Can someone tell me why I'm here?" Letting go of the candy carrying creature, the female known as 'Sei' pulls out something and tosses at him. Catching the object, it appears to be some kind of passport. Flipping it open, nothing is inside the hard plastic pass as he looks confused at the female. "That's a Time Pass; it will allow you to ride any time train you board."

"Um Sei… that guy is leaving." Deneb says as the kidnapped student walks out of the stopped Zeroliner. The uninterested male had pulled the emergency stop cord on the time train and made his way back to the hotel room. Stepping out of what the 'crazy train', Sei followed the Kai out. "What is your problem? You just walked out on a cute girl trying to get your help!"

"Yea, about that… kidnapping me and trying to get me to believe that there are time traveling trains?" Waving off the female, he chuckles softly. "Please, I may not be from around here but I'm not that gullible."

Throwing the pass at him the visibly ticked off female heads back into the train. Leaning out of the doorway, Deneb tries to tell Kai something. "Hey, don't take it personally… Sei's parents died when she was young and she's not really that mean. Oh yea!" Holding the door open, Deneb tries to finish his conversation. "She also thought it was brave of you to try and save that child. In fact, I believe she thinks your cut-!"

"DENEB!" Grabbing the imagin by the collar of his cloak, Sei pulls him back inside before the closet door shuts allowing Zeroliner to return back into the sands of time. Picking up the pass, Kai looks it over and tosses it onto the nightstand. Plopping down on the bed, the honestly confused student looks at the digital clock only to see a minute of real time had passed. What kind of weird prank did I stumble into? Kai thinks as he dozes off.

The following morning, Kai is busy brushing up on his basic Japanese as he waits for the train. As the mass transit arrives, the train suddenly begins to dissolve like a cookie in milk. The people inside also vanish as the metal vehicle turns into a pile of dust on its tracks. "What the…?"

"KAI!" Turning around, Deneb runs up to the stunned human and pulls on his sleeve. "You need to come with me. "Its Sei… she's in trouble." Pulling his arm free, Kai starts to walk away on the panic stricken imagin. "Why should I get involved?"

"Because if she dies… I'll die as well!" Not wanting to have the ninja themed creature following and bothering him the whole day, Kai decides to check on the sharp tongued female before his first day of oversea classes.

Arriving at the area Deneb left Sei, the short brown haired girl looked like she just went four rounds with a heavyweight fighter. Tending to her wounds, Deneb tries his best to help Sei up as she pushes him away and gets up on her own after some struggling. "I told you before I can handle myself." Reaching back, Kai grabs the rebellious girl's arm forcefully and frowns. "You can't even stand up straight and if Deneb wasn't worried, why else would he get me?"

"Because he's weak! If he wasn't so wishy washy…" Reaching back Kai slaps the already hurt Sei across the face making contact with her left cheek. Shocked, Deneb tries to pull the two apart as a strange shadow begins to creep along the ground. Engulfing buildings on its way towards the trio, the sun begins to fade away as the shadow seems to be eating everything it touches making it impossible to define anything in its wake.

"No way… this has to be a dream." Kai stutters as the shadow gets closer to them. Sei smirks while snapping a strange belt around her waist. "Guess this is where we part Deneb…" Drawing a green card from a pocket on her left hip, the Zeroliner rolls up behind them from a portal as Sei shoves Kai and her imagin partner into the train. The door seals shut keeping Deneb from being able to assist his human partner. "Sei, what are you doing?! We have the next Den-O right here!"

"No, he's not ready to fight just yet Deneb… make sure you train him and not those idiots on Den-Liner." As the bull-headed train pulls out, Kai goes to the window and watches Sei wink at him. Heh, that guy has potential to be a hell of a Rider… and he's cute too.

The shadow engulfs the young woman and starts to chase after the Zeroliner as the train starts to fly into the sky. Entering the time stream, the shadow takes a swipe at the train but is denied entrance as the portal closes the moment Zeroliner leaves the darkened world. Roaring out of frustration, the huge shapeless creature returns to covering the city in darkness.

Meanwhile, Kai is busy shaking Deneb by his chest plate inside the engine compartment. "What do you mean we can't go back?!"

"Sei told me to train you… to become the next Den-O." Frowning, Kai stops shaking the already stammering imagin and lets him go. "What does that have to do with anything?"

Before Deneb could answer, Zeroliner began to shake wildly. Bouncing around on its tracks, the train seems to have grown angry for some unexplained reason. Trying to grab hold of the mounted motorbike, Kai realizes something Sei had said to him about the strange trains. "That's a Time Pass; it will allow you to ride any time train you board…"

"All because I don't have that thing on me?" Remembering he had left the pass Sei gave him back in the hotel room, Kai was forcefully thrown from the moving Zeroliner. Sliding along the sand outside the train, the ejected human could only watch as the owner-less Zeroliner speed away into the distance. Picking himself up, the human looked around at the desert like dimension and groaned from being tossed on his left shoulder. Finding nothing broken, Kai begins to follow the Zeroliner's path in the sand hoping to catch up if it stopped.

Looking at his wrist, Kai is unable to tell how long he has been wandering around due to the fact his watch's arms kept spinning around like a top. Growing upset, the lone human throws the device and bounces it off a rock thus shattering it into pieces. For some reason, the watch suddenly reforms and returns to its owner's hand. Falling to his knees, Kai looks up at the ever changing sky. "Why am I here?!" Only the wind from an incoming sandstorm answers the confused and alone individual. "Of course!"

Trying to find some kind of shelter from the driving sand, the Zeroliner's 'steps' in the sand have been blown away as Kai continues to wander in the storm. Bumping into something, Kai looks through a small crack in the jacket he wrapped around his face to block the flying sand. "A cave?" Walking around to find the entrance to escape the raging storm, Kai wanders in and find the cave is pitch black. Pulling out his cell phone, the small light makes little difference to revealing what was inside.

Taking a seat on the floor of his shelter, Kai pulls off the sand filled jacket and feels something hit his leg. Using the phone, the object turns out to be a small silver ring. It was too small for his hands, but Kai could feel some writing on the inside of the smooth jewelry. "Bah, the cell phone can't give me enough light to see…" Sitting in the cave, the human began to feel tired. "Huh… why do I feel sleepy? Did I over exert myself…?"

Dropping onto his back, Kai's vision begins to fade. Great… this is how I am going to die? In some god forsaken desert where no one can find me? Thinking about how his parents might react to his death, Kai looks up and sees a small shimmer of light coming through a crack in the roof of the cave. No, I can't stop here. I have to… keep… moving…

Finally blacking out, Kai goes limp on the floor of the damp cave. The sound of an approaching train echoes in the cave as it grinds to a halt. Someone steps into the halted vehicle's lights and looks down at the object in their way. "Oi, we got ourselves a live one over here!" Dragging Kai by the collar of his sweat coated shirt into the train, a door slides shut as the horn blows loudly signaling departure as the eight-car Den-Liner bursts out of the cave.

Preview:

Kai: Huh? What am I doing here? Where's Deneb?! Why is my world dead?!

Momotaros: Hey, better calm down before you… pass out again.

Urataros: Well, I guess it can't be helped… sempai's breath would make anyone keel over.

Kintaros: (busy sleeping)

Ryutaros: Heh heh, this is for making me screw up my coloring.

Arriving soon… Station Zero - Stop 2: All Aboard, Den-O revived!

Kai: Who drew on my face?!