Disclaimer: Now witty comment this time, I still don't own anything.

Vulcan, Valkyrie, Horobi, Naki, Jin, Ikazuchi.

The six Kamen Riders of this world. Two defending humanity, four defending HumaGears.

And then there's me. The purpose of my powers was to protect both sides. In another world, that's what I did, or so as I was told.

Decade, despite what he says, wants me to reach my dream and become a hero capable of protecting everyone's future.

"The future of this world hinges on him. There's only one person who can save this world, and it's him. I'm sure you can agree with that." I didn't know who he was talking to, but he sounded confident that I could do it.

Just another person to disappoint…

Section 5: Base Under Siege

At first glance, one can be forgiven for thinking that there was no way that the situation could get any worse than it already is. There was nothing worse than an army of murder-bots marching towards them, right? Well, WRONG! It was much much worse.

"This can't be right." Hiden Ritsuka stared through the binoculars at the four leading the legion of HumaGears. Four who he had hoped he would never see together. "Why are all of them here?!" As he had said earlier, that had never happened before.

Ophelia, meanwhile, had a sneaking suspicion for the sudden switch of tactics but decided to remain silent about it for now. "We have fifteen minutes before they get here. Mash, can you go get Decade?" She requested the Shielder.

"Of course." Mash nodded before leaving for the Shadow Border. She needed to return there anyway.

"Where's Kadoc?" "He was getting ready for this." "I don't think any of us were ready for this…" Ritsuka sighed, putting down the binoculars. Guess it was a good thing Decade took him out for training (read: beaten up and told to like it), he was definitely going to need it.

Feeling his ProgriseKey through his jacket, Hiden Ritsuka mentally prepared himself for the fight ahead.

In the Shadow Border…

"Senpai! Da Vinci!" Mash shouted as she entered the cockpit of the Shadow Border, where everyone (important) had gathered. Everyone except for one person, that is.

"Mash?" Da Vinci turned away from the monitor she was looking to turn to the Demi-Servant, concern clearly written on her face. "Bad news, Fujimaru is missing."

"What?" Mash's eyes widened at the news, "How?"

"We're still trying to figure that out." Da Vinci replied before glaring at both Holmes and Decade, who both looked unconcerned, "Or really, I'm still trying to figure that out. Those two aren't doing anything!"

"Do try keeping a cool head, Da Vinci. Blowing up like that won't do you any good," Holmes cheerfully told her.

"From that happy-go-lucky attitude, I'm guessing you already figured out what happened and are choosing not to tell me." Da Vinci looked about five seconds away from strangling Holmes.

"Not really," Holmes admitted, "But from his attitude, he knows and is doing nothing about it." He was, of course, referring to Decade, who had taken to photographing the cockpit of the Shadow Border. "And since he's not doing anything about it, it should be safe to assume that Fujimaru is safe at the moment. Am I correct, Rider?"

"Close enough," Decade answered while looking into the lens of his camera. "So then, Shielder," He pointed his camera at Mash, "What's going on?"

"Huh?" Suddenly remembering why she came back in the first, Mash quickly relayed the news of the approaching HumaGears.

"Guess Fujimaru's disappearance has to take the back burner for now, huh?" The danger coming for them was much more important for now.

"And what of MetsubouJinrai?" Decade, however, didn't seem worried about the HumaGears themselves but cared more about who was leading them. "Which ones are here?"

"Umm… all of them," Mash answered cautiously. "That's what Hiden said."

"So even in another timeline, Fujimaru still has bad luck." Or was it their Fujimaru who brought his bad luck to the camp? Either way, they were in trouble.

"Well then, take care of this place. Come on, Shielder," Closing the lens of his camera, Decade took off, Mash in tow.

"Wa-wait a minute!" "No waiting, we go now or we don't go at all." "What about the others?!" "Merlin's got them, he's been keeping an eye on Hiden."

True to what he said, Merlin, along with the other Servants, were already waiting outside for them.

