[scene: The Midori household. Zoi is walking to the police radio, which is repeating its report that someone has found human remains at Blackmoon Cove. Before he can reach it, his father comes down the stairs.]
Chief Midori: [calmly] I've got this.
[He picks up the radio and walks outside, closing the door behind him.]
[Mamoru comes over and he and Zoi listen through the door.]
Chief Midori: all in fragments, no complete skeletons...? I assume three dozen is an approximate number...Did this anonymous caller say where to find this tunnel...And no weapons, dogs or any other signs on immediate danger...Yes, that is helpful. I'll go check it out now.
[Mamoru and Zoi back away from the door and try to look innocent as Chief Midori returns for his jacket and holster.]
Chief Midori: I've got to go, something just came up.
[Goes to the kitchen to throw together a quick ham sandwich to pack for dinner.]
Zoi: We can come with you.
[Mamoru nods]
Chief Midori: Thank you, but I'm quite capable of doing my job without a pair of teenagers tagging along.
Zoi: [looks leery] Dad. I don't like this. Why would anyone be calling in an anonymous tip from Blackmoon Cove at this hour of the evening?
[Chief Midori gives him a stern look for eavesdropping]
Zoi: I think you're walking into a trap.
Chief Midori: Well, don't worry. I'll be calling in the feds to come with me.
Zoi: Dad. I don't think it's a good idea—
Mamoru: Zoi, it's his job. And your father's been doing this longer than we've been alive. I'm sure he knows how to be careful in these types of situations.
[Zoi gives him an exasperated look and Mamoru gives him a subtle nod.
Chief Midori: That's right, son. I just want you to be careful to stay out of the woods, like I told you before.
Zoi: Yeah, Dad. Don't worry.
[Chief Midori gives him another stern look]
Zoi: Seriously, Dad.
[Chief Midori doesn't look convinced. Mamoru steps forward.]
Mamoru: I have a pre-calculus test to study for and I could use his help.
[Zoi looks up at Mamoru and nods vigorously at his father]
Zoi: Right…and if we get stuck we can always call Umino… In fact, I think I'll give him a call anyway and see what he's been up to. We haven't spoken in a while.
[Zoi abruptly closes his mouth as he remembers he just went to Oktoberfest with Umino. Fortunately, his father is too distracted to notice.]
Chief Midori: [absently] That's a good idea. You've been spending so much time with Kunzite lately, your friends are going to think you've forgotten them... say, you're going to study here. Then talk with Umino over the phone. Right?
Zoi: [angelic] Sure, where else?
[Chief Midori doesn't look entirely convinced but grabs his keys and heads for the door]
Chief Midori: No going outside. Not until I get back.
Zoi: Yes, dad.
Mamoru: Bye, Chief.
[Zoi and Mamoru watch through the curtains until he has driven off]
Zoi: [to Mamoru] You need to leave.
[Mamoru grins]
Zoi: Ur, sorry. ...I...I didn't mean it like that.
Mamoru: I knew what you meant.
[Gives a half wave as he walks out the back]
[Zoi takes out his phone and frantically dials Kunzite.]
[The call goes to voicemail. Zoi remembers that Kunzite has been sent a facesaving errand by Metalia, but tries three more times before he gives up and teleports away in a flurry of flower petals.]
[He reappears at a bluff overlooking the ocean and lit only by the moon and stars. At one time a huge mansion stood there, but there is nothing left of it except for bits of torn up foundation with charred and melted bits of rebar. The majority of the area is now a meadow filled with wildflower and fragile shoots of saplings, dwarfed by redwoods and other pines surrounding the parameter cut by a windy twist of roadway. Zoi scans the area with his heighted night vision. He doesn't see anyone, and hears only the crashing of the waves, but in the dark he can barely make out the entrance to the tunnel in the side of the hill, now choked with roots and vines. But Zoi doesn't need to see it to know where it is. He's been there before.]
[Zoi shudders at the memory. His existence as a human was cut short, not too long ago, by the Blackmoon Clan-who were in turn murdered in a brutal genocide by his fellow Shitennou. But even before then, his memories of the place are far from pleasant. Zoi walks over and brushes his hand over a metal door, camouflaged against the cliff wall with caked-on dirt. He has little doubt that door has been closed and locked until recently. Zoi takes one last look around before he enters the tunnel.
[It's a good thirty minute drive to there from his house, even if his father is using the siren on the squad car. As Zoi looks around, he's glad for the head start. He sees the bones right away. A few feet from the entrence. Thousands of shards, forming a mosaic on the floor. Skulls and larger bones are stacked against the wall, with fresh votive candles lit in each eye socket. Zoi peers closely and the candlewax is barely melted. Someone must have been there to light them, but he can detect no signs of a recent presence.]
Zoi: Who's there?
[He receives no reply.]
[Zoi continues to search until he reaches a locked door at the end of the hall. This has to be a trap, but he can see no sign of it. There is nothing for him to do but wait for his father to arrive.]
[He knows Chief Midori will be furious, but Zoi won't let him go into danger. He tries to wait for him in the tunnel, but the entire scene is too unnerving. Even for a Shitennou. He leaves the tunnel to wait by the clearing.]
[Then he sees it. A big bear shape easing out of the trees, quiet as a shadow and stalking deliberately towards him. It is enormous, at least eight feet. To a casual observer it might appear to be a bear, but thicker, and too sleek. Then the figure levitates, and Zoi realizes he is looking at a wraith. A phantom in a black hooded cloak, with glowing iridescence skin, and a skull for a face.]
[It is terrifying to look upon, even from a distance, but it floats over and stops a mere ten feet away from him]
Wraith: Zoisite Midori. We meet at last.
Zoi: You know who I am?
Wraith: I know who you are, and I know what you are. I am an old friend of your mother's.
Zoi: You mean Metalia? [Zoi is certain his real mother would have mentioned a have a nine-foot tall skull-headed wraith as a friend at least once]
Wraith: Who else?
Zoi: W-who are you.
Wraith: I am called Wiseman.