Disclaimer: I don't own Kamen Rider, but I do own Kamen Rider Ryu… Kind of confusing, isn't it?

Episode 4

Burning Rage

"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 whip, 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.

--

Adrian groaned as he returned to consciousness. He glanced around, noticing that he was in an alleyway, lying against the wall of a building. Meth was nowhere to be found.

He glanced to his right and jumped as he found himself face to face with someone. He sighed as he recognized Michael from the diner. "What are you doing here?"

"Saving you from that monster, of course," he replied. "That was quite a fall you had."

"Oh, crap!" Adrian exclaimed. "I'm a superhero for one day and someone already knows my secret identity!"

"Hey, relax," Michael said, sitting down next to him and leaning against the wall. "I'm not going to tell anyone, as long as you do me a favor."

"What's the favor?"

"I want you to convince Mandy to go on a date with me," Michael said.

"What?" Adrian asked. "Don't ask for the impossible."

He glanced over at Michael and saw that he frowning. He turned and gave Adrian a pleading look. "Come on, it's just one date, in exchange for me keeping your secret identity secret."

"I'll try," Adrian said, standing up and wincing in pain.

"You sure you don't need to go to a hospital?" Michael asked.

"I'll be fine," Adrian said, turning and walking away.

He walked several blocks before he stopped and leaned against a building's wall. He looked up and spotted Meth circling above him. Adrian glanced around and then stepped into another alleyway. A few seconds later, Meth dropped down into the alley, landing on top of a trash can.

"That could have gone better," Meth said.

"We'll get him next time," Adrian said.

Meth reached up with his hind leg and scratched the area beneath his horn. "Well, we might have to prepare ourselves. Who taught you how to fight?"

"My aunt," Adrian replied. "She was a self-defense teacher."

"Well, you need to practice more," Meth said, before licking his front paw thoughtfully.

"Are you saying I don't know how to fight?" Adrian asked with a bit of agitation.

"No, but you need to know more about how Ryu's powers work," Meth said, rubbing his wet paw against his head. "Do you know someplace where we can practice without being disturbed?"

"Yeah, but later," Adrian said, looking at his watch. "My aunt and uncle will be home soon and its getting late anyway."

"Well, then we'll do it tomorrow," Meth said, leaping into the air and flying in the direction of Adrian's house.

--

"Hey, you're just in time for dinner," Aunt Valerie said as Adrian pushed the door open.

"Great!" Adrian exclaimed cheerfully.

He noticed his Uncle Henry giving him an odd look. Adrian was wearing a sweat shirt that was slightly too small for him. He had had Meth fly in through his open bedroom window and get a sweatshirt, so he could hide the bruises on his arms from his aunt and uncle. Unfortunately, Meth had grabbed one that was too small and flown off, before Adrian could say anything.

The other bruises he could just pass off as something that happened at school. His fighting with the bullies wasn't something that he kept secret from his aunt and uncle. There were very few things that he kept secret from them.

"I heard that something happened over at the school," Henry said. "There was an explosion?"

"I don't know," Adrian lied, sitting down. "I wasn't actually there when it happened."

Adrian was glad that they didn't pursue the subject and started passing the food around the table. He wondered if it would have been better to tell them what had really happened, but he imagined that Aunt Valerie wouldn't approve of him going out and fighting the mages.

He hoped that it wouldn't last long. He had never heard of these creatures before and yet two had appeared in the city in one day. One that had been following Meth and the other seemingly having already been living there. He wondered how many there were. He also wondered if Meth would want him to go looking for more of them.

"Adrian?"

"Huh?!" Adrian asked, snapping out of his thoughts.

"You were spacing out," Henry informed.

"You've barely touched your food," Aunt Valerie added. Her own plate was almost empty.

"Sorry," Adrian said, swallowing a spoonful of peas. The phone rang and Adrian immediately sprang up. "I'll get it."

He pulled the phone off the hook and held it to his ear. "Hello, Adrian here."

"Oh, so you're okay?" Mandy's voice asked from the other end of the line. She sighed in relief.

"Yeah, I'm fine," Adrian said, stepping into the living room.

"Good. How's Meth?"

"He's fine, too," Adrian replied. He paused. "We kind of lost though."

"Oh," Mandy said sympathetically.

"Yeah, and someone saw me… I don't know unhenshin?" Adrian said.

"Uh-oh," she said. "Who was it?"

"That Michael guy from the diner," he inhaled and continued. "He promised not to tell anyone so long as you went on a date with him."

"What?!" Adrian held the phone at arm's length and hoped that his aunt and uncle hadn't heard the shout from the kitchen. "Can't you just kill him, or something?!"

