No, I can't die like this. I still
haven't found Sho and the others; I still haven't found a way to
make Chronos pay for what they did to Prof. Odagiri and my
friends. I can't die! Leaping
to the right to avoid a shot that would have taken his head off,
Toshiaki turned to confront his tormentor.
"What do you want with me?!" he
demanded, panting from his exertion.
"I want to know why you were following
me," The man, obviously a Zoanoid given the way he'd been firing
those energy beams, sneered. "Ever since those bastard Zoalords
arrived, I've been hunting down dumb damn spies like you
practically every day."
"I'm- I'm not a spy," Toshiaki said,
stuttering slightly.
Something about this guy gave him the
creeps; it wasn't just the dark glasses or the large facial
scar, either. Something about him was just… wrong.
"Hmph. Do you know what I do to
spies?" The scarred man grinned at him in a particularly
unnerving way. "I eat
them."
"Wait!" Toshiaki shouted, backing away
from the now-obviously-insane Zoanoid. "I already told you I
wasn't a spy! I just wanted to ask you a favor!"
All the while, his mind reeled from the
implications of what the Zoanoid had just admitted himself to
be. A cannibalistic Zoanoid? Was this one of Balkus' creations?
Made for the express purpose of hunting and killing any Lost
Units that escaped from Chronos' control maybe? But then, why
would he have referred to the Zoalords as bastards?
"Oh, is that right?" The Zoanoid's right
hand shot out, clamping itself firmly around Toshiaki's throat.
"Then tell me, what's that favor you wanted?"
"Don't! I already told you that-" but,
as Toshiaki started to feel his throat being peeled open, his
words dissolved into a choked, gurgling scream.
He could feel himself involuntarily
transforming into his Zoanoid form, and even as Bio Freezer, he
was still helpless in the grip of Balkus' cannibal Zoanoid.
"And here's your true form!" The scarred
Zoanoid cackled gleefully. "It's kind of pathetic, but it's
really you!"
As Toshiaki's eyes started to roll back
into his head, in what was probably his death throes, Toshiaki
noticed that the expression on the scarred Zoanoid's face was
changing from sadistically amused to slightly confused. And then
he let go of Toshiaki's throat. Toshiaki fell to the ground,
panting, sweating and even drooling from the painful ordeal he'd
just been through.
"How the hell can you be a Lost Unit
too?!"
"I made myself that way," Toshiaki said,
gagging slightly from the blood still in his throat. "And I was
following you because you were staying close to the people that
I want to make contact with. Namely Sho Fukamachi and his
friends. We worked with each other before X-Day, in Relics
Point."
"All right, I'll bite," the scarred Lost
Unit said, helping Toshiaki back to his feet. "Still, are you
sure it's really Sho you want to talk to? Yukari's a lot cuter
than him; and I hear she's available."
"What?! I would never think of Yukari
like that! Wait…" Toshiaki shook his head, trying to reconcile
two distinctly different mental images.
On the one hand, there was Sho
Fukamachi; Guyver I. The first person he'd met with the power to
take on Chronos and win on a long-term basis. Murakami had been
a great person but he'd -
she'd? - been limited by his -
her?
- flawed and incomplete processing. That had limited his -
her?
- effective fighting time to about twenty minutes. Twenty-five
if he - she?
- pushed himself - herself?
- to the absolute limit. Wait,
who am I thinking about?
"Getting kind of confused? Feeling like
your head's about to explode? Maybe wanting to rip open your own
brain?" the scarred Lost Unit grinned at him again.
"How did you know I was feeling that
way?"
"I wasn't talking about
you.
What do I call you, anyway? Since we're on the subject of you."
"My name is Hayami Toshiaki, and yours?"
"Toshiaki, eh? And what do you suppose I
call that battleform of yours?"
"That's Bio Freezer. And you still
haven't told me your name yet."
"You can call me Aptom."
"Just Aptom?"
"Just Aptom. It's not like I have
another name to give you. Well, let's go find those friends of
yours."
"All right, let's go."
XxXxXxXxXxXxXxX
Far away from where the two Lost Units
were heading off to meet their comrades, deep in the underground
levels of Cloud Gate, two other Zoaforms were having a meeting
of their own. Bathed in the pale, almost sickly-looking
illumination from the row of processing-tanks in front of them,
Hikari and Imakarum Mirabilis oversaw the creation of four very
specific Zoanoids. They were all of the same breed; a very
dangerous brood of Zoanoids indeed.
They were the next generation of
Guyver-killer, and they were also possessed of another, hidden
asset.
The only one who did not seem
particularly pleased with the thought of these new Zoanoids –
these enhanced Guyver-killers – was the newly arrived Fried'rich
van Purg'stall.
"Beautiful, aren't they?" Hikari purred,
caressing the cool Plexiglas of the processing-tank. "They were
a gift from Lord Hamilcal," Hikari flashed white teeth in a
fierce grin.
"Indeed," Imakarum said, with the exact
same amount of reverent fascination in his voice as Hikari. "He
worked on them while he was also reprocessing Zektor into a
creature capable of destroying Aptom. These four will make
excellent hunting dogs."
"Yes," Hikari said, smiling again. "They
will indeed."
"As you will, then," Fried'rich
said calmly, though he was still inwardly leery of both
iterations of Imakarum Mirabilis.
If these creatures of yours are
hunting dogs; then what do you think that that makes you?
Vicious creatures.
Turning for a moment to watch as Lord
Fried'rich left, Hikari pondered for a few seconds on her fellow
Zoalord's demeanor. "I don't think that Lord Fried'rich quite
approves of us, my Lord."
