Kumamon: Are you ****ing kidding me!? He hasn't updated since summer of 2013! The fans are going to ride his ass on this. Even I'm pissed off and I'm not even in this story!

Rexmon: Calm down Fuzzymon. I'm sure he'll be updating soon.

Kumamon: Unless he's here in the next five seconds he's a dead man!

Rexmon: *sigh* 5...4...3...2...

*comes plummeting to the sky in a fireball then collides with the ground. crawls out crater holding slightly charred new chapter*

Kumamon: The prodigal asshole returns!

Rexmon: Be nice, Fuzzybutt.

Kumamon: Grrrrr

Sorry for the extensively long wait everyone, but since we last met I transitioned from junior college to university, got a job, and have had little time to even see my family, let alone write.

Kumamon: Excuses.

Rexmon: Shhh.

Anyway, this chapter has actually been done for close to two and a half months now but I'd been working on a few edits here and there, as you long time readers will see on the newly edited chapter 5, and I've been trying to work on a chapter for one of my other stories to get them released a little closer together but I've discovered that ideas don't come to me as easily as they used to. That aside, we have the concluding chapter to the Okibi family reunion. If you're lost then go back and read the previous chapter or keep reading this one to see my new "Previously on Kamen Rider Rekka" portion of the chapter that I literally just thought up. Anyways, on with the chapter!

Kumamon: Update our story you bastard!

Disclaimer: Pyrorynox does not own Kamen Rider. But he does wish to own that cool blue samurai jacket that Kazuraba Kouta wore in Kamen Rider Gaim. Man that show was amazing to me.

Previously on "仮面來だ列火:Kamen Rider Rekka: After getting a well needed break from classes, our protagonist travel to Okibi Ryou's home but find that his family has been cut off from the outside world by a beast. Ryou, as Rekka, defeats the snow beast known as Saruyuki. Or does he? As Ryou completes his training to awaken his own hidden abilities a vicious snowstorm envelops the village as Saruyuki takes his revenge...

"Forty-eight...forty-nine...Fifty...Fifty-one...Fifty-t-."A short knocking on the door momentarily interrupted Ryou from his routine and he signed as he pushed himself to his feet. "Yes?" he asked as he opened the door and saw Bethany staring at him. "Bethany?"

Bethany shook her head to get some blood running to her brain and laughed nervously. "Sorry about that. It's just really cold outside and my brain isn't processing things right. I think it's actually getting colder outside." She stepped inside and pulled out the food that Ryou's mother had sent over for him. "Here's your share."

Ryou took the food gleefully and sat down to eat. He chomped down on his food like he'd been starved in the desert for days and Bethany could only stare open mouthed as he almost inhaled it. He walked back to the area he was working out in and started doing pushups again. "Thank you for the food Bethany, and be sure to thank my mother too."

Bethany pulled up a chair and watched Ryou. "I will when I go back but I was thinking of hanging over here for a little while. I haven't really seen you much today; I'm not used to that." Ryou chuckled to himself as he did another pushup. Bethany started eating a sandwich in front of Ryou which Ryou stopped to stare at momentarily. "Nope, this one is mine. Shouldn't have eaten yours so fast." She sighed when Ryou suddenly sat up and started pouting so she took half of one she hadn't eaten yet and tossed it to him. He instantly chomped it down and she couldn't help but smile. "You know, you've been working really hard. With everything going on lately I'm sure you're pretty stressed."

"You could say that. But at the same time, I see it as a learning experience. I never really thought of myself as useful before but I'm learning that I can do so much if I'm willing to put forth the effort. Hey, I have an idea. Get up." Ryou jumped to his feet as Bethany got out of her chair got into a defensive stance. "Try to punch me." Bethany just stared at him. "Just do it."

"Fine." She threw a punch which looked like it was going to hit Ryou square in the face, but at the very last second he tilted his head a couple of inches to the left and just barely dodged it. "What the?" Ryou smiled and asked her to do it again, which she did but he kept dodging just like that over and over again until she got tired of trying to hit him. "Okay, I can't hit you. Happy now?"

"I've been working on my reflexes. I never told you this, but Blaze has been teaching me and taught me how to dodge without wearing myself out. The eyes of the armor enhance the user's sight so I've been using it while running through the forest near campus. It's been a bit difficult transitioning to doing it without the armor but I finally got it down."

"That doesn't really surprise me; she doesn't strike me as someone that would let someone have a life. Like she's the 'The mission comes first' type. What do you think?"

"Honestly, at first I saw her as someone that didn't really care for humans much because she looked down on them, thought them lesser than herself or other Ancients."

"You say that like you see differently now," Bethany responded.

"That's because I do. When I'm wearing the armor, I'm tapping into her power. But at the same time there's a strange connection between the us, the wearer of the armor and the source of the armor's power. I don't think she realizes it though because she's cut herself off from humans. When I wear the armor, the energy coursing through it feels...restricted. Not the power itself is restricted,but I think Blaze is holding herself back emotionally."

"I really don't see how a creature like that could ever have any emotions. You sure about that?

"Yeah. I mean think about it. She's been around for possibly centuries, with dozens of different users throughout all those years. Imagine having to watch everyone of your partners die while you continue to live and how much that would hurt. Can you blame her for not wanting to get attached?"

"Well when you put it that way I can sympathize with her at least a bit. None of that ever crossed my mind. So are you thinking of doing something about it?"

Ryou jabbed his fist into his open palm and smiled. "Of course I am. I'm not exactly what yet, but doing my best as her partner is a good start I think. Well thank you for the distraction. I was so focused on exercising that I didn't even realize how tired I was. I was going to spend the night here, but I think I should go spend some time with my family. Let's go back to the main house." Bethany nodded and Ryou started to put away the stuff he was training with.

