Family Feud

"Dear God..." Alan muttered, aghast, as he saw what his friend had become. He had been changed beyond recognition, both mentally and physically. As the creature that called itself Kaiser floated down from the ceiling, landing just in front of Alan, he got a better look at the wretched, twisted body, ruptured from within by those crystals. Kaiser continued to focus his gaze on him, making him feel like those terrible eyes were burrowing right into his heart.

"God had nothing to do with this, Alan," Kaiser said, speaking in the Godzilla tongue, in that same vicious tone. "I suppose you are seeking answers, yes?"

Indeed, many questions were swarming through Alan's mind. On the top of the list was why he was doing this, why he had done everything that he had done in this city. If what Kaiser said was true about being able to read people's minds, he knew he didn't even have to ask the questions out loud.

"I already told you that the crystals and the Awakening strengthened my own psychic abilities," Kaiser began to explain. "One of the first tricks I learned was to control the wills of others using a crystal charged with psychic energy. Orga here," he continued, nudging his reptilian head in Orga's direction, "was the first such creature I successfully controlled. I regretted doing it, for I wanted my dear brother to share in my glory. He waited for all those long years in that fateful cave, as loyal as I could ever wish a brother to be. It took him a long time to adjust to me in my new body, but I knew he harboured resentment for me. He saw me as foul and unnatural, and I feared that revulsion would drive him to hurt us both, so I had to control him for his own good."

As Alan looked behind Kaiser and at Orga, he began to see what Kaiser meant. Orga was now looking at Kaiser, clearly scared. Alan could not blame him, and more clearly than ever he saw the deep fractures that Kaiser had created between himself and the rest of his 'family'.

"At first," he continued, "I thought I could trick the vermin, control them, and make them destroy each other. The battle between those foolish creatures led by the ones called Silas and Kargath was of my doing, as a microcosmic version of what I had planned for the rest of the vermin. No thanks to you, that was unsuccessful, so I took a more direct approach..."

"And you killed all those people..." Alan said. "All because of some kind of insane grudge..."

"You should be thanking me on bended knee!" Kaiser shrieked. "The same blood flows through our veins. We are the descendants of the most powerful beings to ever walk on the face of the Earth. This world is ours by right." His eyes narrowed cruelly as he spoke. "Yet you and that treacherous wretch who calls himself our 'grandfather' continue to stand aside and allow the vermin to destroy it. You abandoned us all those years ago, leaving us to suffer at their hands. You even let our father become a prisoner!"

"You're wrong!" Alan retorted. "Kiryuu had to seal Godzilla away or else he would have been worse off! I couldn't get you out of the CCI's headquarters or I would have been a prisoner with you!"

"Why?" Kaiser snorted. "Are you so afraid of your own blood that you could not even attempt to fight the vermin? You squander your blood and your birthright, too weak to drive off the worthless creatures! And as for our so-called grandfather..." At this, he suddenly pointed a clawed finger accusingly at Alan, his eyes glowing as if they were suddenly on fire.

"Face it, Alan!" he roared. "Kiryuu was the one who doomed not only our father, but this entire world! He could have come up with any solution, but he chose the one that destroyed the world and his own family! And you stood by and allowed him to do so... You are every bit as treacherous as he is, poisoned by the filth of the vermin!"

Alan remained silent, shaking his head disbelievingly. This thing that had been Tetsuo was truly beyond the pale. Kaiser threw a look at Alan as if he was something nasty he'd stepped in, and turned away, his arms folded. Orga, who had remained silent through all of this, just looked between Alan and Kaiser with a look of concern.

"I had thought of allowing you to share in our glory," Kaiser said, in a low bitter tone. "However, your crimes against our family are unforgiveable. You deserve to be sent to oblivion with the rest of the pathetic vermin as they are punished and cleansed."

"You're a lunatic..." Alan said. "Tetsuo, this isn't you. I know you too well. There's no way in Hell you'd do something like this!"

Kaiser sighed, turning to look at Alan again. "I told you," he said, "Tetsuo is long dead." His mouth slowly twisted into a cruel smirk. "Clearly you did not know him well enough."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Alan asked, wide-eyed, but Kaiser gave him a penetrating glance which silenced him.

"It does not matter," he retorted. "Nothing about that life matters now. All that matters is that our kind reclaims our birthright. We will take this world back from the vermin that have destroyed it. As for you, betrayer..." He paused, and his eyes began to glow fiercely again, the pulsing on the crystals on his shoulders becoming more intense.

