It was his responsibility to save Yukari
and Aptom; it was his fault that they had been captured in the
first place. If he hadn't been so slow, Ms. Murakami would have
never have been able to capture her like that. And if Aptom
hadn't had to defend him from those three Zoalords, then he
wouldn't have been captured and frozen the way he had been.
Aptom wouldn't have been dying if it weren't for him.
This was his responsibility;
Yukari and Aptom were his
friends.
"Guy-!"
"Sho, wait!"
Sho turned at Mizuki's voice. "Mizuki?
What are you doing here?"
"What do you mean, what am
I
doing here?!" she demanded, grabbing a fistful of his shirt and
pulling him close. "What are you trying to do, kill yourself?!"
"I'm sorry, Mizuki," Sho said,
feeling torn between staying and leaving by the betrayed look in
Mizuki's eyes. "But I have
to do this. I can't just abandon Aptom to Chronos. And Yukari; I
have to save her. She's a Guyver, like me; and you know how much
Chronos hates us. Please understand, I have to stop them from
hurting any more of our friends."
"But what if you can't use the Gigantic,
Sho? You'll be killed!"
"I know I'm taking a risk by doing
this, and I know Chronos announced that they had captured Aptom
and Yukari to lure me into a trap, but I have to at least
try
to save them. Aptom sacrificed himself to save me, and Yukari
helped me when Mr. Murakami was," Sho swallowed past a knot in
his throat. "Was trying to kill me. I owe them both; I can't
just leave them with Chronos."
"Sho..."
"Try not to worry so much about me,
Mizuki," Sho said, as he took her hands and squeezed them
gently. "I won't try to fight Chronos' Zoanoids. I'll avoid them
whenever I can, and I'll dedicate myself to rescuing Yukari and
Aptom. I've been inside Cloud Gate before-"
"And that means you know your way
around," a very familiar voice finished his sentence for him. "I
can't let you go into Cloud Gate alone, Sho. I'll come with you,
to help you navigate better and to even the odds against you
there."
"Hayami, no! I
can't
ask you to do something like that!"
"You don't have to ask, Sho," Hayami
said, his voice calm. "I'm going to go with you. I worked for
three years studying the lowest level of that building. I know
how to avoid the patrols, and I know how to get into the
computer systems in that building. And I owe Aptom a debt of
gratitude for helping to save us when we were attacked by those
Zoalords."
"Hayami..." Sho wanted to protest
farther; this was his fight, and he didn't want any more of his
good friends falling into Chronos' hands. He'd lost enough as it
was.
But Hayami didn't look like he would
easily back down from this, and every second they wasted meant
that Chronos had more of a chance to do horrible things to his
friends.
"Sho."
Sho turned to regard Mizuki, who
was giving him a look of fierce longing. "You have to make me a
promise: you have to promise
me that you'll come back alive, no matter what happens."
"I promise," pulling her close so he
could hold her tight. "I promise that I'll come back to you,
Mizuki. I'll bring Yukari and Aptom back, I promise."
Squeezing Mizuki one last time, Sho let
go and turned away. Walking past Hayami as he transformed, Sho
took a deep breath and called for the Guyver. Once the bio-armor
had fused completely to his body, Sho breathed out and resolved
himself to what he was about to do.
Aptom, Yukari; I will save you, I
promise.
XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX
Since he was going to be controlling her
during her debut anyway, Jabir would often take control of the
little girl's physical functions. It was rather entertaining to
make the girl open her eyes, nod her head, and look around at
the various objects and tables filled with various equipment. Of
course, it would have been a great deal more amusing if the
little girl had a mind of her own; so that she could try in vain
to resist his control.
It would be so much more amusing if the
little girl could try fighting him, and he could crush her
pitiful defiance into nothingness as he took control of her
body. Shin would have never approved, of course; but then, it
wasn't any of Shin's business what the three of them were doing.
Besides, there was no pressing need for him to know just what
they were planning to do with the little girl that they had had
transferred to this base.
Tapping into the girl's physical
functions again, Jabir chuckled softly as he made her roll her
head from side to side, nod, and then blink her eyes with such
rapidity that the view through her visual senses became a sort
of strobe-ish slideshow image. The girl was a very entertaining
little puppet; it would almost be a disappointment when the girl
was given her own mind again.
Or at least a semblance of such.
Still, with a mind of her own, the girl
would be able to struggle. That would provide him with a modicum
of amusement.
"Jabir, I think you should stop playing
with little Isis' mind," Luggnagg said. "The Guyver may be
paying us a visit soon, and we wouldn't want the boy to get the
wrong idea about his little friend, now would we?"
