When Gaia Calls, Kaijus Rise.
"If our oceans die, We die."-Paul Watson, founder of Sea Shepherds.
Gaia, Mother Earth, was in despair. Mankind, which had shown such promise under her favor, was killing her and her other children. Not all mankind, but a powerful minority was enough when all but another vocal minority turned a blind eye and deaf ear. Her own agony at the abuse of her body was being drowned in the blood of her children being hunted maliciously on an annual cycle around the world. Even some of her own Guardians had been twisted and painfully mutated by the folly of Man.
Enough. If mankind sought its' own destruction, then so be it; she would mourn them when they were gone, and her own wounds would heal given time. But the wholesale slaughter of her other children; those who could not protect themselves from man and his technology, must stop. She sent the call, and her Guardians began to awaken.
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(The Canadian Ice Sheet, Artic Circle)
The Sea Shepherds had arrived days earlier, but their efforts to end the barbaric practice known as the 'Canadian Seal Hunt' were being hindered by the better equipped so-called 'hunters', as well as the unpredictability of the shifting ice. It seemed that for every seal they saved, two more were clubbed to death elsewhere.
The Sea Shepherds helicopter reported the ice-breaker ship of the hunters approaching a rather sizable seal colony several miles distant. It was doubtful they would arrive in time to protect the seals, but they had to try!
They heard the colony before they saw it. When they were finally in sight, they could see club-wielding hunters leaving the ship and crossing the ice toward the colony. The Sea Shepherds would be too late.
Suddenly, a massive tremor rocked the ice! The hunters struggled to stay on their feet; a few failed, sprawling on the slick ice. The ice between them and the seals cracked from another tremor. Something was ramming the ice from below!
The ice sundered as a titanic walrus smashed through with an earth-shattering roar! The hunters' eyes widened in terror. Meguma, the walrus kaiju, had not been seen in decades; but there was no mistake. No ordinary walrus could attain such colossal size; standing on his front flippers, Meguma was nearly one hundred feet tall, with sixty-foot long tusks!
Meguma repeatedly smashed the ice between the hunters and the seal colony with his tusks, turning the ice-sheet into a treacherous, shifting minefield of mini icebergs. The hunters scrambled fearfully back to their ship. Once they were aboard, Meguma roared again, side-slamming his tusks into the bow of the ice-breaker, pushing it backwards along the path it broke through the ice to get there.
The Sea Shepherds watched in amazement as the seal hunters retreated as quickly as their ship allowed. Meguma could have easily destroyed the hunters' ship, or crushed the hunters on the ice, but did neither. The mammoth walrus simply watched them go, then settled down into a restful vigil as the seals of the colony swam or milled around him on the ice.
The Sea Shepherds held their collective breath as Meguma turned to look at them. He rumbled out a passive growl and seemed to nod at them before returning to his post. He crooned a deep, rumbling call that the activists felt through their ships and bodies. The low frequency sound spread for hundreds of miles, to be felt by every seal, sea lion, and walrus like a beacon; calling them to the safety of Meguma's protection.
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(the cove of Taiji, Wakayama, Japan)
As their ships were not allowed within Japanese territorial waters, the Sea Shepherds were only able to send two camera teams to Taiji. Overall, it was a happy and peaceful place, with many good people and beautiful historical and heritage sites. But as pleasant as it was to film those areas, the Sea Shepherds were there primarily to document the wholesale slaughter of dolphins that was first shown to the world in the documentary film "The Cove", in the hope of world public opinion to pressure the Japanese government to end the bloody practice.
In past years, they had been unable to repeat the success of the original film-crew; as they could not get their drones and certain other equipment through Customs. This year, however, the Sea Shepherds were being helped by a group of dolphin-loving Japanese citizens. These sympathizers purchased three radio-controlled model aircraft from local hobby shops and modified them to carry digital video-cameras. They then had their children fly the make-shift drones around the cove for weeks prior to September…..and the opening slaughter of the season, so the local fisherman/dolphin-killers were used to seeing the 'toys' flying around and paid them no mind.
Now early September, the first large pod of various dolphin species had been herded into the cove by boats and blocked in with nets the previous day. The Sea Shepherds filmed the activity this morning from their vantage points as the 'buyers' prepared to go out and pick the choicest bottlenose dolphins to be bought and sent to dolphin shows and other captivity locations around the world. Once that was done, the rest would be herded into the "killing cove", a shallow lagoon that was fenced off from the rest of the area for 'privacy'; where they would be slaughtered. It was this horrific activity that the Sea Shepherds needed their disguised drones to document.
