Fifth Hunt: Evolution

Regular text: AMAZON

Talking: "AMAZON"

Different language: "AMAZON"

Amazonz Driver and Emphasis: AMAZON

Thoughts: AMAZON

Radio Communication: "AMAZON"

Ledo sat up against a wall while his arms were wrapped around Amy's body. Amy on the other hand was tightly holding onto Ledo while staring off into the distance, visibly shaken and scared. She was still covered in dried Amazon blood, as was Ledo, but to a lesser degree.

The two were currently in a blank white room with no windows and only one visible door. However, there was a camera hanging from the wall and pointed down at them.

"…Amy, are you okay?"

Amy simply shook her head, not responding verbally.

Ledo simply hugged her and let the silence continue for a while longer.

However, the silence was broken by the door opening, several armed men in hazmat suits walking through while one carried a hose and two more carried sticks with brushes on the end. There was a straggler behind them carrying two sets of clothes.

"Strip." One of them ordered.

Ledo blankly stared at them, not even bothering to try and speak.

"…fine. Clean them off with force then. Separate them if need be" The same one waved their hand nonchalantly.

In response to that, four of them moved forward. Two grabbed hold of Amy and pulled her off of Ledo while the other two restrained Ledo. Amy reacted to this, trying to fight back and struggling to keep hold of Ledo.

"No! No! Let me go!" she shouted.

"Amy! Amy!" Ledo tried to break free but failed to do so as Amy was dragged away kicking and screaming. A small chunk of the group followed after them.

"LEDO!" Amy was pulled out of the door.

"AMY! LET ME GO! I'LL FUCKING KILL YOU IF YOU HURT HER!" Ledo yelled at them as they pulled the belt from around his waist.

Another person walked forward and pulled at a knife, cutting at Ledo's clothes and pulling the strips of cloth that remained off of his body. Soon enough, he was completely naked, with the one with the hose stepping forward and turning it on.

The pressurized cold water shot out of the hose and pelted against Ledo's skin. He cried out in pain and shock as it hit him. Meanwhile, the two with the brushes walked towards him and started to scrub at his body to clean the blood off of him.

"LET ME GO! LET ME GO! LET! ME! GO!" he kept repeating, though no one responded to him.

Several minutes later, the group left Ledo's room.

After his ice water bath, Ledo had been clothed in a grey and green jumpsuit and nothing else, though he was not dried. His belt had been cleaned and left on the ground nearby.

Ledo shivered on the ground, left to his own thoughts. However, after a few minutes, he looked down at his left arm, where there was a bulge on his left bicep.

He eventually sat up and reached up to his collar with shaky hands, struggling to undo the jumpsuit. He managed to do so and opened his jumpsuit enough to pull it down past his chest to expose the scarred flesh. Wrapped around his left bicep was an Amazons Register.

…if I can't get them to listen to my demands normally…I might as well try something drastic. Ledo stared at the Register for a few seconds before he pulled his right arm out of his sleeve and put the sleeve in his mouth, biting down harshly on it. He reached up to the Register and started to dig his fingers under the band.

Immediately, pain filled his arm and he groaned loudly in pain as he buried his fingers further between the band and his own flesh. Blood formed in the gap between them and started to flow down his arm.

As soon as he got his hand in as far as he could, he pried at the band and pulled at it.

Fuckfuckfuckfuckfuckfuck- Ledo thought as he kept pulling. The band finally managed to give way, the eyes flashing red in warning. FuckfuckfuckfuCKFUCKFUCKFUCKFUCKFUCK!

Ledo let out a loud groan as he bit down as hard as he could into the sleeve.

"grrrrrrrrrraaaaaaaaaaaaaaAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!" The band finally gave way as the door slammed open. The Register clattered to the ground at the feet of the man in the hazmat suit, the floor painted red with blood.

(Music Start)

Ledo's face was fixed in a grimace as he gripped where the Register was, blood oozing down his arm and onto the floor. He glared at the man as the man stared back, his body language showing his shock and fear.

Ledo shook as he fell onto his face but managed to get to his feet without using his arms.

(YOU!)

"If you know what's best for you. I suggest you take me to Faith or Ridget. Now."

Theme: Armour Zone By: Taro Kobayashi

(Omae wa dare da?!) Amy and Ledo were back to back while sitting on the ground in a completely blank space, the two of them holding hands. The two were in their regular attire only with their Amazonz Drivers equipped onto their waists.

(Ore no naka no ore) In an instant, the scene changed so the characters switched from Amy and Ledo to Amazon Omega and Ledo, then Amy and Amazon Alpha, and finally Amazon Omega and Amazon Alpha before switching back to Amy and Ledo.

(Kage ni kakureta sono sugata misero!) The two stood up while still holding each others hands.

(Whoa! Souzou no derivation) They suddenly changed back into Amazon Omega and Amazon Alpha and got into ready stances.

