Deep in the lower levels of Mt. Minakami, Dr. Hamilcal Balkus was considering the merits of resurrecting the Hyper Zoanoid Team Five again. True, they had all been slaughtered in the battle at Chronos Japan’s secondary headquarters, but that had never been the only Team Five in existence. The original members of the second Hyper Zoanoid Team Five had been created to fight against that accursed Zoalord Prototype, Murakami.

They were also very useful in and of themselves, since the five of them were extremely loyal to one another and all of them were intelligent to varying degrees. In fact, the new Team Five had replaced the old one with complete success by this time. In the end, there was really only one way to best serve the interests of Chronos. Inputting a command on the computer console that stood in front of him, Balkus watched as the five processing-tanks in front of him were drained of their fluid.

Once they were fully empty, the tanks themselves retracted back into the ceiling. Zancrus was the first to open his eyes, but the other members of Team Five were soon awake and stirring as well.

"What are your orders, Dr. Balkus?" Zektor asked, cutting straight to the point as usual.

"You five are to go and retrieve Aptom. He had been sent after Guyver I to eliminate him, but has not reported in at all since then. I want that arrogant Lost Unit dragged back here if necessary!" Balkus hissed, trying to control his temper.

It was not Team Five who annoyed him, but Aptom, who he could no longer sense even with his supremely developed telepathy.

"Don’t worry, doc," Zancrus said, grinning at Balkus with admirable self-confidence. "We’ll drag him back here by his hair if you want us to."

"I do not think that that will be necessary, Zancrus," Balkus said, smiling and chuckling softly.

"When do we leave, Dr. Balkus?" Darzerb inquired.

"After all of you get dressed," Balkus said.

Darzerb had a brilliant mind when it came to tactics or large-scale analysis, but at times he did tend to overlook the obvious. Of course, Elegen and Gaster made up for that deficiency with their tendency to focus on the details. All in all, Team Five was both physically and mentally well suited for one another. Zektor nodded to Balkus, and he and the rest of Team Five filed out of the room.

Well, that’s one less problem I have to deal with, Balkus mused. Team Five can handle things with that Lost Unit on their own. Turning away from the processing-tanks as they settled themselves back on their bases, Balkus considered his other problem. It had been increasingly obvious of late that Commander Gyou was up to something. This latest incident with the monitoring of that child in the forest was just more proof that Gyou had his own agenda.

Contrary to what Gyou himself believed, Balkus was not the senile old fool that he pretended to be sometimes for the Twelfth Zoalord’s benefit. He knew that Gyou was hiding something, something more than most of the other Zoalords who served Alkanphel. It was not just the personal thoughts and desires that all Zoalords kept from one another as a matter of personal privacy.

No, this was something more, and something undoubtedly much more dangerous to Alkanphel’s cause if Gyou was trying to hide it this deeply. Balkus had known for some time that Gyou was extremely ambitious, had known it even since before Gyou had even become the Twelfth Zoalord. The man he had been, Reichman Wilhelm, had also been very ambitious. Reichman had almost literally jumped at the chance to become a Zoalord.

Alkanphel had been wary of humans like Reichman Wilhelm, but Alkanphel had also accepted the fact that there were not many humans who possessed the strength of mind and body to become Zoalords without the less than desirable tendencies like the man Wilhelm had had. As he thought further on the matter of what Gyou might have planned, Balkus came upon yet another set of processing-tanks that held clones of the Hyper Zoanoid Team Five.

Their mental patterns had already been established, and bodies were an easy thing to create with Chronos’ superior bioengineering technology. Turning away from the clones of Team Five, Balkus headed back up to the Information Control Sector. He already knew where Commander Gyou was, of course, but watching the way he fought the Guyvers and that prototype of his would perhaps provide some useful information.

Stepping inside one of the many elevators that ran between the surface and the lower levels of Mt. Minakami, Balkus looked out over the armies of Zoanoids that he could see being prepared to take their places within Chronos’ ranks. This was the goal that he and Alkanphel had worked so long and hard to achieve: the army that would protect this world from the inevitable return of the Advents.

