With that thought, Ryan started charging up the Pressure Cannon, and Elegen let his own electrical power infuse and mingle with the Guyver's gravity power. The result was something that neither of them would have ever been able to predict: the Pressure Cannon absorbed the electricity, turning from a flickering black to a pulsating bluish-white. The newly charged weapon, an electrically charged version of the Pressure Cannon, was really something to see.
Both Ryan and Elegen were more concerned about its effectiveness, of course. Firing the Pressure Cannon, both of them were pleasantly surprised to discover that the charged-up version did just as much damage as the normal version. Aptom wasn't so happy to learn that, but as far as both Elegen and Ryan were concerned, Aptom could go copulate with a cactus.
)It was kind of cool the way it zapped him and blew a hole in him at the same time, wasn't it, kid?(
)Yeah, I liked that, too,( Ryan seemed to laugh, despite the fact that there was no sound coming out of his mouth.
)What's say we try that again?( Elegen suggested.
)I'm up for that if you are,( Ryan sent.
Concentrating, Ryan felt the Guyver's Gravity Controller respond, building up energy and sending it flowing up his waist and down his arms to his hands. Elegen concentrated as well, sending his electrical power crackling up Ryan's arms to meld with the gravitational energy already collected in Ryan's hands. Once again, the Pressure Cannon absorbed the energy and changed. Their next shot hit the recovering Aptom in the leg, blowing the limb off entirely and giving Aptom another painful shock. Ryan and Elegen both laughed (one mentally and the other aloud) as Aptom fell to the ground.
"You little bastard! I'm going to rip you to pieces and eat you alive!"
"Yeah, you can go ahead and try," Elegen laughed. "But I really don't think you're going to be able to do that, cannibal!"
Aptom's only response was a string of obscenities in several different languages as his body started to reconstitute itself again.
)Do you even know what most of that means, Snake-head? Because I haven't got the slightest idea,( Ryan sent, confused.
)I don't think you want to know what he just called us, kid.(
)It's that bad, huh?(
)Yeah, kid, it's that bad,( Elegen seemed to chuckle. )Still, I didn't know Aptom knew that many curse words.(
Ryan laughed aloud at that pronouncement. Aptom, who was just starting to recover from the two charged-up Pressure Cannon shots that Ryan and Elegen had hit him with, growled when he heard the bastard Hyper Zoanoid laughing at him.
"I'm going to really enjoy killing you, you know?" Aptom snarled.
"Isn't that what you said when we blew your leg off?" Elegen taunted.
"We?!" Aptom demanded. "Since when are there two of you?!"
"Oh, did I let that slip?" Elegen asked with mocking sincerity. "Sorry, but I've got to have a few secrets of my own, you know."
"Oh, secrets," Aptom laughed. "Well, it's only going to be a secret for as long as you're still out there. Which isn't going to be very long, lunchmeat!"
Aptom giggled; Elegen scoffed and leaped out of the crazed Lost Number's way as he ran at them. Rolling out of the way of a slash from Aptom's—or rather, Zancrus'—Vibration Blades, Ryan pulled them back to his feet.
)You okay there, kid?(
)Yeah, I'm fine. But this guy's really starting to piss me off.(
)Yeah, well he's pissing me off, too, kid.(
Ducking another of Aptom's swings, Ryan started charging the Pressure Cannon again. Elegen, sensing the action, sent more electricity crackling along Ryan's arms to merge with the gravitational energies of the Cannon. The Pressure Cannon lit up again as Elegen's bioelectric power merged with it, and once the weapon was fully charged they fired it. The burst of power knocked Aptom over again, blowing another large hole in his body.
)You know, kid, this is kind of fun,( Elegen sent, with the mental equivalent of a grin.
)Well, I guess I can't argue with you there, Snake-head.(
Aptom was shouting abuse and cursing a blue streak at them again, which was pretty much all he could do at the moment since he was missing both his legs. Elegen laughed, and Ryan laughed right along with him, but only Elegen knew that, since Ryan's laughter was only in "his" head. Though really, he was borrowing the kid's head, along with the rest of his body. It was kind of a funny thing to think about, but on another level it was also kind of depressing.
Having a body again after being trapped inside Aptom's hive-mind for so long was nice, but Elegen was painfully aware of the fact that this still wasn't his body, to say nothing of the fact that he was currently in full Guyver armor, and the kid was at least a full foot shorter than he had originally been. Still, it was better than being stuck in that damned hive-mind, wondering when he was going to go the way of Zancrus.
Thinking of Zancrus, Elegen found himself getting depressed all over again. He had tried to get Zancrus to hold on, but the guy was hopelessly claustrophobic. Zancrus had held on for about three or four minutes, but his old friend had panicked and folded after staying in the lonely nothingness of Aptom's mind for too long. There wasn't anything left of Zancrus anymore, so Elegen didn't feel all that bad about letting Aptom have it with the electric Pressure Cannon. In fact, he felt pretty damn good about himself.
When Aptom decided to charge at him again, Elegen decided to let him have it again. Now that he was at least in a better position to wreak holy havoc on Aptom for eating most of his friends alive, Elegen wasn't going to let the opportunity pass him by.
XxXxX
Sho was getting worried again, after having felt the burst of fear and pain from Ryan. At first, Sho had been content to wait for Ryan to contact him with his usual assurances that he was fine and Sho shouldn't have worried about him, but nothing was forthcoming so far. Sho, having had enough of sitting around and waiting to see if Ryan would contact him, stood up and walked out of the house.
He knew that Agito wanted him to stay out of sight, but Ryan was in danger now, and Sho thought that Agito would understand. He couldn't just leave Ryan alone to fight, since he had felt the wordless cry for help through his Guyver unit. Slipping out the back door after managing to get past all of the security measures Agito had put in place, Sho made it into the front of the house.
The house itself had been thoroughly concealed and equipped with some of the best anti-detection technology in existence. Or that was what Agito had always said, at least. Deciding not to think about that any more, since he knew that Agito would try to keep them all safe, Sho made his way away from the safe house. He didn't want to draw any more attention to himself than he would by calling the Guyver.
Once Sho felt that he was far enough away from the safe house that he wouldn't be spotted, he called his Guyver and flew away. Trying to pinpoint Ryan through their link was harder than it ever had been, and Sho grew more worried that something had happened to Ryan. The links between their Guyvers had never been this hard to backtrack before. But finally Sho was able to home in on Ryan's signal.