"He seems to approve of our results, if
not the methods themselves, which seems to be his normal way of
operating," Imakarum said, looking briefly in the direction that
Lord Fried'rich van Purg'stall had retreated in before turning
his full attention back to the Enzyme IIIs growing in the
processing-tanks. "Anyway, it's not much of a concern to us, my
Lady. We simply need to think about how we will use these new
Enzymes of ours to kill Sho Fukamachi and the rest of his idiot
cohorts."
"Yes," Hikari said, turning back to look
at the four Enzyme IIIs resting in their amniotic baths. "And to
bring my little Yukari-chan back here, where she belongs. Though
I don't suppose these Guyver-killers of ours will be ready for
quite some time, my Lord."
"Indeed. I would say they need at least
forty-five more minutes before they would be ready to take
flight and hunt down the Guyvers with us, my Lady."
"While we wait, would you find fault if
I went up to the cafeteria? I find myself craving something
sweet."
"Of course not," Imakarum said, coming
up to stand beside Hikari. "I think I will even accompany you. I
also find that I have a craving for sweets as well. I'll even
treat you to a coffee, with three creams and two sugars, my
Lady."
Smiling as Imakarum wrapped his right
arm around her waist, Hikari leaned into his embrace. "Why thank
you, my Lord."
XxXxXxXxXxXxXxX
Curled up in one of the window-seats,
Yukari's head resting against the left side of his chest, Sho
just leaned against the glass and watched the world go by. He
knew that Tetsuro and Mizuki were talking about them, he could
even make a good guess as to what the current topic of their
conversation was from the tone of their voices. They were
worried; worried about him and Yukari.
They had been worried about them ever
since two weeks ago; that was when everything had really started
to sink in for them. After all, there was only so much to do in
this house - especially since they couldn't go outside for fear
of alerting the Zoanoids to their whereabouts - and there was
only so long that they could keep from thinking about things
with nothing else to distract them. Sho knew that even Yukari's
knitting lessons with Shizu, which were responsible for the
colorful scarf that she was wearing, couldn't distract her from
what had happened to Ms. Murakami anymore.
They'd tried to keep the others from
noticing their state, if only to keep them from worrying about
something they couldn't do anything about, but even that hadn't
worked after the first week and a half. It was hard to hide
something from people that spent every hour of the day with you.
Even harder when they were your friends and had known you for
almost all of your life.
Sho wasn't quite sure if Akane and Agito
knew how they felt, but he really would have been surprised if
they had. Those two were very observant, after all.
Tugging absently at Yukari's long scarf,
Sho leaned his head against the glass again and tried not to
think. It sounded like Tetsuro had just left.
XxXxXxXxXxXxXxX
+This is going to provide some
problems for us, Agito,+ Akane
said, stretching out her legs as she reposed next to him.
+I had thought that those two would
manage to realize that there is nothing to be done for their
former friends. I suppose I underestimated their thickheaded
sentimentallity.+
+We both did,+
Agito concurred, as outside the open door Tetsuro walked by.
+And, even though they were
the ones who made their respective Gigantics in the first place,
both of them have proved consistently unable to use the armor to
its full capacity.+
+Yes. The Gigantics were created to have
the power to overcome Zoalords, but all of that divine power is
utterly worthless in the hands of those two. They couldn't even
manage to kill one of our opponents when we all fought together.
All they could think of was to escape.+
+That is usually the case with
them,+ Agito said, chuckling
humorlessly. +The Gigantics
would be put to much better use if we possessed them.+
+Yes, so they would.+
As Shizu passed by the door, carrying a
tray of coffee for Natsuki, herself, and Tetsuro, she looked
into the room where Master Agito and Mistress Akane were
staying. They seemed to be rather aggravated about something;
worried, but not wanting to invade their privacy, Shizu left
without a word.
When she arrived in the main entrance
hall, Shizu set down the tray just as she heard two sharp knocks
on the door.
"Ah, Natsuki's home!" Mizuki said
happily, heading quickly over to the door so she could open it.
It was indeed Natsuki Taga, the one who
had been doing their shopping ever since those Zoanoids had been
spotted looking for Yukari in the city. But, when Mizuki greeted
Natsuki at the door, she paused, and then she asked what was
wrong.
Shizu also came forward, wondering if
she could do anything to help. Natsuki had done so much for
them; for her and Master Agito and Mistress Akane and the
others, that Shizu would have felt remiss in her duty if she
hadn't done all that she could to help. When Natsuki said that
there was someone with her, Shizu wondered who it could be. She
had known Natsuki well enough to know that the other would have
screamed and called for help if she had been accosted by a
Zoanoid so close to their safehouse. Master and Mistress would
have been very quick to defend her if that was the case.
XxXxXxXxXxXxXxX
Standing next to the girl who had
taken his prey in and was keeping them safe from the Zoanoids
who had been hunting them, at least when those Zoanoids weren't
being hunted down by him,
Aptom just barely resisted the urge to make a smartass remark.
He found that he usually looked scarier when he didn't say
anything at all; so that was what he did. From the expressions
on the faces of the two girls in the room, and the one on the
fat guy that both of his would-be opponents liked to hang out
with, he was doing a really good job of it.
When his prey came into the room, along
with those two other Guyvers he didn't really care much about,
Aptom decided that he should really start paying attention to
what the girl who'd led him here was saying. Things would
probably start happening again once they were introduced
formally to his erstwhile companion.
"Won't you come in?" the fat kid –
Tetsuro, Aptom remembered – offered shakily. "I don't think we
should be leaving the door open like this."