"You get to watch."

As he said those words, Alan felt a sudden tightening sensation around his ankles. As he looked down, he saw that several crystals had suddenly grown out of the floor and had encased his feet. Even as they did that, they continued to grow, crawling up his legs like some kind of animal. How fast they grew! Before Alan even had time to think, it was up to his waist and still climbing!

"No! Tetsuo! Stop!" Alan cried out, as the crystals continued to climb up his body, freezing him in place. He tried to struggle against the crystals, but to no avail. He gave a despairing look to Orga. It looked like the creature wanted to do something, but was rooted to the spot with fear. Meanwhile, Kaiser continued to observe him, the crystals still pulsing, the eyes still blazing...

As the crystals reached halfway up Alan's chest, there was a loud roar and something knocked Kaiser aside. Kaiser gave a loud shriek as he was sent crashing to the floor. Orga had attacked him from behind, sweeping him aside with his huge claws. For a moment, he stood still, shaking, apparently shocked at what it was he had just done. Alan, meanwhile, noticed that the crystals had stopped growing.

Orga came back to his senses, strode over and began to tear the crystals away from Alan's body. When he was free down to his waist, he grabbed Alan's midsection and pulled straight upwards, pulling Alan's legs free. The crystals shattered into hundreds of pieces on the floor. Orga carefully set Alan down again, concern spread across every line of his face.

"Are you alright, brother?" he asked. Alan nodded in reply, shaken but otherwise unharmed.

"Please forgive me, brother," Orga said. "If I had known he would do this... I could not stand by and watch him hurt you like that."

As he spoke, a low snarling noise could be heard. Turning around, they saw that Kaiser was now back on his feet, looking furious. Orga moved forward to stand between Alan and Kaiser, acting like a living shield.

"What do you think you are doing, Orga?!" Kaiser snarled. "Do you not want to see our bloodline restored once again? Do you not wish that the vermin were punished for what they did to us?!"

"What about our brother?" Orga rebuked. "Does he deserve to be punished as well?!"

"He chose to abandon our family for the vermin!" Kaiser shouted. "He can share their fate!"

For several tense moments, an awkward silence followed. Alan was afraid that Orga would suddenly turn around and tear him in half. He knew how devoted Orga had been to Kaiser, and that he had wanted nothing more than for them to be reunited. In spite of everything that Alan had said, he was afraid it would mean nothing now.

"No, brother," Orga finally said, breaking the silence. His voice sounded very shaky, as if this was taking every ounce of resolve he had. "There must be another way. This is not right."

"Orga," Kaiser said forcefully, "we are brothers. We cannot allow anything to-"

"It's just... not... right!" Orga interrupted, with a tone of finality in his voice. Alan couldn't help but be impressed by Orga, for he was standing up to a creature that before now could have easily killed them just by thinking about it. Kaiser's face, meanwhile, was contorted into a picture of pure rage, all of his fangs bared.

"Traitor!" he roared. The light from his crystals became more intense, and suddenly a number of large stalagmites shot out of the crystal floor, surrounding Orga. He was quickly hidden from view, a prisoner in a crystal cage. As he was focusing on that, Alan unfurled his whip and charged at Kaiser while he was distracted.

He lashed with the whip, catching Kaiser's arm. He cried out in pain as a gaping wound was left in the arm. The wound rapidly began to heal, but Alan kept lashing, while Kaiser threw up his arms to defend himself. On any ordinary being, such an attack would have torn the arms to ribbons, but Kaiser stood his ground, his wounds healing as rapidly as Alan could inflict them. Each wound left a scar that was the same violet colour, leading Alan to assume the crystals were actually covering his wounds.

All of a sudden Kaiser levitated off the ground for a second, and as he did so he spun rapidly. His tail struck Alan in the midsection; caught off-guard, he stumbled onto the floor, winded. He tried to pull himself to his feet, but out of the corner of his eye he saw something extremely sharp coming towards him. He quickly rolled out of the way, as the sharp object smashed into the floor and shattered.

As he pulled himself to his feet, he looked up and saw what looked like a large crystal dagger flying straight towards him, followed by another. He quickly sidestepped to avoid them, and then saw that Kaiser had readied more of them. He seemed to be literally growing them out of his arms and then throwing them at Alan. He was creating them so quickly that the daggers were now coming towards him near-constantly, one after the other. Alan dived for cover behind one of the tall crystal stalagmites, and he ducked there, shivering, as he heard each crystal smash against the column.

