UPDATE KITAAAAAAAAAAAAAA! It took me a year, but I finally finished chapter four thanks to my friend and fellow writer, Alysse. There's your shout out, now be sure to go and brag about me to your friends. When we last left our weirdo- ahem, hero, he had just beaten Mintauros and was looking for Blaze so that he and Bethany could learn the identity of the man that saved Bethany that night at the warehouse. Will it be revealed this chapter? No. Chapter five, I promise. Be sure to review. I'll even take some constructive criticism. Alysse, that doesn't mean you get to criticize me. Anyway, enough stalling. Chapter start!
Ryou and Bethany combed the city for hours searching for the phoenix Mythic but to no avail. Figures that she would be a no show when they actually looked for her, but apparently she did not want to be found. "Do you think we maybe made her angry Bethany?" Ryou asked his current search partner.
"I honestly don't care if we made her mad or not. Because of her your life's in danger, so I say that she owes you anything that you ask of her. We know that the doctor knew about Blaze's belt, so that could mean that they knew each other." It was really dark by now and the two were walking down the deserted sidewalk near the more populated part of the city.
As they were walking, Ryou held out his arm in front of Bethany to stop her from going any further. The girl was about to ask what was wrong, but Ryou held a finger to his lips, signaling her to be silent. He pulled her back behind a tree then pointed to an alley across the street. "Ryou, what's wrong?"
"I'm not sure what it is, but I can hear something coming from that alley. Something tells me that we need to avoid being seen for a few minutes." Bethany looked at Ryou confused but then nodded her head. The two turned to the alley and watched for a few minutes. After a few minutes, a large figure, crouched on all fours, stepped out from the alley and spread out large wings before taking flight. The two waited a couple of minutes to make sure the thing was gone before moving out from behind the tree.
"What was that, another monster?" Bethany asked.
"Unless somebody is doing an overly elaborate cosplay, then I'm guessing so," Ryou responded. Without a word he started to walk cautiously across the street towards the alley with Bethany following quietly behind him. It was so quiet they both jumped, clearly startled when Nick's voice echoed from down the sidewalk.
"Yo, Ryou! Wait up!" the athlete called out. Bethany and Ryou panted in an effort to catch their breath as he caught up to them. "Hey, Ryou. Bethany," he said the latter reluctantly. "What are you two doing sneaking around over here?" He pointed to the alley that the two were about to go down. "You're not planning on 'getting it on' are you?" he asked suggestively. The two, having finally achieved a steady breathing rhythm, looked at each other, then Ryou proceeded to faint from embarrassment. While Ryou was unconscious Bethany tried to explain the situation.
"I promise this isn't what it looks like, I don't like Ryou like that. The thing is we were looking for something and saw something big with wings fly out of this alley. We only wanted to see if there was anything in here. That's all." She said while avoiding eye contact. This was the guy she had a crush on. She was so embarrassed that he thought she was attempting to do inappropriate things with Ryou of all people.
Nick could feel the crushing aura of Bethany's crush on him and proceeded to back away slightly. He had almost forgotten that this was the girl that headed his fanclub and was gunning for him the hardest. "Okay okay, I believe you. But you two shouldn't go in there alone like that. Neither one of you are that tough so I'll go with you just in case. Let's wake up Ryou."
Bethany snapped herself from her trance and helped Nick try to bring Ryou back to the waking world. "He doesn't think Ryou's tough? Boy he couldn't be more wrong about that." She then looked down to see the boy was drooling. "On second thought, he does have a very good reason to think that way." She brought her fist back and slammed it into Ryou's forehead, successfully waking him up.
"Ow! What hit me?" Nick whistled and pointed at Bethany who then apologized.
"I'm sorry. You were really out of it and that seemed to work. We need to check down the alley." Ryou nodded, still blushing slightly from Nick's earlier accusation.
The alley was completely dark so Ryou felt along the walls to find his way towards the back of the alley as the three of them headed towards the back.
"Ryou, what exactly made you want to look down an alley that you saw a monster exit from? This seems a little dangerous." Nick asked as he followed closely behind Bethany who was behind Ryou.
Ryou stayed silent. After last night's fiasco he couldn't tell him that he had felt drawn to the spot. He knew something bad had happened here, but wanted to make sure. It started to stink a little bit a little ways down the alley. The three covered their noses as the smell got worse the deeper they went. Each of them had a very bad feeling about the source of the smell.
"It smells like something died in here," Bethany voiced aloud. She didn't know how right she was. Something was in the way of Ryou's path and he fell to the ground on his back with a loud smack. Hearing him fall, his two companions fumbled around their pockets for their phones so they could illuminate the area better to help him up. Finally lighting up the area they saw him getting up while rubbing his backside. "Hey, you okay?"
"I'm alright, but what exactly did I trip on?" He pulled out his own phone and pointed the screen at the ground below his feet, which was revealed to be stained with red.
"What is that?" Nick asked.
Ryou's voice hitched in his throat. He knew what it was but didn't want to voice it aloud. Once he raised his phone, letting its light follow the trail of whatever it was, he didn't have to. A couple feet away from them was random human leg, from the calf down. It was glistening with the same red substance that stained the ground. At least they knew what he tripped over. The two behind him began to back away in fear while Ryou just stared and walked up to it in disbelief. Judging by its slimness and the high heel that adorned the foot, it WAS a female's. He raised his phone up higher and found the rest of her, or what was left of the rest of her. He wished that he had stopped at the leg. As reality finally hit Ryou he jumped away from the spot and turned his back on it. His friends were breathing as hard as he was, trying their best not to vomit.
"We need to get out of here and call the cops!" Nick said panicking. The other two nodded and they ran out of with him as he called the police to report what they had found. Little did they know that they were being watched by a being perched on a overhead building.
"Seems like more 'players' have stumbled onto the results of my last game, and three no less. This may prove to be more entertaining than the one they found," Said the Sphinx as she stared down at them.
"I would advise against that if I were you, Tsubako," came another voice from behind her. The sphinx, now revealed to be Tsubako looked behind her to see the Phoenix, Blaze, glaring at her.
"Why hello there, Blaze. It's humorous, but I recall you being taller the last time we met. What is it that a human lover would want with me?"
"Silence you harlot. Gallivanting around like some lecherous, human female. Have you no shame?" Tsubako sighed and then skipped to Blaze, her breasts bouncing with every hop her body made as she smiled brightly, a slight dribble of blood still spilling down the corner of her mouth.
