When he heard that Ryan had been killed, he hadn't believed it at first. Honestly, he hadn't really wanted to, but with this new power he was sensing – something much greater than his, Ryan's, or even Agito's Guyvers' – he could see how it could have happened. He just hoped that Mr. Murakami hadn't been sent here.
Mr. Murakami was probably back in Japan with his son. Sho hoped that was true, but there was no real way to tell until he made it to the place where Agito and the enemy – obviously a Zoalord – were fighting. He felt sorry for Ryan; dying was always sudden and painful when you were in the Guyver. He'd have to remember it had happened, since Ryan would need his help to get over this when the Guyver restored him to life.
Blowing a hole in the floor with the Pressure Cannon, Sho flew down through to the next level. He was closing in on Agito's signal, so he knew that Ryan had to be there as well. Unless… unless he had had his Control Medal ripped out by the Zoalord he and Agito had been facing. Then he wouldn't be anywhere.
+Agito?+
+What is it, Fukamachi?+
+Was Ryan's Control Medal taken by the Zoalord you two were fighting?+
+No.+
+Agito?+
+What is it now, Fukamachi?+
+Was Mr. Murakami the one who killed Ryan?+
+No. The Zoalord we're facing is Fried'rich van Purg'stall. As I understand it, he became the new overseer for the Japan area after Gyou was killed.+
+Oh. I'm glad.+
And he was, not only because he wouldn't be forced to face Mr. Murakami again – even if he had been the one to kill Ryan, Sho still wasn't sure that he would have been able to fight him; he still remembered the person Mr. Murakami had been – but for knowing who he was about to face. He didn't yet know if this Zoalord, Fried'rich van Purg'stall, was like Gyou or Balkus. He probably was, though.
Punching through the last floor that separated him from Ryan and Agito, Sho flew into the room. The sight that confronted him wasn't really the one that he had been expecting to see: Agito was leaning against the wall on the far right side of the room while Ryan, with a large hole still blown through his chest – a hole that the Guyver was obviously working to heal – was fighting the Zoalord Fried'rich van Purg'stall; Agito knew enough about Chronos that Sho wasn't going to question him on this.
Landing on the floor, just far enough out of Ryan's line-of-sight that the Guyver wouldn't spot him and think he was an enemy, Sho fired a blast from the Pressure Cannon. Purg'stall was obviously too distracted by the rampaging Guyver in front of him to raise any kind of defense. The Zoalord, turning slightly as the Pressure Cannon hit him, seemed to notice Sho for the first time.
"You would be Sho Fukamachi," he said. Sho didn't know what he was getting at, but he didn't like it. "I am sorry for all that you have suffered at the hands of Chronos, but I cannot let even you interfere with the operation of this facility."
Ducking out of the way of a volley of Gravity Bullets, Sho considered what Purg'stall had just said. He had seemed genuinely apologetic about what had happened, but he was a Zoalord and served Chronos. Chronos had done so many horrible things to so many people, from processing Mr. Murakami and his son to sending all those innocent people in Takeshiro to their deaths. Even if this Zoalord was more compassionate than the others, he was still a Zoalord.
He had still killed Ryan.
XxXxX
Finding himself facing three Guyvers, only one of whom seemed to be the type to show mercy – at least according to the reports that Imakarum Mirabilis had made – Fried'rich found himself wishing that Shin had not been called away to Washington on Chronos business. The Fourth Zoalord was the only one he truly trusted to be at his back during a battle such as this was clearly becoming. Still, the fact that it was not to his personal preference was not a valid reason to scorn help that could be freely offered.
-Luggnagg, I need your help.-
-I had a feeling you would. This Guyver attack is certainly unexpected, yes?-
-Yes. I would have never suspected that the Guyvers would be capable of moving this quickly undetected.-
-Imakarum would be beside himself with worry if he knew that his son was in the thick of a Guyver attack.-
-Yes,- he said. Imakarum would indeed be angry once he learned that Kenji had been exposed to such danger, even inadvertently. -Just make sure that he stays within the deeper sublevels of the second tower. I doubt either of us will completely avoid Imakarum's anger, but we may very well be able to mitigate it.-
-Of course.-
XxXxX
In truth, he had no intention of leaving Imakarum's son in some safe little bolt-hole until this battle was over. This was an opportunity unlike any other, a chance to complete the task that he had been working toward for the whole of the month that they had been staying at the Pillars of Heaven. This Guyver attack, while completely unexpected, was a definite boon to his plans.
Still, he would have to be careful how he went about this: Imakarum's son may have been completely under the influence of the specially formulated tranquilizers that Luggnagg had been giving him – slowly upping the dosage under Purg'stall's very nose, until even the enhanced immune-system that all Zoalords were gifted with was overwhelmed and the boy became dependent on it – but even that could be countered. A large burst of adrenaline, or the boy's transformation into his battleform would make all of his preparations count for nothing. He had to be very careful indeed about what kind of situation he placed the boy in; too much stress would be dangerous in many ways. Still, with the child following behind him like a docile little puppet, it was admittedly hard to think of the myriad dangers that were part and parcel of this operation of his.
Pulling the all-but-sleepwalking boy along by the hand, Luggnagg stepped into an elevator and made for the high-level floors. That was where Purg'stall's mental presence was emanating from, and also where the concentration of Zoanoids seemed to be thinnest. Normally, it was the instinct of any Zoalord to call for as much Zoanoid aid as they could when being threatened by a superior fighting force such as these Guyvers had proven themselves to be. Purg'stall, however, was not such a man to be able to sacrifice the lives of others merely to improve his own chances of survival, no matter how sensible such a course of action would be. It was really a wonder he hadn't been killed long before.
Still, a Zoalord was a Zoalord, no matter how sentimental. And Zoalords were hard to kill.
Facing three Guyvers, however, was a far different matter. It was likely that Fried'rich van Purg'stall, even with all his power, was going to die at the hands of these Guyvers. Still, it was always best to take precautions when you wanted to ensure a particular outcome.
Pulling the boy into the back of the elevator, he pressed the appropriate buttons and sent them riding upward to the battleground. Once there, he would of course be required to find a place to hide the little Zoalord, somewhere he would not be seen, but would still be able to have conceivably fired the shot that would end Fried'rich van Purg'stall's life. It would be an interesting mental problem, to be sure.
Still, for the moment he was free to check the minds of the few remaining Zoanoids – mostly the females, due to their less combat-oriented roles – and see what the situation was like on the upper floors. None of the critical support structures of the building had been damaged, which was a very good thing, as he had no desire to be crushed by falling rubble. Digging oneself out from under fallen building materials was always so very troublesome, even for a Zoalord.
The elevator soon arrived at the eighty-fifth floor, the precise location of Fried'rich's mental presence and where the feeling of power that he had learned from the Fourth Zoalord's mind was associated with the three Guyvers was coming from. Now, all that remained was for him to find a place were Ingriam could be concealed, just out of sight to await the perfect time to make "his" move.
The boy-Zoalord would be almost certainly detected by either the Guyvers or Fried'rich himself if he was merely left around one of the corners. Still, besides the – admittedly important – matter of concealment, there was the matter of believability. The other Overlords were not fools, and Imakarum – though no Overlord himself – would inevitably argue in favor of his son's innocence.
It was quite a troubling thing, this problem that he was faced with. If he did not play this situation out correctly, it was likely to be his head on the metaphorical chopping block rather than little Ingriam's. That would never do; he had no intention of giving up his life, but this kind of an opportunity was not likely to come along again for a long time. It was really too precious to waste.