Monsters On Attack! - Round 2
***Robert Porter <sleestak2@juno.com>***
...and immediately confronted Guiron and Hedora as they tried to destroy Minya. The little creature cried out for help.
Angilus roared and charged at Guiron. The knife-blade headed creature stood and faced the charge, Minya still held in his jaws. Slowing, Angilus roared and grunted for Guiron to put him down. Hedorah spit out sludge at Angilus, which landed on his neck and began to smoke as it ate away at his flesh. He danced around in pain and pawed at the sludge in an attempt to remove it.
During the distraction, Guiron dropped Minya from his jaws. The smaller creature tried to escape, but Guiron wasn't letting him go, rather, he put his head's knife blade against Minya's belly and pinned him to the ground.
Enduring the pain in his neck, Angilus turned his attention back to his adversaries. Hedorah's head glowed red as it boiled and broiled a new batch of putrid sludge for another attack. Guiron held Minya pinned to the ground beside the pool of flesh-eating sludge that was to be his death bed. It was a precarious situation and Angilus knew he had to act carefully. He was unsure what to do.
Moments later, his problems were solved for him. Zigra, who had been waiting for the confrontation with the others, attacked Guiron and Hedorah. Unlike Angilus, he didn't care about the welfare of young Minya and attacked indiscriminately. Zigra fired a beam at Hedora, slicing off a tentacle-like piece of sludge. He charged at Guiron.
Panicking, Guiron moved swiftly to get out of the way. In the process, he cut a deep gash in Minya's belly. The young creature, cried out in pain, putting his hands over the gash, as if trying to hold back the blood that spilled out onto the ground.
Meanwhile, Zigra crashed into Guiron, knocking him back into the flesh-eating pool of sludge intended for Minya. Within minutes, the soft flesh was gone from Guiron's body and a simple skeleton with a long knife edge remained. Guiron was dead.
Hedorah turned its attention to attacking Zigra.
Angilus, angry at Minya's injury, moved in and pushed him to safety and away from the monster's melee. The little creature, cried out in pain and moved away at a slow pace, before finally collapsing, unable to move further. Angilus' heart wrenched. Both his friend Godzilla and Godzilla's son were mortally wounded.
* * *
"I WANT TO GO HOME!" Yoshi's mother screamed at the Planet X alien.
"Fumiko--" the alien started.
"Don't call me that! My name is Sisha Iko! I have a new life on the planet Earth now!"
The alien paused, taken aback by her vehemence. He chose his next words carefully. "I don't think you understand the seriousness of what is happening Fumiko. We need you now more than ever." She crossed her arms in defiance. "The Millennians have returned... The final battle is upon us..."
At the news, Fumiko's face went slack. She couldn't deny his words and knew she must set aside her desire for a normal, peaceful life on earth and confront the demons she had thought she'd left behind long ago. A look of bittersweet sadness crossed her face. "Yes. I now understand," she said quietly.
The Planet X alien activated a giant screen behind himself. On it was an image of the battle that was now occurring on Earth. Zigra was firing beams at Hedorah, systematically dicing him up in to smaller and smaller parts. "The Millennians have sent the monster Zigra to Earth to find you. That is why we had to remove you from the planet. And we have sent monsters of our own to destroy Zigra: the monsters Gigan, Guiron and Hedorah."
"What about King Ghidorah?" Fumiko asked.
"King Ghidorah is now returning to Earth to assist in Zigra's destruction. Gigan and Guiron are now dead, so we must recruit more monsters for the battle. Zigra and the Millennians must not succeed."
The Planet X alien turned from the viewscreen and looked sharply at Fumiko. "Do you have what the Millennians are after?"
Fumiko clutched her hand to her chest and tears began streaming from her eyes. "It's not here with me. I left it on the planet Earth."
* * *
Drawing strength from the children around him, Gamera began to recover from his injuries. This time, he was unsure if he could recover enough to rise and join in this final battle of the universe to destroy the evil Zigra. This might be the end for him.
Something special touched his mind. Someone was here. Someone connected with the events that were happening. Gamera drew upon the strength of young Yoshi Iko as the young boy, saddened by the loss of his mother to King Ghidorah, entered the throng of children around him.
It might be the very strength he needed to live.
* * *
Drawing upon all her resources in Kanazawa, Japan, Miki Saegusa recalled members from the G-FORCE team and chartered a helicopter out to place where Godzilla had fallen.
Was this Godzilla's son? Years before, she had watched and felt the telepathic connection as Godzilla had melted down. They had watched as the juvenile Godzilla had died at the claws of Destroyah. So who was this new Godzilla? And would it recover from the injuries caused by Gigan to once again terrorize the world?
Hovering over the ocean, she reached out with her mind to touch this new Godzilla creature. She felt it. It was in pain and having difficulties recovering from the toxins. But it was angry. It felt her mind touch and flared with radiation as it continued to recover...
* * *
Zigra had danced around Hedorah's deadly sludge bombs and succeeded in tormenting the mud creature with it's beams. The pieces of Hedorah that had been sliced off, were quickly drying out to uselessness.
Lightning cracked across the sky and raked the ground in front of Zigra. Looking up, Zigra saw that King Ghidorah was here. He knew he was not ready for that confrontation. Its mission was to find the Fumiko woman and the item she protected. Turning away, Zigra moved into the ocean and into the dark, murky waters with which it was familiar.
