Hello Readers. It's been a few months since the first chapter and I'm really happy that the second chapter didn't take a year to write like that one did. Anyway, last we left Ryou just henshining (I'm fairly certain that that's not a word) into Kamen Rider Rekka to fight the Minotaur beast, Mintauros. By the way my 22nd birthday just ended a little more than an hour ago so it would be an awesome birthday present and great motivator if you could leave a review it you like the story. Every little comment helps me get better in some way. So now that I have that out of the way I'll leave you guys to read. Kumamon-tachi, do my disclaimer!
We're not even in this story you slave driver! Whatever though. Rexmon, Cubmon, let's get this over with.
Alright!
*Grunts*
Disclaimer: Pyrorynox does not own Kamen Rider. Show pity on his unlucky soul.
Mintauros backed away slightly as the new armor clad Ryou stepped forward hesitantly, eyeing the armor once again in awe. "This armor is amazing. I'm pretty sure that hit would've broken every bone in my body at least if I weren't wearing it. But," He looked up to the minotaur monster in front of him, "What do I do now?"
"YOU DIE!" He came up with a huge clothesline that would've rammed into Ryou's neck with the force of a truck but Ryou instinctively raised his arm and blocked the blow before jumping away from him.
"'Whoa! How'd I do that? My reaction time is normally horrible."
"It's the armor. It raised all of attributes, you reaction times, even your senses," said Blaze form the Rekka belt.
"My senses? How does that-! Ugh!" His ears had suddenly perked up inside the helmet and he turned just in time to intercept a double open handed palm strike from Mintauros by slamming his own open palms into Mintauros's. A power struggle began as the two pushed against each other's hands, neither one yielding an inch.
"The armor of Rekka is indeed powerful for you to be able to rival me in strength but we're evenly match so this won't go anywhere." said Mintauros with a smirk.
"So says you!" The eyes of his helmet shone brightly for a brief second before Ryou twisted his body and threw the surprised Mintauros over his shoulder, using the monster's on strength to propel him into the air and to send him skidding across the ground. Ryou raised his fists, ready to fight as Mintauros got to his feet.
"Oh you think you can beat me now? Well DAMN YOU!" He came running with a wild charge as Ryou began to panic slightly.
"Maybe I was a bit over my head when I decided to do this." He braced himself for impact as the monster came thundering towards him. He was sure he was going to get tackled until the sound of police sirens slowly filled the warehouse, the alternating red and blue lights filtering in through the windows. For some reason this made Mintauros suddenly stop his charge and back away from Ryou. "What the?" Ryou said in confusion.
"We'll continue this another time human, but I can't bring attention to myself from you worthless humans." He said cryptically and then bolted off, bounding up in a single leap to the second floor balcony, and jumped out one of the large windows.
"What was that about?" Ryou wondered out loud.
"I'll explain later, but right now we have to get your friend and leave this place. It would prove difficult to explain all of this to your human law enforcement." said blaze.
"Right. Ikuze," said Ryou as he ran towards where he had last seen Bethany's unconscious body, the enhancements made by the armor allow him to make it there faster and to easily navigate through the debris from Mintauros's rampage. He saw her on the ground and hoisted her up over his shoulder then proceeded to exit the warehouse just before the police ran in, pistols at the ready.
"ANYBODY IN HERE BETTER COME OUT NOW BECAUSE WE'RE SEARCHING THE PLACE!" said one really loud officer before he was bopped on the head by one of the fellow officer's night stick. "Ow! What was that for?"
"Thanks for alerting everybody that we're here genius. The sirens are a bad enough alert for them without your constant yelling." Said the somewhat older officer as other officers began to comb the place and search.
"Heh, sorry Lieutenant Standford. Won't happen again." said the younger officer with a mock salute.
Lieutenant Standford sighed and said something about 'rookies' under his breath. "Cadet Dirk, you have a lot to learn. First of all stop with that stupid salute." A faint 'yes sir' could be heard as a response as Standford proceeded to head over to where some of his fellow officers were, in a room that had a horrid stench coming from inside.
"What in the world is that stink?" said Dirk as he followed behind his lieutenant.
Lieutenant Standford took one brief look in that room and quickly turned to the Cadet. "Dirk, you really don't need to see this."
"See what?" He bolted around the lieutenant before he could stop the cadet and say immediately what he meant. "My God. This. This is. Horrible." He had to turn away from the sight of the pile of dead bodies, no human should ever have to see something like that.
Lieutenant Standford took pity of kid and roughly rubbed his back. "It's okay kid. You're not the only that's affected by this. In all my years on the force even I have never seen anything like this. "You go wait in the car while we search through this...mess."
