Disclaimer: I no own Kamen Rider. I do own Kamen Rider Ryu. No steal my fan characters, or ideas.
Episode 8
Reaper's Duel
"Sorry, I tricked you," Adrian said, before slamming his free hand into the mage's face, followed by several kicks and punches. The mage was forced to let go of his weapon and stumbled back to avoid further damage. The scythe glowed yellow before dissolving into thousands of glowing motes of light.
The mage growled and stepped back before turning and leaping back into the bushes it had originally emerged from.
Adrian ran after the mage, pushing through the bushes and glanced around to find that the mage had disappeared. He sighed and walked out of the bushes to find Korthin crawling towards him. He unhooked his belt and Meth returned to his dragon form, fluttering to the ground as the Ryu armor vanished in a cloud of fire and glowing dust.
"That coward," Meth growled. "Sneak attacking and then running away."
Adrian chose not to point out that his playing possum wasn't a very honorable way of fighting either.
Korthin sniffed the air. "I think I've got his scent. I'll follow him."
"I'll come with," Meth volunteered at once.
"No, he'll probably be watching the sky now," Korthin said. "It would be better if I follow him. Meet you back at your house?" With that the earth dragon leapt into the bushes, the sound of earth being turned accompanying his disappearance.
Adrian wondered for a moment how Korthin could detect a scent while underground.
The teen turned and headed in the direction Mandy had ran, hoping to catch up with her. Meth flapped his wings and flew beside him. This was the first time the two were together without Korthin's company since they had first found the earth dragon.
Adrian didn't want to discuss anything with the fire dragon. They had agreed they would work together to fight the mages and nothing more. Conversing with Meth would risk broaching that subject and then Adrian would most likely get angry and he'd rather be calm while he could. There'd be plenty of excitement later with both the reaper mage and Gray Fang targeting him.
"Where did that earth dragon come from?" Mandy asked, stepping out from around the corner of a building.
"You were watching?" Adrian asked, an annoyed tone entering his voice.
"Yes," Mandy replied. "I wanted to see you in action."
"Well, next time don't," Adrian said, trying not to sound too critical. "You might have gotten hurt."
"Not with you around to protect me," she replied teasingly. "So where did you get the new dragon from?"
Adrian sighed and launched into a recount of his last adventure. He avoided mentioning his fight with Meth, unwilling to discuss it while the dragon still silently hovered beside him.
However, Mandy noticed the gaps in his story and asked. "So Meth went to search for the mages from the air and you just took Korthin back to your house, without waiting for him to come back and tell you if he had found anything. Than you went and discovered the logging site's location and took Korthin, but again didn't wait for Meth. Meth meanwhile followed the mages to the same site… Did the two of you get into a fight?"
Meth answered her after a brief silence from Adrian. "Yes, we did."
"You're over it now though, right?"
"Yes, we are," Adrian answered.
Mandy gave him a disbelieving look. "Well, you'd better sort it out."
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Korthin poked his head out of the ground. He hated the city. Concrete covered all of the earth and he couldn't burrow through it without leaving large holes everywhere.
The mage stood in an alleyway nearby. The earth dragon had poked his head out of a small flower garden; at least there were plenty of these throughout the city for his use.
His target was watching the café Adrian frequented. He remember the noisy fire dragon saying Adrian's friend lived there as well as the old woman the mage had encountered earlier.
The old woman pushed her way out of the shop. She shouted something back into the building before turning and walking down the sidewalk. The mage left his hiding place and followed the old woman. Korthin gasped and dived under the ground, heading back to Adrian's house.
He left too quickly to see the third figure move to follow. Gray Fang walked quickly, catching up to the reaper mage and grabbing his shoulder, he spun the other mage around.
"Terrorizing old woman…" the silver haired mage growled. "…is not something I will stand for."
"Stay out of this, fur ball," the reaper spat, batting the hand from his shoulder and stepping back. A golden glow surrounded the mage as he transformed.
Gray Fang chuckled and pointed at the mage's chest. "I will crush you and grow stronger."
A silver glow emanated from him as fur sprouted from his skin and his head became more canine. He released a feral growl and leapt at the skeleton.