The snow was suddenly coming down hard as the two started the short walk to the main house, and it felt like the temperature had dropped drastically. Bethany was shivering the entire time, but Ryou seemed to be relatively more comfortable that she was. He ended up giving her a piggyback ride while keeping her warm with his body heat. But it didn't take him long to realize that something seemed very off.

The Okibi family were surprised when the front door slid open and a hurricane of snow blew into the living room followed by the youngest Okibi and Bethany.

"My my. It's really coming down hard out there isn't it?" Yamato chuckled as Ryou let Bethany down to the floor and swept the snow off of her back. Ryou may have been keeping them both warm, but she was the one that blocked the snow.

"It was barely snowing when I went to get Ryou. Is the weather always like this around here?" Bethany asked.

"Not at all,"Ryuuji answered. "The weather can be somewhat wild at times, but nothing like this. I'm a bit worried. The timing of the storm is strange considering the Sasquatch was killed earlier today."

Ryou frowned at this, the words of his grandfather only added to his fears. "Hey, maybe we should-"

"MR. YAMATO! !" Takemine interrupted, nearly busting the door down, startling everybody. "COME QUICK, YOU NEED TO SEE THIS!" The urgency in his voice didn't allow for any questions and all the men followed him outside with Maria and Bethany right behind them. Takemine's urgency was well deserved as he led them to one of the village houses that had somehow been frozen solid. "I HEARD SCREAMS FROM MY HOUSE THEN I CAME OUT AND SAW THIS! I DON'T THINK HARRY AND HIS FAMILY GOT OUT!" He screamed over the roaring snow.

"THIS HAD TO BE THAT BEAST! IT'S NOT DEAD! TAKEMINE, I WANT YOU GO GATHER ALL OF THE VILLAGERS AND TELL THEM TO TAKE REFUGE IN THE MAIN HOUSE. I'LL TELL YOU THE PLAN ONCE EVERYONE IS IN!" Ryuuji yelled back. Takemine nodded and ran off to gather people as the rest ran back to the house.

"Well I guess that guy from earlier didn't get the job done. Is there anyway we can get the people out of that house?" Yamato asked as his father gathered his tools. "Maybe Ryou and I could melt it."

"You and I both know that it wouldn't work. We've found people frozen before but you were never able to thaw them out. I'm afraid they are lost to us. Damn, that thing has never come this close." The old man was angry. All of the people in the village were like a big family so all the people that had already died had left a fury in Ryuuji that he could no longer contain. And the fact that it had dared to come so close to where he lived, where his actual family was housed enraged him even more. He had had enough.

Bethany looked over to Ryou who was gathering things of his own. "Ryou, I thought you said you killed it. If anybody other than you finds it they're dead for sure."

"I know. But it dissolved when I used the same move I beat Mintauros with instead of exploding. Maybe it had some kind of ability. I had a feeling a bit earlier that something was wrong. Have you noticed that 'our friend' hasn't been around at all? She usually watches me like a hawk, for lack of a better word."

Bethany hadn't really paid much attention, but now that Ryou had pointed it out she did realize that Blaze was nowhere to be seen. "What do you think happened?"

"She probably came across him and tried to fight on her own. If that's the case then she may be hurt. I'll have to find her before fighting myself." He put on a thick coat and went back to the living room where all the villagers had gathered and Ryuuji was discussing his plan with them.

"Enough is enough. For too long this thing had terrorized us and we have all lost members of our family because of it. Now Yamato and I are going to hunt it and do our best to end this, but I don't think we can pull this off alone so we need every able bodied person to help us out. Now if you feel too afraid to do so then it's alright, but everybody who plans to join us should be ready in ten minutes." He pulled a shotgun from a case of weapons nearby and cocked it before handing it to Takemine who didn't hesitate to take it. They started handing out all sorts of weapons and filed outside to begin the hunt.

"I'm going too,"Ryou said as he reached for a hunting knife but his father stopped him. "Father?"

"Look Ryou,you're welcome to come with us, but with your luck maybe you having a weapon would do more harm than good. No offense." Ryou nodded slowly in agreement and went outside with the others before grabbing his scooter. "Mother, keep Bethany safe while we're gone." Maria Okibi had grabbed a pistol and nodded to her son as he rode off with the others.

...

The blizzard seemed to get worse the further away from the village they got. A vast majority of the men who came along were shivering almost uncontrollably, but Yamato was doing his best to go around and provide warmth to as many people as he could. Ryuuji was towards the front of the group with Takemine while Ryou served as a lookout and scout on his scooter considering he had the most maneuverability on his scooter. He would briefly ride out several yards ahead of the rest of the group and would report to his grandfather if he saw anything. At the same time he was looking for any sign of his flying partner. After getting used to using the Rekka suit he found it came with a couple of "out of suit" perks: the first being able to transform his scooter into a motorcycle when the situation called for a it, and the second being a kind of link between himself and Blaze. Not reading minds, but one being able to sense where the other was over a certain radius. He could sense her slightly meaning she was fairly close but she also felt weak to him. No doubt now that she had run into the sasquatch, but her signal of sorts was slowly getting stronger.

"Seeing anything big and hairy, Ryou?" Takemine asked as jogged up to Ryou who slowed his scooter down to match his adoptive brother's pace. He was hugging himself tightly and shivering violently from the cold of the blizzard like almost everybody else.

"Besides old Mr. Davis, no. Here." He reached his hand out and pressed it to the middle of Takemine's chest, sending warmth throughout his body.

Takemine grinned and slapped Ryou on the back. "Kiddo do you have any idea how popular you would be with the ladies if you did that on dates in this state? You should really start using your powers for evil."

"You're really funny Take-niisan. But how about we find this thing first?" "More like I need to find it before any of you do. I can sense Blaze's general direction but I need to get away long enough to find her." "I have an idea." He rode a little ways back to his grandfather and told him that he was gonna try to scout out a little further ahead. His grandfather agreed and he took that opportunity to split away from the group.

