Disclaimer: I don't own Kamen Rider at all. I know I said I wasn't going to continue on this fic. Lucky for you guys I'm very indecisive.

Episode 10

Move Along

"Stay out of this," Gray Fang shot his arm out and smacked the harpy mage, knocking her into the air. She opened her wings and soared off.

A yellow orb slammed into Gray Fang's side and sent him stumbling. Korthin leapt into Ryu's hand transforming into the Earth Buckler. The earth dragon tongue materialized above the right side of the belt and dropped into the Element Slot. Adrian pulled the lever back and the yellow dragon head was thrust out releasing the yellow orb, which quickly hovered up to his forehead and then became the cloud of transforming yellow dust.

Switching the shield to his right hand, Ryu charged at the Cerberus mage. He swung the shield at him, but he knocked it aside and then rapidly landed three punches. Adrian rolled to the side.

"Korthin, what's wrong? We're supposed to be stronger than this," Adrian said. He leapt over Gray Fang's next charge, but the mage managed to clip his legs and turn his landing into an uncontrolled tumble.

"I don't know!" Korthin exclaimed, his voice high with panic.

Gray Fang slashed his claws across Adrian's chest as he stood up and then kicked him, launching him several feet back. He then reared his head back and spread his arms appearing to be gathering his energies. He roared and spat a ball of purple energy from his mouth.

Ryu had barely regained his footing when the ball slammed into him and exploded, sending sparks everywhere and causing the abandoned car behind him to explode as well. Adrian groaned as he hit the ground, he slowly pushed himself back up and raised his shield.

The mage howled into the air and charged at him. He swatted the Earth Buckler to the side and landed a punch to the Rider's gut. Ryu swung his shield up, but Gray Fang stepped back, he followed with another swing, but the canine caught the shield.

Adrian gasped as Gray Fang yanked Korthin out of his grasp and tossed the dragon to the side. A foot slammed into his stomach and knocked him back. He rolled across the ground, stopping in a kneeling position.

"We've got to try something different," Meth said.

"Yeah," Adrian agreed, his hand going to the Element Slot. He pressed a button on the armor and the Earth Tongue retracted back into it and ejected out the top.

"Blaze on! Fire Form!" the belt announced as flames covered his armor returning it to its red color. Adrian sighed in relief as he felt the fire dragon's power flow into him.

Growling, Gray Fang opened his mouth and spat another purple fireball. Ryu leapt into the air and hit the attack with a sidekick. The blast struck the ground between the two combatants, creating a small explosion. Adrian charged out of the flames and punched Gray Fang's chest. The mage grunted and stumbled back. He growled and stepped forward, swinging his claws at the Rider who managed to duck and twist around them.

Ryu leapt over his adversary, landing a few feet away from him. He jumped again as Gray Fang tried to rake his claws down his back. Twisting around in midair, Adrian landed beside his bike. Grabbing the handlebar, he mounted the motorcycle. He flipped the armor on the right of his belt forward and pulled back on its legs.

"Flare up!"

A small fireball emerged from the belt as the motorcycle sped at the Cerberus Mage. It entered the mouth on the bike's front and a tongue of flames shot forward. Gray Fang roared in pain as the flames assailed him. The fire pulled back around the bike taking the shape of a winged dragon. The still smoking mage gasped and leapt over Adrian. He pulled the bike to a stop and glanced back. The mage made another massive leap, landing on the side of a building, which he quickly scaled with his claws.

"Damn it," Meth said.

"Where's Korthin?" Adrian asked, glancing around as the wrecked street. The earth dragon had vanished.

Mandy tried to be cheerful as she wandered home, but couldn't stop worrying about Adrian. He'd done okay so far, but he never came away from a fight unscathed. She wished there was something she could do to help him.

She paused as a small yellow creature poked its head out of the ground beneath a tree. Mandy watched as the earth dragon scrambled across the sidewalk and into an alleyway.

Glancing left and right, she crossed the street and turned into the alley. She advanced cautiously, finding the dragon nowhere in sight. As Mandy passed the dumpster, she spotted the small reptile crouched behind it.

"You okay?" Mandy asked.

Korthin jumped and spun to face her, tensing up for a fight. He blinked in confusion as he saw her, trying to place her face.

"I'm Mandy," she said. "Adrian's friend."

"Oh, right…" the dragon nodded his large head. "I've seen you when I was following him around."

"What are you doing here?" Mandy asked.

