Looking for a Smile

High up in Nagano's Hida Mountains, Sosuke, Hanto, Gunpei, Renn and Hiroto had finally reached the cave entrance to the Quest Master's challenge. When they figured out that they would have to go underground to find their lost girls, Renn and Gunpei each took bags that had flashlights and other equipment. The Go-Ongers bought the equipment during their battles with the Gaiark and kept it stored in the Ginjiro, just in case they my have needed them. Little do they know, the Shinkengers were neck deep into their own challenge and Captain Marvelous had just been thrown into the shoot taking him to his challenge leaving the Goseigers in a cloud of smoke.
"What time is it?" Hiroto asked.
Renn looked down at his watch. "3:24pm." He answered.
"We don't have much time." Sosuke said. He looked down clenching his fists. Sosuke's thoughts were solely on Miu. He was equally concerned for Saki but Miu was the love of his life and he couldn't bare the thought of her in danger. Gunpei placed his hand on Sosuke's shoulder.
"Don't worry," Gunpei began. "We'll get them back."
Sosuke nodded and pulled himself together. He wouldn't be able to save his wife if he was focused on the task at hand. "Alright, there is no more time to waste. Let's Go!" Sosuke said running at Mach Speed into the cave. With that burst of confidence and energy from Sosuke, the other four Go-Ongers followed their leader to rescue Saki and Miu.
Meanwhile, the two inter-dimensional travelers have followed the tracker to the park where the Go-Ongers did battle against the Vipers. The battlefield was still littered with the bodies of the fallen Vipers, as they did not always explode upon death. Their bodies instead lingered for a few hours before deteriorating. The robed man picked up the head of the Viper Hanto had cut off.
"Which team do you think did this?" The robed man asked.
"Hard to tell." The second man answered. Freshly fallen snow had covered defeated villains and most of the tracks that was made during the fight. The second man looked down at the tracking device again. "From the looks of it the Vipers have been fighting four different groups." The device had picked up the lingering energy signature of the four groups of heroes. The men were scanning on a wide range that covered all of Japan, so that is why they were picking up energy signatures of the of three hero teams.
"Do you know who?" The robed man asked.
"Three of the group signals I recognize. But this forth one I haven't seen before."
"Are they a new team?"
"From the looks of it they've been around for a while in this universe."
"This is very interesting." The robed man said. "Why would Shandor to go after any of these teams? None of them have anything to do with what happened last time."
"Maybe our friend Shandor has been making a few more deals." The second man replied.
"Well, we better start finding this guys." The robed man said. "They're going to need our help."
"Right." Answered the second man. He looked down at the tracking device. "The closest ones are at the Hida Mountains in Nagano."
"How many of them are there?"
"Five of them from the looks of it. They're heading underground from the looks of it."
"Better get a move on it then." The robed man took out what looked out a toy air ship from a hidden pocket in his robes and placed the item on the ground. The two men took several steps back. When they were far enough back, the robed man then took out what looked to be a remote control and pointed it at the toy air ship. After flipping the switch forward on the remote, blue waves of light came shooting from the little antenna. Within seconds, the toy grow to the size of a full-grown ship. A ramp lowered and the two men entered the ship. Once seated in the cockpit, the two men ignited the engines and took off to find the Go-Ongers.
Meanwhile back in the Hida Mountains, the Go-On men found that the cave was as they expected it to be. The underground caverns of the mountain were pitch black. Each man took and lit a flashlight and began searching for signs of either the Quest Master's men or the girls. The cave at the moment was going in a straight path leading downward towards the heart of the mountain. All the five could see as they advanced further in were their stone surroundings. In the distance, the sound of a drop of water hitting what my have been a puddle or an underground lake echoed all throughout the cave. All of a sudden Hanto found some marks on the wall by a new passage way. He called over the others to investigate the marks. When all five of their flashlights were on the marks, the Go-Ongers could see that it was a message written in English.
"Hiroto." Sosuke said turning to his brother-in-law. "Can you translate it?"
"I thought Miu taught you how to read English." Hiroto said.
"We don't have time for that right now." Sosuke snapped. "Are you going to translate it or not."
"Hey, watch the attitude!" Hiroto snapped back.
"Guys, guys." Renn intervened. "I know the both of you are concerned for Miu and you want her back safe and sound. But the only way we're going to do that is if we are all on the same page. So stop acting like children and kept focus on why we are down here."