"I'm not really the one who came here to
see you," Aptom explained, just to see the looks of confusion on
their faces. "I just tagged along. There's another guy who
wanted to meet you; someone who told me he knows you."
"Okay, so you were right," Toshiaki
said, as he stepped out from behind Aptom and got his first
clear look at the people in the house.
"I usually am," Aptom said, grinning.
"Mr. Hayami? Is it really you?"
one of the girls – Mizuki; Aptom's memory of her was even
clearer than the one he had of Tetsuro – asked, looking
completely shocked. "But- but it
can't
be!"
XxXxXxXxXxXxX
Sitting on top of a nearby
building, crouched down low so he'd present the absolute minimum
shadow, a Rocies observed the goings on.
So that's why none of us has been
able to track down that little Guyver babe and drag her in.
She's been hiding out in this out of the way place. Hmm; I might
as well get a closer look.
Suiting actions to thoughts,
Rocies leapt closer to the building where he now knew that
little Yukari Fukamachi was staying.
This might be a little more dangerous
with Aptom in the picture, since he can sense when Zoanoids are
near. But my vital signs are really close to human-standard. I
should be able to slip by right under his radar.
Adjusting his eyes until he could
see in through the windows, almost as if he himself was standing
right outside, Rocies saw something that made the risk of the
trip he'd taken to get close enough to spy in through the
windows of the house well worth it.
Score! Sho Fukamachi, Agito
Makishima, and that bitchy counterpart of his, all in one place!
Crouching until only his eyes and ears stuck out above the rim
of the rooftop, Rocies concentrated on the presence he could
still feel in the back of his mind.
Your Excellency, I found them!
-All of them?-
Yes, Excellency. All four of the
Guyvers, all of their allies, and even that Lost Unit that you
were hunting.
-So, even Aptom is with them. Good work,
Rocies. You can expect an easier assignment when you return to
Cloud Gate.-
Thank you, Excellency,
Rocies said, keeping his eyes trained on the people in the house
in front of him. Oh, and could
you give a message to Her Ladyship for me?
-What message would that be?-
Tell her that I hope it goes well for
her, and that she gets what she wants out of it.
-Consider that message delivered. Now, I
want you to continue observing them.-
Yes, Excellency.
-Good.-
XxXxXxXxXxXxXxX
Sitting back in the seat inside the
Psycho Wave Amplifier, Imakarum Mirabilis smiled with sheer
pleasure. It would be very easy to deal with all of Chronos'
most dangerous enemies when they had gathered themselves
together so nicely.
-Hikari; Rocies has found our prey for
us. And he also wishes you all luck with your endeavor.-
-Perfect,- Hikari responded, obviously
smiling. -Shall I call our lovely pets out of hiding?-
-Of course, my Lady. Call them; and
we'll go out and bring Yukari home with us. And we shall kill
every one of those who oppose our master's glorious cause!-
-Indeed we shall, my Lord.-
As he teleported into the basement of
Cloud Gate, Imakarum wondered briefly what he would see when he
arrived there. The Enzyme IIIs were feral creatures; something
about the process that Balkus submitted them to destroyed the
higher functioning of their minds, reducing them to little more
than beasts. Still, Hikari was a Zoalord like him; she would be
able to handle four mere Zoanoids. Even if they were
Guyver-killers.
The four Zoanoids, all in their human
forms, were gathered around Hikari. Their behavior toward her
was indeed somewhat animalistic, since one of them was smelling
her hair, two of them were rubbing their heads against her
stomach, and the other one was apparently trying to take a bite
out of her shoulder armor. Reaching out with his telepathic
powers, and feeling Hikari do the same, Imakarum subdued the
Enzyme IIIs and ordered them to form a line behind himself and
Hikari.
They did, after a cursory amount of
prodding from his and Hikari's telepathic powers. Once they had
stopped trying to sniff at everything in the room, Imakarum gave
them the order to transform. He and Hikari did that very same
thing, and the six of them stood revealed for what they truly
were.
-And now, my Lady, the hunt begins.-
-Indeed it does, my Lord. And it will be
most enjoyable.-
XxXxXxXxXxXxXxX
They had been working, far beneath the
sands of the Arizona desert, Dr. Balkus and his entire research
staff. Working to create new and better Zoanoid models, and
working on the mystery of where the doubles had come from and
how they had appeared. And, just perhaps, how to find a way of
sending the two Guyvers back while leaving the Zoalord who had
come with them in this place.
However, for the moment Dr. Balkus
himself had other things on his mind.
"So, both Imakarum and his female
counterpart have left Cloud Gate?"
"Yes," Purg'stall said, his image on the
screen flickering slightly. "Apparently, the Guyvers have gone
to ground somewhere in the city and they have located them now.
The two of them left with the Enzyme IIIs without a word."
"Good," Dr. Balkus said. "Do not
interfere for any reason. If they have indeed left to hunt down
the Guyvers, then they are acting on the express wishes of Lord
Alkanphel. All of the actions that those two take are motivated
by their concern for the greater good of Lord Alkanphel and
Chronos as a whole."
"Of course," Purg'stall nodded. "I will
keep that in mind."
Settle this; both of you,
Dr. Balkus ordered silently, knowing even as he did so that
neither version of Imakarum would need any further prodding to
accomplish their assigned mission.
Destroy the Guyvers, as our lord
Alkanphel wishes. Fulfill your mission.