Hedorah oozed into the ocean after Zigra with King Ghidorah flying overhead.
Behind them, another meteor crashed into the ground, spewing liquid rock and dust. The Planet X aliens had sent another creature to the final battle.
* * *
Angilus watched all this dispassionately from a distance. He was fighting mad, but unwilling to
leave the injured Minya. Looking down at him, Minya's eyes slowly closed. Minya was dying.
***John C Barthelette <kingGhidorah@juno.com>***
Angilus turned away. Minya was as good as dead. He charged into the fray, attacking anything that moved, heedless of who he attacked. Slowly a transformation took place. Angilus' shell hardened and grew, his spikes became blades, and his eyes glowed with power. Angurion was born. Angurion first attacked Zigra [after dragging him back out of the ocean], blowing him to a thousand shards of smoking radiated flesh with a beam of pure power. He then turned to King Ghidorah to kill or die.
Just a little ways off, the mysterious meteor began to open, smoke pouring from the cracks. A creature never seen before was emerging. It had the head of a King Cobra with two snake like legs. Its arms were rubbery in appearance like two tentacles. It began to quickly began to slither toward Angurion. As it approached the fight, a beam of power suddenly smashed into him. Zigra was not that easy to kill.
King Ghidorah tried to pick up Angurion but his feet were cut to ribbons on the superheated spikes. King Ghidorah cried out in pain, dropping Angurion and fleeing. He circled the sky, his three heads spitting out energy beams and strafing the ground around Angurion.
Angurion caught King Ghidorah on the chest with his energy beam. King Ghidorah fell out of the sky at Angurion's feet.
Zigra and the unknown kaiju were locked in battle. Zigra's energy rays were useless this close. The Kaiju's tentacles could not get a strangle hold. The battle was deadlocked until Zigra shot a ray from his chest, blasting huge chunks out of the Kaiju's belly. He hissed in pain. Firing laser like beams from his eyes, the Kaiju slowly backed away. Zigra would not be distracted that easily however. Screaming a battle cry he jumped at the throat of the Kaiju.
Hedorah meanwhile had been slowly mucking towards Minya, intent on killing and sucking the life force from him. So intent was he that he did not notice the wind come from above. Gamera flew by, strafed him with three fireballs. Hedorah morphed to standing form. This might be harder that he thought...
***Stefan Criswell <criswell@mosquitonet.com>***
Gamera blasted Hedorah with a couple of plasma fire balls and blew chunks of slug off the blob's body. But, all Hedorah did was reform. It seemed energy weapons would be useless against Hedorah. So, Gamera charged into the blob kaiju, but was taken down by it's poisonous fumes. Now, with Gamera down, Hedorah could drain not only the lifeforce of Minya, but Gamera's lifeforce as well!
Zigra bit into the throat of the new kaiju. The kaiju was surprised by this but it was not slow to retaliate. The kaiju's tentacles latched on to Zigra and began to drain his life energy from him. Zigra blasted the kaiju with another ray, forcing it to release him. Then, the kaiju used one of it's sword-like arms to impale the great shark in the chest.
Zigra shrieked and fell backwards. He was too badly hurt to continue fighting. He began to crawl away.
* * *
The Xians were watching the battle from one of their ships. "It appears that Irys is proving effective against Zigra" the Controller said to himself.
"Controller!" one of the Xian workers shouted, "we have detected an object approaching the battlefield from space! It's another Millennian ship!".
"How close is it now?" the Controller asked.
"It's already at the battlefield!" the worker responded.
* * *
The Millennian ship had arrived. It was time to give Zigra some help. The ship hovered over Angurion and the unconscious Ghidorah. It began to scan them both. After the ship finished scanning him, Angurion lunged at it, but the ship just blasted him away for several hundred meters. Then, it scanned Ghidorah. This creature's DNA would prove useful. The ship's tentacles began to draw blood from Ghidorah. As soon as it did this something began to form from inside the ship. Then, a gigantic object broke loose from the ship. Angurion shook his head and got back up to see this new beast take shape. The monster was one of the most grotesque things Angurion had ever seen. It was similar to Orga, but it had a dull yellow body, dragon-like wings on it's back, and three heads instead of one. Orga II was born!
* * *
Zigra continued to crawl away from the battle sight. Apparently, Irys had not chosen to follow him, and Zigra was thankful. 'Thank Goddess!' Zigra thought to himself. Then, he came to a startling realization: he was actually thinking by himself! He didn't know what exactly Irys had done, but apparently it freed him from Millennian control! Everything began to come back to him. The Zigrans were setting up a colony on a planet in the Hydra constellation. Then, without warning, a fleet of silver spaceships attacked the colony, and Zigra was taken prisoner by the beings he would soon learn were the Millennians. The fate of his fellow colonists was unknown to him, but it was a safe bet that the Millennians either killed them, or enslaved them as well. But now, Zigra was free, and he HAD to reap vengeance on the Millennians. But, reality came back to him. Irys had badly wounded him, and he was in no shape to fight. Then, he saw a familiar sight. It was Gigan's headless corpse!