(Fureru karada akaku kiri-kizami) The scene changed so that it was suddenly in the base of the Extermination Team.

(Kokoro wa doko da?) It focused on Mamoru, who was eating a hamburger.

(Get out me sagashite mo!) The screen flashed and showed him in his Mole Amazon form briefly before showing his powered up mode before it changed back to Mamoru.

(Whoa! Shinzou ga hotobashiru) All of a sudden, the scene changed once more, showing off the back of The Figure In The Cloak, who turned towards the screen. While he was on screen, the screen constantly flickered between him and Amazon Sigma.

(Dake) Across from Sigma, Amy and Ledo could be seen, the two having tattered clothes and being covered in bruises and cuts. Their Drivers were still equipped onto their waists

(Hey-hey) They flickered back and forth between Omega and Alpha as they reached to their respective Drivers.

(We live in Armour Zone!) They started to run at Sigma as they twisted the handles. In unison, the two shouted "AMAZON!" before energy exploded off of them.

(Kaze wo kire koe wo karashite) Alpha slashed and punched at several Amazons around him. He jumped into the air and cut at the throat of one while he landed, the blood of the Amazon squirting onto him.

(Kemono ga warau kono machi de) Omega roared as she ran through several Amazons while swinging her arms around, the blades easily cutting through the Amazons.

(Kuu ka kurawareru ka no sadame) The Extermination Team could be seen fighting against several Amazons as well with Mamoru in his Amazon form, the Team managing to kill them.

(Oh Yeah!) Alpha and Omega were once again back to back, but at separate ends of a ship and in the rain. The two roared in unison but their roars could not be heard.

(Hora kanashimi no aji wa nodomoto) The two spun around and ran at each other.

(Tsumedatenagara kieru nasty) Omega flickered back and forth between her Amazon form, her Imperfect form, and Amy.

(Ikiru tame ni nani wo kurau) Alpha flickered back and forth between his Amazon form and Ledo.

(All Race uragire) The two quickly approached each other, repeatedly flickering back and forth between their human forms and their Amazon forms.

(HOW DO WE SURVIVE?!) Finally, the charging characters reached each other, slashing with the blades on their arms. However, they repeatedly flickered back and forth still; while the Amazons slashed, when it flickered back to their human forms, instead of attacking, the two ran into each others embrace.

Ridget sat amongst the members of the council, gritting her teeth as she scowled at the sight before her.

Bellows was currently in a chair with the council sitting around her. Two armed guards were on either side of her. She was also trying to defend herself from whatever they were saying.

"-you were fighting alongside two known Amazons to keep them alive! How can you call yourself a human when you were willingly aiding the species that wants to kill all of us!" one of the men said.

"You don't know anything about Amy or Ledo! I don't give a damn what kind of weird science is in their bodies, they are people I care about and I know more about either of them than anyone else in this room, so trust me when I say that they are not what you say they are!" Bellows growled. "I also didn't fight. I was trying to get the sniper to stop shooting so my friends could get away. It had nothing to do with letting "monsters" escape."

"Even if that was all you did, you still helped the Omega and the Alpha Types escape! The only thing worse than that is letting the Sigma-Type get away!"

"Plus there were injuries sustained to the Extermination Team." Faith spoke up. "Especially a gunshot wound sustained by that sniper you shot at."

"Look. I'm not going to say what you want me to say. If you're going to punish me or whatever, just do it already before-" Bellows was interrupted by the door to the room opening.

A man in a hazmat suit dragged Ledo into the room, the top half of Ledo's jumpsuit being pulled down and wrapped around his waist to expose his bare chest and the bloody gash wrapped all the way around his left arm.

Ridget inwardly grinned as she spotted Ledo being dragged in. Right on time.

"Ledo!" Bellows called to him. She attempted to get up but was immediately shoved back into the chair by a guard.

"Now that I've gotten your attention, I want you to listen up." Ledo said.

"You are in no place to make demands, young man." The man with slicked back hair spoke up.

"Shou." Ridget warned him.

"Let him speak, Ridget." Faith told her. "I may not like Shou anymore than you do but he has a valid point. Ledo here is obviously out of line and has also torn off the Register that was assigned to him."

"The Register you forcefully planted on my arm after having your team take in me and Amy." Ledo responded.

"Your little girlfriend brutally murdered an Amazon. Not only that, but Amazons are required to be given Registers in the instance that they should lose control." Shou responded.

The door opened again, this time Amy being pulled in wearing the exact same jumpsuit as Ledo.

"Ledo!" she shouted upon seeing him.

"Amy!" Ledo struggled against the man holding him. He broke free and dashed towards Amy. The two pulling her in let go and allowed the two to hug.

Ridget fixed her glasses. However, when she did, Bellows could have sworn she saw Ridget wink at her. Her first two thoughts were that either something was in her eye or she had some kind of a plan that Bellows had to play along with. Bellows decided that the second one seemed more likely, even as Ridget then removed her glasses to rub her eye.

