A/N: And I'm finally back after an extremely busy few months. Updates will come sporadically, so don't expect any regular updates for any of my stories. That said, enjoy!

Kamen Rider Tyrant

Rider Rising – Part Four

At that moment, two things happened simultaneously. First, a ball of energy flew from the still smoking ruins of the Testing chamber; striking the creature and causing it to fly into the wall hard. The second thing was that the energy coalesced into something that could only be described as a humanoid figure wearing what appeared to be spandex or Lycra. The helmet had no discernable mouthpiece, instead it was moulded in the shape of a snarling dinosaur head – much like the Orange Ranger's had been. The torso armour was a simple vest with upward curving shoulder plates. In the centre of the chest, a golden coin gleamed with the stylized image of some sort of dinosaur. The colouring of the bodysuit was a solid orange with white gloves, black boots and a stylized fire pattern running up the sides. From beneath the helmet came the unmistakable pissed off voice of Weihan.

"Get away from her, it's me you want"

Under the helmet, Weihan sighed to himself. All that effort into making a grand entrance had been wasted by that one cheesy line. Then again, the only time he had to throw out a throw-away one-liner was the time he had helped Tommy with his little problem in Reefside. Shifting his feet, he looked at the monster and swallowed hard. While it had been a few years since he had seen a monster, the Wraith in front of him made Psychogre look positively tame. While he knew how a minotaur was supposed to look, the creature in front of him was anything but normal. Jagged spikes dotted its body and he could swear he saw some sort of liquid moving beneath the cracking "skin". He pushed down his fear and adjusted his stance – ready to throw himself away if he needed to. He was itching to pull out whatever weapon he had or even summon up his Raptor Sabre, but he wanted to see what he could do unarmed first. And of course, there was that little thing about not wanting to blow his cover; even if his real Powers were suppressed.

With an inarticulate roar, the Wraith lunged forward with its claws and teeth bared. The newly created Rider leapt out of the way and swept the creature's legs out from under it. The Wraith fell to the ground with a thump but flipped to a standing position. Without thinking, Weihan ran at the beast in an attempt to blindside it or maybe to even hurt it in some way; but was shocked back to reality as his hands were caught in the creature's crushing grip. Realising he was in deep shit if he couldn't get free, Weihan tried a different tactic. Remembering how he had channeled his powers into his fists in Reefside, he closed his eyes and concentrated. Snapping his eyelids open, he lifted his right boot and firmly planted it in the torso of the Wraith; barely registering the subtle flames that licked the edges of the impact site. Pain and surprise registered in the eyes of the Wraith before it released its grip and staggered back, its hand clutching the damaged area. Weihan's right hand went down to his left side automatically; feeling for a weapon that wasn't there. Muttering a small curse to himself, he kept his eyes on the Wraith as he tried to access the built in knowledge stores that every Power was supposed to have.

No such luck this time. Although he didn't know it, the Rider powers were being monitored closely by Australasia Worldwide and although the default costume had changed, the settings and configurations hadn't. Unbeknownst to him, he had created an anomaly in the system when he had channeled his powers into his feet and his slowly recharging Ranger Powers were also throwing the monitors off synch. Where there would normally be automatic cues on the inside of his visor, he was left trying to maneuver through a complicated menu system to access the most basic of his Rider weaponry. Finally selecting the option he wanted, he held out his right hand and called upon it.

"Rider Blade!"

In a flash of light and fire, the Rider Blade appeared. It wasn't anything like his Sabre; no ornate decorations or gold trimmings. There wasn't even an aura of lethality around it…it was just – there. As his eyes roamed over the delightfully dull shape, he groaned out loud as he made the connection to what it was based off.

"Great. Every other Rider gets flashy blades…and I get the butter knife from Hell."

A muffled laugh to his left made him smile to himself. It seemed he was successful in making Serena think of something else, rather than the situation she was in. Briefly, he wondered about if any sound would travel through the air ducts but decided not to think about that too much. He'd ask after the battle…when there wasn't a freaky mirror monster staring at him with hateful intent. As he shifted his stance yet again, he was aware that the Taurus Wraith's hand hadn't moved from the wound on its belly. Adjusting his grip on his blade, he raced toward the Wraith with an intent to destroy it. With frightening speed, the Wraith ripped its hand away from its belly; intercepting the attack and flinging Weihan into the opposite wall. Barely registering the screams and gasps around him, the downed Rider staggered to his feet, ignoring the flashing displays on the inside of his visor. Shaking his head, he noticed some sort of handle sticking out of its stomach. He knew he hadn't stabbed it as his Rider Blade was still in his hand…and then his eyes widened as he remembered what Ransik had once said to him.

Flashback

"The ability to pull weapons from my body may have been given to me by the Orgs, but even they copied it from somewhere."

"From where? Or rather, from what?"

"All they said was they copied the idea from a myth they had heard during their imprisonment. Remember, when I found them, they were still trapped in those statues. They said something about monsters coming from mirrors being able to pull weapons from their bodies or sculpt their blood into weapons"

End Flashback

And here it was – living proof that what Ransik had told him was truth. Everyone watched in horror and fascination as the Wraith pulled a sword from its belly, which sealed up almost immediately; but left a small crack in its armour.

"Oh that's sick."

He sighed to himself as he heard Serena's comment. He had wanted to tell her to deal with what she was seeing, but that would have been a bad move. He had to constantly remind himself that he was amongst people who he worked with and that – to them at least – he was supposed to be new to this whole experience. He had to play the role that was given to him for as long as he could.