"My my you do seem rather disturbed. I was just about to play a few games with these human children I just discovered. Care to join me?" She asked the small phoenix. Her answer was a small fireball to the face. The Sphinx took to the sky to avoid the fireball and glared at Blaze.
"I cannot let you harm those children, Tsubako."
"And who is going to stop me? Surely not you; in your weakened state you wouldn't even be able to harm me. Now if you had that human with you that killed Mintauros then you might stand a chance." Blaze's eyes instantly shifted to Ryou down on the ground as the police finally began to pull up and ask the three college students questions. Tsubako followed her gaze and stopped on the Asian American. "Ah, so he's the one. Then why do you not call on him to fight."
Blaze turned her head away from the boy and faced Tsubako. "He refuses to fight. He only did so before because his and that female's lives were in jeopardy. He no longer wants a role in this fight."
"But he is bound to the belt is he not. If I killed him you could then find someone more suitable to use your armor. I would be doing you a favor." This only made Blaze's glare intensify. "Ah, I see. Despite this inconvenience for you, you still hold on to your promise to that human from centuries ago. Well, you are a fool to do so for that fool of a human!" Blaze snapped into a rage and nearly sent a fireball her way, but the Sphinx flew up out of her range. "Interesting. Not even in your most wrathful days was anyone able to anger you to this extent. Well I suppose I'll let the boy live for now, because as long as he lives you will have no way to fight me or any of our kind. It'll be fun to watch you struggle. Ta-ta." She flew off, leaving Blaze in a rage.
"HOW DARE SHE! I'LL MAKE SURE SHE BURNS!"
Down on the ground, the forensics team and the coroner were studying the dead body in the back of the alley while the police questioned the three. Lieutenant Stanford sighed as watched the obviously shaken young adults. He really hated it when kids of their age had to see things like that. "Listen kids, you say you saw some kind of winged creature come out of the alley before you went in there?" They all nodded. He rubbed the back of his head. "First the damn minotaur and now this. This city is becoming a fucking madhouse." Ryou slowly and shakily raised his hand up. "Yeah kid?"
"Um, would you mind not using that kind of language around my friend Bethany? I think it's impolite." He looked down at the ground as the Lieutenant stared at him.
"What's your name, kid?" he asked with authority.
Ryou suddenly snapped to attention with his arms at his sides. "H-hai! Ore no Okibi Ryou da!" He switched to Japanese in nervousness and fright, confusing everyone in the vicinity. He looked around at everyone staring at him and instantly went back into reclusive mode. "Did I, did I do something wrong?"
Lieutenant Stanford put his hand on Ryou's shoulder and smiled. "Nah kid, you're just a rare breed is all. Not a lot of guys your age nowadays would think of a woman's wellbeing like that. Um, Okibi Ryou, right?" Ryou nodded. "Well I've worked with some Japanese officers before so I understand a little bit. An officer will escort you back to your campus because it's no longer safe to walk the streets at night, Okibi-san. And I'll try to watch my language more."
Ryou nervously smiled. "Thank you, sir. Um, we'll be going now." The lieutenant ushered over a cadet and told him to take the kids back to their college campus. The cadet looked at Bethany and pointed a finger at her excitedly. "Ah! It's you from the hospital earlier today!"
Bethany looked at the cadet and recalled him from earlier. "You're the officer that was questioning survivors."
Lieutenant Stanford rubbed the bridge of his nose in annoyance. "Dirk, could you stop making conversation and move your a…." He stopped and looked at Ryou. "My apologies. Please move your butt, cadet." He tipped his hat to Ryou and the others who all returned halfhearted smiles. "Poor kids." He walked up to one of the forensics people who were studying the crime scene. "So does the coroner have any idea as to what happened here?"
The coroner, a middle aged female with a graying hair, walked up to him with a notepad. "Well Lieutenant, if I had to say, and I wish I didn't, it seems like her insides were…..well ingested."
"Say that again."
"Well, it seems as though something opened her up and ate most of her internal organs, along with chewing up her limbs like chicken wings. Also…." She stopped as the Lieutenant raised a hand for her to stop.
"I think that's enough. I don't need a visual. Just finish up, I'm gonna have a headache reporting this in." The coroner went back to her job as Stanford rubbed his temples. "I need a vacation."
...
In the car with Cadet Dirk everything was quiet. Awkwardly quiet. "So," Dirk started. "You seem to get caught up in this kind of stuff a lot young lady."
Her eyebrow twitched at being called "young". "You can't be much older than me you know. So you can't call me young. Besides, I've just had a run of bad luck lately."
"Well anyway, you're lucky to be alive. We investigated a warehouse a week ago that is supposedly where that minotaur was living and found a bunch of bodies in the same shape as that one." Ryou and Bethany both twitched briefly at the memory of the warehouse where this whole thing started. They both glanced briefly at one another and nodded, mentally agreeing to play dumb.
"Officer, if that was the minotaur's hideout and it's dead now then what do you think this one is?" Nick asked.
"Well, most of the bodies in there were just smashed to bits, but there were a couple dozen that were all slashed up just like the one you all found. We think that whatever did this tonight may have been cahoots with the minotaur."
"Cahoots?" the three asked simultaneously. Dirk chuckled, embarrassed.
"Sorry, I watch a lot of old cop shows. And yes, it seems that the two were working together. While the minotaur may be dead now, this thing is still going around killing people. Unless whatever killed the minotaur wants to finish the job and kill whatever this new creature is, we have a really big problem on our hands."
Bethany looked to Ryou and he looked back at her for a moment before looking away from her again. This didn't go unnoticed by Nick. "I wonder what that little exchange was about."
Dirk slowed the car to a stop as he reached the front of the campus and looked back at the kids. "Alright you guys. Be sure to stay securely indoors and don't come out unless you absolutely have to. It's not exactly safe right now." Three nodded and stepped out of the squad car one at a time until only Ryou was left. Before he could get out though, Dirk caught his attention. "Hey kid."
"Yes?" asked Ryou abruptly, as he had just stepped a foot out of the car.
"I've known Lieutenant Stanford for a little while now and I can tell you that he doesn't cut his language down for anyone, not even his wife. So for you to get him to cut down on the obscenities, you must be a really kind person, whether you know it or not. You don't seem very assertive so I'm guessing you get picked on a lot. I want to say that no matter what you go through in life, it's important to keep that kindness. There's not enough of it in the world, and that's a shame."
That caught Ryou by surprise and he nodded before stepping completely out of the vehicle to join his two friends. The three of them waved the officer a goodnight as he drove off before entering the campus. "Hey Ryou, what was that about?" Nick asked.
