All four of them travel differently. Tsukasa and Daiki wander the most, going where they feel like it or where they sense that they're needed. It's not really a feeling either of them can explain to their partners, because they don't quite understand it themselves. Yusuke travels, sometimes, but he usually stays with Natsumi, who rarely goes on trips of her own initiative. The two of them are mostly content to go wherever the studio winds up taking them. But all four of them eventually wind up coming back home. Sometimes it takes longer. Sometimes they don't leave each other for a long time.

Spring is one of the harder times. For a number of years, Tsukasa and Yusuke both go off together around April, and come back varying levels of haunted and injured.

In 2014, they return back home to the studio, and just collapse onto Natsumi and Daiki. It takes time for them to be willing to let go, and longer for them to be willing to be alone.

It takes even longer for any of them to be willing to travel in pairs, let alone individually.

So, for several years, they all travel together, letting the studio take them where it will. There's a period where Tsukasa vanishes in 2015, and then reappears with nothing more than the blurriest memories of some sort of race. They all decide to not question it, because if he blocked things out, it's normally for a legitimate reason.

At that point, they had been in one of the newest World variants they had come across, a World of Drive, but he had the tells of having been to the World of Heroes, despite not seeming to have left the one they were on.

But, for about four solid years, they avoid the 'main' world. Why bother going back there? It has enough people to protect it, it can be allowed to fix its own problems. Better to help the smaller Worlds, the ones that need an extra belt or four.

The first time that the Hikari photo studio shows up to the World of Heroes after the conflict with both Badan and the Showa Riders is in early 2018.

"…Oh no…" Yusuke groans. "What pulled us here this time?"

Natsumi rolls her eyes. "Don't be like that."

"Why not?! The first time we landed here, all of us except Daiki got possessed, and then nearly everyone died, the time after that was Tsukasa's little 'stunt' with Gokai Red, when everyone died again!"

"I have apologized for that!" Tsukasa pipes up from his spot on the sofa, legs thrown over the arm. "We didn't exactly have time to come up with a better plan."

"And then you got yanked into some Monster World with a Wizard, without me, so clearly Godai-san had to fight again, which I take as an insult to both of us," Yusuke continues, ignoring Tsukasa entirely. "And then we had to fight the Showa Riders again, because they got hit by some sort of hate plague or something-"

"I'm sure that won't happen this time." Tsukasa straightens, gesturing at the backdrop. "For one, there's no battle on there. For two, I haven't seen that bucket-hatted jackass around for a long time, so we're more-or-less out of the woods on that front."

Daiki scoffs, polishing his driver. "For now." Setting the gun on the table, he leans forward. "Didn't you say that last time, he managed to shrink himself to sneak up on you?"

"One of these days we're going to manage to find out what Narutaki's deal is." Natsumi states in a monotone, glancing at Kivala. "Unless someone is finally willing to share?"

"Where's the fun in that?"

"Ugh." Rolling his shoulders, Tsukasa heads for the door. "Let's just go see what we're in for today."

The backdrop has the symbols of eight riders scattered over it, from Double through Ex-Aid.

"Huh. Weird. Didn't wind up in any sort of costume this time." Tsukasa shrugs. "Eh, at least I won't have to change."

"I just want to know why we're in a park…" Natsumi looks at the small crowd that they're approaching. "Some of those people look a little familiar, anyway."

"Hey!" Someone calls down from above them. A young man in black and purple is lounging in a tree, a handheld game system in his hand. "Are you guys new? I haven't seen you around before."

Tsukasa raises an eyebrow. "And you are?"

"Bored." He grins, and dissolves into a haze of lights.

Yusuke jumps. "What the?!"

"Huh. Can't say we've seen that before, can we?" Daiki pulls out his collection of cards. "Wonder if he's a monster or a Rider…"

"I'm both, actually." He reappears behind Yusuke with a slightly menacing grin. "Wanna see what else I can do?"

"Uh, n-not particularly-"

"Parad!" A man in a white hoodie storms over. "Quit trying to freak out civilians! You know better!"