After a short while, the crystal bombardment finally ceased. Exhausted, Alan jumped out from behind the column, preparing to strike again, only to find that Kaiser was gone. Then hearing a sudden movement behind him, he spun round to find Kaiser diving straight at him, spinning as he did so like a missile. As he was so tired, Alan didn't get out of the way in time and was bowled over, Kaiser's sharp claws causing deep scratches in his abdomen as he passed. He lay there, exhausted, winded, and covering his wound with a hand to stop the bleeding. He panted and tried to pick himself up as he felt the wound close up. Somewhere nearby, he could hear Orga pounding at the walls of his prison, desperate to escape, but the crystals didn't budge.

As he did so, he was suddenly grabbed from behind and forcibly turned around. He remembered what Miki had said about Kaiser's deadliest spell requiring eye contact, and shut his own eyes tight. He could feel Kaiser's hot breath on him as he was grabbed by the throat by one hand, while another hand wrenched the whip out of his hand. Alan tried to wriggle free from Kaiser's grip, but he felt the grip tighten, and every fibre of his being seemed painful.

"You miserable parasite," Kaiser said. "It is you who have poisoned Orga's mind, you who have driven him to betray his own kin. Even now you continue to poison your own bloodline! You and Kiryuu are so alike; you are so ashamed of your birthright that you seek to destroy your own family! Both of you will pay for your treachery with your blood!"

Alan suddenly felt Kaiser's scaly claw on his face. At first, Alan thought the monster was going to suffocate him, but he felt his own eyelids being pulled downwards. His eyes were forced open, his face held firm, the sharp claws digging into his skin. Shortly, Alan couldn't help but look into Kaiser's red eyes, the terrible face contorted with fury.

"Look me in the eye when I am speaking to you..." Kaiser hissed, as his eyes suddenly glowed red. All at once Alan felt like the inside of his head had been set on fire. Every part of it was burning; he felt like his brain and his eyes were melting, leaking out of his head. His heart was beating so loudly and so quickly he almost could not hear anything else. He tried to yell in pain, but Kaiser's hand was clamped over his mouth. As he thought he heard a horrible snapping sound, he knew it was all over...

***

Frustrated and tired, Miki had finally worked her way out of the sewers. She had negotiated several dark side-tunnels until she climbed up the first ladder she reached. Through some effort, she was able to force the manhole cover open and finally ascend into the loading bay outside the Gordon's Hauling warehouse. She gasped for air as she climbed out of the sewer, thankful to finally be taking in fresh air once again.

As she stood and dusted herself off, she turned to face the warehouse, thankful that her detour hadn't taken her far from where she was supposed to go. She hoped that Alan and Orga hadn't got too big a head-start; she was determined to find out what it was about these two, what sort of creatures they were.

She assumed that Alan and Orga were still in the warehouse, so she strode towards the small side door and tried to open it. Curiously enough, it was unlocked, but there was something on the inside blocking it. In the end, she did manage to open it wide enough to squeeze through the gap and go inside.

Once inside, she saw that what had blocked the door were large violet crystals, glowing with a soft light. She saw that the whole back passage was covered in these crystals from floor to ceiling. She could scarcely believe her eyes as she walked down the corridor, hardly daring to breath. The light grew stronger as she approached the doorway leading into the warehouse itself, and angry snarls and chirrups could be heard from inside the cavernous building.

She peeked around the corner and looked into the main warehouse area. She could not believe what she was seeing. Quite aside from the fact that the crystals covered practically every surface, she saw Alan and Orga, plus a third, horrifying-looking creature. It looked to her like a cross between a giant lizard and the same crystals that filled the building. It gazed with pure malevolence as Orga stood firm between it and Alan. As she watched, the creature gave a horrible roar that sounded like she imagined what a banshee would sound like, and suddenly a number of crystal stalagmites rose out of the ground and imprisoned Orga. She watched as Alan unfurled his whip and began to attack the creature.

At first, Miki could not make sense of what had happened, what the third monster was or why this fight had broken out. As she looked at the crystal monster, trying to decide what exactly it was, she suddenly, quite by accident, picked up a horrible thought from the creature, full of malice:

That vile pestilence really thinks he can defeat me... First he turns my brother against me, and now this... I will not waste any more time with this filth...