"Yeah, why'd he make you hang back?" asked Bethany.
"Well, he uh wanted to tell me that people like me are rare," he responded. He turned and looked in the direction of the now out of sight squad car and hung his head. "He's wrong though. Cowards like me are a dime a dozen in this world," he said quietly. Nick didn't hear these words, but Bethany did. She walked forward and motioned him away from Nick.
"Hey. Where are you two running off to?"
Bethany racked her brains to think of an excuse to use and one came to her at the spur of the moment. "We need to talk about an assignment we were working on before all this started."
Ryou realized what she was doing and played along. "Yeah, I'll come back to the apartment afterwards. This is really important though." The two began to walk off as Nick watched after them.
"The two of them are hiding something. They don't have any classes together to have an assignment." As the two were walking off together a chuckle was heard not too far off. A shadowy figure stepped out from behind a tree and watched the two leave Nick with curious eyes. "Tomorrow I'm going to get some answers."
"Ryou, we may not have been friends for long, but I've noticed that you make it fairly obvious when something is wrong with you. How did you know that, whatever it was in the alley?" Bethany asked once they were away from Nick and nobody was around.
Ryou was not really sure how to explain it to her. He had sensed the Mythic in the alley, like he had felt Mintauros at the warehouse a few nights before. She would think it had something to do with the Rekka armor, but the truth was that it had nothing to do with being Rekka. It was a heavily guarded secret that he could not even reveal to Nick, let alone Bethany. What did bug him though was finding the corpse in the alley. Despite beating Mintauros, people were still being murdered, and there was no one to stop them except for...
"Blaze was right, Bethany. More of those things showed up just like she said they would."
"Ryou, there's nothing you can do about that. I know you feel like you have to fight, but wearing that suit will kill you. She said so herself," Bethany responded.
The Japanese-American puffed out his cheeks in thought, a quirk he had developed over his lifetime. "That may be true, but as long as I don't fight a lot of other people will die. If someone else were able to use Blaze's belt right now then I wouldn't have a problem. But I AM the only one able to use it right now. And who's to say that this thing won't eventually come after me? Isn't it better that I at least go out fighting and save as many people as I can than to sit around while innocent people get hurt and wait for one of these things to kill me?"
"Speaking as a selfish brat," Bethany started, "I think you should only worry about yourself. But speaking as your friend, I say you should do what you feel is best. I can't make you not risk your life or anything, but I can at least give you some encouragement. Are you sure you want to do this though?"
Ryou nodded in absolute certainty. "Maybe I'm not the hero type, but I can definitely fight if it means protecting you and others. I refuse to sit by anymore."
"Then let's find that stupid bird tomorrow. I don't think she's around here now because we'd be able to see those bright feathers from a mile away even in this darkness." The two of them shared a laugh and raised their heads as they saw a group of people coming. "I think we should get going before someone comes and thinks we're doing something we shouldn't be doing." Bethany gave a small chuckle and punched the slightly blushing Ryou lightly on the shoulder, which made him stumble and fall down. Bethany sighed. "Well maybe some things will never change."
Ryou hid his head behind his arms to hide his embarrassed chuckles. "I'll always be clumsy. My father was like that too. So we should look for Blaze tomorrow." She nodded in agreement.
...
The next morning, the two decided to split up to try and find her. Considering that the small phoenix wanted Ryou to be Rekka, she probably was not too far away from him. It seemed though that they were not the only ones searching for someone. Since Ryou and Bethany had first met up that morning and began their search, Christina Hill , or Chrissy, had been tailing Ryou, hoping to learn more about him. She had seen Ryou TALKING to a bird right before the monster attack and the reports said that the thing that killed the monster looked themed after a bird. Coincidence? She did not think so and was going to find out the connection. Her younger and much shorter sister groaned as her elder sister practically dragged her a long without so much as an explanation.
While the two sisters got along very well, they were drastically different. Both went to a small private school before starting college, which Amanda , or Mandy, pretty much felt right at home, but Chrissy was more of an oddball. She was very outgoing and very friendly to pretty much anyone. She loved acting with a passion and welcome the weird with open arms. The only reason she did not talk to Ryou was because he seemed so shy towards people and she did not want to pressure him. She found his oddities interesting and would have been happy to talk to him when he was ready. She may have even had a small crush on him. Unfortunately the whole talking bird thing had greatly aroused her curiosity and now she could not stay away.
Mandy was a little preppy, and was too short to reach the top shelf in the grocery stores, but she had just as much beauty as any woman of average height. Most girls would be picked on for being so short, but what she lacked in height Mandy made up for it in quick wit. If anyone tried to call her out on being short she would quickly make a retort that stung so bad it would have the other person in tears instantly, both men and women. The only people who would keep up with her were a few back in her hometown in northern Mississippi. She knew Bethany, because they actually came from the same hometown, and she wasn't exactly known for being nice. So this suddenly change in her had her curious as well. Especially since she was one of the many who also thought Ryou was a huge weirdo. "Chrissy, are you sure about this? I mean maybe you were just seeing things."
"Nope. I know what I saw and I'm going to get to the bottom of it. Now is the time to confront him." said Christina as she jogged forward to catch up to Ryou.
"I was afraid you were going to say that. Crazy older sisters," she said with a sigh as she drooped her shoulders.
"Ryou!" Chrissy yelled as she caught up with him, her sister following reluctantly behind. Ryou turned around and saw the two but was too nervous to say anything, which was alright with Chrissy. "Alright Ryou, now I know this might sound a little outlandish, but I noticed that your friendship with Bethany started suspiciously a little before that monster attack on the school. Mandy and I were nearby when it all started and it seemed to be looking for someone in particular."
"My crazy sister seems to think it was you for some odd reason. While I admit you two suddenly being the best of friends is odd, I don't think it has anything to do with any monsters." Mandy said as a retort.
Chrissy scoffed at her younger, much shorter sister. "Come on, Amanda. Have a more open mind, will ya? Besides, I saw you talking to some cool looking bird right before the attack started and it was talking back!"
"WHAT!" Mandy and Ryou asked at the same time, Mandy out of disbelief and Ryou out of surprise that someone had seen that.
"Explain it now, Ryou. You can't, can you?"
Mandy backed away from the boy and looked at him like he wasn't human. "Was that thing really after you? What in the world are you?"
Ryou raised his hands in defense, but froze when a familiar feeling made itself known. "Look, it isn't what you think it is. Listen, I can't really explain what's going on right now, but you need to get away from here. It's not safe to be around me right now."