The buyers were nearly to the docks, when a warning-bell began to toll! A huge, swelling wake had surged into the cove of Taiji! The speed at which it moved and maneuvered made it clear that it was no man-made submarine beneath the surface!
"KAIJU!", the cry went up, and panic spread. As the civilians, buyers, and many fishermen fled in fear, the Sea Shepherds remained to film what was happening, and sent up their drones to get as much video as possible.
The swell stopped just short of the nets that were keeping the dolphins penned in. The gigantic head of an Asian dragon broke the surface with a loud roar that sounded like it was a hissing half growl, half grunt. It was Manda! The former guardian-god of the Mu Empire! With another roar, Manda glared at the remaining fisherman; breaking their already crumbling courage. As they fled, Manda bit down on the nets and tore them asunder, releasing the dolphins. The happy cetaceans surged around and past the kaiju and back out to sea! The huge dragon regarded them benevolently, then roared once more toward the docks and fishing boats, and followed the dolphins out.
xXx
Over the following weeks, the fishing boats tried several more times to round up dolphins using their 'hammer-poles' to frighten them with noise, only for Manda to rise from the depths between them and their prey. What the fisherman could not fathom was why the kaiju left the ordinary fishing-boats—those out catching fish—unmolested.
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The Amazon rainforest was burning; a fire deliberately set to clear land for human use. The creatures of the jungle, from the lowliest beetle to the mighty anacondas, even the majestic jaguar; fled from the flames. Even the dreaded, carnivorous army ants could do nothing but run for their lives. The men responsible were watching from a distance with satisfaction. They were once more calculating what their profit would be from this venture when a strange, almost musical tone reached their ears.
They looked to the West, toward the sound, and saw a shape flying toward the area, getting alarmingly large the closer it came! There was no mistaking the rainbow wings and glowing, blue eyes of Mothra! The Queen of the kaijus chirped loudly as she came to a stop, hovering over the blaze. She began to flap her wings vigorously in place, a sparkling power shed off of them and began to smother the fire. Still shedding the powder, she began to circle the entire area until the flames were virtually gone, and her powder was also all over the already burnt areas. Then her antennae twitched, firing energy beams upwards into the clouds until they darkened and spread across the sky. A flash of lightning and boom of thunder and the sky opened up, drenching the land in heavy rain.
Mothra ascended above the clouds until the thunderstorm she had created faded almost fifteen minutes later. Afterward, as the men tried to enter the area and restart the fire, she chirped a trilling cry as she descended down, generating gusting winds with her enormous wings; powerful enough to force them to retreat. She then landed on the vine-covered pyramid of the nearby ruins to stand guard, lest the fools return. She watched as her power combined with the rain to trigger accelerated growth of new foliage in the burned land.
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The captain presided over the bridge with calm satisfaction that his crew was performing their duties adequately. This was made easier by the fact that his ship, the Oshima-Maru, was state-of-the-art and had the best equipment for their task available. However, he took no pleasure in that task, he only followed his orders. They were engaged in the illegal fishing practice of 'skark-finning'; catching as many sharks as possible—no matter the species—to harvest only their fins. The captain would have preferred to harvest the meat of the edible species for food as well, but with shark-fin soup going for a hundred dollars or more per bowl, his employers demanded that no space in the ship's freezer be 'wasted' on anything but fins. Thus, the often still living sharks were tossed back overboard after all their fins had been cut off, only to die agonizingly slow deaths by suffocation from being no longer able to swim.
The Oshima-Maru had been commissioned for shark-finning after the stationary long-lines and drift-nets—both illegal fishing methods—had been frequently sabotaged by Sea Shepherds and other activist groups. The ship was a mobile long-line platform, armed with multiple long-line rigs; each with dozens of baited hooks per line, and several high-volume 'chum-spreaders' to lure in as many sharks as possible. It was also fast enough to keep just ahead of all but one of the Sea Shepherds vessels; like the one keeping pace with them now, just a few miles behind them.
Shark-finning was universally outlawed, but here in international waters it was hard to enforce. With their high-speed ship on another mission elsewhere, the Sea Shepherds could only follow the Oshima-Maru to document their illegal activities, and occasionally send out their small boats to harass them. The captain of the finning vessel admired their dedication, if not their methods.
"Sir", a crewman called from the sonar station. "Sonar contact!"
"A fresh school of sharks?"
"No, Sir! A single contact and far too big! And the sharks I was tracking scattered at its' approach!"
