Chapter 27: An attempt at cooking, and more training

AN: I realised when I was writing chapter 26 that I've had the story running through Sonnet's eyes for quite a while. For a bit of variety this chapter will be through the eyes of Sonnet's roommate.

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Mizuki woke up around 08:00 the following morning, which was a Monday, to the distinct smell of something burning. She quickly climbed out of the bed and ran into the kitchen. In the kitchen, she saw Sonnet standing over the sink, and pouring the contents of a pan into the sink. The contents appeared to be burnt eggs.

Mizuki had to be careful not to grin at the sight of her roommate attempting to cook. She waited until Sonnet had put the pan down before saying:

"I thought the idea was for me to monitor you while you cooked something?"

"I figured I could cook some eggs and sausage for you to have for breakfast. I've seen Ran do that several times, and thought I could manage it myself."

"I told you that you can't learn how to cook by just watching someone, you need to be practical too."

"Which is what I was doing. Granted, not very well, but I was trying."

Sonnet dried off the pan, and tried again to cook a breakfast. Mizuki stood nearby and pointed out anything that might help Sonnet.

"Will you be working today?" Mizuki suddenly asked.

"Yes. I need to test a few things before we carry out my plan. Sometime today, I need you to bio-boost and try and sense me with your abilities. If you can it'll make things easier."

"OK, what else?"

"Get some training done with Ran and Mutaru sometime today."

"That shouldn't be too hard. Unless they are working somewhere?"

"I don't think so. Ran works in the local tennis centre, as an instructor, but I think that's from Tuesday to Friday."

"Ran likes tennis?"

"Yeah. First thing I did when I went to her school was play a few sets of tennis with her."

"Great, I play tennis sometimes. I'll have to play against her sometime, see how good we are. What about Mutaru?"

"He works part time in a nearby warehouse. Packing orders for supermarkets."

"Food?"

"No. Media products. CDs, DVDs etc. You should call by their apartment and check with them."

"Will do. By the way, how did your hunt go?"

"I killed four zoanoids: two Vamore, a Gregole and an Elegan."

"I thought you were only able to beat up to a Gregole without your armour."

"Using only brute strength, that's true," Sonnet's eyes glowed briefly, "But using my ESP, psycho kinesis to be precise, I can do a lot of damage."

"That's what you used to make that mug explode, isn't it?"

"Correct. I think you should also add a few details to my plan with Ran and Mutaru, but keep me out of the loop with them."

Upon seeing the puzzled look on Mizuki's face, Sonnet explained.

"That way, for example, you could select the time of the attack and I won't know, so I won't be acting to the same degree as if I had known in advance."

"It should also help to deflect suspicion against you."

"True. You've got quite an analytical mind, haven't you?"

"Yep. Part of living on the run for several years."

"Also, if you can sense me using your armour, you should be able to find the lab. I'll let you know in advance if I'm going to be there during any specific day."

"Why not just send a telepathic image?"

"Because Balcus is a zoalord, remember? He has powerful telepathic abilities. He could probably sense, or listen to, a telepathic conversation."

"Point taken. It would probably be best if we never contacted you, at all, when you're in the Chronos building."

"Good thinking. I'll contact you when I'm away from the building and then you can contact me after that. Please let the others know."

Mizuki nodded. During the conversation, Sonnet had partially cooked some eggs, and had started on the sausages. Several minutes later, Sonnet had cooked an edible, but slightly burnt, breakfast for her roommate. While Mizuki ate her food, Sonnet went into her bedroom and changed her clothes. Instead of wearing the white t-shirt and blue jeans she had been wearing after her 'hunt', and into a dark grey suit skirt, that went below her knees, and a matching jacket, with a white blouse underneath. She then tied her long hair back into a ponytail and returned to the kitchen area.

"I've got to head for work now. I'll see you later."

"OK. By the way, this was a pretty good second attempt for sausage and eggs."

"Thanks. Hopefully my third attempt will be better."

Sonnet then left the apartment and headed for the Chronos Japan building. After Sonnet had left, Mizuki cleared away the cooking stuff and went and took a hot bath. About 30 minutes later, she got out of the bath, dried herself off, and then got dressed. She decided to wear a green skirt that went to mid-calf, along with a black t-shirt, and blue trainers. She then made sure she had her apartment key, and tied her hair back. Mizuki then headed to Ran's apartment to discuss the plan as Sonnet had suggested.