"Good, we are all here," Decade said as he stepped out of the Border. "Have you already got a plan ready? With Fujimaru missing, you all are going to work on your own."

"Wait, what do you mean Master's missing?!" Naturally, it was Decade's second comment that they focused on.

"It's not important right now." It was rather unnatural how calm Decade was being. "An army of HumaGears takes priority over a… how old is he?"

"Is it really that important?!" "You're right, how old he is isn't important." It was getting increasingly hard to tell how sarcastic he was being. "Regardless, saving the lives here is more important than helping him now."

"Now that's something we can agree with." Merlin spoke before anyone else could, "He would want us to help protect this place."

"How do you know that? You weren't even here." Hildr stared at Merlin with suspicion in her eyes.

"Easy. Because this is Fujimaru Ritsuka we're talking about here," Merlin said with a sly smile on his face, "Of course, he wants to protect people."

"Lancer, stop antagonizing him. We don't have time for squabbling." Arash scolded the pink-haired Valkyrie before turning to Mash, "Shielder, as the longest-serving Servant here, you should be the one leading us."

"Me?" Mash nervously asked, pointing at herself. The nods from everyone made it clear that they agreed with Arash's suggestion, except Decade who didn't seem to care as per usual. "But…"

"Eh, it'll be a good learning experience for you." Decade quickly snapped a picture of Mash's distressed expression as he (didn't) try his best to console her. "Do what your heart wants or whatever they say in this world."

"What my heart wants?" "Or was it follow your dreams?" Decade ignored Mash as per usual, "Whichever it was, stop thinking about others for a moment and think for yourself for a change."

"I don't think that's the right message." "What I'm trying to say, Merlin, is that if she doesn't want to be the leader then she doesn't need to be. We don't need to pressure her into doing it." Decade pointedly stared at the Caster.

"It's just for one battle… probably," Merlin added as an afterthought, "And isn't that what you're doing with-"

"There's a difference." Decade interrupted his only kinda-friend, "Shielder, choose; do you want to lead us or do we just do what we want."

"Umm…" "Just to be clear, I'm not listening to you either way. I already have my hands full helping Hiden. That reminds me." Remembering that he was supposed to be on the front lines, Decade walked off and left everyone again.

"Just ignore him, Miss Kyrielight, he thinks he's better off working alone." Merlin grinned before saying, "It's settled then. Until Fujimaru returns, you're in charge."

"I… Understood." With everyone relying on her, there was no way she could let them down.

Meanwhile, with Hiden…

"Ritsuka, where were you?!" Kadoc demanded an answer as soon as he met up with him and Ophelia.

"Well…" "Vulcan, calm down already. Here." More than used to Kadoc's temper, Ophelia took a grey ProgriseKey with the image of a gorilla on it and passed it over to him. "It should be working again."

"Thanks." Pocketing the Key, Kadoc asked the two something else, "Where's Pinky?"

"Aww… You miss me already, Gorilla?" Hearing Kadoc asking for him, Decade couldn't help but mock him a tiny bit.

"Tsk, shut up already." Kadoc felt his blood pressure rising hearing Decade making fun of him. "Hey, Ritsuka, you already got an idea on how to deal with them?"

"I think so," A.R. Ritsuka told the other three, "Decade, how many other Riders can you summon?"

"Three max," He answered truthfully. He had already previously used the Diendriver to help Vulcan and Valkyrie in battle. "We already outnumber them and that's before counting Chaldea's forces."

"Good. That's good," Ritsuka said, mostly to calm himself down. Kadoc, however, took issue with one thing.

"Hold up, are we sure we can rely on them?" "Hey, Kadoc…" "I'm just speaking my mind here," He told Ritsuka, "Sure, we can trust them but can they actually help?"

"Take my word for it-" "That's not saying much." "-They'll protect this place." Decade stood up for the Chaldeans. "We won't be backstabbing you yet."

"For people who are aiming to destroy this World, you're not really doing a good job," Ophelia said.

