The wall of the laboratory exploded inward as Gyou’s full weight slammed into it, and Gyou only had a moment to be thankful that it was not the one where Murakami’s son was being held. That was when Alkanphel’s presence made itself known again, far stronger this time. Cursing in his native German, Gyou turned quickly back to the hole he had just made in the wall. Charging up another Gravity Bullet, Gyou let loose with his attack once he could see Alkanphel more clearly.

The dust from his impromptu entrance had settled enough for Gyou to be able to see Alkanphel raising his right hand. Even if he hadn’t been able to see that one action, Gyou was sure that he would have been able to sense it when Alkanphel’s forcefield snapped into place. The power of his Gravity Bullet was dispersed and scattered over the walls, not even touching the First Zoalord.

"Verdammen!"

Blasting a new exit for himself, through four layers of reinforced concrete, Gyou let himself fall down it. There really wasn’t much danger for him, at least not from anything but Alkanphel, so Gyou wasn’t concerned about anything – or anyone – that he might land on.

XxXxX

Zektor stopped in his pacing, and quietly seething, for a minute to watch what was going on in the rest of the base. It looked like Commander Gyou was on the warpath, but it also looked like he had been spooked by something. Zektor hadn’t thought it was even possible for Commander Gyou to be spooked by anything, but whatever this new threat was, it seeming to be doing the job.

"What the hell is going on out there?" Gaster demanded. "Why is the Commander going on a rampage like that?"

"I’m not really sure of that myself," Zektor said. "But whatever the reason, it seems to have something to do with whatever’s chasing him."

"What could give the Commander this much trouble?" Darzerb asked.

"Aptom couldn’t have managed to get inside the base somehow, could he?" Gaster asked nervously.

If any of the remaining members of Team Five had looked over at a certain Zoanoid, one whose uniform was battered and torn, they would have seen him start to smirk. They would have also seen that this Zoanoid possessed a large and rather distinctive burn scar on the right side of his face. But none of them turned to look at him, and so none of them would find out his true nature until it was too late.

"I doubt it," Zektor said. "Besides, even if he had, I don’t think he’d be strong enough to put the Commander on the run like this."

"Do you think it could be one of the Guyvers?" Darzerb asked.

"That’s a possibility," Zektor said. "But still, I don’t think even two Guyvers working together could give the Commander this much trouble."

"Well, if it’s not Aptom and it’s not the Guyvers, then who could be doing this?" Gaster asked. "Who could make the Commander so desperate to escape that he’d go on a rampage this way?"

"I don’t know," Zektor said. "That’s what scares me. And I don’t like the fact that we haven’t received any orders from Dr. Balkus, either."

"Yeah," Darzerb commiserated. "I wonder what happened to him?"

Zektor sighed, and didn’t say anything else.

XxXxX

The wall behind him and to his right exploded under the force of Alkanphel’s Gravity Bullet, Gyou felt the shrapnel pelt his back as he ran.

-Where are you running to, Reholt?- he heard Alkanphel ask.

-None of your damn business! Get the hell away from me!-

Another barrage of his own Gravity Bullets, which did about as much to stop the First Zoalord as throwing water balloons at him, left Gyou a fair amount more breathless than he would have liked. This running battle, while it had seemed at first like a good method to wear Alkanphel down, was instead doing just the opposite. Indeed, for all the fatigue he was showing, the First Zoalord could just as well have been sleeping while Gyou had been attacking.

Grumbling various vile curses at the First Zoalord as well as the Second, Gyou blasted another hole in the floor and leapt through it. There had to be some way to lose Alkanphel before they both made it to the basement. There had to be!

XxXxX

Zektor had made up his mind by now, after watching the monitor cameras go haywire one by one as the Commander passed them. There was only one way to find out just what was going on with the Commander; and that was to go out and find him. He and Darzerb could help the Commander if he needed them, but Gaster would have to stay behind since his weapons weren’t really suited for indoor combat.

"Darzerb, come with me," Zektor ordered. "We’re going to look for the Commander, see if we can help him with whatever it is he’s doing. Gaster, you stay here and hold down the fort."

"Why are you leaving me out?" Gaster asked, mildly indignant. "I can fight just as well as either of you."

"I know that," Zektor rushed to reassure his fellow Hyper Zoanoid. "But you can’t use your weapons inside the base, so you’d be helpless if Aptom or the Guyvers suddenly showed up and tried to take advantage of the situation. Can you even imagine how far they’d be able to get with us not knowing who’s even responsible for all this destruction? It’s chaos out there. So it’s really for the best that you stay here and see if you can get a grip on the situation. Besides," Zektor winked. "You’re the tactician here, I’m just the grunt-man."

"Yeah, or the grunt-bug," Gaster chuckled. "Still, I can see what you mean. I am probably the only one who could manage to make heads or tails of this mess."

"Don’t let it go to your head, pink-boy," Zektor said, catching Gaster’s jokingly smug tone.

"Oh, go on already," Gaster shot back, enjoying their banter. "You’re annoying me."

After a few seconds of fierce internal debate, Zektor reluctantly decided not to pop Gaster one for that. Rolling his eyes in that long-suffering way he had done so many times instead, Zektor heard Gaster chuckle.

"Come on Darzerb, let’s get going," Zektor said, signaling for the largest member of Team Five to follow him

"Coming."

Gaster, watching his fellow Hyper Zoanoids leave, sighed once they were out the door and out of sight. He might have agreed with Zektor’s reasons for leaving him here, but that didn’t mean that he had to like it. Being stuck in here, not even able to see what was happening to his teammates since all the cameras in the area where the Commander had last been sighted had all been knocked out by the Commander’s energy field, was not something that Gaster was prepared to take lying down.

One thing was for sure: Zektor was going to get a stern talking to when he got back. Gaster almost had to laugh at himself for that thought, it made him sound like someone’s dad. The click of boots on the linoleum made Gaster turn, curious about just who was coming. One of the Combat Agents, one who looked like he had been roughed up quite a bit judging from the state of his uniform, was giving him an understanding look.

"They’re going to be all right," the Standard Zoanoid said calmly.

"Yeah, I know that," Gaster said, sighing. "They’re two of the best, and Hyper Zoanoids at that. But still, I wish I could go out there with them."

"Oh, you’ll get your chance," the Zoanoid’s tone was now distinctly sly.