After about a minute or so of walking, Mizuki arrived at the door to Ran's apartment.

I hope that someone's in. She thought as she knocked on the door. A couple of minutes later, Kyriu opened the door and looked at her.

"Ah, Mizuki. Come in."

"Thank you."

Kyriu opened the door fully, and allowed her to enter the apartment.

"Are Ran and Mutaru around, Mr. Kyriu?" Mizuki asked him.

"Yes, Ran is showering, but I think Mutaru called out to collect some things."

"OK, I'd like to see Ran, if that's all right?"

"Of course, as long as you don't mind waiting."

"Not at all."

Mizuki took a seat on the sofa where she had laid during her regeneration, and waited. While she was waiting, she took a look around the lounge of the apartment and noticed the book collection that Sonnet had mentioned. She glanced at the computer, noticing that it was switched off, and then turned to face the divide that the bookcase made between the lounge and the kitchen area as she heard a door open. A few seconds later, Ran entered the lounge area wearing a white blouse, which had a string-tie neckline, a red knee length skirt, short white socks and a pair of blue pumps on her feet.

"Hey, Mizuki, nice to see you up and about."

"Thanks Ran."

Ran then sat down on the sofa next to Mizuki.

"So, any particular reason you called round?"

"Several actually. Sonnet suggests we alter her plan somewhat, but don't tell her. She'll be able to claim ignorance more realistically then."

"Makes sense. What else?"

"I've got to see if I can sense her using my armour. She believes that Balcus may be able to detect telepathic communications, which could blow her cover."

"OK. Any other reasons?"

"Two. I think we should get in a little training today and possibly tomorrow."

"I was hoping you would suggest that. And the other?"

"Shopping. I noticed that Sonnet doesn't have much in the way of personal belongings. I'd like to get her something to decorate her apartment a little, as a thank you for her help, and her letting me live with her for a while, and you know her better than I do…"

"So you want me to help you in finding something she'd like?"

"Right. Any ideas?"

"Not right now. Let's go into town and see if anything looks suitable."

"Sure, but we need to let Mutaru know that we'll be training later."

Ran closed her eyes for a second. When she opened them she smirked at Mizuki.

"Done. We can meet him back here later on."

"How did you…?"

"I had telepathic abilities for a few years before becoming a Guyver, so I'm pretty skilled with it."

"Cool. Ready?"

"Once I get some money."

Ran walked back around the bookcase and entered her room. She then grabbed her purse and returned to the lounge. She then nodded at Mizuki, before the two of them headed for the door. On the way to the town centre, Mizuki asked:

"What does Sonnet like exactly? The only thing, besides reading, that she appears to have an interest in is playing tennis."

"She told you that?" Ran asked. When Mizuki nodded, while moving through a crowd, Ran continued, "Yeah, she likes tennis. She gives me a run for my money whenever we play, although she admitted to me that part of her tennis skill is down to her body makeup."

"I can see how it'd be useful. Maybe I should get her something tennis related?"

"It's an idea. Sports shops first?"

"Yeah. Lets see what there is."

There were at least three sports shops in the town centre, so Ran and Mizuki checked all of them, and found nothing really suitable. Next they tried some other shops, but still couldn't see anything that Sonnet might like. It was now almost midday, so Ran suggested getting something to eat. On the way to find a café, they passed a photograph shop, and Mizuki had an idea and went into the shop, and Ran followed. About twenty minutes later, Mizuki came out carrying a large, wrapped, rectangular object.

"Nice choice, Mizuki. I think Sonnet will like this."

"Yeah, the trick now is putting it up before she gets back home."

"We can ask Uncle later on. I suspect he'll help. Now, do you mind if we get something to eat? I'm starving."

"You're not the only one."

With that, the two of them went to the café that Mizuki had met Sonnet the night before after buying herself more clothes. The two women then ordered meals and drinks. Roughly half an hour later, as they were finishing eating, Ran's eyes went out of focus for a few seconds. When they re-focused, Mizuki asked:

"Something wrong?"

"No. Mutaru is back at the apartment. Should we head back?"

"Yeah. I think he should be keen on training. He was last time, according to Sonnet."

"'Keen' is probably an understatement."

After that, the walk back to the apartment was silent. When they arrived back, however, Mutaru was waiting.

"Hey, sis," He said, as they entered, "Hello Mizuki."

"Hi." Was Mizuki's reply.

