Undisclosed Location...
Within a closed space, two figures fought viciously. Due to the lighting, it was difficult to discern any specific features about them. But both appeared to be wearing armor suits of contrasting design. One was sleek while the other was jagged and asymmetrical. The sleek-armored figure punched the other guy twice before kicking him away. The jagged armored-figure stumbled next to a control panel of some sort.
The first figure calmly approached the fallen one, fully intent on ending this. But as he reached for the driver strapped around his waist, the second figure started to snicker. Soon it exploded into full blown, manic laughter. With a swift swing of his arm, he slammed a hand onto a large button on the panel.
The room rumbled as something activated.
“You...what did you just do?!” The first fighter demanded, his voice sounding young.
He did not get a response as a red light shined before a portal swirled into existence directly behind him. He turned back at the strange phenomenon, but this moment of distraction proved to be his undoing. The fallen figure whipped out a strange-looking gun and fired. The energy projectile struck his foe dead on and pushed him into the dimensional hole.
Once he crossed, the pathway closed.
The shooter pulled himself back up and flicked another switch. The darkened room suddenly illuminated, revealing his form. His body was encased in metal armor. The right side of his body was covered in silver metal plates. The left side was a series of blue metal gears.
“...Soon…” The figure spoke. “Soon….my perfect world will be born.”
Meanwhile...
Within the new laboratory of Team Build, three figures busied themselves with work. Micro was at a table soldering a wire in a half-built Sclash Driver. Off to the side, Twilight and Sunset worked on their own respective projects. Twilight was fiddling with a small, Fullbottle-like device while Sunset tinkered with what seemed to be a copy of the Build Phone.
While the three were hard at work, Sol Burner paced around the table with Crozz on his shoulder.
"Come on," Sol moaned as he sat down in front of Micro. "You've been working on that thing for a week now. Isn't it done yet?"
Micro looked up at him, a frown on his face. "Of course not. I can't just rush this. It's a slow, arduous process that requires delicate precision."
"You threw my Build Driver together overnight. Same thing with Crozz!" The dragon chirped in agreement.
"Yes and when I did that, I had a complete working driver to check my work against. This is entirely new territory. Every time I add a piece, I have to do tests to make sure it's properly synced with the rest of the tech."
“And yet you somehow manage to construct weapons for Build despite them being ideas from Sandalwood’s dreams and finish them within a day or so.” Sol argued.
“That’s because the computer analyzed them and made blueprints so I knew what to make beforehand!”
As the two males argued, the two females simply sighed. After working with Team Build, the Rainbooms got used to Sol and Micro arguing like this. Speaking of which, the rest of the group, minus Flash, walked through the door.
“Heya guys!” Rainbow called out as she and the others arrived. “You girls ready to practice our new song?”
“Give us a minute. We just need to add a couple more touches.” Sunset replied as she and Twilight proceeded with their work.
“Ooh! Whatcha making?” Pinkie peered over their shoulder in curiosity.
“Something that will help Sol’s lack of portable transportation.”
The rest of the girls nodded before turning to see Sol and Micro still arguing.
“Oh dear. Those two are at it again I see…” Rarity hummed.
“You can’t rush cautious construction!” Micro snapped.
“Aren’t you overdoing it though?! It’s been a week and you’re not even halfway done!” Sol yelled.
“Might as well try and stop them before it comes to blows.” Sandalwood said as he walked over.
“By the way. Where’s Flash? Shouldn’t he be here?” Applejack questioned.
The four ceased what they were doing and looked at one another. Micro was the one who spoke first. “He and his family had...plans today…”
Canterlot Cemetery...
Scootaloo set down a bundle of flowers in front of Trail Blazer’s gravestone. She, Flash, and Misty had taken the time to visit once all the chaos caused by Faust had died down. A lot has happened this past year. Not just because of Equestrian Magic, but also with Pandora's Box, Faust, and the Rider System.
Flash sighed. Everything used to be so simple. Granted, with magic things were still a tad crazy, but at least they were manageable. But now he’s on the front lines fighting an evil organization with unknown plans.
Before, he wanted to be part of the action. He wanted to be part of the magic, even if it was just helping the girls with their problems. But now...he wished he could experience that normalcy even for one day.