"Whale?"
"B-bigger, Sir! Coming in fast!"
"Kaiju….", the captain whispered in fear. "Where is it, Ozaki?!"
"One hundred meters astern, depth 77 fathoms and closing fast!", Ozaki said fearfully. "It's coming up under us!"
"Helm! Full speed ahead and take evasive….!", the Captain began to bark, when the entire ship shook and raised up from a massive impact from below! The ship slammed back down into the waves, throwing all on board to the deck.
"Damage report!", the Captain called to his bridge officers and into the ship's intercom as he got to his feet.
"Everything is in the red, Sir!", his first mate reported, just before the intercom crackled to life.
"This is the engine room! We're taking on water!"
"Tanaka reporting! The holds have been ruptured! Two huge gashes nearly the length of the ship!"
This was catastrophic! The captain knew his ship, and its limits. There was no hope of saving it.
"Abandon ship! All Hands! Abandon ship!", he ordered.
Men boarded and lowered the life-boats while many others simply jumped overboard wearing life-jackets as the ship sank. Men in the water were pulled aboard the boats as the Oshima-Maru slipped beneath the waves. The kaiju responsible broke the surface with a roar; Zilla, the creature once mistaken for Godzilla himself. The mutated reptile growled at the boats….then turned away to dive and disappear into the depths.
"Ahoy!"
The Captain looked to see the Sea Shepherd vessel approaching, a woman on deck calling out to them.
"Are all your crew accounted for?"
"Yes, we all made it", the Captain replied.
"That's good. We feared the worst for you", she said, relieved. The Sea Shepherds brought the Captain and his crew aboard their ship. "We're glad you're all alive. I almost regret that I have to inform you that we will be bringing you to shore where you will all be taken into custody for shark-finning."
The Captain nodded. They had all known the risks.
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This moderately-sized island in the Caribbean, while a tropical paradise, was unremarkable and relatively uninhabited. However, the pristine beaches did draw one thing of note every year without fail: sea turtles, in large numbers and various species, to lay their eggs in the sand.
Unfortunately, the sea turtles attracted the attention of nearby island inhabitants, those who were there to hunt the gentle reptiles for their meat, shells, and eggs to sell on the black-market. Many of the species were endangered and protected by law in most of the civilized world, and the well-known locations elsewhere were often guarded by authorities or activists. But this isolated island was 'off-the-grid'; unknown to the world and a bountiful boon to those few unscrupulous bands of killers who lay in wait for their defenseless prey. Even the Sea Shepherds were unaware of this place.
The Moon was full and high for the first night of egg-laying season. The men stationed at all the beaches grinned as they saw turtles approaching from all sides. They were about to start moving in on the turtles from the jungle on every beach, when a high-pitched sound came to their ears, growing louder. They looked to the sky and saw a huge object spinning at high-speed from four jets of flame. It stopped over the island, hovering on the four thrusters. A tusked head emerged as two jets were extinguished to allow two, flipper-like arms to extend like wings. A screaming roar shattered the night! Gamera had arrived! The kaiju began to circle the island, propelled by his still burning rear jets. The hunters, armed with no more than shovels and machetes, fearfully withdrew deeper into the jungle and watched as Gamera breathed walls of fire between them and every beach, as hundreds of turtles dragged themselves ashore to dig nests in which to lay their eggs. The normal paths to the sand were blocked by searing hot flames!
One especially greedy and brave—stupid!—hunter attempted to bypass the flames by traversing an outcropping of rock not far from the stony cove where the hunters' boats were anchored. Gamera saw him, and screamed a roar as he fired a fireball! The rocks exploded, throwing the foolish hunter far through the air back the way he'd come! He landed unceremoniously in the latrine trench they'd dug for their camp….two weeks ago. They all watched Gamera land on the island as the man dragged himself out of the piss and shit of the latrine. One more thunderous, screaming roar from Gamera had all the hunters scrambling to their boats to escape as quickly as possible!
xXx
When word reached the world of Gamera's actions, the Sea Shepherds came to observe from a save distance, and they would now add this island as one to watch during the turle nesting season in from now on.
Gamera stood vigil over the island right up until all the turtles' eggs had hatched, and the baby turtles ran the gauntlet of natural predators to reach the sea.
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The Sea Shepherds were stretched thin around the Faroe Islands, ships and shore teams, trying to prevent any 'Grinds'; the local practice of herding migrating pilot whales into coves to slaughter. It had been a local custom in the Nordic Sea islands for centuries, and they were loath to give it up.