"Of course not," Jabir said, smiling
slightly as he relinquished control of the girl's physical
functions. "I'll just wait until the right time comes."
"I think we're all waiting for that,"
Kablarl chuckled, speaking for the first time. "The Guyver boy
will probably arrive soon, to try and rescue his little
friends."
"Of course, given what happened in
Washington, it might be somewhat impetuous for us to be drawing
that very creature back to this base," Luggnagg said, in a tone
that suggested he was somewhere between serious and amused.
"There has been an attack on this
building once before, and this was made by two Gigantic
Guyvers," Khan said. "I honestly doubt that one alone will be
enough to cause us any significant trouble. Shin will most
likely be rather unhappy, but I suppose that is unavoidable."
"Then again, the possibility remains
that Sho Fukamachi is unable to use the Gigantic armor,"
Luggnagg stated. "I don't think Shin is aware of that."
"True," Jabir nodded. "Still, I wonder
if the boy had truly lost the ability to transform into the
Gigantic. It would indeed be useful for us if that were the
case; I simply don't think it would be wise for us to discount
the possibility that he was merely at the limits of his strength
when he fought us."
"Indeed," Luggnagg said. "Still, there
is time. Time for us to formulate a strategy that considers all
the variables of this situation. After all, nothing like this
has ever happened before: the Gigantic Guyver and the Gigantic
Dark appearing at almost the same time."
"Yes," Khan said, leaning back in his
chair but not relaxing his hands. "The only time that two
Gigantic Guyvers were spotted in the same vicinity at the same
time was when Guyver I and his little counterpart attacked us.
And we all know what happened to that little girl."
"True," Jabir said, smiling slightly.
They knew better than most. Then Jabir's expression became one
of mild confusion. "Still, what does that mean for us? Does that
mean there are merely two Gigantics instead of four?"
"So it would seem," Luggnagg said,
nodding. "Remember that the time Sho Fukamachi lost control of
the Gigantic coincided almost exactly with the appearance of
Gigantic Dark. And, there is still the fact that Akane Makishima
had not been spotted using the Gigantic."
"I would think that would be rather
obvious," Khan stated in his sagacious way. "The two Makishimas
have left Sho Fukamachi to fend for himself. They even seem to
have betrayed the boy."
"Those two are working to expand their
military's influence, one step at a time," Luggnagg said,
expanding on the point that Khan had brought up. "Now, neither
of them seems to have any use for the boy," he smiled coldly.
"This is truly a rare opportunity for us. We should send some of
our personnel out to investigate; there is a very good chance
that we will be able to turn this situation to our own
advantage."
The cityscape beneath them glittered
with possibilities. Possibilities that the three Zoalords fully
intended to capitalize on when the time came.
XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX
Sho panted from exertion; he'd never had
to fire the Pressure Cannon continuously for this long. Even
when he'd escaped from Purg'stall and the other Zoalords, that
hadn't taken anywhere near as long as this seemed to be taking.
Sho just hoped that the Guyver would have enough energy to fight
when he needed it to.
It wasn't just his own life on the line
this time; it was Aptom's and Yukari's, and Mr. Hayami's too.
That was why he was going to have to be at the top of his game
when he came out of this tunnel that he was digging: he had to
keep all of his friends safe from Chronos.
"You were right, Mr. Hayami, they're
waiting for us in the sewers, too."
"I had a feeling they would be," Mr.
Hayami said, his voice echoing slightly in the rocky tunnel.
"Still, what we're looking for is a lot deeper than the sewers.
It's at the deepest level of Cloud Gate; that's our way in."
Sho nodded, and kept burrowing.
Just hold on a little bit
longer, Yukari, Aptom. Hayami and I will be there to rescue you
soon. Please be all right.
He could sense a large, liquid-filled
space just in front of him, only half a meter of rock between
him and his goal. Focusing on his friends, blocking out all the
thoughts of what Chronos might be doing to them, Sho blew the
remaining rock apart with one shot from the Pressure Cannon.
Throwing himself into the water even as it flooded into the
tunnel, Sho flew through it and burst out in a violent spray of
disturbed liquid.
The two Zoanoid guards who had been
assigned to patrol the area on the off-chance that the sole
remaining Guyver in Japan made it into the area somehow suddenly
found themselves in the very situation that their superiors -
and even the Zoanoids themselves - had deemed so very unlikely.
"It's here! The Guyver I is
actually here!"
one of the Zoanoids, the one on the left, shouted.
"We have to contact the Main Control
Center!" the other Zoanoid exclaimed.
"You'll never get the chance!" Mr.
