Disclaimer: You already know.

Chap. 10

"That's impossible. How can you be Busuzima?"

The man strode forward into the light and Yugo could see that he and the other Busuzima did share some facial similarities. Except that Busuzima had a somewhat distorted and comical face as opposed to the other's sharp and serious one.

"I suppose you have some questions. Suffice to say that I am the true Busuzima. But you can just call me Hajime. The one you've been fighting these years was my clone. A distorted one, but a clone nevertheless. He was designed to continue the experiments while keep you busy at the same time. He did the job well."

"Thanks boss."

He then turned his attention toward Shenlong. "Ahh. My most prized creation. How are you, Shenlong?"

Shenlong glared hard, "What are you talking about?"

He walked toward him, "I see. You don't remember. Well how about a little history lesson. I created you initially to be a replacement assassin after Long....broke with us. But I saw that your skills and power were far too great to use in a simple thing as assassination. So you were set free, to rain destruction upon the world while we reorganized our resources. And in that, you did a marvelous job, far better than I ever could have imagined."

".........."

"Why are you doing all of this? What is the point of hurting people? Why?"

Hajime smiled, "Isn't obvious? The age of zoanthropes is here. However, not many in the world are one of us. Therefore I have decided that I will create beast-men from the strong of the humans. The weak ones will die and the world will be purified."

Yugo glared fiercely, "You're even worse than your clone. I won't allow you to complete this sick mission of yours."

"I expected that you were to say that. But others may not agree with you. What do you think, Shenlong?"

Shenlong remained quiet for awhile, "Hmm. It's an interesting proposition, but I'm not interested in world domination. Besides, you still owe me for the scars your creature gave me."

Hajime shook his head, "Such a shame. So be it. But I'll let you in on a little secret."

He then strode forward, "The Bakuryu ninja and the Z project weren't the only ting I was working on. They were just used for subjects, warriors under the control and command of the project Omega."

What? Another one?"

Yes. The project was to create the ultimate zoanathrope. At first, the project was deemed impossible. However, the arrival of the Tabula showed me a new option. Hyper beast mode. If harnessed, the one who possess it will have unlimited power. You saw what it did for Xion. But he never found out how to keep the power and thus, it was only temporary. But I have found out and used it to complete project Omega."

Suddenly, Hajime began to crackle with energy. "Take a wild guess who it is."

Yugo and Shenlong both stepped back, "Aw, damn."

_______________________

Shina and Gado continued down the hallway, looking for anything that might explain Jenny's direction.

"What do you think she was talking about?"

Gado thought, "Hmm. She probably found the power core of this building and is leading us to it."

"What makes you say that?"

"She did it before. That was how the original Tylon building was destroyed. She gave me some information and I used it."

The two mercenaries turned the corner.

"I didn't know she was involved at that time."

"That's the idea. No one knew. Except for me."

Shina and Gado stopped and found another large gate. Gado looked at the keyhole and used a password he saw on the computer terminal. The gate opened and behind it was revealed to be the building's electrical core.

"Whoa, this is huge."

"Hmm. A lot bigger. And it's generating immense amounts of power. That would partially explain how they were able to move so quickly."

Shina smiled, "I guess this means it will be a bigger explosion than before.

"Not happening."

Suddenly, the whole room was filled with crimson colored soldiers, all which trained their weapons of the two.

"I knew this was too easy. But a man has to work for things sometimes."

Shina cracked her knuckles, "Alright. Second helpings."

_______________________

Kenji was still searching for Shin down the corridors. He found his way into a room full of chambers where he found a shocking sight. Inside each chamber was a distorted clone of Uriko. As Kenji looked further, he saw project Z written on one of the chambers.

Kenji thought, So this is project Z. Huh?

Kenji then hears a banging noise. Following the sound, he found Shin, pushing over huge barrels of oil all over the place.

"Shin. There you are."

Shin ignored Kenji and continued his work.

"Shin. We should go and help the others."

"No."

"What?"

Shin finally faced him. His face was darkened and full of misery and pain. "You should go. I'm staying here."

"Shin. What is it?" He didn't need to ask, but he needed to get Shin's attention.

Shin raised his arm. "This is Neo-Tylon's army. An army of monsters created from Uriko's DNA and our fighting skills. Just one has the potential to wipe out a troop of soldiers."

Kenji stepped toward him, "How do you know?"

Shin turned back around, "Because I'm a part of it."

Kenji remained quiet while Shin spoke, "I remember now. Not much, but I remember. I don't remember having a family. But I did have a brother. He was an employee of Tylon. However, when he found out their true motives, he tried to break away. But they caught us and did their experiments. I got it the worse. The people said they found the potential for me to be a part of their Bakuryu project, so they focused their work on me. Then I remember something about the building being under attack by zoanathropes. Yugo and the others. My brother used the attack to escape with me, but he had returned to help them destroy it. The building exploded and him along with it. What I didn't know is that I was given a special conditioning which was to have me attack Yugo on the mere mention of his name from him. I was to be used to kill him, but the attack came before I was sent out and hence, it never happened. Until now. And because of that..."

Shin began to choke on his words and Kenji moved closer, "Did your brother...?"

"Survive. Yes, Beta."

Shin and Kenji jumped in surprise as Gamma and Kohryu appeared behind them. Gamma walked up.

"What's wrong brother? I thought you would have been glad to work with us."

"Coris. Don't you remember? Don't you remember how we suffered under these guys? How you tried to beat them?"

Gamma's face remained neutral, "That was foolish. I realized that Tylon is the way of the future and that it was best for mankind. And that which you called suffering was beneficial to our training. You were strong, so why not join with the elite?"

Shin balled up his fist," That's not you talking, Coris. It's them. Please don't let them control you like this."

Kohryu stepped forward, "Enough. If you will not join us, then we have no choice but to kill you."

Kohryu transformed into his cyber-mole form.

"Coris, please." Shin pleaded.

"That's not my name. I am Bakuryu Gamma, black water of death." With that he transformed into his eel form.

Kenji stepped back, seeing the despair in his friend, "You should go. I'll handle these two."

"No Kenji. They will kill you. And this must end here. One way or another."

Kenji and Shin transformed into their bestial forms

Kenji recited, "As summer bugs fly into the fire..."

Shin finished, "...So will be the last breath you take."