Anxiously, the two reporters watch everything from the balcony. His eye points through the camera lens, struggling to keep both the Ark and Olympus in focus. If anything, this war will be recorded. The first war of the Chronos dynasty, no longer can they call this a Utopia. If anything, this war will be recorded for everyone to remember, despite what Chronos tells them. Suddenly, a figure streaks across his vision!
"What are they doing?", the young man asks. "Why do they keep circling the city? Staying here is just causing more destruction, why not fight over the ocean?!"
The Olympus fires another salvo of laser with it's green crystal eyes. It chases the Ark, in a game of slow moving cat and mouse. The Ark twists and dodges, taking each blast of energy in the thick side of the hull, absorbing each shot in places where damage wont matter. Suddenly a buldge of the Ark explodes! Thick flesh and juices spray into the air like white water crashing on rocks. The hole is a small gap in the hull, yet from the innards of the zoalord spaceship emerge a swarm of flying type zoanoids, scrambling in the confusion. It doesn't take long for the Ark's retaliation. Not even has the mist of the Ark's damage settled and already the Vikarr and Gernold goad the Olympus into following. Each attack the tiny zoanoids make teases the Olympus into following precisely behind, yet never able to catch up to the Ark. Slowly to the left, then slowly to the right, bringing the fight with the Olympus along some -unseen- path.
Aso zooms his camera to follow the distant Ark, and catches a glimpse of the Zoalord Jearvill Bun Hiyern, standing on the top of a low building. "They're waiting", says Aso, "The Ark is playing possum, and it seems the Zoalord have some sort of scheme in mind". He gives Jearvill a second glance, one of the three zoalord that killed Purgstall.
"So the Zoalord were telling the truth", Tokiwadaira says, "The guyver's really are aliens trying to stop human advancment, and the zoalords really were preparing us for it".
"You think the Olympus is an alien ship?", Aso asks. He scratches the scraggly whiskers of his chin. "Maybe. But then again, I would have said the Ark was an alien ship, had the Zoalord not claimed to build it. I just don't know anymore. Something's going on, and I'm gonna wait 'till I've got all the answers". Aso searches the skyline, and sees the powerful figure of the dark skinned zoalord Luggnagg de Krumeggnic standing with Rienzi. The two of them are waiting together, as if for the perfect time to strike. Rienzi grits his teeth, breathing heavily under pained breaths. Luggnagg smiles and evil smile, and glances knowingly upon Rienzi's back. 'Murakami', Aso thinks, 'Just what did you get yourself into?'
Suddenly something catches his eye on the street below... a blonde haired gentlemen in a tattered trench coat, and a boy screaming, covered in slime ridden snakes! Aso's jaw drops, to see anything so horrifyingly strange, and further, to see them begin to melt together in the form of the rumored guyver. Still staring, he directs his camera below, "Tokiwadaira, I think you'd better take a look at this".
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The control metal suddenly rings to life as light emerges from it's circular slit. The vents covering Sho's mouth jet out steam. The armor has finished enough of forming, and Sho is brought to conciousness. "Now we finish this Guyot!"
The unit remover is tight in his hands, the tendrils pressed even tighter into his veins. It is dead, or for lack it may as well be. If alive it would feed off him and siphon his will to operate. Guyot forces as much of his mind and blood into it as he can. Faintly, the half ring of the remover glows...
Sho's control metal glows in unison, responding to Guyot's force. "I refuse to loose to you again", he says, "I will not let you take the power I have to save those I love". Under the mask, Sho's face is set in determination. A tendril of his armor moves, unwrapping itself; yet the rest of his armor holds. Guyot's teeth grit, growing sharper, growing closer to his zoalord form as he channels more and more power into the remover. Another tendril moves, and the smooth armor seems softer, like gel. Sho rages into his mind, into his control metal, trying to focus everything into maintaining -this- shape! He hears something, a voice echoing back into his own thoughts, '...give up", Guyot bares his teeth, and Sho can hear the man in his mind, 'even half the remover is enough for me to win. give up now'. Another tendril unwraps. Sho charges Guyot with his fists clenched!
Instantly the remover is knocked to the ground! Sho's fist swings for the heart of the monster that has heart everyone he loves! Guyot flies back, dodging every swing as if falling backwards into the air. Gravity doesn't seem to exist for him, as he rises higher and higher, struggling to escape the reach of the Guyver. "I will -Not- lose to a mere boy!", the man growls. As if to ignore his words, Sho flips in the air, landing his foot deeply into Guyot lip. Blood trickles.
The guyver form lands on the ground with five fingers catching himself. "You've already lost Guyot", Sho says. He looks down into himself, searching for something that he knows should exist. As if found, he raises his eyes to the man that is about to unveil his monster form. Sho stands and calls out into the air, "Gigantic!"
They wait. The air breezes past, and nothing happens. "What's wrong boy, can't summon your toy?" A mesh of electricity and gravity interweave between Guyot's fingers, and by the time his feet again touch the ground, the power is built into a glowing ball. "That's right, I've heard a few things about what's happened in my absence. And when I take that armor from you, I won't mind at all seeing what I can do". He throws the ball at Sho, and it splatters across him! The guyver is thrown back into the concrete, gasping as his lungs are destroyed. Guyot smiles as he picks up the unit remover, "now to remove the armor before you finish healing".
