Disclaimer: I don't own a single iota of any actual Kamen Rider series. I just own the characters and plots of this fanfic.

Episode 3

The Fortuneteller

"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.

Adrian stopped his bike and glanced back at the purple flames and bits of coal-like debris that covered the ground. He breathed a sigh of relief.

He looked up at the sound of approaching sirens and turned his bike back toward home.

"Don't want to stick around and suck up the glory?" Meth asked.

"No," Adrian replied.

"Is something wrong?"

Adrian frowned under his helmet. "Yes, if I had listened to you earlier and finished him off, then those police men wouldn't have been killed."

"Well, now you know what to believe," Meth said his tone somewhere between smug and consoling.

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

Meth didn't reply and they didn't say anything more until they got back to Adrian's house and had parked in the driveway.

The Ryu suit vanished in a cloud of flames as Adrian unclipped his belt. It immediately changed back into dragon form and Meth floated gently to the ground as Adrian released him.

"My uncle is going to flip when he sees what you did to his bike," Adrian said, stepping off of the heavily modified bike.

Adrian had barely finished speaking when flames surrounded the bike. The air around it warped from the heat as the bike melted back into its original shaped. Adrian pushed the bike back to where it had been and covered it with the tarp.

He turned toward the house and pushed the door open. He heard the noise of the TV and headed into the living room to find Mandy sitting on the coach, watching the news.

"Hey," she greeted. "Their news copter caught the end of your battle with that knight thing."

"It was a mage," Meth reminded. "Weren't you paying attention?"

"Why did it start that fire?" Adrian asked rubbing a bruise.

"It probably wanted to lure us there," Meth said, flapping his wings and landing on the back of the coach. "Or it could have just been doing it for fun."

"What?" Mandy and Adrian asked.

"That's the way they are," Meth explained. "They use their abilities to cause chaos."

--

Elsewhere, a woman was walking home, a bag of groceries under her arm. The streets were practically deserted. It was really a pleasant neighborhood though; her chances of being mugged weren't very great.

She looked up at the sound of footsteps and smiled at the young man approaching her. "Hello-,"

She paused as she saw his face. His smile which had always been warm now seemed somehow sadistic.

As she watched, his eyes turned red and his canines grew into pointed fangs as his teeth turned black. She tossed her groceries down and turned to run, but something wrapped around her neck. Whatever was around her neck was covered in sharp thorns, she gasped in pain as they stabbed into her skin. She reached up and tried to pull away whatever was wrapped around her neck, but it was wrapped tightly and the thorns just cut into her fingers. She lowered her arms as a wave of exhaustion hit her. She dropped to her knees. Her skin started to wrinkle and her hair faded to grey. She dropped over completely and the object around her neck retracted.

The mage laughed. The sound of his voice was similar to a hellish screech. His body was covered in red and black skin. His chest was red and two pieces of armor made to resemble human skulls covered his shoulders. His forearms were also red and ended in black claws. He wore a light brown loin cloth with a belt of the same color. The belt buckle was a silver skull. His face was vaguely human, but colored a mixture of red and black that resembled tribal paint. His nose was two slits and his eyes were yellow. Two bat-like wings extended from the side of his head were a human's ears would be. He carried a black whip, the entire length of which was covered in sharp red thorns.

He turned around and walked off, a red glow surrounding him as he morphed back into human form.

--

Adrian and Mandy had decided to leave the house. They didn't want to spend the day inside, especially after Meth had spat several fireballs at the cat because the feline had liked Meth stealing its food.

Meth didn't like being stuffed back into Adrian's backpack, but he consented since it would be better to get a view of the streets at ground level, rather then just from the air.

They decided to head for Mandy's parents' house. It was a bit of a walk and things were farther complicated as Meth asked a stream of questions, not knowing very much about humans.

A lot of people stared at Adrian as he answered the disembodied voice that came from his backpack. Mandy explained to a few of the more curious ones that it was just a ventriloquist act.

Adrian finally told Meth to be quiet as they reached their destination. Mandy's parents owned a small diner. It was the whole downstairs of the house, the family lived upstairs. They were usually fairly busy and had quite a few regulars. Adrian liked to hang around there when he got bored.