The brother in-laws both exhaled their frustrations knowing that Renn was right. Hiroto then told the others that the message said to follow the passageway. They all nodded and without a second thought entered this new part of the cave. As the others went ahead, Sosuke and Hiroto hung back a few paces.
"Look." Sosuke began. "I'm sorry I lost my patients back there. It's just that I want Miu back in the worst way. When that snake bit into her…"
"Yes I know. I didn't mean to start anything back there. Renn is right, our top priority is to find the girls and get out here. But I thought Miu had taught you how to read English."
"She taught me to read some English but not a whole lot." Sosuke admitted. "Besides, we have till sundown to save both Miu and Saki, so me taking my time and sounding out the words is not an option right now." Hiroto nodded in understanding. As they walked along Sosuke noticed that Hiroto was deep into thought. "Something on your mind?" He asked in concern.
At first Hiroto didn't answer because he was so deep in thought. After a few seconds he realized that Sosuke had asked him a question. "I'm sorry, it's just there was something that's been bothering since we fought those snakes."
"What is it?" Sosuke asked.
"As you know Miu and I are able to sense when danger is near. Though that ability mostly acts up when there are Gaiark around, but still. When Renn, Gunpei and Saki started fighting the Vipers, we didn't detect a thing until the rest of us heard that explosion. I'm just saying that maybe if we did pick up their presence, we wouldn't be doing this right now."
"Hiroto, don't beat yourself up over this." Sosuke said. "You can't predict everything. If you haven't noticed yet, this Quest Master guy has a plan. He was probably planning all of this for a long time. Maybe… he found out that you and Miu have psychic powers that tell you when danger is near and found a way around it."
"I hope your right." Said Hiroto. "Because it would be bad if it turns out that Miu and I are losing our ability to sense enemies."
The five continued down the stone tunnel, going deeper and deeper into the Earth. After walking for what felt like miles, the Go-Ongers reached the end of the cavern. They didn't hit a dead end. Instead, they came across a large metal door. Lights then beamed down from the top of the door and the hologram of a familiar figure stood in between the Go-Ongers and the door.
"Well done boys, you made it hear in good time. Are you ready for your challenge?"
"We'll do whatever it takes to save our girls." Renn stated.
"Good." The Quest Master responded. "Walk through the door and your quest shall begin." The door metal door opened from the middle and the five advanced into a dark chamber. Once they were all inside, the doors slammed shut and locked the five warriors in. The Quest Master's voice then rang in from a loud speaker in some unknown part of the chamber. "Pass through this way gentlemen and you will be one step closer to reaching your yellow companion." A beam of light then came from an opening in the stone wall in front of them. The light illuminated the small chamber that the five were standing in.
"Wait," Sosuke began, "what about Miu? What have you done with my wife."
"Patients Mr. Esumi." The Quest Master replied. "Your beautiful bride is in good hands. Once you save Go-On Yellow, you are free to rescue your wife. But first you must complete this challenge. Single file if you please."
As much as Sosuke and Hiroto didn't believe that there was anything "good" as far as the Quest Master was concerned, they had no choose in the matter and with the rest of their party, entered the jagged opening in the rock base. Gunpei was the first to enter the passageway and was followed by Renn. Sosuke was the next to enter and Hanto went in after him. Hiroto was the last to pass through the small entrance and with the others, found himself in a narrow metal hallway. The hallway wasn't that long, as Gunpei had reached the end of the passage when Hiroto entered, though the five weren't completely on top of each other. All of a sudden, twenty claws came from out the sides of the walls. Ten of the claws strapped bracelets to each of the five's arms and the other ten strapped bracelets to their ankles. When the claws retreated back into the wall, several streams of green lasers shot out of the bracelets and connected the five. A doorway then opened up in front of Gunpei. The floor they were standing on shot the five forward ejecting them from the room. Falling face first, they all formed a dog pile on Gunpei.
"Get off of me." Gunpei said from the bottom of the pile. As Hiroto stood up, he moved to the left of the pile. Then for no apparent reason, the bracelets began to electrocute entire group. They flopped about in pain breaking up the pile in the process.
"Try…to…get back…into…formation!" Hiroto yelled out in between shocks. The five managed to get back into their straight line but it wasn't easy. The electric shocks the bracelets sent out made moving unbearable but the five Go-Ongers toughed it out and were able to get back into the correct order in which they entered the previous passageway. When the bracelets stopped electrocuting the five, a hologram of the Quest Master appeared before them.