Guyot grips the remover tightly and begins to point it. Suddenly a piercing pain forms in his chest. Five piercing pains, each a point like frozen needles that makes him want to double over. "Hayami was a lost number", the voice says. "How many more of us do you intend to kill? You bastard!" The voice turns into a bending of light, into sharp teeth stareing him straight into the face. "I'm going to absorb you so slowly you experience as much pain as they did!", Aptom says, "As much pain as Somlum, Dyme, and even Biofreezer!". The light warps as Aptom's invisibility fades, his arm already melted into Guyot's chest. Richard Guyot stands there, unable to move. "How I have long waited for the power of a zoalord. It won't be much longer now before I have my revenge on all of you". Aptom faces Guyot straight in the eyes, all the hatred seething through. Poetic justice that the form he holds is of Biofreezer. Guyot gasps, wanting to claw at his chest, wanting to vomit from his lungs. The whistling from the clouds is unherd to them both.
Slash! The razor sharp teeth are gone. Two fingers touch the ground where Aptom had been, the white wind still streaking down from the sky. Imakarum stands, not even changing his expression at so easily killing Aptom. The only sign Imakarum gives of the effort, is a small puff of breath from jumping from so high. Guyot looks relieved to feel Aptom gone, but only to find two evil eyes piercing straight into his through their veil of shaded glasses. Imakarum grabs Guyot by the throat, "There are those that are quite displeased with you. It would have been better to stay dead".
Slowly in his gagging breaths does Guyot look past the shaded glasses. For one second thinking that Aptom has simply taken another form, and then looking deeper. The curves of his face, and the long black hair become recognizable. "Mura... Muraaka...", he gasps. He tries to say the name of the man he thought he tortured and killed.
"No, not Murakami, I am Imakarum now. But don't worry", he sneers, "I remember everything. Absolutely everything". His grip tightens. "The last I remember, you destroyed my proto-zoacrystal, claiming how yours was so superior. It's funny, how I've inherited it. Perhaps you'd like to see just how superior it is?" Imakarum skates the edge from toying with him to snapping his neck entirely.
Guyot wheezes any breath that Imakarum's fingers allow past; and the pain in his chest is still strong from Aptom. Twitching his fingers, he tries to summon as much energy to crackle as he can. A weak spark is all that flickers before dieing away. 'Damit All!', he paniks, 'So Close! So Close!' Frustration and fear run through him. With half his mind frozen, the other half desperatly races to find a way out of this, out of Imakarum's clutches. 'So Close!', his frustration burns at him, 'After all this time, I was Finally going to have my ambitions fullfilled! Only to be murdered by a man who stood in my way, wounded by a freak with a grudge, and to have my power stolen by a guyv...' his mind stops. He does everything with the last of his power to raise his hand.
"Trying another attack?", Imakarum says, "Don't bother. In another few seconds, you won't have enough energy for a heart beat". He squeezes harder still.
"guyv... gu.. guyve", his raised hand points behind Imakarum, to the almost healed armor wrapped around Sho Fukimachi. "Guyver", his rasping breath makes out.
Imakarum turns his head. "So it is", and with Guyot falling unconcious he smiles. "Alkanphel has been waiting for the Guyver for quite some time now. It seems today is the day that -both- of us will be happy". He looks down upon Sho; laying there, clutching his chest. The pain of suffocation is like being squeezed, burning. The wounds smooth out, and slowly Sho rises.
"Now we finish this Guy...", he stops in mid-sentance to see Guyot in an entirely different manner; "Imakarum? How?" His fists clench as he readies to lunge, or be lunged at, "It doesn't matter Imakarum. If it's me you're fighting next, I'm through holding back. I can only offer one last chance to save you. I still believe there is at least some small part of you in there that's still Murakami".
"Then you'd better hurry up and kill me Guyver. My life as Murakami ended when Alkanphel revived me from the dead. There's no comrade left for you to save. Only the man behind the martyr". Imakarum tosses the limp body of Guyot to his feet, as if to lay it out for Sho to see. "Make this easy for me, and just join me back to the Ark".
"Join you?! You must think I'm a coward if you think I'd simply join you. You must be blind to what I'm really like if that's what you think I'd do. You know nothing about me, about any of your former freinds".
"-I- know nothing about you?", Imakarum snears in disgust. "You're the one that's blind Fukimachi. You couldn't even see Agito Makishima useing you as nothing but a tool! You fought for him as an ally while he kept you alive for nothing more than to simply help him gain power. You call me blind? Just look at how he leaves you powerless when you're no longer usefull to him. Completely abandoned".
"Agito hasn't abandoned anyone", Sho says.
"And you still think that I was on your side the whole time, don't you?", the acid of his words burn a seething silence into Sho. "You really think that Murakami wanted to take down Chronos for the 'moral good' of all mankind?" He steps forward, his presence carried with a single raised hand, "Do you want to know what being on 'your side' really meant to me? To a man whos body was violated, and perverted into some abomination?!" Imakarum takes another step towards the frozen form of Sho. "Murakami was after revenge. Nothing more than taking down those that did it to him". Another step brings the two of them just an arms width apart, yet they stand stareing into eachothers eyes. "I told you Yamamura processed me, and convinced me to fight Chronos?", his eyes seeth more hatred at the memory of the betrayed freindship, "the only reason he lived was because he pointed out that Chronos was going to do it to me anyway".
"The real Murakami fought for more than that", Sho screams.
The two of them are face to face. Imakarum's hatred, spurring only a fingers width between them. "Do you want to know the exact moment of his death, Fukimachi? Do you really want to know when I became Imakarum? It was when Alkanphel turned me from an abomination, into a god".
"...no", Sho tries to deny it.
"At that point, there was no more need for revenge", Imakarum continues proudly.
"No!"
"That's right Fukimachi. The only difference is my new power. You were wrong about me. You knew nothing about me; you don't know anything about anyone". Imakarum grins with gritted teeth as he throws his words into Sho's soul, "You're allies are only with you because of your firepower!", Sho tries to denying everything, trying with his heart to prove the love for eachother, "You are the only one fighting to truly free the world!"