XxXxXxXxXxXxXxX
Back in the city of Tokyo, on the
fringes of the Shinjuku district, the four Guyvers and their
allies had just finished explaining the situation to their
long-absent friend. Including, to the best of their knowledge,
why there were now four Guyvers when there had originally been
only two.
"Wow. I would have never imagined that
something like this was even possible; but since the proof is
standing right in front of me, I guess I really have to
believe."
"That's pretty much what we feel, Mr.
Hayami," Tetsuro said. "It's really good to see you again,
though. With everything that's been going on lately, we've been
worried."
"I could say the exact same thing about
you," Toshiaki said. "I'm glad that you've managed to find
reinforcements. Um, whichever 'you' did the finding, that is,"
Toshiaki said, the implications of the memories that he had in
his own mind was starting to give him a headache; but it did
help to keep his attention off of the things that he didn't want
to think about. Things that he was going to have to tell his
friends about very soon.
"Mr. Hayami?" Mizuki asked. "You looked
so sad for a minute; what's wrong?"
Sooner than later, it seemed. "While
it's good to see you all again, saying hello wasn't really the
reason that I came," before he could lose his nerve, or anyone
else could interrupt, Toshiaki pressed on. "Why I came here
really isn't something that I like to think about for too long;
but I suppose I should tell you my reasons. Especially after
Torii and the others all died to give me the chance to escape."
"You mean that all of the other
scientists we met are…" Sho stepped forward to wrap his arms
around Yukari as she choked on a sob, unable to finish her
intended sentence.
"Yes. I'm sorry, Yukari, but they
are," Toshiaki said, feeling like he wanted to do something to
ease Yukari's mind – and Sho's too, now that he thought about it
– but knowing that he couldn't. "I'm sure you all know that all
Chronos scientists are infected with a virus to keep them from
escaping the company or rebelling outright."
Well, if they didn't know already,
they know now, Toshiaki mused.
"The virus will consume and destroy the brain unless
specifically modified antibodies are injected. It's almost like
a form of brain cancer. The only way to permanently destroy the
virus is to submit to processing, but that has its own set of
very large drawbacks; as I'm sure you're all aware." Toshiaki
paused, breathing deeply. "We found a way to get around that,
though."
"What way is that?" Tetsuro asked.
Before Toshiaki could say anything,
Aptom spoke up. "They all decided to try being Lost Numbers,
like me." Crossing the room with a few long strides, Aptom
roughly mused Toshiaki's hair. "I never imagined one of my
little brothers would be a lab rat."
"Please don't do that again," Toshiaki
said.
Shrugging with utmost unconcern, Aptom
continued to speak. "We Lost Numbers are single-generation
mutations; none of us really has to follow the instructions of
the Zoalords we serve under, but most of us do because it's just
easier that way. Less hassle, you know? I'm one of the ones who
can ignore them completely now, thanks to that old bastard
Balkus fiddling around with my genes so much. Still, ol' Freezer
here might be able to do that too, since he designed himself to
be that way."
"Freezer?" Mizuki asked, confused.
"Bio Freezer," Toshiaki corrected
automatically then he elaborated. "That's the name of my Zoanoid
form; the one I helped design," he sighed. "All the rest of us
that had worked under Dr. Odagiri worked for a very long time,
trying to find a way to cure the anti-rebellion virus that we'd
been infected with. But the only viable way that we found was to
intentionally become Lost Numbers. But the Zoaformation process
was never intended to produce Lost Numbers at all; like Aptom
said, they're a fluke," Toshiaki squeezed his eyes shut,
remembering his friends. "None of the others survived the
process. Torii; Fujiwara; Ijuin, they all died. As you can see,
though, I survived."
"Most impressive," Akane allowed.
"But, how
did you survive?"
"By using the data that we gained from
all of the failed attempts," Toshiaki admitted lowly.
Aptom, standing next to his "little
brother", tensed. He could sense something, it was just on the
edge of his perception, but there was no mistaking this feeling.
There was a Zoanoid very, very close to their current location.
Turning whip-fast, and ignoring Tetsuro's surprised yelp, Aptom
fired his hand-beam directly into the Zoanoid's midsection.
Given the way it had nearly managed to
evade his senses even when it was so close, the thing had
probably been a Rocies.
"Was that a Zoanoid?"
Aptom rolled his eyes at Agito
under the cover of his dark glasses.
No, I just felt like randomly
blasting a hole in the window of a house I don't even own.
"If that thing found us, then we're not
safe here anymore," Tetsuro said, making the first intelligent
statement that Aptom had heard since he fired his beam and
eliminated the prowling Rocies.
Still, if there had been a Zoalord in
communication with that oversized lizard… Aptom's senses
screamed with the presence of Zoanoids. Four of them; strong
ones, probably Hypers. Hearing Agito talking about how they all
needed to get out of there, Aptom decided to tell them just how
many problems there were with that plan as of the present
moment.
"We're already surrounded," Aptom said.
"But then, there are only four of them, which seems kind of
stupid to-" Aptom paused, taking in the feeling that there were
more Zoanoids than he had previously sensed. A lot more.
They were more familiar to him; Standard
Zoanoids. Vamores. A whole lot of Vamores. Too many, in fact,
for him to sense all of their locations.
"You, the Guyver twins! Transform and
get these people out of here if you want them to live!"
A minute after he'd said that, the
entire house went kablooie. The flying wood-shrapnel and burning
debris wouldn't have even scratched his fully formed carapace,
but that didn't matter since he was covered by the shield from
two Gigantic Guyvers. Besides, the debris probably would have
hurt his little brother 'Freezer. Both Gigantics were carrying
two people, which left one person each that got carried by
Guyver III. And left him without a passenger.
