Aptom, whistling jauntily the way
Zancrus always did when he wanted to annoy Zektor, hopped
through the trees that surrounded Mt. Minakami. The remaining
members of Team Five, all three of them, had either given up
their search for him or had been recalled by that old coot Dr.
Balkus; Aptom didn’t particularly care which. He had long since
abandoned the fused form of Elegen and Zancrus that he had
jokingly called Elecrus.
Team Five hadn’t found Aptom’s sense of
humor particularly appealing, but Team Five could go do obscene
things with Dr. Balkus for all he cared. Back in his humanoid
form but without a stitch of clothing on, Aptom raced carelessly
through the treetops. The wind felt nice on his skin, and his
epidermal layers were tough enough that he didn’t even need to
worry about mundane things like splinters or the like.
Zancrus and Elegen, when they had
discovered that they both still existed in a sense, had started
cursing at him and demanding to be set free. Or at least Elegen
had. Zancrus however, had started panicking when he realized
that he couldn’t really see or hear anything. His mind had
pretty much folded after that; despite Elegen’s repeated
attempts to bring him out of himself. Aptom thought it was
hilarious; a member of the vaunted Hyper Zoanoid Team Five had
had a paralyzing fear of enclosed spaces and old man Balkus
hadn’t even noticed.
Looking down at the surrounding area,
Aptom quickly spotted the group of Standard Zoanoids poking
around. Looking down at them, Aptom noticed that they weren’t
just randomly patrolling. There was too much purpose to their
movements for them to be in this area just by coincidence, which
Aptom wasn’t certain he really believed in anyway. No, there
were really only two reasons for these Zoanoids to be out this
far from Mt. Minakami: because they were searching for the
Guyvers, or because they were searching for him.
Aptom grinned.
Ahh, the late lunch special. What
better way to conclude an afternoon of strenuous exercise?
Aptom’s chuckle was low enough that even the enhanced hearing of
a Zoalord would have had a hard time picking it up. Leaping out
of the tree he’d been perched in, Aptom saw the looks on the
Zoanoids’ faces go from surprise to sheer astonishment to fear
in about a minute. Let’s see
what they look like when I’m snacking on them.
Blasting one of them with a low-power
shot from his hand beam, Aptom grabbed another around the neck.
His helmet shattered under the punch Aptom hit it with, and the
rest of his uniform was torn to shreds when he involuntarily
transformed when Aptom started feeding. The other Zoanoids tried
to run, but Aptom whipped out Elegen’s tentacles and stunned all
of them with a few hundred volts. Giggling as his extra
appendages wrapped around the bodies of his prey, Aptom happily
began to gorge himself on their flesh.
Standard Zoanoids wouldn’t really
provide him with any extra powers of course, not the way that
Hyper Zoanoids could, and especially not this bunch of Gregole
and Ramochis. But he was still hungry, and they were all there
for the taking, and so he’d decided to have a quick meal. The
screams of the Zoanoids as they became a part of him weren’t
quite as fun to hear as those of Elegen and Zancrus had been,
but the Standard Zoanoids fed his hunger just as well as the
Hyper Zoanoids had.
And that was really the most important
part, the screaming was really just a bonus. It was a fun bonus,
Aptom wouldn’t deny that, but what mattered most was the
sustenance to be gained when he fed. Or at least, that was what
Aptom told himself.
XxXxX
As they headed deeper into the
monorail tunnel that would take them into Mt. Minakami, and from
there into Relics Point, Agito looked back at his companions.
Fukamachi and Segawa were huddled together, seemingly trying not
to so much as touch
the walls surrounding them. Agito knew for a fact that neither
of them was claustrophobic, since he would have found out about
such a weakness a great deal sooner. It was more likely that
they were simply unnerved by the fact that they would soon be
walking into the heart of an enemy stronghold.
In fact, if Agito hadn’t been so well
trained at concealing his own emotions, the group who he had
first come into this place might have found out that the thought
of walking right back into the largest Chronos laboratory that
currently operated in Japan had been something of an unnerving
experience for him as well.
"You’ve no need to worry," Agito
repeated, trying to reassure the both of them. "As I said
before, we will be quite safe once we get into Relics Point."
"Agito," Segawa paused, seeming to
gather herself for what she was going to ask next. "Are my
brother and our friends really safe down there?"
"Yes, they are," Agito said, and
it took only a minute amount of his control to keep from being
snappish. He had
already told her this fact, of course. "The basement of Relics
Point is quite safe for us, I assure you."
"All right," Segawa nodded, evidently
deciding to take his word for it.
Agito was relieved that she didn’t seem
to need any more convincing. Finally spotting the large case
that had been left on the floor of the tunnel, shoved mostly out
of sight behind a small pile of rubble, Agito nodded to himself.
"I just need to retrieve something
before we can continue into Mt. Minakami," Agito said. "By the
way, Fukamachi, it was considerate of you to retain possession
of that Chronos uniform I gave you. It spared me the trouble of
trying to steal another one."
"You’re welcome, I guess," Fukamachi
seemed confused.
Crouching beside the case, Agito undid
the catches that held it closed and then opened the case itself.
Inside were two Chronos uniform helmets, one with a uniform
jumpsuit rolled up inside it, another Chronos uniform jumpsuit,
and two pairs of boots. The case itself was large enough to hold
a person with varying degrees of comfort depending on their
size. Mizuki would easily be able to fit inside.
"What do we do now, Agito?" Sho asked.
"First, Fukamachi, we get dressed in
these," Agito stated calmly. "Remove your outer clothing first;
you might recall that these uniforms are skintight."
"Right," Sho nodded, holding up the
jumpsuit and stretching the fabric a bit. "Mizuki, could you…?"
"What? Oh, right," Mizuki blushed
slightly as she turned away from Agito and Sho.