The battles have heated up but Ryuko and Senketsu have become closer and Ryuko herself has come to value her friends more. The fear of Sho being found out has come to pass, but Satsuki has restrained any action for now. Now both sides wait for further monsters or the next step in the battle over Life Fibers.
Sanageyama felt the itch. He had 2 worthy opponents and both were finally within his grasp, but even he knew the order concerning the Guyver was common sense. He had gone over the results of the 2 attacks in Honno Town and the analysis of the strength they were dealing with. Still, he felt the itch and he could no longer withhold himself as he felt the smile stretch over his face as he went to see Satsuki in her rooms.
Guyver Earth
Dr. Balcus knelt before his master, Arcenfel. The feeling of overwhelming power was not just genetically built into him, all knew his power was absolute. Only Balcus knew the result of the battle between Guyot and Arcenfel, and at the latter's order it stayed that way. The most powerful Zoalord looked over the limited data and as the most experienced in the technology had come to give an opinion on the upcoming operation.
"Hammelcar, you have stumbled on something I don't think the Creators truly played with. It may even be that the Guyver I unintentionally made this possible. Regardless," the blonde youth with his unassuming form seemed to glow with energy as he turned to the ancient right hand man of his, "This mission hinges on a lot of assumptions. You confirmed not only the Guyver but an unknown and unmeasured power in this girl. We need a more subtle mission for information. Send a Hyper-Zoanoid that can handle itself but will not create the waves the first 2 missions did. The Guyver is not a priority, the girl is."
With that, the closest thing to a God Earth had seemed to vanish into streams of energy. Dr. Balcus knew the frightening truth of that power as he had seen it do terrible things over the centuries, but it had limits, the moon's creation made that reality clear. Even so, the Zoalord had regained much of his powers as optimization technology began to come along to the modern era.
He could never be truly restored, but that was due to the lack of the Creators and their original Zoalord technology. The pale imitations Balcus had created were powerful, but they were children compared to Arcenfel.
He sighed as he stroked his beard and pulled up the list of choices for this mission. Hyper-Zoanoids were far more common, but subtle did not usually go with that level of Zoanoid. He kept scrolling through the list and was about to go create what he needed when an old one showed up. He was one of the original prototypes and was still around unlike many of the others. It was a risk to fiddle with a prototype, but in this case he was on certain ground. It was the prototype for the Elite 5.
Kill La Kill Earth
The 2 Star Guard detail was distracted. Sanageyama had challenged the transfer student t combat today and many wanted to go. The battles until now had been one sided in her favor or she was overpowered by outside forces. Also, anytime Sanageyama battled it was a fight not to miss. They were animated discussing this topic when an unassuming man appeared in the target zone.
He was dressed in a dark suit with blonde close cropped hair and sunglasses. Because no one was paying attention as they should and it was not a monster, the man simply turned down an alley and leisurely began walking up to the Academy at the top of the hill.
It would only be much later that someone would see the footprints and begin to search for a man no one had seen arrive.
Sho watched from the crowd as Sanageyama and Ryuko fought fiercely. The transformation into the massive green armor was unexpected on the Elite, but having seen the Scourge Regalia, Sho was not totally surprised.
At first he was worried but the newly strengthened bond, and clearly being fast on her feet, Ryuko worked with Senketsu to blind and then soundly destroy a 3 Star Goku uniform. He was impressed. She could do something he could not accomplish as the Guyver, disarm her opponents without killing them.
At full force he could easily destroy anyone in a Goku uniform, but they would be killed, a normal human, and Sho just could not contemplate that.
He was about to file out with the rest of the students when the hairs on the back of his neck stood up. It was something he had picked up after many battles when the Guyver was no longer on him. The feeling of something being wrong.
He scanned the crowed but it was just students and a beaten Sanageyama in the middle of the gym floor. Everything was fine. The feeling did not stop.
Sho looked at Senketsu's eye and noticed it was looking up and he did the same. The blood drained from his face. He saw the dark shadow just barely visible near the top windows. It was looking right at Ryuko and he knew that kind of shadow. Every instinct he had screamed of Chronos.
