Once Mizuki’s back was to them, Sho and Agito started stripping down to their undergarments. They left their socks on, of course, and then they packed their original clothes in the case where Mizuki was going to be. There would still be ample room for her, of course.

"Mizuki," Agito said. "Come here, would you?"

"What do you want me to do?" Mizuki asked as she came over to stand beside him.

"There is a reason that I didn’t steal another uniform for you, Mizuki," Agito informed her, while he set the clothes and shoes inside the case in such a way that they wouldn’t be of too much an inconvenience to Mizuki. "Chronos has never processed a woman before, and with your physique you would have a great deal of trouble just blending in. It would be much safer for both you and us if you were to simply follow my suggestions."

"All right, Agito. What do you want me to do?" Mizuki asked again.

"Climb into this case and make yourself as comfortable as you are able," Agito instructed calmly, gesturing toward the off-white carrier in front of them.

"All right," Mizuki nodded a little dubiously.

Climbing into the case once Agito had stood it on its side, Mizuki curled up as tightly as she needed in order to be able to fit herself inside the case. That turned out not to be very tightly at all.

"Good," Agito nodded, as he closed the case with Mizuki inside.

"Agito, are you sure she’s going to be safe in there? What about if she starts to run out of air?" Sho asked, as he began to strap the helmet of his Chronos uniform on.

"The case has sufficient ventilation," Agito said calmly. "We were also able to disguise that fact, as you might know by now."

"Oh," Sho said, snapping on his helmet and flexing his fingers to get used to the sensation of wearing gloves again.

The entire uniform felt strange on him, but that might have just been because he was remembering what had happened the last time he and Agito had put on these uniforms and gone walking straight into Mt. Minakami. Sho tried to put that out of his mind, working to reassure himself that this time would be different than the last time. They weren’t going in on a rescue mission this time, but there was still the chance that they would be discovered. Sho decided not to think about that.

"Fukamachi, let’s go," Agito said calmly, evidently seeing the nervousness that Sho was starting to feel.

"All right, Agito. I’m coming."

"Remember, we are not to refer to each other by name once we enter Mt. Minakami," Agito said. "In fact, I suppose that we should simply not speak at all unless we are required to. That was the procedure I saw in practice in most of the main areas of Mt. Minakami."

"All right," Sho nodded, then fell silent.

Agito nodded as well, then he popped out a handle that Sho hadn’t even noticed from the back of the transport case. Agito knew that most of the larger transport cases were equipped with these pop-out handles, as well as having small wheels on the bottom, to facilitate their ease in being moved. The wheels themselves were freshly greased, so the case moved easily along the tunnel floor without making too much noise.

The only things that echoed off the walls of the tunnel, in fact, were the footsteps of Agito and Sho as they made their way through the tunnel and the wheels rolling over the somewhat uneven ground. Sho was starting to feel a little apprehensive by the time that he and Agito finally made it to an opening. Agito beckoned him forward, and Sho pushed down his uneasiness and followed Agito through the hole and into another tunnel.

This one was obviously the monorail tunnel that Agito had mentioned, the one that would lead them into Mt. Minakami. The single track in the middle of the tunnel were a fairly large giveaway as to the tunnel’s original function. As Sho followed Agito closer to Mt. Minakami, he hoped that Mr. Murakami would be okay when they finally met up. Agito had said that Mr. Murakami had used up all of his energy in the fight with Gyou, but maybe that only meant that he had to rest.

Yes, that was probably it. Mr. Murakami just had to rest from the fight with Gyou, he would probably at least be awake by the time that Sho and Agito had made into the basement of Relics Point. With that thought in mind, it was easier for Sho to focus on keeping his cover the way that he had when he and Agito had gone into Mt. Minakami the first time.

XxXxX

Aptom, full after his latest meal, was lounging in a tree. He was also almost casually bio-morphing his hand back and forth between that of a human and that of the Enzyme II whose DNA Dr. Balkus had been courteous enough to provide him with. It was a sort of game he had developed for himself to play when he was bored, and Aptom was currently bored out of his skull.

All of the Hyper Zoanoids that had been in this area had fled, no doubt under the orders of the old coot. Hell, he hadn’t even managed to catch the rest of Team Five. Aptom had managed to nab a few of the ‘normal’ Hyper Zoanoids though, and now he knew they would be on high-alert for him. That didn’t mean so much, Aptom knew, since he was a shapeshifter after all.

But still, it was kind of annoying to think that his snacks were getting smarter. So, absorbing Standard Zoanoids doesn’t make me any stronger. I need Hyper Zoanoids if I want to get anything useful out of my meals. Or maybe something even stronger… Aptom smiled then, as an idea came to him with startling clarity and suddenness. Zoalords! Of course, I wouldn’t want to eat the old coot, since I imagine he wouldn’t taste very good… Aptom laughed inwardly.

But maybe one of the others… Aptom thought for a minute, trying to recall if there were any other Zoalords staying in Mt. Minakami at present. He grinned as a recollection came to him. Of course! Commander Gyou came to Mt. Minakami when Chronos Japan’s other HQ got totaled in that Guyver attack! Aptom grinned. Maybe I’ll just have to pay old Gyou a visit. It took a great amount of self-control for Aptom not to laugh out loud.

You never really knew when other Zoanoids might be watching, after all.

XxXxX

Back in the deeper levels of Mt. Minakami, just a single level above the beginning of Relics Point in fact, Dr. Halverson drank a cup of fresh coffee and periodically checked on the growth of the specimen Commander Gyou had brought to him. He’d managed to shut his nagging conscience up some time ago, and by now he was fully appreciating the fruit of his labors. The boy, who was no longer really a boy but a young man now, had grown up quite nicely.

It would still be about four or five hours before he would be able to survive the drastic physical and genetic changes necessary for him to become a Zoalord, true, but Halverson knew that he was close to completing his full growth cycle. His physical development was just passing that of an eighteen-year-old, and Halverson could clearly see that the boy’s musculature was almost fully developed.

I suppose that to me this specimen will always be a child, despite anything I might have to do to him. Halverson was starting to feel a little more relaxed, now that the specimen was no longer so obviously too underdeveloped to be processed. Now, if any of the scientists loyal to Dr. Balkus were to come across this particular processing-tank, they would not see anything out of the ordinary with regards to what Halverson was doing.

After all, the beginning of the Zoaformation process was often the most touch-and-go. It was sometimes difficult to predict just how the physiology of certain individuals would react to the mutigenic properties of the processing fluid once they were exposed to it. It wouldn’t do to make a Lost Unit just because of carelessness, after all. Neither would it be advisable to kill the intended Zoanoid just because someone couldn’t be bothered to monitor their growth.

Halverson looked back to the monitoring console, decreasing the growth hormones to a more stable level and adjusting the vitamin solution. The calcium could be dispensed with entirely at this point, and Halverson did so without hesitation. Halverson was satisfied with the fact that no one who did not know about the child’s being brought into Mt. Minakami would ever be able to recognize him as such.