There is a secret network of underground passages beneath Tokyo. Soon after the end of the Pacific War, such a rumor spread as if it were true.

However, this is nothing more than a rumor with no known source. In addition to technical problems, there is no record of its actual use, nor is there anyone who was involved in its construction.

The group entered a space that shouldn’t have existed, dark and deep, continuing on endlessly.

「I-I-It’s cold, uiiiii!」

「Of course, we went down quite a distance, wan… 80 meters underground… much deeper than the subway, wan…」

In terms of depth, the Ark Dominion underground secret base is much deeper, but of course there is no air conditioning in the sealed off secret underground passages.

The bare concrete floor and walls oozed a piercing cold air. Though the rainy season was already around the corner above groound, it was so cold that they could see their breath here.

「Haa……ssu」

Samecchi chased after Negadog and the others, rubbing her fingers together.

She repeatedly blew air onto her slender fingertips not because it was cold, but to hide the sighs that just wouldn’t stop.

Right now, various thoughts were swirling around in Samecchi’s head, tangled up like a messy earphone cord.

「Haaaa…… ssuu」

Samecchi was single-minded and used her limited intelligence to do everything she could to be of help to the heinous legion, and ultimately to Rintaro.

But what are the results?

It is an undeniable fact that this has dragged many of her allies into a difficult situation.

Many times Samecchi tried to send a request for help to aniki. Each time, however, her little chest ached, filled with apologies and sadness, and her little fingertips just couldn’t ask for help no matter what.

It was like popping a water balloon full of muddy water, and all the things she didn’t like about herself would come spilling out. That’s the feeling she got.

「……Stop, wan.」

The leading Negadog stopped dead in his tracks. His nose twitched and his ears twitched in a Shiba-inu-like manner.

「What’s wrong, ui?」

「……Something is coming from behind, wan……」

Negadog’s gaze was fixed behind where they had just walked, into the depths of darkness.

This is a long, straight road, deep underground and hardened with concrete. Naturally, there is no escape route.

『……Waaaaaasu……』

A voice reached the ears of the mysterious beings from the depths of darkness.

It was like the roar of a beast, and the group looked at each other and gasped. In addition, there was a faint sound of something sticky crawling on the ground.

It was obvious that something terrible was following them in the space they had just been in.

「This is…… the smell of spices, wan……」

The next moment, a loud roar reached the ears of everyone present.

『……Gowaaaaaaaaasu……』

The voice came from close behind the group.

Negadog turned the flashlight toward the voice. Darkness was dispelled from the narrow passageway, streaming across the concrete floor.

However, the unreliable light was blocked by a wall about 20 meters ahead.

What was illuminated was just a dead end, not a single speck of trash on the ground.

「……There is, nothing, ssu?」

「Is this someone’s prank, ui?」

「Who the hell is it, oraui?! Stop messing around at a time like this, oraui!」

Samechi and the zako fighters breathed a sigh of relief. Bancholf, who was in charge of the zako fighters, twisted his head as he flopped against the wall.

「But, there’s something strange about this wall, oraui. It feels kind of warm…」

In contrast to everyone else, Negadog opened his mouth with a look of horror on his canine face.

「……Hold on a second, this can’t be a dead end! After all, we just came walking from there a moment ago!」

The underground passage, where even the echoing sound of footsteps feels cold, is a single narrow road where only two people can walk side by side at most.

There is no way they could have gotten lost along the way. If that was the case, then the mysterious being group must have walked from this “dead end.”

Such a thing cannot happen, unless they walked through a wall. Even though it was a space that does not exist in maps or records, it was impossible for the path they have been walking on to suddenly disappear.

『……Gowaaaaaaaaasu……』

The wall groaned in front of the group as the color gradually drained from their faces.

「A, Awawawa, Awawawawa, oraui……!」

The next moment.

The entire wall was writhing like a lump of meat. Then, as if by magic, a short, thick “arm” sprouted from a section of the wall.

「This is bad, wan! Get away from the wall immediately, wan!」

「Orauiiiiiiiiiiiiiii!!!???」

A huge palm at the end of a thick arm grabbed Bancholf’s body tightly.

「H-help me, orauiiiiiiiii!!」

「Aah! The leader has been caught!!」

「Sshianunnrurussaonou! !」

The other zako fighters rushed over in a panic. But no matter how hard they pushed and pulled, the hand didn’t budge.

Amazingly, each of its fingers is thicker than Bancholf’s arm.

「Higyaaaaaah! Let go, orauii!」

Bancholf frantically punched the fat fingers.

However, as if to show anger at this, the wall, or rather the mass of flesh, shook violently as it held Bancholf in its grip.

『Gowaaaaaaaaaaaaasu!!!!!』

The roar of the mass of flesh shook the cold air of the narrow tunnel.

At the same time, Bancholf’s thick arm sunk into the mass of flesh with a crunching sound.

「Aaaahh! I don’t want to die, oraui! I don’t want to die, orauiii!」

「「「Leadeeeeeeeeeeer!!!」」」

Despite the screams of his comrades, Bancholf’s body was swallowed up by the mass of flesh and the floor.

As if to replace it, a face wearing a mask appeared in the center of the mass, pushing aside the flesh.

『Cuuuuurrryyyyyyyyyyy!!!!!』

The yellow mask, which the mysterious beings were now familiar with, belonged to undoubtedly Victor Yellow, a member of the Victory Sentai Victor Ranger. The giant, wall-like mass of flesh was the bursting muscles of a hero sent as a pursuer by Hero Headquarters.