As he stared at his father’s gravestone, his mind drifted back to the times when he was alive. How he used to play all sorts of games with him. Whether they were board games, video games, or fictional role play, they would do them together. A smile flickered on his face when he recalled one instance when he remembered one such game.
“Take this!” A five year old Flash Sentry cried out as he punched his father in the leg. The blue haired youth wore his dad’s old air force gear, complete with his trademark goggles.
“No! I have been defeated…!” Trail Blazer yelled dramatically. He had a blanket around his shoulders to resemble an evil cape and cardboard horns atop his head. He clutched his chest and fell backward. He lied still with his tongue sticking out of his mouth.
Off to the side, Misty Veil shook her head in amusement with an infant Scootaloo in her arms. The baby babbled happily and reached out to the two playing hero and villain.
“Yah! The Hero wins!” Flash cheered with raised arms, not noticing the villain rise up again.
“Or….does he?!” Trail exclaimed as he picked up his son from behind and held him up high.
“Aw...no fair!” The boy pouted as his father chuckled.
“Never turn your back unless you're sure the villain’s defeated, son.”
“But you played dead! That’s cheating!”
“Don’t expect bad guys to play fair. They’re bad for a reason.” He advised as he carried his son through the air. “But what’s not fair is that you can fly!”
“Hey! Put me down!” Flash pouted, trying to contain his giggles.
“See Scootaloo? This is the males of our household being ridiculous.” Misty giggled.
“Bah!” Scootaloo just clapped her hands.
“So what are those, really?” Sandalwood asked as he pointed to the devices Twilight and Sunset tinkered with.
“Well, you know that Flash has the Build Phone, right?”
“You mean the smartphone that transforms into a motorcycle? Yeah, we kinda noticed.” Rainbow snarked.
“It acts as his means of transportation. Granted, Sol has his motorcycle, but it seems impractical for him to use it during a fight, as there is a chance a stray attack can destroy it. That’s where this comes in.” Sunset held up a half-constructed Build Phone. It was colored to be black and blue. “Now Sol won’t have to worry about a lack of transport if he has this on hand. Still, I gotta give props to Gizmo. These things are complicated as heck. I had no idea it was possible to defy the laws of conservation of mass like this. Good thing he left blueprints.”
“Nice. But dontcha need one of them Fullbottles to use it? Like dat Lion bottle? What if Flash happens to be using it?”
“That’s where I come in.” Twilight said as she held up her own creation. They were a pair of Fullbottle-like items. “After analyzing the blueprints for the Build Phone, I learned that the reason why the Fullbottles are needed is because the transformation and vehicles rely on Nebula Gas to activate. While it can use electricity, it only activates the phone settings.”
“But why don’t they just use Fullbottles instead of whatever you’re making?” Fluttershy questioned.
“Well, given how Faust is determined to get all of our bottles, it’s a good idea to prepare for contingencies. I call these proto-bottles.”
“Proto-bottles?”
“They’re designed to house Nebula Gas, but they are incapable of causing a transformation when used by a Driver. I made these by slowly extracting the Nebula Gas from the pre-existing Fullbottles and using them to fill the Proto-bottles. I had to do this bit by bit to allow the Fullbottles to regenerate their lost gas. Once I had enough to fill them completely, I had Micro and Sandalwood’s help to properly design the container to only enable their use for the Build Phones.”
“Oh! So they’re like Build Phone batteries!” Pinkie summed up the description.
Before they could proceed with the discussion, the Smash detector blared loudly. Micro dropped what he was doing and rushed over to the computer. After tapping a few keys, he locked onto the designated location; the local power plant.
“Another Faust attack?”
“How many are we dealing with this time?”
“Give me a sec…”
The number made his jaw drop. There were two...no three...seven, twelve….he kept counting the amount of red dots on the screen. He soon lost count over fifty.
They were equally shocked by the rising amount.
“Why are there so many?!” Rainbow exclaimed.
“Just what is Faust planning with this?”
“Maybe he wants to use us to take more Smash essence.” Sandalwood thought aloud.
“But why make so many? If they set all of them loose, they could level the city and they would end up getting caught in it!”
