Half an hour earlier...
The two of them had hurriedly rushed towards the back of the hallway where a girl was lying on the floor, unconscious... like the other Gang Rider members around them. But before they could reach the girl, Sumida Kanato had stepped out to prevent them from reaching her. The young man knelt down to take something from the unconscious girl before standing and turning around to face Neon and Michinaga. He chuckled.
"Heh... that's a pretty neat move you did, using the high-frequency soundwave to knock everyone unconscious," exclaimed Kanato as he waved the small device in his hand at them.
The young boy sighed dramatically. "I didn't expect you guys to be able to figure this trick out so soon. But it's unfortunate for you guys, you failed in trying to get this remote switch from this girl." The young man shrugged. "Still, the effort was commendable at least."
Kanato turned his eyes back towards the duo. "Right, this switch is definitely the one you guys needed if you wanted to 'save' that Tycoon guy. It's remote to release that guy from those chains you saw over there at the holo screens."
Michinaga just scoffed at them. "That was 'nice' of you to provide us with a way to save Tycoon."
An exasperated feminine sigh interrupted their conversation as Beroba walked out to greet them as well.
"Well, don't you celebrate too soon—Even if we did provide a way out for you to 'clear' this side mission, there's no way we're making this easy for either of you to take the win!"
Neon immediately scoffed at her. "Really, do you really want another repeat of our last fight... Beroba?"
Beroba's expression immediately changed at the taunt. "How dare you mention that again—"
"Don't you ignore me—!" shouted Kanato as he pulled out Keiwa's Bujin Sword buckle from behind him. "I'll take down each and every one of you by myself!"
Michinaga scowled at the kid. "That belongs to Tycoon—!"
Kanato just laughed at them before trying to forcefully take the buckle apart. "Well, it's mine for the taking now—" he spoke again as Kanato managed to pull the twin buckle apart finally. Suddenly feeling as if he could now overturn the result of their current situation, the young man tried to put on the twin buckle onto his Desire Driver... but before he could try to snap the two buckles in place, a dark green burst of static started to leak out from the two pieces and forcefully repelled each other. Kanato found himself being thrown to one side from the aftershock.
Beroba chuffed at the sight. "Didn't I tell you that it won't work on you?"
"Argh—Shut up already!" exclaimed Kanato out of annoyance, before taking out his Magnum buckle to transform...
xxx
Ace hurriedly extended one of his tails towards Win before the blast from the multiple frog eggs that the man happened to stumble onto could cause critical damage to them. The fox rider sent another rain of bullets towards Premium Kekera before swerving the evade the opponent's counterattack. The two regrouped again with each other as Win nudged him on his side.
"Leave this frog to me... Ace, and head through that staircase on the right," said the man as Ace turned his head to look at the direction Win was pointing. Win shrugged. "I've been noticing it earlier for quite a while, the frog had been guarding that particular spot for some reason. As if they didn't want us to go there... so that should be where we'd find Tycoon—!"
Ace frowned at that man, even if the man wouldn't have been able to see his expression from under his helmet. "Is that why you kept being hit by those frog eggs?"
Win started to laugh. "It's just one of those days—" the man replied casually as Ace sighed at him.
"Don't be too reckless—!" he started to say before rushing towards the staircase.
Just as he was about to reach the foot of the staircase, Ace found himself confronted with yet another obstacle. Jitt smiled at him smugly, before taking out a Vision Driver. The blond man waved his right hand as a digital counter appeared in mid-air—indicating that they had less than 15 minutes left to get to Keiwa.
"Will you be able to get to Tycoon before the time runs out, Geats? I see that you didn't bring the second Goddess with you, so you've practically doomed Sakurai Keiwa's fate—" taunted the man as Ace gritted his teeth.
"Don't underestimate me—" Ace cried out before trying to shoot down the game master. Jitt evaded the attack before transforming into Kamen Rider Gazer...
xxx
Michinaga grabbed the small box that had fallen out of Kanato's hand before pressing the tiny switch on it. He turned his head towards the holo screens as Michinaga and Neon saw that Keiwa was finally released from his shackles before collapsing on the floor. But no matter how long they waited, Keiwa showed no signs of regaining his consciousness. Beroba let out an amused laugh despite being in a bloody mess.
"Hahaha... imagine seeing all that effort be in vain because you took too long to come to save your friend. The self-sacrificing hero image really doesn't fit you, Micchi—!"
"Shut up, you're annoying... old hag!" snapped Michinaga as Neon joined his side after recovering the Bujin Sword buckle.
"Let's go, Michinaga-san. We're heading to where Ace and the others are!"
"Yeah," he grunted as the two left the old warehouse to rejoin their other friends...