The one in black – Parad, apparently – sulks. "They're not civilians, though! She's got a little robot bat hiding on her hat, and that guy was wondering if I was a Rider or a monster, so I'm just having some fun!"

The other man blinks. "So… some of you are Kamen Riders, then? How many?"

Tsukasa steps forward. "All four of us. What of it?"

The one in white grins. "Ah, alright then! Did you get a message from someone else, or?"

"A message about what?"

"The group? The social-support group? That I started a few months ago?"

Natsumi bites her lip. "We travel a lot, so we don't really hear what goes on."

"Okay then, introduction time. I'm Hojo Emu, Kamen Rider Ex-Aid. A little while ago, I realized that there are a lot of Riders, and that we need to stick together, since the whole 'only seeing others once or twice a year when the world is ending' thing is a bad idea. So, I started a group and we've been meeting up every month or so. Come on, I'll introduce you."

Looking at some of the people gathered, she winces. "That… might not be a good idea, actually…"

Emu gives the group a stern look. "I don't recall saying I was giving you a choice. You're here, so you're staying for a while, to see if it'll work for you."

As they follow a short distance behind, Daiki shrugs. "On the plus side, none of 'em were around for your initial world ending schtick. On the negative side, a whole bunch of 'em were here for the thing with the pirates."

Yusuke steps slightly to the side. "Oh, yeah, you two are toast. We haven't fully forgiven you guys for that."

Tsukasa shrugs. "Eh. If they wanna start a fight, I can take 'em. I've got some new powers from a few worlds ago."

"Alright, here we are! Hey, everyone? Some more people found their way to us!"

Multiple people in the group – most of whom, Tsukasa notes, were in the Rider fold by 2014 – groan, some of them pulling out their drivers. Emu, among other decidedly more recent Riders, look at this reaction in concern.

"Oh, yeah, it's April, isn't it?" Shotaro flips his Gaia Memory around in his hand, sighing. "Who're we fighting this time? Revived villain leaders again? Alternate versions of ourselves?"

"Another Metal Hero?" Gentaro suggests. "That one was a heck of a time. Hope it's not someone space based, at least. My driver is… let's say 'under repair' and leave it at that."

Haruto nods. "Now that you mention it, I wonder how Gavan's doing these days…" He pauses, as if realizing something. "Oh, and pro tip to everyone from the last three years, if Decade or Diend get behind you and mention something about how something might 'tickle', run."

Tsukasa frowns. "There's no problem this time. We just traveled here by chance."

Shotaro smirks. "Suuure you did. And it was just chance in Zawame, too."

"It was! …Mostly. I was investigating some dimensional weirdness and it… escalated."

Grimacing, Haruto hisses between his teeth. "Escalated. Right. That's what it's called."

Takeru steps between the groups, hands held out placatingly. "Guys, can we just stop for a second, so some of us can get some context here?"

With a sigh, Tsukasa pulls out his transformation card. "Kadoya Tsukasa, Kamen Rider Decade. They're not wrong, a number of the times I have wound up here in the World of Heroes have 'coincided' with more-or-less every single Kamen Rider ending up in a massive battle for survival, but in my defense, that was happening before I became Decade, too."

Daiki wiggles his hand back and forth. "Not nearly as often, though, you have to admit."

Tsukasa just frowns at him.

"Ugh, fine." Daiki groans. "I did not exactly help in that regard. Names Kaitou Daiki, Kamen Rider Diend. I…" he hesitates, averting his gaze. "I am sorry about last time. I was more than a little pissed about not being let in on… all of that."

The earliest riders present grimace. Tsukasa can see both members of Double, that looks like Accel near them, one of the Births, and Fourze… yeah, him and Daiki should probably both be grateful that they didn't go right to fighting.

The Birth – the skinnier one, though Tsukasa's not sure which name goes to him, because Marvelous took both down at the same time – frowns. "At least you're apologizing, instead of sulking off through one of those walls."

Daiki looks away, scoffing. "Yeah, five years later."

Natsumi puts a hand on his shoulder. "Daiki…"

He doesn't respond.

Yusuke gives them a concerned look, before turning to the Riders who look more than a little uncomfortable. "So, uh, old incidents aside… What's all of this?"

