A suspicious-looking man with sunglasses received a thick yellow envelope, opened it, and checked that the large volume of money inside was the right amount.
After verifying that the amount was correct, he sized up the two individuals standing in front of him.
"Okay... I'll guide you two through the Sky Road."
The shady guide nodded his head at the two and turned to show them the way. The two in question were none other than Sento and Ryuga.
Sento had his usual look of casual clothing beneath his signature trench coat, while Ryuga had decided to treat this trip... differently for some reason. Ryuga had shown up in a disguise.
He wore a loosely fitting, multi-colored, and multi-patterned suit hanging loosely from his body, with a comically oversized yellow bowtie fitted around his collar. A bright orange, curly wig sat on his head, and an equally orange, circular ball sat on the end of his nose.
Ryuga watched as their guide packed the envelope of money into his jacket pocket, still impressed at how fast the cash was assembled.
"Misora's kinda awesome..."
"Yeah..." Sento agreed, starting to march after the man in sunglasses before pausing for a moment. He narrowed his eyes and scrunched his face a bit while turning back to look at Ryuga, saying, "Wait, why are you a clown?!"
Ryuga glanced at Sento for a second, then down at his choice of infiltration clothing. He started blushing in embarrassment and quickly sped past Sento to catch up with their guide, not answering the question at all.
...
Meanwhile, across the city, at Faust's new secret lab, two men who seemed out of place walked down one of the concrete staircases, assessing the situation while several scientists worked on a similar setup to the one from before—a glass rectangle filled with Nebula gas and all.
The scientists showed no surprise when these two arrived; in fact, the opposite happened. The white coats all nodded and showed signs of respect toward the two men dressed in the outfits of upper management at the Touto Institute of Advanced Matter Physics.
They were none other than Gentoku and his assistant, Nariaki.
Gentoku walked toward the glass rectangle and then paused, tilting his head to address a shadowy spot in the corner of the room. "What did you want to talk about?"
Blood Stalk stepped forward and answered, "Sento Kiryu has headed for Hokuto."
Gentoku swivelled around with a look of surprise and anger on his face that he didn't even try to hide.
"What did you just say?"
Blood Stalk looked around the room dramatically, pretending to search for something, just to mock Gentoku, before shrugging, holding his arms wide, and saying, "So... what now? If the Hokuto government gets a hold of him, this will all be for nothing."
He walked to stand beside Gentoku, leaning over so that his helmet was in Gentoku's face.
"Your entire plan to make Kamen Rider for military use will go to waste, now won't it? Haha."
Blood Stalk laughed, then straightened up and moved a few feet away to wait for a response.
Gentoku rolled his eyes at Blood Stalk's antics, replying, "We need to stop him from going north, at all costs... Let's move. Now." He turned and started walking toward the exit, where Nariaki was waiting for him.
Blood Stalk snorted, turned his back on Gentoku, and waved good-bye while saying, "Have fun on your own over there... I don't take orders."
Gentoku stopped dead in his tracks. He pulled one hand out of his jacket pocket, revealing a full bottle. He slowly shook it, and by the time Blood Stalk turned back to look, Gentoku had slotted it into a strange-looking, stubby firearm and gave the bottom of the bottle a bump with his palm—as if loading a magazine.
BAT
A driver sound identical to Kamen Rider Build's was made, and a purple holographic image of a bat appeared beside the gun barrel for a moment.
Gentoku sneered in Blood Stalk's direction while slowly raising the gun and pulling the trigger.
"Vaporize."
MIST MATCH!
Thick plumes of dark smoke and bright lightning enveloped Gentoku. Strange clanking and ripping sounds could be heard coming from the center of the mist, where Gentoku was standing.
BAT
The smoke and mist slowly subsided. Gentoku had disappeared, and in his place stood none other than Night Rogue!
FIRE!
The golden bat emblem on Night Rogue's chest and the visor on his helmet glowed brightly for a moment while he finished transforming, acting like a starting signal as he rushed through the air toward the defiant Blood Stalk.
Bang!
Blood Stalk ducked and lunged upward in the next moment with a solid uppercut. His timing was perfect, and Night Rogue was deflected upward by the combined force of his momentum and the uppercut.