Hayami growled, as a blanket of freezing mist covered the two
Zoanoids before they could make another move.
Sho supposed that he might have felt
some mercy for the Zoanoids at one point, but that was before
Chronos had taken Mr. Murakami. Before he'd found out just what
kind of horrible people he was dealing with. Now, as the frozen
corpses of the Zoanoids crashed to the ground and shattered, Sho
felt only a distant kind of professional satisfaction.
That, and the subtle feeling of
wrongness that was nagging at him.
"I think this is all a little
too
easy," he said, looking at Mr. Hayami to try and see if he felt
the same.
Sho couldn't really read any emotions on
the strange face of Mr. Hayami's Zoanoid form, though.
"This place isn't that well protected,
Sho. This is about the level of security I was expecting them to
have. None of the people in charge would be likely to think that
we would enter from this deep in the building; that's what gives
us the advantage."
"Yeah," Sho breathed, taking a
moment to really look
at the place where he now stood. "It's really amazing that they
managed to create such a large reservoir two-hundred meters
underground like this. How did you know about it?"
"I have the technical plans and
blueprints for Cloud Gate that I stole back when they were
working out how to build this place. Back when I worked in
Relics Point, I always used to look at the plans and wonder just
how Chronos was going to construct such a huge building in the
city center; I never imagined that I would ever be trying to
infiltrate it someday."
Sho could just barely make out the smile
on Mr. Hayami's face, and from his tone Sho thought it would
have been wistful.
"Look up there, Sho. Several floors
above us is the electrical power plant that supplies energy for
the whole of Cloud Gate. The main processing facilities will be
one floor above that. Chronos always puts them as close as they
can to the generators."
"Do you think we'll find Aptom and
Yukari there?" Sho asked, following the cables and piping until
they disappeared through a hole in the ceiling.
"I don't know; but it's the first place
I expect Chronos would put them. Both because Aptom's one of
Balkus' lost specimens, and Yukari... because they probably want
to find out something about the Guyver. We'll begin our search
there."
Sho nodded, wordlessly following Mr.
Hayami deeper into Cloud Gate. He wanted to find Yukari and
Aptom; wanted to get them out of this place. He wanted all of
his friends to be safe.
XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX
-It's wonderful, isn't it my Lord? Our
little family seems to have grown just that much bigger.-
Curling his arms more securely
around Hikari's waist, Imakarum nuzzled her slightly.
-Yes. It is wonderful to have at
least one of the children that were so dear to us restored. Now,
if only Sho could be persuaded to listen to reason, then our
family would be complete again.-
-Yes,-
Hikari said, sounding pensive.
-Still, perhaps Yukari will be able
to talk some sense into him after Lord Alkanphel restores her to
consciousness. The two of them did seem to be rather close to
one another. A function of sharing so many memories, one would
suppose.-
-Isis,-
Imakarum said firmly.
Hikari made a soft sound of
confusion, so Imakarum decided to elaborate.
-Her name is Isis now; Lord Hamilcal
gave her the name and Lord Alkanphel approved it. We should
respect their wishes, my Lady.-
-You're right, of course. It will take
some time for me to break myself of the habit I have of using
Isis' human name, but I think that I could manage it given
enough time, my Lord.-
-Good. I look forward to the day when
Isis joins us in her full capacity, my Lady. And the day that
Sho rejoins us, as well.-
-I eagerly await that day also, my
Lord.-
As Hikari leaned more deeply into his
embrace, Imakarum looked down at the floor of the Ark. Somewhere
far below them, back on Earth, Sho Fukamachi was searching for
his counterpart. As well as Aptom; the insane and dangerous Lost
Number that he had somehow formed a friendship with. He would
not find what he was looking for this day.
Imakarum did not know precisely
why
Lord Alkanphel's last wish had been that the two of them refrain
from making their presence known; why they had been ordered to
stay on the Ark, with Lord Hamilcal as their only connection to
Chronos and Earth. Still, they were both faithful servants of
Lord Alkanphel, and that meant that neither of them would
question their Lord when he gave them an order.
That was most likely the reason that
both of them were so comfortable in the other's presence. That,
and the fact that they shared so many memories; as Hikari had
surmised that the case had been between Sho and Yukari
Fukamachi.
XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX
They had made it into the main
laboratory by now; it'd taken them a little longer to beat down
the opposition than Toshiaki had been expecting - evidentially
these scientists had had at least some amount of combat
training, though not anything like the Zoanoids that would be
sent after them if something went wrong - but in the end the two
of them were able to overcome them. It wasn't as if any of them
could hope to fight on equal terms with either a Zoanoid or a
Guyver. And certainly not both at once.