The Sea Shepherds' high-speed ship had managed to head off two pods of pilot whales before they could be herded to their deaths, but the annual migration past the Faroes was far from over. Another ship had been too late, as they followed the boats herds a large pod toward another island, where a cove full of men were ready for the 'Grind'.
Suddenly, something huge surged past them under the surface at high-speed, causing disruptive swells, vortexes, and currents among the hunters' boats; breaking their formation and setting them in disarray. It then surged past them and ahead of the pilot whales, cutting them off. Both stopped for a few moments. Then the pod of whales left on a different course. The hunters' boat moved to give chase, when the interloper broke the surface with a trumpeting roar! It was huge! Red-orange in color with black bumps all over it looked like a cross between a fish and a dinosaur. It was Titanosaurus, a kaiju who had once matched strength with Godzilla decades ago, only defeated by the Kaiju King's nuclear heat-ray breath!
Titanosaurus dove back beneath the surface and swam at high-speed around the boats, trapping them in a vortex until the pilot whales they'd been herding were long gone, the he surged away. The appearance and actions of the kaiju amazed hunter and Sea Shepherd alike.
xXx
Over the following weeks, more reports came in of Titanosaurus either heading off hunter cordons or directing pods of pilot whales to safer courses for their migration around the Faroe Islands.
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It had been a strange year for the Sea Shepherds; bearing witness to the intervention of several kaijus during their own operations, even rescuing the crew of a shark-finning vessel when it was sunk by Zilla. They had even heard about the appearances and actions of Mothra and Gamera.
But now they were engaged in their biggest campaign of the year: intercepting the Japanese whaling fleet in the Southern Ocean and prevent them from taking any whales. To that end, they had all their ships deployed throughout the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary. Their primary target: the Nishen-Maru factory-ship. Secondary target; whatever refueling ship the whaling fleet had employed this year. The whaling fleet also employed three hunter/harpoon-ships(Yushen-Marus 1, 2, and 3) and a security ship; the Shonen-Maru #2, which in a previous year had deliberately rammed the Sea Shepherds' first high-speep ship—the Ady-Gil—causing catastrophic damage. The small, high-speed ship later sank due to the damage, as it had been practically cut in half. Fortunately, the Sea Shepherds were able to quickly rescue the crew with only minor injuries.
In the years following that incident, the Sea Shepherds efforts in the Southern Ocean only yielded better and better results, especially as their own fleet grew. Their new high-speed ship was particularly effective. Each year, the whaling fleet took fewer and fewer whales. All due to the intervention of the Sea Shepherds. This year, they hoped to prevent them from taking any whales. The key was finding the factory-ship as quickly as possible.
The Sea Shepherds' helicopter was up, checking on a ship that had appeared on the flagship's radar. It was one of the harpoon-ships…pursuing a big humpback. He radioed back, prompting them to prepare to launch their small boats interfere…..when another contact entered the area moving fast.
"Helicopter, we have another contact approaching from the North. Do you have eyes on it?"
"Understood. Standby."
The pilot pulled his binoculars and swept the Northern quadrant until he saw it. He thought it was another ship at first, until he sharpened the focus. It became three rows of jagged, red-tinted spines cutting the water at high-speed. The pilot's eyes widened in fearful recognition. Meanwhile, the harpoon-ship was closing on the humpback as it passed a huge iceberg.
"Helicopter, what is it?"
"Bogey is confirmed as Godzilla!"
"Get out of there!"
Godzilla stopped and reared up with a roar that echoed across the waves for miles. The Sea Shepherds' flagship entered the area in time to bear witness, intent on getting their pilot and copter aboard then leave at full speed. The Kaiju King's spines flashed brightly, just before he unleashed his nuclear heat-ray breath, cutting between the whale and the harpoon ship to blast the iceberg! The ship broke off and made a run for it. Godzilla dove and surged toward them. They tried in vain to turn away from him just before his spines gutted them down their port side! Godzilla didn't even slow as he passed, as if he had someplace to be.
"Mayday! Mayday! This is Yushen-Maru #2! We are heavily damaged and taking on water! Must abandon! Please assist!"
"Ahoy! Yushen-Maru #2, we saw everything and are approaching from the Southeast."
xXx
The word spread to both the whaling fleet and the Sea Shepherds that Godzilla was in the area. The Japanese security ship, the Shonen-Maru #2, was dogging another of the Sea Shepherds ships; radioing her position so the factory-ship could avoid her. The Sea Shepherds tried their usual tactics to 'shake their tail'; sending out the small boats with prop-fowlers to jam up the Shonen's propellers with rope and force them to stop, enabling the Sea Shepherds to escape while they disentangle their props. After two attempts, the third try worked. However, they cleared their props before the Sea Shepherds could get far enough away.