...

"Damn you Saruyuki! I swear when I get out of this ice I shall burn every last molecule of you to cinders!" Blaze was alive but not well within her icy cage. It was a little known fact that Pheonix Ancients were unable to die from cold even if they were frozen solid. She had almost melted herself out of the ice and could feel Ryou drawing near but she didn't want him to find her in such a compromising situation. Little did she know that Ryou had just spotted a large cloud of steam coming up through the snow and was now digging through the snow to get to her. She felt herself being lifted up then cursed in her mind.

"Oh man, you don't look good." Ryou said as he frowned at the shivering bird in his hand. "What happened to you?"

"I found Saruyuki alive and well," she said, visually confirming that the Sasquatch was indeed alive. "Said he was searching for something then he froze me before I could escape. Then he started this blizzard."

"Well where is he now? My family is out here hunting it but we need to find him before they do."

"It may be impossible to find him in all of this. This particular Sasquatch Mythic has the ability to disperse his body among the snow. In a fierce storm like this he could be anywhere and it's undoubtedly given him an increase in strength." Ryou frowned at this and told her of the family that was frozen inside their house. "It's possible to save them, but you need to transform and fast. Then we need to stop him before he hurts anyone else. He is an extremely dangerous and elusive beast and he needs to be put down."

Ryou got back on the scooter as the now warmed up Blaze formed the belt around him and he snatched her in the air. "HENSHIN!" Ryou and his scooter transformed in a eruption of flames that melted all the snow around him and wings of the motorcycle opened up and he took off towards the village.

...

Maria was going around her home checking on all of the people who had remained at the main house. Everyone was worried, including her. She nearly jumped out of her skin as she felt a hand suddenly on her shoulder.

"Sorry, Mrs. Okibi," said Bethany as she tried to calm Maria down.

"It's alright Bethany," Maria reassured her. She sat down and took a deep breath before looking up at the worried young lady who was now staring a picture beside the sofa. "Bethany?"

"I think somebody knocked over your photo and didn't tell you about it." She reached over and picked up the picture to look at it more closely. It looked old, and it contained what looked to be a much younger version of Ryou and an elderly lady holding him. In the middle of the glass frame was a long, jagged crack traveling down the length of the photo. Maria smiled sadly and slowly took the photo from Bethany before looking at it herself.

"No, the picture's been like that for a while now. Funny how seeing Ryou after a while and seeing how much he's changed made me think of this. You would be proud, Yukino-san."

"So that's Ryou's Grandmother," said Bethany recalling the name from her earlier conversation with Ryuuji. She sat beside Maria and looked at the picture again, smiling at the look on the young Ryou's face. "He looked so happy back then. I don't think anybody at our school has ever seen him smile even close to that."

"That's because he stopped smiling for a long time after she died. It wasn't too long after they took this picture. Maybe a year. Ryou took it so hard. You see, there are actually more Okibis than just Ryou and Yamato. Yamato has a brother and sister who both have their own children as well as distant relatives scattered throughout Japan. But this is considered to be the main family because of the whole first born thing. And since Yamato and I never had any other children, he's always been lonely. It was made even worse by the fact that he had trouble learning to control the Okibi special power. After she died he just didn't have it in him to continue training and so he suffered for it. He had to wear many layers year round and he became reclusive because of how the other children saw him. He started to resent the blood that his grandmother had given him and started to see it as more of a curse. As he and other children got older, their taunts become more violent, but as opposed to now he actually fought back."

It was at this that Bethany stopped her. Shy Ryou Okibi who wouldn't hurt a fly before the Ancient business got into fights as a teenager? "You're kidding me."

"Afraid not. Like I said, he resented the blood running through his veins and he grew up to be quite an rebellious teenager. He got into fights all the time, wouldn't listen to anything that Yamato or I would tell him to do, nearly the complete opposite of how he is now."

"How did that happen? I mean, I know most kids grow up like that and they usually grow out of it, but I'm sure nobody would ever see Ryou like that. Did he really just grow out of it?"

"I want to say that that's part of it, but the real reason behind it is the story of this crack in the picture. Ryou was the one who broke it."

...

A fifteen year old Ryou Okibi stormed into the living room of the main house followed shortly by his father who didn't exactly look happy about his son being home at the moment. There wasn't really much difference between the Ryou of now and back then. He was a bit shorter, still wore all of the layers that he wore in the present, and his hair was just as long if not longer. But the real difference was his eyes. The jade irises that many nowadays would think beheld kindness now were full of a perpetual rage. The rest of the Okibi family was in the living room when he stormed in. Maria showed weariness while Ryuuji showed an expression which was a mix of relief and frustration.

"Ryou." His mother got up from her seat and reached over to comfort her son but he slapped her hand away. Tears welled up in her eyes as Yamato ran up and slapped his son hard shocking Maria and Ryuuji, who had suddenly stood up to do the same thing that Yamato had just done. He never thought Yamato had it in him to strike his own son.

"Ryou, what the hell is wrong with you!? She was only trying to see if you were alright!"

Ryou rubbed his aching cheek and glared at his father with all the anger he could muster. He had been shivering violently, whether from being cold as always or from fury was unknown, but it's what had made his mother reach out to him. Now his shivering had intensified. "You're wondering if I'm alright? Well I think it's pretty obvious that I'm not!" He turned to head to his room but his father grabbed his shoulder and stopped him. "What do you want now...father?" He spat at his father with venom in his voice.

"Look Ryou, I'm sorry I hit you, but you should know better than to turn your mother away like that. She's just worried. We're all worried. Us, Timothy, all of the people that live here. We're all your family and we care about you."

