At SGS headquarters, the Boukengers returned, only to find the one member there that they hadn't seen in a while.
"Verne?" Masumi seemed surprised, "Since when do you show yourself again?"
"Since I've been told SGS Europe needs your help." Verne responded, "Again. I didn't know people had such a low self-esteem back there."
"Actually..." Mr. Voice spoke, "... it wasn't SGS who sent it."
This got everybody's attention, until Sakura reminded everyone: "It doesn't matter, coz Dark Shadow has it now."
"What?" Mr. Voice sounded surprised.
"It was weird." Souta explained, "It was like she knew in advance what we were going to do and prepared herself to it."
"I guess we let our own confusion distract us." Satoru added.
"Really?" Verne questioned, "That's a new."
"She wasn't even surprised to see the Jaryuus working for us." Eiji said, "What does that say?"
"Natsuki-tachi only got this box." Natsuki said as she showed the box that held the Precious.
"Let me take a look at that." Verne said.
"It's just a box, Verne." Sakura stated, "What do you hope to find?"
"You never know." Verne answered, "Say... Voice, didn't you say something about who really sent this?"
There was a pause before Mr. Voice spoke, almost as though he was reacting to the fact that Verne called him "Voice" rather than "Mr. Voice". Still, he agreed to tell them.
"As ourselves, SGS Europe also has its own Negative Syndicate." Mr. Voice started.
"Stands to reason." Souta agreed.
"Well, according to our European collegues, their own Syndicate somehow became aware of this Precious." Mr. Voice continued, "And unfortunately, they got their hands on it before they did. However, they did manage to find out that the Precious was sent to this country."
"Whatever for?" Natsuki didn't understand.
"Maybe they're in close contact with Dark Shadow." Satoru reasoned, "Which would explain how they knew about it."
"But why would they send it to them rather than use it for themselves?" Masumi wondered, "This doesn't make sense."
Meanwhile, Verne had found that the box held more than just the Precious. There was a letter that explained how others have tried to figure out how to get the Precious to work, but couldn't, so they hoped that with all the wisdoms that Dark Shadow had gained that they might find out instead. Along with that letter was a book. A so-called novella, written in English. Looking at the title alone made Verne realize what all this is really about, but he had to be sure first.
"Excuse me." Verne asked, "Exactly how did they find this Precious?"
If Mr. Voice were surprised to hear that question, he didn't show it: "According to eyewitnesses, it just appeared out of nowhere."
"And what exactly did it look like?" Verne wondered.
The Boukengers didn't know why he wanted to know that, but Sakura answered anyway: "From what the Jaryuus told us, it was some kind of metallic thing. It had a seat in it and two levers, almost as though it were some kind of vehicle."
"Verne, where are you taking it?" Eiji asked.
"I think I know what it is." he answered, as he raised the book he found in the box, his thumb pointing at its title: "The Time Machine"