"The bulkheads in this area have been
disabled; and the alarm systems are off," Toshiaki informed Sho,
as the boy continued to glance around the room with the mien of
one looking for threats. Toshiaki doubted he'd find any, but
appreciated his dedication all the same. "I'm setting the
security cameras to replay the footage from six hours ago until
now."
His fingers danced over the computer's
keyboard, programming in the necessary codes to get the cameras
to loop the footage properly.
"There. Now, even if someone decides to
check the security tapes, all they'll see is business as usual
going on. Do you sense Aptom or Yukari in this area?" Toshiaki
asked, turning to regard Sho.
Sho, for his part, tilted his head up
and stared at the ceiling just long enough for Toshiaki to start
wondering what he was doing. So he asked.
"I have to focus on them if I want to
find them," he said.
"What about your connection to Yukari
through the Guyver?" Toshiaki asked. "Can't you sense her
through that?"
"No," and here Sho sounded genuinely
worried. "It's like our connection was cut off, somehow."
"How could that be?"
"I don't know," Sho said, shivering
slightly as he looked around the room. "I just know that I
haven't been able to contact her since last month. And I- I
think…"
"It's all right, Sho," Toshiaki said,
trying to be reassuring. "Can you at least sense Aptom?"
"No, I can't do that, either. It might
be just that his dormant body doesn’t give off the right kind of
signals for me to track."
"It could be," Toshiaki said, nodding.
The idea made sense, after all. "Come on; we should go check out
the laboratories. Maybe we'll find them."
XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX
The next thing that Sho heard was a loud
sound, almost like a submarine alarm, echoing through the
laboratory. Sho turned, knowing that neither one of them would
have activated an alarm. And, even though Hayami had told him
that the bulkheads were disabled - which meant that they
couldn't be trapped in this laboratory - Sho was still worried
about what might be happening.
Those alarms could be bringing guards
and Zoanoids into this area even as they spoke.
"What the
hell
did you just do?!"
Hayami demanded, grabbing the man by his lapels and shaking him
viciously.
"Hayami! The processing-tanks!
Look!"
Sho pointed to the monitor that was now showing a slightly fuzzy
image of five processing-tanks that were draining and starting
to open even as he watched.
"What the
hell...
It shouldn't be possible to release incomplete Zoanoids from the
tanks! Zoanoids in the early stages of development are almost
completely useless in combat; even if these are some new breed,
they shouldn't be completed to the point where they can be
safely released yet."
"Hayami, they're transforming! And
they're coming right at us!"
The five newly released Zoanoids leaped
and bounded across the tops of the processing-tanks that stood
between them and their prey. Hissing, snarling and growling, the
five Zoanoids landed in front of the two of them. The gagged
scientist watched in satisfaction, even as Sho recognized the
creatures they were facing.
"Those are Enzyme IIIs!"
This can't be possible! How could
they have known that we would be coming in this way? And how
could they have made these things so quickly? Hayami said that
Zoanoids take a full two weeks to process.
A gargling scream cut into Sho's
thoughts, and he looked over at the bound Chronos scientist who
had been sitting next to him. That scientist was dead now, after
having been impaled by the lead Enzyme III. Not wanting to put
Hayami in any more danger than he had to, Sho ran away from
Hayami and into the group of Enzyme IIIs that had attacked them.
Hayami may have been a Zoanoid himself,
but he didn't have the advanced healing capabilities that a
Guyver had. Even with the Enzyme IIIs and their ability to
dissolve his armor with their acid, he could heal faster from
the damage than Hayami; that was why he had to protect him. Sho
was not going to lose any more of his friends to Chronos.
"Sho!"
Hayami's shout, coming when he couldn't
afford any type of distraction, was something Sho had to tune
out. He had to find a way of killing these Enzyme IIIs before
they killed him. Firing the Head Beam into the nearest Zoanoid's
chest, Sho was surprised to realize that even a wound to what
would have crippled another breed - even another type of Enzyme
- barely slowed this one down.
"Look out behind you!"
Turning as another Enzyme leaped at him,
Sho found that Hayami had already tackled the creature. The
Enzyme now seemed to focus its attention on him, forgetting that
Sho even existed.
"Stay away from him!" Sho snarled,
kicking the vicious, mindless Zoanoid under the chin hard enough
that its head snapped back on its mobile neck just after it had
knocked Hayami to the floor.
The Guyver's head sensors detected
motion coming from the Enzyme almost directly behind him, but
too late for Sho to do anything but be impaled by the sharp,
harpoon-like spike at the end of the Guyver-killer's tail.