"I've seen worse"

But that couldn't mean he had to always stay in character. He quickly snapped off that train of thought as the Wraith drew its sword back; ready to strike. Pushing off the wall, Weihan rolled under the strike and slashed at its legs. Despite no visible reaction on its face, he knew he had done some damage judging on how much black blood poured out of the wounds. The wounded monster took a step forward, its knees making horrific crackling noises reminiscent of a bag of plastic indicator tabs. Rolling onto his feet again, Weihan grimaced under his helmet. Either he was doing too much filing or his brain was trying to tell him something. Lowering his Blade, he rushed at the Wraith with a series of powerful tornado kicks that sent it staggering back. He knew he had to finish it off, but he didn't know what would trigger his Final Attack. Certainly, he couldn't use the technique he had used to destroy Apollonia as that attack had been a last ditch effort on his part.

Unfortunately, this small bit of introspection meant he had moved focus away from the thing that really should have been at the forefront of his mind – the Wraith. Sensing the lapse of focus, the creature swung its sword in a wide arc; the blade impacting against the front of his vest and throwing him against one of the consoles – destroying it in a shower of fire and light. It watched the supposed hero struggle to get up for a short while before turning its attention to the woman it had spoken to before. It knew it wasn't the first of its kind to set foot into the Human world, but it was the first to have crushed a would-be hero so soon after release. It chuckled under its breath and turned its attention to the one who had seen it come out of the mirror. Dropping its Blood Sword, it spoke in a low tone.

"Many years ago, when our leader was defeated, the sorcerer cast charms and spells on us. These were designed to block our full power so we would not destroy all life in the surrounding area upon our eventual release. Have no idea why he didn't want that happening."

Serena involuntarily shuddered at that. So the Wraiths weren't at full power when they came out of the mirrors? And it was the result of magic? Having seen what magic could do due to the various battles of the Power Rangers, she wondered what it would take for a Wraith to fully "charge up". As if reading her mind, the Taurus Wraith continued.

"There were only two ways a Wraith could regain all of its abilities. One way was the natural progression of time. Unfortunately, this requires no action to be taken by the Wraith for two to three hours and since we are an active bunch; that was hard to do. The other way is more fun."

The Wraith was coming closer to Serena now. Gaby, Canan and the others around them were frozen with fear and kept shooting quick glances to the crumpled and unmoving form of Weihan.

"The sorcerer thought he was being smart. He thought that if we were able to escape into the world that no human could be around to watch us. He decreed that the other way for us to regain our power was to kill the first person who saw us escape. In the case of large crowds, we would only need to kill the closest person. You are both the closest person and the first to see my escape. I am sure you are a nice person and do not want to die like this. Be glad for your blood and the energy inside it will be absorbed into my very being – you will live forever in a way."

As it finished speaking, the Wraith crouched down and stretched out its left hand. From the palm, five small tubes began to slowly emerge. Serena inhaled deeply for what she thought would be her last scream when another voice cut through the air once again.

"I said not on my watch and I mean it!"

Startled, the Wraith whipped its head around to stare at the would-be hero he thought he had defeated. His stance indicated he had heard everything and was severely pissed off. Under his helmet, Weihan was angry, but he was also curious about what the Wraith had said about the curses. He'd look into those later – when he wasn't staring down a mutated version of the Chicago Bulls' mascot. Zeroing in his focus, he heard the distinct call of the Utahraptor in his ears and let his instincts take over. He felt his right hand come up and tap the centre of the Activation Gem which flashed three times. Twin plumes of fire shot out of the Turbine and were channeled into his legs, making a fiery aura to appear around them. He felt his body relax and then start running toward the dumbfounded creature. As soon as he approached kicking distance, he stopped and brought up his right leg to smash against the Wraith's chest.

The Wraith staggered back with a grin on its face and looked down to its chest – where it was sure a crack would be. However, unbeknownst to the Wraith, Weihan or the staff of Australasia Worldwide, the tap on the Activation Gem had temporarily reconnected Weihan with his link to the Ultra Morphin Grid – the stronger version of the Morphin Grid that was powered by the twelve Ultra Crystals. As the Wraith looked down, it was shocked to see that while there was an imprint of the boot's impact – its skin had not cracked whatsoever. Even more disturbing to it, its body was becoming numb and sluggish. It looked up at the sound of movement to see the Rider land a side kick to the same spot. Once again, the Wraith staggered back a few steps and grinned broadly as it could feel its blood trickling out of the crack that had finally appeared. However, it couldn't move no matter how much it tried.

Under his helmet, Weihan grimaced. He wasn't going to yell out Rider Kick because that would be just stupid. Backing up, he ran at the frozen Wraith once more and jumped into the air in a "traditional" Rider Kick pose with his right leg extended. The fiery aura enveloped his entire leg and took on the shape of a leg of a Utahraptor – claw in the killing position. At the very second his foot connected with the Wraith, his Activation Gem flashed brightly; temporarily blinding those looking. As their vision cleared, they saw Weihan in his Rider armour standing a short distance away from the still frozen Wraith. With startling suddenness, the Wraith dissolved into a pile of sand.

Breathing heavily, Weihan reached up and unlatched his helmet. Looking at the pile of sand that had been the Taurus Wraith, he looked Gaby in the eye and spoke in a low and menacing tone.

"What the fuck was that thing doing here?"