Episode 2

To Slay a Knight

"Finish him!" Adrian's belt shouted. "Flip the armored segment on the left side of the belt down."

"You know, I don't find it strange talking to a dragon," Adrian said as he rotated the segment down. "But I do find it strange to be talking to a belt."

"You'll get used to it; pull the legs on that side up."

Adrian grabbed the legs and pulled them up. There was loud click and a gold dragon head was thrust out of the bottom of the piece of armor.

"Flare up!"

The golden dragon head opened its mouth and spat out a stream of fire which traveled down Adrian's leg and to his foot. The flames streamed up and surrounded his whole body.

The knight had meanwhile stood back up. Adrian leapt at the monster and raised his foot, the flames streaming behind it like some kind of wave. The knight reached for his sword and unsheathed it, swinging it up as Adrian fell toward him. A yellow flaming dragon head surrounded Adrian's foot and it connected with his foe's chest. Then there was a massive explosion…

The knight roared as it was thrown through the air and landed several feet away. He rolled onto his side and tried to push himself up, but he just collapsed.

Adrian stepped over the small patches of flame that his attack had caused and stood over the knight.

"Why'd you hold back?" the dragon growled angrily.

"Well, I didn't want to kill him," Adrian said, glancing down at the belt buckle.

"Idiot! If it survives, he'll just come at us again!"

"The police or someone can imprison him," Adrian glanced up. "Uh-oh."

The spot that the knight had been lying in was empty. Adrian glanced around, but the knight was gone. He ran over to the trees, but it wasn't hiding behind any of them.

The belt unbuckled itself and fell to the ground. Adrian's suit dissolved in a burst of flames, while the belt retracted. The wings on the back rotated sideways and the two body sections of the dragon attached there. The buckle extended out into the dragons neck before reattaching to the body. Once it had reformed, the dragon promptly spat a fireball at Adrian's foot.

Adrian yelped in pain and slid his foot out of the sneaker. He stomped on the shoe with his other covered foot until the fire was out. He picked the sneaker back up and placed his hand inside of it, sticking a finger out of the hole that had been burnt in the top of it.

"Will you please stop doing that?" Adrian shouted before sliding his shoe back on.

"You let it get away!" the dragon growled, pacing on the ground on all fours.

Adrian huffed and turned back towards the school. He quickly walked away from the dragon, looking over his shoulder to see that it was following him. He looked away and increased his speed, but he heard the dragon leap into the air and beat its wings to keep up. Adrian ignored him and climbed back through the hole in cafeteria wall.

He was relieved to see that it was empty. Everyone had gotten out okay.

The dragon landed on Adrian's shoulder and he promptly pushed it off. It grunted as it hit the floor.

"Stop following me," Adrian said, grabbing his backpack out of the wreckage.

The dragon growled, rolled onto its feet, and flew out of the hole in the wall. With that taken care of, Adrian went to find the rest of his classmates.

--

The knight growled and dropped out of the tree branch. He collapsed to his knees when he hit the ground, still weak.

He growled as the purple light surrounded him and he metamorphosed back into human form. He quickly stumbled away from the school and back to where he had left his motorcycle.

--

When Adrian stepped out of the school's front entrance, he found everyone standing across the street, the kids watching the school as though they expected it to suddenly exploded, or talking to the person standing next to them.

Emergency vehicles covered the street, SWAT vans, a fire truck, and three ambulances. Thankfully, the ambulances didn't seem to be needed, the worst that had happened were a few bruises from flying debris.

The SWAT team quickly swarmed around Adrian and escorted him over to the ambulances, where the medics proceeded to ask him if he was okay and then check him over even after he said that he was.

After that they let him go, he pushed through the crowd of students looking for Mandy. He spotted her standing at the back of the crowd, her arms wrapped around herself.

Adrian walked to her and she spotted him out of the corner of her eye and turned to hug him tightly.

"Ah! Need air!" Adrian gasped.

"Oh, sorry," she said, letting go of him. "So what was that?"

"Your guess is as good as mine," Adrian sighed. "Can we just get out of here?"

"Well, I pretty much think that school is out now," Mandy shrugged.