He stopped shivering at the word. "Family?" For all the shivering that Ryou had been doing a moment before, for him to suddenly stop trembling all together was more frightening. "Really now? Then how come I'm the only member of this 'family' to have to suffer through this!? I'm cold. I'm always cold. And why is that? Because I didn't do my training to learn to control it? Why should I be forced to suffer through this in the first place!?"

"Look Ryou, I know you think it's not fair that you can't just be normal like everyone else, but we're not like everyone else. I went through the same thing that you did when I was learning to control it too, but I promise that when you do you'll never think twice about what it would be like without it."

Ryou suddenly roared and punched his father so hard he fell to the floor. His wife called out to him in concern and stared at her son in disbelief. Ryuuji grabbed Ryou the scruff of outer jacket and yanked him up so there were eye to eye. "Have you lost your mind!?" his grandfather spat at him.

Ryou surprised everyone even more by shoving his grandfather away from him. "You have no right to lecture me about this Jii-san! You have no idea what living like this is like! And you, father, don't you pretend to understand what I'm going through either. You were able to this by the time you were five easily. You never had to live everyday like you were being frozen to death just because you could never control it no matter how hard you tried. You never had to stand out like I did just so you wouldn't have suffer through it. And you sure as hell didn't have everybody pointing at you and making your life hell for something that you have no control over! So save it! Wake up and stop pretending like this is some kind of gift and start looking at it for what it really is. A curse! Our blood is dirty and damned!"

"THAT'S ENOUGH!" Yamato heaved his son up and slammed him hard into the wall. All of those clothes cushioned the impact but it still hurt. If he weren't a human ball of clothes that would have serious injured him. Ryou was taken back by his father's sudden ferocity. Yamato was laid back back most of the time, but could be serious when the situation called for it. This was something else entirely. Not once in his life did Ryou ever fear his father, until now. The look of rage on his father's face sent a chill down his spine that not even his constantly freezing body had never experienced before. "Get up."

Ryou gulped at his father's tone but got up. He slowly forgot his fear of the man and remembered the constant shiver that ran through his body. He clenched his teeth and seethed, not understanding why they didn't agree with him. They didn't understand. How could they? He suddenly punched his father again and there began a fist fight between father and son while Ryuuji kept the weeping Maria from jumping in between them. The two of them demolished a couple of tables before tumbling over the couch and knocking over one more table with a picture on it. There was the sound of glass breaking and the both of them stopped.

Ryou's lip was bleeding and he had a bruise here and there but his father was much better off from being in much worse fights in his younger days. Ryou had realized in a second what picture had just fallen from the table. He absentmindedly crawled over to it and looked at it before tearing up and holding it to his chest before he started to bawl his eyes out. He felt his father stand over him and kneel down until they were even with one another.

"Father...I-"

"Ryou. My blood, your blood, our blood, was her blood as well. You should know better than anybody the amazing things that she could do because of her abilities, because of that blood. So how could you call it a curse?" He put his hand on his only son's shoulder. "Son I'm sorry that you haven't been able to control it for whatever reason, and I am so terribly sorry that you have to suffer because of it. If I could take that pain from you you know I would do it in a heartbeat, but no matter how much you struggled with it your grandmother believed with all of her being that you would someday become stronger than any Okibi before you. It may seem impossible to you after all this time but I still believe in her words. The fact that you've had to deal with the backlash for so long proves how strong you are, and she could feel that strength in you."

Ryou suddenly felt a rush of warmth within his chest and his shoulders. He looked back at his father with tears streaming down his face but his father looked surprised. "Father?"

"I was only warming your shoulders. Either you're suddenly warming yourself up,or-" He smiled as Ryou pulled the picture from his chest and looked down at his grandmother's smiling face. The picture had a freshly made crack in it right down the middle. The moment he had pulled it away the warmth in his chest started to recede but the warmth in his shoulders intensified.

"I'm sorry. I need to go be alone for a while." And with that he pulled the picture to his chest again and slowly walked towards his room. Maria made a move to follow, but she was stopped by her husband's embrace.

"Darling?"

"Just leave him be for now Maria. I think we got through to him." He smiled as Maria wiped a stray tear from his eye

"Arigatoo, Kaa-san."

...

"Yukino had a way of just helping everyone work through their problems, and she was helping her grandson even in death. It was her death that almost broke him, but she made her way back to him. When he came back that night he apologized and we had a really long discussion about what we would do from that point forward. From then on he stopped getting into fights,or stopped fighting back anyway and he started taking more pride in where he came from. Until a few days ago I was worried that his body must have still been so cold because of how many years have passed but the ease that he's gotten past it has surprised us. I don't know what changed but I'm glad it did."

Bethany thought about what Maria had told her and let it sink in. How could anybody have known how big of a burden he was carrying? Did Nick even know? She and others had made a mockery of him since the moment they saw him and he just took it with a smile. "I'm such a bitch." A few stray tears fell down her face as she finally understood his hesitation to let her come along with him.

Maria looked at her confused. "Bethany? Dear, what's wrong?"

"Nothing. Well, let's just say that I wasn't always so nice to your son. I am so so sorry."

Maria took her shoulders in her palms and smiled. "Look Bethany. I know all about that. Ryou used to talk about you a lot when I called him. I was worried that you'd never be friends with him, but I'm glad to see I was wrong. What's in the past is in the past and I can tell that you care a lot about him. There's also something you should know. Ryou's still holding himself back."

"What?"

"He learned not to lash out, but he now he's just holding his aggression in. That can be just as unhealthy for him. He needs to find a balance if he wants to reach his full potential. I think you'll be able to help him with that. Now come help me make sure everyone is doing alright." She patted Bethany's knee with a smile and Bethany nodded in return.

...

Back with the hunting party, Takemine was asking Yamato what was taking Ryou so long to get back. The elder man tried to keep him calm but he was a bit worried himself. "I'm sure he just went out a little further than we thought he would. He'll be back."

