Disclaimer: Guyver belongs to Yoshiki Takaya, I'm just borrowing it. *shrug* Heck, none of the characters even appear in this chapter.

C&C to sovereign_1701@hotmail.com

Website at   http://www.angelfire.com/scifi/Hypetia/index.html

And now, on with the show :}

CH 1

Discovery

  Aleshia couldn't sleep.  Why had she had to come here?  Why the southern hemisphere?  It was winter in June, for crying out loud! Shivering, Aleshia fumed.  She was not a winter person and even this tour of the archeological site wasn't enough to balance out spending a night like this.  Stupid brokendown bus.  The frigid air curled warmly around her body, the blanket giving neither warmth nor protection against the plunging temperatures.  She arose in exasperation and walked out into the wee hours of the morning, leaving her tent and fellow tourists behind.  The bright moonlight gave her brown skin a pale overlay and gleamed in her mussed up hair.  Clouds of gossamar white billowed in front of her as she regarded the dig.  Her tour group had originally planned to leave for their appointed hotel, but the bus had broken down, leaving them stranded at the Cronos dig. 

  Cold stone leeched the heat from her feet. Shivering, she made her way down to one of the caves abandoned as containing nothing of significance. Clad only in her navy blue sleepwear, Aleshia drifted down like a shadow, blending in perfectly with the dark rocks around her as the gibbous moon shone down.  Desolation and silence hung in the air as she explored the entrance with her fingers and cursed herself for not bringing a torch. She debated going back for one, but didn't really want to go through all that effort when she would be returning in a few minutes anyway.

  Aleshia cautiously made her way deeper into the cavern, trailing her hand along the wall, which is how she ended up in a dead end offshoot.  She was about to turn back and give up her midnight venture, when her hands encounered a small alcove well hidden from sight, the only way to find it was as she had done - by touch.  Intrigued, she managed to fit herself into the passageway sideways and shuffled along it thus until her questing fingers encountered the termination of the little cul-de-sac. Irrationally disappointed and shivering from the cold, she was preparing to retrace her steps when her foot nudged something proped up against the wall, though she only knew about it because of the noise it made when it tipped over - her feet were too numb to feel it by that time.

  Intrigued, she manuevered the object along with her foot as she shuffled out of the alcove.  Her frozen fingers couldn't make out any specifics beyond the facts that whatever it was was circular and somewhat thick.  The layers of dust and cobwebs that had managed to cling to it up till then decided to come loose and permeated the air, causing Aleshia to suppress a sneezing fit. Suddenly terribly aware of the cold, she hurried back to camp. As she hid her discovery in her suitcase she was thankfull that she had not yet accumulated enough souviniers to fill her extra space. Grumbling briefly about shoddy busses, she fell asleep, still shivering, unaware that her life was about to change beyond her wildest imaginings.

  The following day another bus was sent and the packing was hasty and hectic.  Aleshia had no time to spare to reflect on her pre-dawn exploration as she yawned her way onto their transport, and once seated she fell quickly asleep. They kept busy the entire day to get back on schedule, so it was only in her hotel room that she thought of her find; she waited until her roomates were otherwise occupied outside the room, as she was strangely reluctant to reveal her prize to anyone, before she extracted the object and studied it in surprise.  Maybe it isn't an artifact after all, she thought, regarding the three sections of covering and the tube-like coils wound around inside them. What cinched it, however, was the metalic orb in the middle of the fat disc - she doubted very much that the ancient tribes of South Africa could have made something like this thousands of years ago.  The orb was still burnished and smooth to the touch.  The slight blue glow of the orb went unnoticed as the voices sounded outside the door and the door began to open.  Aleshia stuffed the disc back in it's place quickly to keep from having her roomate ask questions about her find. And so the trip went, they saw the sights and visited the landmarks, days flying by swiftly as they traveled from Graaff-Reinet to Cape Town, to Jo'burg, where their plane left for home.  Aleshia circumvented customs by storing her find in her luggage rather than her carryon, which she did quickly before they headed for the airport.