Adrian sighed and started down the sidewalk, Mandy following at his side.

After they were far enough away from the crowd, Mandy asked. "So what do you know?"

Adrian looked over at her. "Well, as I was running through the park I heard a noise, so I stopped like an idiot and this pint-sized dragon came flying out of the bushes!"

"Who are you calling pint-sized?!" an angry voice demanded.

"Oh, no," Adrian looked up and watched as the dragon glided down and landed in front of them.

Mandy stared down at the dragon for a few seconds, and then she let out an excited shout. "It's so cute."

"What the he- ack!" the dragon gasped as Mandy leaned down and pulled it into a hug.

Adrian sighed and glanced around to make sure nobody was watching. Fortunately, the trees hide them from the crowd of students and anyone that was in the area had joined the crowd in staring at the school.

He grabbed Mandy's arm and pulled her off into the bushes. Once there, the dragon managed to wriggle out of her clutches and shot a dirty look at her.

"Sorry," Mandy said. "It's just that you're the first dragon I've ever met."

"Lucky me," the dragon growled, brushing himself off.

"Why are you following me?" Adrian asked the dragon.

"Because I need your help fighting that mage," the dragon replied.

"Mage?" Adrian repeated. "It looked like a knight to me."

"Well, it's a knight mage," the dragon responded.

"Don't you mean nutmeg?" Mandy asked.

"No!" the dragon snapped, spitting a few sparks as he did. "A mage is a human with magical powers that has corrupted themselves by abusing it."

"And you want to kill them?" Adrian asked.

"Of course!" the dragon said. "They're evil."

"They can't all be evil," Adrian said.

"Yeah," Mandy agreed. "No one is all evil."

"Well, they are."

"I think you're prejudiced," Adrian said.

"I have a right to be," the dragon growled. "That knight jerk slaughtered my whole village with the support of all the other mages, now he's hunting me down so he can finish the job!"

"Oh," Adrian and Mandy glanced at each other. Adrian looked back at the dragon and saw him wiping something out of his eyes.

"Come on," Mandy said. "Let's take him back to your house and get him something to eat. Your aunt and uncle are still at work, right?"

"Yeah…" Adrian replied. "He just better not burn anything down!"

"Don't be so insensitive," Mandy admonished him and then knelt down and picked up the dragon, who was now sobbing quietly.

--

Adrian checked to make sure that both his aunt and uncle's car were gone before he showed Mandy and the dragon into the house.

He headed straight for his room and slipped out of his burnt sneakers and into another pair which were slightly too small for him. He wondered how he would explain what had happened to his brand new shoes.

When he got back downstairs, he found the dragon drinking milk out of a bowl on the floor. Mandy was leaning against the refrigerator watching it. His aunt's brown and white tabby was glaring at the dragon from a safe distance.

"Full yet?" Adrian asked, walking into the kitchen.

"No, I'm really hungry," the dragon replied.

Adrian sighed. "So where was your village?"

"We moved around a lot," the dragon replied. "We were in a cave in the mountains around here."

"Why did you move around so much?" Mandy asked.

"The mages, they hate anything that has power equal to theirs," the dragon replied. "There weren't a lot of us, so we didn't put up much of a fight."

"What's your name?" Adrian asked.

"Methalgresoth," the dragon replied.

"Metholgreasuth?" Adrian repeated.

"How about if we just call you Meth?" Mandy asked.

"That's fine," Meth replied.

--

The knight growled as he stepped off of his motorcycle and walked into the pub. He sat at the bar and ordered a beer. The alcohol really didn't do much to him, but he liked the taste.

He drank his beer as he recollected his battle with that child. He had had no idea that the dragons could do anything like that. Now he had lost them and it could take him months before he found the dragon's trail again.

He frowned. Unless the dragon needed that particular human to transform. In which case it would try to stick around. His frown curled up into a smirk.

The bartender paused as he saw the smirk and then leapt back as the knight's eyes glowed red.

--

Adrian sat bolt up right. He jumped up and stared out of the kitchen window.

"What is it?" Mandy asked looking over his shoulder.