Sho's fist flies into Imakarum's chest! Imakarum remains perfectly still, the power of the punch throwing Sho back several feet. "That's not true!", Sho grits. He shakes his head with the heart felt pain, vehemitly trying to renounce it, all but roaring at the top of his lungs, "We are not cold blooded! My freinds are fighting with me because we believe it in our heart. Murakami, the real Murakami, was the same way. When he died, it wasn't his battle power we missed. We burned incense for months after the wake". If Sho's face were not covered by the armor, tears would slide down his cheek.
"You are all alone", Imakarum says, "It is a pity that you think the others feel the same way as you".
The sword from Sho's forarm extends to full length! "You are right, Murakami is dead. And there is no way that I'm going to continue to let you ruin his good name. We loved him, All of us. This ends now!", Sho charges forward with his sword singing in the air! Imakarum waves a hand, and the flash of gravity in the ground brings Sho crashing back down. Thunder looms overhead, as the Ark sends a blast of beaming energy into the Olympus.
A voice from behind them then asks, "Is that what it's really like? My freind Murakami is really dead?" The middle aged man looks as if he regrets it, but also as if he accepted it long ago. Aso says, "Does this meen you're inhuman enough to hurt anyone at a whim? Was the real Murakami so inhuman?" The zoanoids fly overhead, and crowds of a dozen humans begin to gather at the end of the street. The faces of the humans, anticipating, and begging for something from the zoalord nearest to them. In the chaos of raining pebbles, some of them still insanely wait for the blessing of zoanod processing by a zoalord. Others wait for him to save them from the destruction overhead, their faces stricken with fear.
Imakarum looks to Aso, a face from his long ago past. Regret fills his heart, "Murakami is truly dead. And everything he ever loved died with him".
"It's not too late", Sho says. He rises from the ground, thin splits in the armor showing threads of blood. "You may have the body of a zoalord now, but so does Shizu. You have the freedom to fight with your heart. You can join us again, and do what you know is right". His sword is retracted, and he walks towards Imakarum with a hand held open.
The energy crackles in the ball of his fist, and in a swing of anger he hurls it at Sho as if casting off rage! The force throws Sho back into the air, turning feet over his head as his middle painfully burns. Sho falls to the ground with a thud, exausted. "What is it that you don't understand about this?!", Imakarum screams, "How can you be so valiantly stupid?!"
Sho pushes himself up from the ground, "Because it's the right thing to do". Blood seeps from his breather units. "You would never truly kill your allies, I know that".
"You are right, boy. I would never kill -my- allies; but yours are fair game", he points to the burnt ash where he'd been standing when Sho first awoke. "Aptom died so easily. I didn't give him a second thought", Sho chokes at Imakarum's words, blood sputtering at the realization. Imakarum points a finger, and needles of gravity shoot into Sho's shoulders, landing him back onto the ground. "The only thing saving you is the control metal in you forhead".
"So Murakami, you have chosen your role as Lord Imakarum", Aso says. He starts to turn and leave, "One last thing then, before I say my final goodbye", He pulls the envelope from inside his coat pocket, and hands the pictures to Imakarum. "There's something you should know about your fellow zoalords. Apparently being on eachothers side won't stop them from murder". Imakarum takes a look at the picture of Purgstall's death, at the three zoalords standing aside him, and at the orb of perfect energy entering Purgstall's spine. "I'll let you be with your new freinds now Imakarum", Aso turns back, "As you say, your old life seems over". And Aso walks away to the growing crowd of two dozen humans at the end of the street.
He looks into the picture, and betrayal sours his face. The sky above him catches his eye, and the same zoalords as in the picture hover in position. He can see them, almost ready to unleash the plan to destroy the Olympus. Rienzi waits with them, waiting for them to help him fly to the three points needed to tear the Olympus in half. Rienzi's dimension slice attack would be draining, and is depending on these three with his life. Jearvill stands in the distance, waiting for Rienzi to be shot to his position in the the dimension slice triad. Waiting, with an evil smile that devours anticipation like candy. Imakarum crumples the picture in his hand.
Painfully contemplating, Imakarum gives one last look to Sho, and glances back to the humans. Among them he sees only one face he can recognize, a rebel. This is the first time since his death that he has seen her. It only makes sense to him that Mitsuki already knows who he is, yet tears stream down her face for him. Silent tears. He turns his eyes away with a frown. Regret. Putting a hand to his forhead, he sends out a telepathic signal to the zoanoids above, and to the entranced humans around. "Kill him", his thought goes out, "Kill them all". Imakarum picks up the limp body of Guyot; and he lifts into the air. The zoanoids surround Sho, the humans gather around the rebel known as Mitsuki.
----------------------
It is time.
Red streaks run down the sides of both the Olympus and the Ark, thin crumples where the ships have not yet healed. Clouds of smoke rise from the city below them, and chunks of rock still fall as The Olympus blindly follows the Ark, chasing it with the aim of destroying every shread.
The two zoalords hold their breath, they are insects under the Olympus' belly. The dark skinned zoalord looks down upon Rienzi, "I hope you are ready for this". Luggnagg de Krumeggnic has Rienzi in his arms, energy begining to encapsulate the both of them.