  Upon her return to the good old U.S. of A., she was met and soundly greeted by her mother and brother.  Rather than join her on her trip, Mom had opted to stay at home and just relax, while Kevin had, after an anguished debate, decided to go to a computer camp.  After returning to her home, located a ways out from the actual town,  and recovering from her jetlag, she found herself alone in her room the next day.  Unpacking her clothes, she took out the disc and placed it carefully on her bed.  Her family was out; Helen, her mom, was out shopping, and Kevin had gone into town with her since their second car was in the garage for a squealing fanbelt.  Aleshia had decided against going with them because she wanted a moment of privacy after the forced closeness of the tourgroup - and she wanted to investigate the disc.  So she finished unpacking, which mostly consisted of throwing things in the laundry hamper, and sat crosslegged on her bed. She ran her hands over the the light blue outside covering of the disc.  The exterior felt leathery, yet was firm and unyielding against her probing fingers.  The coils inside felt cool and dry, almost like a snake's skin.  Gently stroking the center orb, the metal felt warm, and seemed almost to be glowing. Aleshia frowned. That wasn't possible, was it?  Maybe it was more modern than the dust and cobwebs had led her to believe.  Heck, what did she know, it might have been hidden in the alcove only a year or so.  She leaned closer to look for an activation switch or battery cover.  The coils began to move, at first sluggishly, then picking up the pace.  The orb glowed stronger, the light pulsed once, twice, three times, and exploded.

  Not literally, but it certainly seemed that way to Aleshia.  The trio of surface coverings sprang open, releasing the restive coils swirling that undulating beneath them.  Aleshia drew in a breath of surprise and belated fear as the coils, now moist and warm, wrapped about like an overzealous lover, clinging to every part of her and covering her from head to foot.  She tried to jerk away, to escape, but it had been too late from the moment the disc had opened it's maw.  Still, she threw herself backwards as the coils began to flow together and tightend about her.  She began screaming in ernest when she realized that the thing was invading her, through her very pores, it seemed.  It flowed down her throat, coating her insides, entered through her ears and nose, she could almost feel it spreading in pulsing waves to her very center, every organ, tissue, cell, was radiating pain and shock. Her mind was adrift in a sea of pain and change and she screamed her pain, not noticing that her voice shifted, gained an overtone of metal, an almost synthetic echo.  The armour began to harden and firm, taking on shape and form about her. Neural connecions were established, muscles and organs were stengthened, made resiliant and healthy.  Suit systems were organized and adjusted for their host. Features began to appear on the humaniod blob. The control medal first, followed by eyes, sensors, and weapons. The armour settled into it's final configuratrion and a new Guyver lay prone across her bed.

Meanwhile, on the long driveway leading up to the house, Kevin was running full tilt.  Having finished his business in town, he'd caught a ride partway back to the house, on the path leading up to it, he'd heard a faint scream coming from the distant house. 

Time passed. Because there was no threat, nor anything that could be construed to be one, the Guyver unit lay quiescent. Slowly, inch by inch, Aleshia floated to conciousness.  She saw her ceiling, sharp and different; familiar, yet not.  Details were sharper and colours more varied.  Cautiously, she raised herself up on her elbows, confused and wary of more pain.  She knew something had happended, but her mid shied away from the event. 

Kevin hit the porch and, leaning against the door with heaving lungs, fumbled frantically with the his bunch of keys.  Shaking, he finally managed to find the right key and get into the house.  He had no breath left to call out to his sister as he rushed up the stairs to her room, hoping she was okay.

Aleshia's hearing picked up a sound, her sensors swept forward and she focused on the moving something.  Driven by new reactions and changed insticts, she prepared for a fight as the door opened.

  Kevin stood revealed in the doorway, alarm, anxiousness, and, as he beheld the appartition before him, shock and confusion written over his face.  Leaning against his sister's bed was something out of a nightmare; covered with a light blue armour from head to foot, it's insectoid eyes gleamed menacingly and a slight hum seemed to emanate from a blade extended from one of it's elbows.