Zigra crawled over to it. He sensed that somehow, Gigan was still alive. 'His brain must not be located in his head, like most animals' Zigra thought. Then, Zigra had an idea. Gigan would help him defeat the Millennians, but they wouldn't be a tag team. It was time for Zigra to use an old ability of his that had been banned by the Zigrans years ago. It was his and Gigan's only hope. Zigra's body began to glow a bluish-white color as he lowered himself to Gigan. Soon, the energy enveloped both of them and there was a blinding flash. When the light faded, Zigra and Gigan were gone, and something else stood in their place. The creature had a body and single eye like that of Gigan, but it had a head and dorsal fins like that of Zigra. Gigan and Zigra had become a creature that would soon be known as Zigan and the Millennians would pay!
***Bob Schneider <schneidr@westol.com>***
"I know you've been through a lot this last week" Agent Ifuke said to young Yoshi comfortingly. "We've contacted your father and he's on his way here from Tokyo now. Meanwhile, If you don't feel ready to talk about everything that's happened yet, I understand."
"It's OK, Mr. Ifuke," Yoshi replied. "King Ghidorah could have killed my mother instantly if he wanted to. I know she's alive. I just want to get her back, and I'll do anything I can to help."
"Alright, then." The agent handed Yoshi a small, metallic, cylindrical object that looked a bit like a microphone. "Have you ever seen this device before?"
"No, Sir. I don't recognize it."
Ifuke turned to his assistant and explained, "While searching through the wreckage of the house, investigators found this object hidden in the back of a closet in Yoshi's mother's room. According to the preliminary lab report, it appears to be some sort of electronic device, but it's clearly more advanced than anything ever built on Earth."
"I have a guess where it's from," said the assistant. "We just received a report from COMSAT 5 before it was destroyed by Ghidorah. According to the latest data, the monster was last spotted headed toward Planet X."
"Yes, there must be some connection," Ifuke agreed. "But what was the device doing on Earth, in Mrs. Iko's bedroom?"
* * *
The Planet X Controller watched the screen and shook his head in disgust. Gigan blown to bits by King Ghidorah. Guiron dissolved in a puddle of Hedorah's acidic sludge. And now, two Earth monsters, Gamera and Angurion, were attacking Irys and Hedorah. What was supposed to be a carefully planned defensive strike was rapidly degenerating into a chaotic free for all. "It's no use," the Controller hissed. "No matter how many monsters we send, we can't win as long as the Millennians continue to influence their alliances. This is your fault, Fumiko. Why couldn't you keep the crystal jamming device with you constantly, as you were ordered to do?"
"I told you, I had completely forgotten the ancient war and my mission on Earth," Fumiko replied as she wiped a tear from her eye. "I'm one of the Earthlings now, not an Xian agent."
"That much is obvious," the Controller said bitterly. "I can't believe you even bore a child with one of their men."
"What did you expect?" she asked. "Did you think I could live among humans for more than twenty years without eventually becoming one of them?"
"Then you should have appreciated the importance of your mission all the more," the Controller snapped. "You know what happened here on Planet X when the Millennians invaded centuries ago. Before our best minds were able to develop that device to block the alien's ability to control other life forms, the Millennians had already altered the whole chemistry of our atmosphere and our environment. We've been struggling to produce enough water to sustain our dwindling population ever since. Our only hope is if we can somehow obtain the resources of Earth -- your beloved Earth. But now, the Millennians are threatening to destroy that world as well, just as we knew they someday would. Both the Xians and the Earthlings will be doomed if they succeed. And you've carelessly lost the one thing that can stop them."
"It must still be in the house," Fumiko murmured.
"We've already sent other spies to search the ruins," the Controller replied. "If the device was there, it's gone now. And you know we can't build another -- not since the Millennians destroyed all our mineral deposits."
Tears were now flowing freely down Fumiko's cheeks. "Can we save the Earthlings without the device?"
"See for yourself." The Controller gestured toward the screen, which was now showing a picture of some grotesque parody of King Ghidorah blasting energy beams into a stunned Angurion. "The Millennians are already turning our monsters, as well as those of Earth, against one another. And so far only two Millennian probes have reached Earth. What do you suppose our chances will be when the full first wave of ships arrives?"
* * *
Yoshinori couldn't believe how much had happened during the last week or so. Only days before he had been watching comets through his telescope from his bedroom window. Now, his mother had been captured by King Ghidorah and he was seated as special guest at a government conference to discuss defensive strategies against the menace from space. He was certainly in distinguished company: Also in attendance were such noted personalities as Secretary of Defense Fuji Okata, General Shinichi Tanaka, and the famous psychic Miki Seagusa.
"I've never sensed anything like this before," Miki moaned. "I was able to psychically connect with these two new creatures, one that appears to be an imitation of King Ghidorah, and the other, a combination of Gigan and Zigra. Each of the monsters possesses its own separate consciousness, but I sensed another stronger consciousness superimposed over theirs that is somehow controlling both of them. It's the same consciousness that I first encountered last December: the Millennian"
"Were you able to learn where these Millennians come from? And what are they doing on Earth?" the General asked impatiently.
"The Millennians are an ancient civilization, almost as old as the universe itself," Miki replied, pausing to sip some cool water. "They once had individual bodies and minds, like us, but they eventually evolved into a unified, collective consciousness inhabiting a single body of organic proto-plasma that can divide or re-group at will. That's when they began to spread out from their homeworld, somewhere near the center of the Milky Way, colonizing other planets. Each time one of their probes lands on a new world, it begins consuming the indigenous life forms, swallowing and assimilating new genetic material that merges with its own -- and new memories, new consciousness, as well. They've already conquered hundreds of worlds and assimilated millions of life forms."