"You know I don't buy that, Mr. O. I mean this is Ryou we're talking about. Do you really have that much faith in him?" He sighed as Yamato sent a surge of warmth through his chest.

"As his father I have all of the faith in the world in him. That's my job as his parent. Besides, I've always been able to feel when he was in trouble, and I don't have that feeling right now. Although-" He stopped talking to Takemine for a moment to look around and scan the area. The snow was coming down even harder now and even he was starting to feel a slight chill, but that may not have been from the cold. "I do have the feeling that we're being watched." He looked over to where his father was and saw him make a motion for everyone to stop moving. "And I don't think I'm the only one."

Ryuuji crouched down and turned his head slowly from side to side. He could feel something in the air just as his son could but couldn't see anything in the snow. This blizzard was part of the problem. It wasn't natural and he felt that it was extremely dangerous, but he couldn't place why exactly. If this thing wanted to hide in the snow then there was already plenty of it around before the storm. It felt like the monster was everywhere at once and close enough to be touched, but it couldn't be seen. It was as if it had become one with the snow. Ryuuji's eyes widened as he figured out why this blizzard worried him. The Sasquatch liked to play with its prey, keep it within it's own little play pin, so this would've been the perfect game for it to play.

As soon as he made a motion to warn everybody the beast's laughter could be heard coming from all directions. The others grabbed their weapons but started to shake more out of fear than the cold. Ryuuji darted over to his son and Takemine as they also prepped their weapons.

"Dad, where is it?" Yamato asked.

"Everywhere," he responded. Everybody stared at him like he was crazy but he ignored it. "I'm being completely serious. I believe that this thing can become one with the snow, like split himself apart and become whole again at any time he wishes. We're in a very bad position."

"It is as the human says!" came its booming voice from every direction. People had heard its laughing before but it had never spoken to them. The fact that this fearsome beast was intelligent scared them even more. Even Ryuuji was worried about what they were going to do, but it was Yamato who took charge of the situation.

"EVERYONE CALM DOWN! IF WE DON'T DO SOMETHING ABOUT THIS BEAST IT WILL DESTROY OUR HOMES...OUR FAMILIES UNOPPOSED!" He began to heat up his body to the point that everybody near him could feel the heat radiating from him.

"Interesting! I don't think I've every seen a human with that kind of capability! Do you think it will save you though?" He laughed again as Yamato smirked.

His body was starting to steam from all of the heat. "Damn right it will! My body is hot enough that any snow will melt before it can get even remotely close to me so you can't fight me with that tactic!"

"Don't be so sure human."

A flurry of snow a few feet away from Yamato suddenly twisted around until a large fist materialized from it and it flew at him. He managed to dodge but it slammed into the man right behind him who flew into a nearby tree head first. The impact broke his neck and killed him instantly.

"Steve!" Takemine yelled as the body hit the ground. He started to run towards his fallen friend, but Ryuuji tackled him to the ground. "Let me go old man!"

"No Timothy! It's too late for him!" He shook him to try and calm him down but the young man had bitten his lip hard enough to break the skin to try and focus. "Good. Now be on your guard so you're not next."

"It doesn't matter what you do. I'm going to kill you all!" Instead of coming from all around them like before, the voice sounded like it was coming from Takemine.

Ryuuji looked down and saw a grinning mouth form in the snow right beside Takemine's head and yanked the boy away before Yamato came out of nowhere and rammed his fist into the mouth, melting the snow that had formed it.

"This damn thing really knows how to taunt people." He helped the two of them up and they all looked around to catch any sign of movement. "EVERYBODY BE ON ALERT! IF YOU SEE ANY MOVEMENT THEN ALERT ME IMMEDIATELY!"

Everyone agreed and kept watch. "That heat thing really comes in handy, doesn't it Mr. O?" Takemine said as he cocked his shotgun. "I bet you could shoot flames if you wanted."

"As much as I would love to have such an awesome ability, I think you overestimate me. Legend has it that some of our ancestors were able to do that but it's been a long time since then."

"Such a shame too. It would really come in handy right now," Ryuuji said.

"YAMATO!" one of the others shouted. Ryuuji ran over and roundhouse kicked a flurry of snow that had started to form and then ran over to chop another flurry a few feet away with a super heated palm when someone else had yelled his name a few seconds later.

"Damn, this guy can form several body parts at one time. They don't even have to be close to each other." He ran over and punched another flurry nearby but didn't see a huge flurry forming behind him just as he had moved.

"Look out!" Takemine shoved him out of the way just before the flurry could cover him and he was swept up in it instead. More and more snow gathered and it formed a twister of wind and snow. The wind was so strong that it blew everyone, including Yamato, back but it was creating a vacuum that was sucking all of the air away from Takemine's lungs.

"TIMOTHY!"Everyone yelled his name as they could only watch in horror as he was suffocating within the snowy twister.

"RAHHH!" A motorcycle suddenly skidded to a halt and the man on it jumped off and ran towards the twister with fire trailing behind him. He ran around the tornado faster than anyone could see and formed his own tornado of flames around it, melting all of the snow around Takemine. Rekka lifted him and up and carried him over to his father who didn't know who he was. Takemine was breathing hard trying to get some air in his lungs but he managed to gasp out a thank you.

"Are you the guy that saved my son before?" Yamato asked. Rekka nodded, not wanting his father to recognize his voice.

"Not much of a talker, are you man?" Takemine chuckled weakly. "Boy do you look cool though."

"He'll be alright," Rekka finally said with a deeper voice to hide his real voice. "Look, you all need to go back to your homes. I can fight him, but as long as you're all out here you're as good as dead and it'll be hard to fight and protect you. I'll do my best to escort you."

"No offense to you, but we can't leave yet. My grandson is still out there and I'll be damned if we leave him here with this thing running around!" Ryuuji got into Rekka's face and glared but he kept his cool.