Dirk took one last quick look at he pile of bodies before taking off without another word. Standford looked after his younger officer and sighed to himself. "Poor kid, just out of the academy and he already has to see things like this. Life can be cruel sometimes. So, what do we have here gentleman? He said as he walked up to where the other officers were examining some of the bodies.
"Well, Lieutenant Standford sir, it looks like most of these are some of the people who went missing over the past few months. We haven't found a live one yet, but I doubt if any of these poor people would be alive under all that. The smell alone would probably kill them. But there is one other thing, another body that looks somewhat fresh. Poor guy probably died the worst. His head was practically obliterated, most likely by something big and heavy. You really don't want to see it."
"I'll take your word for it. Alright, let's write a report and get the coroners up here to better examine the bodies and get forensics team to search for any dna from the monster that did this." He said the word not knowing just how right he was.
Cadet Dirk on the other hand was just walking around the area, taking everything in. "Who would do something like that? It's just so inhuman." He was walking around an area where a lot of rubble looked like it tossed around in random places, like a some kind of huge struggle had taken place. "What in the world happened here? It looked like the fight of the century took place here." He looked to the ground and found two sets of foot prints, one being way too big to be human. "Just what is going on in this city?"
…...
Meanwhile Ryou, still in the Rekka suit, had carried Bethany far away from the warehouse and to a secluded area with no one around. "She looks like she's alright. Now that that monster's gone I can take off the armor. How do I do that?" he asked Blaze as she was still attached to the belt.
"Just do the henshin sequence in reverse. You do remember how to do that right?" she asked skeptically, remembering vividly how he had initially messed up his first transformation.
"Yes, yes I know. Just give me a second." He reached down folded in Blaze's wings then pulled her out of the slot on the belt. The armor slow dissolved into flames and the flames dispersed. "Wow, that was scary. Good thing you showed up though, otherwise I don't think we would've gotten away. At least we'll never get to see him again."
"What are you talking about human? He'll be back and you'll have to fight him." said Blaze with disbelief.
Ryou was shocked to say the least. "What are you talking about? I only wanted to get me and bethany away from him! Why should I fight him again!"
"You heard what he said human. He's not done with you yet. You're eventually going to have to do battle with him again."
"No way. He'll kill me. What I did in that warehouse was just a fluke, I can't do that at will. And besides I'm sure that anybody that wears the suit can do what I did. Just find someone else because I can't fight monsters." He turned around from the tiny, floating phoenix and went to check on Bethany.
"Actually, no, not just anybody can wear the suit. Only you can wield my power now. Only you can stop him. But it looks like you were the wrong person to choose." She said to herself as she took on last look at Ryou and flew off.
Ryou thought he could hear her talking but when he turned around she was gone. "I'm sorry Blaze, but someone like me isn't cut out to be some kind of hero. Everybody thinks I'm some kind of weirdo." He left his thoughts at that as he noticed that Bethany was starting to come to. "Thank Goodness. You're finally awake. Are you okay?"
Bethany not so gently shoved Ryou away from her and slowly got to her feet. "Everything's a bit hazy but I do remember that I was attacked by a monster. What do you think?"
"Ano, gomen. It means sorry."
Bethany didn't want to admit, but she actually liked the way that word sounded. "Whatever. How'd we get away anyway?"
"Oh! Well you see I, um," He thought about it for a second. "If I tell her I found a talking bird, put on a belt, and turned into some kind of superhero she'd think I were totally insane. I better make something up." "Well I distracted the monster and got it away from you and it would've gotten me if the police hadn't showed up. The sirens seemed to scare it away. I came back and got you then took off because it would've been really hard to explain what we were going there."
She seemed to not believe his story for a second but sighed as it sounded convincing enough for her. "Alright, I'll buy it and I suppose I should thank you for saving me," she said hesitantly.
Ryou blushed and rubbed the back of his head. "Heh, it was no problem. You need my help so I helped you. It's what anybody would do."
"No, not just anybody would do that for another person," she said quietly to herself.
"What?"
"Nothing, but since our scooters are trashed thanks to me I guess we should walk home. I'd like to forget this night as soon as possible."
"Um, yeah. Wait, do you mean together?" he asked hopefully.
"Well, I wouldn't feel safe walking home by myself, knowing there's some monster out there that almost killed me. Besides, I don't think it's too far from the campus is too far from here so I won't have to deal with you for too long."
Ryou looked downcast at her last statement and she noticed this. "Maybe I should be a bit nicer to him since he did save my life and all. And he's wrong about anybody risking themselves for somebody else. That tells me that he's not selfish like most people." "Listen Ryou, I'm sorry for what I just said and I suppose I shouldn't be such a pain to you all the time. It took a lot of courage to do what you did. Just don't look too much into that. So let's get going."