"I take it you're up for a little combat training then?" Ran asked.

"Sure. Where are we going to go?"

"We can go anywhere," Mizuki informed him, "I can teleport, remember?"

"Right. I had forgotten, actually."

"Where should we go then? Mizuki asked.

"How about a rainforest environment?" Mutaru suggested.

"Why a rainforest?" Ran asked him.

"We've trained in a desert, so a rainforest would be a different environment. Plus, we could practise using the terrain to our advantage. Stealth manoeuvring, for example."

"Logical," Mizuki said, "After a fashion. Ran?"

"Sounds good to me. Just put that package by the bookcase. Uncle should notice it there, and leave it alone."

Mizuki did as Ran instructed.

"Are you two OK with using those clothes for training?" Mizuki asked, "I don't know what could happen to you, and those clothes could get ruined."

"I don't mind using these," Mutaru stated, "I changed into these before you two came home."

Mutaru was wearing old blue jeans that were a bit too short for him, as well as a white tank top and some old trainers.

Ran, on the other hand, said:

"I think I should use something older than these. Could you wait for a few minutes?"

Mizuki and Mutaru nodded. Ran then left the lounge and went to her bedroom. She took off her blouse, skirt and socks and placed them onto her bed. Then, wearing only her underwear, she looked through her wardrobe for something old. She quickly found some suitable items and put them on, and then returned to the lounge.

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Mizuki heard a door open and presumed that Ran was coming back. She was correct, Ran walked into the lounge a few seconds later. Ran was now wearing a large blue shirt, which was a bit too big for her since it went to mid-thigh, a pair of black shorts that were rather baggy, and the same blue pumps from before. She wore the shirt without tucking it into the waistband of her shorts.

"Ready?" Mizuki asked, standing up and moving close to Ran.

Ran nodded. Mizuki then turned to Mutaru, who had stood up and formed the other point of a triangle, and placed her left hand on Ran's right shoulder, and her right hand on Mutaru's left shoulder, before teleporting them away from the apartment.

The three friends reappeared several seconds later in the Amazon Rainforest. Mizuki moved a short distance away and activated her armour, becoming Guyver 5. Ran and Mutaru also bio-boosted, becoming Guyvers Red and Psychic.

"OK," Guyver 5 spoke up, "I think one of us should try to hunt down the other two, while the other two use the terrain to avoid the hunter."

"Essentially, hide-and-seek, in a rainforest, huh?" Psychic pointed out.

"I suppose so, but there's a twist. The players can use any of their armours weapons or abilities, except the mega-smashers, to disable their target, be it hunter, or prey."

"Who is going to be the hunter?" Psychic asked.

"I'd like to be the Huntress." Red said.

"OK. Do you mind, Psychic?"

"Nope. I'm not going to make it easy though, sis."

"I wouldn't expect you to. OK, you have two minutes. Get moving."

Underneath her armour, Ran closed her eyes, and started to count to 120. After the two minutes had passed, she opened her eyes again, and used her head sensor orbs. To her surprise, the range of them had been reduced by about 56%.

There must be something in the plants here that throws off the effectiveness of the sensors. She thought.

Red then realised that this exercise would allow her to practise using her eyes and ears, as well as her Guyver abilities.

Wouldn't do to become dependant on the armour's powers anyway. Sonnet pointed out that they don't make you indestructible, just a lot harder to kill.

Red then moved away from her starting position, trying to find some clue to help her track her friends. Looking around she could see no human footprints anywhere.

Neat trick. With the ground the way it is, they should be leaving quite heavy footprints in the soil. How did they do this?

Red picked a random direction and headed that way. About twenty metres from her starting point, she noticed a single footprint in the ground. It was shaped like a human foot, and was indicating that the person who left it was heading approximately 90 degrees to the right of the direction she was facing. Red immediately changed direction, hoping to find prey. After about twelve minutes of searching around in the direction the footprint had pointed her head sensors twitched slightly. She spun round on instinct, only to find a few birds fly away from a nest in the trees. Ran had to be careful not to laugh under her armour, in case her brother or Mizuki heard her.