Just as he was about to catch Ryuko's attention, it vanished. Sho saw Mako and Ryuko heading home, but Sho would not be going just yet.
Inumuta did not like it. His surveillance was perfect but something had been at the Academy that was not supposed to be. The problem was it never held still long enough to be sure what it was and then it destroyed several cameras in sequence before disappearing.
The fight between the Transfer Student and Sanageyama had added to the problems as bodies were everywhere and trying to pick apart one shape from a wild crowd had proved fruitless. He had the sneaking suspicion that someone with claws was here but the team in charge of watching assured him nothing was wrong.
That of course was now changed as foot prints not belonging to a student were at the rift. Gammagorri was currently disciplining the guard assigned and a full search was in effect. Unfortunately these things could look like ordinary people according to the Guyver.
I will not be thwarted a second time. He was typing lightning fast and data was streaming through the whole network of Honno Town. If this blur showed up again, it would not find escape so easy.
"Something was on the ceiling watching us?" Ryuko was talking to Senketsu when Sho finally had given up. Whatever type of Zoanoid this was, it was not attacking or waiting for him anywhere. Frustration at his lack of success was at least eased by the fact the kamui had noticed.
His eyes never left us the whole battle or as we came back. Senketsu's words made his blood run cold. The Zoanoid was not coming for him, but for Ryuko. If the last battle had been relayed to Balcus, he may be trying to gauge the strength of Ryuko as a potential ally of the Guyver.
"Did you get a good look at him Senketsu?" Sho's question confused the Mankanshoku table. He had forgotten in his worry that they did not believe the outfit was alive, but right now that was not worth explaining.
No. He always stayed out of sight but I felt the look always until a few moments ago. Sho bolted up and out the door.
"GUYVER!" As soon as the armor was on he was scanning the area. At the very edge of his senses he felt it. A single being moving too fast and away from the school. He took to the roofs of Honno Town slums and moved as fast as he had ever moved.
The night blurred and nothing mattered but reaching this target. The horror of what Chronos could do with Life Fibers terrified him. On top of their own abilities, the clothing could make their human forms equally unstoppable. It was not a thought he wanted to complete.
It was only as he finally closed in on the target that had stopped running that he noticed Ryuko was right with him in Synchronization Mode. He was used to the stripped down look, but in the fight to come the exposed flesh terrified him.
It is too late to stop us Guyver, we must find this foe before more innocents are killed. The kamui's words were truer than any concern. The Guyver told him they were on top of it and he rounded the corner only to get a tentacle wrapped around his neck.
Ryuko saw the Guyver light up in electrical shock and then a red light beam flared out to knock Sho out of the sky. She did not pause and changed direction to catch him, but when she looked down the alley, it was empty.
"Where did he go?" Ryuko felt Senketsu looking hard, but neither the attacker, nor the Guyver appeared.
Not one to be overly patient, Ryuko let the silence of the night come over her and waited to hear what she needed.
The sound of a step behind her was damned surprising but her scissor blade flew quickly and encountered something hard. She leapt forward to the next roof, only to push back immediately back at her target. The shadow moved swiftly by a tentacle pulling him out of the way. In any other opponent this might have worked.
"Decapitation mode!" The scissor extended immediately and the attacker was in mid air when it struck. Once again, it hit but just glanced off of something. "Some kind of armor?"
The moon finally graced the evening and revealed a very nondescript man in a suit that had been slashed in the left rib and arm areas where the scissor had struck. Not a drop of blood was evident in either tear.
"Your strength is surprising as is your speed. It was difficult to evaluate you today and I am interested in what you did to your opponent as well. His clothes gave him that power yes?" Ryuko did not bother answering. Any information this scumbag could get on his own, her concern was Sho.
Her opponent seemed to pick up on her distraction.
"The Guyver is alive, just incapacitated. I analyzed a previous battle that one of my skill sets worked on him. He will recover but not anytime soon." The man was not smiling or bragging, just stating facts and it made her blood run cold.