"Are you okay? Did they do anything to you?" Ledo asked while they hugged.

Amy silently shook her head, but her eyes caught the wound on his arm.

"What happened?" she looked him in the eyes.

"We gave him a Register. He ripped it off of his arm to get our attention." Faith spoke up.

"What? Ledo, are you okay?"

"He'll be fine. You two have a lot more to worry about than that though." Ridget stood up. "Is it true that you two have become Amazons?"

"What's the point of this, Ridget? We already know the answer." Shou said.

"Yes we do, but do we know why?" Ridget pointed out.

"It doesn't matter why. All that matters is what they've become!" one of the councilmen said.

"Ledo, Amy, I want to know why you decided to become Amazons." Ridget ignored that comment.

"I didn't mean to. Some guy injected me with Amazon Cells and I haven't been the same since." Amy responded.

"I injected myself to help fight that guy. Though all we have is a name. Sigma." Ledo revealed.

This immediately sent the group into an uproar. Ridget looked slightly concerned, Faith had her eyes wide in horror, Shou looked intrigued but shocked, Bellows was slightly confused at the reaction, and everyone else was in varying states of all three.

"The Sigma-Type is back?!"

"FUCK!"

"What are we going to do?!"

"I thought that son of a bitch was supposed to be dead, Faith!"

The room was loud as the group collectively attempted to shout to be louder than each other. Ledo and Amy glanced at each other briefly, the two still in their embrace.

Bellows herself looked overwhelmed by everything happening around her. She put her fingers to her lips and whistled loudly enough to get everyone's attention.

"HEY! You guys want an explanation, right?! Well keep quiet and let them finish talking!" she shouted at them.

Everyone was silent after this. Ridget grinned and turned to her friend. "Thank you, Bellows. Now, continue, Ledo."

Ledo swallowed a breath but kept talking.

"I found my Amazon Cells on board a remaining Nozama ship along with Jin Takayama-" he was interrupted once more by shouting by those who didn't know Jin was back either. Bellows had to whistle again before he could continue. "Jin gave me the Drivers but was heavily injured from a battle with Sigma. When we got back, he was hospitalized, and I found Amy was as well due to Sigma injecting her with the Omega-Type Cells. Then, yesterday, just after I injected myself with the Alpha-Type Cells-" Ledo sent an apologetic glance to Bellows, who gave a light nod. "-the Extermination Team hunted me down and I was forced to fight them off. Then Amy appeared and mutated, but we managed to help her get in control last night. We attempted to run from them but that apparently didn't work. And here we are." Ledo explained.

The room was silent for a brief couple of seconds as this story sunk in.

"Well. That's some tale, young man." Shou spoke up. "However, how do we know you're telling the truth?"

Bellows opened her mouth to protest when Ridget stepped in much faster than she could have.

"Pardon my tone, Shou, but Amy is a respected member of the Gargantian community and has been so for years. She's lived here all her life and would have never shown any behavior today if not for the Amazon Cells. Not only that, by Ledo has helped Gargantia multiple times and become a valuable member of the community. I doubt either of them would lie about a situation so serious as Sigma."

"Very well. But why shouldn't we just kill them right here and right now?" Shou asked.

Surprisingly enough, Faith came to their defense just as fast as Ridget did just a few seconds earlier. "What would be the point of that? The only malevolence these two have shown so far is the brutal death of a fellow Amazon. They have indeed fought the Nozama team, but they did not brutally injure them."

"Are you just defending them because the Omega-Type Amazon resembles your son Haruka whenever she mutates?" Shou smirked lightly.

"Don't you dare talk of my son!" Faith stood up angrily. "Lest we all forget, Sigma-Types were a result of YOUR experimentation with the Amazon Cells! As a matter of fact, with that in mind, all of those innocent Nozama citizens deaths along with the death of my son is a direct result of the monstrosity YOU CREATED!" Faith shouted at him, fury and rage showing heavily in her tone.

"Yet the monstrosities that you and your teams created still rampage to this day." Shou pointed at her. "And it's because of them that we're in this mess to begin with."

"I did NOT create Sigma! I did NOT play God with the Amazon Cells! The Amazon Cells and monsters that YOU created resulted in our homes being destroyed and our families torn apart! The Amazons were peaceful and did not act out as long as they had their medicine!" Faith was bright red at this point as she furiously spat at Shou.

Before Shou could respond, Amy spoke up to try and stop anymore furious shouting.

"Um…excuse me…who's Haruka?"

Faith seemed to realize the situation, coughing into her hand and straightening her suit.

"…excuse my behavior." She sat back down in her chair, straight-faced and conveying no emotion.

Ridget took note of the uncomfortable silence and was unsure of how to proceed from there. At least until Bellows decided to help her out by speaking up.

"So what's the point of all of this? Are you guys just going to debate on the fate of Amy and Ledo like they're just some property?"