This was the end result of a currently active elite hero who had traded his reason for a superhuman body due to curry doping by his colleague, Momoshima Ruru, aka Victor Pink.

「I- It appeaaaaaars, ssuuuuuu!!」

「R- R- R- Run away, waaaaaan!!!」

『Cooooriiaaaaaaandeeeeeeeeeer!!!!』

As the mysterious beings ran away, a wall of yellow flesh closed in from behind. One by one, the zako fighters were swallowed up in the gaps between the flesh and the passageway.

The fighters, who had initially numbered about twenty, had already been reduced to less than ten remaining.

「If this keep going like this we’ll get caught, ssu!」

「It’s over now, wan……! What a fleeting life, wan……!」

It was only a matter of time before the entire group of mysterious beings was wiped out. The surviving zako fighters looked at each other as they ran and nodded vigorously.

「We’ll stop them here, ui.」

「No, ssu! Anymore sacrifice than this, Samecchi won’t be able to show her face in front of aniki, ssu!!」

「Negadog-san, please take care of Samecchi-san, ui.」

「……Understood, wan.」

Negadog picked up Samecchi’s small body as she was about to stop moving.

「Let go, ssuu!」

The zako group saluted as Samecchi left, seemingly being sucked into the darkness.

「Please tell Death Green-san that we did our part bravely, ui.」

「Also, please tell Colonel Usanyi-chan that I was a great male, ui!」

「Hey you bastard! We won’t tolerate any sneak attacks!!!」

「Sshianunnrurussaonou!!」

The wall of flesh (Victor Yellow) closed in from behind, as if trying to swallow everything. If they were to be crushed by that, there would be no guarantee of survival.

However, even though they are zako fighters, they are mysterious beings. Each one of them is a mysterious being with a body that far surpasses that of a human, and a life force that is far greater than that of a human.

「Everyone, prepare for a scrum, ui! Let’s buy some time, ui!」

「「「Uuiiiii!!」」」

The zako fighters put their arms around each other’s shoulders and charged towards the wall of flesh.

………………

…………

……

When the growling could barely be heard, Negadog, holding Samecchi, slowed his pace.

Unlike the narrow underground passages they had been in up until then, this was an open space with a high ceiling. Judging from the large pressure fans installed near the ceiling, this was likely a space set up for ventilation.

Negadog crouched quietly so as not to make a sound with his footsteps, and his dog ears and nose twitched.

At the same time, Sametchi, who had finally been freed, immediately tried to turn back.

「Help, need to go help, ssu!」

「Samecchi…… Wait, wan.」

Negadog grabbed Samecchi’s arm and put a flashlight in her hand.

「……Once you get through here, just keep going straight and you’ll reach the hidden safe, wan.」

In pitch darkness with no clear future, letting go of the light is a matter of life and death. Samecchi, who was suddenly handed this lifeline, didn’t immediately understand Negadog’s intentions.

「……Also, I’ll give this to you while I still can, wan.」

「This is…… A key, ssuka……?」

The emblem was of a lion and claw marks. It was a large key, decorated with the design of the Hundred Beasts Legion.

「The hidden safe is up ahead, wan… It’s about 2km away, but run as hard as you can, wan… I want you to deliver at least a part of the contents to Ojiki, wan… Please, wan…」

「Negadog will come with too, ssuyone? Right?」

「……That’s not the case, wan……」

At that moment, a blinding light illuminated the faces of Negadog and Samecchi.

Two shadows stood against the industrial flashlight used at construction sites.

「My my, you have good intuition. If you had just gone a little further, we could have caught you all in one fell swoop.」

「Oh well. Only two of them are no match for us, ze. Looks like Kioumaru did a good job, ze.」

「Yes, he’s very smart. I have to put a lot of organic potatoes in today’s curry.」

Backlit by the light, the colorful outline resembled primary colors. The V emblem shone brightly on Victor pink and Victor blue.

One wore a pink vestment over her suit, while the other was covered by blue robotic armor. They are, without a doubt, members of the Victor Rangers, an elite unit of the Hero Headquarters.

Of course, Negadog, whose main battlefield is business, and Samecchi, who only has the physical abilities of a child, are no match for them.

「Shark, run, wan… Don’t look back, wan…」

「B- But, ssu……!」

「……It’s okay, just run, wan…! Do something only Samecchi can do, wan…!」

With a strong push from Negadog, Samecchi ran off in a bewildered manner.

Of course, the Victor Rangers are not the type to miss that.

「I’m not letting you go, ze!」

Blue flames erupt from the jet engines on his back, and Victor blue loomed over Samecchi’s back.

However, the moment Blue tried to grab Sametchi’s hoodie, there was a heavy clang and a large claw-like knife was thrust into the mechanical arm.

At the same time, the thrown knife arced like a boomerang and destroyed the flashlight.

The large underground space was once again closed off to darkness, with only the jets leaking from the blue armor illuminating the surroundings.

「……Tch! So cheeky, daze！」

Blue narrowly missed catching Samecchi and immediately went to face the source of the knife. However, his vision was already shrouded in darkness, and he was unable to immediately catch a glimpse of Negadog.

「…… there’s a way to fight even if you can’t win, wan…… sob sob…… so frustrating, wan…… so vexing, wan……」

A sobbing sound came from the darkness, overlapping with the sound of a child’s footsteps running away, and reached the two heroes’ ears.

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<204: Tokyo Shinjuku Underground Walker
206: Abandoned Underground Station>