Both of Mandy's parents were standing behind the counter as well as an elderly woman that Adrian didn't recognize, but whose features seemed to suggest that she was related to Mandy.

"Hey, mom and dad! Hello, grandma!" Mandy greeted.

Adrian elbowed his backpack as Meth shifted around inside of it. "Hi, Mr. and Mrs. Klinger."

"You're home early," Mrs. Klinger noted.

"They let us out early," Mandy replied sitting on a stool at the counter. Adrian sat down next to her. "Grandma, this is Adrian. He's a friend of mine."

The aged woman slammed a playing card down on the counter. A man in a business suit was sitting on the opposite side of the counter. He was intently watching the cards which were arranged in a circle on the countertop.

"Grandma?" Mandy asked.

"Sshhh!" she hissed and then drew the last card and set it down.

"So?" the man in the suit asked.

"If you continue as you are, you will get your promotion," she replied disinterestedly.

"Yes, I knew it!" the man exclaimed jumping up. He sat a five dollar bill down on the counter. "Thanks."

He turned and left. Mandy's grandmother pocketed the five dollars and picked up the playing cards, shuffling them back together. She finally looked up at Adrian. He jumped at bit from the intensity of her glare. She snorted. "Kind of scrawny, isn't he?"

Adrian heard Meth chuckling from his backpack, so he took it off, set it on the counter and leaned his elbows on it. He smiled as he heard Meth growl angrily.

A woman stepped up and sat in front of Grandma. "So, does that superstitious hooey of yours really work?"

"Do not mock the world of the occult," the fortuneteller warned.

"How about this? If you predict that something happens today and if it does, then tomorrow, I'll pay you twice your usual fee."

"Fine," she sneered. "But for you, the usual fee is ten dollars."

"Fine," the other woman sneered.

Grandma snapped the first card off of the deck and slammed it down on the table more forcefully then before. She paused and then slowly and quickly drew and set down the rest of the cards. "I want my fee now."

What?!" the woman asked outraged.

"You will die less then an hour after you leave the store," she replied. "Therefore I want my twenty bucks now."

"You-," the woman growled, grabbed her purse and fumed out of the door.

Grandma sighed and began picking the cards back up. "Like she will need the money where she is going anyway…"

"Hey, could you tell my future with those cards?" Adrian asked.

"I don't tell the fortunes of scrawny people," she huffed and walked away.

"Is she visiting?" Adrian asked Mandy frowning.

"No," Mandy replied. "She was going to be put into a home, but mom couldn't stand that idea and instead asked her to move in with us… Dad wasn't too happy about the idea though."

"Hey, Mandy."

Mandy growled. "Hello, Michael."

Adrian turned to find Michael sitting at the table across from the stools of the counter. He was smiling at Mandy. The glare from his teeth almost blinded Adrian. His hair was a light blonde color and he wore a white sweater. All that was missing was a red apricot and he could have passed for Fred from Scooby-Doo.

"So you got out of school early today?" he asked.

"It would appear so," Mandy replied.

Michael's smile momentarily disappeared, replaced by a look of frustration, but then it was back in place. "So what do you plan to do?"

"Ignore you," Mandy replied.

Michael sighed and turned back to his meal.

"Moron," Mandy muttered. "He comes here everyday to hit on me. He spends all afternoon. Doesn't he have anything better to do?"

"He doesn't seem that bad," Adrian shrugged.

Mandy rolled her eyes and muttered. "Boys!"

Her grandmother had walked back over and glanced over at Mandy. "You shouldn't take such an attitude. He isn't very scrawny."

She glared at Adrian. He blinked and glanced over at Mandy, but she was too busy glaring at the counter.

"If only my daughter had taken my advice," she sighed.

Mandy's dad glanced over at that and extended his hand at Grandma, extending his thumb and pointer finger. He jerked his hand as though a shot had been fired from it and Adrian saw his lips whisper the word "bam".

"Come on," Mandy said, poking Adrian's arm. "Let's go."

They got up and left. Adrian glanced back and saw Michael leave soon after them.

"Told you," Mandy muttered.