"So you figured out how the bracelets work. Go for you Go-On Gold." The Quest Master said with a smug smile.
"You." Sosuke said between his teeth. "What's the big idea?"
"It's part of your challenge." Answered the Quest Master. "For this portion of your task, the five of you must march and do everything in one straight line. Every move you make must be in sync. From your first step to even the way the five of you swing your arms. And as you found out for yourselves, if one of you breakout of the line for any reason, the bracelets will electrocute all of you. Of course I don't have to tell you that too much electricity surging through your body is bad for your health." He said exposing his teeth with an evil smile. "Kindly make your to the passage just ahead of you. Ta ta for now." And the hologram disappeared.
"I hate that guy." Said Renn
"Not as much as I do." Sosuke replied.
"We'll talk about how much we hate him later." Hiroto stated. "Right now let's figure out how to walk as one and save Saki."
The five men all got to their feet but with some difficulty. At first they rose as individuals, which caused the bracelets to send a few waves of electricity through them. They didn't get electrocuted as badly as before as the five would quickly get back in alignment as soon as they felt the shock coming. It took a few minutes but the five Go-On warriors finally rose as one. Then, after agreeing to start on the right foot, the newly assembled chain gang marched forward into the next area of the cave.
The tunnel was dimly lit and had several twists and turns. When the quintet of heroes came to a turn, they had Gunpei walk as far as he could lead the group to the wall and the five had to side step and rotated the line to stay perfectly straight. There were a few times where one of them stumbled activating the bracelets. But almost as soon as that man stumbled, he would quickly recover, reducing the electric surge to a tiny shock wave. They marched and marched, side stepping and rotating at every turn, until they came to a light that lit up the last bit of the passage. With one last rotation, the five chained warriors marched right into to light. When they emerged from the passage, the Go-On men found themselves on a stone bridge arching over a pool of lava. This lava was red hot, making the large cavern an oven. As the five marched across the bridge, they found the extreme heat made breathing very difficult for them. Looking out across the cavern, the Go-Ongers could see that the bridge connected to a stone pillar rising out of the lava as a landing and that there were dozens of smaller pillars that were big enough for only there feet. The smaller pillars formed a path that lead to the other side of the cave. They came to a stop at the highest part of the arch. Then Quest Master's voice came echoing through the ceiling of the underground cavern.
"Not bad gentlemen." The Quest Master said. "The five of you made it in here in good time. Now for your next challenge. I take it that you want those bracelets off, correct."
"You think!" Hanto said sarcastically.
"Very well then." Said the Quest Master. "There's a button five hundred yards ahead of you. Press it and the bracelets will come off. Oh, you better hurry cause the bridge is going to start blowing up behind you in 3…2…" Before he got to one, the five Go-Ongers began to run. They didn't have to deliberate on what foot to start with as they were running perfectly in sync with each other. As they ran, small explosives from the below detonated and the bridge collapsed from where the five entered. The bridge was collapsing fast and Hiroto almost fell with the stones into the lava below. Fortunately, the five were almost entirely on the stone pillar so when the stones fell below Hiroto's feet, they were all on the pillar when Hiroto fell he fell forward onto the pillar. As Hiroto fell he took the other four down like a stack of dominos. As they hit the ground, the bracelets activated and began to electrocute them. The surges were even more powerful then before, now it was even harder for them to move. But they could give up, the fates of Saki and Miu depended on their success. Giving everything they had, the five fought through the pain and rose to their feet. Once they were all standing upright, the bracelets stopped shocking the five and they all to a minute to compose themselves.
Gunpei, being the only one who could properly look at the thinner pillars, started to figure out how they were going to get to the other side.
"How's it looking Gunpei?" asked Hanto.
"A little difficult but I think we can manage it." Answered Gunpei. "If we're careful we'll be able to walk across this pillars easily."
