Lord Alkanphel nodded to him when he arrived, and when he looked toward the remaining Overlords, he saw that they seemed to have been waiting for him. He nodded to his fellow Zoalords to show that he was prepared to give them his full attention. It was Fried’rich van Purg’stall who spoke first.

"We have considered the matter of your son very carefully, Lord Imakarum," stated the silver-haired Lord, looking kindly at the Twelfth Zoalord, "and we have decided that, after Lord Hamilcal performs a minor operation on your son, he will be allowed to stay here."

"What kind of a minor operation did you have in mind, Doctor?" Imakarum asked, deliberately not using the Second Zoalord’s formal title. Imakarum’s eyes fluttered briefly as the white-bearded Zoalord sent a summary of what he planned to do directly into his mind.

Imakarum supposed that he could understand the necessity of the operation, and it wasn’t as if Kenji had had any real time to acclimate himself to the power of his Zoacrystal. Having it removed and replaced with a less powerful variant was not likely to cause him as much concern as it would have if he had been allowed the extra time to adjust. Imakarum nodded his acquiescence, then teleported back to his son’s side.

He was still asleep, but Imakarum could sense that his son was just about to start waking up, which would doubtless make transporting him somewhat more difficult than it had to be. So he gently insinuated himself into Kenji’s mind and put him back to sleep, making sure he would stay that way until after he was transported to Lord Hamilcal’s laboratory.

Gently removing Kenji from their bed, Imakarum turned and walked out of his room, his son’s sleeping form still cradled in his arms. The walk to Lord Hamilcal’s laboratory in Cloud Tower was not a long one, since they were merely five levels above the processing divisions, and the fact that they were also very close to an elevator was also a good thing in Imakarum’s estimation. Once they were both inside, Imakarum took out his identification card and inserted it into the slot set into the elevator’s control panel.

Teleportation, while a useful skill, took a great amount of concentration, and in situations where the intended destination could be reached through physical means, Imakarum knew that it was better to use them rather than to waste the energy and focus to teleport when it was not necessary. The humming of the elevator’s motor was loud enough to be somewhat irritating, and he only hoped that Kenji wouldn’t be woken up by the noise.

Then again, Kenji was a very deep sleeper once he had actually drifted off, so there was most likely no reason for Imakarum to worry. The elevator doors slid open with a hydraulic pumping sound that Imakarum could have easily done without. Walking out with Kenji still cradled in his arms, Imakarum turned and headed down the hall, turning right when he reached an intersection of three hallways before he looked down at Kenji again.

His son was still comfortably sleeping, and Imakarum gently lifted Kenji up to his face and pressed a soft kiss to his forehead. Standing in front of the door to Lord Hamilcal’s private laboratory in Cloud Tower, Imakarum input his entry-code and waited for the door to slide open. Once it had, Imakarum stepped inside and looked around, finding Lord Hamilcal standing next to a fluid-filled processing-tank.

Imakarum did not need his telepathic power to know what Lord Hamilcal wanted him to do. Walking over to the unoccupied medical table, Imakarum gently set Kenji down and began to undress him. He could hear Lord Hamilcal moving around in the background, presumably readying his surgical instruments, and was of two minds whether or not to stay with Kenji.

On one hand, Kenji was unconscious, and Imakarum was not particularly eager to watch as Lord Hamilcal cut into his son’s head, but then, Kenji was his son, and therefore it was his duty as a father to stay by his son. In the end, he knew that there was only one decision that he could feel comfortable making, so he stepped forward to take Kenji’s left hand and waited for Lord Hamilcal to begin.

The procedure itself was relatively simple and ended quickly, though it was mildly curious that Lord Hamilcal had chosen to operate when Kenji was in his Zoalord form. Holding Kenji’s clawed hand, Imakarum looked away just as Lord Hamilcal extracted Kenji’s Zoacrystal from his forehead, hearing the clink as it was placed on the tray that Lord Hamilcal had brought over.

Imakarum also thought he heard Kenji whimper softly when his Zoacrystal was finally removed, but that might have been just his overactive imagination, since he had made certain that Kenji would be asleep for the entire procedure. Also, Kenji had not been given the time that he would have needed to fully acclimate to his new power, so there was simply no chance that he had been adversely affected by the surgery that Lord Hamilcal had performed.

Not a chance.

Looking back at Kenji, Imakarum saw that Lord Hamilcal had just finished affixing the new Zoacrystal into the formerly vacant slot on his son’s forehead. Sandwiching Kenji’s hand between both of his own, Imakarum watched as Lord Hamilcal checked to make certain that the new Zoacrystal would remain in place during his inevitable reprocessing. Imakarum was not certain if he would be able to remain with Kenji during that time, since there was still the matters of the Los Angeles branch and the Anti Chronos Task Force to be dealt with.

Imakarum knew that his earlier experiences with the humans who had formed the Anti Chronos Task Force would be useful, since Lord Alkanphel would doubtless want to have them destroyed. Still, the fact that the Fourth Guyver was working with the Anti Chronos Task Force was somewhat troubling, since Guyvers were dangerous by their very nature.

The obvious example was Guyver I, of course, and the thought of the First Guyver, drew up a surge of hatred unlike anything Imakarum had ever felt. Sho Fukamachi—the one that had defied Chronos from the beginning—would die by his hands alone. Yes, to protect both his son and Lord Alkanphel, Guyver I could not be allowed to live. Looking back down at Kenji, Imakarum saw that Lord Hamilcal was now ready to begin the reprocessing.