The boy groaned, probably in frustration, given the expression on his face and the way he scrubbed at it with both hands. Then he gracelessly plopped himself down in front of Sho and just stared for a minute.

+If you want to talk, I’ll listen.+

The look of abject, stunned surprise on the other boy’s face gave Sho an idea of exactly how much explaining he was going to have to do for the other boy’s benefit. Trying to think about what Agito had told him during the first battle with the Hyper Zoanoid Team Five, Sho managed to remember what Agito had said when it had been him in almost the same situation.

+We Guyvers can communicate telepathically through the organisms on our backs,+ Sho stated for the red-haired boy’s benefit. Seeing that the expression on the boy’s face had become one of startled puzzlement, Sho decided that he would explain in more detail. +You should be able to communicate with me if you concentrate. We’re linked through our Guyver units, after all.+

+You mean you can hear this?+

+Yes, I can hear you,+ Sho said, trying to be reassuring.

Even though he’d been trying to keep any of his own emotions from showing, Sho still found that his sadness was somehow projected along with his words. The sympathetic look on the red-haired boy’s face clinched it in Sho’s mind.

+How bad was it for you?+

+Bad. And please—don’t ask me anything more about it,+ Sho pleaded.

+No, I haven’t,+ Sho said, confused.

+Good. I hate that old joke.+

Sho, not knowing exactly how to respond to the red-haired boy’s – to Ryan’s – words, decided to change the subject. +How did you find the Guyver, anyway? I thought there were only three.+

+I don’t know anything about that, but I found this big dartboard-looking thing in a cave. I just dropped in and, well, there it was.+

+You touched it, didn’t you?+ Sho said, his mental tone rueful.

+Well, I would have had to, since I ended up like this,+ Ryan said, winking a bright green eye.

+I guess you would have,+ Sho said, nodding and chuckling a bit himself.

+Well, that takes care of the introductions,+ Ryan said, tilting his head and smiling at Sho. +Now there’s only the problem of getting out of here with no clothes, no shoes, and no one knowing where we are.+

+Where are we, exactly?+

+We,+ Ryan said with a dramatic sweep of his arm, +are currently sitting somewhere in the Garden of the Gods. Completely naked, of course, and up to our waists in some kind of slimy ooze—either that, or some kind of oozy slime; I haven’t quite managed to figure out the distinction yet.+

The tone of Ryan’s voice was at odds with the just-waiting-to-grin expression that was breaking out on his face. Sho found himself laughing in spite of the previously stated seriousness of their situation. When he’d finally managed to regain his composure—not an easy thing when sitting naked in slime—Sho decided to try and see if the two of them might be able to get a handle on the situation.

Sho chuckled. +I guess it wasn’t the best idea. Well, I guess I’ll have to think of something, then.+

Ryan, whom Sho noticed was starting to look a bit tired, shifted so that he could lean against the side of the cocoon that they both sat in. Looking closer at the cocoon, Sho found that it looked a lot like the Relic. Even the slime, as annoying as it was, was kind of similar to what had been inside the Relic. Maybe this cocoon was originally a part of the Relic. It would explain a few things, I guess; still, the last thing I remember was being disintegrated by that Zoalord.

Sho shuddered as he remembered the feeling of his own skin being charred and vaporized. Of course, it hadn’t really been his skin: it had been the Guyver’s, but he was the Guyver, so it really had been his skin at the time. All of these thoughts, though, were just a distraction from something else. Something, or rather, someone, that Sho really didn’t want to think about.

Mr. Murakami. Mr. Murakami was dead.

Even the thought of it wasn’t something that Sho could stand for very long, and he shied away as if the merest reminder was painful to him. The worst part of it was that he hadn’t even been there for Mr. Murakami when he died. The only thing that he had been able to do was to hold his body. Even then, he hadn’t been able to do that for very long—not with all of the Zoalords attacking him.

Sho hated the fact that he hadn’t even been able to say goodbye, and also that he hadn’t been able to recover Mr. Murakami’s body. Sho knew Mr. Murakami well enough to know that he wouldn’t have wanted his body to stay in any place that Chronos had control over. Sho knew that it was too late for him to do anything about that, but he still found himself hoping that nothing had happened to Mr. Murakami’s body. Even though there wasn’t anything he could have done, Sho still thought that he should have helped Mr. Murakami somehow.

Still, now wasn’t the time to think about things that he couldn’t change. Seeing Ryan, dozing while he leaned on the edge of what Sho found himself thinking of as the Relic’s cocoon, reminded Sho that he had other things to think about.

Ryan chuckled, and Sho found himself smiling as well. The situation did have its elements of humor, but there was still the matter of getting out of this place, even as beautiful as it was. They were out in the open, vulnerable to any Zoanoid that might come across them. Even if they were Guyvers, an army of Zoanoids would eventually overwhelm even them. Sho wanted to be somewhere… else—somewhere safe, at least for the time being. As Sho concentrated harder, his eyes slipped closed almost of their own volition, so he missed the fact that Ryan’s eyes fluttered and closed only half a minute later. As Sho wondered where he would ever manage to find a place where they would both be safe from Chronos even for a short time, he started to feel a gentle pulsing coming from the region of his shoulders. It almost felt like his Guyver was responding to something.

After what seemed like about fifteen minutes or thereabouts, Sho felt the pulsing in his shoulders lessen from a dull throb to a barely noticeable tingle and then fade away to nothing. Opening his eyes, Sho found that they were no longer in the Garden of the Gods. In fact, they weren’t even outside anymore. Instead, they were inside a building.

The place where they now sat looked very comfortable, if a little bit too cluttered for Sho’s taste. The overstuffed chairs and couch, combined with the warm, almost buttery colors of the drapery, carpet, and walls only added to the feeling of calmness that Sho got from the place. Still, Sho knew not to trust appearances anymore.

Sho noticed then that Ryan was starting to climb out of the Relic cocoon, scraping some of the excess slime off his feet by rubbing them against the edges Sho turned away, looking around at the room where he had somehow ended up. Noticing that Ryan had left the room, Sho climbed up and out of the Relic cocoon as well. Now that he wasn’t so focused on the potential problem of Zoanoids coming to find them, Sho found himself really noticing the sticky slime that coated him almost from head to toe.

It wasn’t a feeling that Sho enjoyed.