Seth looked at the huge gate in front of him. He tentatively rapped his knuckles on the thick door. He waited, wringing his hands behind his back. The gate swung open, revealing a smiling woman in a suit. She was an elderly Japanese woman, who looked to be in about her mid-sixties. Her graying hair was tied in a bun behind her head, and she wore a simple dress.
"You must be Seth Tyler, come in, come in!" she said enthusiastically.
"My name is Mrs. Igarashi. I am the headmistress." She held out her hand, beaming. Seth returned the handshake, smiling shyly.
"Nice to meet you, ma'am." He followed her through the doorway into a school hallway. He looked around at what looked like a normal high school corridor, lined with lockers on both sides.
"Do you have your schedule?" Mrs. Igarashi asked.
"Yeah, right here." Seth replied, fishing the scrap of paper from his pocket. "Good. Let me see." she said, taking the paper and examining it.
"Your first class is Physics in room 14. Follow me, I'll show you the way." She led him down the corridor, passing several rooms until they came to one with a 14 marked next to it on the wall. Mrs. Igarashi opened the door and stepped in, beckoning for Seth to follow. He smiled weakly, and followed her through the door. He stepped into the classroom, and instantly felt every eye in the room latch onto him. He looked back at the students. Even though he knew what to expect, he couldn't help but be shocked at the appearance of his new classmates. They did not look human. Each of them had strange, grotesque features: some had scales, some had horns, some had wings, tentacles, fur, antennae, or claws. Kaiju descendents: People born with the characteristics of the world's giant, powerful monsters.
Nobody knew how or why this strange phenomenon occurred, but most people tended to mistrust the descendents. They were often shunned, and sometimes even hated by most of society, partly due to their radical appearance, partly because of their (often dangerous) inherent natural abilities, and partly because of the terrible things people remember the full sized Kaiju doing to their cities and homes. Seth's outward appearance was completely normal. To any onlookers, he was a regular human being. However, Seth was in fact a descendent of none other than the King of the Monsters himself: Godzilla. He was one of the lucky and extremely rare few who inherited a monster's abilities, but not it's physical appearance. His parents had managed to keep his powers a secret most of his life, but having nuclear powers was a secret they couldn't keep forever. All it took was one school yard fight with the other kid ending up with 2nd degree burns and low level radiation sickness, and the jig was up. The government got hold of him, and shipped him off to Daikaiju High, a facility specifically built to handle the volatile mix of deadly kaiju powers and teenage drama and angst. His outward appearance had been a boon for him his entire life, but now he felt like a freak. 'That must be how they constantly feel.' he thought to himself. The teacher's voice interrupted his train of thought.
"We have a new student today, class. This is Seth Tyler; it's his first day here at the academy. Please make him feel welcome here." She said warmly. She, like the students in front of her, was a descendent. She had green, scaly skin, a pair of spikes protruding from the back of her skull, and had many dagger-like teeth protruding from her mouth. Her skinny, lithe form suggested she was a descendent of Manda, a sea-dwelling serpent kaiju. "Seth, my name is Ms. Petrov." She said in a Russian accent. "You may take a seat over there." she said, pointing with a small, clawed hand to an empty desk towards the back of the room. He quickly made his way to the desk, trying his hardest not to notice the stares of his classmates. It was hard enough to be the new student if you're like everyone else, but this was frigging ridiculous. Most of the kids stared at him, their expressions impossible to read. Others looked at him curiously, offering a small, but encouraging smile if he happened to meet their gaze. Some, however, gave him hard looks, with disdain and nearly what he could call hatred in their eyes.
He quickly took his seat, trying his best to look relaxed and nonchalant. He set his bag down, and pulled out his book. As time went by, he could almost pretend it was a normal class. Ms. Petrov droned on about the subject matter, and he listened intently, taking notes and trying his utmost to ignore the failed attempts to stealthily sneak a glance at the new kid. Finally the bell rang, and he quickly packed up his things and raced out the door. He immersed himself in the throng of students, doing his best to ignore the stares. 'This can't be this weird, can it? There must be others like me who go here.' he thought to himself. He made his way out onto the grounds, pulling his schedule out of his pocket and checking his next class. 'Language Arts, room 64.' He continued walking as he flipped the piece of paper over to check the tiny print-out of the school map. Suddenly, he walked smack into someone else. He looked up to apologize, only to have a tri-clawed hand shove him away.
