Sho nodded wordlessly as they both
stepped into the elevator and Agito pressed the button. The
doors slid closed with the expected lack of noise, and Sho
shifted from foot to foot to try and work off some of his
restless energy. Agito seemed to be perfectly able to tolerate
the long waits and the encounters with various Zoanoids that
they had had to deal with. But then he’d probably been working
for Chronos since before Sho had even met him.
Sho had only been inside Mt.
Minakami once, during the mission to rescue his father that had
ended in events that Sho still didn’t want to think about, and
even then it hadn’t lasted anywhere near this long. This was
like something out of a surreal dream; not quite a nightmare but
something that Sho was sure that he never wanted to have to do
again. Sho wasn’t even sure that they
would
ever be able to do something like this again.
Sooner or later, someone who worked for
Chronos would have to notice that there were holes in their
security. Holes big enough for… well for a Guyver to slip in and
out of. Only in this case it wasn’t just one Guyver who was
slipping in and out of the holes in Chronos’ security, it was
two Guyvers, a Zoalord, and a small group of humans. They had to
notice sometime that something was going on, but Sho knew that
he would just have to hope that they all got out of this place
alive again.
But nonetheless, this was probably the
last time that he and Agito would be able to simply slip on a
pair of Zoanoid disguises and go strolling merrily right into a
Chronos stronghold. Feeling a slight jolt run through the
elevator, Sho looked up just in time to see the doors opening.
Taking his turn to push the case with Mizuki inside it, Sho
followed Agito out into the main area of the basement level of
Relics Point.
The first thing Sho noticed, aside from
the sheer size of the place, was the huge purple lump in the
center of the room. It looked just like a small hill made out of
smooth purple rock. There were poles and wires sticking either
in to or out of the "hill", as if they were trying to hold it in
place for something. Sho couldn’t begin to guess just what the
purple thing was or what it could be for.
But then whatever it was wasn’t all that
important to Sho right now, compared with meeting up with all of
the others who were hiding from Chronos down here. So Sho tried
to put the thing he had just seen out of his mind. It wasn’t all
that hard, considering where he was going and who he was meeting
up with again. Suddenly remembering just what Mr. Murakami had
been through in the past few days, Sho resolved to try to give
him at least something that he could hold on to.
Even if it was only the hope of getting
revenge on Chronos for all that they had done to him. As he and
Agito headed for a doorway that was about as nondescript as
possible, Sho saw that there was a plaque above this particular
doorway. It read: Basement; Relic Research and Analysis
Laboratory. Director: Sumio Odagiri. Sho shuddered slightly, but
then he remembered what Agito had said about all of the
scientists in the basement being their allies.
It was something of a comfort factor for
Sho to know something like that, since without that knowledge he
would have probably panicked and given them all away by now.
Panicked like he had when Gyou had shown up so suddenly. Taking
another couple of deep breaths to calm himself down, Sho
continued walking. They passed four things that looked a little
like recycling bins, and Sho briefly wondered just what they
were for.
Then they were standing in front of the
doorway, and there was no more time for Sho to think about
things that didn’t really matter. The scientist who greeted Sho
and Agito at the door when it slid open was about as nondescript
as the door itself.
"Ah, good. You’ve brought the requested
materials," he said, wearing a curious sort of halfsmile. "Come
with me, I’ll show you where you can drop them off."
Agito nodded, and Sho wondered just what
kind of double-speak he was missing. As the two of them, or
three depending on just how much someone knew about their group,
walked deeper into the laboratory Sho couldn’t help but notice
that a lot of the scientists were either studiously ignoring
them or taking brief looks and then going back to whatever it
was that they were doing. It was kind of strange, Sho thought,
to be walking around inside a Chronos laboratory in a pair of
stolen uniforms and to be almost completely ignored. As he
followed Agito deeper into the laboratory, Sho wondered just
when they were going to get to meet this Sumio Odagiri.
As it turned out, Prof. Odagiri was in
fact the next person in the laboratory to directly acknowledge
their presence.
"Welcome to the basement of Relics
Point," the man said, with the same kind of curious halfsmile as
the first scientist who had first greeted them. "Sho Fukamachi
and Agito Makashima. I expect you’ll want to remove those, I
hear they can be quite uncomfortable."
Agito was the first to remove his
helmet, followed quickly by Sho. Agito smiled graciously at the
man in front of them, so Sho felt that it might be safe to let
himself calm down at least a little.
"Hello again, Professor Odagiri," Agito
said. "Sho, this is Professor Sumio Odagiri, he runs most of the
laboratories on this level. He is also the one who’s been
sheltering all of us from Chronos for the last three days."
Professor Odagiri was a fairly tall man,
somewhere in his mid-to-late thirties with dark brown hair that
had only started going gray. He had thick eyebrows, and he wore
glasses that reminded Sho a lot of Tetsuro. As Professor Odagiri
turned his attention to Sho, Sho tried not to show just how
nervous he was about being here. Agito was calm about it, after
all, so there was probably no real reason for Sho to be so
apprehensive around this man.
"It’s very nice to meet you, Professor,"
Sho said, and despite his best efforts, his voice still quavered
a little when he spoke.
"Um, could someone get me out of here?
Please?" came a plaintive voice from inside the case itself.
"Oh!" Sho exclaimed, remembering. "I’m
sorry about that, Mizuki."
Sho hurried over to the still closed
case on the floor. Quickly undoing the latches that held it
closed, Sho quickly moved back once Mizuki started getting out
on her own.
"Thanks, Sho," Mizuki said quietly.
"Sho! Hey Sho!"
"Tetsuro!" Sho turned around quickly,
just in time to see the smiling face of one of his best friends
from before all of this had started.
"It’s so good to see you again," Tetsuro
said, his smile widening into a grin. "Hi, Mizuki," he said,
waving to his sister as she stood up for the first time in a
long while.
"Tetsuro!" Mizuki cried, throwing
herself into the arms of her brother. "Sho risked his life to
protect me, just like last time. I probably would have gotten
killed if it hadn’t been for Sho."
Tetsuro smiled softly. "I told you he
loved you, Mizuki," he said, softly enough that Sho only caught
the fact that he was speaking and not the actual words.
"I know that now, Tetsuro," Mizuki
muttered softly, closing her eyes and nuzzling her head into her
brother’s chest.
Sho had to smile himself when he saw the
heartwarming picture that the two of them presented. He might
not have known exactly what they were saying to each other, but
it was clear for anyone to see that they were very happy to be
reunited.
"I’d also like to thank you for taking
such good care of my sister, Sho," Tetsuro said, turning his
smile back on Sho. "You’re a great friend."
"Thank you, Tetsuro," Sho said, blushing
slightly. "Have you seen Mr. Murakami lately, or has he been
resting all this time?"
Tetsuro’s smile faltered, and this was
the first indication Sho had that things weren’t quite as normal
as he had at first thought. "Mr. Murakami… Sho, Mr. Murakami had
to use up most of his energy when Commander Gyou attacked us."
"Yeah, Agito told me how he kept chasing
you after we all split up from each other," Sho said. "What
happened to him? I thought he would at least be awake by now."
"Sho," the calm voice of Prof. Odagiri
intruded on Sho and Tetsuro’s discussion. "Would you mind
stepping over here for a moment, please?"
"Not at all," Sho said, following Prof.
Odagiri over to one of the closed doors toward the back of the
laboratory.