The young man, beautiful in every right, pained by the deep wound throughout his chest responds with a determination in his voice, "I am". After losing to Agito Makishima once already, Rienzi has something to prove. The energy flows from his skin, like a wave that grows hotter from his very core. Suddenly he clutches his chest in agony, the seam from where he had been cut in two threatening to burst. His fingers dig deeply into pain he can not tear away, and as if concentrating upon them, his knuckles grow into claws. The skin that covers him sours into smooth green leather, and each hand weilds a growing dagger wedge. "So close", he struggles with the flows of energy through him, "I'm almost ready to finish this".
Luggnagg holds the young zoalord by his shoulders, channeling energy through his hands. "I just want you to know Rienzi, how important you truly are to Alkanphel's goals". Luggnagg tries to speak as innocently as possible, as if giving nothing more than words of encouragment.
In his zoalord form, Rienzi bursts in a blazing light into the sky! Straight and true he flies, dipping his heavy wedge of hand into the folds of space. In the glimpse of an eye, he comes face to face with Khan, and just as suddenly bounces off the shield of energy the tiny old man emmanates. Rienzi streaks downwards, to the top of the building Jearvill waits on. With sonic speed he flashes, his wedge shaped hands tearing open a dimensional gate through the enemy ship, only one more point to complete the triad. Jearvill waits with his ball of energy ready, a smile on his lips.
Flash! Imakarum's hand slams Rienzi from his path! Hurdling to one side, Rienzi chokes as if grabbed by the neck while Imakarum pulls him with gravity to a complete stop.
"What are you doing?!", Jearvill screams, "This is not a part of -our- plan!" The greasy zoalord's energy ball is shattered against the roof top in anger. "We were about to slice the Olympus in two!"
Imakarum tosses Guyot's body to Jearvill's feet. "Was this a part of your plan as well?", he holds the photos out to be seen, anger burning in his eyes. "Killing another zoalord in cold blood!", his fist cleanches, tightening hottly, "Is Killing an ally a part of Lord Alkanphel's plan? If so, please tell me. This could be rather crucial information when regarding my next action!"
The other zoalords float down to the roof top, their faces innocent of everything, almost about to question what went wrong. "Since when have we killed an ally?", Jearvill smiles. Imakarum raises the underside of his clenched fist, opening it to reveal the ash of the former photos. The gentle wind blows the burnt paper flakes, and Imakarum's burning rage twitches in his fingers. "As you can see, Lord Imakarum Mirabilis, you have no proof of us killing anyone. And as much a pet you are of Master Alkanphel, he may not be pleased that you stopped us from killing the 'one' enemy that truly plagues us. An enemy that seems to be turning his direction towards us".
The tiny wiry old man smiles too, now; floating with his fingers folded together. "It seems we are having a bit of confusion", the curl of his wrinkled lips grate on Imakarum, condescending while playing the comrade. A mockery and an insult that Mirabilis can't call out. "How do you suppose we will solve this dilema? Should we try again to slice the Guyver bioship? It was Alkanphel's wish, yet Rienzi may not have enough power to open a gateway into the stars for us". And as if to respond, the mantis like zoalord skin begins to pull inward, as if shrinking into the painfull slices of Rienzi's chest. Released from the gravity holding him, Rienzi falls to the roof top, exhausted in human form.
Imakarum Mirabilis stares at them, wanting to burn them to cinders where they stand. The three of them have him surrounded, by happenstance landing on the roof top with one of them facing his back. They know they don't have the power to face him, and yet they toy. They stand proclaiming innocence, but the sly grins they wear suggest they would shoot a bolt through him if he let his gaurd down. Toying condescendance. He can feel the eyes on his back, no need for zoalord power to sense them. 'They -Dare- this!', he grits under his teeth, 'I will not be... Intimidated by scheming rats!'.
"Take him back to the Ark!", his hand points down to the naked Rienzi, "Take them both. Guyot's 'new' zoacrystal may still be of some use to 'our' Lord". He lets every word mock them, be damned and let them know how plain the truth is.
"But..."
"As you command", Khan interupts Luggnagg's protests. Even though he floats, the tiny zoalord almost bows as he accepts the orders on behalf of his cohorts.
Silently they go, rising into the air towards the distant Ark. 'Cowards', he thinks. 'Only with the Guyver coming this way will they decide to back off'. The slits of his cat like eyes barely peer through the lids that veil them. 'How Dare they!', the thought burns in his mind, 'They were -given- power, given immortality even, and -This- is how they repay Alkanphel? Zoalords that betray their own?!' He looks up to the flowing cloaks of their treacherous backs, and in a flicker he sees himself. 'The real Murakami fought for more than that', Sho's voice echoes. His eyes turn downward to the streets far below, and to the swooping falcons, to Vikkar tearing into Sho's guyver flesh. He steps from the ledge, and stands on a gentle breeze. 'What's done is done, and I am who I am'
Imakarum Mirabilis floats in the air as if a feather, letting the breaze raise him higher into the sky. With little time to pass, he is high enough that clouds flow against his cheek and chest.
The Olympus nears him, and Imakarum sneers. 'Makishima, the ultimate betrayer. The one who uses people as if they are nothing but pawns'. The Olympus nears, below him like a shark approaching from under the ocean waves, it's green eyes glowing as they prepare to strike. "You seem more powerfull Makishima", he holds out his hand, "bigger in every regard", in his palm begins the inverse of a glowing orb. The breezes that whafted him now blow like a wind into his hands, his body forcing itself against their streaks. His eyes are intent, and focused, letting his little black ball grow viccous between both of his hands. He raises it above his head, "bigger in every regard, and definetly harder to miss!" He throws the black hole at the Olympus with everything he has, and at the last second shoots all but one orb of gravity points into it!