Ryou perked up right away and followed closely behind her as she started to walk back in the direction of the college campus.
…...
"This walk is boring. How about we talk about something?" said bethany after around ten minutes had passed.
"Um, I guess what would you like to talk about? I'm sorry, but I've never been much of a talker." said Ryou as they walked through the ankle deep snow.
"Hmmm, I wonder why that is. Anyway, what's with your name? I know you're Japanese-American and I heard that most Japanese names have some kind of meaning."
Ryou was surprised. Besides Nick nobody had ever really taken interest in his heritage or anything and Bethany was the last person he expected to converse with. She was really uptight at times and really quick to insult him but he still liked her for some reason. Maybe this was the first step to becoming friends with her. "Well my first name, Ryou, actually means a lot of things but in my family's case it means to endure."
"Endure? That's a weird thing to name your kid. But I guess it makes sense in a way considering you're always the butt of everyone's jokes and Nick's the only friend you have. Everyone else thinks you're weird and doesn't want to talk to you. I guess you've had to endure that kind of thing for a long time. Does it ever get lonely?"
She didn't receive an answer at first. Confused, she turned around to see that Ryou had stopped just a few feet behind her, facing the snow.
"Hey, Ryou. You okay?"
"Of course it gets lonely. Nick's great and all, really understand and open to my oddities, but one person doesn't outweigh a hundred others. I don't like the looks I get sometimes, like I'm some kind of weirdo."
"Stupid!" Bethany suddenly shouted as thumped Ryou's forehead.
"Itie! What was that for?"
"For being stupid. Even if you only have one friend, you shouldn't care about what other people think. They're not your friends so who cares what they think? Maybe the reason we think you're weird is because you take what we say about you too seriously. I mean you get so depressed sometimes it rolls off you in waves. Who would want to be friends with somebody like that? Make an effort to talk to people without being scared. I know you're brave because you didn't leave me to be killed and I can't believe I'm saying this, but I'll help you with that. I'll be your friend."
Ryou couldn't believe his ears. The girl that made fun of him more than anybody else wanted to be friends with him. "Just because I saved your life?"
"Not only did you save my life, but you risked your own to do so. That's more than some of my friends would've done for me. Now come on, it's getting cold out here." She then slapped him in the back of the head and started walking slowing, waiting for him to catch up.
"Hey wait up! If we're friends now then why'd you hit me?" he breathed out as he caught up to her.
"I'm sorry, but that's just too fun to pass up. But I won't do it as hard or as much, now let continue what we were talking about earlier. You told me what Ryou means, but what about your last name? I think it was Kiva or something."
Ryou let out a hearty laugh at that. "It's Okibi and it means 'blazing fire'. My dad tells me it has something to do with an old legend in our family. The name Ryou Okibi is actually a name that's passed down, but only when a first born Okibi is an only child."
"So you don't have any siblings then. Hmmm, and your name basically means 'endure the blazing fire'. To be honest that's actually really cool. You also said that your last name has something to do with a legend in your family. What's the legend?"
"To be honest I don't really know. My dad said since I wasn't a pure blooded Japanese then it wouldn't really interest me. I wasn't really much for legends and things like that when I was younger, but after tonight I think I might change my thinking a little bit." he joked, making Bethany giggle a bit.
"You're actually kind of funny, and you have pretty eyes. I saw them back before we went in the warehouse. You should really cut that hair though or do something with it so other people can see those pretty green eyes of yours. I heard Asians don't usually get eye color like that, so I'm assuming it's from your mother?"
"Yeah, it should've been almost impossible but it happened anyway. But it's such an oddity that I grow my hair out to cover it up."
"Well we're gonna have to fix that problem. Don't hide those eyes from the world, it's a crime. Think of how many girls will talk to you for your eyes alone. And," He turned her eyes to his attire as they continued to walk, the campus entrance coming into view, "we'll have to do something about all of those clothes. You look like you're prepared to spend a month at the North Pole."
"It snow's here constantly, I can't really imagine the North Pole can be much worse. But to be honest it's because I've been extremely clumsy my entire life so I wear a lot of extra clothes for padding to keep me from hurting myself."
"Hmmm." said Bethany with a thoughtful pose. She remembered that morning when she'd tripped him and expected him to fall to the floor, only he slammed face first into the door of his classroom. That kind of bad luck was only seen in movies. "Well we'll just have to do something about that now won't we?"
Ryou shyly looked down to the ground as he walked, thankful that he saw the college parking lot beneath his feet. "Hey, we made it back finally. We should probably go to our dorms and- oh no I forgot the pizza!"
