Welcome back to Prophecy of Masks! Last time, everything went rather well! Cynder was revived, the Perfect Ganmaizer was defeated, and now Spyro and Cynder are now engaged! But as we things wrapped up, Kamen Rider Blade showed up, looking for his comrades. Now to be fair, I know Blade as a series has spawned countless bits of internet humor, so I will be referencing as many of them as I can to lighten the mood after the heaviness of the Ghost Arc. So anyways, what is going on with Blade? And how do Spyro and Cynder fit in to this? Read on to discover...

(Our story resumes with Spyro and Cynder adding the Ghost Ridewatch to their collection and confirming their engagement with Ignitus)

Ignitus: I must say, this is quite the step forward for both of you. And one I wholeheartedly approve of.

Spyro: Thank you, Ignitus. Coming from you, that means something.

Ignitus: It's true. I've never seen a love as pure and true as yours for each other. It was only a matter of time before you got together.

(And just as Ignitus is congratulating the two on their engagement, one of Decade's signature grey fluid walls appears)

Cynder: Looks like Tsukasa's got another Rider for us to look for.

(But instead of Decade stepping out of the wall, Diend emerges instead)

Diend: There's a Rider looking for you guys, but Decade's not the one looking.

Spyro: Long time no see, Daiki.

Diend: For you, maybe. I'm the one who introduced Drive and Cynder.

Cynder: So what's the deal, Diend?

Diend: Got a Kamen Rider who's looking for you two. Needs your help on a case.

Spyro: A Kamen Rider needs our help?

Diend: Strange for our case, I know. But... I know this guy personally. We've been a common pairing, and he came to me asking if you two would help him out.

Cynder: You needn't say more. Who're we looking for?

Diend: Don't tell Tsukasa, but I stole the card for the guy you're looking for. (Pulls a card from his jacket) Here's your contact.

(As Cynder takes the card from Diend, we see the Rider in question. The head kind of looks like a silver spade on a blue head with large red eyes)

Spyro: (Reading the card) "Kamen Rider Blade". Okay, where are we supposed to meet this guy?

Diend: I'll take you to him.

Cynder: Through that... fluid... wall... thing...? What are those even called?!

Diend: The technical term is Aurora Curtain, but almost nobody uses it. Now let's get moving!

(With that, Diend snaps his fingers, and he, Spyro, and Cynder are enveloped by an Aurora Curtain, transporting them to a city somewhere where almost immediately, Blade appears from around a corner, anxious until he sees Diend)

Blade: (Seeing Diend) Thank goodness its you.

Diend: Good to see you too, Kazuma.

Spyro: He seems... jumpy... don't you think?

Diend: He's usually not like this. I mean he can be awkward sometimes, but he's never been like this.

Blade: And these must be Spyro and Cynder. Its nice to meet you guys!

Cynder: (As Blade shakes her hand) Certainly friendly.

Blade: (Seeing the ring) Congratulations! Who's the lucky one?

Spyro: Over here.

Blade: Well, good to see you're both going to settle down. Eventually.

Cynder: Now that we've got the pleasantries out of the way, you called us here. Why?

Blade: Right. Straight to business. I like that. (Reaches into his jacket pocket and pulls out three photographs) A trio of my... well I call them friends despite them all having tried to kill me at least twice, have disappeared. One of them has apparently shown back up, the other two, not so much.

Spyro: And you need our help tracking them down.

Blade: Exactly. So, what do you say?

Cynder: We're in.

Blade: Really?

Spyro: We'd never turn down a plea for aid from an ally.

Blade: Exactly.

Cynder: This seems easy. Too easy.

Blade: My thoughts exactly. And once Diend told me the Albino Joker was back, I knew something big was going down. Hence why we're all here.

Spyro: You think he had something to do with your friends' disappearances.

Blade: Pretty much.

Cynder: Given how you all destroyed him in the past, it does make sense. We'd best get looking if we're going to find them.

Diend: Don't think you're going anywhere without me. (Pulls out his gun) I have a history with that piece of garbage as well.

Spyro: It's settled then. We're going together, all four of us.

Blade: Agreed. Just let me get suited up and we'll get going.

Diend: Same here.

(With that, Blade pulls what looks like a strangely high-tech belt buckle and what looks like a playing card, an Ace of Spades, displaying a beetle of some kind with the Spade symbol on it's back and text reading "Change Beetle", before slipping the playing card into a slot on the belt buckle. He then slams the belt buckle onto his waist, causing a stream of cards to fly out of one end and connect to the other, forming the actual belt. Then with an arm raised to the sky, he lets out his battle cry)

Blade: Henshin!

(At his transformation cry, Blade pulls on a handle on the right side of his belt buckle, causing the front plate to flip around, revealing a red background and golden Spade symbol)

Blay Buckle: Turn Up!

(As the Blay Buckle announces that, a blue energy card bearing the same beetle and Spade symbol emerges from the Buckle, which Blade immediately runs through, generating his suit. Primarily blue, but covered in silver armor with red detailing revealing a Spade symbol, and a head matching Decade's card, carrying a sword with a gold sided blade, some sort of counter set to 5000 and a silver Spade atop a red background on the hilt.)

Diend: Time to follow suit.

(With that, Diend pulls out a card bearing an image of his Rider suit's head and his strange gun, which we now see is largely cyan. As the gun is shown, Diend slides the card into a gap in the side before extending the barrel out forward, revealing the back of the card)

Neo Diendriver: KamenRide!

Diend: Henshin! (Pulls the trigger)

Diendriver: Diend!

(As the trigger is pulled, Diend is surrounded by red, green, and blue copies of his armor, over which stands a blue barcode like symbol. Eventually, the armor copies consolidate onto him, at which point the barcode applies itself to Diend's head, giving the blue color to the rest of the armor.)

Diend: There we go.

Cynder: Alright, let's get moving. Those missing Riders aren't going to find themselves.

(But as the quartet heads out, we transition to the top of a nearby building, where the Albino Joker stands, looking down on the four of them)

Albino Joker: So, they have the guts to come here after all. Looks like Isaka was right.

(After realizing his adversaries have come to him, the Albino Joker pulls out what looks like an emblem of two snakes eating each other's tails, circling a symbol that looks like the letters U and D before looking back towards where Spyro and Cynder left from)

Albino Joker: (As the Mark of Malefor glows upon his wrist blade) Now then, let the games begin.

(And as the Albino Joker sets his sights on his enemies, our tale ends for today)

And that's going to wrap it up for today. Now I do realize the first chapter of each of these arcs tends to be the boring one, but that is kind of intentional. This one sets up the story that unfolds in the next two chapters. I admit, I could do a little better there, but this is the best formula I could think of since Wizard split everything into three out of necessity to pack everything in. And secondly, why the heck is Diend so involved with Blade? It's really a reference to Kamen Rider Decade and Zi-O as series. Diend was first teased to appear after Decade's Blade Arc, and then appeared in Zi-O during their Blade Arc. Plus, he has a connection to the main villain of this Blade Arc as well. More on that to come. So anyways, what is the Albino Joker up to? What "game" is he talking about? All will be revealed next time, so be sure to tune in for that! Same time... same channel!