Rain began to fall from the sky as lightning crashed above them. A frown appeared on his pale face but as he glanced up a glowing blade slashed out of the night.
"I would not be too sure about that!" The Guyver was moving around the roof and not holding still, but his moves seemed slow compared to what she knew he could do.
"I see. I am not able to produce the same power as Elegen. I will remember that in the future. My bio-laser is on par with ZX-Tole's but clearly I need a better blast." The names meant nothing to her, but the Guyver seemed to react in shock.
Before either could re-engage him, the man seemed to melt into the night and the sky let out a downpour. The Guyver stayed upright as its orbs moved but then a sigh escaped and Ryuko had to rush to catch him as the armor disengaged.
Ryuko needed no prompting to get them in out of the storm and get Sho some rest.
Ryuko was brushing her teeth the next morning when the challenge was noticed. What was surprising was it was again Sanageyama. Sighing that the troubles never ended, she went about getting ready, but wondered if her new shadow was watching her again already.
The Zoanoid only had a designation. Prototypes, if they survived, often only had designations. He may have had a name once, but now he was simply Test Type Mark 3. His attempt at information gathering had had mixed results.
Clearly the target was powerful, her swings had penetrated his armored body severely, and she had speed he could barely keep up with as well. The Guyver had similar capabilities but the inexperience of the human inside made prediction of his actions possible, that and his fights with Zoanoids were desperate moments of near death usually as well.
He had been correct that the Guyver would follow him last night, but he had underestimated its ability to recover from his attacks. The Guyver would be invincible in the Gigantic against him, but even the megasmasher would destroy him as well.
His target was going to another battle and his information was lacking on the capabilities of these beings. They clearly had different power levels with this 'kamui' being the most powerful. He followed her to the Academy once again.
Sanageyama was a different man now. His eyes were sown shut and his Goku uniform was far more powerful. Ryuko could barely dodge him and his hits were brutal. This was not the same fight happy maniac from yesterday, but a serious warrior.
Fear filled her body as the man overpowered her with one blow after another. No trick or skill she had worked against him and she could not track his movements at all.
"What is wrong Matoi?" He was calm, centered, and scared the hell out of her.
His target was now being beaten. It could be like the Guyver and his inexperience but Balcus needed data. He had relayed all he had learned and gotten authorization for direct battle data. He informed the Zoalord he may be defeated, but that was fine.
Ryuko was slammed into the ground and the scissor sent flying. She had a string of Senketsu tied to it, but when the blade flashed into his back, Sanageyama left an afterimage as he appeared behind her.
"That won't work—" He stopped talking as a shadow fell from the sky. It was not the Guyver but the man from last night!
"Zoanoid…" The word left her and she heard the sharp heel of Satsuki from on high watching them.
"You will surrender immediately or be destroyed." The man did not even look behind him, he had eyes only for Sanageyama. He began to bulge and his human flesh shredded as blue-grey armor appeared and his head distorted until it grew 2 horns. His arms became tentacles wrapped around clawed flesh.
She noted there was a cut in the left side and left arm and smirked she had made in impact but she was in no shape to fight this man.
"I am curious how you are over-powering my target. Please indulge my curiosity." The man blurred and Sanageyama also vanished. Ryuko realized Sho was not here and even the Elite did not know the powers of this creature.
"Stop! He can electrocute—" She never got the chance to finish her sentence as the very tentacle attack wrapped her arm and sent electricity in her and Senketsu. Both screamed in agony but it stopped quickly as blackness closed in.
Satsuki felt rage boil. The monster that had breached their defenses had just assaulted a clearly defenseless Matoi. Sanageyama's fight was worth more than this and the honor of the Academy was at stake. She noted the Guyver was nowhere to be found and wondered if he was still alive.
"Inumuta, where is Fukamachi?" She heard a pause then furious clicking.
"He is currently not on my screens, so he is at home or injured from possibly fighting this creature." She accepted that possibility but would not surrender easily. She noted that Sanageyama was not fighting head on as he had with Matoi. He must sense something dangerous enough to keep his distance beyond the tentacles.