Mandy was all but ready to take him up on his offer to run away, but Chrissy just wouldn't hear of it. She eyed Ryou like a piece of meat, not like how women would eye Nick, but as if he were some kind of new toy and she was an excited child. Ryou had never gotten that kind of look and it downright terrified him. He tried again to get through to her. "Chrissy, please stay away from me."
"Too late boy," came a voice from the sky. Tsubako had caught up to Ryou and now she had two more targets in her sights. "Hmmm. Now this is quite the interesting predicament we have here. I wanted you boy, but maybe it would be more fun to watch how you react to me torturing these girls."
Ryou immediately ran forward and stood in front of the two girls, surprising Mandy and bringing Chrissy out of her trance. "What are you…..why are you trying to be a human shield for? You can't do anything against your bullies, let alone that thing. So why?" Mandy asked.
Chrissy was asking her own questions. "You were trying to keep that thing from finding us? I...I didn't know. And I just kept pressing him for info."
"Amanda. Chrissy. I know what you two think of me as. I'm weird, and reclusive, and the last person you would expect to do something like shield other people. I would agree with you, because that's how I see myself as well. But the thing is…..I don't want to be that way anymore. I want to be stronger, so that no more people die. And I'm starting with you two. Now please run!"
The two sisters turned to run away, the older a little less hesitant to leave, but at that moment Tsubako took flight towards the two, intending to do what she usually did when she found new prey. Ryou wouldn't let her have them without a fight though. He grabbed onto one of her lion-like paws and tried his best to pull her down, or at least slow her down some while the two girls ran, but the beat of her wings was far too powerful and she stayed airborne. "Let go of me, boy," she said in irritation. She kicked her hind leg hard and Ryou lost his grip, falling hard to the ground which knocked him unconscious.
Tsubako looked at his unconscious form with a smirk then went after the girls. There was not a soul around to aid the girls as Tsubako grabbed them in her paws and took off to parts unknown.
"Wake up boy," came a familiar voice sometime later. Ryou slowly opened his eyes and stared into a pair of small, green ones.
"Blaze?" he asked. The phoenix removed herself from her perch on his chest and watched him as he slowly arose. "Tsubako, did she?"
"Yes," She deadpanned. "She took off to an abandoned building downtown. Those girls are more than likely dead by now." She watched as Ryou leaned weakly against a tree and pulled out his cell phone to call Bethany's number.
"Beth, it's Ryou. I was running from Tsubako and ran into Chrissy and Mandy Hill. She took them instead. Blaze is here and she said that she knows where they are. I'm going after them...Well what else am I supposed to do Bethany? This is my fault. No, I'm going. Alright, I'm near the campus park." He grunted in pain as he hung up the phone and set himself in a somewhat more comfortable position.
"You plan to get them back, but how will you do so? You're a powerless human, remember?" Blaze asked with her head tilted in curiosity. "Or have you finally decided?"
"I…I don't want to use your power because you said it will eventually overpower my body and kill me. But because nobody else can use it but me, everyone that died since I first became Rekka, that's all my fault. They were all being killed while I was the only person who could do something to stop it. As long as I don't fight, that will continue. It isn't right and I can't just sit by anymore while that happens. I'll use your power to fight them until I'm no longer able to. I'll be Rekka until it kills me."
Blaze moved her beak into what could possibly be a smile and perched herself on Ryou's shoulder. "It pleases me to finally see you being decisive. During your fight with Mintauros I saw much potential in you as a fighter. You've been trained." At that Ryou tensed up. "Do not worry; we will talk of that another time."
...
So far Chrissy and Amanda had kept themselves alive by answering all of Tsubako's riddles correctly. As long as they answered them correctly, they would live. Problem was that she would ask them riddles until they got one wrong. She could wait as long as she had to, and judging by how scared the girls were she wouldn't have to wait for much longer. Humans. They always did break under pressure.
"You girls are very well educated to be able to last this long. Most people I...play with don't make it past the fourth question." She crossed her furry legs and licked her hand/paw sensually. She was really enjoying herself. "Next riddle. I welcome the day with a show of light, I stealthily came here in the night. I bathe the earthy stuff at dawn, but by the noon, alas! I'm gone. What am I? I'll give you one minute to talk amongst yourselves. Think hard now; your lives depend on it," she said with a smirk.
The two sisters held each other as the Sphinx observed them closely. "Chrissy, we can't keep this up forever."
"I know Mandy, but we have to. Otherwise, we'll die. Now come on. It can't be the sun since the sun doesn't come at night, nor does it disappear at noon."
"Could it be a shadow possibly? Shadows are supposed to disappear at noon when the sun is at its highest."
"What about at night though Mandy?" Chrissy asked her.
Amanda's breathing began to increase. "Moonlight can cast shadows, but what about 'bathe the earthy stuff at dawn'?" A light bulb suddenly lit up in Amanda's head. "I think it's morning dew. It comes during the early morning and it reflects the light of the sun. It covers the ground and is usually dried up by the afternoon."
Chrissy thought about it and agreed with her younger sister. "Let's go with that."
"Your minute is up. Let's see what you have come up with." Her eyes seemed to shine in anticipation. Either they would continue the game, or she would have a snack.
"Morning dew," they both said together.
The Sphinx stood up and clapped. "That is correct. You two are so much fun to play with. I'm almost going to feel sad when you eventually lose and I eat you. Humans like you are really hard to come by."
Amanda's fear turned into anger at this pointless game. "If you're just going to kill us anyway then what's the point in the riddles! Why don't you just kill us and get it over with!"
"Mandy!" Chrissy tried to hold down her younger sister as she struggled to break free of his older sister's hold. "Stop! This isn't going to help things!"
"I don't care! No matter what we do she's going to kill us! I'm not going to die playing this stupid, pointless game!"
"Pointless?" The two girls froze when they heard the slight growl in her voice. "You call my game pointless?" Tsubako's eyes were slitted now, her anger affecting her features. She crossed the distance between her and the two girls in an instant and struck Amanda with a vicious backhand that sent her to the ground.
"Amanda!" Chrissy cried. She was at her sister's side in a flash. Amanda had a cut across her cheek, but other wise was fine.
Tsubako's expression softened back to how it was prior and she sat down again, crossing her legs. "Alrighty girls, ready for some more riddles?"
"NO!" shouted Amanda.