Not that he minded; at all.
"Well, I guess that's the end of Prof.
Odagiri's mansion."
"Relax, Tetsuro," Toshiaki called over.
"That was just the house he stayed in when he was working in the
city."
"You mean he has another mansion?"
"Yeah. It's out in the country."
"Less
talking,
more escaping,"
Aptom cut in. "We can discus things like that when we're not in
danger of being killed by Hyper Zoanoids."
"Sho he's right, look!" Yukari shouted.
"They can fly?" Sho gasped.
"Apparently so," Akane said. "And, has
anyone noticed that these creatures bear a startling resemblance
to those Enzyme IIs we all faced?"
"Chronos has designed a new type of
Enzyme; one that possesses flight capabilities," Agito mused
aloud.
I always love a good Enzyme,
Aptom chuckled darkly to himself.
They're so nice and spicy.
+What are we going to do, Sho? We can't
fight off those Enzymes when we're trying to get the others to
safety.+
+I think that all we can do for now is
try to outrun them; and try to find a safe place where we can
hide Tetsuro, Mizuki and the others.+
+You're right,+
Yukari said. +We just have to
keep flying. Everything's going to be fine.+
A lesser person would have probably
blamed Yukari for what happened next.
XxXxXxXxXxXxXxX
-Here they come, my Lord.-
-Yes, my Lady. And right on time, as
well.-
-I always enjoy having punctual
victims.-
"Hello, children," Hikari said, baring
her pointed canines in a dangerous smile. "Have you been waiting
long?"
"It seems that everyone is here,"
Imakarum purred, chuckling deep in his throat. "Where do you
lovely ones think you're going?"
"If I didn't know better, I'd think they
were trying to escape from us, my Lord," Hikari said, with the
air of someone talking about a thing of no particular
consequence.
"They think they can escape?" Imakarum
laughed maliciously. "Poor, deluded things. They have no hope.
None at all."
Hikari and Imakarum fired, directly at
the Gigantic that was carrying Tetsuro and Mizuki. Disoriented
because he couldn't raise his shield in time to deflect the
blasts and in a fair amount of pain from the beams, Sho
inadvertently released his hold on his two friends.
"Tetsuro! Mizuki!"
Only the fact that she was carrying
Natsuki and Hayami kept Yukari from diving to try and catch the
falling forms of her and Sho's closest childhood friends. Sho
was the one who dove to catch them, but Yukari opted to cover
his back, just in case the two Zoalords who had attacked were
thinking to attack again. Landing beside Sho when he'd gotten
their friends safely, though not comfortably, back on the
ground, Yukari raised her shield.
"How are they?" she asked, not daring to
move any closer for fear of disrupting the Gigantic's
forcefield.
"I think they'll be all right," Sho
said, looking quickly from Tetsuro to Mizuki and then back
again. "It looks like they both got a little stunned."
"Well now, that
is
a load off my mind," Hikari said, laughing wickedly. "After all,
we wouldn't want any of our little pawns to miss the rest of the
game, now would we?"
"I should say we wouldn't, my Lady,"
Imakarum laughed. "Still, I really can't believe how many of
them survived. Look, it's Shizu and Mr. Onuma. And little
Mizuki, of course. And her big brother Tetsuro. And some other
girl I've never seen before. And even a former Chronos
scientist."
"It's almost enough to make one
nostalgic," Hikari leaned her cheek against her right hand, then
sighed with false sentimentality. "A Mt. Minakami reunion."
"So, where have your fellow scientists
gone, Hayami? I know they ran away with you aboard the Relic.
So, why haven't they come here to support you in your
rebellion?" Imakarum needled.
"Because they're
dead!
They died for the oath we all swore to Prof. Odagiri, you brutal
sadist!"
"How very tragic," Hikari drawled,
sounding as if she was on the verge of laughter.
"Murakami," Mizuki moaned, hating the
way that her and Sho's – and her and Yukari's – old friend was
acting. Things should never have turned out this way.
"And now 'old friends', let us begin THE
DANCE OF DEATH! Let's get this party started!"
Laughing, Hikari ordered the Enzyme IIIs
to close in around their prey.
"Tetsuro!" Sho shouted. "Hayami! Take
the others and run!"
"I won't leave you to fight them alone,
Sho!"
"He won't be
alone,
dimbulb," Aptom snorted, despite his lack of a nose. "He's got
his counterpart with him; and me, of course. You'd just be in
the way. You probably don't even know how to use that battleform
of yours, so you'd be even more in the way. Just leave those
Enzymes to me; you four, and focus on those Zoalords!"
It was proving to be quite difficult for
Hikari to hold back her laughter, even as Aptom viciously
attacked the four Enzymes that she and Imakarum had brought to
this battle. Both she and Imakarum knew what was coming, after
all. They knew how futile Aptom's show of force would prove to
be.
When Sho shouted a warning to his Lost
Number compatriot, just after said Lost Number had attempted to
destroy one of their Guyver-killers with a barrage of imitation
Gaster-type bio-missiles, Hikari found herself chuckling at his
meager efforts. The true power of the third iteration of the
Enzyme model was about to be revealed.
"What the
hell?!"