With a start, she realised where she had heard the voice before. It was the same one that had ordered her to leave when the crystals she had were connected. So this was the creature generating the crystals and such murderous intent... she guessed that this was the same creature that had caused all those decapitations.

As Alan was suddenly bowled over as Kaiser charged straight at him, Miki looked over at Orga's crystal prison. She could hear loud pounding sounds coming from within, as Orga fought desperately to escape. Miki could see that this was a one-sided fight, and sure enough it now looked like Kaiser was going in for the kill. She knew she had to distract Kaiser somehow and even the odds.

Without hesitation, she cast a couple of clout spells, firing them at the crystal prison. Though not strong enough to smash the crystals completely, she did manage to weaken them significantly, as the crystals cracked with a loud snapping sound. Startled by the noise, Kaiser released Alan, where he dropped to the floor, apparently unconscious. Even at this distance Miki could see blood pouring out of his ears and mouth, and feared that she might be too late. Even though Alan's head was intact, his mind could have been damaged beyond repair.

Kaiser spun round, first to the crystal cage, which now had an immense crack in it, and then he turned and saw Miki. He bared all his teeth at her, his eyes narrowed in anger.

"You..." he snarled, recognising her as the creature that had tried to dive into his mind earlier. All at once Miki could feel this creature sending waves of psychic energy at her. She knew he was trying to do to her what he had done to all those poor people. She immediately mounted her psychic defences, praying that they would last out. As the immense energy hit her, she concentrated harder than she ever had in her life to repel the assault. Her head felt like it was going to explode, but she did manage to halt the psychic energy, drawing both into a stalemate. She could see Kaiser's face contorted with concentration, desperately trying to reach her with that terrible connection. She did not see anything else that was happening in the room; all she could see was Kaiser. Everything else looked like a heat haze, warping and distorting, but she paid it no attention. All that mattered to her was that she stay alive, but even a minute into this she could feel her strength leaving her. Kaiser never seemed to tire, and she knew she was only delaying the inevitable.

Suddenly, there was a loud crashing sound, followed by a high-pitched roar. Startled by this, Miki turned to see what it was, and accidentally let her defences down. She was hit by Kaiser's own assault, but strangely it was not as powerful as she had expected. She didn't see the reason why Kaiser had not followed through, for the shock was so strong that she felt like her head had been split open. She cried out in agony from the pain, holding her hands to her forehead and closing her eyes. What was really strange was that she began to see things...

Kaiser too had been startled by the loud crash, and severed his connection, turning to see what had happened. It turned out that Orga had managed to break free from his prison, and was now charging straight at him, preparing to swing his enormous arm at him. He didn't raise his defences in time, and was slashed by Orga's huge claw. A number of deep cuts appeared on his chest and he staggered backwards, shrieking in agony. Orga slashed again and again, seemingly driven into a blind fury.

The visions in Miki's mind cleared up in a matter of seconds, and as she opened her eyes, she saw Orga attacking Kaiser furiously, causing him to back towards the far wall. Looking towards Alan, she noticed that he was picking himself up, shaking his head. Against all the odds, he had survived his ordeal. Not seeing how she could help Orga, and now full of a lot of questions that she wanted answering, she carefully moved over to Alan, and began to help him to his feet.

As she did so, she saw Alan's face, caked with blood from his torture. Miki was sure that if she had only been a second later, Alan would have been dead. As he looked straight at her with those reptilian eyes of his, she quite inadvertently took a psychic look deep into him, into the very depths of his mind. What she saw there was a terrible reptilian face, which roared at her, releasing a loud, trumpet-like call from its throat. She was so shocked at this that she suddenly snapped back into the real world and shouted out loud, stumbling onto the floor.

Alan barely registered that Miki was there. Whatever it was she wanted, he knew it had to wait. He still had a splitting headache from Kaiser's torture session, but he can't have damaged much of the brain or else he wouldn't have been alive now. He turned back towards the struggling brothers, exhausted, his vision blurred.

Kaiser and Orga seemed to have reached a stalemate. Kaiser's chest was drenched with blood, vivid scars visible on his body. Now he had grabbed Orga's arms, while Orga had somehow dug his claws into Kaiser's shoulders. The two of them were locked in a deadly embrace, each trying to throw the other to one side like some bizarre wrestling match. Physically, Orga had the upper hand, but Kaiser had somehow rooted himself to the ground using the crystals, rendering him almost immovable. Both of them were straining to one-up each other, an unstoppable force against an immovable object.