Frowning, Balkus reflected that if the Guyvers and their little rebel group could know of Chronos’ true intentions, then perhaps they could be persuaded to aid rather than oppose the company. With what the organization had done to Murakami and Fukamachi, it might be somewhat harder for the two of them to come to such a decision, though. But sometimes some things just had to be put aside in pursuit of a larger goal.

This was the truth that Balkus had learned over his many long years of life. And with the power of those two Guyvers, the Advents would have an even harder time of trying to reclaim this planet from its rightful owners. But Lisker once made the offer to Guyver I, I heard, and Fukamachi refused it. Though perhaps, there is another way… Balkus had seen secondhand just how protective the Fukamachi boy was of those that managed to get close to him.

Balkus thought of such things as a ridiculous weakness, and even more so now that he had seen the kinds of things that the Fukamachi boy would put himself through. Guyver I had nearly gotten himself killed in Team Five’s attack on his school, transforming and going out to fight for people he only knew distantly. At least Guyver III had more sense than that, and the boy seemed far more intelligent in other ways, also.

Perhaps it would be better to concentrate on the elimination of Sho Fukamachi and Masaki Murakami, and then to deal with Agito Makashima later.

XxXxX

It wasn’t true… it just couldn’t be happening. But it was. And it wouldn’t stop.

Zancrus was whistling again.

"Zancrus, shut up," Zektor ordered for what felt like the seventh time in as many minutes.

His fellow Hyper Zoanoid blew a raspberry at him, but did as he was told. Zektor wondered just how long that would last this time. Not very long as it turned out, since Zancrus started up again not long after Zektor had managed to get used to just the sounds of Team Five’s footfalls again. Flipping a pinecone – or something that looked a lot like one – into his hand with his left foot, Zektor considered whether or not to pitch it at Zancrus’ head.

His momentary dilemma was resolved when Gaster, obviously getting fed up with Zancrus’ antics as well, stopped walking suddenly. Zancrus crashed into Gaster’s back with an audible thump and a soft ooof. Zektor chuckled low in his throat as Zancrus made a show of dusting himself off and checking for any injuries.

"What the hell was that for?" Zancrus demanded, though his voice lacked any real malice.

"What do you think it was for, you mantis-faced loony?"

"Oh, so now I’m a loony, am I?"

Before Gaster, Zancrus, or anyone else could come up with a suitable retort, Darzerb grabbed both Zancrus and Gaster by their necks and hoisted them up till their feet left the ground.

"Calm down you two. Remember what we were sent out here to do," the large Hyper Zoanoid said, looking at both of his smaller teammates in turn.

"We’re here to kick Aptom’s butt and drink beer," Elegen piped up. "And, since we don’t seem to have any beer at the moment, I guess that just leaves us with the butt kicking."

"Elegen, you talk too much," Zektor said affectionately, while Darzerb set Zancrus and Gaster back on the ground.

"Or maybe it’s just that Darzerb and Gaster don’t talk enough," Elegen said, grinning.

Darzerb shook his head, and Gaster flipped Elegen off when Zektor looked away for a second. Something wasn’t right. Despite the fact that they hadn’t seen any evidence that the Guyvers or Aptom had passed this way, Zektor was starting to feel more and more uneasy. What made the feeling even worse was the fact that there wasn’t anything in the surrounding environment that would even suggest that there was any reason for him to be feeling this way.

It wasn’t as if Zektor possessed any extraordinary senses, like Dr. Balkus or Commander Gyou. He couldn’t even feel subtle vibrations in the air, the way that Zancrus could when he was in his Hyper Zoanoid form. The trees were moving slightly, but even that could be explained away by the strong breeze that Zektor could feel blowing across his skin. It was Elegen’s strong voice that broke the silence, like Zektor had almost been expecting, but what he said wasn’t at all what Zektor would have expected.

"All right, which one of you just threw a pinecone at me?!"