After another few minutes of hunting the area, her sensors twitched again. Red spun in the direction of the target her sensors had detected and pressed her hands together. She pulled them apart, forming a pressure cannon blast in the process, and fired it in the direction of the target. A second later she heard a short, loud scream as Psychic Guyver came out, clutching the stump where his right arm used to be. Red's shot had blown it off just above the elbow. Psychic then activated the sonic sword on his other arm and charged at Red. Red, instincts boosted because of her Guyver unit, reacted by jumping about 10 feet into the air, and doing a forward flip to get some distance between her and her brother. As she landed, she extended her own sonic swords and sliced at Psychic. The strike from her right sword cut deep into Psychic's stomach, spilling blood all over the ground. Psychic then fired a couple of head laser blasts at her, before dropping to his knees, and then falling on his face. One beam hit Red in her left thigh, and the other flew past her left hand, missing by mere millimetres. Red quickly moved away from Psychic, grabbing the severed arm in the process. She reattached it to the stump, before moving away to find her second target.

Guyver 5 had witnessed the whole thing, keeping incredibly still, so the sensors of Guyver Red wouldn't detect her. As Red moved away, Guyver 5 went to Psychic to check he was OK. After seeing that he would recover, she moved off after Red.

Time to make the Huntress the prey. She thought.

Red, meanwhile, was scanning the area as best she could using her sensors. She had a slight limp in her left leg, thanks to Psychic's laser beam, but was otherwise fine.

Where is she? Red wondered.

Guyver 5 had made use of her gravity orb, and had floated up so that she was able to move through the tree branches. This way she could observe Red from over 50 feet above her, and Red wouldn't be able to detect her very easily. After following her into a thinner group of trees, Guyver 5 decided that this was her best time to strike, and used her gravity orb to position herself directly above Guyver Red. She then activated her sonic swords, before deactivating her gravity control, and dropping on Red.

Red's sensors suddenly went ballistic, indicating a very close threat. Red barely got chance to react though. Time seemed to slow as she managed to turn to face her opponent, and activate her own sonic swords. Guyver 5 then changed her attack and sheathed her swords back into her wrists, instead drop-kicking Red as she landed. Guyver 5 then flipped herself back up of the ground before Red could get herself up off her back, and reactivated her swords. Before Red could react, Guyver 5 had sliced her cleanly in two, starting at Red's right shoulder and ending at her left hip. Blood gushed out of both parts of Red's body, turning Guyver 5 a mix of faded silver and (literally) blood red. Red's reaction was a very loud scream that lasted for almost a minute, before Ran lost consciousness and her pink eyes faded. Guyver 5 knew, from personal experience, that the armour had gone into self-defence mode. She replaced the severed part of Red's body and moved away, allowing the unit to heal its host, rebuilding the nerves, bones, tissues and muscles that connected the two halves of Red's body.

A few minutes later, Psychic walked up next to her. Guyver 5, on instinct, activated her sonic swords and moved to slice at him. Several millimetres from hitting him, she realised who it was, and froze her arm.

"Nice reflexes." Psychic commented.

"I worked out quite a bit after I started living on the run. Sho and Agito decided that learning as many self-defence techniques as possible would help us to survive. So I spent months learning various sports that relied on reflexes, honing mine as much as I could."

"I guess it worked. What did you do to her?" Psychic asked, looking at Guyver Red.

"I cut her up from the shoulder to the opposite hip."

"Ouch. That must have hurt."

"I think it did, the host is unconscious right now. She should be fine in about an hour, at best."

"I'm impressed though." Psychic commented.

"How so?" Guyver 5 asked.

"You became the Huntress, turning her into the prey. And you certainly hurt her."

"I hope she doesn't hate me later."

"Nah, I don't think so. We realised from the beginning, after Blue gave us our armours that anything could happen to us. Either in training with an ally, or in a battle against the enemy. Red and I both agreed that we would learn to deal with anything that happened to us."

"Like you getting your arm blown off?"

"Right. Hey, you saw that?"

"I watched the whole thing, but I couldn't move because Red would have detected me, and I wanted to turn the tables."

"Which, from the looks of things, you did so quite nicely."

"Thank you."

The conversation ended there, for a while. Then Psychic Guyver asked:

"If you don't mind my asking: What made you want to become a Guyver?"

"I don't mind. The reason was because I'd seen how much Sho had suffered because of Chronos, and I wanted to fight alongside him to destroy them. To an extent though, it's also partially revenge."

"Really?"

"Yes, I don't know if you know this, but Sho's father was killed because of Chronos. They turned him into a special hyper zoanoid, designed to kill Guyvers. The zoanoid, the prototype Enzyme II, was then controlled mentally by Dr Balcus and tried to kill Guyver 1. Guyver 1, for obvious reasons couldn't fight back."

