Nomad Hybrid

THE FAILURE

By Neil Rowlands (Drag-5)

The rat scurried along the bottom step. It knew that the fiend was coming. It had already lost most of its family. It jumped across the expanse to the wooden pole that jutted out of the water. Rats were good at this. Footsteps echoed through the arch that led onto the jetty. Nothin' for it, the rat plunged into the cold water, and swam across the harbor.
The stranger stopped under the streetlight swatting at the flies that had gathered there. He adjusted his shades and looked around. It was chilly out, but the leather jacket he wore didn't do much to help. The stranger looked around some more before ascending the wooden steps. As he neared the end of the jetty, he could just see the looming figure in the dark. This figure was at least 10 feet tall, and would stand out quite a bit in the day.
"Greetings aptom," came the deep voice from the hulking figure.
Aptom moved closer. "Makashima...."
The gigantic figure loomed over him. "So if Tetsuros theory is correct, then you should be able to 'hitch a lift' into the boost dimension..."
Aptom cut in.
"...if i can latch onto the armor successfully, I can come and help out in America sometime. Whatever hurts chronos the most."
It was a difficult choice. Hurt fukamachi, or hurt chronos. He hated both, but it was a better idea to side with Fukamachi. For now...
Aptom had been absorbing as much bio-matter as possible in the run up to this test. He loathed the thought of eating rats, but such opportunities meant he had a higher mass. There was no way he was gonna risk dying in there, but they needed to test if a whole entire 'Aptom' could make it through.
Agito cut into Aptoms train of thought. "Okay Sho is ready, now is the time. Aptom latch on to the armor!"
Aptom drew his hand back and slammed his fingers into the armor of gigantic dark. The armor started to give way as aptoms leech capability burrowed its way into the boost armor. The control medal started to shine as if to try and rid the armor of its unwanted attention. At that moment Agito shouted "Disengage!"
The armor started to unbuckle itself and at this moment Aptom allowed his arm to come free. This was the splitting. He had placed enough mass into his arm to create a full blown replica of himself. The armor had now come completley off Guyver3 and was now moving into a cocoon taking aptoms arm with it! The cocoon closed up and vanished!
Agito spoke "Okay sho is now going to call the gigantic armor...."
They waited for a bit. "No thats not possible.. gone, completlely? But where?"
Aptom waited listening to Agitos words. Agito turned to look at Aptom. "Your 'arm' has completely disappeared" He said. "The gigantic armor arrived with Sho, but there was no trace of any other bio material"
"Oh well" shrugged aptom "Experiment failed"
They both moved off their separate ways.

The arm of Aptom, had reconstituted itself to a degree that it was fully aware of it's surroundings. There was a screaming noise like that made of an aeroplane right next to him. Aptom tried to look around but everywhere he looked it seemed as though his eyes were folding in on themselves. The vision could be described as the image of a biological interior, except there was a shifting shimmering light making all the suroundings 'hum' of different shades and hues. The vibration of the space he was in seemed to pull on his nerve endings and if he didn't know better, he would have thought that he was in the form of every zoanoid he had ever merged with all at once!
The space in one area seemed to shift for a moment, and then a cocoon emerged out of a 'vessel' that had opened up. If aptom could move he would have headed toward that vessel as that was surely the way home, however the cocoon slammed right into him. He went hurtling away from the cocoon and found that he was thrown into another 'vessel'. It was like the area he had just been in except in more of a tunnel shape.
Then it all went white.
Aptom squinted as he tried to adjust his eyes. He could hear birds singing. Footsteps were heard to his left and then the white gave way to blackness.

As Aptoms senses returned to him he could smell the acrid odour of faeces. All sound was muffled as though it was coming through walls. He heard a groan coming from somewhere close by. His face was hot and his mouth was dry. The redness of his eyelids greeted him as his sight returned. The light must have been very bright. He struggled to try and feel his body.
He noticed that his fingers were resting on a hard floor and there were bits of what must have been straw. His face was also resting on a hard floor. He expected it would be a very cold floor too, if he could feel that much.
Something was not right. Not right at all. He knew this was not his usual surroundings. He also knew that for some reason he should not be feeling dazed and numb. As he collected his thoughts he realised that he was right. His metabolism had been changed over the course of his life. He shouldn't have been unconscious at all! What was going on and where was he? He forced himself to bear his eyeballs to the blinding light. He could see nothing. Everything outside the area of light he was in, was black. He tried to move away from the light. When his muscles finally listened to him, he managed to look around himself.
The room was what aptom knew to be a jail cell. However, this jail cell looked like it was from the middle ages! He looked across to the jail cell opposite.
There was a man laying on a crude looking straw bed. "You there! " he shouted " Where is this place?"
The man stirred slightly. A ragged, bearded face, with a scar eating its way from his left ear to his lip, turned to look at Aptom "So, you are from ahsiatica!" he said gruffly. "You lucky thing! You won't get executed at least!" he chuckled a strange restrained chuckle. The man said Ahsiatica... What did he mean? Maybe this place refers to Japan as Ahsiatica...
The mans accent sounded European " You are in a Ashiatican holding cell my friend. They dragged you in here 2 days ago. Lord knows why you're here... well at least him and you in any case." He gave out a hearty guffaw at this, then went back to his groaning.
Aptom thought on this for a bit. He was in the middle of Ahsiatica? It couldn't be Japan. This guy would not be calling it Ahsiatica and in any case, if it was Japan, he would not be in prison. He would more likely be in an experimental tube.
He stood up and walked over to the window.
Directly outside the window was the floor. Okay so not that surprising, prisons are often in the basement level. There was a little grass and a few sheds around. Not a hundred yards from the window were the trunks of large trees. The light that was coming to the cell was from the midday sun almost overhead.

