The voice, which Ryan could only peg as belonging to some Japanese guy, sounded pretty excited. In fact, Ryan almost thought that the guy sounded happy to see Sho. Maybe the two of them had met before?

"Murakami-san?"

Sho had a definite accent, something that Ryan hadn’t noticed before. Still, that probably had more to do with how they’d been communicating, since telepathy obviously didn’t transmit accents. Looking over at the new guy, the one Sho seemed so happy to see, Ryan saw that he was dressed a bit strangely.

Or make that really strangely: Ryan didn’t know of any people who would willingly go walking around in a navy blue unitard, but when said unitard was combined with the weird-ass shiny gold armor and the black and red cape… well, then it stopped being just weird and quickly crossed over into what-the-hell-is-this-guy-on territory. Of course, he could be dressing that way just for the shock value, in which case the guy was owed at least a handshake.

+Sho?+

Ryan watched as Sho climbed off his bike, which was – thankfully for him – stopped in the middle of the road. The guys in the trucks didn’t seem to be interested in doing anything, which was pretty damn bizarre considering that they’d been trying to run him off the road for the better part of what felt like at least three hours. Ryan didn’t much trust this new calm, and he wanted to know just who the hell this new player was in their little game. It seemed like Sho was really happy to see him, though.

Of course, that could be either a very good thing or a very bad thing. Time would tell which.

Listening as Sho and the new guy – Murakami or something like that – chatted back and forth in rapid Japanese, Ryan put his foot down on the kickstand of his bike and shoved it into place. This looked like it was going to take awhile, so Ryan decided to make himself comfortable and wait for something to happen.

Even as Sho came toward him, prattling on about some idiocy or other, Imakarum spared most of his attention for the red-haired boy on the small motorcycle. Imakarum knew that Sho would never have the will to attack him, so he concentrated instead on the unknown quantity within this scenario. Now there could be no doubt at all that Ryan Crouger had learned to use his Guyver.

It was the only way that the boy could have managed to escape with the Relic cocoon in the first place. Still, the fact that Sho had evidently joined forces with the newest Guyver that had come into being was somewhat troubling. With four Guyvers fighting against Chronos in various parts of the world, things were bound to get complicated for Lord Alkanphel. Still, the fact remained that Sho was a weak-willed, sentimental little fool.

There had to be a way to remove him as an obstacle, some way to make him and the problem he presented to Chronos’ interests – those of Lord Alkanphel – go away.

"Sho," Imakarum began, interrupting another of the boy’s inane stories—such weak, human things no longer meant anything at all to Imakarum.

"What is it, Mr. Murakami?" Sho asked, and Imakarum had to resist the urge to slap the boy.

He was no longer that pathetic, useless, annoying fool Masaki Murakami, and he never would be again. Still, there might be some use to the identity, if only that it would convince Sho to trust him for the time it would take to discreetly dispose of both Guyvers. Perhaps he could throw their corpses into a river after he broke their necks.

"You seem to have made a new friend while I was away," Imakarum said, indicating young Ryan Crouger. "Would you mind introducing me to him?"

"Oh." Sho seemed a bit off-balance for a moment, but he quickly regained his mental footing. Naïve the boy may have been, but he was not particularly stupid. "That’s Ryan Crouger. He’s a Guyver, too. Would you like me to introduce you to him, Mr. Murakami?"

That name again. "I think I’d like that, Sho," Imakarum said, making an effort to sound as if he didn’t already know about the newest threat to Chronos’ plans.

"Okay," Sho said, his smile and the lack of suspicion in his demeanor letting Imakarum know that he’d carried off the illusion well enough. "I’ll take you to meet him, Mr. Murakami."

Imakarum discreetly gritted his teeth; he would deal with being called by that fool’s name if it would get him close enough to Guyvers I and V to kill them both. Preferably quickly and with a minimum of fuss.

As he came closer to the waiting Fifth Guyver, Imakarum noticed that the boy seemed to be waiting for something. The way he looked to Sho first, before turning his gaze on Imakarum, let the Twelfth Zoalord know that this boy was taking his cues from Guyver I. That would make dealing with him much easier, since Sho Fukamachi, weak-willed child that he was, would never think to attack his old friend Masaki Murakami. It was an advantage that Imakarum was perfectly willing to make full use of.

"So," Imakarum said, once the Fifth Guyver’s gaze had settled on him. "This is the newest Guyver to appear."

