|
|
Godzilla snorted at Gigan's corpse. It wasn't moving, wasn't a threat, but he still felt uneasy. He'd thought of setting the wretched thing ablaze as he had done to Mecha Godzilla, but decided not to. He uttered a low guttural growl, circling the building Gigan's body lay in one more time before hearing a familiar sound. A low wail was coming from afar. Godzilla felt his muscles relax a little as Anguirus waded through the devastated buildings, calling to his friend. Godzilla responded with a roar of his own, though surprised Anguirus had gotten this far inland without the stupid man-things shooting at him. Anguirus moved closer, stopping abruptly when Gigan's body came into view. He paused, refusing to come closer even when Godzilla beckoned him to do so. The memory of Gigan's buzz saw slicing his maw wide open flooded back from the recesses of his mind. He growled at the cyborg. Sensing his friend's trepidation, Godzilla gave a reassuring snort, looking at Gigan, then back to Anguirus, who began to relax a little. After all, Gigan hadn't moved since he arrived, and Anguirus knew Godzilla wouldn't knowingly put him in serious danger. Godzilla thought of his son, little Godzilla. If Anguirus was here, the child was all alone, without protection. Moving past Anguirus, Godzilla headed for the bay, turning back and calling once to him. Anguirus returned the roar and moved next to Gigan's body, settling himself in a comfortable sitting position. Godzilla grunted and headed towards the bay again, glad that Anguirus had agreed to watch Gigan's body while he was gone. He didn't want the stupid man-things to get near it. They would contaminate it, probably turn Gigan into another full metal monster and try to hunt him down like he was their prey. Anguirus would make sure they stayed away. Looking back one more time, Godzilla waded into Tokyo bay and disappeared, headed towards Birth Island.
In G-Force HQ, Commander Nakao was rabid. "Those stupid monsters!! They're taking turns guarding Gigan's body! I don't believe this!!!"
"Sir, please calm down"
"Don't tell me to calm down! We didn't have enough military units to even try to stop Anguirus from coming ashore! Japan's going to become a playground for any monster that decides to waltz in here!"
A woman wearing a distinctive general uniform entered towards the end of Nakao's rant. "Commander, instead of dwelling on this area, shouldn't we begin reconstruction of the nearby towns?" Nakao regarded her a moment. "General Sayaka, are you crazy? What if Godzilla comes back?" "He's obviously not interested in anything besides Gigan's body. If that's what pacifies him and Anguirus, let him have him... it's just a corpse. Besides, there's a lot of people in the neighboring cities that need our help. Raging about that one area is counterproductive." Nakao considered her words. "You're right." He gestured to a group of officers. "Tell the construction unions they can begin work, but stay away from Section Four and Tokyo Bay! God knows what's going on anymore...
Locon and Amall monitored Trajan's heart rate as his and Serpentuss' transport ships rocketed back to base. They were about halfway now, and Trajan remained unconscious. Amall, bathed in the green lights from the screen, frowned. "Trajan's heart rate isn't right." He scribbled down some numbers on a small pad and studied the screen again. "His heart rate was much lower when the two of them left Canus Minor."
"Maybe it just took awhile to stabilize?" the young scientist ventured. Amall shook his head. "I certainly hope so, but I doubt it. Trajan's heart rate was never this high on his previous trips back to base." A spike in Trajan's heart pattern made them all jump and stare wide eyed at the on screen monitor, which beeped with each increased beat from the monster's heart.
"He's waking up!" the youth screamed, backing away from the monitor as if he expected Trajan to reach through and take hold of him right there.
"Correction." Amall said, his voice ominously low. "He's been awake. He just decided not to move until now." Locon snapped his eyes to Amall, incredulous. "Are you saying Trajan's been playing possum?" A satellite monitor displayed Trajan's transport, which was now shaking violently. Amall pushed the youth aside and began working the controls.
"He was unconscious when they left Canus Minor..." he puzzled, the flickering screen reflecting their computations against his skin. "He shouldn't be awake now..." Desperate, Amall tried to make radio contact with the ship. "Transport 003, do you copy?!" Their response was an ear splitting screech from Trajan that echoed throughout the Nebulan compound, scaring everyone in the lab. For a few moments they were lost in deaf confusion.
