Aptom had gotten hungry again by now, and also bored, which was always a bad combination when one had to deal with him. He knew that there had to be more Hyper Zoanoids out here, Hyper Zoanoids that he could use to boost his own strength for when he went to confront Commander Gyou. Aptom knew that he would need all the strength he could steal to be able to take on a Zoalord like Commander Gyou.

That was why he was leaping through the trees in the failing light, trying to move as quietly as he could. Aptom was on the hunt again. Completely out of thin air, a bright burst of light exploded onto the scene. Seemingly even brighter because Aptom’s eyes had adjusted to the darkness as it had become progressively later. Now Aptom had to quickly readjust to the new level of light he had to deal with.

Not being human anymore helped him in that respect, since as a former Hyper Zoanoid it took his eyes a lot less time to adjust to light. Looking down at the three Zoanoids that he’d crossed paths with awhile ago, Aptom didn’t know yet whether they were Hypers or not, he saw that they were going over to investigate the flash of light. He could hear them talking, wondering what the lightshow was, and one of them mentioned that it had better not be him causing it.

Aptom was mildly insulted that they thought he would be that obvious. He hadn’t been this successful on his Zoanoid hunts by being stupid and obvious, like whoever it was that was giving the lightshow was certainly being. Aptom wasn’t sure just who was treating the four of them to the sight, but as much as he would be loath to admit it out loud, he was just as curious as the Zoanoids he’d been following.

Besides all of that, he was still hungry. Whatever this new thing was, if it happened to be something Aptom could sink his proverbial teeth into, he was going to be there to lay claim to it before old man Balkus got wind of it.

"Look, it’s coming down!"

"Do you still think it could be Aptom?"

"Nah, even Aptom doesn’t have this kind of power. Besides, this feels different."

"I know, it couldn’t be Aptom."

"That kind of power"? I’ll show you who has the power around here, you walking piece of lunchmeat! Aptom sneered inwardly. But, as the glowing figure slowly descended to land, Aptom could almost feel what was making the Zoanoids below so confused. There was something in the air, something that even he would have been reacting to if he’d had the bad luck to still be a Hyper Zoanoid at this point.

But even as he was, he could still tell that there was something very strange going on in this area now. Aptom was just wondering what that strange thing was, when the figure landed and the light surrounding it dimmed. It didn’t go out entirely, which was really weird as far as Aptom was concerned, but it did recede to the point where he could make out the figure behind all that golden-white light. The first thing that struck Aptom about the figure was its height.

Aptom would have estimated this new guy to be at least six feet tall, if not a bit more than that. And Aptom could just feel his power radiating in the air. It enveloped him but it didn’t affect him, at least not the way it did the Zoanoids who Aptom now could see were kneeling at the man’s feet.

"Ah, a scouting crew from the Japanese branch," the voice wasn’t as low as Aptom thought he had been expecting, though it did fit with the face that he’d just noticed was hidden under all that light.

"A pity they’ve seen me, now I suppose I have no choice."

When the not-a-Zoanoid’s eyes started glowing with hot, white light, Aptom again didn’t know quite what to expect. Thus, seeing the three Zoanoids’ heads explode was something of an interesting surprise for Aptom. This guy… he had to be a Zoalord! Aptom grinned hungrily. Maybe I don’t need to go after the Commander after all. Or, maybe after a light snack here, I can go do that, too.

Aptom had to laugh a little after that. He though that even a Zoalord’s hearing couldn’t have picked up something so quiet, but this guy was apparently not a normal Zoalord. He turned his piercing, golden-eyed gaze to face Aptom. Ooh, he’s a pretty one. Grinning, just to put the pretty Zoalord off balance, Aptom waved at him. The Zoalord didn’t look as amused or surprised as Aptom would have expected him to be.

The way he was staring so intently kind of unnerved Aptom, but he’d be damned if he ever let that Zoalord standing under the tree know that. Seeming to finally notice that Aptom wasn’t being affected by whatever power he had used to kill the three Zoanoids, the blond Zoalord held up his right hand, which Aptom noticed was encased in a tight, black leather glove.

The next thing Aptom knew, the tree he’d been sitting in was blown apart by what felt very much like some kind of a wind attack. That’s some trick! Okay, so I guess I found my first snack, Aptom grinned as he landed. This was going to be one hell of a challenge, but it wouldn’t be as much fun if it were too easy.

"Hey, lunchmeat!" Aptom cackled. "You’re pretty strong! Makes me wonder just how strong I’m going to be once I’ve finished with you."

The Zoalord showed no discernable reaction, which was kind on annoying since Aptom liked seeing the look of fear on the faces of the Zoanoids that he stalked. But, then again, this guy had probably never heard of him before. So maybe that excused him from showing what Aptom felt was the appropriate level of slack-jawed terror. And, even though Aptom wouldn’t have admitted it even under torture, there was something in the Zoalord’s lack of any reaction that unnerved him.

He wouldn’t have said it scared him, because Aptom was a Lost Unit and Lost Units didn’t get scared, but it was still kind of unnerving.

"Hey, I’m talking to you," Aptom said as he rose to his full height, which annoyingly enough wasn’t quite up to that of the Zoalord. "Don’t try to pretend you can’t hear me, lunchmeat!"

Still no response from the blond Zoalord standing in front of him. Annoyance spiraled into rage, which quickly sent fear whimpering into a dark corner. He’d been treated like shit, or alternately like he didn’t even exist, for too fucking long now. Now it was his turn to cause some real trouble for his former ‘employers’, and Aptom would be damned if he was going to let such an opportunity pass him up. Besides, this guy was reminding him of Dr. Balkus now.

Aptom hated Dr. Balkus.

"You’re mine! You hear that you bastard?!" Aptom charged.

All he had to do was get a handhold, Aptom knew, and his own parasitic DNA would take care of the rest. It was the one almost-nice thing Dr. Balkus had done for him, but even that didn’t make up for his letting those idiotic Standard Zoanoids and Hyper Zoanoids treat him and his comrades like trash. Besides, anything the not-so-good doctor had done for him was a fluke. Balkus had as much as admitted that to him when he had taken Elegen.

Aptom wasn’t so absorbed in his charge that he failed to notice the Zoalord raising his hand again, but since he knew that the Zoalord’s mental powers wouldn’t work on him Aptom wasn’t concerned so much about that. But, as he felt himself being lifted off the ground by some kind of invisible force, Aptom made a sound of surprise. It wasn’t a yelp, since Lost Units did not yelp even when they were honestly surprised, but nevertheless Aptom did acknowledge that that he was in fact surprised.

Okay, so I’m floating now. This isn’t so bad, I think I could even get used to it, Aptom reassured himself. Hell, I could even get used to using this power. Aptom could see the Zoalord’s eyes roving over his body as the Zoalord studied him, and could almost feel the Zoalord trying to access his mind and failing, then at last the pretty blond Zoalord started speaking again.