"Just give us some time. We'll show our true colors soon." Decade smirked before looking towards the horizon. "Come on, we should greet MetsubouJinrai."

Standing under the entrance of the warehouse were the five Servants of Novum Chaldea, ready for the inevitable battle. While they attracted a couple of confused looks, it was ignored in favor of focusing on the crowd that was getting closer and closer to the gates.

"Our front line will be composed of Altria, the Valkyries, and me," Mash instructed the others, "Merlin, you and Arash will stay back and provide support for us."

"See? You do have it in you to lead." Merlin sounded proud of Mash, even stifling a tear. "If only he was here to see this."

"Merlin." "I apologize, my King. I'll stop."

"Looks like you're doing just fine without him." "Why do you keep bothering to leave us if you're just going to come crawling back?" Merlin's question was directed at Decade, who was walking towards them with three others.

"I go where I'm needed; if you need me, I'm here," Decade said before adding, "But they're currently employing me, so I can't help you yet."

However, what the Rider was talking about was ignored as the Servants, minus Mash and Merlin, were focused on one of Decade's employers.

"...Does nobody bother telling anyone anything here?" Decade quietly grumbled to himself.

"Um… Hi?" Hiden nervously waved at them and introduced himself, "I'm apparently an alternate version of your friend."

"Did he-" Decade pointed at a currently sighing Kadoc, "-or her-" he pointed to Ophelia this time, "- being around not clue you in the slightest?"

"Can we deal with this later!? Now's not the time!" Kadoc shouted before they could all be distracted again.

"Ri-right." "Decade, if you could so please?" Hiden politely asked, enacting the first step of his plan.

"Hmm…" Decade hummed as he took out three cards from his pocket. After a couple of seconds of consideration, he put them back. "Later."

"Later?!" "Yes, later," Decade repeated himself, "Summoning Riders is one of my triumph cards. Using it just to deal with a bunch of Trilobite Magias would just be wasteful. That's your job."

"So he's leaving us out to dry. What else is new?" Kadoc sarcastically said. "What's plan B?"

"What else? We're going to have to fight them ourselves," Ophelia answered him. "Mash, what is your group planning on doing?"

"Well, we will back you up as much as we can," Mash replied.

BANG! "They're here!"

"Looks like talking's over. Go do your thing," Decade said before retreating back into the warehouse, presumably to find a better place to watch the battle.

"You guys go ahead first, he'll join us when the time comes," Hiden sighed in frustration. In hindsight, he really should have expected this. Asking Decade to help always results in the Rider choosing to stay back and watch rather than actually help.

"Got it." "Don't go disappearing on us again, will you? We've already got enough things to worry about. Ow!" "Come on." An elbow to his already injured side quickly shut Kadoc up, dragging him away.

"Hiden, stay safe please." Mash pleaded before pulling down the visor of the Ortinax and joining them along with the other Servants.

"...Alright."

Surprisingly, despite how badly in shape the gate was, it actually managed to hold up against the combined weight of nearly 20 HumaGears before it came crashing down.

With the floodgates opened (actually, they fell but you get the point), the first wave quickly came crashing in and the Chaldeans had their first real encounter with the new rulers of this Lostbelt… and they weren't much to write home about.

The Trilobite Magias, as Decade had called them, were basically just a person wearing some simple but durable steel plating. Of course, the fact that the Magias themselves were made of metal probably also accounts for their toughness, tanking the hail of bullets from the guards.

However, while the Trilobite Magias were basically bullet-sponges when against normal people pitted against Servants, the robots were easily cut down/pierced through the stomach/shot in the head/bashed into the ground/whatever words that could fit. Not helping the Magias at all was the fact that Servants can't be harmed by conventional weapons like guns and knives, which just so happened to be what the Magias were equipped with. In the end, the Magias stood absolutely no chance against the legendary heroes (and Mash).

However, the second wave proved to be more troublesome, if only by a small margin. And then the third wave, then the fourth. By the sixth wave, it was easy to see the problem: they were vastly outnumbered.