The Olympus screams as the monstrous black hole imbeds itself in the center of it's roof! The black hole would be a gapping wound for any city, but worse is the flesh of the organic ship stretching and tearing into the blackness, juices of blood streaming into the center of nothingness! The Olympus veers off it's coarse, crashing into the tops of buildings, and descending like a punch drunk boxer. The people on the streets below, hundreds of them between the buildings, scream in terror as the guyverian monster falls upon them.
The ground shakes as the Olympus crashes into the Earth. With a single fist raised as a gesture, Imakarum flicks the back of his hand. His last point of gravity orb shoots into the heart of the black hole he created. In a flash, the wailing wind explodes, destroying the black singularity. Imakarum looks down upon the guyver space ship with nothing but a sneer for it's pilot. "That's for cracking my crystal". He turns back to the Ark, toward his Lord Alkanphel.
All is quiet.
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Pain sears into his ribs, sending him into gasping convulsions. His fingers strain the tendrils around his arms as he tries desperatly to claw at his chest. Slowly the pain subsides, and Agito goes limp, supported in air by only the angled pillars that merge into his wrists. Shizu, her hair tangled around her eyes, slowly pulls herself up onto the higher level of the floor. The true pain is for her, to watch the one she loves, like this.
"Are you allright?", she asks. A faint smoke slowly rolls across her shoulders. Everything is silent now, and still.
The control ring floats above his head, waiting for him to lift himself into position and give command. "I'll be fine", he finally mutters, "Like hell will Chronos put me down for the count".
Around her the command room of the Olympus seems completely different. Agito had been closing in, the crystal shards in the wall showing the target in the air, when suddenly everything started shaking violently. And now, the leather like skin of the walls and floor seem stretched. Entire segments are sunken in, as if drained of all bodily fluid. As if drained of life. The only thing unaffected is the gigantic cacoon, it's plates molded into the rear wall. "What happened?", she asks.
"We crashed. Imakarum's attack". Shizu climbs to her feet with determination. With the Olympus weakened, Agito may need her defence. She quickens her breathing, her heart. She prepares for him to ask of her zoalord form.
Her zoacrystal bursts light into the room, and with fingers gripping around it, around her skull, she screams in agony as she drops to her knees! "Shizu!", Agito calls out, "Shizu!" The tendrils release his wrists, and the plates of armor fly from him as he rushes to her side in human form. With her limp body in his arms, her zoacrystal still glows. A thin line of blood draws from her nose.
"This happened before", the old man peers from around the corner.
"What do you meen?", Agito commands. After only a moment of showing true concern, his tone is already halfway coldhearted. The brief moment of his love is lost in the ringing throughout her skull.
"I hear... his thoughts", she wimpers, "alk.. Alkanphel. He's sending them out. So... strong. So close. It's burning into my mind. He's ...everywhere. Everywhere I look, think, I see his face!". She finally snaps, "I can't get him out of my mind!" She pulls close into Agito's chest, held tighter in his arms.
The old man puts his hand on Agito's shoulder and leans over to look over Shizu, "I made her as strong a telepath as I possibly could. Stronger than Barcus, if possible. Yet even I wasn't prepared for Alkanphel's strength". Dr. Heckering casually steps back, as if admiting the pain Shizu feels were a natural part of life. "You weren't here for it Agito, the first time it happened to her. Off building your little ship", Agito sneers over the doctor's snide remarks. "It was how all the humans around the world came to beg zoafication. After the water supply was tainted, Alkanphel used every telepathic broadcaster to spread his control across the globe. From tower antenae, to zoalord. Including Shizu". Dr. Heckering folds his arms, "She's probebly hearing Alkanphel's commands right now".
Agito looks into Shizu's eyes with sudden horror! "What is he saying, Shizu?", he urgers he more strongly, "What is he telling humanity to do?!"
She tries looking into his eyes, but everything is hazy, detatched as if she were hanging upside down. Still, She can make out his strong, stone cut jaw. She loves him, a man tempered as cold as ice, and as deadly as fire despite youth. She tries to take in his lone wolf face, and guilt fills her when Imakarum and Alkanphel flicker from the sidelines of her thought. A kiss, a memory of her first time, tainted. Alkanphel fills her again. "He's leaving", the zoacrystal forces the thoughts and ideas into her almost as if they are words, "He's telling the Earth to prepare. He wants Earth to be a worthy army of zoanoid unlike the universe has ever seen".
"Why?", Agito lowers her to the floor, and stands to face into a wall crystal. His jaw is set as he takes tally, and calculates the situation from every angle he can see. "Why would Alkanphel abandon the Earth? Why is he leaving like this?"
"We are to prepare for his return... ", Shizu mutters, " ...prepare to join the eleven worlds of zoa that Alkanphel will create. The next phase of his plans. An unstoppable armada".
The blood drains from his face, and his mouth hangs open. The odds stop calculating. "imm... impossible... there's no way he could become that powerful!" Agito stands erect and forcefull, blood pumping through his racing heart, and he screams "Boost Armor!" The star of energy envelopes him upon command, shielding him as the slime covered plates of armor re-emerge from their dimensional closet. Agito is in armor again, "Like hell will I allow Chronos to gain more power. Heckering, I need the Olympus to heal before the Ark has a chance".
"The only way for a bioship such as this to heal -that- quickly is to find a source of bioenergy large enough", the doctor says.
"There's more!", Shizu's fingers dig into the leather floor, "He's commanding them to build another Ark. He's telling them to build a fleet of them!" Agito turns his back to her, ignoring her as if it changes nothing for his goal. "You don't understand", she pleads, "he's telling them to tear the Olympus apart, and use -it- as the building material!" Agito stops in his tracks. "He's commanding them to tear you apart, and preserve your control metal for his return!"