"No. We are not." Ridget followed up. "Perhaps we can find use of these two and their abilities as Amazons."

"What do you suggest then? Adding them onto the Extermination Team like with the previous Omega-Type? That's a surefire way to get them killed" one of the councilmen said.

Faith discreetly balled her fists into her lap while gritting her teeth.

"No. Now that I have heard the full story, we can find even more use. Maybe in training them to become stronger. Strong enough to finally kill the Sigma-Type." Ridget looked to Amy and Ledo.

"Wait a minute. Ridget, you cannot be suggesting putting THEM up against the Sigma-Type." Shou called her out on this decision.

"Why not? If they can grow to be strong enough, they can do what COULDN'T be done. Finally end the Sigma-Type. Once and for all." Ridget slowly walked towards Amy and Ledo as she spoke.

"And how are we supposed to know if they have the potential to grow?" Shou, again.

Ridget let a small grin form on her face.

"Having them fight will decide just how much they're worth to us"

Jin sat inside a blank room like Amy and Ledo, though he was wearing his normal clothing.

He impatiently tapped his fingers against the tile floor of the room while attempting to whistle. He was not doing a good job at it.

Soon enough, the door opened with Shido walking in, his arms crossed and a scowl on his face.

"Oh. Shido? What's up man?" Jin greeted.

"Save the small talk Jin." Shido said.

Jin gave a light nod as he stood up and leaned against the wall. "Straight to the point as usual, I see. Fine. What do you want?"

"How did you survive?" Shido asked.

"Amazon Cells have a healing factor to them. Human or not, they'll heal you." Jin shrugged.

"That's not what I meant." Shido growled. "I was there in the last few minutes of the evacuation. I saw you and Haruka start fighting Sigma and I saw you bleed out on the ground. How are you still alive?"

"Like I said: Amazon Cells. I had enough juice left in me to give Sigma a hole in his stomach. But then I passed out and woke up to Haruka and Nanaha treating me. Haruka said he defeated Sigma but apparently he didn't do that good of a job." Jin slightly smiled. "And here we are. Years later and all hell is starting to break loose."

"What do you mean he didn't do that good of a job?" Shido narrowed his eyes.

"You can't seriously believe that he'd die that easily? It'll take more than a hole in his stomach, a slit throat, a severed arm, several severe gashes in his veins, and his heart hanging loosely out of his chest to kill him. He's here. On this fleet."

"You're joking." Shido hissed.

"Would I really joke about this? Why would I be here if not to stop him? I was perfectly content with living with Nanaha and Haruka as we helped the Amazons there grow to their full potential."

"Sigma…Jun…is alive and on Gargantia…" It finally sunk in for Shido, the man uncrossing his arms and looking at Jin with a horrified and shocked look.

"That's right. And he's apparently stronger than before, able to manipulate the Amazon Cells in other Amazons to do what he wants. Pretty much the only ones that this doesn't affect as much are the two you and your team took in."

Shido looked at Jin in confusion before the answer came to him.

"Space-man?"

"Who the fuck is spaceman? Is that supposed to be some kind of nickname for Ledo? Trust me, you could definitely do better than that. But yes. Ledo and his girlfriend are immune. My Cells were definitely affected, but because I'm human the result was less control and more a light discomfort. Because Ledo is still new and his body hasn't deteriorated yet due to the Cells, he should be fine. Haruka was definitely affected as well, but again, the human element in his Amazon Cells lessened the control. Amy is human, so if anything she should be the least worried. Every other Amazon however has the potential of becoming a puppet to Sigma's will." Jin monologued.

"What can we do about it?" Shido asked.

"Finally stepping up to the plate, are we?" Jin grinned. "Well, for starters-"

Jin had to stop as the door opened and interrupted him. Misaki poked his head in.

"Uh, Fuku says we have a case."

A little bit later, Amy and Ledo walked through an alleyway with a man following after them, the man wearing a suit and tie like Faith and holding a camera. Ledo had his jumpsuit fixed so it was back on his upper half.

Amy glanced backwards at him. "Um…Kanou? Was it? Is it really necessary for you to come along?"

"Yes." Kanou simply said. "I am required to give a live recording of everything that transpires involving you two per Faith's orders."

"We know. You don't have to repeat it to us." Ledo said.

"Very well." Kanou said.

Before they could reach the end of the alleyway, Amy paused and looked to the right. Ledo stopped and looked at her.

"What's wrong?"

"I think…they're this way." She pointed.

"You can sense Amazons?" Ledo asked, surprised.

"Well…kinda. I don't know if they're awake or not but…yeah." Amy nodded. "You can't?"

"No. At least I don't think so." Ledo shook his head.

"Oh. Huh." Amy blinked.

"Alright, so where to?"

"Uh…come on." Amy started to lead the other two where she thought the Amazons were.

Meanwhile, Bellows watched the live feed with an angered look on her face. She glanced around at the others who were watching intently.