"Watch it, freak!" came a hard voice. Seth looked at the other student and felt his breath catch in his throat. The boy in front of him was a giant, nearly 7 feet tall. He was covered in purplish red armor plates, and had huge, muscular limbs. A pair of demonic wings were folded behind his back, and a single, cruel horn protruded from his forehead. The boy was descended from Destoroyah, one of the largest, cruelest, and most powerful monsters to have ever existed.
"Hey, man, sorry!" Seth exclaimed, backing away. A fight on the first day was definitely not what he needed.
"Watch yourself, or I'll give you something to be sorry about, fuckin' human." Seth felt his blood boil. He had unfortunately been born with Godzilla's short temper as well as his abilities. "What the Hell did I do to you, huh?" Seth challenged, advancing threateningly. "Bored with your pathetic life, so you thought you'd fuck with someone to make yourself feel better?"
With that, the other kid growled angrily, and swung his head at Seth. A stream of red light lanced out from his horn, and rushed towards Seth. He jumped backwards, but wasn't quite fast enough. The bar of hellish energy sliced through his shoulder, and blood spurted onto the floor. The wound immediately began to heal up, but the pain was still intense. Seth cried out in agony as he hit the ground. He felt an awful pressure on his chest as his attacker placed a booted foot on his chest and began to lean on it, the pressure steadily increasing. Seth focused, and felt a familiar heat begin to build in his chest. As it increased in intensity, he let the energy surge forward, up his throat and out his mouth. A brilliant blue beam of concentrated nuclear energy surged forward and hit the other boy square in the chest. The descendent was lifted off his feet and thrown into the air, landing on his back several feet away. Seth struggled to his feet, coughing and sputtering as he replenished his lungs with air. He stared hard at the other boy as he too shakily got to his feet. His face warped into a look of pure hatred as he set his eyes on Seth. However, before he could make a move, a security mech grabbed him from behind, just as Seth felt metal arms wrap around him, restraining him. Ahh, shit he thought to himself as he was escorted to the administrative building.
The security mechs weren't exactly formidable compared to kaiju descendents. Seth and the other kid could have easily torn them apart, but to damage a mech would result in immediate expulsion. The two boys simply submitted, allowing the bots to lead them away. Dread filled Seth as they entered the administrative building. They were marched up the stairs and to the headmistress' office. The mech holding him released him, and walked through the door. Seth waited tensely, trying to prepare himself for whatever punishment lay in store for him. The door opened, and the mech stepped out.
"Enter" it commanded, indicating Seth with it's arm. He hesitated, then walked in. He entered, slowly walking into the office. Mrs. Igarashi sat at her desk, waiting for him. She looked up at him and frowned.
"Oh, dear," she said with a sigh. "A fight on your first day?" she asked sadly. He nodded shamefully. "Well, it was going to happen sooner or later." Seth looked up, slightly surprised. She noted the curious look on his face, gave a small chuckle.
"Well, fights are to be expected, this is a school of human-monster hybrids. It's not exactly an uncommon occurrence. If we expelled people for fights, the school wouldn't last a semester! We tend to be just a little bit more lax about fighting than other schools." Seth sank into his chair, feeling relieved. He couldn't help but crack a smile. Mrs. Igarashi changed her tone upon seeing his face. "However, I would prefer you didn't make a habit of it. Troublesome students will be dealt with appropriately."
"Of course, ma'am. I'll keep myself under control." Seth replied enthusiastically.
"Good to hear, Mr. Tyler. Seeing as this was your first offense, I'll let you off with a warning. You're free to go. Try to keep out of trouble." Seth practically jumped out of his seat, elated.
"Yes, ma'am." He said, grinning from ear to ear. He left the office, relieved to have gotten off so easy. He walked towards the exit, hardly even noticing the dark look the other boy shot him as he walked into the office.