Yamato was staring at the bike that he had arrived on with familiarity then had a moment of clarity. "So that's what's been going on." He patted his father on the shoulder. "Look Dad. This guy, whoever he is, is right. You saw what he just did, didn't you?" His father nodded. "I have a feeling that Ryou will be fine, but we're only in the way now. We should go." Ryuuji didn't like it and he definitely didn't trust this man that they didn't know, but after that display of power he had to admit that if anybody could take this thing out then it was him and he always trusted Yamato's judgment.

"Come on. I'll try to protect as many of you as I can but someone will have to lead the way since I don't know where your homes are." Rekka hopped on his bike and revved it up as Yamato smirked.

"Way to throw us off your identity kiddo." "I can lead you. I'm able to somewhat fight this thing off thanks to a, well a family talent. You seem to have a few talents yourself. So what do we call you?"

"W-well," he didn't like how his father was talking to him. It made him feel nervous. "Kamen Rider Rekka. Look, I believe I ran it off for the moment so it may be in our best interest if we leave now. Please gather your men."

"Rekka? Interesting. Men, pick up the fallen and let's get them home." He started to walk towards the house while Rekka followed closely behind on the Blazing Wing.

...

Saruyuki reformed on a nearby mountain range with some of his fur singed and angry as hell. "Damn bird. I should have killed her when I had the chance and now the boy knows I'm still alive so they won't separate again. I'm not strong enough to beat him if he gets serious; it may be a good idea to find the Mythic stone now. If I have it I should be more than strong enough to kill him. Perhaps that cave I found in this mountain range earlier will yield some results."

He started leaping up the mountains until he reached a ledge that was also the opening to a cave. He pulled himself up to it and started to walk within it's depths until he reached the end of it, or what looked like the end."I can feel something beyond this wall. Looks like I may have found it." He put his enormous palm against the rock wall but a field of electricity shocked him back. "It's protected. The stone has to be here! I can get through but it will take me some time, time I don't have if the Kamen Rider comes looking for me. Looks like I'll have to keep him busy until then."

...

The blizzard was dying down, the sun was starting to come up over at the main house and everyone was tired. Bethany was asleep in Ryou's room while Maria looked outside to await her family's return. She kept dozing off but she was trying to best to stay awake. She didn't feel right resting while they were out there risking their lives. She found herself dozing off again until the loud sound on an engine hit the air. "What in the world?"

The sound woke Bethany as well as many other people who were resting in the house. She recognized the sound of a motorcycle and raced to the front door as Maria was opening it to see what was going on. Many others filed out as Rekka and the other villagers came into view as the sun was coming up.

"Who the hell is that with them, on the bike?"

"I don't see Ryou anywhere!" Maria shouted. She started to run out towards them, but Bethany grabbed her shoulder and tried to hold her down. "Bethany, let go of me!"

"Calm down, Mrs. Okibi! Ryou is fine. I know the guy on the bike. He wouldn't be here if Ryou weren't safe. Trust me."

Maria looked confused and scared but the look of calmness and certainty on Bethany's face calmed her some. Yamato ran out to hug his wife as she ran out to him nearly in tears from worry.

"Before you ask, Ryou is fine. We don't know where exactly he is, but this guy promised he was safe. I trust him, he's saved us more than once out there."

"But honey, who is he?" She peeked out at the man on the bike only to see that he was looking in their direction only to quickly look away when he was spotted.

"Like I said, he saved us. It's hard to explain, but he's strong. Strong enough to fight that thing on an even footing. But I think he's human. He can even shoot flames."

"So is that a mission accomplished, or do we still have work to do?" Bethany asked Ryou as he looked around. He turned to her and shook his head without saying anything for a second. "Is something wrong?"

"I got there too late and a few people died before I could drive it away. I'm...I'm angry. I mean I was angry when Mintauros and Tsubako killed people, but this is different. I knew these people. They were family."

"I'm sorry Ryou. I wish there was more we could do, but we can't save everyone as much as it sucks. But you said you'd save as many as you could, remember? That's why we came here. Are you gonna go after him?"

"Yeah, and I'm gonna finish it this time. Watch my family for me. I'm sure they think I'm still out there in danger. Although, it wouldn't surprise me if my father knew it was me. If he was able to recognize his scooter when it had been completely rebuilt like it was he'll probably recognize it like this as well."

"I think I've calmed your mother down. I told her I knew you and that you wouldn't be here if you, well Ryou, weren't safe."

"Good call."

"Ryou!" Blaze suddenly called. Before he could ask what was wrong the snow suddenly picked up again but stopped just as quickly as it had kicked up."This is trouble."

"Not here." Ryou turned around and saw Saruyuki's massive form just outside of the forest. He tilted his head up and gave a toothy, menacing smirk as he began walking forward. Ryou lightly pushed Bethany away from him as he revved his bike up again to take up the fight. "Stay here with my father. I'm going to go ahead and finish this."

"Make sure to kick his ass." Ryou nodded before pushing off and she ran over to Yamato and Maria. "Make sure to have all of your guns ready. We're gonna be backup."

"Hear that everybody!?" Yamato yelled. The group that had made the hunting party all looked down, not moving at all. Yamato slid his fingers through his long hair and sighed to himself. "Thought this might happen. Because of what went down in the forest last night almost everybody's afraid to do anything on top of being exhausted. He's on his own."

Ryou clenched his brakes and raised his back wheel as he twisted his bike to hit Saruyuki in the head but he leaned backwards and the attempted attack missed him completely. Because he didn't hit his target, Ryou's momentum forced him to keep sliding until he was right behind Saruyuki and nearly fell off of his bike. Saruyuki took note of Rekka's lack of traction before he raised his fist and aimed a punch at the Rider. Ryou got out of the way but just barely as the fist slammed into the ground sending snow in every direction. Ryou slid around on his bike before nearly falling off. He managed to get it steady again but he was getting tired from trying to keep his bike upright in the snow.