"Do as I instructed, broadcast this now!" She only heard one click and smiled at the efficiency of her subordinates.
Sho was barely awake but feeling better when all the monitors began showing an image. He saw Sanageyama engaged with what looked like a mix of the old Elite 5 Hyper-Zoanoids Elegen and ZX-Tole. It had the tentacles and bio-laser from them, the body might be a part of Derzerb as well.
"A prototype like Murakami?" Sho then saw Ryuko knocked out on the battlefield and realized he was seeing a live image!
"Guyver!" The armor was around him as he ran to try and save his friends.
The human was proving tactically brilliant. He had avoided the danger of the tentacles and was not staying still long enough for the bio-laser to fire. Equally, he was staying in sight long enough to draw him in. He claimed to be blind but the uniform may be compensating in some way for that.
The how of these outfits was a high priority but information was lacking. The best he could tell is they were normal cloth. They must possess a catalyst but he could not determine it. Even so, he now had his answer. The kamui gave the girl power, but like the Guyver, her knowledge and experience limited her.
All that remained was to end the fight and get a sample. He made a beeline for the unconscious girl and was not surprised when green appeared in front of him.
"Matoi is my opponent, not yours." Foolish time to speak human. The man almost evaded again but as his target was the girl he did what most humans did and became a shield. That was all he needed.
The blade extended from his damaged rib area and pierced the outfit easily. Blood spurted from his mouth, but he had avoided a lethal strike.
"If you desire to win, win." The barb for the human got through but then the world changed.
Energy slammed from the top of the wall as a single beam of the megasmasher slammed into the Zoanoid while missing the Elite. Sho noted that the monster was still ticking by sacrificing its arm and a leg to avoid death, but he was not done.
Blades extended as he approached the creature and saw it was not deterred.
"Well done Guyver I. You nearly had me, but I will not let you get that lucky again." In horror the limbs began to regenerate but Sho had expected this. His gravity cannon smashed into the damaged limbs and the bio-Laser. The fact he lived spoke of optimizations to fight him on even footing.
"I cannot afford to lose. My fight, I must win." The other plate opened on a fully charged smasher and the monster smiled at its death.
Energy smashed into it as it was erased from existence and burnt the ground. The chest plate closed once the beam was done and the outline remained.
Sho quickly ran over to Ryuko and Sanageyama who was kneeling. He ran a scan over him and yelled at the person watching it all.
"He needs medical help now Satsuki! I am taking Matoi." He gently picked her up and was disturbed neither of them were conscious.
He heard the sound of her heel and was about to leave when her words stopped him cold.
"Very well Fukamachi, for saving my subordinate you may take Matoi, but you can hide no longer and you WILL submit to me." She blazed like a sun as a medical team came to the now deactivated form of Sanageyama.
Sho felt rage and fear war within him, but Ryuko's condition was a first priority. Even so, he looked up at the ruler of this world and felt no fear.
"If Chronos can destroy my family in front of me and not stop me, what makes you think you can?" He saw he had struck an unexpected nerve in this cold woman. Something he had said had made her pause, but only for a moment.
"We will discuss this another time, treat Matoi and we will be coming for you." She whirled around and marched off her perch.
Sho floated up and took Ryuko back to the Mankanshoku's for help. He realized that today was his last day of freedom. Barring another attack by Chronos, Satsuki had run out of patience with him.
Guyver Earth
The final data had made it but was not as helpful as Balcus wanted. It gave him battle date, but not the source of power for these outfits. That lack, however, was made up for the fact that they tore like other cloth with that scissor blade. The damage it had inflicted on the Hyper-Zoanoid gave him the data he needed to replicate the effect.
The next time these "Goku" uniforms confront a Zoanoid, they would learn the true power of Chronos and leave the Guyver alone against an army of Zoanoids. The only problem was no confirmation of the Gigantic, because even an army would not be enough then. Still, it seemed many of these beings were against the Guyver. Only the girl stood with him and if she died, he would be alone.
Even a Guyver cannot fight 2 armies at once, Gigantic or no.