"And now they've targeted Earth," Tanaka sighed.
"I'm afraid so. The ship discovered by the oceanographers in the trench last December was just a probe that had been long forgotten. But apparently, it contacted other Millennian ships in this area of the galaxy. Now, they're launching a full scale invasion."
"How many of them will there be?" the General asked.
"I don't know, " Miki said. "But I sense that many more of their ships are approaching -- enough to assimilate all life on Earth. Remember, the more life they consume, the greater their power becomes. Already they have the combined physical and psychic energy of countless different life forms. We've already seen some of those forms."
"Like King Ghidorah, Gigan, Guiron, and Hedorah, monsters from space that we've encountered before." the Secretary said.
"No," Miki answered. "When I psychically linked with those other monsters, I didn't detect the Millennian's presence. I sense that they were sent here to resist the Millennians."
"Sent here? By whom?" Okata asked.
"I'll bet it was the Xians," Yoshi exclaimed excitedly. "Agent Ifuke said King Ghidorah was spotted headed toward Planet X with my mom. And now the monster has returned."
"Hmm. You may be right, Yoshi," the Secretary said.
"That doesn't make sense," the General objected. "If King Ghidorah and Gigan were both sent by the Xians, why did Ghidorah destroy Gigan?"
"I'm not sure," Miki replied, "but I have an idea. Perhaps a Millennian probe intercepted Gigan on his way to Earth and managed to gain temporary control of the monster, which might have forced Ghidorah to attack his former ally."
"You said temporary control?" Tanaka asked.
"While I was linked with this new version of Zigra, I sensed that it was acting partly on its own accord, disobeying the Millennian's commands," Miki said. "They seem to be able to control the monsters for only brief periods of time. They may have had the same problem with Gigan."
"I'm not sure I understand," said the Secretary. "What does all this mean?"
"I think it means that the victims of the Millennians still retain memories, or spirits, from their pasts," Miki explained. "The Millennians are much more powerful psychically than most of the unfortunate victims they have consumed over the ages and can enslave them easily. But maybe the monsters are different. They possess powerful wills of their own -- powerful enough to take over the Millennian's mass, particularly when it assumes their shapes."
"Sure!" Yoshi burst out. "Remember what happened last year, when the first Millennian tried to assilimate -- assitimate -- ah, I mean eat -- Godzilla? He blew it apart from the inside!"
"Right, Yoshi," Miki continued. "and I believe these other monsters are rebelling against the Millennian's control, too, only in a different way. I don't think there are enough Millennian probes on Earth to fully control the powerful will of these monsters. At least not yet. Of course the Millennians will grow increasingly powerful as more probes arrive. Eventually, they'll take over all the monsters -- even Gamera, Angurion, and King Ghidorah -- and then all of the human race"
"Then we have to find a way to defeat the Millennians now, while they are still vulnerable," the Secretary said.
"Unfortunately, none of this makes much difference," the General said. "If I understand what you're saying, we're caught in a war between two hostile alien races, the Xians and the Millennians. That means we're in big trouble which ever side wins. These monsters have always been hostile toward us in the past, and together, they're quite capable of destroying everything on Earth. Whether the Millennians are controlling them or not, we'll never be able to beat them all."
"Probably not," Miki said, "but maybe we don't have to beat them. If King Ghidorah, Hedorah, and Irys were sent to battle the Millennians, perhaps we can get our monsters -- Gamera, Angurion, and Godzilla, if he recovers -- to join with them and fight the common enemy."
"Sounds like a good idea," the Secretary agreed. "But how can we get these monsters to cooperate? We can't even communicate with them."
"We can't," Yoshi said excitedly, "but I know someone who can! The Cosmos and Mothra!"
"That's right," Miki said. "They once talked Godzilla and Rodan into teaming up against King Ghidorah. They might be able to do the same with these space monsters."
"Alright." The Secretary turned to his aide. "Contact the Cosmos on Infant Island immediately. They may be our only chance."
A messenger abruptly burst into the room and handed Okata a report. "Please forgive my interruption, Sir," he said, "but I believe you'll want to read this immediately."
Okata quickly scanned the page and frowned. "Miss Seagusa, I hope your idea of uniting the
monsters works, because we're going to need all the help we can get. This report is from our
radio telescope network. More Millennian probes are approaching Earth orbit, and this time,
there are dozens of them!"
***Jason Vilon <jasonv@jarda.on.ca>***
The young man who had been serving water during the meeting dropped his tray out of shock. The smashing glass echoed in the silence of the board room as the people assembled tried to deal with the news.
Defense Secretary Fuji Okata was the first to regain composure. "Listen, we can't let this news derail us from our plans! Before we adjourn to contact the Cosmos, is there anything anyone can add about the monsters we face?"
Yoshi did, but he remained silent.
Miki spoke up, "I feel that Zigra might be the key to victory in this fight."
"Zigra?", the General was surprised.
"Or rather Zigan as he is now. I learned a lot about him from the brief time I was in contact with him. He harbors a great hatred for the Millennians. You see, long ago, when the Millennians were first starting to expand their Empire, they created giant monsters to go out and fight for them. Their first experiments created abominations like Gigan. Eventually they created Zigra and it almost destroyed them. They couldn't control him and Zigra ravaged their planet, destroying everything in it's path. It was only through guile and a lot of luck that they were able to trap Zigra in the ship that brought him here. Since then, the Millennian's technology has obviously made great advances. So much so, that they might now be able to control the creature that almost destroyed them. However, Zigra hasn't forgotten, and has vowed to destroy the race that trapped him for so many millions of years. And now that he is fused with Gigan, a creature who also harbors a hatred for the beings that changed him into a cyborg, Zigan's resolve is even greater." Miki paused. "I don't know what that's worth, but I just have the feeling that it could be the key to stopping the Millennian invasion."