The others relax, and Emu grins. "Something it sounds like you four need."

"Let me get this straight." Emu puts his hands together. "The four of you teleport between dimensions on a regular basis, and go around solving people's problems?"

Yusuke shrugs. "Tsukasa's more the one taking charge. I started off just coming along for the journey."

Natsumi smiles. "Sometimes we meet other Riders, different versions of people from here or other worlds, and help speedrun their situations. It's fun, when it's not super dangerous." She side eyes Daiki. "And when people aren't stealing transformation items. Give it back."

"What are you talking about? I am the very picture of innocence."

She sticks out a thumb in reply.

"Okay, Okay! Just- put that away!" He reaches into his jacket. "Don't know what this thing is anyway. We haven't hit an Ex-Aid world yet." He tosses something Emu's way.

Catching it, Emu gapes. "What the- how did-" He glares, his grip on the Mighty Action X gashat tightening. "This could have Killed you if you'd tried to use it!"

"I never use any of them, I'm just a collector!"

"He's a chronic thief. Secure all your valuables, transformation devices, and shiny objects." Tsukasa doesn't look up as he adjusts his camera.

"Oh, is he now?" Shinnosuke calmly stands up, reaching into his jacket.

"I haven't kept anything from this world thus far. Extradition doesn't apply between universes, and you have no way to prove in a court of law that my holding that was anything more than curiosity or a simple prank." Daiki grins. "You're not the only one who's a cop here."

Yusuke chuckles. "You're a former cop, and you can't go back to your home World because of how incredibly wanted you are."

"That's because my brother outranked me and decided that taking over for our evil monster overlord was better than attempting to make amends to the populace."

"Sometimes people become thieving menaces to cope. Also, at some point before we re-met, he figured out how to open dimensional walls between worlds, so trying to arrest him is pointless." Tsukasa aims his camera at the group. "There's not a single jail cell in the multiverse so far that can hold him."

Eventually, it's Gentaro who asks. "Alright, we know Tsukasa, and some of us met Daiki before… but who're you two?"

"Oh, right, I don't usually wind up at the mass fights. Hikari Natsumi, Kamen Rider Kiva-la. This little brat" she gestured at the bat hovering around her shoulder "is Kivala. We transform together."

"They're kinda like what the assorted Kivas and Kivats do." Yusuke waves. "Onodera Yusuke, Kamen Rider Kuuga."

Gentaro and Takeru both sit upright. "Hold up, Kuuga?!" Gentaro sputters.

Pulling out a cell phone, Takeru shakes his head. "Can't be! We've done research on this, and we haven't been able to find a name to put to the mask, but… no, you're way too young!"

Gentaro nods, leaning over Takeru's shoulder. "Not like either of us have much room to talk, but… hang on, go back, you just missed the listing- yeah, Kuuga was from 2000, and you're way too young for that!"

"Y'know that thing we said about alternate realities? Godai-san, the Kuuga from here, swore off of fighting ages ago. When I came into the picture, he said it would be okay if I took over, so I've been the one you've seen at most of those battles." Yusuke rubs the back of his neck. "But yeah, all of us are from different realities."

Giggling, Kivala floats over. "Yup~! Not a single shared World between us! We're just a team of vagrants, wandering the multiverse."

Natsumi nods, a little sadly. "My World… well, it was in a bad way when we left. As far as I know, it was repaired, but still." She smirks. "But it's been a good thing I got pulled along. Someone needs to get these two under control." She nods toward Tsukasa and Daiki. "Yusuke and I are about the only ones who can."

"And you?" Emu turns to Tsukasa. "What about where you're from?"

All five get very quiet. Tsukasa looks away, before answering, his voice low. "I made it worse. I've been trying to make up for what happened ever since I found out who I was."

"And that was?"

Tsukasa closes his eyes. "You don't want to know." He turns and walks away.

"So, what's with the camera?"

Tsukasa doesn't look up at the question, instead adjusting the strap around his neck as he leans against a tree. "Why do you want to know?"