"Wrong," she said with a finalizing glare in Amanda's direction. "You're first." She stood up quickly, her claws extending, and made a move to slash them across Amanda's body. Amanda was saved, however, when her sister jumped in front of her and took the blow with her body. Tsubako's claws raked savagely across her back and were covered with the older sister's blood. She collapsed into Mandy's lap and fell unconscious from the suddenly blow and loss of blood.
"CHRISSY!" She shook her sister frantically in a vain attempt to wake her up. "Wake up!"
"Ch." Tsubako flicked her arm, shaking the blood off of her claw. "Stupid girl. Guess she wanted to spare herself the sight of what I'm about to do to you."
Mandy's cried out with tears in her eyes and gently laid her sister's head down before jumping up and grabbing a nearby pipe to try and defend herself. "If you're gonna kill me then come on!"
"With pleasure," she said with a wide grin.
"AMANDA!" Ryou sprinted into the warehouse with Blaze flying in right behind him. He looked exhausted, having ran all of the way there. He looked and saw Chrissy face down, unconscious.
"Well if it isn't the little Rekka boy. Finally got him to do what you want little Blazikens?"
Ryou steeled his resolve. He knew that Blaze was right and that he would have to fight the Mythics. Otherwise, more people would get hurt like Chrissy and he could not just sit by and watch that happen when he alone had the power to prevent it. He stretched his arms out, palms to the sky. "Let's go, Blaze-san."
The phoenix smirked in accomplishment then flew at the boy in a burst of speed and flame. She spun around his torso once, the flames forming into the Rekka belt before flying above his head. Ryou snapped his arm upward and caught the phoenix by the wings before slotting her inside the belt. "HENSHIN!"
The flames shielded Ryou's body from Tsubaneko as the Rekka armor formed around him, a flash of his green eyepieces signaling his complete change before going into a fighting stance. Chrissy and Mandy could hardly believe their eyes as they watched the scene before them. It was one thing to have the campus pariah come to their aid, but a completely different thing to see him transform into an armored state to fight against the Sphinx like creature.
Said creature stalked towards the iron clad Ryou in a seductive strut, her bare breasts bouncing with each step. "So does the little boy want to fight me? Let's see what you got." She let out a arousing purr before changing to her more beastlike form and charging Ryou, claws bared. She slammed down with a roar, shaking the earth and disrupting the balance of everyone in the warehouse.
Ryou felt a momentary surge of fear but stood his ground before charging at the Sphinx Mythic and jumping at her with a fierce right hook. The monster quickly ducked to the side before turning around and kicked Ryou hard in the chest with her hind, lion-like legs. The blow knocked him back some but he was instantly on the offensive again with a high kick that slashed right across Tsubako's face.
Enraged, she started bounding around him, slashing at him as he spun around in an attempt to catch up. She was far too agile though. She pounced on him, knocking him to the ground and began to slash at his chest in a crazed fury.
"She's too strong!" Ryou covered his face in an attempt to protect his face, even though he was wearing a helmet. She whipped her tail around to strike Ryou, but the kamen rider caught it and yanked on it, causing her to lose her footing and stumble onto her face. "You bastard!" She shouted as she spit dirt from her mouth. "I'll skewer you!"
"I sincerely apologize for this." Ryou squeezed the tail in his hand and Tsubako's entire body was set on fire. As she screamed in agony, Ryou used the tail to flip her over his shoulder and slam Tsubako painfully into the ground before finally letting go of her.
Tsubako staggered as blood and smoke flew from her wounds. This Rekka was stronger than he let on and she could possibly beat him, but did not want to take a chance that she could be defeated. "Time for a hasty retreat."
Blaze, recognizing her movements, warned Ryou of what she was planning. "Ryou, finish her now! She's trying to escape!" Ryou nodded and ran towards the injured Mythic but was too late as she flapped her wings and took to the sky.
"Curses. We cannot catch her now."
"But the suit has wings too right? I remember them coming out when I kicked Mintauros."
Blaze was silent for a moment before explaining. "Those only come out during that attack. Because your power right now is too weak to attempt sustained flight we'll have to find another way to defeat her. Check on the humans for now."
Ryou nodded before unlatching Blaze from his belt and transforming back. He was at the Hill sisters' side in an instant. "Are you both alright?"
The younger sister, Amanda, nodded, but looked to her older sister, Chrissy, in concern. "That thing slashed my sister's back really bad. Help her!" Tears started to form in the corners of her eyes.
Without another word, Ryou carefully lifted Chrissy up and carried her away from the warehouse towards the closest hospital.
…...
Ryou and Mandy sat out in the lobby of a nearby hospital waiting for news on Chrissy. Mandy was unharmed and only suffered from shock at what had happened.
"Are you sure you're alright Mandy? I could go get you something." Ryou asked the short girl as they sat in the lobby. She dismissed his offer with a wave of her hand.
"It's alright. You don't have to go to all that trouble. I should be the one tending to you for saving us. Hard to believe that you were this kind of person, considering how introverted you are. So how long have you been, well, you know?"
"This all started a week ago. And to be honest, I had refused to fight again. But people were dying and I realized that I couldn't just sit around and continue my life as it was when I was the only one that could help people against these monsters. So I've decided to save as many people as I can. I'm glad I made it in time to save the two of you."
Mandy studied him for a second before leaving her seat and hugging him tightly. "Thank you Ryou. Chrissy was one of the few people around that didn't see you as strange like the others. But me, I'm just as bad as the others who picked on you. Yet you saved me anyway. I'm so sorry for how I was towards you."
Blushing heavily from the human contact, he slowly and awkwardly patted her back and thanked the stars that she only came up to the middle of his chest and could not see his face. It was at the moment that Beth walked in through the elevator door and saw the two of them embrace. She sighed, not used to seeing stuff like that when it came to Ryou. "Geez, at this rate he'll be up to neck in women."
The doctor came by a few seconds later to give Mandy an update on her sister. She was not in too terrible condition but would have to stay for a couple of days for monitoring. Bethany decided to go visit with Chrissy for a bit while Ryou went to look for clues on finding Tsubaneko. Ryou met Bethany in front of the elevator. "How long have you been here?"
"Long enough to see what a ladies man you really are. Who would've thought you'd be so good with women?" She laughed as Ryou seemed to glow crimson from embarrassment.
…...
The two of them walked outside, back towards campus as Blaze flew up and perched herself on Ryou's shoulder. "Any sigh of Tsubako?"