“We can worry about that later! Sol! You need to-!” His sentence trailed off upon noticing the fighter had already left. “...go ahead while I call Flash to help. Great listening by the way.” The genius deadpanned as he dialed the number.
Flash smiled sadly as he felt the tears well up. That time had been one of the last memories he had of his dad. He wondered what he would think of him, now. What would he say to him being Build?
His musings were cut short as his cell phone went off. He stepped back and answered it. “What is it Micro?”
“There are multiple Smash sightings at the local power plant! Sol is already on his way!”
“I got it. Be right there!” He hung up and turned to his mom and sister. “Sorry to cut this short, but I need to get going.”
“It’s alright, just be safe.” Misty advised. “We’ll catch up with the others.”
“Kick some butt bro!” Scootaloo cheered.
“You got it!” Flash rushed out of the cemetery. Once he was out on the streets, he activated the Build Phone.
“BUILD CHANGE!”
He hopped onto the bike and sped off. Misty and Scootaloo said their final prayers before rushing back to the lab. As a family they decided to help Flash out however they could. One of these ways was to provide technical support alongside Micro.
Once they were gone, another figure stepped out of the shadows. They approached the gravestone of Trail Blazer and stared down at it.
“...”
By the time the two Riders arrived at the power plant, they were stunned by the chaos taking place. Buildings were destroyed as the mass of creatures rampaged.
Each of the creatures in front of them were all exactly the same. They stood at around six foot and were completely green, each covered in green armour around the chest and arms. Their heads were round with several horns on the top and a single eye in the centre. The armour on the end of their arms were scissor-like, being large metal jaws.
“What kind of Smash are these?!” Sol demanded as he hopped off of his bike.
“No idea. But we gotta stop them before it's too late!” Both teens equipped their Drivers.
“RABBIT!”
“WAKE UP!”
“TANK!”
“CROSS-Z DRAGON!”
“BEST MATCH!”
“ARE YOU READY?!”
“Henshin!” Both Riders were donned in their armor. While Sol was clad as Cross-Z, Flash was covered in a familiar combo.
“WAKE UP BURNING!”
“FULLMETAL MOONSAULT!”
“GET CROSS-Z DRAGON!”
“RABBIT-TANK!”
“YEAH!!!”
They charged at the closest monsters and struck hard. Flash jumped up on his rabbit leg and snapped his tank leg across the head of one, knocking it back. Sol just charged and blasted one away with a flame infused punch.
However, instead of being sent flying back like its companion, it was merely pushed back. “What the?” Sol’s confusion ceased as another foe ambushed him from behind while he was distracted.
He rolled on the ground before crouching back up. three more of them surrounding the dragonic Rider, cutting him off from Flash.
One of them tried to snap at him with its jaw arm, but Cross-Z dodged it before wrapping its arms around it, snapping them shut. He then pulled the monster over as a human shield to block another bite attack. He then kicked the two away before ducking a swinging arm aimed for his head and countered with an uppercut.
Meanwhile, Flash went to deal with the monsters that were situated on the higher levels of the building. As he ascended, he got a better view of the situation. It was worse than he thought. There was a whole army of these strange creatures and they were everywhere. Two of them rushed at him once he climbed on the topmost platform. He quickly kicked one with his Tank foot, using the moving treads to deal more damage before pushing it back to its incoming brethren.
When he saw the numbers coming at him, he couldn’t stay cornered like this. He quickly jumped off the guard rail onto a lower-level platform. While said platform was covered in monsters, there were fewer in number. He kicked the closest one in the face when he landed and followed up by punching another in the jugular.
Sol followed his friend up the building, fighting off any enemy he came across. He forced quite a few back with a flurry of flaming punches and kicks. But as he made his way up, he started to get overwhelmed by the sheer numbers and diminishing space. As soon as he struck one, another one struck him across the back and into the guard rail. He quickly recovered and grabbed them by the arms when they tried to attack him.
“Just how many of these things are there?!” He threw their arms back before dashing through the opening to avoid getting crowded. The others drew closer. Sol pushed them back with a flaming roundhouse kick.
