"Takaoka. Wake up. You've slept long enough."

The words were accompanied by a not-too-gentle slap on his cheek that made Eiji's head snap to the side and fully roused him from his semi-conscious state. Eiji gasped and blinked a few times to clear his vision. Quester Rei and Quester Gai were looming over him. Eiji flinched and reflexively raised his arms in defense. Or at least he meant to do so, for his arms weren't moving. What the…?

Amidst Gai's cackle, he looked down on himself and found that he was slumped in a chair, his wrists securely tied to the armrests with corded straps. Another cord was wrapped around his torso, securing him to the chair's back.

His Go Go changer was still on his wrist, but it might as well have been on the other side of the city, for there was no way to reach it.

He willed his thundering heart to slow down, and, masking his anxiety with anger, he growled, "If you think you're going to get any amusement out of killing me slowly..."

"Oh, we have a much better plan for you than killing you," Rei said. "You're going to join us – as Ashu."

The two Questers snarled in anger as Eiji laughed in their faces. "Forget it. That plan didn't work the first time, remember?" he jeered. "And it's not going to work now. I know how to control my Ashu side now. I am human, do you hear? Human!"

"Not much longer if I can help it!" came a distinctly raspy voice from behind Rei, and Eiji's blood ran cold from recognition even before Arch Priest Gaja stepped from around his creation's shadow.

"Welcome, descendant of the Takaokas and soon-to-be my servant," he said, looking down on Eiji with a smug expression.

"In your dreams, Gaja," Eiji snapped.

"Oh, it will be much sooner than that, I can assure you." The priest held up a flask. "This potion is made of unholy ingredients, including blood from Gai and Rei. It will inhibit your human genes and amplify your Ashu blood. You won't be able to fight it this time. And once you've changed to Ashu, you will never again be able to change back!"

The priest let out a gleeful cackle at the sight of the blood draining from Eiji's face. His hoarse laughter sounded like a mummy coughing.

"Gai! Rei!"

The Questers moved to either side of Eiji's chair. Gai grabbed a handful of the Dazzling Adventurer's hair and roughly yanked his head back. Rei's cold metallic hand cupped Eiji's jaw, but Eiji kept his mouth firmly shut.

"Open up," the Quester Ashu said. "It's no use fighting it, you'll only delay the inevitable."

Eiji just glared at him defiantly.

Rei turned to the arch priest. "I could punch in his teeth…" But Gaja just rolled his eyes at him.

"No, he'd only choke on the pieces. Must I do everything myself?"

The priest pushed Rei aside and reached out, pinching Eiji's nose shut. Eiji tried to hold out, but after a while he had no choice but to breathe through his clenched teeth. As soon as he took his first breath, Rei pried his mouth open.

Gaja unscrewed the potion flask and held it poised over Eiji's mouth. Eiji's hands were balled into white-knuckled fists and the Gordom priest's mouth split into a cruel grin when he saw the Ashu-hunter struggle vainly against his bonds. "Make sure he swallows it all," he instructed his two robot-armored minions. "He must drink the entire flask."

Slowly, as if to savor the moment, the priest tipped the flask. Eiji made one more attempt to wrest his head out of the Quester's grip, but it was no use. Three drops of dark liquid rolled over the neck of the small bottle and dripped into Eiji's mouth.

"Stop!"

The sharp command was accompanied by an explosive noise and the bottle shattered in Gaja's hand. The priest let out a startled shriek and whirled around.

Four flashes of color somersaulted through an open window set high up in the wall of the building and came to rest with perfect coordination on the warehouse floor.

The Questers let go of Eiji and moved to draw their weapons, but the view of four point-blank machine gun muzzles stopped them.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you," Satoru growled, his part of Sakura's secret weapons cache, a semi-automatic AK-47, aimed at Gaja's forehead.

"Damn you, Boukengers," the arch priest cried. "How did you find this place?"

"Not your concern." The Boukenger leader's voice was dark and menacing. "We're here to get our comrade."