"That's right! We left them by our scooters when we heard that monster. There's no telling if they're still there or not."
…...
Mintauros belched loudly as he tossed the two pizza boxes away from him. "These humans may be weak and pathetic, but they sure do know how to make a feast fit for someone as powerful as I."
…...
"Just my luck. This is why I never want to be the one to go get things. I usually just mess it up," Ryou said sadly. Bethany felt bad for the guy, as it had been her fault that all of that had happened.
"Listen, Ryou. I'll treat you to pizza tomorrow since everything was my fault, okay? Right now though go get some sleep and I'll see you in the morning."
"Really?" Ryou said shyly.
"Of course. We're friends now are we not?" She gave a wave and turned to head back to her dorm, but suddenly turned back around with a dreamy, fangirlish look in her eyes. "Tell Nick I said goodnight." Then she turned back around and practically glided off.
As soon as she had turned around Ryou had facefaulted. Not once since she woken up had she even mentioned Nick so that was completely unexpected. "I guess it'll take more than saving her life to make her forget about Nick for too long."
…...
"I'm back," said Ryou wearily as he walked through the front door of his apartment styled dorm. He sat on the medium sized couch that occupied the main room of the dorm and tried to sink into the mattress with little progress.
"Yo." came Nick's voice from the kitchen doorway. He was dressed in a pair of baggy green pajama pants and and white t-shirt. In his mouth was a slice of pizza. "You were taking a while so I just ordered some. I tried to call you but I never got answer. There's still some in there for ya if you want it."
Ryou, in a once in a lifetime moment, uncharacteristically stormed off to his room and slammed the door. Confused, Nick tip-toed to the bedroom door and carefully put his ear against it.
"AHHHHHHHH!" came a sudden aggravated scream from the room. It scared Nick so bad that he yelped and ran off to his room to hide from whatever monster had taken occupancy in Ryou's bedroom.
"Geez. What happened when he went to get the pizza?" asked with a mouth half full of pizza.
A couple of hours later, Ryou was lying down in his bed, looking at his hands. "Did all of that really happen tonight? It almost seems like a nightmare that we were actually attacked my a monster, and that it's what's been actually killing people. Then there's that little phoenix and that belt. It let me transform into some armor that allowed me to fight on par with that monster. It felt incredible. But most of all, Bethany's actually friends with me now! Whoo! I can't wait to talk to her in the morning."
…...
Morning came quickly as Ryou slept, his excitement for the day not deterring his sleep. He got up, showered, and dressed as like normal, except with a huge smile on his face. Even Nick found it unnerving as they said at the kitchen table and ate leftover pizza.
"Uh, are you feeling okay, Ryou? You seem...rather happy this morning."
"Oh yeah. Last night was a bit weird, but a something good came out of it. Me and Bethany are friends now."
"Wait, the same Bethany that runs that rabid fanclub whose sole mission is to kidnap me and do all sorts of twisted, perverted things with me? That Bethany?"
"Yup."
Nick suddenly grabbed Ryou by the shoulders and shook him. "Don't fall for it! It's a trap to get me to lower my guard around her. She wants to get closer to me through you and then abduct me when we least expect it!"
"I saved her life last night!"
Nick immediately stopped shaking him. "Really? How'd that happen?"
"Uh, I'll tell you about it later. We should get to class."
"You're right about that. Let's go." The two got up and grabbed their books before they walked out of the front door.
"Hey, Ryou. Where's your scooter?" asked Nick, looking around.
Ryou needed an excuse, luckily his scooter disappearing was a common thing. "I guess somebody must've taken it and hid it from me again. Oh well, I think I'll walk for once."
"Okay then. You've got a long ways to go though make it to the fine arts building."
"Yeah, I know. I'll tell you how everything goes. Have a good day, Nick." Ryou said as he walked off.
"You too buddy. Hmmm, I guess I'll look for his scooter while he's gone.
…...
"So what happened to you last night, Beth? You never came back last night."
"Some stuff happened and I got back really late. It wasn't anything important. I did make a new friend though." said Bethany as they stood in the hallway of the fine arts building waiting for class to start.
"Oh really now? Who is it?"
A suddenly "bump" was heard at that moment, like someone had walked into a door.
"That would be him now. Be right back."
Her friends all crowded around as she walked towards the door seeing a familiar figure lying in a heap at the door. "Is that the Okibi kid? No way is he the friend she was talking about."
"Maybe she was joking and she's only gonna do something funny as usual. This is gonna be good."