A thunderous boom echoes through the corridor tunnels of the Olympus, an explosion as something tries to blast it's way in from the outside. "It's begun", the old man says, "An entire city of zoanoids converging on one guyver, and his half dead bioship". The doctor steps down into he lower floor level, and sits to wait. A man that accepted his execution long ago. The only logical conclusion for rebelling against Chronos. "I expect my Libertus will slow them down, as they tear into the inner chambers of the Olympus. Then they'll see what a true masterpiece of genetics can achieve".
"You don't see a tactical way to win this, do you", Agito says.
Dr. Heckering's face is morose, yet certain. "No. Eventually they'll wear out the energy reserves of even the Libertus. An entire city may just be too many to fight at once".
The guyver form of Agito stands between the command pillars, "Gigantic, merge!", he commands. The plates of the gigantic cacoon slide open, and the large armor locks over him. With his dual control metal still glowing, every crystal shard in the room floods them with white light! The tendrils of the command pillars come alive, and lash at his wrists, pulling the back of his hands into them. The control ring of the Olympus floats out from the wall, and glows with a beam of light around his dual control metal, merging his mind with the ship, becoming an extension of his own body.
"Aaaauuuggghhh", Agito flinches with the pain, quickly suppressing it through gritted teath. He can feel what the Olympus feels, and sees everything through the Olympus' eyes. The ships sensors wrap around, and show him the humans and zoanoids already starting to crawl all over his ship like a horde of ants. Ants, that is what they are to him, and nothing more. "Grrraag", He flinches again, a bioblast from a Vamore digging into his left side. He ignores them, and quickly searches the sky for his true enemy. The Ark.
The light from above her face fades, and slowly with it, the pain. Another echoeing boom, and the floor sinks further with the loss of fluids. Shizu lowers as the floor deepens. The pain makes every movement forced, yet she pushes on to pull her face above the upper steps. The crystals in the wall show what Agito is scanning; from the zoanoids surrounding him on the streets, to the largest crystal, showing the Ark ever higher in the sky.
"He can't do this!", Agito's anger roars. The Ark continues it's ascent, and slowly the space before it begins to smear. At the end of the atmosphere, a gate into hyperspace is forming. A gate to take the cityship known as the Ark into the vast expanse of the galaxy.
Bang! All of the Olympus echoes and shakes from the blast of another zoanoid. Everything is dark before the soft light of crystals return.
Agito is desparate. She can feel it in him, simply by the sound of his breathing. Anger and desparation emanate from him like the heat of his body. She wipes the trickle of blood away from her face. He needs her now, needs her to prevent Chronos from becoming by far too powerfull for him to destroy. She searches deeper within herself for the zoalord power. Calm fills him, and with a plan running through his mind, he looks to call upon her, "Dr. Heckering, exactly how much energy does a zoanoid body have?" His eyes don't even glaze over her existance.
"What do you meen, how much energy?", the old man cracks as if it's a stupid question. "The amount of energy can vary from one zoanoid type to the next. That's common sense".
"But a city of humans and zoanoids", Agito says with an eagerness, "That would be comperable to the Olympus? Correct?"
The doctor is silent while thinking, working the numbers in his head. "Yes... I suppose that many zoanoids could generate as much bioenergy as a living creature this size", his jaw drops suddenly. "You aren't? you don't meen?", the old man can't even get the words out.
"I'll save a sample and get the Olympus to give birth to more Libertus later", Agito says. "Now stay close doctor, I wouldn't want my ship to eat you or Shizu by mistake".
Men and women bash there fists into the whale like walls of the Olympus. Hordes of them, an entire city in a frenzy to destroy the guyverian monster. It's like a chaotic mob, people even finding ways of climb on top to tear at it from all sides. The thrill of the hunt. The thrill of the kill. That is what fills them. The mindless pounding and slashing until they can see a scratch of blood, and then raging on with even greater zeal. Humans working side by side with zoanoids without even realizing. Humanity united.
The zoanoids are the ones doing the real damage, tearing huge gaps and chunks out. Blood and acids pour from the fresh wounds, melting the screaming zoanoids that did the damage. But when the acid is gone, more people take their place to tear into the Olympus past the layers of acid veins.
A man pounds his fist into the flesh. Thump. Thump. He pound into it with everything he has. Thump, and his hand is stuck. He pulls on it, but a sticky juice covers his fingers. The wettness seeps from around his hand, at first a puddle, then larger. As if the wall of Olympus itself is melting! The man frantically tries to pull his hand free, only to start screaming as it pulls him in close. The burning pain though, the pain as it melts into him is the true reason he screams. It is the true reason all of them scream. Even those standing atop, as their feet sink deeper in, no way for them to run.
The control ring glows around the metal in Agito's organic helmet. The light subsides, and he would be smiling if his lips could be seen. "Chronos has not won this battle yet. The arrogance of them to leave the battle field so soon", Agito looks down upon Shizu with a morbid sense of humor, "especially after giving me exactly what I need to recover".
"Impressive", doctor Heckering remarks, "Forcing the ship to your will. Forcing it to absorb the life forms surrounding it". The old man is in awe. "Truly impressive".
Agito looks into the control ring again, and Shizu can feel the floor beneath her begin to hum. The humming turns to a rumble, and she feels the room rock from one side to another. With Agito's control metal and ring glowing into eachother, the crystal shards of the wall beam light upon them, flooding them with daylight from the outside. He sees the Ark disapearing into it's smear of space. "Do you think me a pitifull being that I would be killed so easily?", his voice echoes across the entire city, "Do you think me a child, one whom you can toss around and order? I am no longer the pathetic creature you once toyed with Chronos. I will hunt you down across the universe if that's what it takes!"