Laughing at the Lost Number's confusion,
Hikari decided to enlighten him. It would be amusing to see how
he reacted to them; to knowing that he had been decisively
beaten by Chronos at last. "You look so surprised, dear Aptom,"
she drawled. "You really shouldn't be; these Enzymes have been
designed to be more formidable than any Zoanoid you have ever
faced before. As you can see, they have the ability to resist
your most powerful electrical currents; to absorb the impact of
bio-missiles without detonating them; and to regenerate damage
from high-intensity lasers in seconds. All of this was designed
with you in mind, Aptom. Don't you feel special?" Hikari
laughed, then quickly sobered. "There is a price for all that
power: these Enzymes will only be able to live for two – maybe
three – years from the day they are processed. However, two
years is more than enough time to kill you here and now, Aptom!"
"What?!"
This time it was Sho, and this time Hikari ignored the
interruption.
"That's horrible!" Yukari shouted.
Aptom, meanwhile, seemed to be
having some more difficulties. She knew - and Imakarum knew -
why that was, but she wasn't particularly inclined to explain
it. Let that worthless, Zoanoid-eating
mistake
figure things out for himself.
"As you might have noticed, Aptom, these
Enzymes have also been equipped with the same virus and the same
anti-bodies that Neo-Zektor himself had," Imakarum said,
smirking at the Lost Number. "These Zoanoids will not be food
for your hunger," Imakarum laughed. "Not only the Guyver's
natural predator, but now yours as well, Aptom!"
"Damn it!" Aptom shouted impotently.
Tetsuro also looked horrified by that
development, probably since the only people who could fight
against Guyver-killers of this caliber were the ones who had
been doing all in their power to avoid the battle in the first
place.
-Just as planned is it not, my Lord?-
-Indeed it is, my Lady.-
"Well now, it looks like you two are the
only ones who can save your little friends," Imakarum said,
grinning like a death's head at the two Gigantics. "Are you two
willing to take us on, or should we just start killing your
weakling friends and then move on to you later?"
"I won't let you hurt my friends!" Sho
shouted, clenching his left fist and raising it slightly. "Even
if I do have to fight against the both of you to keep them
safe."
There seemed to be a moment of
non-verbal – most likely telepathic – communication between the
two Gigantics standing before them.
"We'll fight you, but not here," Yukari
said. "And you have to spare Tetsuro and the others."
"Oh, we'll spare who we can," Hikari
said dismissively. "However, I hope you understand that if they
attack our Enzymes they will in fact be forfeiting their lives.
These Zoanoids of ours don't take attacks against themselves
particularly well, you know."
"Follow us, then!"
"You want to fight us in the air?"
Imakarum wondered, grinning. "Very well then!"
He and Hikari launched themselves
skyward, calling on their gravity-manipulation abilities to
propel themselves after the twin Gigantics who were their
enemies. Gravity Bullets and energy blasts from the two Zoalords
shattered the still air, but no attack from either of the
Gigantics were fired in retaliation. Either they were trying to
lead the two of them farther away from their pitiful friends… or
they still hadn't accepted the fact that neither him nor Hikari
would ever turn against Lord Alkanphel and betray Chronos'
glorious cause merely for the sake of the friendship that had
been shared by a dead man and a fool. Or a dead woman and a
fool, in Lady Hikari's case.
Though Yukari could prove useful in the
long run, after a few select… alterations, of course.
Imakarum laughed. "Is that the best you
two can do? Do either of you really think that you can escape
being like us simply by flying away?" Imakarum laughed harder.
"This isn't a fight, this is a game of tag! One you're both
going to lose, of course!"
One of Hikari's Gravity Bullets slammed
into Sho's armored back, knocking the Gigantic off-balance.
"You're still not focusing, Sho!" Hikari taunted.
"Stop it!" Yukari shouted.
"Why don't you try and make us?" Hikari
taunted, laughing.
"That is, unless you've already resigned
yourselves to defeat," Imakarum chuckled darkly. "In that case,
Yukari, we'll take you back to Chronos with us. And I shall
personally rip the Control Medal from the head of your idiotic
counterpart!"
Diving forward as Hikari spiraled around
to cut off Sho's escape from the rear, Imakarum found his hand
stopped by Yukari's arm.
"Stay away from him!"
"And I suppose you're going to stop me,
eh little girl?" Grabbing the offending appendage, Imakarum
threw the second Gigantic aside like she was nothing. "I think
not!"
While Sho was distracted, watching to
make sure that Yukari would regain her equilibrium in the air,
Imakarum rammed into him. He still managed to raise a defense,
such as it was, by grabbing Imakarum's outstretched left hand as
it sought out the large target that was the Gigantic Guyver's
Control Medal.
"Are you trying to be funny, Sho?"
Imakarum laughed. "We both know you're not going to have the
will to actually fight me. Not with
his
voice and his
face. You still see me as that fool Murakami, admit it, Sho!"
Imakarum laughed; laughed at Guyver I's failure to respond to
his words in anything resembling an effective manner, laughed at
the pain that Sho must have been in from merely hearing him
speak in such a way.
Hearing Hikari dealing with Yukari,
Imakarum was just about to turn to watch his counterpart as she
dealt with the Guyver that had opposed her Chronos' efforts,
when he was distracted by the sensation of increased pressure on
his hands and fingers. Could it be that Sho, weak-willed
creature that he was, had actually developed the fortitude to
challenge him?
When Imakarum found himself being pushed
backward by Sho's surprisingly aggressive attack, he found that
he had to make a rather quick reevaluation of the situation. It
seemed that Sho had indeed decided to try and battle him on the
terms he had set; time would tell if he would prove adept in the
battle, or even willing to fight it long-term, but if Sho was
going to attempt to challenge him, than the Gigantic Guyver was
going to have to deal with the consequences. And there would be
consequences, indeed.