He rotated in the air, planting his armored boots on the ceiling, absorbing the energy into his legs as he crouched. As soon as the momentum stopped, he pushed off powerfully and launched himself back toward Blood Stalk.
"Wha—?!" Blood Stalk hadn't expected Night Rogue to shake off that first attack so easily. He raised a fist to meet the incoming streak of black.
The fist never collided, however. Just before they clashed, Night Rogue moved his arm slightly and opened his fist, catching Blood Stalk's wrist as he flew downward.
Bang!
Blood Stalk was pulled down to the ground in a strange aerial throw by Night Rogue. He tried to get back up, only to be kicked upwards and then kicked three more times in quick succession by Night Rogue until he was embedded into the wall behind them, causing a few pieces of equipment to fall off a nearby shelf.
In a second, Night Rogue was holding Blood Stalk against the wall by his throat. All the scientists turned to watch the scene. Nariaki watched Blood Stalk be subdued and beaten, a large grin on his face.
"Ugh... this is lame..."
Blood Stalk quit struggling and slowly raised his hands in surrender dramatically, still putting on airs despite being overpowered.
Night Rogue shook his head in disdain and said, "Shut up, and come quietly."
Click, click.
Night Rogue flicked Blood Stalk's helmet with his finger twice before slowly backing away, giving him one last push into the wall as he walked away.
Blood Stalk shook his shoulders as if the brawl hadn't happened at all.
"Yeah, okay, let's go..." He started whistling as he followed behind.
...
Meanwhile, on the trail to Hokuto...
The guide led Sento and Ryuga through a dense, forested path, heading toward the Sky Wall.
After walking for a while, the guide deviated from the narrow trail for about twenty feet and pointed at a small knoll poking out among the trees. As they approached, a small, man-sized hole could be seen leading inside.
The entrance was mostly shrouded by vines and moss, making it impossible to see from the trail.
"Well, that's it..." The guide pointed at the dark opening and looked back at Sento and Ryuga through his sunglasses with an 'I told you so' look.
Sento ignored the man's attempt at mystery and turned to Ryuga, who was still dressed like a clown. "So, that's the Sky Road..."
"That's the exit!"
A sudden voice echoed from the hole they all stared at, startling the three men.
They relaxed when a small family of four—refugees—appeared from the spot, carrying what luggage they could, clearly traversing from the other side. Seeing that it was a couple with their two little kids, the guide suddenly got agitated and walked forward to meet the family.
Upon seeing this, Sento and Ryuga exchanged a glance and took cover behind some trees to watch what would happen next.
"Hey! What the hell? You don't get to pass through here."
The guide surprised the family, suddenly standing in their way with a stern look.
"Aggh!" The family hadn't expected to see anyone at the exit and had been startled.
The mother hugged her two kids while their father stepped in front of them and gave a quick bow to the man in sunglasses barring their path.
"We're sorry... We, we have money, so please..."
Sento whispered to Ryuga, "Refugees from Hokuto. Poor family. That's sad..."
The guide counted through the stack of bills the man had pulled from one of their bags, unsatisfied.
"Haha, yeah, no. Not enough."
He handed the money back and sneered, "Go back to Hokuto."
The father immediately became upset and anxious, starting to beg and plead.
"No, please... We can pay the rest once we get to Touto! We want to be free! Please!"
BANG!
A shot suddenly rang out through the trees, echoing all around, followed by a shriek of pain.
Sento and Ryuga's eyes widened in shock as they quickly ducked for cover. Guardian bots swarmed toward the guide and the family. The father had been shot, and his terrified family huddled over him, crying.
"Honey! No! Honey!"
The guide jumped back in fear, the tough-guy act disappearing instantly.
"Wait! Stop! I can explain!" The guide raised his arms in surrender and tried to reason with the robots.
"Please, don't!" the mother screamed, torn between sheltering her children and attending to her husband.
Night Rogue appeared next, peering at the scene.
Sento glared from his hiding spot.
"Night Rogue..."
As if he heard Sento's muttering, Night Rogue called out toward him.
"I know you're out there, Build... Show yourself."
Night Rogue drew his weapon and began to approach the guide and the family, his aura menacing.
"Or else..."
He opened his arms wide, indicating all the civilians in front of him.
"If you don't, everyone here..."
The Guardians bots lowered their weapons, pointing at the family and the guide.
"...will die."