Okata pondered this and then asked, "Is it the same with this new version of Orga that has just arrived?"
"Not as far as I can tell. I would have to say that this Orga creature is an actual Millennian just like last December's attack."
"And what of our greatest defender?", Okata asked. "Where is Godzilla?"
"Well, I had brief contact with Juni . . . Godzilla during our flight over the ocean. I'm just not sure we can rely on his assistance this time."
General Tanaka rose to this news. "Well what of this new form of Angilus?"
"Angurion" Miki corrected.
"Can this 'Angurion' be trusted?"
The messenger burst back into the room carrying another message for the Secretary. Okata read it over quickly, but the stone expression on his face was impossible to read. He passed the note to the General and rose from his chair. "This meeting must come to a close. Miki, have G-Force contact the Cosmos. We MUST have Mothra's assistance." And he strode out the door with the General and messenger in tow.
* * *
Everyone else exited through the main doors and headed off to their respective duties. Miki was walking quickly down the hall and Yoshi, who had something he wanted to ask her, was almost at a run to keep up.
"Why didn't you tell them about the Earth Defenders?" he asked.
Miki was deep in thought, pondering the General's last question to her, but snapped out of her daze at Yoshi's voice. She hadn't been aware that she had company, but now she stopped and turned to her new companion. Kneeling down so they were eye to eye, she said, "What do you mean Yoshi?"
The young boy giggled a little.
"What's so funny?"
"I'm so sorry. You have really big ears. They make me laugh."
Miki blushed a little at that. It was in that moment that she realized just how young the boy was. Why did he have to be mixed up in all of this mess. It just wasn't fair.
"All the better to listen to young men who have something important to say. What did you mean?"
"Well, in the meeting you didn't tell them about the Earth Defenders. Godzilla, Gamera, Angurion and the others . . . you didn't tell them that they CAN'T be controlled."
"How do you know this?"
"Gamera told us when we were touching his mind. He told all of us kids not to worry. That he and the others were safe from the enemy and he will fight for Earth. I know that you knew this, but you didn't say anything. Why?"
She briefly wondered if a monster such as Gamera would . . . or could, lie. "Well Yoshi. I know this is hard for you to understand, but sometimes the people who lead our Government can't be trusted. I learned this a long time ago. I quit working for them for six years because of it. But now that I'm back, working with them and leading G-Force, I'm trying to do things differently. If I told them that the . . . ED Monsters were safe from the Millennian's type of control, they may have looked for a more direct way to control the monsters themselves. Like with mind control devices. They've tried it on Godzilla before, and it almost worked."
"That's awful."
"Yes it is. That's why I'm glad that you thought of Mothra. This way we can let the monsters decide. But . . ."
"But what?"
"Oh it's just what they General said. It's really bugging me. Can Angurion, or any of them, be trusted? In all my years of working with these ED Monsters, I've never sensed that they even care if we live or die."
Yoshi was used to this. You see, sometimes adults were very silly people. So he put his hands on her shoulders and spoke in a deliberate tone so that she wouldn't misunderstand. "Miki, these monsters are Earth Defenders. Not People Defenders. We just happen to live on their world." Miki just looked at him. Understanding. Perhaps he wasn't so young after all.
* * *
Okata and the others were marching back to the Operations Room at a hurried pace.
"Another monster!" he said. "How could this get any worse. Have you identified it?"
The young officer who had brought the message spoke up. "Yes sir. We think so. But you'd better take a look for yourself." Arriving, he held the door open for the Secretary and the General.
Looking at the wall monitor they weren't sure *what* they were looking at. Two royal blue orbs floated on the dark screen. Energy caused the balls of light to glow and electricity arced out from them in random directions. Shock hit all of them as the balls of blue light . . . blinked.
"Where is this?! What am I looking at," the General yelled.
"This is being shot about 5 kilometers north-east, sir," one of the troops operating the controls said.
"The heart of the city?! How could this be?"
That's when the camera winked out, filling the screen with static and snow. The young man at the controls worked feverishly to activate another camera. When the screen became active again, it was from a farther position, showing the creature in full frame.
"Dear god," was all Okata could manage to say.
* * *
"GIGAN"
Pain flared through his neck.
"GIGAN"
The poison that was preventing him from healing in full was finally starting to wear off, but it would still take a week before he was 100%. He didn't have that long, he knew that for sure.
"GIGAN"
He rolled over onto his side, and attempted to stand on his feet. The exertion caused the wound to open anew and he was wracked with pain.
"GIGAN"
Revenge would be his. No one had hurt him this badly for so long. He grumbled from deep in his chest as he put one foot in front of the other slowly he was beginning his journey ashore.
"GIGAN"
He paused for a moment. There was something he had to try. His dorsal fins started to glow and crackle as the water around them began to boil. Godzilla stood fully as he prepared to test his breath weapon. Opening his mouth blue energy poured out but as his pain increased it turned red and finally what he feared most (FEAR? GODZILLA FEARS NOTHING!) happened.