"Hey! What the fuck is wrong with you people?! They're not just animals you can make fight!" Bellows yelled.

"They became Amazons of their own free will." Shou replied. "They gave up the right to be humans."

"They did it to help fight other Amazons! And Amy didn't even do it of her own free will!"

"But what about after the other Amazons are killed? Are they just going to have to live their lives as if nothing is wrong? They can't go back to being human, can they?"

Bellows looked unsure of what to respond with.

"If you'd please, stop trying to argue. This is the fifth time you've spoken up-"

"If you'd listen to me I wouldn't have to keep trying!" Bellows interrupted.

"Just ignore her." Faith suggested.

"What are the Amazons they're fighting Ridget?" one of the councilmen asked.

Ridget turned her head to join the conversation.

"These Amazons were owners of a set of apartments in one of the complexes designated to Nozama citizens after we found the ships you all came in to be overpopulated. I can't seem to find anymore info on them, but they're all Rank E and the same breed of Amazon." Ridget informed the councilman.

"Can they handle this Amazon? If anything we could've just added them onto the Extermination Team just like that" Shou snapped his fingers.

"You wanted to see if they were as strong as Haruka, correct?" Ridget said to Shou but glanced at Faith, who in turn glared at Ridget in response. "Field testing is a good way to make sure they can be."

Faith grit her teeth as she continued to glare at the younger woman, who turned her attention back to the screen.

What is she planning? She's stepping up and taking charge as opposed to letting things play out as she previously has. I doubt she wants to hinder the Extermination Team but she also seems hesitant to add these two to the team…

Faith continued her thoughts, leaving her unaware of what was happening onscreen.

Amy and Ledo walked into the building with Kanou following closely behind them.

The entrance area looked relatively normal and clean, though they didn't pay much attention to that as they cautiously walked through it and into a hallway.

"This is the place, right?" Ledo turned to Amy, who nodded in response.

However, she stopped soon after, holding out her arm to stop Ledo from going any further as well.

"They're in there." She pointed ahead to an open doorway. Ledo nodded and approached it quietly. He peeked his head around the corner to look into the room.

The room looked to be a bedroom, but the bed and dressers were strewn across the room along with the clothes, sheets, and blankets from those items, indicating a large struggle. Blood was splattered all over the walls, floor, and ceiling, staining the cloth material lying along the ground and dripping slowly to the floor from where they landed.

Scattered across the room were about eight Amazons that all looked identical, with their appearances being similar to that of ants. They all seemed to be indulging on different kinds of body parts that all appeared to be torn off from the corpses of the family who lived there.

Amy turned the corner as well but let out a soft gasp upon seeing the corpses on the ground.

This gasp gathered the attention of an Amazon, who turned to face them slowly with blood oozing down its face, hands, and chest. And from there, the other Amazons slowly turned to face them as well. The first Amazon appeared to be getting up.

"Come on!" Ledo grabbed Amy by the arm and ran with her out of the hallway. He was quick to take Kanou as well.

The two made it to the entrance area and spin around as the first of the eight Ant Amazons exited the room. The others followed quickly after as Amy and Ledo turned the handles on their Drivers, though Amy seemed to be a bit hesitant.

ALPHA/OMEGA!

"Amazon!"

"AAAGH! AMAZON!"

WILD WILD! WI-WI-WI-WILD!

EVOL-EV-EVOLUTION!

Energy exploded off of the two of them to convert them into their Amazon forms. Kanou averted his eyes but kept the camera focused on them. The Amazons on the other hand were knocked off their feet as the waves of energy hit them.

When the energy died down, Amazon Omega widened her stance and reared her arms back while Amazon Alpha put his heels together and extended his right arm out to the side.

"GRAH!" Omega jumped into the fight. Alpha lightly grunted as he followed after her.

Omega dove at one of the Ant Amazons, slamming her fist into its face before landing on her feet and then driving her knee into its crotch. After that one fell backwards, she spun around to bury the blades on her leg into the gut of another before retrieving her leg, blood spraying from the cut. Upon seeing the blood, Omega paused, and in that moment of hesitation, three more Ant Amazons swarmed her.

"Get! Off!" she growled as she started to swing her arms around to try and get them to back off. Two of the Amazons opened their mouths and bit down on her shoulders harshly, breaking her skin easily and causing several small streams of blood to start oozing down her arms and body.

"GAH!" Omega called out in pain.

"Amy!" Alpha yelled to her while trying to keep one of the Amazons from biting his head. He lashed out with a kick to knock it back before dashing forward to help his ally. His fingers wrapped around the shoulder of the one who didn't bite down on Omega, and he pulled it off of her quickly. He then moved around and pried at the jaws of one of the two behind her while she hit the other one to get it to let go.

Just as Alpha tossed the one away, Omega shoved the other one back and furiously punched it in the gut. However, her punch sent her hand directly through its stomach, spraying the wall behind it with Amazon blood. She then swung her arm upwards to cut the Amazon in half from the stomach up. Blood sprayed over Omega, the walls, and the ceiling as the body collapsed to the ground with its intestines limply falling out seconds before everything disintegrated and liquefied.