"I wasn't having this much trouble earlier but I've never tried fighting like this on a bike. This might work better if I fight him hand to hand."

"No," Blaze responded. "We have the advantage in maneuverability. Just try to keep steady and wait for an opening."

"Hai!" He revved up again and shot towards Saruyuki. Without realizing it he started to use the Okibi technique which somehow caused the beak of the Blazing Wing to open and shoot out a steady stream of flames that hit Saruyuki head on. Ryou was momentarily surprised and didn't know how it happened but he sped up as Saruyuki thrashed around in pain. Saruyuki dived out of the way of the flames and Ryou went speeding past him. "I'm going for another pass!" He turned his head in preparation to turn around but lurched forward as his bike suddenly stopped.

"Oh no you're not," said Saruyuki who had somehow gotten in front of Ryou despite being passed a few seconds before.

"How did you?"

Before Ryou could finish his question, Saruyuki lifted him up, bike and all, and threw him across the snow only to appear in front of him again and hit him with a double fisted slam from overhead.

Rekka and his motorcycle slammed into the snow hard and Ryou fell off before his armor vanished from the impact, knocking Blaze from her perch on the Rekka driver. Before he passed out, Ryou saw two more Saruyuki's converging to where the one that knocked him down was as more and more Saruyukis started to materialize out of the snow.

"Clones. You're full of surprises, aren't you?" Blaze said as she weakly flapped to keep from hitting the ground. She attempted a weak flame attack out of desperation but the middle Saruyuki just grabbed her out of the sky and squeezed her. "D-damn."

The three Saruyuki grinned at her feeble attempts to stop him. "I had wanted you be helpless as I killed all of the humans here so I froze you knowing you'd eventually get out, but now I see the mistake of my actions. I should have killed you right away. If I leave you alive you'll just find someone else to bond with and you'll only cause more trouble for our real self. We're all clones and he's found the stone." Blaze's eyes widened in horror and she redoubled her efforts to get out of his grasp.

As this was going on everybody could only stare in shock as it was revealed that Ryou had been the one fighting the entire time. Many questions went through everyone's mind as they stared in horror as their last hope was now down on the ground not moving. His mother was the first to start panicking as she screamed and desperately started running towards her son before her husband grabbed her. "Let me go Yamato! Ryou! Ryou is-! It's about to kill our baby!"

"Like hell he is!" yelled Takemine suddenly as a shot rang out that hit the middle clone right between the eyes. It didn't hurt him, but it surprised him enough that he let go of Blaze and she fell to the ground gasping for air. He walked bravely toward the Saruyuki clones with rifle in hands and repeatedly shot it in its face until it finally started to back off of Ryou and Blaze. Another one of the clones started to advance on him but a short burst of machine gunfire roared out from one of the other villagers and clipped its leg. One by one more and more of them start to fire on the clones to get them away from Ryou. Some of them started to throw spears and grabbed hand to hand weapons.

All of the noise started to rouse Ryou from his unconsciousness and he awoke to the sight of his entire family in a desperate fight to protect him. Then it hit him. This family of his would give life and limb to protect him. Even the ones he wasn't related to thought of him as their own. Why had he been so afraid and reluctant to come home to people who cared about him so much? He looked over and saw a horde of men dog pile one clone as his grandfather decapitated it with a swing of one of the family swords. He couldn't just lay around and let them fight for him like that.

He stood up slowly as Blaze got up and flew around shooting flames all of the Saruyuki's faces blinding them momentarily. "EVERYBODY BACK AWAY!"She shouted. They all saw that Ryou was on his feet but something seemed different. His hair covered his eyes and his teeth ground against each other. It boiled up. All of the anger that Ryou had held in since the day he started holding it in was raising to the surface." How dare this thing come to my home and do this to the people I care about!? It used my family like play things and even took some of them away from me! This is my home and I'll die before he kills anyone else!" His head shot up and he called for Blaze. "HENSHIN!" He yelled as loud as he could as Blaze formed the belt and he snapped her into place. He started to walk slowly as the transformation finished and the helmet's green eyes and the "third eye" on his forehead glowed brightly.

He started to use the Okibi technique again but because the Rekka armor somehow boosted his own natural power now he made his body so hot that it was soon covered in flames. "DUCK TAKE-NII!"

"Whoa!" The young man slid nimbly to the ground despite his injuries as Ryou jumped over him and kicked a Saruyuki clone with enough force to send it flying before it melted in midair from the heat of Ryou's body. Ryou was able to run quickly through the snow because the heat melted all of it around him and evaporated the remaining moisture as his feet touched the ground. He weaved in and around the villagers without saying another word as he began to systematically turn the Saruyuki clones into nothing more than steam. He punched and kicked with so much ferocity that it shocked everybody, including Bethany who had never actually seen him during a fight. He had just uppercut another one when a spear zoomed past his head and slammed into the eye of a Saruyuki clone that had materialized behind him. He turned back to see it fall to the ground before he stomped on it then turned around again to see his mother grinning at him.

"Can't do everything alone my little robin. Or should I start calling you my little phoenix now?" she asked herself as she crossed her arms in concentration

"O-oi Kaasan! Is this really the time for that!?"

"Let your mom have some fun Ryou! After all the hell this thing has put us through, some payback feels real good. I can't tell you how satisfying this is!" Yamato shouted as he and his father rammed into another clone with about another dozen villagers and knocked it to the ground. Ryuuji slowly stood up straight as his back popped. "I think you're getting too old for this Dad."

"I'll be too old for this when you have grandchildren of your own. Just keep fighting."