"Yeah, let him go. Now!" Souta had his own machine gun leveled at Quester Gai while the target of Sakura and Masumi's assault rifles was Quester Rei.

The sounds of coughing made Satoru cast a quick, worried look at Eiji. Still tied to the chair, the Ashu-watcher was wracked by a violent coughing fit, his eyes squeezed shut as if in pain. He didn't even seem to be aware of the team's presence.

Gaja followed Satoru's gaze and cackled. "You are too late. Soon the descendent of the Takaokas will be one of us again."

"What have you done?" Akashi demanded to know, careful to keep his anxiety from showing in his voice or face. He took a step towards Eiji, but Rei stepped boldly into his path.

"You fools," the Quester growled with a contemptuous wave at the team's weaponry. "Don't you know by now that your puny human weapons won't do as much as scratch our armor?"

"Who says that's all we brought?" Without lowering his weapon, Satoru flipped open his Accellular. "Now, Natsuki!"

The response was prompt; Gaja and his two armored minions swayed at the shudder that suddenly ran through the building. The ear-splitting noise of several rapid-fire explosions reverberated through the warehouse, and the north-facing side of the building virtually disintegrated into showers of plaster, mortar and debris. The huge fists and the head of the Daibouken could be seen poking through the enormous hole in the wall even while the dust was still settling. All eight of its laser-studded knuckles were aimed at the villains.

A hard smile curled Satoru's mouth. "I think those puny weapons would do more than a little scratching, though." He stared at Rei. "Now - get out of my way."

With obvious reluctance, the Quester retreated, but Satoru hadn't taken three steps towards Eiji when the Dazzling Adventurer suddenly screamed, pulling on his bonds with such ferocity that the cords on the sides of his neck bulged out, pulsing wildly. The ropes snapped, and suddenly Eiji was out of the chair and on his knees, almost doubled over, his head hanging. His hair obstructed Satoru's view of his face, but Akashi could see in Eiji's posture and trembling hands that something was happening to him. Something bad.

"Eiji!"

Eiji fell forward onto his hands, chest heaving. Satoru was crouched by his side in an instant. With firm grips, he took hold of the lighter-haired man's shoulders, partly to keep him from toppling over, but also to get a better look at what was happening.

To his dismay, the eyes in the face that was slowly turning towards him were glowing an unnatural green, the distinct purplish mark of the Ashu already materializing beneath Eiji's right eye.

No, oh no!

"Eiji, fight it!" Satoru yelled, shaking the grasped shoulders in emphasis. "You have beaten this before, you can do it again!"

"Satoru…" Eiji suddenly seized the collar of Satoru's jacket with a white-knuckled grip. "Go Go changer…take it," he rasped and the strained words did not sound much like Eiji anymore.

"What?"

Eiji thrust his shaking arm up so close towards Satoru's face that the henshin brace almost touched the chief's nose. "T…take it!"

Seeing the logic behind Eiji's gesture, Satoru unclasped the changer. Ashu-Eiji and the Go Go changer were a bad combination.

He stuffed it in his pocket just as Eiji arched his back and let out an inhuman cry while his hair and eyes were turning white. From his upper and lower jaws, fangs appeared.

"No, Eiji!" Satoru cried, despondency now gripping his heart with icy claws. "Fight it, damnit!"

Eiji tried to get up, but Satoru pulled him back down. A brief struggle ensued, but infused with the strength of desperation, Satoru managed to wrestle Eiji to the floor.

"Eiji, focus only on your human feelings!"

Eiji threw a blind punch at the chief, but he was in an awkward position and therefore the blow did not carry much momentum. Satoru caught his wrist easily and held on to it with an iron grip.

Eiji was changing rapidly now, and Satoru knew that in a few more moments he wouldn't be able to hold on to him anymore. Ashu-Eiji would be much stronger than himself. Satoru was racking his brain frantically.

"Eiji! Listen to me!"

