Prologue: Birth from the Ashes

(Pripyat, Ukraine: 10:16 am: June 26th, 1986)

Among the naked trees, the burnt brown grass, the ghost town lay still. Nothing moved. Nothing, except for the few who were stirring quietly through the trees. Their footsteps crunched through the dried out grass. The sound of static from their radioactivity meter increased with each step they took, their suits giving off an eerie presence. They looked like ghosts moving through the now-deserted city.

One of them spun around when he heard a twig crack a few meters back. "What was that?"

Another man in a white suit spun around. "What is it?"

The first man looked around, but saw nothing. "Nevermind. Just the sound of things dying."

"Everything is dead here. There's nothing left."

They continued on, the boy in the brush left unnoticed. Getting up slowly, the little boy, no more than eight, waited for them to pass. He still didn't understand why he had to wear that silly gas mask, but his friend Aleksey told him he might need it, just in case.

After they passed out of the trees and in between the buildings, Fillyp crept across the dirt and grass, winding between trees until he came to a stream. The stream trickled a small amount of water, but for the most part it was barren. For as far as he could see, there was nothing but gray. Gray, brown, black…the colors of death. It had been a couple months since the meltdown, and yet Fillyp could swear he still saw ash falling from the sky.

Up ahead, there was a small clearing. Was this the way he had come? Fillyp began to shiver, lost and confused. He was beginning to get scared, when suddenly he heard something move by the side of the stream.

Looking to his left, Fillyp saw a mound of dirt from an uprooted tree. The mound was hollow on one side, and Fillyp saw something move from within. He approached slowly.

First, a tiny white hand of a child came out from around the mound, grasping at a tree root. Next was something Fillyp would never forget for the rest of his life. A head came out, that of a small eight-year-old boy. The head was twice his size, bulging like a beach ball. One eye was three inches below where it should have been, and the mouth was crooked, drool running down.

Fillyp wasn't sure how to react. He merely stood still with fright and confusion. The large-headed boy from the dirt mound approached him slowly. He took a few steps toward Fillyp, then stopped.

Another few steps, then stopped again.

They stood there, staring for the longest time. Then another sound came from the dirt mound. The large-headed boy turned, and Fillyp looked as well. From out of the dirt mound came a large, awkward looking animal.

The thing that came from the dirt had two large orbs for eyes, a hard exoskeleton, and one large horn which protruded from its face. It fluttered its wings, shaking off dirt. The thing had to be at least two feet in length, about the size of a small dog. However, if Fillyp was correct, he believed something like this should be no bigger than a beetle, which is what he thought it was (or at least looked like).

The large-headed boy suddenly dropped to all fours, crawling toward the giant beetle. The beetle sat there, watching. A few sparks flew from the beetle's horn, and then it looked directly at Fillyp. Though it had no pupils, something told Fillyp that this thing was looking right at him, right into his soul.

Somehow Fillyp found the courage to move his feet again, and he took the chance to run. Across the stream, up the hill, through the woods and out onto a small road. He never stopped running until he got all the way back to his home town, back to his house, ran up the stairs and into his bedroom, locking the door. Even after the doctors tested him for radiation poisoning, Fillyp would never tell anyone of what he had seen…until it was too late.

Godzilla X Hedorah X Megalon: Earth Under Siege

(Tokyo Scientific Research Facility: 9:06 am: May 20th, 1998)

Sho took a sip of his coffee, and winced. Too hot. Not only was his pager not working, but now his tongue would be getting blisters. He smacked his pager down on the desk.

"Burn your tongue again?" Kazuto asked, giving him a concerned look.

"I can't believe it," Sho said. "One satellite screws up, and nearly all pagers in the world have gone out." He shook his head. "Twentieth century technology…and we still can't get it right."

"Good morning folks!" Goro said, bursting into the meeting room. "I'm glad to see you two have been hard at work thinking about the speech."

Kazuto smirked. "At least you waited a couple years before announcing this to the public."

Goro smiled. "You see, she's got a point there Sho. You could learn a thing or two from her positive work ethics." He sipped his coffee, and winced, mumbling something about how the damn coffee maker wasn't working right.

"I'm sorry, sir. I just don't think the Moonstreak is ready for the public to know about its existence. Things were better off just saying that Scotland tends to have 'freak weather accidents,'" Sho said.

"Accidents resulting in miles of ice within one minute? I think that deserves some credit," Goro said, leaning back in his chair.

