I go to the first place on -- what was her name? Honami? -- Honami's list, and find absolutely nothing. It's a big warehouse and everything seems above board. When I grill the secretary to find out if there have been any underhand activities she just tells me politely that if I'm going to ask crazy questions I'll have to leave, so I have to assume there are NO underhand activities going on there.
I decide on a slightly different approach for the second place. I approach it cautiously -- it's huge, and there are too many people around for me to feel entirely comfortable. I join a queue of people picking up crates and hauling them inside. The crates are heavy! I break off from the main group once I've dropped mine off, pretending I'm looking for the bathroom.
I head deeper and deeper into this enormous place. Wonder if I'll find anything.
Ah. There's someone up ahead. I approach him with my story in mind, feeling very proud of himself. "Hey, can you help me find the-"
Oh, of course, I told him my name but nothing else. And if he's been locked up in here long enough to grow that impressively shaggy beard -- I rub my own, feeling less manly somehow -- then it's understandable if he doesn't know about the Gekirangers. "I'm Hisatsu Ken. GekiChopper."
He tries the door, with no luck.
I smile at him, and henshin. "I'll do this as quietly as I can, okay?" I slash at the knob with my SaiBlade, and it sparks.
He transforms, and I'm about to yell at him (as quietly as possible) for attracting attention, but then some strange energy forms around his palm, and the lock breaks. "Uh, thank you," I say lamely as the door finally opens. If I actually do get out of here, I'll have to ask how he just did that.
I start rummaging through a drawer. "My Changer should be here somewhere." I think. I hope.
He says, "Thank you," and heads inside. I follow him, drop the henshin, and gape.
This... this is not a good place. He's going through a drawer like he's seen it all before, like we're in an office with computers and desks and phones or something, like this is all perfectly normal.
But it's not. There's a computer on a desk, there's a filing cabinet, and that's about all I'm comfortable with. Against one wall is a set of shackles. There are three different whips, handcuffs, and other devices I don't even want to guess about, arranged neatly nearby.
I'm a genius, and it's not hard for me to work out what was done to him here. I want to shake my head at him in horror, I want to vow vengeance on the people that hurt him, but I know we don't have time. "Is it there?" I ask, trying not to let my voice shake.
... Hunh. Ken seems a little worried. It is taking longer than I'd planned; maybe he's getting anxious to leave-- I know I am.
"Hang on." I search another cabinet, then the other-- and then one that's locked. I struggle with the lock, and am about to ask Ken for his help when I strong arm it open.
My Changer's there, gathering dust, the best thing I've seen in ages.
He's still searching. I hope he finds it soon. This place is making me very nervous. The kind of people who'd do something like this...
He goes to a third cabinet, and can't manage to get it open, but then he forces it. The sleeve of his shirt falls back, and my breath hisses between my teeth as I catch a glimpse of scar upon scar upon scar on his arm; some quite fresh. I look up at his face, my eyes wild, but he doesn't seem at all perturbed.
"Tatsuya..." I start to say, but I have absolutely no idea how to finish it off. He's found his henshin device. I shake my head. "Can we go now?"
He's clutching his henshin device like it's his first born child. Not that I'd know, really, because I don't have children -- that I know of -- but it looks very precious to him.
Footsteps.
Shit.
A sound comes from Tatsuya. Shit. Is he gonna be able to cope with this? If we have to fight our way out of here? I automatically put myself between him and the door, and henshin.
God, it's coming, it's coming for me, and even if I could pull myself together long enough to henshin I'm dead, my friends are dead, I've failed them--
No. No. They're not getting hurt because of me. It's too late for me, but not them.
I don't bother to henshin, but I walk up behind Ken. "How fast can you run?"
I take a breath. No backing out now. This is my choice.
"No, we're not." I hand him my Changer. "I need you to give this to my friends-- and tell them not to look for me." The footsteps are getting louder. "Please."
I take his henshin device and stare at it in disbelief. "You WHAT? ...no. No way. Absolutely not. I'm not leaving you."
What the hell is wrong with him? Well, apart from the weeks of torture... okay, I just answered my own question. "We can fight our way out, Tatsuya. I'm not going to leave you here. I do not abandon people."
"No, no, you don't understand." I try to keep my hands steady. "They're too many, they move too fast, I can't let them get you, too..." I need him to help my friends.
Wait, hold on.
I pull a few CDs out of a nearby drawer. "This'll help them figure out how to turn off the machines-- all of them."
"Tatsuya..." The voice is cold, mocking. "Where are you?" No, too soon, too soon...
The door swings open. It's the biggest of his monsters.
"No, no, you don't understand. They're too many, they move too fast, I can't let them get you, too..."
His voice is shaking. Whatever it is that's coming for us, it must be terrifying. He's TimeRed. He's faced all kinds of creatures, just like I have. What IS it?
I shake my head mutinously. If it's something terrifying then it's even more important that I stay here. With him. To help him, and to not get killed by his friends if I just escape from here and saunter back to them saying, oh, yeah, your friend? I saw him and left him to die, whoops, sorry.
He yanks some CDs from a drawer. "This'll help them figure out how to turn off the machines-- all of them."
"Okay, we can give those to them together," I say stubbornly, but then a voice interrupts.
A chilling voice. Someone who knows Tatsuya well enough to make him shudder just by speaking. I stare at Tatsuya, wild eyed, then the door swings open.
Shit.
I start fighting, convinced we're BOTH going to die here.