Build slashed at one with the Drill Crusher before using it to pin another one by the pipeline system. He got a better look, and definitely didn’t recognize the design. “Guys, are you getting all this?!” Flash contacted the lab.
“We are, and we can’t believe it either!” Micro responded as he controlled the drone to get a better look at the field. Misty and Scootaloo made it back to the lab. The two were equally shocked by the amount of enemies Flash and Sol had to deal with.
“Are these things really Smash?!” Sol questioned as he punched two in the face before turning to kick another in the chest.
“The scanners indicate that they definitely have Nebula gas infused in them, but there’s something wrong. It’s also detecting something else. Something foreign.”
“Well how do we stop them? There are too many!” The Dragonic Rider yelled.
“Try going Hawk Gatling and snipe them from the air!” Rainbow suggested.
“That’s a terrible idea! He could end up hitting those pipelines and cause a gas explosion!” Twilight pointed out.
“Maybe even the odds with Ninja Comic?” Sunset suggested.
“Or he could go Sparkling!” Pinkie exclaimed.
“Or maybe Turtle Watch!”
“Uh...guys?” Scootaloo said, garnering their attention. “What are those things doing now?”
On the screen, the creatures stopped as one before they faced their respective Rider. All of their eyes glowed with an eerie light that seemed to grow brighter.
“What are they doing now?!” Sol yelled as he and Flash backed away from the enemies, confused by their strange behavior.
“Nothing good…” Then the glow became blindingly intense, setting off warning bells in his head. “Run for it!”
But they were too late. As one, the creatures shot laser beams from their eyes and blasted the Riders. As the beams were fired in parallel, the power was magnified. They were forced off of the building and sent crashing to the ground below. The impact and blast overloaded their respective armors, undoing their transformations.
The two teenagers groaned as they pulled themselves back up. To their dismay, they were surrounded by the remaining monsters.
"These Smash...they're like nothing we've ever faced before."
"That's because they're not Smash!" Flash and Sol both spun around, their eyes widening. Walking towards them was a young man around nineteen or twenty years of age. He had spiky black hair and pale cream coloured skin. He was wearing a white sleeveless jacket over a light blue short sleeve t-shirt. His pants were light blue with a white line running down the seams. He smirked, "They're called Gigabyters. And they fall under my jurisdiction."
"Jurisdiction?" Flash asked, Sol almost growling.
"This isn't a time to play hero! Get out of here before you get hurt!" As if to emphasise this point, three of the Gigabyters rushed forward with their hand mouths ready to chomp down on him.
The man just smiled and placed his hands behind his back before easily outmanoeuvring the first and roundhousing the second into the third. He then moved his head to the side as the first tried to attack him from behind, the man spinning around to sweep its leg out from under it.
All those watching were impressed; the man having knocked three down without much issue. He then turned to them. "Don't worry," the man said. He then reached into his pocket and pulled out what looked like a thick smartphone. "I got this."
Flash finally asked the question, "Who...are you?"
"Just a passing through Kamen Rider." With that, he held the device out and let the others see it. It looked similar to a silver smartphone, though it was larger and thinner with only one button in the top right corner.
The man used his index finger to press the button, causing the screen to come to life as a silver light flashed out the back. That light flew onto the man's hand and flew down his arm, shoulder, chest and finally stopped at his waist. There, the light spread into a ring around him and took shape before fading as a voice cried out.
"CYBER DRIVER!"
Around his waist was a metal belt with an oval-shaped buckle. The buckle also had a rectangular section removed from the middle, while a square box could be seen on the right side below his arm. The top of the buckle had five blue lights that were around five thin rectangular holes. The left side of the buckle had what appeared to be a leaver near the top.
The right side of the buckle detached from the rest and came down with a hinge as the man spun his arms around. "HENSHIN!" He cried as he slotted the device into the buckle before it closed back up. The voice spoke again.
"DOWNLOAD!"
Before anyone could ask what was going on, the driver unleashed a powerful dark blue light that wrapped around the man's whole body until he looked like a blue silhouette. It didn't last long as white shapes began appearing on the figure, Flash and Sol realising they were hundreds if not thousands of ones and zeros.
The figure then began to shift, growing taller, bulkier and even rounder in the head department.