Inside the transport Trajan roared, fully awake now. He snarled as his captors' voice came through the radio. He gave them an earful and took great pleasure in hearing their terrified screams from unknown miles away. He had laid low, allowed his strength to return before trying to do what he had wanted to do so many times before; escape his flying prison. He was finally off that planet, now he needed to get out of his metal cage. The six jewels on his shoulders lit up, channeling and casting six dots on his target, the main door of his transport. His eye flared bright red and released a blast of raw energy, bubbling the reinforced metal at first, then shredding a gaping hole through it. A vacuum immediately pulled any and all objects not sealed to the ship itself out into the cold reaches of space, including the bodies of the now dead crew. Trajan's scream burst their eardrums and most of the vessels in their brains, killing them all well before they hit the floor. Trajan looked at the hole and saw it was too small for him to fit through. With a powerful leap Trajan smashed his head against the roof, denting the once flat roof into a spike lined half sphere. He roared as his excitement grew, lashing out with his left hand and carving a huge hole through the opposite side of the ship. Still not content, Trajan turned in his cramped confines towards the front of the transport. A loud whirring buzz signaled the ignition of the saw nestled in his stomach. Two higher pitched whirs sounded as the two additional saws on his shoulders began to spin as well.
Locon, Amall, and the young scientist stood gaping at the monitor as it showed Trajan's transport begin to warp and bulge from the inside. By now every scientist in the room had dropped their work to watch along with their stunned commander. The ship tilted on a sharp angle as a red energy blast tore free, shuddering again as one of Trajan's claws ripped through the reinforced Xitanium shielding. Their audio receiver began to broadcast what reminded them of a swarm of locusts, a sharp buzz. Right before them the front of the ship exploded, and Trajan exited his demolished transport.
"He's free." Locon whispered, not believing what his eyes were showing him nor what he had just said. "Trajan's free." A glimmer of hope sparked n his mind. He turned hopefully towards Amall. "But, he can't fly can he? It's been years, surely he's forgotten how even if he once could!"
Amall couldn't take his eyes off the screen before them. "Sir," he began "The first thing a fowl learns when it's time is how to fly. The first thing almost any insect with wings learns is how to fly. Trajan is no different. It's not something a creature would forget."
No sooner had Amall spoken the words, Trajan repositioned himself in he cold blackness of space, tensing the muscles lining his neck with extreme force. A second later he felt something beneath the plates on his back shift. He concentrated harder, more intent than ever. With a final strain and a grunt, Trajan forced four lengthy spines from his back, two on each side. Bright white, the spines were speckled with small droplets of blood, Trajan had to force them through their original openings which had closed years ago. Trajan arched his back, forcing the bony protrusions to glimmer a second. Between the spines there began to form a membrane of red material, its substance a mystery to the Nebulans watching the screen, many of them were also unaware of this hidden talent of Trajan's. Filling the area between the spines, the red glass like film reached forward and connected itself to Trajan's back, near the base of his neck. Completely formed, Trajan moved his wings up and down a moment like a newly emerged butterfly, trying to maintain his balance on the poorly neglected appendages. He slowly started to move, circling the satellite relaying images to the Nebulans, smashing it on the second pass. He looked at Serpentuss' ship, debating whether or not the wretched creature should share the same fate as the satellite, but in a hot white flash his mind was consumed by thoughts of Gigan. Trajan shook his head, turned, and disappeared into the cosmos.
In the Nebulan laboratory everyone stared at the snow they received from their now demolished satellite. Locon could barely speak. "Amall, where do you think he's headed?" Amall couldn't take his eyes from the screen, nor could he ever hope to erase the memory of what he has just witnessed. Locon's question sounded far away. Where was Trajan going? To find his little brother. Amall closed his eyes and answered. "Earth."
By daybreak Godzilla had reached Birth Island. He wasn't tired, he'd made the trip more times than he could remember, it only got easier. Stepping onto the white sands of the beach, he paused a moment, allowing the sun to warm his back. It was comforting and relaxing. Godzilla found himself beginning to daze, sleep slowly creeping over him. He remained this way for over an hour, until a scratchy mewling noise awakened him. Opening his eyes, Godzilla beheld his son, Little Godzilla standing afar off on the beach in front of him. The youth mewled again, stumbling forward on his chubby legs. Spreading his little arms as far as they would reach, the youth tried his best to roar, emitting a more intense yowl than before. Little G stomped a few steps towards his father as if to say "Like this daddy?" He yowled again, the sound taking on a stronger tone than before as the child attempted to show Godzilla he could be ferocious too, just like his daddy. Godzilla raised his head slightly and looked down at his son, amused. He grunted his approval, pleased with Little G's display. Little G continued his display, the tiny plates on his back began to flash, and weak stream of blue fire shot from his mouth, dissipating into the air. The baby king almost lost his balance from the recoil, but steadied himself and howled on more time before speeding forward to meet his father. Godzilla watched the approaching child with delight and trumpeted his own roar, shaking the ground and Little G along with it. The child scuffled over to Godzilla and hugged his leg, mewling joyfully as his father leaned down to nuzzle him
The reconstruction crews stationed in Tokyo were ready to begin work s the day began. They had warily avoided sector four. Even though Godzilla had returned to the ocean, Anguirus had taken his place, and they had no intentions of disturbing him. Yoshi, the new guy on the crew, couldn't believe the expanse of utter destruction that sprawled out before them. The monsters had carved out miles of land as if it were nothing, structures and buildings it had taken decades to build completely reduced to a pile of ashes and burning rubble in minutes.