-Our Enzyme troops have begun their
attack, my Lord.-
-Good, my Lady. Keep me posted on their
progress. How is your own battle with Yukari proceeding?-
-Define 'battle', my Lord. I seem to be
playing a game of tag with her now.-
-Well, Sho seems to have gotten over his
reluctance to fight me, at least for the moment. We will see how
long that lasts.-
-Indeed. Aptom seems to have found a way
to deal with our Enzyme troops.-
-Oh? That's going to be a bit
problematic for us. How many of them did he manage to kill?-
-There is only one left, so three of
them.-
-One Enzyme III against those three
annoyances. Perfect.-
-Indeed. Would you like me to keep you
posted still?-
-No; our Enzymes can deal with those
annoying gnats. You just make sure that Yukari will not be able
to provide any aid, pathetic as it very well may be, to Sho if
he tries to call for her.-
-Of course, my Lord. I will make sure
that there will be no inconveniences for you.-
-I know you will, my Lady. And I thank
you.-
As Sho came back around,
apparently trying to ram into him for some odd reason, Imakarum
raised his shield and repelled the Gigantic Guyver. He did
likewise when the Gigantic fired the Head Beam at him. Imakarum
fired his Crystal Laser, but Sho managed to dodge the beam as it
burned the air. Imakarum chuckled.
You're pathetically weak, Sho. If you
don't start using the full power of your Gigantic against me,
than you're never going to be able to beat me. And as long as I
stay below you, you won't use the Gigasmasher for fear of
hitting your precious friends, and if you won't use the
Gigasmasher, then there's nothing you can do that will save your
life!
"Spiral Crusher!"
As the large, cyclone-like energy blast
screamed towards Sho, Imakarum fully expected his attack to
fatally damage the weakling Guyver. Or, at the very least,
damage him enough that Imakarum would be able to finish him off
without wasting so much more of his own energy reserves. He was
not expecting Sho Fukamachi to be able to evade his attack by
passing through the center of it, but that was just what the
Gigantic Guyver facing him did.
-My Lord, you seem rather frustrated. Is
there anything that I might do to help?-
-Not unless you have managed to
subdue Yukari to the point where she wouldn't be able to provide
any meaningful aid to Sho, my Lady,-
Imakarum said, as he fired a barrage of Gravity Bullets at the
oncoming Gigantic.
-I think I have that well in hand, my
Lord.-
-Then I welcome your help, my
Lady,- Imakarum said, as he
fired off an Incision Wave at Sho.
When even that failed to stop his
advance, Imakarum backed up and started to formulate a new
strategy. Sho had apparently decided to engage him on equal
terms, at least for the moment, and now he needed to deal with
Sho on this level rather than treating him like the helpless boy
that he had been acting like for most of this battle. When Sho's
arm, with its large Vibration Blade fully extended, came
scything toward his head, Imakarum froze up for just a moment.
Truly, he had not been expecting that
Sho would prove to be so willing to dispatch him, even after he
had done so much to goad him into the battle. Perhaps Sho was
not so attached to his former incarnation as he had professed to
be.
However, when Imakarum saw Sho begin to
hesitate, even before Hikari grabbed his wrist and wrenched his
arm away from his face then fired a Gravity Bullet directly into
his gut, Imakarum laughed at Sho's idiotic sentimentality.
-You have the most impeccable timing, my
Lady.-
-I thank you for your compliments, my
Lord.-
"Were you having a change of heart,
Sho?" Imakarum mocked. "You little fool!" he laughed. "Even if
Lady Hikari had not come along when she had, you would have
still wasted the perfect opportunity to kill me!"
-I think we have wasted enough time
playing these childish games, my Lady. It is time we ended this
battle decisively.-
-I agree with you completely, my Lord.-
Imakarum could sense it when Hikari
started to gather her energy in preparation for unleashing a
quick burst that would free her from the confines of her battle
armor and jumpsuit, and he was quick to do the same. The burst
of energy that ripped the confining armor and specifically
engineered cloth off of them was almost perfectly synchronized,
and appeared as a bright flash of strobelike light.
Taking advantage of the distraction
caused by the light, Imakarum and Hikari dove in to attack.
Linking with Hikari, Imakarum found that he could see through
her eyes to a limited extent. And when she linked to his own
mind in return, it was as if the two of them had become one
being. Or, more precisely, a hybrid of their own separate minds.
It was a very useful skill; where one of
them attacked, the other would be fully able to cover any blind
spots or weak points in their defense. When one of them fired a
volley, whether of Gravity Bullets or their varied energy
attacks, the other was always there to shield them for the short
time that they needed as they recovered. The two Gigantic
Guyvers, with their more limited and straightforward telepathy,
were completely unable to find a comparable advantage.
It was, therefore, not long before the
two Gigantics began to show sighs of severe damage and fatigue.
As the mind-linked Zoalords continued to press their advantage,
the Gigantics began to fall back before their combined assault.
They started trying to protect each other, one trying to take
damage that was meant for the other, but once the Zoalords had
caught on to that plan, the two of them started to work to drive
the two Gigantics apart, or at least to keep them from being
able to work together well enough to be able to shield the
other.
And as the battle continued, the
maneuvers of both Gigantics began to become more sluggish and
uncoordinated, their defenses became even easier to predict and
counter, and they both showed sighs of extremely serious damage.
After only a few more minutes of brutal pounding, both Gigantics
disengaged, leaving Yukari and Sho in their battered and
exhausted normal Guyver forms. Disengaging their own mental
link, Hikari and Imakarum each flew after one of the Guyvers and
grabbed them around the neck.