"Captain, radar contact ahead! Coming in fast! Too fast to be a ship!"
"Godzilla", the captain whispered with awe. "Please tell me he's not on a collision course?"
"No, sir. If we hold our course, he will pass by us approximately a quarter-mile to our starboard."
"Let's widen that and warn the Shonen, shall we?"
"Aye-Aye."
A short time later the Sea Shepherds watched as Godzilla, only his spines visible, surged past them. The Shonen had ignored their warning to continue pursuing them. They now tried desperately to take evasive action in the face of Godzilla's approach…to no avail. They were turning as his spines sliced through their stern from starboard to port in front of their propellers. They were helpless as their entire fan-tail dropped away and sank. Taking on water fast, they sent a distress call….and the Sea Shepherds answered. Fortunately, no one was killed.
xXx
"We found the Nishen!", the triumphant call came from the Sea Shepherds' look-out.
The Sea Shepherds' flagship signaled the others to converge on them. Two of them radioed visual contact with the two remaining harpoon-ships apparently also heading for the factory-ship. The Helicopter confirmed that each had a dead whale tied on and ready to transfer.
The standard tactic that the Sea Shepherds used once finding the factory-ship was to bring one of their ships up close enough to their stern as to block access to the slipway; preventing the transfer of whales and stay there for the duration until the whalers give up and head home. However, none of their ships were close enough, and the harpoon-ships would reach it first. The helicopter was refueled and aloft, keeping a bird's eye on things. The Sea Shepherds were preparing their small boats to try to cut the whales free or contaminate them with butyric acid, ruining the meat. Just as they were about to launch, the helicopter called in.
"Godzilla inbound from the West! Approximately five miles and closing fast!"
"Take evasive action and radio a warning to the whalers!", the captain ordered. "Keep in visual contact, just in case!"
Godzilla, again with only his spines visible cutting the water, surged past the scattering Sea Shepherd vessels. He caught up the two harpoon-ships about a hundred yards short of the factory-ship. They had apparently foolishly decided to try transferring the whales even with the King of all Kaijus bearing down on them!
Godzilla surfaced with an earth-shattering roar that made the whalers' blood freeze. He grabbed the dead whales and tore them free of the ships, ripping huge gashes in their hulls. The dead whales sinking along with the ships, and the crews scrambling for the lifeboats, Godzilla turned his attention to the Nishen-Maru as it desperately tried to escape, his teeth bared in a snarl. In moments he'd caught them, grabbing the super-structure of the ship, making it twist in his clawed hands, crewmen screaming in terror.
Godzilla lifted and shook the factory-ship as if it were no more than child's pool toy, as screaming men tumbled into the freezing water along with miscellaneous pieces of equipment. He slammed it back into the waves, bending the hull. The captain ordered all hands to abandon ship. Lifeboats were hastily lowered at the same time men simply jumped overboard in fear.
Godzilla seemed to watch intently. When it was apparent no more humans were leaving the ship, he roared as he lifted it once again and hurled it nearly a half mile distant. His spines began to glow as he charged up his heat-ray, the unleashed it on the offending vessel, destroying it utterly. The Sea Shepherds began rescue operations as they witnessed Godzilla's roar of victory. He repeated the roar twice more, then slipped into the waves and disappeared.
The Sea Shepherds breathed a collective sigh of relief, counting their lucky stars. A strange year, indeed. They had born witness to the intervention of several kaijus and had survived to tell the tales. And now with the loss of every ship in the whaling fleet, Japanese whaling in the Southern Ocean was finished.
And yet despite the advent of so many kaijus in so many places, there was not a single loss of human life, as if some higher power decreed it so.
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Author's notes: I hope you all enjoyed my first Godzilla/kaiju story! I am also a follower of the Sea Shepherds efforts to preserve our oceans and the life within them. It is out of respect for their cause that did not use the names of their ships or individual members in my story. However, I do hope that they eventually learn of my story and read it for themselves. Needless to say, this story is entirely fictional and my own work.
The name of the shark-finning ship is a nod to author Max Hawthorne("Kronos Rising"), the only true heir to the king of marine terror, Peter ("Jaws") Benchley. It is very much like the ship of the same name from his masterpiece.
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