Bethany suppressed a giggle as she watched Ryou through the door, rubbing his forehead. "Now that I think about it, his helplessness is actually kinda cute." "Still bumping into walls I see," she said as she opened the door and propped it open.
"Well, um, aren't these doors supposed to be automatic?" I was expecting it to open and I just ended up walking face first into it.
Bethany pointed up to a sign that was taped up a little ways up on the door.
Under maintenance due to malfunction. Please wait for someone to open the door for you.
"It figures. Sorry you had to see that, especially after last night. I guess I'm still-"
"I'll give you hand."
"Eh? What?"
"Come on. You have to be more careful." She reached down and helped him to his feet thenhim inside.
"Thank you, Bethany. I wasn't expecting that," Ryou said with a smile on his face.
"And why not? We are friends now, are we not? This comes with the territory." She reached up and ruffled Ryou's hair as her friends walked up to the stranger sight.
"Hey, what the hell is this?"
"You mean he really is your friend? How did this happen?"
It wasn't like her friends to act like this towards her so she started to get frustrated. "I told you that some stuff happened last night. I learned last night that he's not as weird as we all think he is and I've had a change of heart towards him. Now we're friends."
"Wow. Since when were you a charity case, Beth. I never expected you of all people to willingly been seen with the pariah of the school. I mean just look at him. I'm surprised he can even walk around looking like that. And he doesn't even talk. He just pops up out of nowhere and it's really creepy. We don't anything about him," said one of her male friends.
"Hey. That's not fair at all. Could you all just at least try to get to know him?"
"Hey Bethany. I think I'm gonna go. I wouldn't want your friends to think badly of you for hanging out with me. I'll just talk to you later, okay?" Ryou gave a small smile as he turned and started walking to class, but as soon as his back was facing the others his smile broke and his lip started to quiver to hold back the tears from not being accepted.
Bethany watched him walk away then turned on her friends. "I can't believe you guys! I figured you would all take my opinion into consideration. He's a really nice guy and would go out of his way to help people that had wronged him. Way more than any of you would do. Even me. Yeah, I was the one that picked on him the most, but I'm gonna make it up to him."
She turned her back on them and ran after Ryou as her friends stood there speechless.
"Ryou!" Bethany called after Ryou as he walked along towards his class.
"Bethany?" said Ryou as he turned around, wiping his eyes. "Why'd you follow me? I figured you'd rather hang out with your friends."
"You ARE my friend, Ryou! I'm sorry for how they acted. They just don't know you like I do. They shouldn't have acted like that."
"But, Bethany, you don't know me that well either. Is all of this really because I saved your life?"
"Heh. Partly. That made me give you the benefit of the doubt. But talking to you last night was a really big part of it. Maybe I don't know you that well. But I know you well enough to know that you don't deserve to be treated like you've been treated all this time. I was the worst one, so I have a lot to make up for. But I'm gonna try my best. So how about it?" She put out her hand for Ryou to shake.
Ryou looked from Bethany's face to her hand repeatedly then slowly shook it as his free arm went to wipe the tears from his eyes.
"Ryou, are you crying?"
"No, I just have tears flowing from my face."
…...
A week went by with the two of them meeting in the hallway occasionally and eating some meals together. Bethany's friends were baffled by the amount she spent with the young Asian-American and even some rumors were going around that she had some kind of newfound fetish for weirdos. Also during the week, a new string of murders had occurred, more over the week alone than there had been over the past couple of months.
Bethany and Ryou sat at a table at dinner time in campus union and Bethany looked nervous as she read the evening paper. With a growl she took the newspaper and and crushed it in her fist.
Bethany threw the newspaper at Ryou's face out of habit, but he fortunately dodged it and watched at Bethany crossed her arms. "You okay?"
"Of course not, and you shouldn't be either. We both know what's killing all of those people, and he could still be looking for us. Does that not worry you?"
"Of course it does. Especially with what he said when the police came," he said that last part quietly to himself, but Bethany still heard him.
"What did you just say? He spoke to you!"
"I don't have to tell her everything. I just have to warn her." "When the police came, he said he'd be back for us. I know he'll be looking for us."
"When were you gonna tell me this!" She shot up to her feet and slammed palms into the table, causing an echo that startled everyone in the lunch room, including Ryou.
"I-I didn't want you to worry, and he'll mostly be going after me since I stopped him from killing you. I was going to do everything I could to protect you. I'm sorry." He looked down at his feet then got up. "I'll be leaving you alone now Bethany. Being friends with you was fun while it lasted." He then walked out of dinner without even taking a look back.
"Ryou," she said softly as she watched him leave. "Dammit." She picked up her things and took off after him.
…...