"I did not want it to come to this, Orga!" Kaiser snarled. "Yet you have let yourself be poisoned by the lies of the vermin!"

"All I wanted was to re-unite our family, brother!" Orga countered. "I did not wish for this madness! You have become foul ever since you emerged from that unnatural cave. You have let the crystals, and your hatred, consume you!"

At this, Kaiser shrieked, withdrawing his arms. He quickly formed two crystalline spikes from his wrists, like glowing daggers, and proceeded to thrust them repeatedly into Orga's midsection. Orga howled in pain as he backed away, clutching at the sizeable holes Kaiser had made, blood pouring out of them. He collapsed on one knee, his breathing becoming ragged, though he continued to look straight at Kaiser with defiance. Kaiser, meanwhile, strode towards his brother, his right arm now becoming covered with jagged crystals. They kept growing outwards, until finally it looked like he had a large glowing sword for an arm. He stood right in front of Orga, breathing hard, his teeth bared.

"I will not let anything stand in the way of my ascension," he snarled. "Not even my own brothers. Forgive me, Orga."

As he spoke, he raised the sword-arm above his head, preparing to cleave Orga in two like a butcher. As he swung down, Orga suddenly reached out with his right arm, aiming his claws right at Kaiser's face. Alan and Miki could only watch, benumbed, as they prepared to strike each other...

The two attacks impacted at the same time. The sword slammed straight into Orga's head, burying itself deep into his skull. It went so far down that his head was almost cleaved completely in two. At the same time, Orga's claw reached Kaiser's face, the long hook-like claws going straight into Kaiser's eyes. Blinded and agonised, Kaiser roared in pain, blood running down his face like tears. He seemed unable to extract himself from Orga, unable to lift his arm away.

Alan's eyes went wide as he saw the grisly spectacle. Both monsters were locked together in their own death throes. He could see Orga twitching slightly, but other than that he knew he was gone. With the brain damaged beyond repair he would be unable to recover from such wounds. Destruction of the brain was the only way to kill a Godzilla. He had been willing to die to keep his family safe from harm. He could see Kaiser still painfully trying to free himself from Orga's clutches, but it seemed like his strength was failing him.

Alan realised that he could not let Orga's sacrifice be in vain. Miki had covered her eyes so as to not witness Kaiser's killing blow, and she now opened them once again to see Alan striding towards the tangled monster, pulling his gun out of its holster, a wild, half-crazed look on his face. She decided that interrupting this moment would be a very bad idea, for he looked positively murderous.

Alan walked until he was stood right next to Kaiser, and pushed the barrel of the gun into the monster's mouth. One shot would destroy the brain, finally killing him. A part of him was screaming to pull the trigger; this creature had brought so many calamities to others, after all. It was foul and unnatural, and obviously too dangerous to be allowed to live...

Yet what if he was wrong? What if the Tetsuo he knew was still inside that creature? Would it be possible, however unlikely, to bring him back? He hesitated, the hand holding his gun beginning to shake. He couldn't believe it had really come to this. He hadn't asked for this.

He heard a horrible sucking sound, and saw that Kaiser was lifting his sword out of Orga's head. His brother's body finally collapsed to the floor, the claws tearing more skin off Kaiser's face as it fell. The monster was raising the arm, preparing to swing it in Alan's direction...

Alan squeezed the trigger. Kaiser's head exploded like a putrid melon, sending blood and pieces of crystal everywhere. Again and again Alan pulled the trigger, unloading all of his bullets into the monster. Finally, all he heard from his gun was a series of dull clicks, and the almost-headless body collapsed to the ground. As Alan watched, the light of the crystals flickered and died. Kaiser had his chance, and he'd blown it.

Miki carefully moved towards Alan, who was now frozen, his whole body shaking. She shook her head, for now she kept seeing another creature standing in Alan's place; a being that she had only seen in pictures and old videos. No matter how much she knew it was impossible to be seeing what she was seeing, her mind would not let her see anything else. She watched as Alan's nerves finally seemed to give up, and he collapsed onto his knees, his head bent low, surveying the bodies of the fallen monsters.

Then Alan suddenly raised his head, his eyes tight closed. He suddenly released a bestial roar from his throat. It was a low, mournful, trumpet-like call; it was Alan's way of expressing the grief he felt, of losing beings that had being not only his family, but his best friends. As he fell silent once more, as Miki knelt beside him, gazing at him with a scared, yet curious expression, he fought hard to fight back the tears that were mingling with the blood on his face.