A column of smoke was rising into the air. Adrian spun and ran out of the house, Meth leapt into the air and flapped after him. Outside, he could hear the roar of sirens.

"It's that knight guy," Adrian said.

"Yeah," Meth said. "Now, do you believe me that they're evil?"

"Well, I believe that one is," Adrian replied.

"That'll have to do for now," the dragon said and landed on Adrian's shoulder. Adrian reached up and grabbed the base of Meth's neck. He pulled and that part came loose, a length of belt following it and then the rest of the dragon's body which split in half, a length of belt between the two body parts. He slung the belt around his waist and then clipped it together.

Meth's neck was still extended and he turned to look at a motorcycle resting against the wall of the garage with a tarp over it. "Whose bike is that?"

"My uncle's," Adrian replied. "It broke down and he hasn't taken the time to repair it."

Meth opened his mouth and launched a spray of fire at the bike. The tarp burned away and the bike turned of its own will and drove over to rest in front of Adrian. As the fire continued to blaze, the bike slowly transformed. It changed from black to red with gold trimmings. The front changed into the shape of a dragon head, the horns extending out into handlebars. Wings were wrapped around the body of the bike and the back extended out into a tail.

Adrian leapt back in surprise. "Whoa!"

"Well? Let's go!" the dragon growled.

"Oh, yeah!" Adrian said. He pushed Meth's head down to lie next to the belt and then to the side, the neck folding up, and Meth's head forming the belt buckle. "Transform!"

The air was still and silent.

"Nothing happened," Mandy pointed out.

"You know 'transform' isn't really that cool," Meth mused. "Why not say 'henshin'?"

"Fine, henshin then!" Adrian said.

He pushed the horns on the buckle together and the dragon's mouth open, releasing a cloud of flames as it did. The flames swirled around Adrian forming into the shape of dragon wings while a long neck of flames stretched up, the head at the end roared. Adrian pushed a button above the buckle and the mouth snapped closed and the horns returned to their original position. The wings moved toward Adrian forming into the armor as it came into contact with his skin; the dragon's head moved down and covered his face changing into the helmet. The armor glowed red hot for several seconds before cooling.

"Wow," Mandy whispered.

Adrian grabbed the bike's handlebars and swung his leg over it. He was glad that his uncle had taught him how to ride.

"Be careful!" Mandy shouted as he pulled the bike out of the garage and onto the road. He accelerated and was gone.

--

The knight laughed as he glanced around the street. The pub was now in flames and belching plenty of smoke into the air. Police cars surrounded him, the police themselves crouching behind the vehicles with their guns trained on him.

"Lay down on the ground with your hands over your head!" someone shouted into a megaphone.

His laughter grew louder at that. He threw his head back and laughed crazily, his eyes glowing red again. Light blue flames gathered around him and they shot out in a wave, blasting the windows of the police cars in and flinging the humans through the air, their bodies simultaneously catching fire.

He glanced around, happy to see that none of the irritating humans were standing. He heard the sound of a motorcycle approaching and looked up to see Adrian riding toward him. He stopped the bike and got off, glancing at the scene of destruction that the knight had caused.

Adrian glanced up at the knight; his hands were balled into fists at his side. "You're going down."

"I think not," he replied, glancing down. He looked back up and thrust his arm out, a light blue fireball shot out of his palm and slammed into Adrian's chest armor. A shower of sparks flew from where he was hit.

"Ha! I thought you would know better then to use fire against a fire dragon," Meth laughed.

"You can't blame me for trying," he shrugged and then melted into his knight form. "What is your name human? I would like to know what I should carve on your tombstone."

"I'm kamen rider Ryu," Adrian answered.

"Ryu?" Meth repeated.

"You're the one that wanted to use a Japanese word for our transformation," Adrian replied.

"Enough talk," the knight growled and then charged at Ryu.

The knight threw a punch at him, but Ryu sidestepped it. He threw a kick at the knight's side and was pleased to see it connect. He punched the knight's head and it spun around and stepped away.

Ryu leapt forward and threw a kick at the knight's face. However, the knight grabbed his ankle. The knight swung him around and let go, sending him flying through the air. He slammed into the door of a police car.