"Yes, She's still nearby, near the outskirts of town. She'll be harder to defeat now that she's out in the open. It would've been better to kill her in the warehouse where she wouldn't have the room to build up enough speed to take flight. Now it will be much harder. We have to find a way to make you faster so you can at least catch up with her while she's in flight." At this moment they were near the front of the dormitory when Nick came out. He hung his arms and breathed out, exhaustion evident. Blaze quickly flew away to avoid attention and Ryou waved to his friend.
"Hey, Nick, why are you looking so tired? Rough day at practice?"
Instead of answering right away, he gave a rather large grin and pulled out a bottle of water that was stuffed in his pocket. "I skipped practice today so I could work on something for you. Well attempt to anyway." Ryou was confused. Nick answered his unasked question with a smirk. "I found your scooter and I've been trying to fix it, with no results. It's really old so I haven't been able to find most of the partsI need for it anywhere, not even in the auto department. I can come show you what I've done so far though."
Nick walked back towards the back of the dormitory where the automobiles were stored and Ryou followed. "He must have gotten it from near the warehouse when Tsubako was away. Talk about lucky."
Unbeknownst to the both of them, Blaze had followed, her curiosity getting the better of her. "What is this 'scooter' that they speak of?"
Ryou's eye twitched as he looked down at what was left of his bike. It was in pieces, like something had ripped it apart; not in the somewhat better condition it was in after he had wrecked it that night with bethany. "What happened? This is...wha...NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" he screamed into the sky. The people nearby all covered their ears as his voice threatened to split their eardrums. Even Nick quickly covered his ears in surprise, not know that Ryou could even get that loud. He must have really loved that scooter.
"Uh, Ryou? Are...are you okay?"
"My father's going to kill me. Or worse, make me do his strict training regiment." He looked from the scooter to Nick. "What happened to it?"
"Believe it or not, I got a call from Bethany asking me to go and get it for you along with her's. Found it near that abandoned warehouse the police were investigating the other night, in the middle of a large footprint. My guess is whatever the footprint belonged to stomped on it. There's not much I can do to fix it, but I figured it would be worth a shot," he answered.
Ryou sighed. "Thanks Nick, but there's no way anyone would be able to fix this. What am I gonna do?" Nick quickly got him into a loose headlock and playfully ruffled his hair, like a elder brother would do to a younger brother. "Hey!"
"Don't worry about it, Ryou. I'm sure we can do something about it." Just stay here for a second while I go look for some tools." Ryou nooded as Nick went towards a nearby toolbox set in the parking area just in case anyone's car broke down. At this moment, Blaze flew down and perched herself on Ryou's head.
"Blaze?"
"What is this contraption?" she inquired. The small phoenix tilted her head in a curious, bird-like fashion as she eyed the nearly demolished scooter up and down.
"It was my scooter. I used to ride it around everywhere. It was passed down to me from my father, and he asked me to take care of it. He's going to blow his top when he sees what happened to it." At that moment a student on a motorcycle passed by on his way to class. It caught Blaze's attention and she looked from it to the scooter, an idea forming in her ancient mind.
"This is the solution on how to catch Tsubako!"
"Eh?" said Ryou in confusion.
At that moment, Blaze perked up again, he eyes holding a fire behind her small irises. "Speaking of that accursed feline. Come Ryou, and bring your contraption!" Ryou made a face like he was going to object, but after feeling a small spike of Blaze's killer aura he shut he mouth as dragged his scooter away from other people as quickly as he could.
When they were out of sight of people, Blaze suddenly flew above the scrapheap and breathed her flames on it. "Blaze, what are you doing!"Ryou shouted in shock. His father's old scooter was already probably beyond repair, and now she was melting it into liquid metal. The heat of the flames was much too intense for him to try and stop her. He started to close his eyes as the flames began to die down, terrified of what he might see, but just before his eyes closed completely he saw something shine through the fire. His eyes immediately shot open as the remaining flames were absorbed into what used to be Ryou's scooter, and revealed a new motorcycle. "W-w-wha? How?"
"Just be silent and get on. We can use this to catch up to Tsubaneko." Ryou was going to ask more questions, but just followed orders and got on the bike. His helmet that had been left on the scooter before had also undergone a change. Like his new bike, it was mostly black with yellow and red flames dancing around it. On the sides of the helmet were two bird wings. He put the helmet on and slid the visor over his eyes. If anyone were to walk by and see the young man on the bike, they would automatically think it were someone else.
"I have no idea how to ride this thing. Hope it works like my scooter." He tried to start it like he would normally start his scooter and to his surprise it roared to life without a hitch. "Here we go." He revved it up and shot off like a rocket. He screamed into his helmet as the speed of the bike threatened to throw him off. He clenched his fists as tightly as he could and fought for control of the bike and finally got it under his control before he ran over someone. "Holy! This thing is a monster."
Blaze chose that moment to chuckle to herself as she finally caught up with him. He had shot off so fast she didn't even have time to register what had happened, but seeing Ryou's reaction in her mind's eye had put her in a better mood. But now it was time to get serious. "I used my mystic fire to transform your contraption. I chose this form because it seemed bigger, faster, and much more powerful. It seems I was correct in my assumption. Now follow me Ryou!" She zoomed off and Ryou very carefully rode his new bike off of campus and towards the freeway heading out of town.
He weaved in and out of cars with grace, getting the hang of riding a motorcycle very easily. The familiar feeling he had gotten the other night came over him again and he raised an arm up, the speed of the bike keeping him stable. "Blaze!" he shouted through his helmet. The bird heard him with her acute hearing and flew around his waist, forming the belt and flew into his outstretched hand. "HENSHIN!" Slide. Snap. In two moves he was enveloped in flames and transformed into Rekka. "Let's go!"
…...
On the highway a family of four was enjoying a quiet, relaxing ride out of town. The wife was reading a magazine while her husband hummed to himself, their son and daughter playing a game of rock paper scissors in the back seat. "Beat you again." Said the girl, being the older of the two.
"No fair," her younger brother pouted. He glared at his sister as she smirked triumphantly at him, but dropped his jaw when he saw a costumed man on a bike pull up beside them. "Uh, Sis. Look," he said as he pointed at the window behind her. The sister turned and her jaw also dropped.
Ryou looked to his left and noticed the kid staring at him. He gave an awkward wave and hit the accelerator, shooting past the car and farther into traffic, where there seemed to be a large traffic jam up ahead. "Can't afford to stop now, so I'll have to go right through." He hit the accelerator again, losing his balance a bit because of not being used to the power of motorcycle. Up ahead he could see where the traffic jam originated. The Highway patrol set up a roadblock and were advising people to stay in their vehicles. "Blaze?"