"Conserve your energy, there is still a lot more on their way!" Ophelia shouted at them as she shot a couple of Magias.

"In situations like this, we just have to take down their commander, right?" However, the issue was the commanders were also aware of that. Despite being the only ones that looked human, they weren't able to spot the members of MetsubouJinrai among the crowd of foot soldiers.

"Damn it," Kadoc swore under his breath as another wave came in through the broken gate. "Where are they? They should've shown up by now."

"Merlin! Use your Clairvoyance to look for them!" "I already did, only two of them are here," Merlin calmly revealed, "They're hiding back there somewhere by the way."

"What?! Who?!" "How am I supposed to know their names? I just got here." Merlin rhetorically asked.

"Then where are the other two?! Unless…" Ophelia's eyes widened when she realized what MetsubouJinrai was up to. "Vulcan, get inside! They're after-!"

"On it!" Figuring it out at the same time as her, Kadoc abandoned his post and quickly ran back inside to protect the survivors who were hiding in the basement. As he ran into the warehouse, he took out a rather bulky blue gun.

Overhearing them, Mash chased after him. "I'll help!" She cried as she ran and left the main fight to the others.

Inside, basement…

While the battle raged on outside, the roughly 90 other remaining humans in this world (or at least in Japan) took shelter within the spacious rooms and hallways that were constructed underneath the already giant warehouse.

"Don't worry, they'll protect us. They always have."

That was the thought running through nearly everyone's minds as the sounds of gunfire and explosions could faintly be heard echoing through the basement. One person who wasn't thinking that was busy worrying about something else.

Should he join in the battle or not?

It wasn't that he was scared of fighting, far from it actually, it was just that he felt he might end up getting in everyone else's way. Fighting alone against any member of MetsubouJinrai was a definite no-go but fighting with the others could be detrimental to them. Kadoc and Ophelia were used to fighting with each other, jumping in would just end ruining their dynamic. Decade fought alone and, more importantly, had made it clear that he wouldn't hesitate to throw any of them to the wolves if he thinks it would be beneficial for them.

The people from Chaldea, meanwhile, can definitely handle themselves and don't require any assistance. That's not to mention, with his face, he'll probably just distract them. Granted, he won't be showing his face but that's beside the point.

"Maybe next time…" Hiden sighed, putting his head in his hands. 'I should make sure the others are doing fine…' He thought as he moved away from the large, locked door to outside.

"Ahh!" "Run! Run away!"

However, as soon as he took his third, the terrified screams made him break into a sprint.

As he hurried towards the source of the cries, various thoughts ran through Ritsuka's head, none of them good ones. Nonetheless, he knew why they were screaming. But how did MetsubouJinrai get in?!

Turning a corner, he saw a terrible and bloody scene. A dreadfully familiar figure, back turned to him, cloaked in a black suit wielding a bloodied katana standing over the dead bodies of several people. People he had known for years. For a brief moment, he felt anger boil in him. A sense of malice and vengeance, demanding that he avenge those that the HumaGear killed.

The next moment, that feeling was gone.

Still, Ritsuka couldn't let him do as he pleased and continue slaughtering the people here. So, in his infinite wisdom, he yelled the HumaGear's name, "Horobi!"

Upon hearing himself being called, Horobi stopped in his tracks and turned around. "Hiden." Horobi stared at him coldly and with little emotion. "Brave of you to come looking for me by yourself."

"It's not like I have much choice." Hiden stared back, ready to fight even if it was a terrible idea as it was. "It'll just be one-on-one."

Ritsuka's comment, however, made Horobi crack a small smile, "Whoever said that?"

"Huh?" Before he could react, someone grabbed him from behind and held him in a chokehold, restraining him.

"It's been a while, Hiden," The person restraining him remarked, "When was the last time we met like this? A year?"