The mage slowly walked toward Ryu, who rolled back onto his feet. Adrian stepped forward and threw two punches at the knight both of which were dodged. Adrian ducked under his punch and at the same time, punched the knight's chest. He quickly stood back up, driving his fist into the knight's armored chin as he did. Ryu threw two more punches and then spun around and leapt up, raising his leg and kicking the knight in the head.

Stumbling back from the blow, the knight glared up at the kamen rider. He stood back up and drew his sword. He charged at Ryu with surprising speed and slashed the sword across his chest. Sparks flew from the hit and Adrian stumbled back, narrowly avoiding another slash. He dropped onto his back to avoid the next slash and slammed his feet into the knight's chest while he was down there.

"What are you doing?" Meth demanded. "Go get him!"

Adrian rolled out of the way as the knight slammed his sword down on where he had been lying. "But he's got a sword!"

"Well, so do we!"

Ryu stood back up and stepped away from the knight. He reached down and pulled Meth's tail from the left side of the belt; he reached around and grabbed the wings from the back of the belt. He stacked the tail on top of the wings.

Adrian regarded the weapon for a moment. The tail had formed the blade, while the wings were the hilt and handle. It was rather short and looked more like a dagger then a sword.

"Listen," Meth said, as Adrian ducked another sword slash. "That sword may be bigger, but it's also clumsy to swing and heavy. Dodge the sword and go for the idiot."

"Easier said then done," Ryu replied as he blocked a slash with his dagger, the force of the blow almost knocked the dagger out of his hand. He ducked the next slash and ran forward under it, slashing the knight's side as he did.

The knight growled and spun to deliver another slash, which Ryu ducked under. Ryu slashed repeatedly at the knight's chest. He thrust the blade at the knight and sent him flying back.

Adrian flipped the segment of armor on the left side of his belt up and pushed down on the legs there. The gold dragon head was pushed out and its mouth opened.

"Flare up!"

A fireball shot out of the dragon's mouth and circled around Adrian several times before settling on the blade of the dagger. The blade caught fire and a tongue of flames extended from it adding slightly to its length.

The two combatants charged at each other, weapons raised. They slashed at each other, the two weapons connected. The knight's sword was knocked away by the flaming blade and Ryu quickly slashed the blade vertically across the knight's chest. The knight howled in pain as sparks flew from him. Ryu swung the sword back across his chest again.

Even more sparks flew from the knight's chest and he stumbled back. He lowered his sword and turned and ran toward the still smoking bar.

Adrian growled as he disappeared into the smoke cloud. Seconds later, an engine roared and the knight reappeared, riding a black motorcycle. Adrian jumped out of the way of the bike, but was still hit by a slash from the knight's sword. He collapsed, more stunned, then wounded by the blow.

"Come on, he's getting away!" Meth growled.

Ryu stood up and walked over to his bike. He swung his leg over it and sat down. He split his dagger back into its two components and attached them to his belt. He griped the handlebars and accelerated his bike, zooming after the fleeing knight.

The knight glanced back at him and then turned around. He raised his sword as he approached Ryu. The sword glowed purple and extended out into a black lance. He thrust the lance forward and Adrian barely managed to swerve out of the way and avoid being impaled.

They rode several feet away from each other and then stopped. Adrian glanced back at the knight and then gunned his bike's engine, spinning it around to face him. The knight also spun his bike around.

The two charged at each other again. The knight lowered his lance, while Ryu reached down and flipped the armor on his belt back to facing forward. He pulled the legs backwards and the dragon head was thrust out again. A fireball flew out of the dragon's mouth and circled around the front of Ryu's bike.

"Flare up!"

The mouth of the dragon head on the front of the bike opened and the fireball floated into it, before a massive stream of fire was shot out of the bike's mouth. The stream of fire slammed into the knight's bike, causing him to raise his lance, to his credit, he didn't panic and crash, but he didn't steer out of the way in time to avoid what happened next.

The fire pulled back onto Ryu's bike and took the shape of a dragon. Red flames shot out of the motorcycle's mufflers and it shot forward even faster, slamming into the knight.

There was a massive purple explosion of fire as the knight and his bike were obliterated.