"Yes," Sho said, nodding. "His name is Ryan Crouger. He’s the one who helped me escape from Chronos."

"You were held captive by Chronos? How did you escape?"

"I- I don’t really know," Sho stammered, seeming more confused than scared. "I think it had something to do with the Guyvers and that strange cocoon. We were both inside it, and then we somehow ended up at Ryan’s house."

"Is that all you remember?"

Sho nodded wordlessly, and Imakarum found himself wondering just how and why the Relic cocoon had responded to Sho and not to any of Lord Hamilcal’s attempts to open it. Perhaps it was because Sho had been the only one who had been able to make contact with the Relic’s main computer. Still, that didn’t explain why Ryan had been absorbed into the cocoon the way Lord Hamilcal had reported.

Then again, perhaps it explained things better than Imakarum had at first thought: it was very possible that Sho’s fine mental control over the Relic had carried over to control of the cocoon as well. It made a fair amount of sense that Sho would be able to order the cocoon to absorb Ryan somehow. Of course, that still left the question of just how Sho and Ryan had escaped from the Dead Sea Plant.

That was when Imakarum noticed that he was now standing over Ryan Crouger, the newest threat to Chronos’ plans. The boy looked a bit younger than he’d been expecting, younger than Sho even, but that would have made Imakarum think that Ryan Crouger would be easier to manipulate. It would have, at least, if Imakarum had not seen the boy’s eyes.

Ryan Crouger’s green eyes had a shrewd look to them, sizing Imakarum up and trying to decide if he was a threat or not. This boy was not as naïve as Sho—that much was obvious from the wariness in his manner when he was confronting Imakarum. He would have to work a bit to gain the boy’s trust.

"So, you were the one who bonded with the new Guyver. I’d heard rumors about you. It’s interesting to finally meet you."

"Oh, good. You actually speak English," the boy said, looking relieved. "I was starting to worry that I’d only be able to communicate through him."

"You can speak with Sho?" Imakarum asked, mildly surprised. "How?"

"He and I have some sort of wacky mental connection." The boy made a face, his expression somewhere between confused and annoyed. "I think it’s telepathy, which is extremely weird since the only people I know of who have telepathic powers are the guys I read about in comic books. And few enough of them, too."

"This must be very strange for you," Imakarum said, settling into the gently paternal demeanor that he used when addressing his son.

It would make it all the easier to persuade this boy to come with him, somewhere they would not be interrupted—somewhere that a pair of corpses could be hidden with a minimum of fuss and little chance of discovery.

"Weird and strange don’t even begin to cover it," the boy laughed, obviously trying to cover his uneasiness. "I think we’re firmly off the map of weirdness by now."

"Perhaps we could discuss this in more appropriate surroundings," Imakarum said, looking around at the street where they were all standing with the air of someone who wanted to leave. It would, of course, be a great deal easier to dispose of the two Guyvers in a secured Chronos installation. "This street isn’t exactly private."

"I think you’re right, Mr. Murakami."

Turning to smile at Sho for a brief moment, Imakarum turned back to Ryan. He seemed willing to follow where Sho led, at least for the moment. The younger boy followed along docilely for perhaps half a minute.

"Hold on a sec—I have to take care of my bike."

Imakarum, having little enough patience with humans in general and Guyvers in particular, turned to the boy and wordlessly wrapped his arm around his shoulders. The bones felt more fragile for the fact that they were closer to the surface, and it would be so very easy for Imakarum to simply keep squeezing until he had crushed everything – every organ and blood vessel – within the young Guyver’s upper torso. Such an action on his part would endanger his relationship with Sho to an unacceptable degree, though, and so Imakarum restrained himself. There would be ample time to deal with the Guyvers I and V; Imakarum would personally make certain of that.

"Hey, lay off. I’m just trying to get my bike back."

"There is no need for you to worry about that," Imakarum said, his temper starting to fray from the Guyver boy’s insistence.

"The hell there isn’t!" Guyver V shouted, roughly pulling himself free of Imakarum’s grip. "I’ve worked on that bike a long time; I ain’t just leaving it out here for people to steal when I’m not looking."

The boy paused for a moment, then turned to glare briefly at Sho. His demeanor suggested that the two of them were speaking with one another, so this must have been a demonstration of that Guyver-induced telepathy Ryan had spoke briefly about. If all Guyvers had this connection, then it would make disposing of them somewhat more difficult. Imakarum didn’t particularly feel like dealing with Agito Makashima at the moment.