The skeleton threw a punch at the Cerberus mage, but the blow barely fazed him. He threw several more punches, but Gray Fang barely seemed to feel them. The canine mage retaliated with a slash of his claws. A cloud of sparks flew from the reaper mage's chest and he stumbled back.
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Adrian and Mandy gasped as they heard a loud clunk. The two glanced over at the source of the noise, to find Korthin comically pressed up against the sliding glass door. The earth dragon fell away as Adrian walked over and slid the door open.
"What is it?" Adrian asked as the dragon rolled to his feet. Meth leapt from the tree in the front yard and fluttered down next to Korthin.
"The mage is after the old fortuneteller," Korthin replied, gasping for breath.
"My grandma?! Why?" Mandy asked.
"We'll explain later," Adrian said, grabbing Meth's neck. The red dragon yelped before unclipping into the Ryu belt. Adrian slung the belt around his waist as he stepped out into the yard. "Mandy, tell my parents, I went out for a bit."
He pushed Meth's horns together and the dragon's mouth opened, releasing a cloud of flames which attached to Adrian's back and formed into the shape of wings. A flaming dragon head stretched out above Adrian's head.
"Henshin," Adrian pushed the button on the side of Meth's head. The flaming dragon head hissed as the wings closed around Adrian forming into the Ryu suit. The dragon head then descended over Adrian's face and formed into his helmet. The suit glowed red hot for a moment before cooling.
The old bike leaning against the shed turned its front tire and drove itself unto the driveway where flames engulfed it and it morphed into the red dragon themed motorcycle.
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The skeleton landed a punch on Gray Fang's stomach. The mage howled in rage and swung his fist into the other mage's head and sent him rolling across the ground.
He stood up and raised his fists, ready for the next attack. However, the next attack didn't come from where he expected. His only warning was the low hum of an engine. He glanced in the direction of the sound, just in time to see Ryu pull a wheelie, the front tire of his bike slamming into the mage's chest.
The mage landed a few feet away as Ryu revived his bike. Gray Fang stepped back into the shadows to watch.
The Ryu Roader sped toward the reaper mage, who leapt to the side, his scythe appearing in his hands. Adrian gasped as the scythe slammed into his chest and threw him off the motorcycle. The scythe came down at him, but he rolled out of the way, grabbing the wings from the back of his belt and the tail from the left side.
He inserted the tail into the wings and then folded the wings around the tail, forming gun mode. He fired the gun at the mage, interrupting his next swing and causing him to stumble back. Ryu stood and fired several more fireballs from the gun, the first couple slammed into the mage, but the mage deflected the next volley with a swing of its scythe.
The masked rider separated the weapon back into its two components and then stacked the tail on top of the wings, forming a dagger. The two opponents charged each other. The mage swung at Ryu as soon as he was close enough, but he rolled under the swing, slashing his dagger against the mage's side as he did.
The mage spun around with another swing, this one connecting with Ryu's chest. He followed up with a second swing. Adrian stepped back as the blow connected. He flipped the segment of armor on the left side of his belt so that it was facing up.
Before Adrian could finish setting up his attack the mage leapt forward, scythe raised. He blocked the scythe with his dagger, but the mage pushed against the dagger and Ryu was forced to place both hands on dagger to keep the scythe from forcing it to stab him. The mage shouted a battle cry and charged forward, Ryu was forced to move backwards, until he slammed against the side of a building. With no place run, Adrian now found the force from the scythe harder to bear. He removed a hand from the dagger long enough to reach down and push the levers on the left side of his belt.
"Flare up!" A golden dragon head was thrust from the armor and it released a fireball which immediately hovered up to Ryu's dagger, covering the blade in flames and extending its length by a small amount. This extra length hit the reaper mage right in the face. The creature screeched and stumbled back, momentarily blinded.
Ryu wasted no time in swinging his flaming weapon at the staff section of the scythe. The scythe's blade was severed and sent flying into the air. Ryu slashed the dagger across the mage's chest twice and then spun and posed as the mage stumbled back, sparks spraying from its chest, before it exploded. The severed scythe blade clattered to the ground.
Adrian sighed and turned, walking towards his bike. A howl grabbed his attention and he looked up to find the Cerberus mage leaping towards him. The mage's claws slammed into his chest and he was sent flying back. He groaned as he crashed to the ground.
Gray Fang chuckled and then advanced on his prey.