It hits Ken first, knocking him across the room. The swipe is quick-- it doesn't want to wast time with him. It wants me.
Well, fine. I attack it, and actually get in a few good hits before it grabs me. I struggle to turn around to face Ken-- he's still on the ground, but I can see him trying to get up.
"Tell them to go back to their own time--"
Then the monster teleports away, taking me with it.
I don't even connect once with it before it slams me and I fly across the room, hit the wall, and fall to the floor. I shake my head, groaning, and start to get up. This monster is big. Gunmetal grey, with long arms -- and it's deceptively strong.
...and it's got Tatsuya.
"Tell them to go back to their own time--"
I get back to my feet, panicking. He sounds resigned, in that eerie dead space where you know something bad's going to happen to you and there's absolutely nothing you can do about it. I have to help him. I can't let the monster have him.
I charge at the monster, yelling, but it vanishes.
I decide on a slightly different approach for the second place. I approach it cautiously -- it's huge, and there are too many people around for me to feel entirely comfortable. I join a queue of people picking up crates and hauling them inside. The crates are heavy! I break off from the main group once I've dropped mine off, pretending I'm looking for the bathroom.
I head deeper and deeper into this enormous place. Wonder if I'll find anything.
Ah. There's someone up ahead. I approach him with my story in mind, feeling very proud of himself. "Hey, can you help me find the-"
Is that who I think it is?
"Asami Tatsuya?" I say cautiously.
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He tries the door, with no luck.
I smile at him, and henshin. "I'll do this as quietly as I can, okay?" I slash at the knob with my SaiBlade, and it sparks.
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I start rummaging through a drawer. "My Changer should be here somewhere." I think. I hope.
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This... this is not a good place. He's going through a drawer like he's seen it all before, like we're in an office with computers and desks and phones or something, like this is all perfectly normal.
But it's not. There's a computer on a desk, there's a filing cabinet, and that's about all I'm comfortable with. Against one wall is a set of shackles. There are three different whips, handcuffs, and other devices I don't even want to guess about, arranged neatly nearby.
I'm a genius, and it's not hard for me to work out what was done to him here. I want to shake my head at him in horror, I want to vow vengeance on the people that hurt him, but I know we don't have time. "Is it there?" I ask, trying not to let my voice shake.
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"Hang on." I search another cabinet, then the other-- and then one that's locked. I struggle with the lock, and am about to ask Ken for his help when I strong arm it open.
My Changer's there, gathering dust, the best thing I've seen in ages.
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He goes to a third cabinet, and can't manage to get it open, but then he forces it. The sleeve of his shirt falls back, and my breath hisses between my teeth as I catch a glimpse of scar upon scar upon scar on his arm; some quite fresh. I look up at his face, my eyes wild, but he doesn't seem at all perturbed.
"Tatsuya..." I start to say, but I have absolutely no idea how to finish it off. He's found his henshin device. I shake my head. "Can we go now?"
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"Yeah." I hold my changer to my chest. "Now we can--"
I can hear footsteps. Hard an heavy-- not him, but one of his lackeys.
I'm vaguely aware of making a small, strangled sound.
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Footsteps.
Shit.
A sound comes from Tatsuya. Shit. Is he gonna be able to cope with this? If we have to fight our way out of here? I automatically put myself between him and the door, and henshin.
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No. No. They're not getting hurt because of me. It's too late for me, but not them.
I don't bother to henshin, but I walk up behind Ken. "How fast can you run?"
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"Fast enough," I say, not understanding. "Why? We're not fighting?"
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"No, we're not." I hand him my Changer. "I need you to give this to my friends-- and tell them not to look for me." The footsteps are getting louder. "Please."
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What the hell is wrong with him? Well, apart from the weeks of torture... okay, I just answered my own question. "We can fight our way out, Tatsuya. I'm not going to leave you here. I do not abandon people."
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Wait, hold on.
I pull a few CDs out of a nearby drawer. "This'll help them figure out how to turn off the machines-- all of them."
"Tatsuya..." The voice is cold, mocking. "Where are you?" No, too soon, too soon...
The door swings open. It's the biggest of his monsters.
I'm dead.
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His voice is shaking. Whatever it is that's coming for us, it must be terrifying. He's TimeRed. He's faced all kinds of creatures, just like I have. What IS it?
I shake my head mutinously. If it's something terrifying then it's even more important that I stay here. With him. To help him, and to not get killed by his friends if I just escape from here and saunter back to them saying, oh, yeah, your friend? I saw him and left him to die, whoops, sorry.
He yanks some CDs from a drawer. "This'll help them figure out how to turn off the machines-- all of them."
"Okay, we can give those to them together," I say stubbornly, but then a voice interrupts.
A chilling voice. Someone who knows Tatsuya well enough to make him shudder just by speaking. I stare at Tatsuya, wild eyed, then the door swings open.
Shit.
I start fighting, convinced we're BOTH going to die here.
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Well, fine. I attack it, and actually get in a few good hits before it grabs me. I struggle to turn around to face Ken-- he's still on the ground, but I can see him trying to get up.
"Tell them to go back to their own time--"
Then the monster teleports away, taking me with it.
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...and it's got Tatsuya.
"Tell them to go back to their own time--"
I get back to my feet, panicking. He sounds resigned, in that eerie dead space where you know something bad's going to happen to you and there's absolutely nothing you can do about it. I have to help him. I can't let the monster have him.
I charge at the monster, yelling, but it vanishes.
With Tatsuya.
SHIT.
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