But nothing the Quest Master throws at people is easy. When the five heroes started, walking across the small pillars was relatively easy but about halfway across, BOOM, bombs that were planted on the base of the pillars began to detonate. The bombs were planted on random pillars, which needless to say, increased the danger level of the challenge. The five heroes were now jogging across the pillars. The five brave young men were in fine physical conditioning but when you factor in the heat of the lava making it hard for anyone to breath, fatigue was setting in fast. But they weren't going to let anything stop them from reaching the other side of the cavern. Not the bracelets, not the quickly collapsing pillars beneath them and certainly not the Quest Master. Miu and Saki needed them and they weren't about to let them down. They hadn't before, and they won't now. They were going to save their girls no matter what. The five went forth, taking side steps to the left and to the right when it was necessary and amazingly keeping in perfect synchronization with one another. At one point, the five performed a five-man cartwheel, again keeping perfectly in sync with each other. They burnt their hands of course on the heated pillars but they paid it little mind and kept on trucking. At the final stretch, the five bolted for the edge. But all of a sudden, bombs on the last line of pillars detonated creating a huge gape in between the remaining pillars and the cliff that was the other side of the cavern. Using the last of their strength, the five preformed an unbelievable five-man summersault. Using each other's momentum they were able to not only elevate each member behind one another over themselves, but they cleared the jump and were all going to land on the stone floor. Of course the bracelets activated again giving the heroes a nasty shock. But as luck would have it, when Hiroto was about to land on the floor, his heel hit button deactivating the bracelets and setting the heroes free.
"That…" the Quest Master's came ringing in "That was an impressive feet gentlemen. I'll give you that." A hidden doorway opened from the rock wall in front of the heroes. "Go-On Yellow is just beyond that passage. And don't worry, she is in good health."
Taking a few minutes to recover from their ordeal, the five heroes got to their feet and passed through the doorway that will take them to Saki. Once inside the much cooler stone chamber, the five saw a steel cocoon in the center of the room.
"Saki!" Hanto said aloud, running to the cocoon.
Before he could reach the cocoon, the ground exploded from underneath Hanto and set the Green hero falling back to his friends. As the dust settled, a mechanical Minotaur came walking out of the freshly made hole. The Minotaur was made of iron and had bolts running up and down its body. It had glowing read eyes and blew smoke from its nose and ears. One feature that was most notable about this metal monster was that a blue light was beaming out from a circular opening on its chest. The opening was guarded by a thick piece of glass.
"Say hello to your final task boys." The Quest Master said with evil glee. "Defeat my Minotaur and Go-On Yellow goes free."
The Minotaur pounded its metal huff on the stone floor. Lowering its head, the Minotaur readied itself to charge the heroes. When the mechanical beast charged, the heroes scattered about the room. The five did not dare to engage the metal monster head on, as physical attacks would not only be ineffective they would only end up hurting themselves. Instead they stayed separated and would want until the machine targeted one of them. Once the Minotaur locked on to one of them, it would blow its stack, quite literally, and charge at the nearest Go-Onger head on. The individual that was targeted would dodge the on coming beast and let it ram into the stone surroundings and hoped that the force of the impact would knock the Minotaur out. However, the Minotaur would only create huge cracks into the walls. This plan didn't last very long as the Minotaur would no longer charge at the taunting heroes, but instead leaped into the air and would try and squash them. The Minotaur would come down with such force that it caused a mini-earthquake and the five heroes were caught stumbling about form the force. At one point the Minotaur came down with such force that all five Go-Ongers fell to the ground. Of the fallen Go-Ongers, the Minotaur targeted Hanto. As the Minotaur charged at the green hero, Sosuke pushed Hanto out of harms way only to find himself in the path of the rage mechanical bull. As the Minotaur made it's was at full speed to Sosuke, the red warrior ducked under the bull's great body as its horns became lodged in the stonewall.
Looking up inside the chest of the mechanical monster, Sosuke saw what looked to be an Engine Soul inside of the Minotaur. Looking harder, Sosuke saw that it was indeed an Engine Soul and not just any Engine Soul. This Engine Soul was crimson red and had the number 13 on its decal. "Machalcon!" Sosuke said aloud in total shock. As Sosuke looked into the lit chest of the metal menace, the Minotaur freed itself from the wall and grabbed Sosuke by the arms. After taking a few steps backward, the Minotaur began spinning around. Its feet remained planted to the ground and only the upper body was spinning the red hero around. After a few dozen rotations, the Minotaur released Sosuke's arms and the F1 racer went flying across the cave at Mach Speed. Fortunately and unfortunately, Sosuke ended up flying into the others. On the upside they saved Sosuke from becoming a wall ornament. The downside, they were all completely wiped out and were now at the mercy of the Minotaur. As the Minotaur turned its feet around and prepared to steamroll the five heroes, a part of the wall exploded.