Ryou sighed as he leaned against a tree and gazed at the evening sky. "I really messed up with Bethany. I guess I'm always gonna be a weirdo to her. Maybe I'm wrong and he's forgotten all about us."
"Unfortunately for you, you are not so lucky."
Ryou jumped in fright and scurried behind the tree at the sound of the disembodied voice. "Oh man he found me!" Ryou said in a frightened whisper as he looked around frantically.
"Calm yourself, human. He hasn't found you yet." said Blaze as she dropped down right in front of his face, scaring him.
"Ahhhh! Phoenix-san! It's only you."
"Please refrain from referring me as that. I am regal being known for centuries as Blaze. Any other title is an insult."
"I'm sorry, but what are you doing here? And did you just say that that monster is definitely looking for us?"
"Indeed. I have taken it upon myself to monitor his actions and he most certainly looking for you, but has been unable to find you until now. All the humans that have died were killed out of his frustration in not location."
Ryou sucked in a breath in realization. "You mean all of those people died because of us. This is all my fault."
"It is partially your fault, but also mine for choosing wrong when I let you use the belt."
"Then find somebody else to use it! I'm nobody so there should be loads of other people better suited for it than me! He could've probably saved everyone!"
"If it were possible then I would have. But there's a problem. When I said that you were the only one that could fight Mintauros, I meant that. Because when you put the belt on, you became bonded to it through an ancient and mystical bond. No one else but you can use it now."
"What! No, there has to be some way for it to go to somebody else."
"There is. The belt can only change users if the current user dies."
"But-" Ryou stopped as it took him a second to realize what she had just said. "What did you just say?"
The little phoenix sighed and took roost on his shoulder. "Listen. The belt is bonded to you through a special link once you successfully transform with it, meaning no other human can wear it. That link breaks upon death."
"So that's why you said that I was the only one that could defeat that monster the other night. But you seem strong, seeing as how you held him off when he was about to kill me."
"I am very powerful," she scoffed. "But the amount of damage I can do in this small body is rather limited. The belt harnesses more of my power."
Shaking his head, Ryou swatted the small bird off of his shoulder. "Listen, I get what you're saying, but I not some kind of superhero. I don't know anything about why all this is going on and I have nothing to do with any of this. Neither does Bethany, so I have to find her before something bad happens. I'm sorry; I really am." And with that Ryou took off at a jog to search the campus for Bethany, not knowing that she was already about to find trouble.
…...
The sun was just starting to set when a random male student was walking through a bit of snow by the gate that surrounded the majority of the campus when he heard a slight 'thump'ing sound that was quickly growing louder.
"Huh? What the hell's that noise?" He started to inch closer to the gate as the thumping became louder. "That sounds like heavy footsteps-! Ahhhhh!" He screamed as the gate in front of him seemingly exploded right in front of him and a large beast stepped through the resulting rubble. He and other students immediately began to scream and run away in terror and it surveyed its surroundings as if searching for something.
"I smell that human girl close by along with the stench of Rekka's user. This place also reeks of humans. It should be fun slaughtering them all." He let out a great roar, panicking the alright ready frightened students even more, and began to run after students that were still too close to him. Any unlucky students that he was able to catch up to didn't even have time to think before their short lived lives were snuffed out by Mintauros's powerful fists. He chuckled in almost gleeful fashion as he tossed away their lifeless bodies.
"What a wonderful day this is, for me to find all of these humans to slaughter." He continued his assault as the smell of Ryou and Bethany became stronger.
Nearby Bethany tried her best not to scream as people who came out of nowhere just kept bumping into her. "Oh my God! Will you all watch where you're going! What are you all running from anyway!"
"Ugh!" Bethany looked to her left and saw one of her friends had tripped while running and clumsily dodged around the oncoming crowd of distressed people to get to her. "Bethany?"
"Amy, what's going on! Why's everybody freaking out!"
The girl, Amy, started to bawl as Bethany helped her up. "Some kind of monster broke through the gate and it's back there killing people! It's horrible!"
"A monster? It couldn't be. I gotta find Ryou!" In an instant she bolted in the direction everyone was coming from, ignoring the brief calls of her friend Amy.
"This is bad. This is really bad!" said Bethany out loud to herself as she ran.
"Well human, it just got worse." said a low, familiar voice.
Bethany seemingly turned in slow motion as a impossibly large, furry arm slammed into her and sent her skidding across the concrete. The blow, surprisingly, wasn't enough to knock her unconscious, but was enough to knock all of the breath out of her and then some.
She could only lay there and watch unmoving as Mintauros came closer to her. "I've finally found you, youngling. Now I can kill you. Then I can find and kill Rekka."