Seth had a slight skip in his step as he walked out to lunch. So far, his classes weren't bad, and for the most part, people were civil with him. He did still get mistrustful looks cast his way, but he tried to ignore them. He had more important things to worry about. Namely, what he was going to eat. As a freshman, he couldn't leave the campus for lunch, so he would have to make do with whatever the cafeteria had in store for him. He got in the ridiculously long line, and started scanning the menu.
"Hey," came a voice next to him. Surprised, he turned around to look at the speaker. A girl stood behind him, waiting in line. She had dark blue skin, darker blue hair, a crown of spikes on her forehead, and a single horn on her nose. She smiled at him.
"You're the new guy, right?" she asked.
"Yeah." he answered awkwardly.
"Well, welcome to Daikaiju High! My name's Angie. Angie Lawson." She said happily, sticking out her hand.
"Seth Tyler." He said, accepting the offered handshake.
"Nice ta meetcha." she replied as she pumped his hand enthusiastically. Seth smiled. Up until now, he had wondered if he would fit in at all here, and here was someone walking up and introducing themselves to him. She beamed at him.
"So, I saw you and Santana go at it this morning. That was pretty crazy." she said with a mischievous look. Seth's smile faded.
"Oh yeah. That guy. What's his name?"
"Darren Santana. One of the toughest sum bitches in the school. Also a professional douche bag." she said knowingly. She raised an eyebrow ever so slightly.
"I'm fairly impressed you were able to take him down." Seth scoffed.
"Take him down? I was lucky to get him off me!" Angie put her hands on her hips.
"Don't be so modest. You put the bastard flat on his back. Which is generally pretty hard to do when he's got you flat on yours." Her expression changed to one of concern. "Speaking of which, how's your shoulder? It took the janitor a good ten minutes to get all that blood scrubbed away." Seth reached up and pulled the collar of his shirt down to show his shoulder. A jagged, but faded scar showed white against his skin.
"Damn." she breathed, "So you're a descendent of the big guy himself? The capital G?" He nodded, feeling a strange emotion well up inside of him. He never thought he would feel pride in his descendency. "That's a hell of a combination. Godzilla's characteristics aaand a normal body? I'm jealous." She said with a smirk. "Anyway, where were you planning on eating lunch?" she asked. Seth shrugged.
"Well, why don't you come sit with us?" Angie asked.
"Sure, why not?" Seth replied a bit nervously.
When they finally got through the line and bought their food, Angie led him to the table where her friends were.
"Hey guys, this is that new guy, his name's Seth." Angie said to her friends casually by way of introduction. The small group stopped eating and looked up at him from their table.
"Hello," he managed to get out, waving shyly at them. One of the girls gave him a nod.
"What's up? I'm Gina." Gina had light green, scaly skin, and a shock of purple hair. A row of jagged purple spines lined her back. She was obviously descended from Godzilla, just like him. Well, not just like me. He thought to himself as he watched her tail swish around under the table. One of the guys looked up at him.
"Sup, man? Name's Terry. Terry Donalds." He had mottled red skin, and a fin running from the top of his head down the back of his neck. Thick blonde hair poked up from his scalp. The other boy smiled at him.
"Kim's name is Kim! Good to meet you!" he said happily. Kim had an unkempt mess of dark green hair, similarly colored skin, and, like Gina, several rows of bony dorsal spines running down his back. Yet another Godzilla descendent.
"Nice to meet you, too, Kim," Seth said, feeling a bit bewildered as the other kid shook his hand vigorously.
"Pop a squat." Angie said, motioning for him to sit down. He did so, setting his plastic tray on the table. Everyone's eyes were on him. He could almost feel himself turning red. Thankfully, Terry broke the silence.
"So, where ya from?" he inquired.
"Washington." he answered.
"Wait. Washington D.C.?" Gina asked.
"No, State. What about you guys? Where are you from?" They looked around at each other, then looked back. "We don't know." Gina answered. Seth frowned.
"You...don't know where you're from?" The four of them shook their heads.
"Most people here don't." Gina explained "When you're born like us, the government whisks you off as soon as you're about 4 or 5 years old." Seth's jaw dropped.
"What!" he cried.