-That was rather enjoyable, my Lord.-
-Yes, my Lady. It seems to be a rather
useful technique that we have uncovered.-
-Indeed.-
As the two of them, with their captives
still in hand, flew back toward the battleground where they had
left the Enzyme IIIs Hikari began to try and lock onto the mind
of the single Enzyme III that remained. When she was unable to
do that the first time, Hikari tried once more, it was when that
attempt failed as well that Hikari made up her mind to contact
Imakarum. It was just as well that the two of them arrived at
the battlefield just as she was about to ask Imakarum if he had
also failed to contact their Zoanoid troops.
The scars from the fight were all very
visible on the ground, and the fact that both the Guyvers and
Aptom were still alive – though at least in Aptom's case he had
suffered debilitating, and rather amusing, injuries – made it
rather apparent that the last of their Enzyme IIIs was dead.
"You managed to defeat all of our Enzyme
IIIs?" Imakarum wondered aloud. "I must admit, I'm impressed."
"Yes, and without any casualties,"
Hikari said, not quite sure whether she was more annoyed or
impressed herself. "I would not have expected something like
this to be the result of our attacks. Such a shame what happened
to Aptom though, is it not?" Hikari laughed, genuinely amused.
"Oh yes," Imakarum drawled, laughing.
"Tragic."
XxXxXxXxXxXxXxX
As Yukari hung, battered and unable to
move but still clinging to consciousness, her neck firmly in Ms.
Murakami's ungentle grip, she wondered what was going to happen.
Neither of them had really been able to fight against the people
they'd been friends with; against the people who both of them
had had to watch die because of their own failure. Would all of
their friends have to pay the price for their failure now?
And how would either of them live with
themselves if that was the case?
Mizuki looked worried, but since Yukari
was using up almost all of her energy just fighting to stay
awake, there was nothing she could say to reassure her friend
that everything was going to be all right. When Yukari felt her
own feet settling back to the ground, she also started hearing
the laughter of the two Zoalords who had been attacking them.
The two Zoalords who had once been their friends.
"I really didn't think that you would
have been able to kill all four of our Enzyme troops without
more than a few casualties," Mr. Murakami said, sounding like a
large predator on the hunt. "Still, I rather doubt that any of
you have the power left to defeat us."
"Yes," Ms. Murakami said, sounding like
she was about to start laughing any second. "They all look like
they've been put through a paper-shredder. And poor Aptom is
missing all his limbs."
"Now; it would be very easy for us to
kill every last one of you," Mr. Murakami said, in the tone of
someone talking about the weather. "But, I don't think that
either of us would really enjoy that," Mr. Murakami paused for a
moment, Yukari didn't really know why. "No, neither of us would
find that very amusing at all. So, I will tear Sho Fukamachi's
Control Medal out right here and now," Mr. Murakami's head
turned slightly, and for a moment Yukari got the very
uncomfortable impression that he was looking right through her
Guyver armor, and that he could tell that she was awake.
But he couldn't, could he?
"And if our little Yukari-chan isn't in
the mood to shed her armor at the moment, then we will start
killing you one-by-one until she makes up her mind to do so,"
Mr. Murakami sneered, giving credence to Yukari's fear.
Yukari shivered, not wanting to hand
herself over to Chronos if she could help it, but not knowing
what else she could do. Yukari didn't want anyone else to suffer
because of her, but she, and Sho, and Akane, and Agito were the
only ones who stood between Chronos and the rest of the world.
There were other people who would be hurt, maybe even killed, if
Chronos managed to get their hands on her and her Guyver. Yukari
didn't know what to do.
+Yukari!+
+S-Sho?+
+Yeah. Listen; Agito wants us to call
the chrysalises.+
+Why would he want us to do something
like that?+
+I don't know for certain, but I think
it might have something to do with the Gigantic armor. I think
we should try it; it's not like we have much else to lose.+
+All right Sho, I'll try.+
Just as she was about to try and call up
the chrysalis that allowed her to transform into her Gigantic
armor, Yukari heard Sho start to scream. Yukari had been so
absorbed in the conversation that she'd been having with him,
that she hadn't even noticed that Mr. Murakami had been talking.
When Yukari felt her feet leave the ground, not by her own
doing, she turned to look around at what was happening. At least
as much as she could, given her current weakened condition.
What Yukari saw was that Sho had managed
to summon his own chrysalis. Yukari had only a moment to feel
happy for Sho, and then to start to summon her own chrysalis,
before she found herself thrown through the air and facing Ms.
Murakami eye-to-eye.
"Oh no you don't!"
Ms. Murakami's hand lashed out fast as a
striking snake, and the next thing Yukari knew was that she
couldn't breathe. Clawing at her own throat as she fell, Yukari
found herself shedding her Guyver armor. Almost falling out of
it as she gasped for air that was all too slow in coming. Before
she could get a good lungful, Yukari felt someone's large hand
clamp down on her face; one of the fingers jabbing her in the
left eye.
All she saw after that was a bright
flash of light, and all she felt was a sharp rush of air. As if
someone had just snapped a large and invisible rubberband all
over her skin. Still feeling the pain from her eye, and being
very disoriented besides, Yukari couldn't put up even a token
struggle when the person who had grabbed her head – probably Ms.
Murakami – threw her to the floor. She didn't hit her head, but
only because someone else grabbed her around the shoulders
before she could topple too far.
That same person pressed something sharp
into her neck, and Yukari found her body growing even more heavy
and sluggish than it had been even after the fight. As her mind
grew more and more muddled, Yukari almost thought that she heard
someone calling out to her over the link…