"I'll give you credit, but only because nobody was hurt," Kazuto said. "However, it took several weeks for the climate shift to return to its normal state in that area. Scotland began dealing with hot flashes and droughts, cold fronts and warm fronts. Heck, I even heard they took one tornado-

"Okay, I get the idea. The weather beam wasn't fully tested. Hey, that's what the last year was for, wasn't it? Just how long do you want to sit around until the world knows about this genius invention?" Goro asked.

Kazuto looked to Sho, who was still staring at his pager. "I hope you've taken into consideration the consequences of letting others know about this 'genius invention,'" Kazuto replied. "Especially when you don't know what hands it might fall into."

"Into the hands of environmentalists, I hope," Sho said.

"Rich environmentalists," Goro said. "That'd certainly put TSRF on the map, wouldn't it? If this thing goes big, you two may be seeing early retirement in a bright and sunny future."

"I hope so, sir. I really do," Sho said.

A knock came at the door, and a young man in spectacles and a lab coat walked in with sheets of paper, which he handed to Goro. "Here you are, sir. Your speech."

Goro smiled. "Good, I'll just look this up tonight and prepare myself for the big day ahead." He got up, walking toward the door. "If you happen to have any free time, I'd like you both to go run some last-minute tests on the weather beam. I'd like to make sure it's ready for our demonstration."

Goro left, and after a minute Sho and Kazuto got up as well, heading down the hall.

"I still don't like any of this," Sho said as they made their way pass two huge double doors. "Sure it helped kill Biollante, sure it's been tested for over a year now, but…"

"You don't think the world's ready," Kazuto said.

Sho nodded.

Pass the double doors, Sho and Kazuto found themselves walking down a catwalk hanging in the middle of a huge, dark stadium. The only source of light were the lamps that lit the catwalk. Down below, nothing was visible for several stories.

"This world is already a mess, Sho," Kazuto said. "If we get this thing out there, maybe someone with the right brains will take it out of Goro's hands and put it to better use."

Sho sighed. "I just don't know. Wars, giant monsters, now this thing. We're really doing our planet more harm than we are saving it."

Kazuto patted his shoulder. "Don't worry just yet. Let's just do our job."

They entered a brightly lit room at the end of the catwalk. This room was fairly large, and oval shaped, shooting up several stories high from the ground level. In the center of the room was a large metallic cylinder with something similar to a camera lens at one end, rainbow colors reflecting off it. Kazuto and Sho walked behind a glass wall where several other scientists and keyboards were lined up. After making their preparations and settings, they charged the weather beam, which was lifted into the air and sent to the roof of the room.

"Charge is finished," one scientist said.

Sho looked to Kazuto, and they both nodded. Sho pressed the button.

(New York City, New York: 2:18 pm: May 21st, 1998)

John stood by the sidewalk, but not too close to the curb. He knew the taxis that drove around here were crazy enough to splash anyone on the sidewalk, even a big-name politician. Okay, soon-to-be big-name politician. He looked up to a skyscraper with one of those huge paper ads across it. His smile was genuine; no pearly whites like the others, no finger sticking up a "thumbs-up." No, John was a true good-all-around American.

His red tie flapped up to his face as the wind picked up. It was surprisingly windy on a sunny day like this. Looking to his left, pulling the hair out of his face, he saw a man with a briefcase walking his way, nodding to him. This was his cue to take the next taxi that pulled up. Without even holding his hand out, the taxi came to a surprisingly slow halt, the back door opening for him. He got in. A bald, middle-aged man was smiling a big goofy grin at him, holding out a hand.

"Great to meet you, John," he said.

"The pleasure's all mine, Mr. Delaney," John said, giving his honest closed-mouth smile.

"Taxi driver, take us around once and back to this spot," Delaney said, handing out a wad of money, which the taxi driver took without hesitation. "We're going to make a trip around once before we pick up Kenji, so we can look less suspicious you know."

John raised an eyebrow. "Suspicious? What exactly is this you were wanting to show me, Delaney? And who's Kenji? The guy I saw on the street?"

Delaney nodded. "He's the one you want to see, actually. I just run the company who owns the cameras and equipment."

They went around the block once, and stopped at the exact same spot. The car opened, and a third passenger got in. It was the man with the briefcase. "Nice to meet you, John. Kenji Horoshi. Glad to see you were so interested in our work."

John smiled, though he was uncertain of what he had gotten himself into. All he wanted to do was help in the fight against the continuation of sludge dumping off the coast of this beautiful city, but apparently he was getting more than he'd asked for.

After about twenty minutes of driving, the taxi came to a halt at what appeared to be an old abandoned warehouse by the docks. John was growing more and more uncomfortable by the shadiness of all this.