"LET HER GO!"
Mintauros looked over to see Ryou, out of breath and looking frightened.
"If you let her go, then I'll let you kill me. Let her go and don't hurt anymore humans and I swear you can do whatever you want."
Bethany looked at Ryou like he had grown a second head, momentarily ignoring the creature that stood over her. "Ryou! What are you talking about! Just run!"
"No! I'm the one he wants. If he fights me or if he kills me then maybe all this will stop. Please Mintauros. I'm begging you. Please let her go." He got down on his knees with his head bowed as his voice began to crack and a few stray tears fell from his eyes.
Mintauros stopped his advance of Bethany and slightly turned his head in Ryou's direction. "You would give up your life for these other humans?" He turned back to Bethany and planted his large foot on her stomach. A loud, agonizing cry escaped her lungs without her realizing and Ryou's head shot up in response.
"What are you doing! I said you could have me so please stop!" He got to his feet and grabbed onto the monster's powerful arm, trying to pull it away from Bethany with all his might, but with a wave of the same arm Mintauros threw Ryou away from him. He bounced on the ground twice before he came to hard landing on his back.
"You think that one human life will quell my desire to see you ALL dead? You know nothing of monsters boy. I kill for sport, to see the look of terror on their faces before I end their worthless existances. You're all going to die by the hand of monsters!" He began to laugh as he put more pressure on Bethany's abdomen, making her scream out louder.
"Bethany!" Ryou yelled as he slowly got to his feet. "How can such a creature exist? He doesn't value life at all! The only way to stop him and save everybody is to kill him, but I can't do it! I can't do anything!"
"Remember my words, young human. Only you can wield my power. Only you can stop him." came a familiar voice in his head.
"She was right. If I had just listened to her earlier then maybe I could've stopped all this from happening, but I gave in to my fear and hesitation." He slowly began to walk towards Mintauros and the screaming Bethany while holding his side in pain. Then it turned into a slow run as he gradually got faster. "I've always to scared of everything to do anything. But I'll do something now even if it kills me! Blaze!"
Mintauros began to laugh hysterically and raised his foot from Bethany's chest. "You think that wench will come for you now? Well either way it's too late for her!" He raised his foot again and prepared to stomp Bethany into the next life just as she had done to the man weeks before. "Die human scum!"
"BETHANY!" Ryou yelled as he broke out into a full blown run. He knew he wouldn't make it in time but he never faltered, didn't stop his charge. Then he said something fly past him.
"Away from her you brute!" said the tiny phoenix Blaze as plowed into Mintauros's chest and sent him flying backwards. But she didn't stop there. She then flew towards Ryou and flew once around his waist as he ran, a trail of fire following behind her forming the belt that he'd found in the warehouse as it snapped around Ryou's waist.
Without hesitation, Ryou snatched the tips of Blaze's wings between his thumb and pointer finger, making a slight flicking noise, "HENSHIN!" ,slid her through the slot on the belt effortlessly, and snapped his fingers between the wings, opening them up into the wing shaped slots on the belt. The bird's cry was heard and the flaming wings came from Ryou's back just like before and enveloped him the armor of Rekka once again as performed a flying kick on Mintauros, knocking him away from Bethany.
"Ryou?" She said weakly.
"I'll explain later. Stay here where it's safe until I get back." Then he ran off to fight Mintauros as Bethany passed out.
…...
"Fight me you filthy human!" yelled Mintauros as Ryou, as Rekka, approached him. Said rider clenched his fist as he cautiously walked forward.
"I just wanted you to stop killing innocent people. But it's obvious that even if you killed every human on earth then you wouldn't be satisfied. Now, may you find eternal rest in the fires of my blaze!"
He ran forward and landed a flaming punch to the monster's jaw, then spun around to his right and brought his left knee into Mintauros' lower abdomen. The monster roared in pain before Ryou grabbed his shoulders and planted his knee into his back three more times then kicked him away. Mintauros stumbled forward and fell to his face as Ryou stopped to take a breath. "Don't look down on us humans. Because I can beat you."
Mintauros got up and laughed sinisterly to himself. "Oh, so you think you can beat me eh? You only have that power because she gives it to you and because she can't fight me herself. But I will show you the power of real beast." He suddenly charged, much faster than before, and rammed his horns into Ryou's chest, sending him flying backwards.
"Gah! Why's he suddenly so much faster than before! He charged at me like a bull." Ryou rubbed his sore chest as Mintauros charged again. Ryou raised his hands and grabbed Mintauros's horns at the last second, but the minotaur reared his head back and flung the rider behind him.