"Ah. She's definitely ahead of this blockade. I hear small explosions up ahead as well."
"Gunfire." Ryou said to himself.
An officer up ahead saw Rekka coming towards him and called for none other than Lieutenant Stanford. "What's the problem, officer?"
"Someone's coming through the blockade. I don't think he has any intention of stopping."
"Then make him stop dammit! We can't let any civilians past this point with that winged monster around!" Stanford ran out into the path of Ryou in the hopes that he would too afraid to hit someone and stop. "STOP YOUR BIKE! IT'S DANGEROUS UP AHEAD!"
"It's the officer from last night!" Ryou realized.
"We can't afford to stop now. He'll move." Ryou nodded and didn't slow down. Stanford realized that he was not going to stop and jumped out of the way, but not without getting a good look at him as he zoomed by.
"What the hell was that?" He questioned as Ryou continued down the highway. A few officers ran over to the Lieutenant in concern trying to see if he was okay. "Ch. I have to be losing my damn mind." He hopped off of the ground and jumped into his squad car that was nearby, and began to chase after Rekka.
Ryou could finally hear the gunshots as the neared the area where a squad of officers were trying to shoot down Tsubako with no results. In the air, she could dodge them with relative ease, and the few that did hit her did no damage whatsoever. She was just toying with them, Ryou realized. "I need to hurry."
The officers on the ground were running out of ammunition and most were becoming very discouraged, some even on the verge of running away in the face of certain defeat and certain death. Tsubako decided that she was done playing with them and landed on the ground in front of them. She shifted to her humanoid form and seductively stalked towards them. "Ready to play with me boys?" Many of them began to back away from her in any direction that they could, making a wide U of officers with her in the middle. Suddenly the mighty roar of a motorcycle could be heard as Rekka jumped his bike over the officers in the back and slammed into Tsubako. The Sphinx was taken completely by surprise and rolled painfully across the ground. She looked up angrily and growled at Ryou and he skidded sideways to a stop, on side of him facing Tsubako and the other side facing the officers so that they could all clearly see him. Like the kids from earlier, all of their jaws dropped.
"YOU!" She roared.
He held his fist out in front of him and a small fireball formed before he closed his hand tightly into a fist, intense rays of light shining through the slight spaces between his fingers. "Be reborn in the fires of my blaze!"
With an enraged roar Tsubako shifted to her bestial form and took off into the sky. Rekka quickly revved up his bike and gave chase after her. The officers all looked at each other in both awe and confusion before a car could be heard honking behind them. They all got out of the way as officer Stanford plowed through the opening in the crowd of officers and continued to keep chase with Rekka and Tsubako. "Gotta keep them in my sights. I have to know just what the hell's going on here." A beeping sound came from his radio. "This is Lieutenant Stanford and I am in pursuit of target. Over."
"Lieutenant, this is officer Bronze from the squad in charge of assault on the creature. We're not sure who that guy on the bike was, but he definitely saved us so this is something we have to see for ourselves also." Stanford looked behind him and saw nearly a dozen squad cars following behind him. "Well at least I know that he's on our side," he said with a smirk.
"Ryou! Fire ball!" Blaze shouted.
"Hai!" Ryou focused hard and formed a fire ball in his hand, which he threw towards Tsubako. The Mythic felt it coming and swooped under it right before it hit her. Ryou threw a second one, but she dodged it also.
"Damn that child. I can't seem to outrun him." Tsubako said to herself as she continued to dodge more fire balls. Growing frustrated she flew down and tried to swipe at him with her claws. He swerved around her on his bike as she continued to grab at him. "Be still damn you!"
"Only when you pay for what you've done!" As she came down a final time, he charged his fist with fire and punched her in the gut with the strongest fire ball he could muster, greatly injuring her. She gasped as the blow took the wind out of her and she nearly dropped to the ground, but managed to find the strength to fly upwards.
"Where did his strength come from? I can't beat him." She began to fly higher in an attempt to get away from him.
"You're not getting away. Too many people have died because of you!" The familiar feeling of resolution filled his body the same way it had when he had fought Mintauros and his courage gave him strength. The side panels on the bike suddenly opened out like a pair of wings and flapped once, sending itself skyward towards Tsubako.
Tsubako looked behind her and saw that somehow Rekka's motorcycle had gained wings and was currently heading her way. "No! I have to get away!"
"HAAAAAA!" Screamed Ryou as he charged Rekka's energy into the bike and caused it to flap it's wings a second time. This time it gained a fiery aura and sent a flaming funnel towards Tsubako, trapping her in the middle. The Sphinx mythic struggled as hard as she could but could not break out through the sides of the fiery tornado. Ryou charged even more power into the bike, but as its wings came up for one final flap, his own wings appeared and opened out. At the same time, the two pairs of wings flapped. Ryou flew off of the bike as it shot forward into the funnel and slammed into Tsubako, causing her to shoot painfully towards the opening at the opening end of the funnel.
Now severely injured, she shot out of the funnel and into the open air, only to see Rekka fly over the end of the funnel and look at her. The anger she could feel from the boy in the armor was staggering. She knew she was dead. "NOOOOO!"
"THIS IS FOR ALL PEOPLE YOU'VE HURT!" Rekka's wings appeared once more and shot him down towards her. "HAAAAAAA!" His foot erupted into flames as it impacted into Tsubako with a immense force as his kick gained speed and send them both crashing into the ground, kicking a mountain of dust into the air. When the dust cleared Rekka was on his feet with a charred , burning corpse of Tsubano underneath his still flaming foot. The force of the attack had caused another wing shaped crater to appear under the dead body.
In the belt buckle, Blaze was wide eyed at what had just occurred. The combination that Ryou had just put together was even more devastating than the attack he had performed on Mintauros and should have been far beyond his capabilities. "Okibi Ryou. What are you?" She thought to herself.
The roar of Rekka's bike was heard as it landed on the ground with a soft thud beside Ryou. He got on a prepared to ride off, but stopped when he heard the cocking of several guns. The officers from before had followed him and most of them had their guns trained at him. Lieutenant Stanford walked forward and motioned for the men to put their guns down. "Put your damn guns down you idiots! Do you not remember that this guy saved your lives earlier? Besides, I doubt those bullets would do much good anyway." He looked to Rekka and flashed a smirk as he nodded his head to the side. "Get outta here."