"Let me go!" Ritsuka tried to pry himself out of Ikazuchi's tight grip. Needless to say, the HumaGear was much stronger and made out of metal so there wasn't anything he could do.

"Remember, it's nothing personal," Ikazuchi told him as Horobi approached the two of them.

"You just do as the Ark wants," Ritsuka said as he continued to struggle. "Don't any of you ever think for yourself?"

"Still going with that spiel about free will?" Ikazuchi tightened his grip with an annoyed look on his face. "Quit it already, none of us care to hear it."

"Hiden." Horobi placed the tip of his katana to Ritsuka's neck. "You've been a thorn in the Ark's side for far too long."

"Ark this and Ark that. Don't you have anything else to say, Horobi?" It was definitely a dumb idea to try and rattle up someone who was holding a sword to your throat but what else was he supposed to do? Just give up and accept his death? That was out of the question.

"Still have a bit of fight left in you, huh?" It could have just been his imagination, but Ritsuka could have sworn that Ikazuchi sounded impressed. "Maybe that's why you keep slipping out of our grasp every time."

"Come on… Just a little more." He just needed to stall them a tiny bit longer. Hopefully. Please actually be on your way.

So what did he do to postpone his death at Horobi's blade?

"Of course, I guess you could call it a Hiden strength."

"..."

"..."

"Oh, come on, that was a good one!" At least it made Horobi stop for a few precious seconds. But was it enough?

"Ritsuka!" "Senpai!" The yellow bullet that very nearly blew Horobi's head off probably means yes. Of course, the bullet did nothing as Horobi somehow managed to block it with his katana. The brief moment still proved to be enough, however, as Mash came from behind Ikazuchi and bash him with her massive shield, forcing the astronaut to let Ritsuka go.

"Sen- I mean, Hiden, are you okay?" The girl sounded scared.

"Yeah, I'm fine." It was close, but he survived. Kadoc, meanwhile, stood in front of the two with his blue gun aimed at Horobi and Ikazuchi.

"How did you two get in here?!" Kadoc shouted at the two HumaGears as they stepped back a bit and put some distance between them and the humans.

"That's a secret, dog," Horobi insulted him as he sheathed his katana.

"You-" "Vulcan, you should know better than come at us on your own." Ikazuchi prevented Kadoc from finishing his retort.

Hearing what the guy with tassels was saying, Mash stood forward to stand alongside Kadoc, shield at ready. "He's not alone!" She exclaimed.

"...Who are you?" "I am Mash Kyrielight; Demi-Servant of Chaldea!" She declared.

"Chaldea?" Horobi raised an eyebrow at that before a look of recognition appeared on his face, "I see. You're Decade's ally, the ones that man told us about."

"That man?" Could they be talking about him? Was he here too?

"All we have to do is drive them out of our world, right?" Ikazuchi remembered what that man said. "Let's go, Horobi."

"Yes. To protect our world, we will drive you out." The two simultaneously took out identical belt buckles; a mostly black hunk of metal(?) with the right side having bits of silver along with a yellow lever. Additionally, there was a large opening in it where something could be slid in. When the two put them on, a silver belt wrapped around their waists. One thing that Mash couldn't help but notice that there were spikes on the insides of the belts.

FORCERISER!

"That's…" "Sorry, even if they're aiming to destroy our world, we humans still need their help," Kadoc said as he put on a simple black buckle with a silver belt and inserted his gun into it.

SHOTRISER!

The three then each took out a keycard-like gadget. Kadoc's was blue and had the image of a wolf, Horobi's was purple with a scorpion on it, and Ikazuchi's was red and had a dodo on it. Simultaneously, the three pressed a button on them.

BULLET!

POISON!

DODO!

While the two members of MetsubouJinrai simply inserted their keys closed into their ForceRisers, as they were apparently called, (although Ikazuchi inserted his with a bit of pizazz, miming a lighting bolt symbol) Kadoc pulled his key open with his bare hands before inserting it into his ShotRiser and removing it from the belt. This made the gun announce more lines.

