Chapter 3
"This is Akira Naguya reporting live from Tokyo Broadcasting. I'm currently in the South Pacific where the fishing ship "The Lucky Lady" has apparently sunk. We don't know much about what caused the accident, just that there was a distress signal that was sent at least ten hours ago. Ships have been dispatched to investigate the scene, however no survivors have been found. We will continue to monitor the scene and report any new findings as they come. Until then this is Akira Naguya reporting."
Aboard the U.S.S. Jubilee
Latitude 23 degrees North
Longitude 147 degrees east
"Thank you for coming on such short notice Dr. Stewart." Captain O'Hara said "We felt that your expertise would come in useful during this investigation."
Dr. Stewart had no idea why he was called to be a part of this investigation. At forty-three years of age Dr. Stewart showed no signs of aging except for a few gray hairs. When he had first been called, the Captain couldn't tell him for fear of somebody listening in "You'd better come out here in order for me to explain this to you" O'Hara had stated.
On the way to the ship Dr. Stewart had terrifying dreams of the tragedy that had befallen Tokyo. Several thousand had been killed, either by being crushed, ran over by moving vehicles, auto accidents, or the worst one of all, being devoured by Gaira. In his dream Dr. Stewart felt that he and Akemi were running for their lives from Gaira.
His roar was deafening as he searched through the mess of parked cars, just looking for a tasty morsel to satiate his enormous appetite. Dr. Stewart and Akemi had found an underground subway station which would hopefully provide safety. They ran downstairs and stopped at the foot of the stairway. Both were out of breath.
Dr. Stewart then followed Akemi towards the second station exit. As they started up the stairway they were cut off by Gaira's gigantic arm as the beast went from side to side, frantically searching for his prey. Dr. Stewart and Akemi both ran back to the original exit. As they looked up at the beast that loomed it let out a roar that sounded like Sanda.
Akemi excitedly hurried up to meet her savior. Dr. Stewart tried to stop her but it was too late. The giant hand of Gaira broke through the roof and snatched up Akemi. Dr. Stewart could only watch as the hideous monster slowly rose Akemi up. "No! Akemi wake up!" Dr. Stewart screamed.
He quickly looked from one side of the street to the other, but Sanda was nowhere to be near. He looked up just as Gaira opened his enormous mouth. Akemi woke up and started screaming as she was thrown into his mouth. Dr. Stewart heard the disgusting sound of bones crunching within Gaira's powerful jaws. "NO!" Dr. Stewart screamed when suddenly he woke up in a cold sweat.
"What makes you certain that I can be of assistance? I mean you never told me what was going on over the phone." Dr. Stewart exclaimed.
"We have many reason to believe that this wasn't just some collision something exploding below deck. These are photographs taken by our deep sea divers just this morning." O'Hara handed Stewart the photos. "Please tell me Dr. what you think?"
Stewart looked at the photos one by one. Each photo showed the same thing; a vessel that appeared to be undamaged. "Couldn't tell you what happened. Seems to me like this vessel might have had an underwater leak?"
"That's what I thought, until I saw this photo." O'Hara handed Stewart one last photo. The moment Dr. Stewart looked at the photograph a chill ran through his spine and he rubbed his eyes to make sure that he wasn't seeing things. The picture shown a piece of the ship looked as though it had been grabbed by steel claws.
Nervously, Dr. Stewart asked "Were there any survivors?" Captain O'Hara walked to a box on top of a small table. He opened the box and pulled out a pile of chewed up clothing, "No survivors."
A private island somewhere in the Bonin Islands
The Hendrickson's had been enjoying their Japanese vacation. Brian Hendrickson was an author of over fifty novels and twelve number one best sellers. His family lived a very lavish lifestyle and they had decided to go on a vacation so that Brian could not only take a break from his writing but also so he could get some motivation for a new book idea. His wife Laura was a stay at home mom for their nine year old son Ben.
After visiting Tokyo, Osaka, and Hokkaido they had decided to do something more adventurous. They wanted to go to an uninhabited island. After talking to many captains, one named Tsuoki told them that he could take the Hendrickson's to one but the price would be great.
Money was no object to the Hendrickson's so they paid him what he wanted and they took off. Their location was unknown but Brian Hendrickson didn't care. It was going to be fun exploring an uncharted territory. Once they got close enough they had to wade across forty feet of ocean to get to the island. Tsuoki made a promise to wait a couple of hours for them.
Once they reached the island Brian found a small trail that they could follow. The scenery was breathtaking. Many trees covered the land and there were species of plant and animal life that flourished the beautiful place. The sound of howling monkeys was everywhere. "Look here!" Laura exclaimed excitedly.
Brian and Ben moved to her location and looked. There was a gorgeous looking rose that was blue, orange, and black in color. "Brian is that a known species?" Laura asked
"Not that I'm aware of." Brian answered picking the flower. "I'm going to take this back to the states and show a botanist this. It'll wow them."
Ben was not at all interested in a stupid flower so he thought he'd explore some more, just as long as he could hear his parents calling out to him. He walked down the trail viewing strange bugs and birds. He saw a strange tree lizard that he wanted to catch. He had gotten as close as he could without spooking the reptile when he heard a loud screech.
When Ben looked up he was immediately gripped in the claws of a large sixty foot vulture. Its wingspan was at least two hundred feet in length. Ben was lifted off the ground when he started screaming out, "Mom! Dad! Help!"
Brian and Laura heard the screams coming from further down the trail, "This way!" Brian yelled. They both stopped in shock at the size of the vulture. Laura let out a scream as Brian tried to grab Ben's feet. The vulture started to fly away. "Ben!" Brian screamed. Just then there was a loud roar and a huge brown creature stepped out of the trees and grabbed the vulture before it could get away. Sanda had appeared.
The vulture pecked Sanda's right eye. He let out a deafening roar and wrapped his hand around the vulture's neck. The vulture continued to fight, trying to peck Sanda's left eye until Sanda with a quick motion snapped the vulture's neck. The vulture started shaking so bad that it released its grip and Ben started falling. Sanda heard Ben scream and quickly placed his hand under Ben catching him.
Brian and Laura could only watch in fear as the enormous beast lowered Ben next to them. Laura and Brian both embraced their son. Brian looked up but the brown creature had disappeared.