Finally, the cocoon started to rip apart and reveal what was underneath. And it was something they hadn't been expecting.
Standing before them was a figure standing in a blue bodysuit. His chest was covered in white armour that had a stylised C on it that appeared to be a company logo, while around his forearms were white guards. He was also wearing white armoured boots that went up to his knees; the knees had blue metal guards. Each piece of armour had blue lines running around the edges and on his upper arms and legs were white patterns that seemed to resemble circuitry. The suit area around his neck was white and had a blue muffler around it. Finally, his head was encased in a white helmet with two round blue eye pieces and what appeared to be a pair of white antenna styled eyebrows.
Flash and Sol were both stunned by what they'd just seen. "Who...who are you?" Flash asked again.
The armoured figure suddenly began moving like he was fighting someone invisible, crying a single word with each movement. "Kamen Rider...CYBURST!"
No one was able to believe what they were seeing. Another rider...but this one wasn't using the Build System. "Wait?" Sol asked, "Kamen?" He didn't get to ask any more as several Gigabyters decided to take the moment to attack, charging the two Fullbottle riders.
The new rider reached for the leaver on the left side of his driver and pushed it down.
"FULL POWER!"
He rushed forward and jumped up and over Build and Cross-Z. As he did, he flipped forwards before extending his right foot forward. "RIDER KICK!" He suddenly shot forward as his foot exploded with energy, turning him into a meteor that came crashing down towards the Gigabyters.
"VIRUS BUSTER!"
Cyburst struck one of the Gigabyters and caused an explosion, the others were caught in it and were destroyed. When the light faded, Cyburst stood there looking none the worse for wear. And as some more Gigabyters charged at him, he reached into the box on the side of his belt and pulled out what looked like a memory card. It was black with the image of a sword on it. Cyburst placed it in the far-right slot on his driver.
"DOWNLOAD!"
"Blade Buster!" He cried as his right arm guard exploded with the same energy that he'd used to transform. When the light faded, it revealed Cyburst was holding what appeared to be a white saw handle with blue trim connected to his arm guard. From out of the handle was a three-foot-long blade that was white with a blue line running down the centre.
Cyburst smirked as he rushed forward, slashing at the Gigabyter closest to him and with a single slash it was vaporised.
"Seriously?" Sol asked, watching as Cyburst continued to cut the Gigabyters down. But the more he destroyed, the more that kept showing up.
It was then that he pulled out another memory card, this one having a fireball image on it. He placed it into the far-left slot on his buckle.
"DOWNLOAD!"
"Blast Burner!" He cried as his left arm guard transformed. When the light faded, his arm was now covered with bulky red armor with two yellow shotgun barrels coming out the front. There was a handle extending out to the side that Cyburst was holding. On it was a trigger. Cyburst pointed this weapon at the nearest Gigabyter and pulled the trigger, one of the barrels shot a fireball that landed a direct hit. Cyburst then held the trigger down, the two barrels firing one after the other in quick succession.
This took out a good portion of them, but he stopped as the crowd thinned out. "Why'd he stop?" Sol asked.
"Likely to prevent collateral damage." Flash looked around and saw several parts of the ground the Blast Burner had hit. They were shown to be either broken or scorched.
Cyburst removed the two memory cards, his weapons disappearing, as one of the Gigabyters stepped forward. Its large eye began to glow, Cyburst pulled out new memory cards. One of them had the image of a diamond on it while the other showed a hammer. He slotted them in the same holes as before.
"DOUBLE DOWNLOAD!"
"Diamond Guard and Ram Slammer!" In a flash of light, his gauntlets transformed once again. His left became a large round shield which looked like the top of a gem while his right turned into a large double-headed hammer.
He rushed forward as the Gigabyte's eye unleashed a green beam of energy. Cyburst raised the shield to block as he got close. Once he was, he swung the hammer around and slammed it into its stomach. That sent it flying, fading away midair as Cyburst did the same to several others until they were all gone.
He smirked, turning to the other two Riders. "Now, where-"
"LOOK OUT!" Flash yelled, pointing behind Cyburst and making him spin around to see several more Gigabytes jump down from the plant's rigging. They landed as their eyes glowed, ready to fire.
