The hiss of air decompressing from a small space was almost a knife through the silence of the night. The following sound of metal settling and groaning as it let itself down to the ground was even louder. It seemed that simply opening up the Gunmen was a thousand sound waves ripping their way through the silence. At last, Viral stumbled out of the large machine, grunting with exhaustion as his head was bowed.

He had barely managed to get Enkidudu out of the collapsing city of Teppelin. He had traveled sparsely, due to his capabilities of only being able to move about in his Gunmen during the day, while the sun was up. He kept moving, getting himself further and further away from the collapsed city, and the king he had once so revered.

Of course, he didn't move all the time. He slept, ate, took care of bodily functions, and all other things when they needed to be taken care of. He was immortal now, but he still had to sustain himself. But... for what purpose, really? He stumbled over towards the cliffs where he had landed by, in hopes that he could find a cave of some sort to hole up in for the night.

However, he didn't make it, as his legs gave out under him before he could reach them. He fell down to his knees, his large paws cushioning the fall at least kept him from completely collapsing face-first. Slowly, his hands curled into fists, until he was gripping double fistfuls of dirt as his knuckles pressed into the ground.

He had tried not to think, while he had been running for all of these days. But really... what was there to fight for anymore? The Spiral King had told him the secret as to why humans were always kept belowground, but... now what could he possibly do with that information? There was no way that the humans would ever believe a tale like that. It seemed unbelievable, even to him. Like hell the humans would ever even consider the truth coming from the mouth of a Beastman like him, even though what he had to tell was really the genuine truth. He would be better off trying to convince a rock of what he had to say.

He could feel this, and so many other failures, as though they were heavy weights bearing down on his back. He had failed all four of the generals. He had lost the helmet of Enki. He was told that, as a Beastman, he would never be able to stand against humans with Spiral Energy. And, what was more... because that fool Kamina had died so long ago, he would never have any true absolution. The only one possible who might be left was that human pup, Simon, and he had lost even to him.

Lordgenome had said it himself, he was nothing but a Storyteller now. Granted immortality, he was to recount the tales of the Spiral King's victories against the humans, but now all he had to tell was the tale of their King's defeat?

"Damn it," he whispered under his breath, gripping the dirt more tightly. "Damn it," a little louder now, lifting up his fist and bringing it down softly against the ground. "Damn it. Damn it. Damn it!" His volume increased with each speaking of the phrase, and his fist struck harder each time as well. He was so distraught, he didn't notice that the ground he was striking was producing a hollow, metallic sound each time he struck. "Damn it! Damn it! You stupid, filthy naked apes!" He finally screamed out into the night. "Damn you apes!" He lifted his fist up over his head, blinded by the tears that were spilling from his eyes. "Damn each and every one of you to hell!"

He slammed his fist down against the ground one more time, and his eyes snapped open when he heard a groaning sound. He barely had time to wonder what was going on before the ground buckled under him, and he was sent down screaming into the darkness of the earth.

–

The landing itself was surprisingly soft, but still jarring nonetheless. Viral grunted loudly when he finally hit the bottom of... whatever this place was. The fall had been long and rough, as there had been many rocks and sharp things on the way down into this... this pit, he supposed. The blond Beastman growled under his breath, holding one arm which had been injured on the way down.

"Damn!" He barked sharply, gripping the appendage with one large paw. The wound itself was closing, but he could feel quite a bit of blood streaming out from the gash. "Rrgh... can't believe all of this is happening," Viral growled. "And now I'm injured, just perfect." He felt the wound itself seal up, but he saw quite a bit of his own blood down in the pile of... whatever it was that he had landed on.

He looked upwards, where he could see a large rectangle of silver moonlight shining down onto him from above. He gritted his teeth as he growled a bit more. Perfect, now he had to go hunting around, in the dark no less, to try and find a way back up to the surface, and back to Enkidudu. Hopefully no humans would find it while he was down here, and try to hi-jack it as they seemed to have taken up the habit of doing so.

"Well, no point in sitting here any longer," he muttered to himself. With a soft grunt, he pushed himself onto his feet, and made his way into the dark. Well, at least Beastmen were able to see well in the dark, and the fact that he was a cat only made this advantage better for him.

He had gone no more than a few feet before he heard a quiet rustling noise somewhere behind him. Viral tensed, and instinctively reached for the cleaver in its sheath on the back of his belt. His body was on pins and needles, ready for any and every little thing that could possibly think to try and ambush him. He waited; eyes narrowed and ears twitching slightly as he listened about for what was approaching. He chanced a sniff through his nose, trying to catch a scent.

Then, suddenly, there was a loud rustle of movement, and he whipped around, striking out in the direction of the sound's origin. His ragged makeshift cloak flew with him, whirling about with him as he turned his entire body 180 degrees. He could feel his cleaver catch into something, but before he could look to see what it was, he found himself thrown down against the floor, onto a much harder spot this time.

Dazed, he was only aware of himself struggling blindly, and the sensation of something pulling at his body. Then, something wrapped itself about him, compressing itself into his skin, even as he clawed futilely at whatever it was that was attacking him.

Then, it was as if some sort of electricity suddenly zapped on through his body. His body seized up, and his breath caught in his throat. Then a second went through, and his body loosened up again. He just barely managed to stumble up to his feet, clutching at his chest, when he suddenly threw his head back and roared out into the night.

–

"Examination Squads, come in, this is the Discipline Committee Chairman. Do you read me?" One of the people in hazmat suits balanced their weapon in one arm as they used the other hand to press into the communicator in his ear.

"This is Exam 1, Chairman. Everything seems quiet in here. Haven't seen anything in here that would have made a noise like the one that got reported." They looked around, viewing everything through the solid plated mask over his eyes. "I think someone might have just been hearing rats or-"

"Sir! Sir! You'd better come see this!" The lead mask paused, then pressed his finger back to the communicator.

"...Scratch that a moment please, Chairman. I think one of the others has found something." He pulled his finger away, then rushed over to the other. "What? What is it?"

"I... I don't believe this, sir. It's... it's a..." The leader of the squad peered into what he was talking about, then gasped and immediately jammed his finger back into his communicator.

"Chairman, it's... It's a Beastman! There's a Beastman down here!" He bent over, looking down at the prone creature. "It looks like he's unconscious, I think he fell in through a hole from the surface."

"A Beastman?! In the lab?!" On his end of the line, the Chairman clenched his jaw and gripped at the edge of the table. He was trying to think of what to do, when he heard his small messenger pad beeping. "One moment. My Lady, how may I-?... Yes, they found something. It's a Beastman... No, they're sure, it's definitely one of them... You want us to what?... No, no I heard you. Yes, we will do it right away, my Lady. Yes, of course. Right away." He turned off his device, then turned back to his communications with the Exam Squad. "...Bring the Beastman in and toss them into an empty cell, our glorious leaders, Lady Satsuki and Lady Ryuko, want a word with this Beastman."