"Yep." Angie said matter-of-factly. "Want to get us under control right from the start, before we cause too many problems. You're pretty lucky to have been born that way, otherwise you would have been taken away too." Seth looked down, ashamed. Noticing this, Terry reached across the table and gave him a light punch in the arm.
"Uh-uh, don't you start this whole 'it's all my fault' thing, 'cause it's not. We don't blame you, and you shouldn't either." Seth looked up at him as he spoke. His words were encouraging, reassuring. For the first time since coming to this school, he felt truly happy. Or, at least not miserable.
The five of them continued talking for the duration of lunch. For the most part, Seth simply sat and listened, not speaking much unless he was spoken to. When the bell rang, they all stood up, preparing to leave. Seth was pulling out his schedule to check his next class when Angie said,
"Do you have anywhere to be after school?" He shook his head.
"No, not really."
"Ok, then come here after 6th, alright?"
"Alright, sounds good."
As he made his way to his 5th period class, Seth felt ecstatic. His first day, and he already had a group of friends. Of course, he'd also already gotten into his first fight, but that was a small price to pay for someone to hang around with. Seth walked into his next class, Interactions. The course description said that the class was to help descendents integrate into normal culture. He didn't really think he needed it, seeing as he had spent his entire life in normal culture, but the course was mandatory, so he figured he should get it done early. Besides, he was betting he would do pretty well, so he figured an easy A wouldn't be too bad.
He slipped into a seat, and unpacked his textbook. On the cover, a human hand was reaching out and shaking a clawed kaiju hand. After hearing what had happened to descendents, he couldn't help but wonder whether or not the picture on his book would ever be reality. The teacher walked into the classroom, his brow slightly furrowed. He was a middle aged man, of what appeared to be Japanese descent. "My name is Mr. Goto." he said gruffly. "This is Human Interactions 101. Do any of you think you are in the wrong class?" The room remained quiet. "No one? Humm." he said. He proceeded to take role.
"Alvarez?"
"Here."
"Cameron?"
"Here."
"Tyler?"
"Here." Seth answered, raising his hand to let the teacher know where he was. Mr. Goto glanced at him, and continued down the list.
He kept going for a while but eventually stopped and looked down at his clipboard with a slightly confused look on his face.
"Jura...?" he asked hesitantly. A girl to Seth's left raised her hand.
"Here." she answered. She, like Gina and Kim, was a Godzilla descendent. But she was different. She had light blue, almost silver hair that hung down to her shoulders, and instead of green skin, hers was charcoal gray. Seth couldn't help but notice that she was very pretty. She had a slim, but angular jaw, a small, sharp nose, and bright yellow eyes. Goto looked at her, looked down at his list, and back up at her.
"I don't have your last name down on here." he said.
"I don't have one, sir." she said apologetically.
"You...don't have one?" Mr. Goto asked unbelievingly, raising an eyebrow.
"No sir." she answered, shaking her head.
"Alright, then. Just Jura, then?" he asked her.
"Yes sir."
With that, he gave her one last bewildered glance, then continued down the role sheet. Seth looked at her. She looked rather embarrassed. She met his gaze for a moment, then quickly looked down again. Realizing that most of the class was staring at her, he looked away, attempting to give her some privacy. The rest of the class was fairly uneventful, but Seth couldn't help but notice that Mr. Goto seemed to have...he couldn't find the right word, almost a disdain for the students. He spoke with a kind of superiority about him, and was quick to correct students, especially in matters concerning human behavior and customs. It kind of bugged him. Maybe I'm just imagining it he thought to himself as the bell rang, signaling the end of the period.
He picked up his bag, and headed out the door. He made his way down the hall, picking his way between groups of students. As he walked, he became aware of someone keeping pace with him on his right. He turned to look at the person following him, and saw a boy with a leather jacket, torn jeans, and a pair of sunglasses tinted blood-red. The boy had three red wings sprouting from his back, a forward-curving horn atop his head, and metallic hands. The boy was a descendent of Gigan, a powerful, space-borne cyborg kaiju. The boy grinned at him.
"What's up?" he asked as they reached the door out of the building. Seth stopped to talk to the kid.