"Agito no!", a faint voice is heard through a crystal, the ears of the ship bringing to them it's senses. Agito and Shizu look imedietly in surprise, the view looking down upon Tetsuo and Natsuki. "Agito!", Tetsuo screams into the air, "Don't use a hyper gate! The dimensional folding matrix is cracked!"
Agito turns away from the crystal shard image. "I don't have time for this", he says in disgust. The ship flies higher and higher.
"Agito! Listen to me", Tetsuo screams into the air with all of his lungs, "You'll create a tear in the fabric of space!" He grabs a fist full of crystalized dirt and holds it up, "Creating a gate for Shizu to enter your ship made a small tear, but making a gate for your entire ship could destroy the whole city. You could kill ALL of us!"
The Ark's hypergate begins to grow faint. "Acceptable losses", he mutters to himself, "Chronos will not escape my grasp. Prepare for hyperjump".
"What!", Shizu roars. "What are you saying? They are our allies down there! And you are going to kill them because they are in the way?!"
"They are nothing more than pawns Shizu!", his eyes burn into her. It is guilt burning, her love for him tainted by the image of Imakarum behind his mask. She betrays his love, and screams at him. His voice raises, "I have come this far, and this close to destroying Chronos once and for all. If something as tright as an allie is what it costs for me to finish this, then so be it".
Betrayal studders her words, "The art of war, to never waiver from the killing stroke". She stands, trembling before him, yet standing with rightousness. "Yet they are what make you human, Agito. They are the ones that helped us get this far. We relied upon them, suffered with them. Damn it Agito, they sacrificed everything to fight along side us! They are our freinds."
"Shut Up Shizu!", his voice echoes through the cavernous Olympus corridors. Everything in silent, everything except the hum of crystal shard, and the rythmic pumping of blood through the living walls. "I would sacrifice everything to attain my goal. Everything", Agito's voice is calm and commanding, "Now prepare your zoalord form. The Ark's hypergate is sliding closed, I'm going to wedge it open so we can follow them through. I want to shatter the Ark into oblivion as soon as we come into range". His eyes focus intently on the crystal ahead, on the fading smear of space the Ark created.
Her heart wrenches, she lowers her chin. She loves him, and it hurts when he screams, at her. It hurts after she screams at him. A thin line of black traces around her chin, her skin shifting to a pale pink. Her body shifts to her battle form as he commands, and she stands waiting for the attack to begin. Waiting for him to launch her against the zoalord that held her prisoner only an hour ago.
His third eye, the glowing eye of his duel control metal glows into the Olympus ring, and she can feel the burst of energy surge through the bioship. Suddenly the entire room lunges upwards under the force of the ships engines, a high piercing whine as the crystals in the heart of the ship focus energy. The invisible wave flows through them all, and Shizu can see the Ark's hypergate flicker open wide as the invisible force peirces into it. Agito is focusing intently, jamming the hypergate open with a beam of dimensional energy, racing the Olympus in to meet it. Yet from the corner of his eye he watches her; trust gone.
The shards in the wall show everything around them. Shizu's eyes search for the one that shows beneath them. The shard that shows Tetsuo, his eyes wide. Searching, the shard that shows the humans fleaing in panic. The shard shows guyver one, fighting off a horde of zoanoid. And the shard that shows Mitzuki, directly behind the Olympus...
Mitzuki stands surrounded by men and women. They throw stones at her, scream at her, slash at her with sticks. "Please", she cries out to them, "Stop this, please!" They are blind. Their minds are filled with the single command from Imakarum to kill her. Sho cries out to her, longing to help her yet held back by the zoanoid the lash and claw at his arms. A woman stands over her, and grabs her by the arm with a hand raised. Even a human can tear another apart. A brutal stoning for societies outcasts.
The rear of the Olympus points to them as it climbs higher in the sky. Energy gathers into it's heart, all of the space around it folding inwards, folding into a spear for the path ahead. Suddenly, a beam streaks backwards from the Olympus' field, a thin blue thread, peircing Mitzuki. The beam covers her heart. The woman holding her freezes. The beam grows wider.
She is silent as the blue air becomes wider and wider, but her skin within it twists inwards. Mortification fills her face, pain hidden so far from shock that it has yet to reach her. Within seconds the blue light encapsulates her, and her skin shrivels. The woman holding her lets go, and Mitzuki drops to her knees. She screams in agony!
Sho freezes in his tracks, his eyes straight to the girl he loves as she cries out. "Mitzuki!", he roars. The winged demons slash at him with claws, they flap past him from above, tormenting him like vultures a mouse. His eyes burn with fire, and his hand grabs firmly around the ankle of one Vikarr, with all of his strength he swings the creature into the path of another! "I have had enough of this!", anger seeths through his teeth. The hulking mass of the Gernold creature senses his desparations, and grabs him from behind with thick arms to restrain him. Sho unleashes the sword from the back of his forarm, and loosens the demons grasp. He grabs the foot of another flying demon, and slaps it down into the pavement, cracking it's skull. "Mitzuki!", he calls out, "I'm coming!"
The blue beam grows wider, like a spot light from the heavens, with her in it's center. The woman standing over her cries out as the beam touches her hand, black veins spreading through as she tries to pull away, black veins pulling her deeper into the beam. It grows wider still, until it circles around the both of them, and wider until it touches another of the humans that were attacking her. Their skin shriveling as if age is passing over them in seconds.
Shizu looks at the shard. Memories of long talks, of baking in the kitchen, memories of sharing saddness and the little happiness that they could. A tear comes to Shizu's smooth zoalord eye. "I'm sorry Agito", she says. Energy fills her hand, "I can't let you hurt our freinds".