Inside of his armor, Ryou smiled to himself. He gave a simple nod and turned his bike around, heading back towards the direction he'd come from. He stopped when he reached Stanford, surprising the officer. Taking his thumb and pointing it to his chest he said, "You can call me Rekka. Kamen Rider Rekka." He tried to deepen his voice a bit so that the lieutenant would not recognize it, although the filtering of the helmet already helped out with that.
Stanford blinked in surprise and gave another smirk. "Thanks for saving my men, Rekka." Rekka gave another nod and zoomed off. "Men!" He turned to his fellow officers. "I think we may have just witnessed a real superhero at work here. Let's go inspect the scene".
…...
Rekka zoomed away from the scene as quickly as possible, in a hurry to get back to campus. Since he left without saying a word, Nick would probably be really confused. And then he would have to explain the bike. Speaking of which. "Blaze, I need you to change the bike so nobody recognizes it when I'm not Rekka if that's not too much trouble."
"Understood. If would probably be detrimental to our mission if many more people found out about you." Ryou slid Blaze out of the belt slot and Ryou changed back, but instead of riding a motorcycle, Ryou was now riding a new red and yellow scooter.
"You turned it back into a scooter?" Ryou asked.
"I thought this fit your personality better. You would not look normal on such a powerful machine. Do not worry though. Whenever you transform into Rekka or whenever you feel you need the additional speed, it will transform into the Blazing Wing. I find it to be a fitting name considering what it is capable of. Now we must get you back to school."
After some time and clever, elaborate lies to Nick about where his old scooter went and how he had gotten a new one, Ryou went back to the hospital to visit Chrissy. "How's your sister?" he asked Amanda as he walked towards Chrissy's hospital room.
"Much better now. She's woken up and was just asking about you so I thought I'd see if you were still around. You look tired."
"I'm alright. Can I go on in?" He asked, reaching for the door handle but waiting on permission. The younger sister nodded and the two of them walked in. Chrissy was indeed awake and sitting up watching television where a news report was playing. Bethany was also there watching the news report with her arms crossed. As soon as she turned and saw Ryou she scowled and walked over to him.
"Why didn't you tell me you had gone! I had to watch you be awesome on the news." she asked in a forced whisper. Ryou gave a confused look, so Bethany turned him towards the television. Playing was a video of Rekka chasing down Tsubako while shooting fireballs. From the the distance and angle the footage had to have come from one of the news helicopters. It zoomed in as the camera caught footage of Blazing Wing shooting into the air and ended with Rekka stomping Tsubako into the highway below. The headline flashing by at the top of the screen said "Just who or what is this Kamen Rider Rekka?"
"Whoops?" said Ryou with a nervous shrug. Before Bethany could put him in a headlock, Amanda blocked her.
"Kill him later. Chrissy's been want to talk to him for a while now and I don't want you to beat up the guy who saved our butts just because you didn't get to see him fight."
"Fine. But I'm watching the next fight or else I'll be kicking your butt," Bethany pouted.
Chrissy shifted on the bed, wincing a bit as her wound ached. "Ryou, I should have respected your privacy and because of me both me and my sister were put in danger. If you hadn't come we would both be dead right now. I don't know how to thank you for saving us."
"Oh I know how!" Amanda said with a bright, yet mischievous smile. Now, whenever she smiled like that a series of mishaps would always occur. This was no different. She suddenly jumped behind Ryou and pushed him into her sister. She hugged him instinctively which he wasn't ready for so in his surprise he screamed. His scream was heard outside by some passing by nurses who ran into the room expecting to see Chrissy in pain, not Ryou in an awkward position. The said nurses slowly backed out of the room without saying a word and the five heads already in the room snapped in the direction of the open door. Why five heads? Well at that moment Blaze flew in and perched herself on the windowsill and she was now uncharacteristically snickering.
The two girls in the room spotted the bird and eyed it as it laughed at the scene. "These two humans are far more amusing that any of the others I've met recently." Mandy's jaw dropped and Chrissy's finger shot forward like Ryou bike had earlier.
"I told you it could talk Mandy!"
…...
While this was going on, Cadet Dirk had been assigned to investigate the warehouse some more, but so far he hadn't found anything more than they had found during their initial investigation. It was weird being at a place where only a few days ago a mass of dead bodies was found. The thought made him stop look over towards the area where they had found it. "I wanted to become a cop to prevent things like that from happening, but now it just seems so pointless. So many people are dead because of these monsters and the only one who can do anything about it is this Rekka guy. He's lucky he's able to make a difference here." He turned away from the spot with disdain and traveled up the staircase, or what was left of it. "What happened here?" he wondered. They had been over this spot over and over again but now that he was alone with quiet to actually observe and think, he noticed that it looked like a huge fight had happened here. Actually, it looked a little worse than before. It made even more sense now that they knew who had killed the minotaur a few days prior. "So they fought here. That explains the noises that people were hearing."
He continued up the stair and down a hallway. All of the rooms down the hallway were empty except for the one at the very end of the corridor. He stepped in and immediately looked at the panel on the far side of the room. Some of his fellow officers had already been in this room but this was his first time stepping foot inside. It looked as though it was supposed to hold something, but was now empty, like the rest of the warehouse. "Why the hell am I here? I knew that there was nothing in this warehouse, but I came anyway." A noise off to the side made him jump, but it was only a mouse. The mouse looked up at him and ran through a hole in the wall. Was there another room behind that wall? Dirk walked over to the wall and tried to peek in through the crack, but all he could see was a blue light. "How did they miss this?" Looking around and not finding anything big enough to try and break a door down with, he decided to use the biggest thing in the room. Himself.
"Yah!" He ran full sprint and slammed his body into the wall. It creaked and gave way to the force of his tackle and he rolled into the hidden room. He looked around but saw that it was pretty much exactly like the adjacent room, nothing but a table. But what was on the table made this whole trip worth taking. The light that Dirk saw thought the wall came from an object on the table. It was a belt looking object, sitting on a platform of blue light, possibly so whoever was in here could work in the darkness.
The belt looked very advanced, but also looked like it was missing some pieces. The guy who was working on it was probably in that pile of corpses. Next to it was a book of some kind. Never one to let his curiosity not get the better of him, he picked up both the book and belt ,which shined for a split second at his touch without him noticing, up and looked more closely at him. "These look like blueprints, but for what?" He looked at the top of the blueprints at the title set in a bold black print above the picture of a dragon-like creature. "Kamen Rider Wyvern."
Dun Dun Dun! Do we have a second rider on the way? We'll find out. Next time: Ryou goes home for some super intense hellish training. Now be sure to review or else zombie Mintauros will stomp on you!