AUTHORIZE! Kamen. Rider. Kamen. Rider.

"Henshin!" The three cried at the same time as Horobi and Ikazuchi pulled the lever of their belt while Kadoc pulled the trigger.

SHOTRISE! SHOOTING WOLF!

FORCERISE! STING SCORPION! Break down.

What happened next was a mess of events that made Mash's head hurt (well, not really. Weirder stuff had happened to her.) The easiest to understand was Ikazuchi's; multiple pieces of armor materialized around him as red lightning came out of him. Thick, silver wires then pulled the armor onto him, transforming the astronaut. A full-bodied, crimson-red suit appeared on Ikazuchi while the patchwork armor was mostly black. An orange, featureless faceplate was the most dominant feature of his helmet. Finally, a pair of red swords shaped like feathers appeared in his hands.

Horobi's transformation was slightly different but ended in the same way. A large, silver, robot scorpion jumped out of Horobi's ForceRiser before it quickly turned around and stabbed the katana-wielding robot with its stinger. With an amazing feat that defied all sorts of logic, the scorpion swung into the air and enveloped Horobi from behind before beginning to crush him in a vice grip. However, instead of squeezing the HumaGear to death, the scorpion exploded and turned into pieces of armor as a purple suit materialized on Horobi. Like with Ikazuchi, black wires pulled the pieces to Horobi and held them in place. His weapon, a purple-and-black blocky bow, appeared in his hand.

Finally, Kadoc's transformation was as straightforward as Ikazuchi's was. First, he shot a single bullet out of the… ShotRiser. However, the bullet seemed to have a mind of its own and spun around, flying back towards him. He seemed to have expected that and punched the bullet in midair. Instead of the logical conclusion of mangling his arm, the bullet instead fragmented and turned into armor that snapped onto his body.

A silver undersuit was covered by mostly symmetrical armor. The right side of his body was mostly blue with some pointy pieces while the left was white and mostly smooth. His new helmet was shaped like a wolf, with blue 'fur' around the faceplate as well as an image of a wolf above his blue eyes.

The elevation increases as the bullet is fired.

"..." All of that had happened in the span of four to five seconds and left Mash speechless, mostly from trying to wrap her head around the fact that Kadoc was similar to the ones that were summoned by Decade.

"Kyrielight, you protect Ritsuka from Horobi," Kadoc instructed her as he quickly tried to shoot Ikazuchi, who simply blocked the attack with his swords.

"Ye-Yes!" She nodded. This wasn't the time to be dumbstruck by what was going all. She had to do her duty first. "Sen- Hiden, stay behind me!"

"But-!" "Just listen to her!" Kadoc shouted at him before rushing towards Ikazuchi.

Outside…

While all of that was happening underground, the siege outside went on unimpeded.

As Merlin had revealed earlier, the last two members of MetsubouJinrai had been at the very backline of the seemingly endless waves of Magias. Jin and Naki, under instructions from Horobi, watched as countless amounts of their allies were destroyed by the new group of humans that had appeared.

"Eh… Are they actually humans?" Jin quietly wondered as he saw the bright flash of light from a sword one of the mentioned humans was using.

"..." Naki remained silent as they tried their best to make their own analysis of the situation. "Could it be…?"

"If you wish to protect your world, you must drive Decade out. Should he remain here for too long, Chaldea will arrive looking for him. They too will be seeking to destroy your world."

That man may have been cryptic but they understood what he meant now.

"Jin," They said, "Prepare yourself, we're going in."

"Huh?" Jin had a look of surprise on his face, "But Horobi told us to wait for his signal."

"If you're not coming, then I'll go by myself," Naki told him as they took out their ForceRiser and personal ProgriseKey or rather, a ZetsumeriseKey. Like Kadoc's, their Key depicted a wolf. Unlike Kadoc's, their version was that of the extinct Japanese wolf instead of a normal one.

Seeing Naki's willingness to enter the battle, Jin decided to go along with them, "Horobi will be mad if we go in, but he'll be madder if I let you go in alone."