Aptom turned around to see a man standing outside his cell.
The man wore leather mostly, and he held in his hands another suit made out of the same leather as his own.
"Put these on" came a Japanese voice. "Now that you're awake, the master wants to see you" The clothes were put through the bars and Aptom took them gratefully. He had only just noticed how cold the rest of the cell was.
Leather, how did they know he liked leather? When he was dressed the man opened the jail cell.
At this point it would be very easy for Aptom to attack the man, but then he would probably not hear what this 'master' wanted to talk about. He followed the guard.
The corridors of this place also looked medieval. Aptom wondered if this was a jungle culture that had as of yet not been discovered by the rest of humanity. Perhaps he was in the amazon jungle? Perhaps it was an early Japanese colonization? They went up some steps and passed through a hall lit with chandeliers, up some more steps and into a study.

Standing in front of the window at the far side was a well dressed man. From the back it looked as though he was wearing a silk shirt and a waistcoat. He turned around and gestured Aptom to sit opposite the desk.
The man sat down opposite aptom.
The guard shut the door and waited in the corridor.
"The guards heard you taking in Ahsiatican." said the man. His accent was also Japanese. "So what region of Ahsiatica are you from and why were you unclothed. I was under the impression that only those dogs from the Isle of Unity run around nude."
Aptom was unsure what to say. This man was talking in riddles. The Isle of Unity? What was that? He addressed the man "I come from a place called Japan. As for why I was unclothed, I was robbed and left with nothing" he thought it best not to mention his abilities just yet.
"Japan? I've never heard of it. And my geographical knowledge is first rate." he gestured to the books around the study.
Now aptom was really puzzled. what had happened in the boost dimension? Where had he come out? Perhaps this was another planet....
"What faction are you from?" asked the man.
Aptom knew of no factions and it was quite clear that whatever he said this man would not be fooled. "I am not aware of any factions in fact I have come from a place that you are likely not aware of."
The man looked rather indignant. "By the great lord Alkanphel, I know all there is to know about all places on this world! Do you mean to insult me?!" Aptom was taken rather aback by this. Alkanphel... the zoalord, the leader of the council of twelve.
"Alkanphel?! So this IS earth then?"
"Earth? I have no idea what you are talking about! This is ahsiatica!"
"No, I mean this is the planet earth, yes?"
"My my, I do believe you are quite mad! This is the planet Amasr." he looked at Aptom with an eye of incredulity. "Dear man, are you quite alright? I do believe you are quite out of it....." his words were cut off by a loud bang outside.
The man ran to the window "Damn, the traders we rescued you from are attacking" he ran to the door. " I am afraid our talk is going to have to wait!" with that he ran out and left Aptom alone.

Aptom looked around the empty room. The books that lined the walls would no doubt help him figure out what was going on. He picked up the biggest book he could find and opened it up at the first page. The map of the world lay before him.
The world of amasr.
It looked familiar in some areas. Completely different in others. He could see what looked like the united Kingdom but it was surrounded by other landmasses, as though the whole world had tried to suffocate it. It was labelled 'the Great Isle of Unity'. The man that was just addressing him didn't seem to like people from the Isle of Unity.
He picked up another book called 'A History of our Lords'.
There on the very first page was 'The Inception'.
It spoke of how the gods came down from the sky and created the race of humans. It spoke of how they assigned their first son to be our leader- Alkanphel. Then the tales of how they left and attempted to rain destruction on us all. If not for the power of our god Alkanphel, we would not be alive today.
Then there was a difference. The isle of Shira was discovered by sailors in the years dating 4000 B.C. These sailors awakened our lord and brought him back to rule over us. The world entered a time of prosperity. The artifacts of the gods were uncovered; The giant vessels they used to create us were uncovered; The powers of the gods were gifted unto us. Then a great cataclysm occured. The 3 forbidden artifacts were activated by 3 of lord Alkanphels most trusted lords, the seraphim. They attacked him and smote him down. The remaining seraphim lords hunted the 'Dark Seraphim' across the globe for many years. These dark years watched the collapse of our great civilization and the blood that was spilled, filled the oceans. Eventually the forbidden artifacts were removed from the dark seraphim and hidden forever in the frozen wastes of Anon. There they remained forever, never to be found again.
Aptom shut the book. He had seen enough. He was hungry, and there was fresh meat outside.