"Mom. Grandpa. Dad. You guys are amazing." Ryou said before he crouched down. "Get all of the remaining clones together. I'll finish this."

"He called me Dad!" Yamato shouted positively gleaming before his wife and father dragged him by his shoulders.

Together the villagers shoved the remaining dozen clones together before Ryou shouted a war cry and shot forward trailing flames and caught all the clones in a fire funnel before he jumped into the air over the funnel and shot down into it and landed on the ground with enough force to form a crater in the familiar shape of bird wings.

Ryou's family and the villagers stared shocked at the display of strength until Takemine shouted "HELL YEAH RYOU!"

As everyone started cheering Ryou stood in the middle of the crater and looked around tense, waiting to see if more clones would show up. "Blaze, you sense anything?"

"No," the phoenix responded. "But that could be bad. Those clones were meant to be a distraction, so if he's stopped making them then he must be focused on what he came for. If he gets that stone he'll be too strong to stop. Would any of your family happen to know where it may be hidden?"

"Possibly. We need to be quick." He ran over to his parents and grandfather as everyone patted him on the back when he passed.

"Ryou! That was incredible! How did you become...this!?" Takemine asked hysterically.

"No time for that right now Take-niisan. Ojiisan, do you know of anywhere up in the mountains that something may have been hidden away in? Saruyuki is looking for a stone with magical properties that could make him stronger and we can't let him find it."

His grandfather took a few seconds to think. "The cave on the east mountain range. It's said that a great monster was sealed there a long time ago."

Both Blaze's eyes and Ryou's eyes widened under the helmet. "A monster? Are you sure it wasn't some kind of stone or treasure?" Blaze asked him.

"I'm sure. That's why no one lived here before we took the land. People were way too afraid of it coming back. I was actually thinking that it was the same one we've been fighting."

"Blaze?" Ryou asked.

"No, it's not native to the area. While this isn't as bad as him getting the stone, if he releases another monster we'll have two to deal with and we could be overwhelmed. We need to go stop him before he does."

"Otou-san, I need everybody to go inside and wait for me to come back. There could be a lot of trouble coming this way, but I'm going to finish this."

Yamato nodded and ushered everyone towards the main house. Maria lingered for a second longer before nodding and following everyone inside. Ryou ran over to where his bike was and picked it up before heading off east.

...

Saruyuki grunted in pain as he repeatedly punched at the stone wall. He was desperate to get his hands on the stone, even if it meant harming himself in the process. It would all pay off when he got his chance at ultimate power. The wall was cracked and slowly breaking apart with every punch. The wall was tough but Saruyuki figured out that a strong Mythic could break through it if they could bear through the pain. Outside the wind was roaring as the snow continued to fall around the cave. Saruyuki was able to make dozens of clones from the snow to keep the Rider busy but now that he was injured and focused on breaking down the wall, he couldn't make anymore. He had only a few clones left that he made to defend himself with in case the Kamen Rider got past his small army and made it to where he was. But he was close to the other side, he could practically feel the power radiating from the other side of the gigantic boulder.

That was when it happened. From one of the cracks in the wall a black smoke seeped through. It came out in a thin stream and hovered right in front of his face. He clenched his eyes and cocked his head to the side in confusion. "What in the seven Hells?"

A large armored arm punched through the other side of the boulder through the cracks and grabbed Saruyuki by his neck in a vice grip. He grasped and punched at the arm, gasping for air because his windpipe was being slowly crushed in this thing's grip. His clones came running in, but were all cut a part in an instant in a flash of light that enveloped everything in the cave.

...

Ryou was just exiting the forest as the light died down, only having just missed it. "He could be anywhere in the area. Please tell me you can sense something."

"I can, but only faintly. There's something off. Leave the Blazing Wing here; it'll be easier to get up the mountain and surprise Saruyuki that way." Ryou got off of the bike and started to jump from rock to rock. As they got closer and closer to where Blaze could sense Saruyuki, both could feel this increasing sense of foreboding.

"Ryou, stop for a second." Blaze silently hissed as they neared the foot of the cave.

"What is it? This is our chance isn't it?"

"No. Something is wrong. I can feel Saruyuki, but only faint traces of him. He was here, but it doesn't feel like he ever left. It doesn't make sense. Let's go forward, but be cautious."

Ryou nodded and jumped up to the ledge and slowly tiptoed into the cave all the way to the back where all they found were a pile of rocks...and a lot of blood splattered all over the side wall.

Ryou put up a stance in case anything jumped out but Blaze clicked at him. "There's no need to do that. I don't feel any living trace of Saruyuki, or whatever did...that to him."

"That's Saruyuki's blood?" Ryou walked over to the shattered wall and looked around looking for clues. "You think whatever was in here killed him instead of joining him?"

"It's the only thing that makes sense. But if this is so, then this will prove troublesome." Ryou tilted his head in curiosity. "Whatever did this was able to beat Saruyuki easily. With the way the blood is sprayed in only that one big area, it makes me uneasy to say that he possibly did it with a single slash. If it were still here there's no doubt in my mind that we'd already be dead."

The foreboding tone of her voice scared Ryou to his core. If she doubted their chance of victory so much then what had been unsealed must have been truly terrifying. "So what do we do?"

"If I'm right about this then this isn't something we can take on alone. We go back and tell your family that their nightmare is over. Then we prepare for the possible terror that is to come."

Quite foreboding this is. Wouldn't agree, my comrades?

Rexmon: Are they gonna get help? Blaze said they couldn't take whatever that was alone.

Maybe. We'll just have to see. All I'll say is that the next few chapters I have planned will feature a lot of characters that will become really important to the story.

Kumamon: As long as you don't take another fucking year.

*Rexmon and I gawk at Kumamon*

Kumamon: Not my fault you didn't sensor that one. Everyone please review so that this idiot can know what to fix before he updates in about 6 months.