  Aleshia, bewildered, reached towards her exhausted brother.  "Kevin?" she queried, "wha-"

  Kevin, seeing no trace of his sister, but only this very dangerous looking thing, assumed the worst, so when it called him by his name in that strange, synthetic voice, it broke him from his shock with a new surge of adrenaline. "Where's Aleshia?"  Not waiting for an answer, he continued, "Monster! What have you done with her!?"  This having been a rethorical question to which he expected no answer, he charged the thing and threw a punch at it.

  Aleshia seemed to react instictively as she easily grabbed her brother's arm and flipped him over her onto her bed. She stared at him, dumbfounded. "Kev, you idiot. It's me, Ally," she returned his wide eyed gaze with annoyance. "Why are you looking at me like..."  Then she noticed her hands. A layer of dark purple coated her hand; there were ridges on it, almost as if a thin coil had been wrapped around her palm and fingers. Turning her hand over she examined the top of it, observing the hard coverings that completed the strange gauntlet. There was more however, for the gauntlet did not end at her wrist, but continued, and continued. In shock, Aleshia stumbled toward her closet door mirror, needing confirmation.  It refused to register for a moment - the image couldn't be her, could it?  The figure facing her was taller than she was and covered in some kind of ...armour? She ran her hands across her face and along the spine that arose from her forehead swept backwards. The figure in the mirror mimicked her movements exactly. Her legs folded beneath her and she sat down abruptly.  Memories of the melding surfaced in her mind and a scream of denial built within her.

  "A-A-Ally?" the whisper floated in the air behind her.

  She twisted around to see Kevin moving cautiously towards her. The outburst of protest and denial withered in her throat. She reached out a tentative hand, which he carefully took in his. Strengthening their grip on each other, Kevin lowered himself into a crosslegged position and stared at his changed sister.

  He pulled his scattered wits about him and brought his thoughts to a semblance of order.  "How," he stated, and waited silently, confused emotions swirling beneath.

  Aleshia, her brother's hand acting as an anchor, drew in a deep breath and began to relate the events starting with her discovery of the disc.

  Aleshia had finished her story and was currently looking at her brother while he absorbed her words. "So," he started slowly, "can you take it off?"

  "The armour?" she shook her head reluctantly.  "I don't think so.  At least, not by taking it off piece by piece...."

  Kevin regarded the armour speculatively.  He was silent for a while, then said, "Have you thought of, of asking the armour to go away, or back to the disc form, or whatever" 

  "What?!" she burst out.

  Defensively he explained, "Well it can't hurt, and I think that it may have some basic commands, like a computer, almost"  Sensing her non-comprehension he sighed. "Look, you said it activated when you touched it.  If it's technologically advanced enough to be touch activated it probably has some way to control it, and since I don't see any on/off switches..." Kevin trailed off, "All I'm saying is that it may work in reverse if you tell it to."  He gave a helpless shrug. "It can't be any more crazy than what's happened already,"  he pointed out.

  Aleshia nodded in agreement and rested her head in her hand. "True"

  Both their heads came up as another car pulled into the driveway. "Mom!" They both exclaimed.

  Kevin groaned and glanced at his watch. "I forgot, she said she'd be home around now."  He looked at his sister in alarm. "Do we tell her...?"

  "No!" came Aleshia's emphatic answer.  "Please, I couldn't deal with that right now."  She met his doubtful gaze. "Let me try to get it off first; if I can't, we can tell Mom."

  "We're going to have to tell her sooner or later, you know."

  "I know."

  "Well, I'll go keep her busy. If you're not down in ten minutes I'll come check on you, 'kay?" he said as he moved to implement his plan, not giving her the opportunity to reply.

  Aleshia tried to calm herself down and shut away the outside world.  Not that she was all that successful at the second part, some kind of sensors kept her informed of her surroundings and possible danger sources at all times.  Still, she managed to narrow her concentration down, and directed a thought at the disc, as she still thought of it. Go away,  she sent at it. There was a slight reaction, she could feel it, but nothing happened.  She tried again.  Leave me-go away-get off me!  This time the reaction was obvious and immediate - she felt the armour twist away found herself sitting on her floor, sans armour.  She ran her hands over herself in disbelieving elation, touched the mahogany skin of her face for confirmation, simply looking at her reflection for a number of minutes, then bounded down the stairs to greet her mother.