He hung his head and sighed. "I can't help him fight anymore. I thought humans cared about each other. My parents only looked after me until I could fend for myself. When I found the human village full of people that lived together and seemed to look after each other I though-."

"You thought we were some great friendly and kind species?" Mandy finished. She glanced at the lid of the dumpster. Deciding it wasn't too dirty; she turned around and sat on top of it. "I'm sorry to say it, but we've got our share of flaws, too. So what happened?"

"Magic isn't easy," Meth said as he glanced around from atop a tree. "I guess dust butt lost whatever motivation it was that let him wield his powers."

"So you're telling me he's depressed?" Adrian asked. A moment of silence passed as a young couple approached and then disappeared around a turn.

Meth leapt and flapped his wings, landing in another tree ahead of the human. "Yeah, or something shook him up and he's having trouble with his powers. Emotions and magic can be an odd mix. Certain emotions can boost the poor of magic, while others drain their strength altogether. We civilized dragons train not to let emotion get in the way of magic casting."

"All of you train that way?"

"Well, the warriors take it most seriously," Meth said. "They- We can get pretty powerful."

"I see," Mandy said. "You saw people fleeing the scene of a battle leaving behind those that were trapped."

"Even us earth dragons will not leave those in danger behind," Korthin said. "If you saw someone in trouble, you tried to help!"

"That's not how humans work," Mandy explained. "Most of us will try to save ourselves. We can't breathe fire or break a boulder ten times our size. It takes a special kind of person to rush into a burning building to save strangers."

"You mean someone like Adrian?" Korthin asked.

Mandy chuckled. "Not really. Adrian has all those wonderful powers going for him. Maybe he'd do that without his powers and if these things happen like on TV we'll find out sooner or later."

Her prey might have escaped her once, but she knew where to look for him. The harpy stood perched on the edge of a skyscraper, watching the crowd many stories below with hawk-like vision.

The human responsible for firing her appeared, walking towards the building. He kept glancing around and up, searching for the creature that attacked his limo. He relaxed as he neared the entrance to the building.

The mage leapt from the building, spreading her wings as she dived. The wind rushed past her as she fell. She beat her wings as she neared the ground, killing her speed. She reached out with her feet and hooked her talons around the man's shoulders. He yelped in surprise as she hoisted him into the air.

She cackled as he shrieked in fear. This would be fun. She rose into the air, when she was almost to the top of the skyscraper, she let go. The man screamed even louder as he dropped towards the frightened spectators below.

Halfway through his fall, he felt a sharp tug on the back of his suit and his fall slowed. He gasped and twisted his head around to find a small red creature, flapping its wings madly to slow him down. The human grunted as they hit the ground, twisting his ankle. He collapsed to the ground as Meth released his jacket collar.

"Come on, run for it," Adrian shouted, egging on the scattering crowd. He forced his way through the crowd to Meth and the injured businessman. "Can you walk?"

The man groaned and tried to stand up, only to collapse back to the macadam.

"Oh, just great," Meth groaned.

They glanced up as the harpy screeched, diving towards them. Meth growled and launched a stream of flames from his mouth. The mage swooped up, avoiding the flames by a few inches. She spun around and raised her arms, feathers launched from her wings, raining down on them. Meth blurred back in forth in front of the two humans deflecting several of the sharp projectiles, Adrian used his body to shield the man from the feathers that got through, groaning as they cut through his clothes and skin.

"Let's go!" Meth said, wrapping himself around Adrian's waist.

The mage screeched and launched another barrage of feathers as Adrian pushed the dragon's horns together. A cloud of fire spilled from the dragon's mouth, burning through the cloud of feathers before striking the harpy and knocking her out of the air. The cloud floated backwards and attached to Adrian's back taking the shape of wings as a flaming dragon head rose above him.

"Henshin!" Adrian exclaimed, snapping Meth's jaws closed. The wings wrapped around his body forming his armor, while the dragon head covered his face forming his helmet. The armor glowed red hot for a moment before cooling. "Mess with me and you're going to get burnt!"

The mage pushed herself up and raised her arms, displaying her talon-like hands. Ryu charged her. He ducked under a swing of her wing and punched her stomach. He followed this up with a roundhouse kick, but she raised a wing and blocked, shoving his leg away and throwing off his balance. The Harpy slashed her talons across his chest, knocking him back.