"Hey," Seth answered, grinning a little himself. Yet another person had randomly come up to him and started chatting. This was going well.
"Name's Cyrano." he said, extending a hand. Seth shook it, noting the cold, hard texture.
"Seth. Seth Tyler."
"Seth Tyler..." he said, as if testing the name. "I gotta say, your rumble this morning with Santana was impressive. The guy's a force to be reckoned with. A new kid coming outta the blue and kicking his ass is pretty crazy. That's gonna make some waves." Cyrano grinned at him, revealing a mouthful of sharp, silvery teeth. Seth couldn't help but frown a little; he hoped it wasn't going around that he had 'kicked his ass.' He doubted Darren Santana would take that well. "Anyway, I gotta get goin'." Cyrano said. "I'll catch ya later." He gave Seth a lazy, two-fingered salute, and sauntered off. Seth looked after him a bit, and then walked off to his final class.
The final bell rang, and Seth quickly packed his things back into his bag. He sprang out of his chair and filed out of the class room with his fellow students. He made his way down the hall and out the door, heading towards the table where he had eaten lunch. He sat down on the table, placing his feet on the bench. He waited, scanning the throngs of students for his friends. Suddenly, a pair of hands grasped his shoulders from behind and shook him. "Raaaah!" Gina yelled in his ear. He yelled, jumping up and spinning around. Gina guffawed, grasping her stomach and keeling over. As his heart rate began to drop back down to normal, he shot Gina a frown.
"That's a couple years off my life." he said.
"Sorry," she said, not sounding very sorry at all as a mischievous grin spread across her face. "Couldn't help it."
Terry, Angie, and Kim walked up, all of them grinning ear to ear.
"Hilarious." Seth said, his voice completely deadpan.
"Oh, come on, lighten up." Angie said, playfully giving him a punch in the arm. He tried to keep his face straight, but a smile slowly spread across his face.
"Anyways, what were you plannin' on doin'?" Terry asked. The four of them looked at Seth expectantly.
"You're asking me?" Seth inquired. Terry gave him a nod. "I dunno, probably go home and...relax, I gue-"
"Uh-uh, no way, you're comin' with us." Gina demanded happily, jabbing her thumb into her chest.
"And we aren't taking no for an answer," Angie chimed in. "Right, Kim?"
"Kim never takes no for an answer."
"Exactly. So let's roll!" They led him away from the lunch area and towards the parking lot. As they walked through the chain link gate, a confused look crossed over Seth's face.
"What grade are you guys in?"
"We're freshmen." Gina answered.
"But you have cars?"
"No, not us personally, but we know someone who does."
They walked down the rows of cars, looking around for the right one.
"Kim sees him!" Kim shouted, pointing. Seth followed his finger. He was pointing to a Chevy Camaro with matte black finish. Beside it stood a tall, muscular kid wearing a sport coat and plain blue jeans. His skin was covered in golden scales, and a pair of bright gold wings were folded behind his back. Two golden horns protruded from his slicked back and similarly colored hair. He was a descendent of King Ghidorah, a massive, tri-headed dragon, given a melodramatic but accurate nickname, "The King of Terror." He waved the group over, and they obeyed, walking over to the car.
"Alright guys, here ya go." he said, tossing a key to Terry. His eyes fell on Seth. "Who's the human?" he asked.
"This is Seth. He's a new student." Angie said, introducing him. "Seth, this is Dillon Green."
"A new student?" Dillon asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Yeah, you know, a descendent that looks human."
"Huh. Well, welcome, then." Dillon said a bit gruffly. "Anyways, have fun. And don't wreck." he said, shooting Terry a look.
"You got it. Thanks again, Dillon."
"No problem." He said as he walked away. Terry opened the front door and slid into the driver's seat. The rest of them began to get in, when Kim spotted a problem.
"How do we fit if there are 5 people and 4 places to sit?" Angie looked at the seats.
"Eh, someone'll just sit in the middle. Probably you, since you're the smallest." she said, pointing to Seth. "Which means I call passenger seat." she continued, whirling around to find Gina strapped in next to Terry.