"Gonna take a looong time to fix this mess eh Tajeri?" Yoshi nudged his colleague Tajeri, a lanky Japanese man who hadn't shaved this morning.
"Yeah," Tajeri shifted into third gear and upped the speed of their truck. "Bet it'll take two years just to reset the foundations." Yoshi leaned back in his seat, folding his hands behind his head. "One good thing about monsters though, they'll always make sure we have jobs-"
"Yoshi? Hey Yoshi, are you alright?" Tajeri swerved around a large chunk of debris in the road and looked over at his friend. Yoshi sat wide eyed and open mouthed in his seat, his gaze fixed skyward. Tajeri scratched his head. "What're you looking at?"
A red glow above them caught his attention. "Holy!" The truck screeched to a halt and Tajeri finally got a good look at what shocked his friend into silence. A titanic red sphere hurtled towards them, like an asteroid given permission by Earth to enter it's atmosphere. It was picking up speed by the second, but Tajeri was more disturbed by what he saw inside the sphere itself. It wasn't a free floating piece of space debris, it was a monster. As if to confirm Tajeri's thoughts, the creature actually roared, rattling the truck itself. The screech sounded familiar. "Gigan..." Yoshi whispered. He was trembling now, he'd never been this close enough to hear a kaiju roar, it was more terrifying than his most vivid nightmare. At least you woke up from a nightmare, there was no escaping the reality of this extraterrestrial terror. It was real, and it was upon them.
"Couldn't be Gigan!" Tajeri found himself yelling as he increased the truck's speed again. "Gigan's dead! That- that's what the army said..."
"So what's that? His big brother?! Who cares, Tajeri, we gotta get out of here!"
"Ain't gotta tell me twice!" Tajeri floored the gas and spun the truck around, retreating along with the rest of the reconstruction crew, who had already begun to flee the area. Yoshi breathed a weary sigh of relief as the sphere got smaller in the rear view mirror. Without warning, the object picked up speed, doubling its rate of descent. "No!" Yoshi screamed and stared at Tajeri, then the speedometer. It read 90mph.
"Turn this way!"
"I know what I'm doing!"
"It's gonna hit us!"
"No it ain't! Shut up and let me drive-" the two bickered, neither saw the object slam into the Earth, but felt a quick flash of pain as the shockwave of energy caused by the collision vaporized them and everything else within one half mile of its point of impact. In the center of the crater he had just created, Trajan rose and stood his full height, 110 meters even. He surveyed his new surroundings, a charred ruin like Canus Minor, but different. The air was lighter, the sun brighter, and the gravitational pull was much less than what he was used to. Trajan roared defiantly at this new planet, the ground shook as if it understood his rage. A familiar scent wafted across his sensory glands, halting the behemoth in his tracks. He sniffed the air again, lifting his head to better pick up the scent. The familiar odor came again, stronger. A name came to him: Gigan! Trajan roared, whipping his head from side to side. Gigan's location became clear to him. Rage built within. His brother was here, he wasn't moving, but he was close. A few scattered buildings stood amongst the leveled cityscape, many tilted to the side from a cracked foundation. Trajan reared back and with a single arc of his claw sliced one of the structures in two. It fell with little resistance, raising a cloud of blackened smoke as it crumbled to the ground. Trajan tromped through the rubble, intent on tracking his brother.
"What the heck is that thing?!" Commander Nakao stared at the wide screen monitor in G-Force HQ. The creature had barely appeared on radar before it struck the Earth and wiped out three fourths of the reconstruction crew. They felt the shockwaves in the base itself, and for a moment they lost all visual. General Sayaka studied the creature. "If I didn't know better, I'd say it's a bigger meaner version of Gigan." The monitor blinked, showing the new kaiju from a different angle. "It's huge," she continued "Bigger than Godzilla even..." A red light on the console grabbed her attention. "Commander we've...we've got a problem."
"I'm aware of that General, the question is, what are we going to do about that monster-"
"That's not what I was talking about Commander." She pointed to the flashing red light on the console. "That shockwave damaged all our major systems. The emergency systems seem to have been activated for self preservation." Nakao looked at her, puzzled. "Meaning?" "Meaning, we're all trapped here. We have visual, yes, but we can't leave, and we can't send or receive any radio transmissions." She looked down at the floor, the gravity of the situation sinking in. "We're trapped."
A thunderous roar shook G-Force HQ with such force most everyone and everything standing was thrown to the floor. Trajan plundered through the wasteland of what was once a thriving city, effortlessly knocking down anything that stood in his way.