"WOW!" Cyburst held up his shield, just in time to block the beams. But the force was slowly pushing him back. "Not good." He pulled out another memory guard, which had a speaker on it, and slotted it into the hole between the centre and far-right. "Boom Boxer!"
"DOWNLOAD!"
In a flash of light, his right boot transformed. The foot was still the same but the leg had a black speaker attached to the front.
Cyburst raised his foot before slamming it onto the ground. Upon doing so, he unleashed a powerful sound blast that flew at the Gigabytes and exploded into a shockwave. Cyburst chuckled as he removed his current cards, looking up and seeing several more Gigabyters on the plants’ rigging.
He took out two new cards, one showing an electric fan while the other just had the word 'copy’ on it. He placed the fan one in the slot he had the speaker card in while placing the other in the slot between the centre and far-left. "Gyro Boot and Copy!"
"DOUBLE DOWNLOAD!"
In a flash, both his feet were transformed into the same thing. It was a large contraption with a cage under the foot that had a large fan in it, the fans quickly beginning to spin and blast air out at such a rate that Cyburst was propelled into the air and flew towards the rigging.
The Gigabyters saw this and fired at him, Cyburst using the fans to manoeuvre around to avoid them before pointing the fans at the Gigabyters. This caused a tornado that slammed into the monsters and pushed them back, letting Cyburst safely fall onto the rigging as he took out two new cards. One had the image of a plant on it and the other a drill. He slotted them, "Vine Whipper and Drill Driver!"
"DOUBLE DOWNLOAD!"
His left arm turned green with a long green cord sticking out that he gripped, while his right arm became encased in a yellow box with a drill on the end of it. He started whipping the vine around, lashing at several Gigabyters or wrapping them up to throw away. And those that got too close suddenly found the spinning drill lodged into their guts.
"He's good," Flash whistled.
"Yeah," Sol said, "but does he have to make it seem so easy. He's making us look bad.”
Cyburst removed all of his cards and put all but the copy card away, taking out his sword card instead and slotting it in the far right slot while putting Copy in the far left. "Blade Buster and Copy!"
"DOUBLE DOWNLOAD!"
Both arms morphed into an image of his sword, which he started swinging around to take out the remaining Gigabyters.
Flash and Sol both continued to watch, not liking that that was all they could do. Flash was completely focused on the fight, but Sol suddenly noticed something in the corner of his eye. He looked around and saw...someone, hidden in the shadows of an alley between two buildings.
Whoever they were, they appeared to be wearing some kind of armour. Another Rider?
Seeing they were noticed, the figure retreated down the alley and Sol gave chase. He probably should have told Flash, but he'd want to come and they needed to have eyes on this Cyburst guy. So, Sol rushed down the alleyway alone.
“Hey! Stop!” He yelled to the shadowed figure. But they ignored him as they exited the other side of the alley and turned the corner.
Sol rushed to the opening and whipped around to try and find the mysterious figure.
“Yah!” Cyburst yelled as he delivered the finishing blow to the last Gigabyter. The monster blew up in a fiery explosion. “Welp. That takes care of them.” He then turned around to the blue haired musician. “You doing alright?”
“I’ll live.” He answered before walking over. “But just who the heck are you? You said you’re a Kamen Rider?”
“That’s right. I’m….wait, weren’t there two of you?” Flash grew confused by his words before noticing someone missing.
“Hey guys?” He contacted his friends. “Where’s Sol?”
The fighter in question finally picked up the figure’s trail and stopped at the city dam.
The figure stood before a massive machine. He wasn’t sure how to describe the various pieces, but it looked like some sort of giant metal hand folding onto a horizontal bar.
Now that he was up close, Sol was able to get a better look at him. His body was covered in gray armor, similar in design to what Blood Stalk and Night Rogue wore. The right side of his body was covered in silver metal plates. The right side was a series of red metal gears.
“What the heck...is this…? And who are you?!” He yelled as he climbed down the concrete slope to where the man stood.