Orange/red energy burst forth from his wounded throat in an ever widening ray and he had to stop before blowing his own head off.
"GIGAN"
He started for shore once more. No breath weapon, but the world would see that Godzilla could do a lot even without it. Especially to one creature. The one creature that did this to him. The one creature that kept appearing in his mind's eye over and over again.
"GIGAN"
* * *
Yoshi and Miki parted ways and he had found his way to a lounge where he was told to wait for his father. There was a TV in the room and he was half-watching some cartoons. He wished that he had told Miki that he knew his mother was going to be okay. He didn't know why but he felt that it was important that she knew that.
The cartoon that was almost interesting him was showing a bunch of people trying to fit a ball into a tube that was WAY to small for it.
Actually, what they were doing didn't interest him at all. It was the way they were drawn that had him thinking. It employed the very popular "super deformed" type of cartoon. Somewhere, far off in his mind, he made a connection between this show and some of his SD figures at home. But a connection to what?
It was floating there, just outside his grasp.
* * *
"King Kong," General Tanaka said at last. "B-but how is it possible that he just shows up in the middle of town? Unnoticed! How did he get there?"
The camera winked out and another one came on showing another view of the enormous gorilla. His massive frame, supported on all fours, meandering down one of the main roads of the city. Only meandering wasn't the right word. There was purpose in his stride. As he moved along, the electricity from his eyes shot out and tickled along the metal framework of the surrounding skyscrapers before popping out of existence.
"Well, honestly sir, he still shouldn't be there."
"I beg your pardon?"
"If we couldn't see him, we wouldn't know he was there at all. He's not showing up on any of our screens. Nothing is actually detecting him."
Another camera went on the fritz and a new one came online to show King Kong from the front. The electricity still danced out of his eyes.
"We know that Kong feeds and grows stronger from electricity," the Secretary added. "This time it looks as though he's very well fed. Perhaps the sensor screw ups are a result of all the energy that he's built up."
"Hmm. It's possible I suppose." The General rubbed his head in frustration as another camera popped off. "WHAT is going on with our surveillance equipment? Can't we get one that works?"
The man at the controls turned around, "Well, this might be another effect of his current state, sir. It seems that King Kong is giving off EM pulses at regular intervals. It's frying our equipment."
Just then the massive silver-back reared back, standing on his hind legs. He towered over the buildings surveying the land. Getting an idea of his surroundings one would suppose. His sleek black fur glistened in the dusk and glow of his electric eyes. Suddenly, his fists raised up and he started to beat his chest violently. His head pulled back and his mouth opened revealing teeth the size of cars and fangs the size of busses.
And he roared.
The roar was so deafening that all of the windows in a one kilometer radius exploded, showering the deserted streets with diamonds.
* * *
Even in the command center, the windows rattled and tried to shake free from their casings. The floor vibrated and some of the suspended lighting started to swing. It only lasted about 30 seconds, but in the lounge, young Yoshi thought the noise was going to last forever! He was terrified.
Fear. It does a lot of crazy things to people. It can shut a person down completely. Or it can crystallize everything into one piecing moment. That's what it did for Yoshi.
His last train of thought went like this. Cartoon full of Super Deformed characters - his collection of Super Deformed toys depicting all of his favorite action stars and heroes - to . . . to . . .
To the metallic capsule that Agent Ifuke had shown him!
"Of course!!" he yelled to the TV.
He struck a defensive martial arts pose that all kids of Japan have imitated at one point or another.
"HY-YUT!"
'Could it really be?' he thought to himself? 'It must be, but what was mom doing with it? In the wrong hands . . . NO! My hands. I must be the one to operate it!'
He raced down the corridor back to Ifuke's office. Had Yoshi known that the Xians had only used this strange device to jam Millennian signals, how he would have laughed. It would seem that even alien adults were silly sometimes too.
* * *
As the glass settled on the streets, Kong went back down on all fours. Crashing through the pavement with each lumbering step, he was on the move again. He had been called. He was needed. But why did he care?
Back in the Operations Control Room, it didn't take the computer long to plot Kong's course . . . straight towards Godzilla's last known location.
***Steve <Godzillaa@AOL.com>***
The helicopter touched down on Infant Island, and Miki stepped onto the shore. There had always been something special about this place... a sort of aura in the air....a place where you could feel safe no matter what was going on. And that was a hard thing to do now. But it was different now. The lush jungle forests that had regrown since the years of atomic tests thanks to Mothra had been burnt away. Mountains had crumbled, and there was no sign of the island natives, or the Cosmos. Miki knew something was badly wrong here. As she traveled towards the center of the island...she saw the Temple of Mothra in ruin....and an empty giant broken eggshell in the middle of it all.
* * *
Many years ago, during Godzilla's battles with Mothra, Angilus, and King Kong, an American scientist figured Godzilla had an extremely tiny brain. He based Godzilla on a normal dinosaur to come to this conclusion....but by now, Godzilla had long overcome the dinosaur stereotype....and just for the record, he's pretty damn smart, too. And what he lacked in "intelligence", he made up for with the evolution of his mind. Godzilla could always sense certain things, and right now, he sensed that if he journeyed to Japan, he was weak enough that he could lose a fight....and Godzilla refused to lose.
