{Author's Note: I should probably bring this up before we begin so that no one gets confused. This is the prelude chapter.}

"Through the darkness of futures past,
the magician longs to see.
One chants out between two worlds...
fire, walk with me."

SMASH!

Rock Spider, Re:Shocker's newest cyborg creation, crashed through the wall of a warehouse. He stumbled to get up, having taken quite a beating from the attack. He looked to see his opponent, Re:Shocker's sworn enemy and ally to justice:

A man in black padded leather with what seemed to be a hard plastic-looking crimson shell, segmented into four sections. He had matching crimson gloves and boots as well as a green scarf that bellowed in the wind. Rock Spider could see the green compound eyes on top of the blood red helmet. Its silver mouthpiece was comprised of a jagged top lip that hung over its curved bottom lip. The costumed man gripped his hands. Along the shoulders, arms, and the center of the chest, there were five metallic pieces, beveled out to look like an exhaust vent. To Rock Spider and the people who fight for Re:Shocker, his name was clear:

"Kamen Rider… DANTE!" He held out his arms in a fighting pose. Rock Spider merely growled.

"Today will be the day you fall, Kamen Rider! That belt will belong to its rightful owner!" It rasped as rocky tendrils that acted as spider legs came out of his back.

"No. I may fall, but it like this. It won't be by your hand! The blood of the woman I loved, Yuna, is stained by your organization's hands! Her cries for justice will not be silenced until I destroy you all!" As Dante gripped his fists, Rock Spider could see fire erupt from the vents. Rock Spider recognized this. When Dante's hot blooded quest for justice fuels the Volcano Belt as much as regular fire could. When the belt gets overfueled by his burning passion, it vents out the fire, powering him up. To many followers of Re:Shocker, this is the last thing they'll ever see before being finished off by Dante, but to Dante, the name he gave to this burst of power was appropriate to his drive to complete the goal of destroying Re:Shocker: Endeavor.

His body was consumed by the flames as they found any hole, any sort of place to escape from… The eyes, the mouth, the vents, until he was nothing more than a person on fire. "SHOTO!" He shouted as he leaped into the air. First, by doing the signature attack that has haunted Re:Shocker and all its past incarnations… "RIDER KICK!" His right leg hit Rock Spider as his flaming boot left an imprint on his rocky shell. As he is propelled into the air, Dante readied his fist. "RIDER PUNCH!" This was his signature finisher, the Rider Punch, using the vents on his arm to engulf his fist into a blazing fist to deliver a powerful blow to the monsterish cyborg.

SMASH!

Fist hit rock… But to Dante's surprise, it didn't faze Rock Spider. That's when he noticed the armor of Rock Spider's was notably blacker than when he had used the Rider Kick on him. It wasn't until Rock Spider unfurled the armor that he realized what had happened.

"HAH! You thought your Rider Punch can affect me? I went through a modification build to withstand that attack!" Rock Spider began to flap his newly unveiled bat-like wings seemingly made of a thin obsidian. "Now you will die, Kamen Rider!" Rock Spider laughed and cackled as he took off into the air…

Only for a sword to fly forward and impale him.

"W-what the!?" Rock Spider fell to the ground. He got up to investigate the sword that pierced him, only for two more to stab him. As he got onto one knee, three more dealt the final blow. "H-how!? How am I beaten?" Rock Spider grunted. "No matter… Re:Shocker will grow stronger by the day and soon, even the Seven Legendary Riders won't hope to beat us!" He cackled and spread out his arms. "VIVA LAS VEGAS!" Those were the final words most cyborg soldiers say before they explode, a side effect of when their implants are far too damaged. As the smoke cleared, Dante turned behind him and saw a woman in a black and gold military uniform with long white hair. The bird symbol on her coat caused Dante to grip his fist.

"YOU! You're a general for Re:Shocker, aren't you?" He pointed at the woman. She merely smiled and shook her head.

"No. Re:Shocker does not exist in this world." She said.

"What?" He then looked around. It seemed weird that he and Rock Spider managed to go from the rock quarry to a warehouse, though it happened so often that he didn't seem to mind it.

"And this is not your world, Dairou Hotaro." Dante glared at her. The flames died down as his armor turned to ash. It then crumbled away, revealing a man with short black hair, a brown suede jacket over a white button shirt, and black leather pants.

"How do you know my name?" He asked.

"I know many things, like the world you have been brought to." She then extended her arms outwards. "Welcome to the Land of the Gods!"

"Gods?" Hotaro lowered his guard and looked at her with a raised eyebrow. "I assume you've brought me here?" The woman merely clapped her hands.

"Yes, yes, you've got that right."

"And I'll also assume you've called me here to help you." Hotaro merely flexed his arms.

"Right again. Like you, I too lost someone I loved and now I'm on my own warpath." She looked to the hole made by Rock Spider, a hole that expanded out to a pleasant park view as the moon shown down onto a river. "The Gods who live in this world have rejected her and caused her to die. In a way, these Gods have killed Yuna as well." Hotaro gritted his teeth. That wasn't true. Yuna died at the hands of Re:Shocker's leader, tricking her into believing that robotization would cure her illness. "Which is why my mission is to bring punishment to this horrible land of the gods. And you, Hotaro, will join me in exacting revenge." She said.

"Revenge? Do you assume I only fight to get revenge? Yuna may be the reason I began this fight as a Kamen Rider, but it's my burning passion to protect the world and fight for justice that helps me continue the fight. Even on the day Yuna can rest in peace, I will not. I'll continue living life as a Kamen Rider to make sure no one else has to suffer like I have." He said.

"And if you help me, no one will have to. Every day, people suffer for the entertainment and pleasure of others." She said.

"That may be true, but even if I am a Kamen Rider, I cannot save everyone. However, I will save as many as I can." He said.

"It seems we are thinking on two different tracks of mind. You seem to believe that I mean problems that affect this world. No... This affects many worlds. Many people across many worlds suffer and it's all the Creators' faults. They gave these people great pain and only we can save them from their wrath." She said.

"… Every part of me wants to help you with this. I too feel the pain of loss. But… There is one thing I will not do." Hotaro stepped forward. "Bringing punishment is not what I do. I do not punish Re:Shocker for their crimes but merely stop them. Someone who describes their fight for justice as 'punishing others'… It is an indicator that their heart is corrupted with the desire for revenge. I almost walked that same path as you when Yuna died, but I refused to." Hotaro held his hand over his waist, summoning the Volcano Belt. "This power… It is not meant to be used for selfish desires like revenge or greed. That is what Re:Shocker would have wanted to use this for. Instead, I use it for justice. I will help you in your quest to save those people… but I will not bring punishment to the Land of the Gods."

"… So I take it you will not ally with me, even though we share the same pains?"

"My pain for Yuna is a deep wound, yes, but I use it to fight for justice. You're using your pain as an excuse to destroy!" With that yell, the woman silenced herself.

"… Seems I'm wrong…" Several swords began to appear and floated by her side. "You really don't know my pain! You have no idea!" She screamed as she flung several swords at him.

"RIDER HENSHIN!" Hotaro shouted as flames erupted. Fire began to burst from the hole in the warehouse as the sound of crackling flames and clashing swords rang out from the building.