"I'm bored. I need something to do." Parad is perched, catlike, in the branch above him. "Emu confiscated my games, said something about how I needed to remember to socialize at these things." He laughs shortly. "Still surprised they let me in, even with our team insisting on it. 'S weird."

Tsukasa glances up. "So, you decided to bother me because you were bored?"

"Pretty much." Shrugging, Parad leans down a bit. "Seriously, what's with the camera? It's weird looking."

"…It's from my sister. It's all I've got from back there. I kind of built my identity around photography, when I didn't have anything else to me besides my name."

Parad stays quiet for a moment before responding. "Is she still alive? Your sister?"

"As far as I know. I… as me, I only met her once. I don't really remember anything from before I met Natsumikan. Or, well, I do, but most of it is blurry, and I prefer not thinking about it."

"Hmm. That's fair. So… you're a reformed villain, too, then?" Parad tries to give off a casual air to his questioning.

Tsukasa narrows his eyes. "Why are you so interested? You were just saying that Emu guy was making you socialize." He turns his back to the tree-bound bugster. "Buzz off."

Parad sighs. "Welp. All right then." He teleports back to the group. "I tried, I failed, now can I please have my handheld back?"

Sighing, Emu pulls the console out of his pocket. "Here you go. I appreciate the attempt. I'd wanted to get the story straight from him, but…"

Shrugging, Parad pockets his game, glancing back over at Tsukasa. "I didn't think it'd work. He just met us, and screwing up to the point of being a villain is something most people don't like to talk about."

Eventually, Tsukasa rejoins the group. Nobody mentions him having left, which he is more than fine with. They spend the rest of the day catching up on what they'd missed over the past few years, finding out about what people had gone through in more detail, and see what's changed overall in the World.

"I'm sorry, Kazuraba did what."

"He became a god and moved the forest to another planet."

"That is…" Tsukasa frowns. "That is not how I expected his story to go, in the slightest."

Philip shrugs. "It's what happened. I can't say I'm displeased. There's a reason Shotaro was using Joker that week, that forest gave me a migraine once I joined him in Double."

"Oh, yeah, you've got that 'connection to the Earth' thing going on." Tsukasa winces. "At least it was still connected enough that Blade getting sent there didn't count as him leaving."

"This is true." Nodding, Philip grins. "I'm still not going into that studio of yours. I'm not taking the chance of getting taken along for the ride."

"That's fair."

Seeing all of his successors able to gather like this is… it's a good thing. They're thriving, more or less.

They're all so good. And nice. Having all these Riders and their loved ones around, and none of them fighting, almost none of them needing to fight anymore at all…

It's quite a change.

All of them have already gone through their stories, more or less. Though, it seems that a number of them have had fights happen after the fact more frequently than ever happened before his time.

Thinking of 2009 as 'his time' is a little strange. He wasn't 'active' for nearly as long as any of them – his initial story was so short compared to everyone else's. The only other one who was even close was that Takeru guy, and that was…

Well, Tsukasa can relate to having to face one's impending non-existence.

Regardless, this get-together thing… it's a good idea, at least in theory. It'll definitely make the next team-up simpler if they can just call each other, instead of having to track each other down.

But still, it's getting late, and they really should see if there's actually a reason aside from this that the studio brought them here.

Natsumi glances over at him, nodding. Looks like she has the same idea.

Getting up, Tsukasa stretches. "Well, I think it's about time I head out. This has been…" He pauses. "It's been."

Emu nods at him, with a small smile. "I know, right? If you want to come back, feel free."

"…I just might take you up on that."

That night, Tsukasa develops the photos he took during the gathering. One of the ones of the group comes out pretty well. It gets framed, and hung alongside several others, all of Riders that the members of the studio have become close to over the years.

The newest photograph shows all of them gathered, in their civilian garb, with faint shadows of their rider forms behind them.

Come morning, the backdrop falls again, whisking them away from the World of Heroes once more.

While they get ready to see what the latest World has to offer to them and will ask them to do, Daiki lingers at the new photo. "Are we going to take them up on going back?"

Tsukasa smirks. "Yeah. Yeah, I think we will."