Adrian returned the phone to his ear. "No, I can't."

Mandy sighed and then asked hopefully. "Maybe we can convince Meth to eat him?"

"We probably could, but that would be bad."

"Yeah, Meth wouldn't be able to eat him all in one day and all that meat would go to waste," Mandy said remorselessly.

"Oh, come on," Adrian sighed. "It's just one date."

"Why do you have to keep your identity secret?" Mandy asked.

"Because Aunt Valerie would want me to go to college before she would let me fight evil," Adrian replied only half-jokingly. "Come on, Mandy, it's just one date."

"Fine, but you owe me," Mandy said. "I'll tell the little jerk when he's at the diner tomorrow."

With that said, she slammed the phone down.

"Thanks," Adrian said and hung up the phone.

--

Adrian groaned as he awoke to something landing on his chest. As he opened his eyes, he noticed that it was too bright outside for it to still be morning.

"Good morning," Meth chirped. He was the one that had landed on his chest and thus woken him up. "I overheard your aunt and uncle saying that your school was closed today and to let you sleep in. How often do you humans have school?"

"Five days a week normally," Adrian replied, sitting up. Meth fluttered over to land on top of his dresser.

"That stinks," Meth said. "Dragons only have it every other day."

"You're lucky," Adrian said, sitting up and grabbing his day clothes.

"Come on, we got make sure you're ready for when that mage shows up again," Meth said.

"How'd you get in here anyway?" Adrian asked, noticing that all of his windows were closed.

"Through that small square hole in the bottom of the door," Meth said. "I think it's for letting that furry creature you keep in here come and go at will."

Adrian was dressed and downstairs eating breakfast in a few minutes. Meth was roaming the house, being closely and cautiously followed by his aunt's irate house cat.

"Could you make that fur ball stop following me?" Meth asked as he flew back into the kitchen. The cat was following beneath him and glaring up at him. "It's looking at me like it wants to sink its teeth into me."

"She probably does," Adrian shrugged.

Nevertheless, they left the house before the cat worked up the courage to attack the dragon. Adrian led the dragon to an abandoned warehouse. He entered by crawling through a large crack in the wall, while Meth dropped in through a broken skylight.

"Wow, you hang out in the nicest places," Meth said, landing on a crate.

"Hey, it'll work for what we need it for," Adrian said, gesturing at the large amount of empty space, only a few crates, or other objects lay on the floor. "Now, what did you want to teach me?"

"First I want to point out something about the flare up attacks," Meth said. "You should only use them when you're pretty sure they'll hit. It takes a bit of my energy to use them and they can't just be used carelessly."

"So I should weaken them first and then use the attacks," Adrian nodded, sitting down on a crate.

Meth nodded, flying over to him. "The shot attack is the fastest, but weakest attack; the sword attack is stronger, but not as fast and doesn't possess the same range obviously. The kick is the strongest and slowest attack."

"And probably the one that saps the most of your strength," Adrian said.

Meth nodded again. "Exactly."

Adrian glanced off at the wall, though he seemed to be seeing far beyond it. "Come on!"

He turned and crawled back out the crack in the wall. Meth flew out after him and followed as Adrian ran off.

--

The mage laughed as he watched his prey run. It had taken a while, but he finally had lured her into his trap and would be able to feed on her.

He swung his whip and it wrapped around her ankle, tripping her. He slowly pulled her back toward him, laughing at her whimpering. She grabbed hold of a lamppost, but her grip failed against the demon mage's superior strength.

Finally, she was at the mage's feet and he reached down and lifted her off the ground, wrapping his hand around her neck.

Adrian gasped as he rounded the corner and saw the mage about to feed. He reached up and Meth instantly landed in his hand, extending out into the Ryu belt. Adrian slung it around his waist and pushed the horns together. Meth's mouth opened, spewing flames which attached to Adrian's back and formed into the shape of wings. The flaming dragon's head extend up over his own and then lunged forward, biting into the demon's hand. The monster roared in pain and released his prey, who had fainted from shock. He spun to face Adrian, growling lowly.

"Henshin!" Adrian pushed the button on top of the buckle and the wings folded themselves around him, forming into the Ryu armor while the dragon's head covered his face and became his helmet.

The mage swung his whip at Ryu, but the kamen rider ducked, grabbing the components of his weapon as he did and assembling his gun. He fired at the demon, the small fireball impacting with the monster's chest, releasing sparks. He fired several more times, before the creature swung its whip again, but Adrian dodged it again and continued firing, slowly stepping forward.