Managing to retain at least some of his focus, Sho clamped his
arm down on the Zoanoid's tail and blasted the offending
appendage apart with his Head Beam.
There were still three fully functional
Enzymes waiting for them, however, and Sho knew that he wasn't
in any shape to fight them anymore. Hayami would have a better
chance than him now, but there was no way that he would leave
his friend to the mercy of those monsters.
"Hayami, hold on to me!"
Wrapping his arms around Hayami's waist,
Sho leaped out of the range of the Enzyme IIIs and flew up to
the catwalk above their battleground. Landing, he pulled the
harpoon-like tail spike out of his arm where it had been stuck.
That was when he started to hear the buzzing; like a small fleet
of helicopters had been launched.
The Enzyme IIIs were flying after them
now.
"Run!"
Sho, suiting actions to words, took off
with Hayami not far behind him.
"There's a blind alley just up ahead,
under that ventilation shaft. If we can lead them into it-"
"I think that could work!" Sho broke in
excitedly. "Let's go!"
Running down the corridor, Sho
heard all five of the Guyver-killers following them. Turning to
confront the frozen forms of the Enzymes - Hayami's work, of
course - Sho opened his Mega-Smasher and began to charge it.
I have to make this shot
count, but since I don't know if Yukari or Aptom is on this
level, I have to destroy these Zoanoids without doing too much
damage to the laboratory itself. Well, here goes…
The Mega-Smasher screamed out of
Sho's chest, hitting and then disintegrating the frozen Zoanoids
in short order. I have to
control it! I will
control it! Once the light of
the 'Smasher had cleared, Sho beheld the results of his attack.
The building wasn't falling down on them, so that was a good
thing. And all of the Enzyme IIIs were gone, so that was
substantially better.
"Good work, Sho. There's not a trace of
those creatures left; thank you."
"I should really be thanking
you
for distracting them and holding them in place for me, Hayami."
"No, you probably could have done
that on your own. It's not like I have the power to actually
destroy those freaks of nature on my own," Hayami said, sounding
uncharacteristically depressed. "I'm glad I was able to offer
you at least some
help, though."
Breathing deeply, Sho concentrated on
healing the damage that the Enzyme IIIs had done to him. At
least, he did until he saw Hayami stumbling and moving to
support himself against the far wall.
"Hayami, are you hurt?" he called
anxiously.
"No, no I'm fine," Hayami said, panting.
"I must have overexerted myself when I froze those Zoanoids.
I'll be all right after I have a chance to rest a bit. You did
very good work with the Mega-Smasher, though," Hayami said,
leaning against the wall to get what rest he could. "The monitor
cameras will be deactivated for a while longer, but Chronos will
most likely be sending lower level Zoanoids down to investigate
the cause of the damage in this area. We should be gone before
they arrive; let's get moving."
"Are you sure you'll be all right? I
thought you needed to rest."
"I'll be fine, Sho. I was just a bit
winded, that's all."
"All right," Sho nodded as they started
walking. "Hayami?"
"What is it, Sho?"
"I'm sorry that I didn't control myself
better when I fired the Mega-Smasher. If I'd have been more
careful, then this wouldn't be a problem."
"That would have helped, but there's
nothing for it now. Best not to think about it."
XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX
Their spy, the newly developed Zoanoid
Gastahl, had just reported the progress of Sho Fukamachi and his
Lost Number cohort.
Luggnagg smiled. "I've received the
latest report from Gastahl; Sho Fukamachi and the Lost Number
Bio Freezer have entered the laboratories on the lower levels."
"That's good," Jabir said, smiling
slyly.
"Still, there is a chance that they will
realize this is a trap set for them, and make an attempt to
escape," Khan, who was either being contrary or simply
overestimating their currant opponents, stated.
"If that unlikely scenario were to come
to pass, we would know about it and be able to take the needed
precautions," Jabir assured him. "I have placed concealed
operatives along all the routs that these two will need to use
to access the laboratory where their little friends are being
held. Our welcome guests will not be able to escape their fate."
"We will want to ensure that Sho
Fukamachi is delivered into our hands with minimal harm,"
Luggnagg said, speaking for the benefit of his more rashly
inclined fellows.
"All things in due time," Kablarl
demurred. "If do not take such precautions, all of our work to
claim the boy's Guyver would prove to be fruitless. Besides, I
am certain that the boy's little counterpart will be able to
handle him quite well."
Khan gestured to the computer that had
been set to monitor the vital signs of one Yukari Fukamachi. Or
rather, Isis Mirabilis.