He thought back through his mind, through all the years, all the pain, all the battles. His memories had been partially erased thanks to an incident that happened when aliens tried to take over Monster Island, and the entire world, years ago, when inferior mind control technology had been used on him. This could account for Godzilla's wild mood swings at times. He remembered a time around this mind control incident...he remembered Ghidorah.....and he remembered how Ghidorah was overcome. Through the combined efforts of an army of earth monsters. Godzilla changed his course.
* * *
Miki boarded the helicopter and radioed General Tanaka.
"General.....bad news, it appears as though Infant Island has been attacked by some force powerful enough to overcome Mothra's seal on the island" she said.
"What the hell are you talking about? Who? How do you know?" the general panicked.
"The forests have been eradicated, there is no life in sight, the Cosmos are gone, Mothra's Temple has been destroyed....the only sign that remains is a broken egg shell" she said.
"Then perhaps Mothra has already joined the fight" The general said.
"But then why haven't we seen Mothra anywhere?" Miki asked.
"...I don't know....just...come back to Japan, quickly, King Kong is here now."
"King Kong?" Miki asked "We haven't seen him in years, I thought he was defeated by Godzilla!"
"Yeah, well, we all did, but he's back, and he's pissed off to boot."
"...I'm on my way sir." and the helicopter took off for Japan.
* * *
Godzilla surfaced from the water, blinking his eyes clear....and he saw it. Ogasawara. Monster Island. His old home. He hadn't spent much time at this place ever since King Ghidorah's attack in 1991, he had left Minya on the island knowing this was too dangerous of a battle for him, in the care of Angurion. But as he approached the island, he knew neither of those monsters were there now.
He thundered onto the shore and collapsed.
He shook his head, and stood up and roared his arrival.
A form neared him from the skies above him. Godzilla couldn't quite tell who it was, but he readied a tail attack if necessary, to use the last bit of his strength to flatten the attacker.
It was Rodan.
His relationship with Godzilla was rocky at best, but the two were friends at heart, and Rodan landed in front of Godzilla on the island. Godzilla finally let his guard down, and he slumped down to the ground, exhausted from his journey. Rodan understood, and grabbed Godzilla by the shoulders, air-lifting him into a clearing. He set him down gently, then called the other monsters with a loud cry.
Gorosaurus thundered out of the jungle, Manda by his side. Baragon stuck his head up out of the ground to see if this concerned him. Godzilla tried to growl a message to them, and Rodan helped the best he could. Apparently the Monster Island monsters knew of the alien invasion, but they felt it did not concern them, and as long as they had their home, they would remain there until threatened. Angirus and Minya had felt different and had left. Godzilla knew he would need the assistance of Baragon, Rodan, Manda and Gorosaurus in the fight. He didn't know what monsters were in Japan, he didn't know the fate of Angurion or Minya, all he knew was there was trouble there, and lots of it.
Baragon and Manda could care less, it seemed. They never cared for the fate of the humans. Godzilla tried to explain to them that this went beyond the humans. Gorosaurus thought it over and decided to help Godzilla. As did Rodan. Godzilla demanded Baragon and Manda make a decision now. After several minutes...they chose to help.
Again, Godzilla's intelligence came into play. Usually he would suggest an all out frontal assault, but this would require strategy, since he didn't even know what monsters he could trust once he arrived in the city, due to the aliens and their controllers. The plan he formulated was this. Godzilla would arrive in Japan alone. Once there he would engage whatever enemy he found in combat, as Baragon and Gorosaurus would use their tunneling abilities to approach Japan, Manda would attack from the sea, and Rodan from the sky. This should confuse the enemy, and prevent the earth monsters from being surrounded. Godzilla was pleased with his plan.
* * *
Miki's helicopter arrived over Japan, and she looked down in dismay. The countryside and the buildings on the coast had been totally destroyed. Huge almost human like footprints covered the sand on the beach. She picked up the radio to contact the general, when suddenly, the helicopter shut off.
"What's happening?!" Miki yelled.
"I...I don't know!" said the pilot. "Something's wrong with the electrical systems! We've totally lost all power!"
The helicopter plummeted towards the earth....but landed in the palm of a giant furry hand. The helicopter was crushed like a nutshell, and Miki and the pilot looked up into the face of Kong. With two fingers, Kong picked the pilot out of his hand, and into his mouth. Not even an appetizer for the giant king of the apes. He then looked at Miki.... this one... this human was beautiful, he thought. A little bigger... well, a LOT bigger, and she'd make the perfect queen for him....he knew what she needed. A combination of nuclear and electric energy.
After all, it was what mutated him into his bigger state he was in now. With Miki in hand, he ventured deeper into the city.
* * *
Godzilla and the monsters rested. Starting tomorrow, the biggest battle yet would begin. Suddenly...Godzilla's eyes snapped open. He for the first time in a long time felt a psychic connection...two of them...Minya was alive...and in trouble....and...SO WAS MIKI!!!
***Mark J. Tannacore <mark@inetsolve.com>***
Yoshi at first, had a little trepidation about going to see Tanaka. So he snuck into his office. Eavesdropping on Tanaka's telephone conversation...
"All these damn monsters and aliens! They weren't around when we were young! I mean, the aliens were inevitable, but dammit! We created these monsters! It's all our..."
"No it's not, sir!" Yoshi popped up, surprising Tanaka.
"What the?!" Tanaka nearly pulled his weapon on Yoshi, out of years and years of military instinct. "You shouldn't be here! Leave, now!!! Wait! what was that you said?"