Alpha was about to respond when another Amazon attacked him from behind, catching him by surprise long enough for two more to stack up behind him, followed by another few.

"Ledo!" Omega reached to her belt on the right side and attempted to twist it like with the left side. Instead of doing so, however, the handle snapped easily off, a liquid coating the tip of the handle and solidifying. She looked down at the handle in surprise to find there was a spear, with the blade of the spear just solidifying at that second with a small amount of unsolidified liquid dripping off the blade.

VIOLENT BREAK!

As soon as the belt announced that phrase, Omega turned to Alpha and the pile of Amazons above him. She tossed her weapon into the air and caught it in a different grip before throwing it at the Amazons. The tip of the weapon easily pierced through the first Amazon, and the force of the throw sent the weapon directly through the other Amazons that were in its path. The tip of the weapon finally pierced through the wall and stopped, the three Amazons strung tightly together on it. Two of the three disintegrated and liquefied as they were fatally stabbed, but the one not fatally stabbed still cried out in pain that was soon silenced by Omega decapitating it.

It took a second before the final four of the eight Ant Amazons swarmed her one after the other.

Alpha got up, covered in the blood and liquid of the Ant Amazons that Omega killed. It slowly dripped off of him as he tugged at the handle on his belt.

VIOLENT SLASH!

Alpha roared and jumped forward while rearing his arm back. The fin on his arm met the neck of the first Ant Amazon in his way, easily cutting through it until only a thin portion of skin still held onto it. That body toppled to the ground as Alpha drove his fist through the stomachs of the next two at once in a similar manner to what Omega did before. However, he immediately drew his fist back and then turned to the last Amazon.

Omega elbowed it across the face as Alpha tugged at his belt again.

VIOLENT STRIKE!

The Ant Amazon got its bearings back and faced the two to find Alpha flying at him while spinning around in the air. He extended his leg a second later with the blade on the back of his leg aimed outwards. It met the skin of the Amazon a second later, and easily cut it. The attack kept going to easily cut through the chest and stomach of the monster.

Alpha landed facing away from it as the two halves it was cut into fell to the ground.

Alpha then collapsed against the wall while panting. His Amazonz Driver came off of his waist easily, converting him back into Ledo. Though he was still covered in a copious amount of Amazon liquid and blood that was not his own, the liquid oozing down his human skin much slower than his Amazon one due to differing texture and hair.

Ledo slid down the wall and wiped the blood off of his face, staring blankly ahead at the wall. Omega approached him and collapsed to her knees just a brief second before she pulled her belt off to revert back to Amy.

"Ledo…" Amy crawled over to him and gently placed her hand on his shoulder. Ledo didn't seem to notice she did. Nor did he notice when she started trying to shake him.

Kanou simply stood there, stoically watching the events before him. He had maintained this same position throughout the entire fight and somehow the Amazons had never noticed him.

It wasn't long before the door behind him opened with Shido leading his team into the building.

"You? What the fuck are you-" Shido was interrupted when he saw Amy and Ledo lying outside of the hallway, along with the blood splattered all over the entrance area and hallway.

"…holy shit."

Amy and Ledo were dragged into the room with Ridget and the councilmen by Shido and Misaki, Amy with a rather shaken up look on her blood splattered face. Ledo on the other hand had no expression on his face as liquid dripped off of him. They were released and left to stand together. Kanou followed after them.

Bellows was quick to get to her feet and move towards them, shoving the guards off of her as they tried to restrain her. She was quick to wrap her arms around the two, Amy hugging her back while Ledo remained still. She didn't seem to care about the blood Ledo was covered in.

"As you can see, these two were able to easily locate and defeat the eight Amazons before the Nozama Extermination Team was able to." Ridget stood up and calmly said.

"Yeah, why did you send us in in the first place when these guys obviously had it?" Shido asked.

"That's a fairly good question. Why did you send in your Extermination Team when we already had these two out and about?" Shou turned to Faith.

Faith looked rather confused at this accusation and opened her mouth to speak.

"I didn't order the team to move out." she revealed.

"You didn't?" one of the councilmen asked.

"No, you did. Fuku said you had a mission for us to-"

"I never sent any orders. I don't know what you're talking about." Faith interrupted.

"But…if you didn't…then who-" Shido started.

"I did. I sent a message to the sniper, Fuku, informing him of a mission. I simply never clarified my identity and they assumed I was Faith." Ridget fixed her glasses.

"You did what? Why?" Faith demanded.

Ridget let a small smirk grow on her face as she stood up and fixed her uniform. Calmly, she walked around the desk and towards the Amazons.

"Everyone" Ridget turned to Amy, Ledo, and Bellows while extending her right hand out towards them as if gesturing to them "allow me to introduce you to MY Extermination Team"

"Your what?" Faith stood up angrily.