"I don't like that guy," Meth said, wiggling out of the backpack and flapping up to land on Adrian's shoulder. "He was a weird smell. Like a swimming pool with too much bleach in it."

Adrian halted and glanced back the way they had come.

"What is it?" Meth asked.

"Come on," Adrian said, turning and running back.

--

The mage waited as his prey walked toward him. He had followed her for a while and knew that she stored her car in this parking garage. He even knew which spot she preferred to park in and her license plat number.

He was in human form, leaning against a support pillar. Aside from him, there was no one else. He smirked as he saw her step out of the elevator. He pushed himself up and walked toward her.

She smiled reflexively when she saw him, but her smile dropped as she saw his grin. A red glow surrounded him and he morphed into his mage form. She screamed and turned to run, but he was on her in seconds.

He leapt and flipped over her head. He spun around as soon as he landed and wrapped an arm around her neck. He screeched loudly and she screamed again. Too bad, that no one was around to hear her.

Adrian gasped as he reached the top of the steps and saw the mage. The mage sank his claws into woman's neck and her skin started wrinkling and her hair turned grey. He recognized her as the woman from the diner.

Meth leapt off Adrian's shoulder, falling toward the ground. Adrian grabbed Meth's neck as he fell and the dragon unfurled into the Ryu belt. He swung the belt around his waist and clipped it together. He pushed the neck into the buckle and pressed the horns together, opening the buckle's mouth. A cloud of flames spewed out of the mouth and attached to Adrian's back forming into dragon wings, while a neck stretched up above him, a dragon head on the end. The head let out a roar, attracting the mage's attention. He turned and tossed the dead woman to the ground.

"Henshin!"

He pressed the button on the top of the belt and the mouth snapped closed. The wings folded in front of Adrian and he walked forward, the flames enveloping him and forming into armor as he did. The dragon head covered his face and changed into his helmet.

"Interesting," the mage said in his screech-like voice.

"What did you do to that woman?" Meth demanded.

"I just drained her life force," the mage replied sounding bored. "It wasn't as tasty as I thought it would be."

The mage charged at the kamen rider, throwing a punch at him. Ryu ducked under it and punched the mage's side. He stood up and kicked the mage's back. The mage was sent stumbling into the side of a car.

He pushed himself back up and pulled his whip out of his belt. He swung it and hit Ryu's chest, releasing a hail of sparks. He swung the whip rapidly several more times, knocking Adrian off his feet and sending him rolling backwards.

Ryu pushed himself back up and stepped back as the mage advanced, being careful to stay out of range of the whip. He reached down and grabbed the tail and wings off of his belt. He attached the tail to the handle, facing forward this time and folded the wings forward to surround it. He raised the weapon and pulled the trigger. Several small fireballs shot from the end of the tail and slammed into the mage's chest, stopping his advance and causing him to stumble back.

Adrian squeezed the trigger again and shot several more fireballs, until the mage dropped over. Ryu raised the gun and flipped the segment of armor on the left side of the belt up. He pushed the legs down and the golden dragon head extended.

"Flare up!"

A fireball shot out of the head's open mouth and circled around Ryu's gun hand before settling at the end of the gun. Ryu lowered the gun and pulled the trigger; a large fireball shot out and streaked toward the mage.

The demon growled and rolled to the side, the fireball hit the macadam missing the monster completely. He leapt forward and landed next to Ryu. He slammed his fist into Ryu's stomach. He stepped back while Ryu was still incapacitated and threw a punch into his face.

Sparks flew as the blow connected and Ryu was sent flying through the air. The mage swung his whip rapidly while Ryu was helpless in midair and hit him several times. On the last swing of the wipe, the entire length of it glowed red and the blow was even more powerful, catapulting Ryu even farther into the air. He flew out of the parking garage and down a whole floor before crashing onto the hood of someone's parked car.

Adrian groaned and rolled off the car's hood. Meth unbuckled himself and resumed his dragon form, Ryu's armor dissolving into flame as he did.

Meth glared up at the mage as it peered over the edge and chuckled before turning and disappearing. He glanced back at Adrian. "Are you okay?"

Adrian tried to push himself up, but he just collapsed again and faded into unconsciousness.