She spread her wings and leapt towards him. Beating her wings, she raised her legs and thrust her feet forward. Ryu grabbed her ankles and braced his feet as she pushed him back. Grunting with effort, he spun the Harpy mage around and let go, sending her tumbling through the air. She crashed down on the hood of a parked car.

Groaning, the monster rolled off and slowly stood up. Adrian raised his fists, but the Harpy raised her arm and pointed it in another direction, launching a barrage of feathers at the unprotected businessman.

Ryu gasped in surprise and leapt in front of the attack. It slammed against his chest armor, which sparked with each impact. The Rider quickly grabbed Meth's tail and wings placing them together in Dagger mode. The harpy raised both of her arms and launched a larger burst of feathers. Swinging his dagger wildly, Adrian managed to deflect several of the feathers, but the rest slammed into his armor. The Rider cried out in pain and dropped to one knee, gasping.

The mage scoffed in amusement as she placed her palms together. An orb of sky blue energy appeared in her hands. The mage spread her arms and the orb went flying forwards, spinning and bouncing in a random pattern. As the orb reached the kneeling Rider, a loud roar sounded and Korthin jumped in front of the blast. He hit the side of the orb and hovered there, pushing back against it.

Shocked, Adrian hesitated a moment, prompting Meth to exclaim. "What are you waiting for?"

"Flare up!" the dragon belt announced as Ryu pushed the legs down and it released a small ball of fire. The ball landed on his dagger and enveloped the blade. Ryu swung it through the energy ball and it exploded.

Korthin grunted as the explosion propelled him through the air. He hit the ground and bounced across it. He groaned.

"Are you all right?" Adrian asked.

"He'll be fine; let's get that winged pain in the tail!" Meth growled.

Ryu pulled the dagger apart and reformed it in Gun mode. He raised the weapon and pulled the trigger. The fire blasts struck their target exploding against her scant armor. She screamed in pain and spun around, leaping skyward.

Korthin opened his mouth and spat out the crystalline tongue inside. Ryu caught and pushed it into the Element Slot. "Energize! Earth Form!"

A yellow ball of earth magic shot from the crystal hovered up to Ryu's forehead and spread over his armor, turning it yellow and bronze. Flames swept across the lenses of his mask turning them orange.

The Rider grabbed the nearest object in reach, a fire hydrant and ripped it out of the ground. He turned and hurled it at the bird-like mage. She yelped in pain as it struck the back of her head and she crumpled in the air, dropping towards the ground. Korthin leapt into Adrian's right hand and transformed into the Earth Buckler. His mouth opened as the shield's handle was pulled back.

"Flare up!" Meth's voice announced as Ryu pushed the legs on the left side of the belt down. Once again, a small orb of fire emerged from the golden dragon mouth and hovered into Korthin's open mouth. Ryu pushed the handle in, snapping the earth dragon's mouth closed and sending a shockwave of earth magic through the weapon. He charged forward with the glowing shield drawn back, he swung it upward as the harpy neared the ground and knocked her back into the air. She exploded into a massive sky blue fireball at the top of her arc.

Adrian sighed and lowered his shield arm as feathers rained down around him. He glanced back to see the flashing lights of emergency vehicles approached.

"Looks like our work here is done," Korthin noted.

"Guess so," Adrian agreed.

(The Next Day)

Meth sat in the branches of the tree in Adrian's front yard, chewing on the carcass of a songbird. He was picking flecks of meat from his claws when the branch sagged, announcing Korthin's presence.

"What do you want?" Meth asked.

"I just wanted to say I saw you help Adrian protect that human," Korthin replied. "You didn't have to do that."

"Of course, I did," Meth said. "I need Adrian to help me fight the mages. He can't do that if he's sliced apart by feathers."

"You could have pulled him to the side," Korthin pointed out. "I know we're not completely mobile in our alternate modes."

Meth shrugged and turned back to his meal.

"I knew we weren't so different," Korthin said, thumping his tail against Meth's back. The fire dragon gulped loudly as his mouthful of meat went down the wrong tube.

"Don't. Ever. Do. That. Again," Meth hissed.

"Do what?"

(Unknown Time and Place)

The small green dragon whipped his head around wildly. He thought he had heard the soft clank of metallic boot steps against rock. He froze completely, trying to listen over the howling wind.

An armored figure raised his crossbow-like weapon aiming at the reptile several feet away. He squeezed the trigger and a green blast launched from the bow shooting towards the dragon's exposed back.