"What's that you were saying?" she asked innocently. Angie rolled her eyes and scooted in after Seth. Seth leaned back in the seat, trying to get comfortable. However, the back of the seat was hard and unpliable. He ran his hand down the chair, and turned towards Kim, who was strapped in next to him.
"Why are the seats plastic?" Kim leaned forward, and pointed to the rows of ivory-colored spines protruding from his back.
"Descendents do not do well with leather."
As soon as they were all buckled in (with Seth feeling a bit squished) Terry started the car, and pulled out of the school parking lot. As he pulled onto the main road, Seth asked,
"So, where is there to go?" The school was situated on an artificial island purpose built to house the facility. He had gone straight from the airport, to his small house where he would be living, to the school, and hadn't had a chance to see what was on the island.
"Oh, all sorts of stuff. Restaurants, theaters, malls...ya know, normal stuff. They even built aDisneyland on the far side of the island." Terry answered with a small hint of pride.
"Nice. So, where we headin' tonight, then?"
"Eh, wherever, ya know. Whatever happens to catch our fancy." The car finally left the island's suburban area, where the houses were, and entered the business area. Seth looked out the windows, and saw what was for all intents and purposes any old street back inWashington. There were fast-food joints, liquor stores, car dealerships, video rental places, and department stores. He felt hopeful, like he could live out a normal life here on the island. Up ahead, a stale green light turned yellow. Terry slowed down, realizing he couldn't make it. As they came to a stop, another car pulled up on their left, a low growling emanating from the hood. Seth didn't know much about cars, but it looked nice even to him. It was a '68 Mustang, painted white with a pair of dark blue racing stripes running down the middle of the car.
The Mustang's passenger window was open, and through it, they saw the driver: a girl with incredibly dark red skin, and a pair of horns poking through her thick black hair. The hands gripping the steering wheel were tri-fingered talons on the end of long, folded wings. She was a descendent of Rodan, a prehistoric pteranodon that had been irradiated, causing it to drastically increase in size. She looked at the Camaro and waved. Terry rolled down his window and shot her a smile. "Hello, Riley." Upon seeing Terry's face, a confused look crossed Riley's.
"Terry? Where's Dillon?"
"He's lettin' us borrow his car for the night while he hangs out with some buddies of his." A look of disappointment came over Riley's face.
"Man, I was lookin' forward to havin' a drag."
"Who says you can't still have one?"
Riley's face immediately brightened at the prospect of a race. "If you insist, Mr. Donalds."
"I do." Riley smirked at this, only growing more confident as Terry revved the Chevy's HEMI engine.
Gina shot Terry a frown.
"You're going to drag race Riley. Riley Roads."
"Puh-leez! People hype her up so much. So she can fix up that old junker of a car! So what? That piece of crap is no match for this beauty. Nostalgia doesn't win races."
Hearing this, Riley tensed.
"Them's fightin' words." The light turned green, and both V8s roared. Smoke billowed from the tires as both muscle cars blasted across the intersection. The Camaro's passengers were pressed into their seats from the massive acceleration. Not used to the speed, Terry panicked for a moment, and let up a bit on the gas, allowing the Mustang to quickly pull ahead. Seeing this, Terry buried his foot into the carpet, determined not to lose. The Camaro picked up speed, pulling closer to Riley's car. Looking into her side mirror, Riley smirked, and up shifted as the engine's roar grew steadily more high pitched. The car shuddered, and then began to pick up speed. Terry waited for the sound of his own engine to increase in pitch as well, but waited too long before realizing that he needed to shift. He did so, but it was too late. Even as his car sped up, Riley shot far ahead of them.
"Dammit!" shouted Terry, slowing down for the upcoming red light, which Riley had blasted through while it was still yellow.
"Well, that was wonderful," Gina said, her voice soaked in sarcasm. "but now it's time to do something that won't get us killed." Terry mouthed her words, mimicking her, and earned himself a smack upside the head.
"Just drive." she said irritably.
A/N: Poor Terry...anyways, this is gonna be kind of a different fic, I think, so let's see how it turns out. Review so I know what the hell I'm doing! I'm still debating whether or not to have actual kaiju play a role, so if you guys have an opinion, lemme hear it. Anyway, hope you enjoy!