And so, Jin put on his own ForceRiser and ProgriseKey, a falcon.

WING!

JAPANESE WOLF!

The two Keys declared as their respective activation buttons were pressed. Jin playfully tossed his Flying Falcon Key into the air before catching and inserting it into his Driver. At the same time, Naki simply dropped their Key into their other hand and inserting it into their ForceRiser.

"Henshin!" FORCERISE!

Both of them then pulled the lever and transformed.

Like his father before him, a mechanical animal came out of Jin's ForceRiser, this time a falcon. And just like with Horobi, the metal animal flew around briefly before enveloping Jin with its wings and seemed to begin crushing him. However, the falcon exploded into armor pieces as a pink suit materialized on him. Silver cables then pulled the armor onto him and completed the transformation.

Naki's transformation, meanwhile, started with a whitish-blue cyclone obscuring them as armor parts materialized. As with the others, the pieces were then pulled towards them by cables as the cyclone dissipated.

FLYING FALCON!/JAPANESE WOLF! Break down.

Like with Horobi and Ikazuchi, the other two's armor looked cobbled together. While Jin's helmet was in the shape of an outstretched falcon and had green visors, Naki's was in the shape of a wolf's head and had extremely light-blue visors. Additionally, Naki was equipped with a pair of silver claws while Jin was unarmed.

Without another word to each other, the two took off, Jin by spreading his wings and taking off into the sky while Naki ran into and pass the crowds of Trilobite Magias with super speed.

Somehow, the fight between the two groups had ended up above ground. That didn't mean that it was any easier fighting the two HumaGear Riders though. When Hiden told them that they were tough to deal with, he was not kidding. Horobi must have a very high attack stat because he hurts.

STING KABAN SHOOT!

That's not to mention he just can keep on using his finishers with any drawback, at least not one that was obvious to Mash. And as if that wasn't already bad enough, as she blocked the several purple energy arrows, the Shielder had to let out a cough as she felt the poison again, having been poisoned earlier.

Meanwhile, Kadoc, or Vulcan as he was called when transformed, was equally having a terrible time fighting Ikazuchi. Horobi with poison made sense. What didn't make sense was how could a dodo-themed enemy use lightning? Nonetheless, Kadoc was getting his ass served to him on a silver platter as Ikazuchi was basically just toying with him at this point.

"Come on, Vulcan! Where was all that bark you had?!" Ikazuchi taunted as he threw him into some barrels.

"We were told Chaldea will destroy our world." Horobi loosened his grip on his bow, clearly no longer thinking that Mash was a threat as she kneeled in pain, "I expected something more challenging."

However, by letting his guard down, it gave Hiden the chance to step in after watching from the sidelines the entire time. And how does he catch Horobi's attention?

"Horobi!" By jumping in front of Mash, of course!

"What are you doing?!" Mash's panicked cry as she was unable to move.

"Just trust me," He whispered over his shoulder before hardening his face and stared Horobi down.

"Hiden, do you have a death wish?" Horobi questioned him. It wouldn't be surprising if he did with how many times he put himself in danger.

"Who knows? But even if I did-" He steeled himself as he took something out; a black buckle.

"That is-!" "How-?!"

Nearby, a pinned-downed Vulcan spotted what was going on. "A ForceRiser?!"

Indeed, in Hiden Ritsuka's hand was the transformation belt of MetsubouJinrai, the ForceRiser.

"So that's why we were missing one," Horobi muttered but didn't do anything to stop Hiden.

"To protect this world…" Hiden whispered to himself before putting the Driver on. However, there was just one small matter; the spikes that were inside the belt. Simply put, the belt stabbed itself into his waist, causing excruciating amounts of pain.

"Senpai!" Once again, Mash had another slip of the tongue at watching the Lostbelt version of Ritsuka in pain. That didn't do much to deter him, however, as Hiden then took out a yellow ProgriseKey with the image of a grasshopper.

