Straight up out of bed. Hearing the blanket that had up till now been draped over him falling into his lap, Masaki looked frantically around the room. For a moment, he was still back in that illusory forest, watching that bastard Gyou mock him as his son Kenji died before his eyes. Then, when he realized that he couldn’t sense Gyou anywhere near him, Masaki slumped back against the headboard of the bed.

There were cracks in the ceiling, Masaki noticed then, and he started absently to count them just to give himself something to do. I think I’m having a bad day. Masaki had gotten up to twenty-seven when he heard the pounding of footsteps that meant that someone was coming. A lot of people, it seemed, now that Masaki was coherent enough to pick up on the fact that there was more than one person running.

The door to his room burst open, and all of the people that Masaki had come to know so well over the time he had stayed with them came rushing in. Sho was the first one through the doorway, as Masaki had almost been expecting, followed quickly by Tetsuro, Mizuki, Makashima and Sumio. Masaki forced a smile, making himself project a confidence and ease that he didn’t feel much at the moment.

"Mr. Murakami!" Sho, Mizuki, and Tetsuro called, obviously happy to see him up again.

Not quite back on his feet, but after all that he had been through Masaki wasn’t going to complain about having to stay in bed for awhile. It was better than some of the alternatives, after all.

"Hi everyone," Masaki said, making at least some effort to cover the weariness he felt. Judging from the happy looks that the kids were giving him, he’d at least succeeded in that.

"How are you doing, Mr. Murakami?"

"I’m fine, Sho," Masaki lied, not wanting to get into the specifics of his condition. Especially with Sho of all people. "I’ve been well taken care of by Prof. Odagiri and the others down here."

"I only did what I had to do," Sumio said with a calm smile. "Prof. Yamamura may be dead, but no matter what happens I won’t let his dream die with him."

"Yeah," Masaki said, smiling almost nostalgically. "You and me both, Professor. We rebels have to stick together."

Sumio chuckled, and Sho turned to Masaki with a curiously saddened expression on his face. "Mr. Murakami? Is it true that Prof. Yamamura was your friend?"

"Yes, it’s true Sho," Masaki said, getting the feeling that he knew just what Sho was getting at. "Professor Shinichiro Yamamura was my old instructor from college. He was also my mentor, and an old friend of mine."

"And you still think of him as your friend, even after everything he did to you? Turning you into a Proto-Zoalord? Nearly getting your entire family killed? Forcing you and your son to live on the run for nearly five years?" Mizuki asked.

"You have to understand, Mizuki, Prof. Yamamura was in a desperate situation," Masaki explained. "He had to maintain at least the appearance of loyalty to Chronos or they would have had him executed. But he also wanted to attack them for all that they had done to him. Yamamura wanted revenge, but if he was going to get it without getting himself killed in the process, he also knew that he would have to be very subtle about what he did to get it. Prof. Odagiri probably already told you about the three other men that Prof. Yamamura had recruited to his side," here Masaki looked to one of the children for conformation.

"He did," Makashima said, nodding.

"I personally never knew if they were fellow students of his, like me, or if they joined up with him for some other reason," Masaki paused. "But all of that isn’t what’s important right now."

"But," Mizuki still seemed confused. "Didn’t you hate the professor for what he had done to you, Mr. Murakami?"

"I won’t lie to you, Mizuki." At least not about that, anyway, Masaki thought to himself. "For a while I did hate Professor Yamamura for what he had done to me, but then he explained to me just why he had to do it. He’d needed people that he could trust with the power that being a Proto-Zoalord would give them, since he’d intended for us to fight against Chronos with him. But as you probably already know, it didn’t go quite as Yamamura had planned."

"Yes," Makashima said calmly. "Prof. Odagiri told us about what happened in Arizona. I am frankly impressed that even a single Proto-Zoalord could have survived an assault led by the Twelve Zoalords. Even though you were injured in the escape attempt, it says a lot about your will to survive that you were even alive after that battle."

"I had a lot of things to live for," Masaki said. Though at that point revenge was a big part of the reason I hung on. After that there were other reasons, but now I guess I’m back to my original one. I’m going to make that bastard Gyou sorry he ever even looked at Kenji.

Makashima nodded silently. "So this is the basement of Relics Point," he said, and the segue wasn’t something that Masaki had been prepared for. "I guess that it is true what they say: the darkest place is under the candlestick. I doubt that Balkus or Gyou would ever suspect that we were all hiding directly beneath them."

Masaki really couldn’t help the smugly satisfied look that spread across his face when Makashima made that statement. "I see that you’re back in good form now too, Sho. And we also have Prof. Odagiri and his crew as our allies," Masaki smiled, and he considered it a sign of his acting abilities that no one aside from Sumio could see just how bloodthirsty he felt. "We finally have the force to make a real counterattack."

"But Mr. Murakami?" Mizuki seemed worried now, and Masaki could see that that worry was directed at him. "What about you? Everyone says that you were badly injured in the fight you had with Gyou. Are you really sure that you should be thinking of ways to attack instead of resting?"

"Don’t worry about me, Mizuki," Masaki said calmly. "My body’s in better shape than it has been for a long time. I feel like a new man. I’ll be fine here, and it’s mostly thanks to you guys that that’s the case. So put it out of your mind, Mizuki. I’m perfectly all right."

Only he and Sumio knew that Masaki was lying through his teeth when he said that. And if Masaki had any say in the matter, that was the way it was going to stay. Catching a glimpse of Sumio’s face, Masaki saw that his old friend was closing his eyes like he was in some kind of pain. Masaki knew why that was, but there was still no way in hell that he was going to tell Sho and his friends just what was happening to him. Mizuki would just worry herself over something else she couldn’t do anything about.

And as for Sho, well Sho would try harder than ever not to put any strain on him. And if they were going to fight with their full strength against Chronos, they were going to need everyone that was capable of holding their own in a battle with Chronos’ army of Zoanoids. That included him.