Rivals Against the Machine

In which our two heroes discuss their next move.

"We've been over this! We need to find a way around the Giga-Tower's shields."

"I know, I know, but how?" Kiyomori said, his eyes scanning the horizon. It was the same question for the past three days, and each time Ryoichi had offered no answer. He was getting tired of hearing it.

Ryoichi stood and walked to a large rock that overlooked the road they had traveled down the day before. "It's right there." He pointed at a small building on the far side of the highway. "That's where they're going to be."

Kiyomori put his hands on his hips and sighed. "So? How do we get up there? Can't you just use your magic powers to beam us up or something?" Kiyomori wanted so badly to believe that Ryoichi could do anything, but he knew better than that. The kid didn't have any powers - not here in this world, anyway. Ryoichi turned from watching the distant tower and looked at Kiyomori with a confused look on his face.

"What are you talking about?" Ryoichi said. "You mean teleport us? No, I can't do that here." Kiyomori exhaled loudly and sat down on a nearby rock. They'd been traveling for days now, and he was tired, hungry and thirsty. His stomach growled loudly as if it were in cahoots with his thoughts. In fact, he hadn't eaten since yesterday afternoon when they stumbled upon a small farmhouse by the side of the road. He picked some fruit from one of the trees while Ryoichi went into town to buy some supplies with some cash he had taken from an ATM machine along the way.

Ryoichi had tried unsuccessfully to use his phone to call home again, but nothing seemed to work here in this world. Kiyomori was surprised when Ryoichi actually stopped trying after awhile and just tucked it safely away in his pocket. It seemed strange that someone who had been brought here from another world would stop trying to return home almost immediately after arriving here. But then again, Kiyomori wasn't really sure where *here* was anymore either - some far off place called Japan that seemed like a copy of Earth, but with strange elements such as robots and electric cars everywhere you looked.

"Hey!" Kiyomori yelled at Ryoichi who continued gazing out across the valley below them towards Tokyo city beyond it. "Why don't we just ask someone for directions?"

"To where?" Ryoichi replied without looking back at him so much as looking sideways at him while keeping his gaze fixed on that distant tower in the distance. "Look, I'm telling you I think we should go up there." Ryoichi pointed at the tower again with his thumb over his shoulder as he spoke with his hand behind his back leaning against the rock behind him for support so he could keep looking ahead at it as long as possible without having to turn around or crouch down low like Kiyomori was doing so he could look between two large stones in front of him at what lay beyond them across an open dirt field beyond them through a break in thick bushes surrounding them on all sides except for where they'd walked through earlier along a relatively clear path leading directly towards those distant buildings inside of that city where one of those things lives...