"Sorry for the shadiness, John," Kenji said. "We just have to make sure we're somewhere isolated. This is pretty top secret information. Military business only. You should be lucky you're getting what we have to offer."

"What exactly is it?" John asked. "You said that whatever it is it'll help me in the debates. So is this going to eventually be a public thing?"

"John, you have to understand. We give a lot of respect to you for what you want to do for the fine city of New York. We believe you have good morals and ideas, and this is merely for your insight, if for nothing else. If you choose not to make it public it is up to your choice."

"I thought this was top secret…"

"Oh it is. But they're giving you an option."

"The military?"

"Yes, John. The military."

They entered the warehouse, which was brightly lit with several people running around. In the center of the warehouse was a large submarine, and a much smaller one next to it with mechanical arms.

"Everything you see here is not the secret we want you to know. If you'll come with me please, I'll show you a video taken back in 1989, when the fight was almost won against the sludge dumping in New York City."

They walked underneath a large sign with a picture of a gloved hand under the water, holding up a pile of sludge. It read, "Don't make this the 'soil of America.'"

"Did you know," Kenji was saying, "that Expo '98 started today? Their title is 'Oceans, an Heritage for the Future.' This will be the International year of the Oceans, and rightfully so."

Kenji turned to John. "This is just the beginning. We're hoping to merge with GDF or EPA within the next year or so."

"GDF?" John asked as he took a seat in a small television editing room.

"Yes, Global Defense Force. Apparently it's the next step for the United Nations in 'preserving the Earth for a better future.' Top military stuff."

Kenji took the seat next to John, and Delaney whipped out a VHS tape from his suit. "This video was taken on an expedition back in '89 by the leader of the expedition Kaito Horoshi."

The lights went out, and the only light in the room emitted from the small TV screen. All was a darkish blue, with fine grains floating pass the camera's lens. The ocean floor was covered in gray and blue sand.

"That's not sand," Delaney said. "That's sludge alright."

The video continued, and a gloved hand reached down to grab at the dirt, pulling up a pile of mucky blue mud. It was the same picture from the sign they had just walked passed. The hand dropped the sludge and the camera jerked, spinning around.

"Watch closely, in the right corner of the screen," Delaney said, pointing.

John leaned in for a better look. Beyond the visible ocean floor, something was moving very slowly. As it approached the range of the camera's underwater light, it appeared as if the ground itself was moving, a giant hump of sludge moving forward.

It stopped, then raised up a foot or two from the ground. Something opened in the sludge, revealing a red and yellow inside. Then there was a quick jerk as the sludge flew toward the camera, and the camera toppled. Sludge came falling down, this way and that. The dust settled, and just out of the corner of the screen the sludge was moving again, very fast and in jerky motions.

The tape came to an end.

John didn't know what to say, but he knew he was shaken.

"What the hell was-

"Kaito died for this video. His message has not gone unheard," Delaney said.

"And I have not stopped fighting for him, for my brother," Kenji said.

John swallowed hard. "I'm sorry for your loss."

"Things will get better. That's where we hope you come in."

John was puzzled. "Do you want me to announce this? Are you sure the military doesn't want to deal with this themselves?"

"They believe, as well as I do, that it would best announced coming from you. We believe in you, John. The people will listen to you better than they would the military."

John laughed. "And they want good ol' Bill to tell his country that he did not sleep with that woman, but he did sleep with the Roswell aliens? I just don't know if I'm cut out for causing a major crisis."

Kenji chuckled. "Crisis? Have you not been to Tokyo lately? I think the whole world knows what kind of crisis this would be."

"What exactly do you mean? What was that thing anyway?"

Several miles away from the dock, a large cargo ship began dumping the sewage from that morning's load into the murky water. One of the workers was making his way through the sewage mounds to the front of the ship. Everywhere he looked were towering piles of garbage, seagulls perched at the tops. He looked over the ship's edge to the water below. There were bottles here, napkins and paper there. The place was teeming with filth. That, and something else.

Something moved in the water out of the corner of his eye. The worker turned quick, and noticed something black dive down from the water's surface. He continued watching, but there was nothing that followed.

Turning around, he continued making his way to the front of the ship. After just a few steps, however, he heard a large splash, and felt the ship lean slightly. When he turned around, his mouth dropped and he froze in horror.

Another worker heard the scream, and looked down the ship's length. Something large and black flipped itself off the ship's edge and tumbled into the sea. The search for their lost worker would prove useless. That man was never found again.

Part II coming up soon! Hope it's good so far.