From the dust, a blue electronic wave swept the cave. When the wave vanished, the two men from another dimension emerged from the hole they had created. The two men had arrived at the cave entrance at the same time the five men had completely crossed the lava pit. After scanning the first area of the cave, the two men found a hidden passage that lead them to the Minotaur's chamber. The passage was the exit from the chamber. The two men, with laser guns in hand, began firing at the Minotaur. The lasers had a big effect on the Minotaur as the metal monster was trying to shield itself with its arms.
After getting his wits about him, Sosuke turned to the two men. "The chest!" He yelled out. "Aim for the blue light on his chest! There's an Engine Soul in the chest! Break the glass and take it out, it's the only way to stop it!"
The two men nodded at the red warrior and took aim for the Minotaur's chest. Firing their guns at the same time, the lasers broke that kept Machalcon imprisoned in the metal beast. Once the glass shattered, the robed man made a mad dash across the cave and in a mere matter of seconds, was face to face with the Minotaur. The robbed man reached into the Minotaur's chest and took Machalcon out of the metal monster. Without Machalcon to power it, the Minotaur powered down and fell backwards to the floor.
The Minotaur wasn't the only think that fell backwards to the floor. After the Minotaur hit the ground with a huge bang, there was another huge bang that followed it. The seven men all turned to the source of the bang and saw that the cocoon had fallen backwards as well. Two doors opened in a triangular formation and what looked like steam came hissing out. All seven men circled the metal container to observe its contents. A smile of relief came across the faces of the Go-Ongers as they looked upon Saki. She was lying in the metal cocoon with her hands resting on her stomach in what looked to be a peaceful slumber. Hiroto picked up one of her hands and pressed his index and middle fingers to her wrist. It was cold but he did feel a pulse.
"She's alive." Hiroto stated.
This made Hanto break out into a big smile. The green hero then turned to the men that had saved them and thanked them gracefully. Then the others turned to them with questions, like who they are and where did they come from. But the Quest Master interrupted any chance of that happening for the time being.
"What happened down there?" the Quest Master yelled out. The blue electric wave had knocked out the Quest Master hidden cameras in the room. He had no idea that the two mystery men had just saved the Go-Ongers from the Minotaur. The two men signaled to the Go-Ongers to not tell the Quest Master of their involvement and the five complied.
"We beat your Minotaur." Renn called out.
"YOU WHAT?!" The Quest Master yelled.
"He said we beat your Minotaur." Hanto called back.
"How?" asked the Quest Master. "You were all…You couldn't have…Damn it what the hell just happened?"
"We beat your challenge." Answered Sosuke. "Now tell us where Miu is!"
The sound of the Quest Master exhaling could be heard over the hidden loud speaker. "Very well." A hidden doorway opened up. The passage was pitch black and there was a bar dangling at the top of the doorway. "Take the zip line down to the next landing. It will take you straight to Go-On Silver. But keep in mind that only one with the same name as her can pass."
"Alright then." Hiroto said as he made his way to the zip line.
"Hiroto wait." Sosuke called out. Hiroto was just about to take hold of the bar when Sosuke called out to him. "You're not the one who has to save Miu."
"What do you mean."
"The only person who can use this zip line is the one with the same name as Miu." Sosuke said running over to his brother-in-law.
"Yes, and that person would be me. She is my sister after all"
"Yes, but she isn't Sutou Miu anymore. She is Esumi Miu." Sosuke stated.
After thinking it over, Hiroto saw that Sosuke was right. He and Miu will always be of the same blood but ever since she married Sosuke, they no longer shared the same name. So Hiroto stepped back and let Sosuke take hold of the handle.
"Wait!" the robbed man cried out. "You shouldn't go alone. There no way of knowing what has been set up for you."
"I have to go." Sosuke replied turning to face the robbed man. "Miu is my wife. She's my whole world. I can't just stay here and do nothing. Thank you for helping us." he turned back to the doorway "Hold on honey. I'm coming at Mach Speed." Once Sosuke had a good grip on the bar, he pushed off and went souring into the darkness. About halfway down the zip line, Sosuke had unknowingly passed through an invisible gridline that scanned him. The scanners recognized that it was Sosuke and let him reach the end of the line. Had Hiroto attempted the zip line, the bar would have dropped from the line and Hiroto would had fallen to his death. Once he touched ground, a doorway opened up in front of Sosuke and a hallway with lanterns revealed itself to him. After calling back to the other to let them know that he had made it safely, Sosuke ran head on into the hallway on his way to rescue Miu.