The figure slowly turned around to regard Sol. “...It doesn’t matter who I am. But I cannot have you interfering.” He quickly whipped out a gun-like weapon and pulled the trigger. Sol moved quickly to avoid the line of fire and placed the Driver onto his waist. Crozz flew into his hand before equipping him.
“Henshin!” He weaved through gunfire as his transformation finished, batting the gun away before punching the man in the face. “I don’t know what you’re planning, but you’re not getting away with this!” The man countered and the two traded blows.
As the two were locked in a fight, Flash and Cyburst appeared and saw the two. The drone had locked onto Crozz’s signature, allowing them to locate him.
“I’ve climbed a mountain of corpses to get this far...you won’t stand in my way!” With a defiant yell, the man rammed his right shoulder into Sol. A red energy gear manifested before grinding harshly against Sol’s armor. With a final shove, the gear exploded and sent Sol flying through the air at the Hand Machine.
“Open the gate!” The red geared man commanded as he opened his hand.
The machine followed suit as the metal fingers opened up and the eye on the palm came to life. A purple gateway formed before the eye, catching Sol as he tumbled through the void before closing. The entire machine then vanished.
“SOL!!!” Flash yelled in horror as his friend disappeared. The others back at the lab were equally horrified by the scene. His head then snapped over to the culprit. “Who are you?! And what did you do to Sol?!”
The man said nothing. He stood stock still as his gaze focused on Flash. The lack of response only aggravated the musician. “...Answer me!” He was about to equip his Driver before something surprising happened.
The man cried out in pain as his form started to glitch. His armor broke apart, revealing his true form to the world. The man seemed to be middle aged with a dark suit covering his muscular frame.
Those who got a proper look at the man were stunned. The Build Driver clattered to the ground.
Flash's heart was beating a mile a minute as he stared at the man in front of him, unable to believe what he was seeing. "...Dad?"
“Is...is that…?” Scootaloo questioned in confusion.
“It...can’t be….” Misty stammered, unable to believe what she was seeing.
The others were simply speechless. They recognized that figure. They knew him through Flash and saw him in photos in the Research Center.
The man’s skin was a familiar shade of orange with scars present. His hair was blue and spiky. On his face was a beard that was recently trimmed.
The most eye catching features though were the scars on his face. One was a cut starting from his right cheek across the bridge of his nose while the other ran straight over his right eye. The cut was shallow enough to avoid damaging the ocular organ. On his left cheek were a series of burn scars.
Despite these differences, it was indeed Flash Sentry’s deceased father, Trail Blazer. The man continued to scream and glitch before he pulled out a syringe. But before he could use it, Cyburst shot it out of his hand with the Blast Burner.
Trail growled at Cyburst, but his expression softened when he locked eyes with Flash. “...Don’t worry, son.” He spoke. Flash froze at the voice, finally hearing it again after so many years. “...We’ll be together soon…” As if on cue, a portal swirled into existence behind Trail. He walked through it without looking back.
“W-wait!” The musician called out after finally returning to his senses. He ran down the slope, but it was too late. The portal had closed and Trail Blazer vanished from sight.
Meanwhile, Cyburst walked over and picked up the syringe. Surprisingly, it was still intact. “...Hey…” He turned around to see Flash march up to him. “I have no idea who you are, but I want answers! Who are you? What were those things? And explain to me why the hell is my deceased Dad alive and somehow an enemy?!”
The Kamen Rider thought for a moment before nodding. He removed the smartphone from his Driver, breaking apart his transformation and leaving him in civilian attire. “I’m Jet. Full name, Jet Storm. And I’ll explain everything I can.”
“ Uh, guys? I think we have bigger issues to worry about.” Sunset radioed in, being one of the first to come to their senses. “What happened to Sol?”
“Sol? You mean the Dragon armor guy?” Flash nodded his head. “Uh...I think I might know where he is…”
An untransformed Sol Burner groaned as he stirred back to consciousness. His eyes flickered open and his vision refocused. What he saw greatly confused him. All around him was what he assumed to be a futuristic city one would find in a sci-fi anime. The buildings were tall and advanced. Above his head were roads and streets made of hard light. Hovering around him were what he assumed to be drones. There were even hovercrafts for cars!
“...What the? Where the heck am I?!”
To Be Continued...