But the Dazzling Adventurer was clearly beyond listening, probably even beyond hearing. A few weeks ago, at Eiji's first transformation, Satoru had - rather forcefully - reminded him of his mission to fight the Ashu inside him and that had done the trick. Unfortunately, it didn't look like that method could be applied today.

But there had to be another way of getting through to him!

Suddenly an idea hit him. A risky, maybe even crazy idea, but it might just work!

Human feelings! What could be more human than this? And before he could think any more on it, Satoru pulled Eiji halfway into his lap, pressed his lips onto the Ashu's snarling mouth and pushed his tongue between the vampire-like fangs. He was fully aware of the fact that Eiji, in his current state, might very well bite it off, but he was not deterred. Thankfully, Eiji did not bite, although he did try to push Akashi away. Satoru gripped the back of the now white-haired man's head, continuing to kiss him unerringly. He explored the inside of Eiji's mouth as thoroughly as if it held the rarest treasure on Earth and gradually, the almost completely changed Ashu's struggles lessened. Eiji's fist opened slowly and Satoru let go of his wrist to intertwine their fingers. Eiji held on to the offered digits as if for dear life.

Still kissing him - and still kneeling on the dirty warehouse floor - Satoru pressed Eiji tightly to him, willing the love he felt for this man to pour from his body and into Eiji's, suppressing the demonic form within once more. Suddenly, Eiji emitted a guttural growl - or was it a moan? Satoru couldn't tell, but it did sound more human than other-worldly and his heartbeat increased with renewed hope.

He shifted slightly, letting his tongue brush against the upper row of Eiji's teeth – and his spirits soared when he didn't encounter any elongated canines.

Eiji's fangs had retracted.

His eyes flew open just in time to see the Dazzling Adventurer's white hair change back to its usual hazelnut brown. Eiji's eyes were still tightly squeezed shut, but Satoru had a feeling that once they opened, he would see no more milky white in them, either.

Behind him, the villains apparently couldn't believe what they were witnessing.

"What?"

"NO!"

"Impossible!" he heard Gaja rasp.

The other Boukengers didn't say anything, but Satoru could literally feel their surprised, and probably shocked, stares at the very unconventional rescue effort their chief had just undertaken.

He didn't care. All that mattered was that Eiji was back to his human form. Satoru felt his face splitting into a grin so wide it actually hurt his cheeks.

They had done it; they had beaten the Ashu-curse once again.

Slowly, Takaoka Eiji's eyes opened. They were indeed back to their normal dark brown, not a trace anymore of the demonic white from a few minutes ago.

"Welcome back," Satoru said softly.

All the treasure in the world couldn't compare to the sight of Eiji - human Eiji - staring up at him with glazed eyes.

"…Satoru?"

"How are you feeling?"

"F...fine, I think," Eiji breathed, blinked one more time, then his eyelids fluttered shut and his head rolled into the crook of Satoru's arm.

Despite the precarious situation they were all still in, Satoru's heart felt like it was expanding in his chest as he held Eiji's limp body close to him. Suddenly, Souta was crouched down next to him, his weapon slung over his shoulder. Urgency, but also amusement, was written all over the ex-spy's face, and Satoru was sure that the questions he was going to be peppered with later on would be numerous.

"Let's get out of here, Chief." Souta grabbed Eiji's legs while Satoru supported the unconscious man's upper body and between them, they swiftly carried him towards the Daibouken, their retreat covered by Sakura, Masumi and the huge lasers of the Bouken mecha.

Satoru paused just once to look over his shoulder. "Gaja," he called out, "let this be a warning to you; you mess with one of us - you mess with all of us!"

Gaja stood rooted to the spot, flanked by the Questers, and the arch priest's body shook with rage. "You may have won this round, but this is not the end, Boukengers," he shrieked after them. "Do you hear me? I will get you for this, you bastards!"

None of the treasure hunters bothered with a reply as they climbed through one of the kicked-in holes in the wall and boarded their mecha.

Outside, the twilight had nearly sucked all the light from the sky, shrouding the Daibouken in shadows of deep purple as it made its retreat from the harbor district.

TBC…