Ryu pulled the gun apart and attached the dragon's tail to the top of the handle, forming the dagger. The mage's whip glowed red and shrunk, the whip becoming the blade of a rapier. Adrian paused as he saw the new weapon and the mage slashed it across his chest, sending sparks and Ryu flying through the air.

He rolled as he hit the ground and crouched, his dagger raised as the mage approached. The mage stepped forward and slashed at Ryu's head, but he rolled to the side and sliced at the mage's leg. He stood up and slashed the mage in the back. The mage spun around and punched Ryu in the face, the blow sent him stumbling back and the mage quickly slashed his rapier across his chest several times. Adrian raised the dagger in an attempt to block, but the rapier hit his hand and sent the dagger flying through the air.

The blade of the rapier glowed red and the mage slashed downward across Ryu's chest, sending a large cloud of sparks flying. Ryu stumbled back and collapsed onto one knee.

The mage lowered its weapon and stepped forward. A red glow surrounded the demon and it melted back into human form.

"Michael?!" Adrian exclaimed in surprise.

The blonde laughed a sadistic smirk on his face. "Hey, Adrian."

"Why are you attacking all of these people?" Adrian asked, slowly standing.

"Huh?" Michael blinked. "You mean, your dragon friend didn't tell you? All of us mages do something like this. We need some form of release."

"No, there has to be some logical reason for it," Adrian shouted. "No one kills for no reason!"

"Sure, they do," Michael chuckled. "But really, the reason I kill like this is because by draining their life force, I'm adding to my own. We mages do have a limited lifespan and our human forms do age, even if our true forms don't. So, I needed to find some way to keep myself alive and young. Turns out I can absorb the life force of women who fall in love with me."

"Then you were going to go after Mandy?!" Adrian demanded.

"Of course, it got boring going after the easy ones after the first thousand years," Michael's eyes turned red and his teeth turned black and grew into fangs. His voice took on a more screech-like quality. "I needed a challenge."

"You bastard!" Adrian shouted, his hands curling into fists.

Michael's smirk seemed to grow wider and he melted back into his mage form, raising his rapier.

The unarmed Ryu charged at him. Michael slashed as soon as he was within range, but Ryu leapt and flipped over top of him. He swept kicked the mage's feet out from under him when he landed and then spun to face him, kicking at Michael's sides while he was on the ground.

Michael rolled away and tried to stand, but Ryu shoved him back down and kicked him a few more times, before he rolled away again. This time Adrian leapt and raised his arm, letting gravity bring him down and slamming his elbow into his opponent's stomach. He slammed two punches into Michael's head, before the demon slashed his claws across Ryu's chest armor. Adrian rolled away before Michael could repeat the attack.

The mage stood up, panting and no longer looking as fearsome as before.

"Mess with me and you're going to get burnt," Arian said, pointing at the mage.

"Shut up!" Michael snapped, his rapier transforming back into a whip as he swung it at Ryu, who dodged it. He rolled out of the wall of another attack from the whip. He leapt over a third swing and did a flip.

The leap carried him toward Michael. Ryu drew back his fist, flames covering it and slammed it into Michael's chest as he landed. Sparks flew from the impact and Michael was sent flying through the air and into the wall of a building, the concrete cracking from the force of the impact.

The mage groaned and stumbled forward, holding a hand over his badly burnt chest. He glanced up as Ryu walked toward him. "Wai- wait…"

Adrian reached down and flipped the segment of armor on the left side of his belt down and pulled up on the legs there, thrusting out the golden dragon head.

"Flare up!"

A stream of fire shot out of the dragon's mouth and down to Ryu's foot, streaming up around it and surrounding him in flames. He glared at Michael.

"Stop! I'll leave Mandy alone, I'll leave the city. You'll never see me again!" the mage pleaded.

"You're right, I won't," Adrian growled and then leapt. The flames streaming around him and a yellow dragon's head made of fire surrounded his foot. "Ryu rider kick!"

He slammed into the demon mage and sent him flying back into the same wall he had crashed into moments before, but this time he exploded in a ball of red flames on impact.

Ryu landed on the ground, crouching down and staring at the flames and debris.

"Wow, I didn't know you had it in you," Meth commented.

Adrian didn't answer, but turned and walked away.

--

Several miles away, a small child ran. Rain was pouring down around him, making it even harder to see through the night. He yelped as he slipped on the mud and was sent sliding down a muddy slope, plants whipping at him as he went.

He reached the bottom of the hill without injury and continued running. He was so lost; he wasn't sure which direction his village was in.

"Hey, I think we lost them," the boy glanced down at the small scaly creature in his arms. "You better rest. You'll be able to find your way better in daylight anyway."

"Okay," the boy replied, glancing around for a suitable place to sleep.