"I think I understand," Psychic interrupted, "I don't think I'd be able to attack Uncle if he was in that situation."

"Precisely. Anyway, since Guyver 1 couldn't fight back, Balcus made Enzyme II use its acid, which can dissolve the Guyver armour. It hit Guyver 1 in the face, and blinded him. The Enzyme then grabbed his head, and crushed his brain."

Under his armour, Mutaru felt his stomach turn.

"This was when we first learned about the self-defence mode of a Guyver. The problem is, it can't tell the difference between a friend and an enemy, it just defends its unconscious, or dead, host. After a long fight, Guyver 1 opened its mega-smashers and vaporised Enzyme II. All that was left was half of an arm, which later dissolved, like all zoanoid remains do. When Sho woke up, he had no memory of what had happened. He later found that he was traumatised, and couldn't summon his armour."

"Oh my God. No wonder Sho hates Chronos so much."

"Yeah, I hope none of us ever have to go through anything like that again."

"Wait, if he couldn't summon his armour, then…"

"How is he able to now?"

Psychic nodded.

"Aptom, one of the experimental one-of-a-kind zoanoids, held a grudge against Sho, because Guyver 1 killed his team mates. When we were in hiding, he managed to capture me. He told Sho what had happened to his father, filling in the blanks of his memory, and then threatened to kill him and me. Sho then, somehow, managed to regain the power of the Guyver. He rescued me from Aptom, and later killed him. After that, I realised how he felt about me."

"That he loved you?"

"Yes. He asked me on a date a few weeks later. Somehow, he managed to book a table in an Italian restaurant, and we went there for a meal, without Chronos crashing the place. It was great. After that, I realised that I loved him too, and I asked him to be my boyfriend the next day."

"For what it's worth, congratulations."

"Thanks. Do me a favour though?"

"Sure."

"Don't tell Sho that I told you all of this. He hasn't decided if he trusts you yet, although he will soon."

"OK. No problem. Should we try to wake her? I think she's regenerated now."

"I'll do it."

[Guyver Red, wake up. Guyver Red, wake up.] Guyver 5 telepathically said to her friend.

After a minute or two, Red's control medal began to glow, and her eyes glowed pink again. Guyver 5, and Psychic walked towards her as she vented steam from her mouth vents. Guyver 5 held out her hand to Red, who took it and pulled herself up.

"I'm impressed, Guyver 5. You caught me completely off guard."

"Are you OK?" Guyver 5 asked.

"I feel a bit sore, but I think that'll fade. Mind taking us home?"

Guyver 5 placed her hands on her friends' shoulders and then teleported them back to the apartment. When they arrived, Kyriu was there, working at the computer.

"Hello you three. Had fun?"

The three of them deactivated their armours, and Mutaru went into his room to change, before Ran replied:

"We were training, Uncle, and Mizuki managed to surprise me."

"Let me guess, she cut you in two?"

"How did you know?"

Kyriu looked at Ran's stomach. To Ran's shock, the shirt was in two pieces, split with a diagonal cut. The smaller piece was the part on Ran's shoulders, which also covered her chest. The larger piece had fallen onto the floor. Mizuki then realised what had happened.

"Remember that the armour can't do anything for clothes. If a host is cut, the cut will heal on the body, but the clothes will keep the mark. Since I cut you up, your shirt would have stayed in two pieces even though your body had healed."

Ran, blushing, quickly picked up the cut piece and went to her bedroom, to change her clothes. Mizuki then explained to Kyriu what the package was and asked him to put it up for her. Kyriu agreed, and they went to Sonnet's apartment. Twenty minutes later, the picture was up on the wall to the left of the lounge in Sonnet's apartment, if Mizuki stood with her back to the door. The two of them then went back to the other apartment. Ran and Mutaru had changed their clothes, and were sitting on the sofa. Ran was wearing what she had worn earlier in the day, when she was shopping with Mizuki, and Mutaru was wearing another pair of blue jeans, ones that fit him and a green and yellow jumper with a hood attached. Ran, Mizuki noticed, had wet hair.

She must have showered while we were putting the picture up. Mizuki thought.

Mizuki then sat down in the chair that had its back to the glass doors leading to the balcony, and attempted to apologise to Ran. Ran, however just told her not to worry. They then started working on ways to alter Sonnet's plan.