Yoshi grinned at the thought that he knew something that an adult didn't know. Something very important. Something very important.
"The monsters weren't actually created by us! It was fate, that created the monsters ... well, lead to their creation actually... in order to protect us from the aliens and outer space monsters! Even if we didn't have nuclear energy, the monsters would have somehow existed!"
Ifuke couldn't help but chuckle. In this most desperate of times, a child's innocence was such a welcome refreshment. He concluded his phone call and turned to pat Yoshi on the head. "Thank you, young man, I really needed tha--"
"Do you have the silver tube from my house?" Yoshi so rudely interrupted.
"Huh?" Tanaka glanced warily at the young boy. "Why do you ask? Do you know what it is?"
"YES!" Yoshi was ecstatic now. For too long, adults held power over him. Now it was his turn.
Tanaka's eyes nearly popped out of his head as he stood up and zipped around the desk, kneeling in front of Yoshi. "Yoshi... if you know," Tanaka said peacefully, but with imperativeness in his eyes, "please tell us. For the sake of all the Earth, please tell us!"
Yoshi looked directly into Tanaka's eyes, seeing the desperation.
Yoshi was a good boy, and would hold nothing to task as he freely shared what he knew, "It's a device, sir. And it can help us to get ALL the monsters together to fight the Millennians!"
Tanaka's gaze turned to one of wonderment. "How do you know that, boy?"
"I just do, sir. It's in my blood, buried in my mind. My mom is someone real special, and that makes me special! I'm the only one who can control the device, ya know!" Yoshi had a grin of pride and self-satisfaction a mile wide.
"You just may be..." Tanaka looked hopeful, as he stood to his full height, dwarfing young Yoshi. He went to a map of Japan on the wall, and slid it aside to reveal a computer locked safe. He pushed his thumb on the pad, and it lit up, then opened. Taking the tube in one hand, and Yoshi in the other, Tanaka ran out the door.
* * *
Kong walked around very slowly. He was now confused. There was only one source of nuclear energy he could think of, and that was Godzilla!
But what to do with Miki... if he put her down, she might escape. If he carried her into battle, she might get killed. To add to this confusion, was the pain. Surges of electricity coursed through him, but rather than strengthening him, they hurt him! He howled as a surge went through his right leg.
Miki took this opportunity to try to touch Kong's mind. It was tormented. Twisted. The suffering was unbelievable! Kong's mind was the only major organic component of him! It was his brain, but hooked up to all sorts of electric diodes and synaptic connections! Miki wasn't sure what she was sensing, as the pain in his mind kept "kicking her out".
Kong started to slump, and growl. He closed his eyes briefly, until a massive surge shot through his entire body! The surge was so great, even Miki got zapped! (fortunately, his mass was enough of an insulator to keep her from frying, but she still got hit with a few hundred volts!). She screamed out in pain, both physically, and psychically!
The psychic part of her scream had double fold results. On one hand, it caused a backlash in Kong's own mind, causing him to toss her in his agony!
* * *
The second fold...
As Godzilla, Manda, and Gorosaurus were swimming towards mainland Japan, Rodan flew above them. He would get there first, and pull Minya out if possible. Baragon was tunneling underground. But Godzilla, still slowed by his wounds, and being partially pulled along by Manda and Gorosaurus to make up time, felt the scream! His dorsals crackled a bit, partially in anger, partially from the outburst of psychic release. Oddly though, little pin hole 'shafts' of light seemed to erupt from all over his body. See, Godzilla was bombarded by space material from the meteor, that was attracted to his hide like a magnet. Now, the particles were having an effect, mingled with his own atomic energy!
Godzilla stopped swimming, and released himself from Manda and Gorosaurus. He let out a gurgling roar as he sank beneath the waves. Manda and Gorosaurus didn't know what to do. If Godzilla was dead, then they could go back to the island and wait, like they originally planned. As they treaded the water, suddenly the light from below the depths was brighter than the light from the sun, as streaks of light and shafts of energy poured from below! The bellow of the King of the Monsters could be heard clearly, even from the several hundred feet under the water that he was! Suddenly, a couple of hundred feet ahead of Manda and Gorosaurus, a tremendous wake shot out as Godzilla burst forth, swimming just below the surface, at 120 knots! Manda and Gorosaurus took off after the King of Monsters, but were falling quickly behind, even at their fastest pace! They had to spread wide apart, as Godzilla's wake was tremendous!
* * *
Kong stumbled back as he flung Miki, and dazedly fell into a building. Miki screamed again, this time purely physically, because her intense panic broke any attempt at concentration she may have tried.
Kong had a good arm. A REALLY good arm. Suddenly, a building a few dozen meters behind the flailing, airborne Miki exploded, and Miki found herself... CAUGHT! She was too shaken to turn and see what had caught her, but she heard the sniffs, and felt the breeze as it inhaled her scent deeply.
Kong had regained some composure, and began to growl at the newcomer who now held his prize in it's hand. This new creature had no real interest in Miki, but nor did it really care to hurt her either. It put her down, as it let out a mighty roar!
Kong was startled, as the roar was incredibly familiar, but the form was not. Kong was extremely weakened by the surges, but wasn't about to give up! He pushed out of the rubble he'd created, and shiny flecks of metal shone where the fur and skin were torn. The two faced each other, and Miki ran for the nearest subway station...