His beast eyes turn to her with pure venom, "Don't you dare betray me. If you attack, I will have this ship eat you as I did the zoanoid".
She holds the energy up as if to display it, "I would could never attack you, you know that", she says. The energy gleams in her hand, and in a single slash, she brings it down to pierce through the floor! The gaping hole sears with white hot heat, tunneling through every layer of the Olympus' flesh. Agito stares at her with shocked eyes, and before he can unlock himself from his command pedestal, she says to him, "I love you Agito. I always will". And she falls freely into the tunnel of her escape.
Sho struggles franticly to free himself of the talons digging into his legs. The zoanoid lay behind him, useing the last of it's life to pull him back into a senseless battle. A senseless battle, and Mitsuki is down the street being burned alive by a light from the heavens! He kicks and screams at the zoanoid behind him, his hands digging into the pavement to try and pull himself away. The field of blue light now engulfs a circle of people around her. "God, please help her!", he shouts out. He holds out his hand as if to try and reach for her; and in the pain of futility he mutters, "Please! I love her".
Sho's kicking finally renders the monster around his legs limp, and he thrusts himself forwards, only to have himself snagged by another beast grappling his legs, tackling him down again to the ground. A tear would be in Sho's armored eye. He is chained away from Mitsuki by zoanoids.
The field of blue light grows wider and wider, it's wall shimmering with energy. Mitsuki in it's center, tormented as the eye of this storm. The zoanoid limply drops from Sho's leg, and he stands to face the field that consumes everyone in the width of the street. Everyone in the blue field feeling the same torture as his love. Sho clenches his fist, 'I'll risk everything for her', and he charges into the blue barrier with everything he has! The surge overwhelms him, dropping him to the ground with his armor crackling, and his control metal beaming with the intensity to keep the armor whole.
Past his outstretched hand, and above the one he loves, Shizu falls from the sky with the power of her Griselda zoalord speed unlike anything before. The tails of flat leather flaps trail from the back her neck, spreading like wings behind her. Air jets past her in streaks, and pointing downward she flies faster. Shizu is an angel, descending upon those she she holds dearest. Sho's heart flutters to see her, hope building when her wings break open, slamming her at a halt above Mitsuki!
Shizu hovers above Mitsuki, and slowely descends, wrapping her tail flap wings around her, embracing her. The human bones show through, eyes begining to sink into their sockets. Mitsuki is near death, the field of blue light expanding ever further out, bringing her fate to everyone around her. Shizu's own skin begins to vein with thin black spidery lines, branching ever further up her pink neck and cheak until reaching the crest of her eye... determination focuses through her eyes as the zoacrystal begins to glow. The light of the zoacrystal glows brighter, pushing back the black veins. Shizu holds Mitsuki in her arms, her crystal sharing it's glow with every orbed jewel in her body, it's glow flowing between her fingers, and into the heart of Mitsuki.
Mitsuki convulses in a sudden deep breath! Life suddenly fills her, surging through her. Shizu channels more and more of her energy, and Mitsuki begins to glow, her flesh rippling as black veins slowly recede. A desparate hope fills Sho, and silently he begs Shizu to save his love.
The line of light from the Olympus stops, but the field of blue remains, as a dome. It begins to expand faster and faster, consuming entire city blocks. Shizu doubles over in pain, straining to push more of her power into keaping Mitsuki alive! Every human inside the field is brought to their knees, and in their screams they whither. Sho watches them all, unable to do anything to save them. Sho is unable to do anything to save himself the agony, his control metal surging with light to keep him alive. From the corner of his eye though, a blur catches his eye... a blur that envelopes Mitsuki and Shizu, and with every passing second passes more into focus.
The ground beneath Mitsuki spits burning blue cinders into the air. Sho struggles to his knees, barely able to stand, he forces himself to put one foot in front of the other. Mitsuki and Shizu are oblivious to the energy riseing from beneath them. Sho feels like dropping to the ground, but the fear for his love forces him to move his legs faster and faster. Sho is running, and the cinders traces the blur in defined edges, crackling from the ground like lightening! Sho tackles Mitsuki and Shizu out of the way as the ground erupts! The earth flash melting and crystalizing into a glass monolith! The pain suddenly stops...
Tetsuo grabs Natsuki's hand, pulling her back to her feet as they run. The crowd continues to throw brick and stone at them, and desparetly they across the open feild, towards the direction where Sho might be. Tetsuo stops, the wall of blue light rushing towards him with incredible speed. He can see the people in it's path being consumed just as flash fire. He freezes, the wall rushing towards them faster than he can run, faster than a train. He raises his hands as if to shield his eyes from it's blinding light, and suddenly the wall stops. He stands but three steps from it, as it humms a low blowing sound. Tetsuo is in awe at the sheer size of the dome before him. The hair on the back of his hand stands straight when he runs his fingers along the walls edge. He pulls back though, it's humm building, getting louder and louder as the ground resonates. The resonation stops, the wall of blue light stands perfectly still. Tetsuo swallows.
A wave rises from the ground and into the sky along the edge of the dome. With no further to go, the wave pulses outward into the sky. Tetsuo drops to the ground as the tsunami like wave flies high above his head. Into the sides of buildings the wave crash, cutting into them like a thunderous sword into a row of sticks!
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The Olympus has reached the edge of space, flying every higher to the hyper gate. With his hand fused into the pillars of the command room, all of Agito's concentration is focused at the distant Ark ahead of him. The Olympus has enters the gate, yet if Agito were to look back, he would see a circlular wave spreading across the Earth.