JUMP!

Despite how painful it was, Ritsuka proceeded to insert the Key into the ForceRiser, making it play standby music.

"Henshin!" He shouted before screaming in pain when he pulled the lever, forcing the ProgriseKey open and showing that underneath the picture was an x-ray of a mechanical grasshopper.

FORCERISE!

Like with Horobi and Jin's transformation, a large mechanical version of his Key's animal (well, insect) came out of it. However, what differs from theirs was that the grasshopper let out a cry and only some parts of it turned into armor that flew around Hiden while glowing yellow. The rest of the grasshopper then melted into some kind of liquid metal that quickly flew and covered A.R. Ritsuka, adding to his already immense amount of suffering. It was only once the metal hardened and turned into a black undersuit that cabled shot out and pulled the armor onto him. As the armor's glow disappeared, the belt made one final announcement.

RISING HOPPER! A jump to the sky turns to a Rider Kick. Break down.

With the main source of his pain now over, Hiden Ritsuka was huffing as he got himself used to the faint discomfort caused by the spikes that were still impaled into his waist.

"Get ready… Horobi…" His attempt to sound intimidating sort of fell flat a bit as he had to take a deep breath in between words. Still, Horobi heeded and raised his bow.

"As you wish, 001."

So where was Decade in all this? Simple.

FINAL ATTACK RIDE: D-D-DRIVE!

Three stacks of tires appeared around Naki and held them in place. That would be confusing enough but what really took the cake was the red race car that ran through a group of Magias and began doing donuts at very high speeds around a red Kamen Rider that resembled it, even having a tire hanging like a sash on his body.

What happened next that may or may not just be a big "screw you" to science was the red Kamen Rider leaped at the car and ricocheted off of it, kicking Naki as they were thrown into the center of the donut. However, the Rider showed no signs of slowing down and kept flying to the other side of the circle. By that point, the car had already drifted towards that side and the Rider bounced off it again, sending him back towards Naki and kicking them.

This went on for a couple more cycles before the red Kamen Rider made one final cry with a kick, actually going through Naki and ripping them apart. The resulting explosion left nothing of the HumaGear behind save for their ZetsumeriseKey.

"Pwuh." The last Rider dusted his hands before the armor disappeared. However, he had another set of armor beneath that one; a black and magenta one.

"Decade!" "Hmm?" Hearing his name being called, Decade glanced over his shoulder to see that his allies were having some trouble.

"Where did those things come from?" He watched as the Archer that his Master brought was grabbed by one of several Gigers and thrown through the air.

A/N: And done! Hopefully, I did the transformation scenes some justice (spoiler alert: I probably didn't with everyone except 001). On the subject of 001, do you prefer that spelling or ZeroZero-One? Or was it ZeroZeroOne with no dash?

Anyway, two important things happened this week with the franchises. Lostbelt 6.3 came out yesterday and now the 6th Lostbelt is over. Maybe. I heard there's a yellow dot between the Lostbelt 6 and 7 buttons. Like I said in the last chapter, I don't play JP and get all my news from the subreddit. I'm not going to say anything more about it so I'm just going to leave it at that.

As for Rider, the final episode of Saber will air this week. As with every ending, a new story will begin and Reiwa Rider #3 will start next week. Hopefully, Saber's finale will be good even if there was barely any foreshadowing that Sophia would become the 4th Calibur. I guess you can say that the photo of her with Hayato and 1st Saber (Sorry, I don't remember his name) was foreshadowing but Kento's not in it. Rambling aside, I will be sad when Saber ends even though the first arc was a bit lackluster. To me, it improved once the second arc came around, and while it may not be my favorite Rider season, I still like it. EDIT: Okay, so I'm a dumbass (what else is new?) and there are actually a couple more episodes left. Doesn't change my opinion though. At least not yet...

So what are your thoughts on this week? Of course, you can wait until after Saber's finale (or not) to answer and just leave a normal review if you want.