"Ridget, what are you talking about?" Amy said.

"I apologize for this you." She whispered to them under her breath, which they barely caught. She then turned to the others. "I noticed how little progress the Nozama Extermination Team was making hunting Amazons despite how much was put into them, so I decided to have Amy, Ledo, and quite possibly Bellows be a part of Gargantia's own Extermination Team. They can sense and detect other Amazons easily, and they're also able to handle the Nozama Extermination Team alone with ease, so they're already much more qualified." She looked pointedly at Faith, who was red in rage, but did not look to be about to respond.

The council murmured to each other about this new development while Shou simply stared at Amy and Ledo with barely concealed interest.

"Bellows, can you please take Amy and Ledo to my office?" Ridget requested. "There are still some details that I want to work out with everyone here."

Bellows just gaped at Ridget but nodded slowly.

"Come on guys…let's…let's go." She said to Amy and Ledo.

The three left, though Amy took one last glance at Ridget and Faith before she did. Ledo still had a blank expression.

Shido and Misaki glanced at each other but left soon after.

Later…

Amy and Ledo sat in Ridget's office, Ledo on the ground to avoid staining her chairs while Amy sat next to him, trying to wipe off some of the liquid with a napkin. Bellows sat patiently in the chair next to them.

Eventually, the door opened with Ridget walking in.

"Hello. I apologize for what happened with Faith and Shou back there. I had to do something." She quickly apologized after closing the door.

Bellows stood up and walked over to her friend. "Ridget, just explain what the hell is going on, please."

Ridget sighed. "Faith is usually determined to get what she wants no matter what. I've managed to prevent her from getting complete control and free reign to do whatever in Gargantia, but that's not saying much given what she can still do now with her council. She's showed a recent interest in procuring Amy and Ledo and even if the reasons behind why she wants them changes she will still stop at nothing to get them to her." Ridget started to explain as she walked behind her desk. "As you two are from Gargantia, and my responsibility, I had to come up with a way to keep you safe. Something I noticed was that she has complete control over the Extermination Team, a product of the efforts of Nozama to destroy Amazons. Which gave me the idea to create a Gargantia Extermination Team that I have control over and that none of the Nozama council or Faith can touch. I presented that idea and here we are."

"…that's it?" Bellows asked afterwards.

"Yes. I have discussed the idea with the council, and despite Faith's protests to put them on the Nozama Team instead, they approved the development and use of a Gargantia Team." Ridget confirmed, a grin forming on her face. "You two don't have to worry about being hunted anymore. I understand you've had a long couple of days, but feel free to relax in safety. The formation of the team will take several weeks at best, so be sure to prepare yourselves."

Ledo listened to this information silently, staring straight ahead as Amy continued to wipe him down. She was listening as well, but was primarily focused on him.

"We will say that we have you under control but at best I will supervise you two and the team you pick. I trust the two of you to do what you can, but I will warn you I will not be able to hold Faith and her council back if something drastic happens, so please be careful." Ridget said. "I'm finishing up the team right now. I just need to finalize some paperwork and get in contact with someone and then we should be all set. Now, if that's all, I believe it should be safe for you all to go home, but if you don't feel comfortable doing that, I have a safe space for you three to go to"

Amy and Bellows glanced at each other briefly but turned back to Ridget, Bellows nodding.

Shido and Misaki entered the Extermination Team base. Mamoru was quick to get up from the stool at the bar and head over to them.

"Well? What happened?" Mamoru asked.

"You seem overly concerned about those two." Takai commented.

"They're fine. However, the head of Gargantia proposed an idea for a second Extermination Team." Shido explained. "Space-man, his girlfriend, and their friend would be the first members of that team."

The others in the room reacted with surprise and shock.

"A Gargantia-based Extermination Team?" Ai spoke up.

"What does that mean for us?" Fuku asked.

"I don't know. But the way she worded it, it sounds like she wants to prioritize them over us." Misaki scratched at the back of his head.

"What's the problem with that? There are more Amazons awakening on a weekly basis. This just gives us more time to breathe." Ryusuke said.

"The problem is that they're inexperienced. They can handle us but it's obvious they barely know what they're doing. And adding on a few more untrained members is not going to help them." Shido said.

"Help them with what? They can learn, can't they?" Mamoru asked.

"With what Jin Takayama has said to me…they're going to need more than just training." Shido went over to the bar and started making a drink. After taking a deep breath, he began to explain what he learned about Sigma.

Ridget led the trio into a large apartment. The living room was a plain white color with a sofa in the middle of the space that was pointed away from the door and instead towards a large fish tank that was also in front of a window that took the place of the fourth wall of the room. To either side of the window was a potted plant, though the plant to the left side was next to a metal spiral staircase. To the right there were two doorways about three feet away from each other while the left held a kitchen like area.

A light snoring could be heard as they entered, but when the door closed, Jin suddenly snapped into view from where he was sleeping on the couch.