Anguirus burrowed beneath a layer of earth, positioning himself next to Gigan. The building holding the corpse shook as he did so, causing him to stop a moment for fear of bringing down the entire thing. Godzilla wouldn't like that. He would though. Anguirus was a primitive beast with primitive thoughts, but the memories of Gigan haunted him to this day. He could still hear the metallic whine of Gigan's saw when it buried itself deep into his muzzle drawing so much blood Anguirus almost passed out from the shock and pain. He grunted beneath the dirt and tried to push the thought of Gigan's single murderous eye from his mind. Godzilla would return soon. He'd return and then-
The earth around him shook. He remained still, listening. The humans weren't able to make such strong vibrations, not unless they had another metal monster. He listened intently. No, not a metal thing, its movements were that of a wild creature, a big creature... And then it came, the roar. Anguirus could hear his heart beginning to beat faster, faster. He remained deathly still. The roar came again, the familiar sound of twisting metal and an unholy chorus of demons. That was Gigan's roar. No. He sniffed the air, gathering scents through the dirt. Not Gigan, something bigger, but something like him. Another rattling vibration signaled the beast's approach, it was nearing Gigan's body. He couldn't chance anything happening to it. He'd promised Godzilla. With an explosive burst of energy Anguirus erupted from his underground cover and turned to face his foe. It would be his last battle.
Trajan towered over Anguirus, the three buzzsaws in his body began humming as the spun. Lowering his body closer to the ground, Anguirus took a defensive stance. He still could not believe what was standing before him. The thing had Gigan's scent, but stronger, different. It even looked like him, but different in that as well. A crown of horns adorned the creature's head, each streaked with a crimson line. The blades glistened as they spun. Trajan's eye began to glow with a purity of evil as he stared down at the four-legged kaiju standing between him and his younger sibling.
Trajan roared, Anguirus felt the ground beneath him shudder. He held his ground, careful not to lose his footing, and shot back his own battle cry. He would not back down. Not from Mecha-Godzilla, not from King Ghidorah, and certainly not from this creature who reeked of his most hated foe. Anguirus sounded his wail again, a warning. No one was to touch Gigan's body. No one. Trajan stood a moment, then tilted his head to the side. Anguirus watched him, sensing what he hoped was confusion. He didn't notice the crystals embedded in Trajan's shoulders had begun to flash steadily. A concussive blast of crimson rays sent Anguirus into the air and on his back. No sooner had he hit, Trajan was on him, kicking him with his clawed feet and roaring with such fury it send violent chills of fear through Anguirus. Kicking wildly, Anguirus managed to right himself and plowed into Trajan. It may as well been a bug charging a tank. Trajan didn't move, he batted Anguirus with his right hand. A wide gash opened above his eye and Anguirus fought to regain his sight, blood was obscuring his vision. Another beam from Trajan's shoulder crystals tore into Anguirus' shell, shattering a wide section and exposing raw bloody flesh beneath. He wailed in pain as blood spurted from the wound. Trajan's booming roar pounded in his ears, the creature hadn't stopped since he started his attack. He wanted Trajan to stop, it was overloading his senses. Anguirus swore his eardrums would burst any second from the piercing siren of Trajan's screeching. In a last ditch effort, Anguirus roared and raised himself up on his hind legs, fully challenging the abomination. His vision blurred from the coagulating blood in his eyes, and the muscles beneath his broken shell screamed in agony, protesting his every movement. He didn't care. Trajan paused a moment, studying his foe's new stance. Anguirus saw his chance and leapt, hurling his massive body straight towards the alien kaiju. Trajan twisted and met Anguirus with the jagged spike at the end of his tail, burying it in the quadruped's underside in midair. The force of their meeting twisted Anguirus in midair, and he hit the ground on his back, hard. Trajan roared, turning his body violently and lifted Anguirus' prone form into the air with his tail still embedded in his underside. Anguirus was mercilessly slammed to the ground with a thunderous boom, cracking his shell further still. Anguirus could barely moan in protest, his sides were ablaze with pain, and he had no idea Trajan's tail had severed most of his internal organs, creating a soup of bone, intestines and one of his lungs. He was losing consciousness fast, the lung that hadn't been totally shredded was slowly filling with blood, and a steady stream of the same fluid was rising in his throat, trickling from his mouth. Trajan ripped the spike loose, the jagged tips slung shredded remains of flesh into the air. Anguirus lay motionless before him. Trajan growled, his left foot claw kicked Anguirus over onto his bloodied stomach. He wailed meekly, but it faded before he could finish. As if to mock the weakened creature Trajan shattered the air with a shrill roar. Trajan stepped before Anguirus, raising his left claw in the air as he trumpeted a single triumphant yell. His eye took on a deep red glow as he tensed, gathering his strength, then drove his spike straight through Anguirus' heart.