He grunted in pain as he hit the ground but quickly got up just for Mintauros to ram into him again. He charged with Ryou still lodged between his horns and pinned him to a wall and began to pummel him with punches. "How does this feel human! I don't know about you but I'm enjoying this!" he shouted in between punches.
"If this keeps up he'll kill me and then he'll kill everybody on campus. I can't let that happen. I won't let it happen!" He grabbed the horns tightly and pushed until they were out of the wall, but Mintauros kept pushing. "I'll use that strength against you." He slowly began to move his feet up the wall behind him then flipped over the monster, but used the monsters momentum to then flip him over his head.
He got up angrily to face Ryou, only to receive a two footed kick to the chest. He was thrown back even further as Ryou pushed off and back flipped to his feet. "Finish it young human!" came Blaze's voice from her perch on his belt. Ryou nodded and made a motion to run towards Mintauros, but stopped as the belt suddenly began to spark.
"What's the?" Ryou said aloud as he looked down only to then clutch at his head in agony as an unbearable pain suddenly began to course through him. "What? What's going on? My body! It feels like its on fire!"
Blaze closed her eyes sadly from her perch, the heat emitting from the belt not affecting her in the slightest. "I am sorry, young one. I must have been wrong about you being able to wield my power. Your body wasn't able to handle it and now it is destroying your body. In a few minutes, your body will be nothing but ash. I am so sorry."
Mintauros watched angrily as the fires spouted from the belt and started to consume Ryou. "Such a waste of my time. I was supposed to be the one to kill you!"
"I'll try my best to ward him off so that the other humans can escape, but you cannot be saved. For what it is worth, you fought well," said Blaze as she prepared to leave the belt.
"No." came Ryou's strangely calm voice.
Blaze's eyes widened considerably. "You. You're still alive! How is this possible!"
"If I don't stop him, here and now, he'll only keep killing until you find someone to use the belt. I won't let that happen. I'll stop him even if I end up using the last of my breath to do it!" He charged at Mintauros, determined to win even if he died, with a loud battle cry. The flames around his body intensified as he got faster, and then in the blink of an eye, he was gone.
Mintauros scoffed as the rider vanished completely. "His body was so weak that there weren't even an ashes left. Pathetic."
"I'll show you 'pathetic'!" came Ryou from nowhere as he suddenly reappeared from seemingly nowhere and punched Mintauros so hard that he went flying.
"How! You should be dead!"
"I refuse to die!" Ryou said as the fires around him began to grow stronger. He charged again but moved so fast that he couldn't be seen, except for a fiery blur and a twin trail of fire that resulted from the friction of the ground and the sheer speed of Ryou's run. He began to run around Mintauros in a circle so fast that a small tornado had formed around Mintauros and began to lift him into the air. The fire from Ryou's run followed the path of the funnel and turned into a large flaming tornado as Mintauros floated above it.
"Time to finish this," said Ryou. The flames from his body retreated to his back and formed into a pair of large flame wings that propelled him into the air and over Mintauros with one flap. He pointed his feet straight down as the wings flapped upwards, sending him down as he began to spin and stomped into Mintauros's chest. The beast cried out loudly as the force of the vertical drop kick slammed him straight into the heart of the funnel and into the concrete below with so much forch it formed a crater that was strangely shaped like a pair of wings. Ryou jumped of the creature's chest just as he began to glow.
"Don't tell me that wasn't even enough to kill him?" Ryou said in disbelief.
"No," said Blaze ominously. "He's done."
Mintauros painfully stood up as he began to glow brighter, coughing up blood. "You may have beaten me, human. But I will return. Count on it." He coughed up more blood and began to cry out as his began to glow so brightly that it was almost pure white.
"TAKE COVER!" Blaze yelled. Ryou didn't wait for an explanation as he jumped behind a car just before Mintauros went critical and exploded. As the dust from the explosion slowly cleared Ryou poked his head cautiously over the roof of the car. When he saw that the coast was clear he hopped over it and walked over to the now larger crater where Mintauros had been not a minute before.
"Wow, there's nothing left of him. I can't believe I actually beat him."
"Indeed," replied Blaze. "You should be dead right now. But your body was able to quickly adapt to the increase in power and channel it into a powerful attack. This belt has had many users, many who were already able to handle much more power than this when they first put the belt on, but none have ever adapted like that. What is your name, Boy?"
Ryou's eyes slowly left the crater and looked into the night sky. "My name is Ryou Okibi. And I am Kamen Rider Rekka."
I'll more than likely do some editing later and repost this but I just wanted to get it out before I went to sleep. If you liked it or have any questions then please leave a review and I'll be sure to answer as best as I can. Or just tell me what you like about it. Goodnight everybody.