"About time you guys got here." He yawned while stretching.

"What are you doing here?" Bellows asked.

"When I was preparing for my team, I got this apartment for the sole intent of being the Gargantia Team's base/home if need be. Jin was my obvious choice for an addition to the team. Faith could certainly try to get him on the Nozama Team, so that's why I approached Jin first while you two were being held captive. I simply told the council I had to take care of something. Thankfully, he was much easier to convince than I thought he would be."

"Hey, Faith is a bitch, alright? Any chance I can take to get rid of that smug assholishness air she's got around her, I'm gonna take. Plus, I'm mentoring these two. It'll only make sense that I'm working with them." Jin pointed out, standing up then walking around the couch.

Ridget turned to the three. "Now, if that'll be all, I'm now going to take my leave. There is still a lot of work to be done and I have to be the one to do it."

"Actually-" Amy stopped Ridget before she could leave. "Could I go and see Bevel really quick?"

"No, you have to stay in this safe space for the time being." Ridget responded. Just as Amy began to look depressed, Ridget fixed her glasses. "However, I could go fetch him and bring your brother here if you want."

"Really? Could you please do that?" Amy asked.

"Of course. Now, if that'll be all, I should be going. Goodbye." Ridget waved half-heartedly as she left.

Jin stared at the door for a second before sighing and clapping his hands together. "Good, she's gone. Now we can talk about important stuff that we couldn't before." Upon seeing the confusion on the faces of the three, Jin began to clarify. "I made sure there were no cameras in here, so we should be good to talk as well. There is something I wanted to tell you guys about. It pertains to Amy and Ledo."

"What's wrong?" Ledo was quick to ask.

"I analyzed some of Amy and Ledo's blood to see how the human cells are reacting to the Amazon Cells." Jin began to explain. "It's not pretty. Ledo's cells aren't reacting well to the Amazon Cells at all. If anything, they're degenerating and dying off. If we don't do something soon, Ledo may die."

"Eh? Seriously?! What can we do?!" Amy was quick to ask.

"We can't do anything right now about it." Jin crossed his arms.

"What? You can't just say Ledo's going to die unless we do something and then say we can't do anything!" Bellows shouted.

"If you'd let me finish." Jin said. "I was going to say that we have something more important to worry about, and that's Amy."

The three were taken by surprise.

"Me?"

"Yes. While Ledo's cells are dying, yours are instead thriving. Your human cells and Amazon Cells are working together to keep you functioning, but there's something else I've noticed." Jin started. "Your Cells are undergoing constant evolution. At this rate you won't be able to hold back your Amazon side with your Register anymore, causing you to lose your humanity entirely."

Amy's eyes widened as this sunk in. "W-what?"

"What can we do? There has to be-can we boost whatever it is in the brace that suppresses her Amazon side?" Ledo quickly asked.

"No. As it stands now, Ledo is going to die and Amy will lose whatever humanity she had before." Jin clarified. "I'm…I'm sorry."

Meanwhile, the Figure in the Cloak walked silently through the halls of an apartment complex. Around him, several figures were at their apartment doors, peeking out to look as he passed by.

Finally, the Figure reached a specific door at the end of the hallway. He lightly tapped on the door with his knuckles repeatedly.

"Excuse me, but could you p-" the woman who answered the door paused in horror as she caught sight of the man. "You."

"Hello. I have need of you and your Hive." The Figure stopped her as she tried to close the door on him.

"Please! No! Not again!" the woman pushed against the door as hard as she could. It was no use, however, as the Figure easily pushed the door open and sent the woman to the ground.

"You're an Amazon. Not only that, but you're the Queen of the Hive itself. And yet here you are groveling like a human would. How pathetic." The woman attempted to crawl backwards as the Figure slowly walked after her, closing and locking the door behind him.

"We're at peace! This is what we all want! None of-NGH!" the woman choked as the Figure sprang forward and picked her up by her throat.

"You don't want it. But it's going to happen. Your Soldiers follow your every move and an entire army is all that is needed. All it would take is a little persuasion to get everyone else on board, but you could lead the Amazons Army to kill every last human in this fleet."

"N-no. They don't follow me. I'm just-"

"You're a Queen Ant. You just haven't given any orders. But I'm happy to change that." The Figure stabbed his finger into the woman's chest.

"GUH!" she cried out in pain while staring at him in horror. "I'm begging you-!" she cried out as it started.

Steam soon enveloped the pair as the woman began to change.

The Figure dropped her to the ground and stepped back before watching her transform in front of him. "Yes. Awaken them…"

The woman's cries of pain morphed into growling and panting. She struggled up to her feet and stared at the Figure. Then she reared her head back and roared loudly.

Cries of pain and shock soon filled the area above and around the two, cracking and banging noises soon following along with screaming.

"Awaken…the Amazon Hive!" The Figure shouted.

End of Season 1

Next Hunt: Freedom