Aptom listened to the sounds of shouting coming from outside. It was a long time since he'd heard carnage like that. He walked to the door and pushed it open. The guard stood there looking at him. " Sorry, I have been told that you are not to leave." he said.
Aptoms pointed teeth showed through his lips as he grinned, and his eyes started glowing red. "Heh heh heh, so who's gonna stop me?" he said and he drew back his hand and plunged into the mans chest. He leaned close to the mans ear and whispered "You escaped me before because I needed information. Now I need sustainance." The man gargled and gasped at the feeling of tendrils worming their way through him and sucking him in like milkshake through a straw.
A couple of minutes later Aptom walked out of the front of the mansion.
The forest was alight in places with fire. There was a lot of shouting but there was no clash of swords, no gunshots. It sounded as though animals were fighting... Aptom listened with interest. Then a large furry form came smashing through the trees and slammed into the wall next to him. Looking down at a werewolf-like form, Aptom grinned even wider.
With a look of delight he ran toward the forest. Time to get some new abilities!
As he ran he saw a form of what looked like a Zextole, so he went for that one first.
"What are you doing out here?" the creature exclaimed. It was the well dressed man Aptom had been talking with. He didn't care, he wanted power. Running toward him, Aptom jumped up and kicked off a tree, he grabbed ahold of the Zextole-alikes horn and swung around knocking it way off balance to the ground. Aptom jumped onto its back and slammed his hand into it.
Nothing happened. He started to feel a little giddy. The Zextole-alike threw him off. "What are you doing little man? You think you can beat me? I have been enriched with the power of a SchaRrab!"
Aptom looked at his trembling hand. He did not hear what the SchaRrab was saying. Why couldn't he absorb the guy? It was not like when Neo-Zxtole had used his virus. This time the problem came from within. The SchaRrab was now charging up his lazer. There was no time for worry now. Aptom dodged to the side just in time. A couple of trees suffered the destruction that was meant for him. He decided to kill things for now.
Aptom shredded the clothes he was in as he turned into his familiar Aptom hyperzoanoid 4 mode. He opened his arm pods and sent a couple of missiles toward the SchaRrab. The SchaRrab dodged out of the way just in time so some more trees got vaporised.
"What exactly are you?" he shouted, this time from behind aptom. Aptom spun round just in time to recieve a blow to his face.
Aptom traded blows with him, and jumped back, firing his laser at the guy. The laser bounced off him.
"He's fast, and he can withstand my laser" Aptom was getting a little annoyed at this point.
All of a sudden he felt a strange sensation. It was like a warm glow rising up his body. His body was glowing slightly. The SchaRrab stopped moving. "What are you doing..? " he said cautiously.
Aptoms body was trembling but not by muscles alone. It was as if his skin was rippling. He started to sprout fur from some points, his whole body was changing against his will. The SchaRrab started shooting at him but the lasers were bouncing off him "No how could you!? Only my first guard can shield my attacks!"
Aptom looked up slowly and his body started to settle down in it's new form "You mean the guard that I ate?" he smirked.
"Aahhrrg!" the SchaRrab ran toward him. Aptom drew his new claws and thrust them forwards. The SchaRrab was in the way. It was heavy too.
Aptom pulled his hand back out. He wondered if he could try to take his power now....
He gingerly placed his hand on the SchaRrab body. He felt queasy.. Like he'd eaten too much. "Aww hell.. What a time to get indigestion.." He stood up and went to walk back to the mansion. He didn't know what he was gonna do or where he was gonna go.
As he walked toward the mansion he wasn't sure if he was seeing right. Walking out of the front of the mansion was the form of Sho Fukamachi! It was unmistakable. The object of aptoms hatred was in this world! He must have come through in the gigantic unit. Aptom ran forwards through the trees trying to keep his eyes on him and keep quiet at the same time. As he emerged past the last tree, he stopped. Fukamachi was gone. Aptom punched the wall, creating a hole.
He sat down on the step.
Somehow, he had gotten stuck in another world. He had just seen the only means of getting back and it was his most hated enemy. Now he was gonna have to chase that damned Fukamachi again, except now he was after his help.
He stood up, and walked into the mansion.
"Hell, I better get some new clothes if I'm going on the road"

The Guyver Net