+Ryan? Is something wrong?+
+No; I'm fine, Sho.+
+Then why do you look like someone gave you some really bad news?+
+When we get back to my place, I'm going to have to think up some really… creative ways of telling this story, just so everyone doesn't think I'm crazy.+
+You don't like having to lie to your family,+ Sho said, understanding Ryan's problem.
He hadn't liked lying to his father about what he and Tetsuro had been doing, back in the days when things like that mattered.
+Oh, I can lie like a cheap whore when I need to – without flinching, no less. I'm just not sure what I can say about a situation like this.+
+Ryan!+
+What's with you?+
+No one's really called you a cheap whore, have they?+
+Well, my principal phrased it more along the lines of a 'two dollar whore'. I figure that's pretty cheap, you know?+
+Your principal said that to you?!+
+It was actually one of the more pleasant things he's called me; of course, this was just before I broke every one of his windows and spray painted the inside of his car neon orange. The stupid chump still hasn't been able to prove I did that.+
Ryan's mental tone was distinctly self-congratulatory, and Sho wasn't sure what to make of someone who could be proud of lying and would so brazenly admit to destroying someone else's property. Then again, maybe that was why he had been able to fight so well once he had gotten used to the Guyver; Ryan didn't seem to have much regard for people he didn't know or like. Maybe… then Sho decided to just wait and see. It could very well have been for the best that Ryan had gotten his hands on the Guyver. He seemed to be able to make the same kind of levelheaded decisions that Agito had made when they were fighting with each other against Chronos. Speaking of Agito…
+Agito, are you there?+
+Fukamachi? This is a surprise. The last place I saw you was with the Relic in Mt. Minakami.+
+I know; I remember what happened…+
+I would think it would be hard to forget, considering the circumstances. Something like that tends to stick in one's mind. How did you manage to escape from Chronos? And what was that cocoon?+
+I think it was all that was left of the Relic after that Zoalord got to us.+
+Really? That does sound plausible. Where were you in the interim? And how did you escape from Chronos?+
+I- I think I was inside that cocoon.+
+Hmm; I suspected as much. Now, can you tell me just how you managed to escape from Chronos? Or is that something that the Guyver did subconsciously?+
+I escaped because of Ryan, or we both escaped because we met. I don't really know what the exact reason was.+
+Who is Ryan?+
+Sorry; I forgot you wouldn't know about him, Agito. Ryan Crouger is the newest Guyver; I guess there were more than three Units after all.+
+Interesting. Where are you currently, Fukamachi?+
+I'm in an ambulance with Ryan; we're heading for his house.+
+I meant your geographic location, Fukamachi. Crouger sounds like an American name, but I don't want to make any assumptions.+
+Ryan said we were in Colorado Springs. That's in America, right?+
+Yes. I should be able to arrange for a transport to come and pick the two of you up. The only problem will be concealing its presence from Chronos' agents in the area.+
+Thank you… for thinking of me, Agito.+
Sho waited, watching the way that Ryan settled back against the wall of the ambulance as the doctors checked his eyes and – from the sounds of their conversation – asked him some questions, to see if Agito would contact him again. When there was no response from the older Guyver, Sho turned to Ryan again.
+Ryan, are you all right? What happened today, it was—+
+Completely beyond the pale? Yeah, I kind of got that feeling. How are you holding up, Sho? You looked really shaken up after that all went down. Not that I blame you, since that guy seemed to know how to push just about every one of your hot-buttons, but are you feeling better now?+
+I think I will.+ Maybe… Sho thought but didn't say.
What Mr. Murakami had done… it was against everything that he had ever believed in, against everything he had fought and sacrificed so much for. Had losing his son to Chronos really hurt him so much that he was willing to give up everything that had ever meant anything to him just for the chance that he would be able to see his son again? Privately, Sho wondered if he would have made that choice if he hadn't had Mizuki and Tetsuro to protect.
Would he have been willing to— But that line of thought wouldn't get him anywhere; it was in the past, and Sho didn't want to start thinking about things that he couldn't hope to change.
Leaning against the wall as the ambulance continued on its way back to Ryan's house, Sho could feel someone gently squeezing his lower leg. Looking down, Sho found that it was one of the doctors who was applying the light pressure to his calf.
+Ryan, what are they doing?+
+They're checking for broken bones,+ Ryan said, then calmly glanced downward. +I think the doc wants you to move your ankle around a bit, Sho. Probably wants to check to make sure it's not misaligned or anything.+
+Thank you, Ryan,+ Sho said, moving his right ankle as his fellow Guyver had advised him to.
+That's one of the more serious downsides of being found in what looks like the center of a demolition derby without so much as a scratch on ya; people want to know how you did it,+ settling his hands in his lap, Ryan looked at them. +I'm glad to have my hand back, though. I'd hate to have to explain to Dad how I managed to lose an entire hand. And Mom… Eesh, she'd throw pink fits if she saw me coming back home with only one hand.+
+The Guyver regenerates itself pretty quickly,+ Sho said, leaning back against the wall of the ambulance once the doctors had finished examining him.
+Yeah, I kind of figured that,+ Ryan replied, sounding like he was smiling even though he wasn't.
+I guess you would; sorry.+
+You should really stop apologizing so much, Sho, especially when it's not even your fault.+
+I know, I'm-+
+If you say you're sorry again, Sho, I think I might have to kick you in the shin.+
It sounded like a joke, and the smile on Ryan's face seemed to say that he wanted to put Sho at ease, but he didn't really know if Ryan would get angry if he kept talking. Agito hadn't been very patient with him, either, so Sho decided to just wait until they had arrived at Ryan's house. And, soon enough, they had.
The ambulance stopped, and Ryan looked to the doors just as Sho heard them clicking open. The doctors helped them to their feet and gently lowered them to the ground one at a time.
XxXxX
Norma Crouger had been in the middle of her lunch break when word of her son's possible involvement in a crash between two large transport trucks had reached her ears. Needless to say, she'd been rather confused; the last thing that she had heard – from one of Dr. Ethan Nathaniel's colleagues, no less – was that Ryan had come down with a rare form of cancer and that he'd had to be transferred to a special treatment center somewhere in the Mediterranean.
To find that he'd been transferred back out, and then nearly killed in a wreck, all without her knowledge was a daunting concept.
She had taken the rest of the day off, letting her fellow neurosurgeons know so that they could take over for her while she went to take care of her son and see if there was anything he needed. Hearing that Norman's fire unit had been dispatched to that very site had been an interesting coincidence, and if Norma had been one to believe in fate, she probably would have thought that that meant something.
As it was, though, Norma was simply concerned with getting back to her son as quickly as humanly possible, a feat that would have been much easier if not for the constant stop-and-go traffic that she was being forced to endure. Still, she managed to make it back home in time to see the ambulance that had brought her little boy back home pulling away from their house.
She'd be inside to check on him in a minute or two; right now she just had to finish parking the car. Once that job was over and done with, her car safe in the garage beside her husband's, Norma left without a look back. There wasn't anything more important to her than seeing that her son was safe and all right. Passing through the kitchen without a second look, Norma made for the living room.
That was where she could hear Ryan and his father talking.
Pausing on the threshold of the living room, Norma saw that there was another person in the room with them, another dark-haired boy who was about five inches shorter than Ryan. She couldn't tell much more than that from where she was standing, since the boy had his back to her, but Norma wasn't so interested in him at the moment.
"Ryan!" she exclaimed, wrapping her arms around her son and squeezing tightly.