Chapter 4: The Barbarian
Monarch Outpost 55
The sound of the ruffling tarp was cut off by a loud gasp from Azusa. Kenkichi had just pulled the tarp away to reveal the creature he called "Barubaroi," and it was by far the strangest thing Miki had ever seen. The best summary of the thing would be that it looked like a cross between a salamander and a lobster, but even that wasn't nearly accurate enough of a description.
The thing was large, filling up most of the tank, larger than a lobster but smaller than a juvenile Japanese Giant Salamander. Its body was thick and plump, colored dark green, and ending in a fish-like tail that seemed too thin in comparison. The thing had two arms extending from its body, each ending in a pair of lobster-like claws. However, the right arm was thin and long while the left was short and stubby. The creature also had a single pair of insect-like legs, extending up and back before bending downwards like cricket legs. However, these legs were placed at the back of the creature's body and seemed too thin to support the thing's weight. It could only stand, Miki realized, because it was submerged in water, thus explaining the pair of gills at either side of its head.
In noticing these gills, Miki also noticed a second pair of cricket legs extending from just behind them. However, these legs were absolutely tiny; so small that they appeared more like tiny tendrils than actual legs. They didn't come close to touching the ground, for they were smaller than the thing's feet. In speaking of feet, these two tiny legs didn't even end with any, just a tiny string of flesh dangling from the pathetic limbs. Perturbed by the sight, Miki tried to change her focus to the head of the creature, only to find herself even more disturbed.
When looking at the creature's head, she found that it didn't really have one. The thing's body simply ended in a scrunched-up stub, with a small hole that Miki could only assume to be some sort of a mouth. A few tendrils stuck out here and there, but that was far from the freakiest characteristic of the creature's head, let alone its entire body. That happened to be the creature's eyes. The creature's left eye was tiny, so small that Miki mistook it for a sickly yellow spot. The thing's right eye, though, was far from inconspicuous. The eye appeared as though it had been torn from the creature's body, dangling from its "head" by a long, thin tendril. Miki, freaked out by the bulbous, vomit yellow eye, which gave her an emotionless, unending stare, tried to look somewhere else, focussing on the thing's back.
However, this only resulted in the discovery that the creature didn't just have one pair of eyes but several. Scattered irregularly across the creature's back were over half a dozen, sickly yellow eyes, each at a different size, each staring at her with eerie, unblinking gazes. The body was also covered with several splotches of skin that appeared almost like they had been sewn on. Patches and blotches on the skin or irregular sizes scattered randomly across its body, consisting of fish scales, crustacean exoskeleton, and other textures on the skin of varying colors. It looked almost like an aquatic version of Frankenstein's monster.
Having had enough of the creature, Miki quickly looked away and tried her best not to look back. Meanwhile, everyone else seemed to be having similar reactions to the hideous creature.
"For Christ's sake," Gordon said. He didn't turn away from the creature, but his face was far from content.
Koji and Kiyoshi remained silent, staring at the creature with wide eyes. Yuki, however, muttered, "What the fuck is that?"
Otonashi gave the creature a part disgusted, part curious look. She leaned forward to examine the creature for a moment, before looking at Kenkichi and asking, "What the hell did you do, Yamane?"
"I didn't do anything," Ken protested. "At least I didn't mess with its DNA or anything like that. All I did was take a few skin samples and feed it. Made sure it stayed alive." Ken glanced at the tank and the creature inside. "Though I don't think it has much trouble in that regard."
"But what the hell is it?" Koji asked.
"That, I'm not too sure," Ken replied, looking back at the creature. "Nothing like this exists anywhere else on the planet. It's pretty much one of a kind."
"Barubaroi…" Otonashi muttered, testing the word with a thoughtful expression. "If I know my greek, which I believe I do, that stands for barbarian, right?"
Ken looked up from the creature and nodded. "Just about. I thought it was a fitting name."
"Why?" Kiyoshi asked. "This… thing doesn't exactly look much like any sort of barbarian. It doesn't look like any sort of anything."
Ken opened his mouth to reply but was suddenly interrupted by Otonashi. "That's just the modern definition of the term," she said. "Back in ancient Greece, the word for barbarian, barbaros, was actually a term for foreigners." The biologist then turned back to Ken with a curious look on her face. "Though, I don't see the connection between foreigners and whatever this thing is. Is it an alien of some sort?"
"Well, not really," Ken said. "It's not extraterrestrial, but it's certainly not a natural occurrence" Ken glanced at the creature once more and added, "Obviously."
"Then what's the relation?" Azusa asked.
"Let me show you," the young Yamane said, stepping away from the fish tank. He walked up to the aquariums set on the tables, grabbing and pulling on a pair of rubber gloves, eyeing each of the aquariums' contents. "This creature, Barubaroi, isn't just special in appearance," Kenkichi said, stopping at the aquarium with the octopus, rolled up his sleeves, and grabbed a small net, "it's special in its abilities as well."
Kenkichi opened the top of the aquarium, propping it up with a metal bar. "Barubaroi is capable of something unlike anything we've ever seen before. None of the kaiju we've ever faced has come close to sharing this ability. Not even Godzilla."
Ken suddenly and violently shoved his arm, the net in hand, into the aquarium. The octopus, startled by the sudden disturbance, rushed behind an artificial cave decoration. However, Ken simply knocked the set piece aside. Sticking his other arm into the tank, he eventually trapped the fleeing octopus in one of the corners and scooped it up with a net. Removing his arms from the aquarium, Ken plopped the octopus into his hands, the animal wriggling indignantly.
Ken then walked over to the tank containing Barubaroi, and the octopus seemed to wriggle more furiously with each step. Even so, Ken kept his hold on the octopus. When he reached the aquarium, he turned around and said, "Now, observe." The young Yamane then lifted the roof of the aquarium and dropped the octopus into it with a small splash.
At first, nothing seemed to happen. The octopus quickly moved as far away from the creature as it could, pressing up against the glass and trying to push its way out of the aquarium. It probably would have too, if Kenkichi wasn't keeping a tight hold on the lid.
But then the creature finally seemed to notice the octopus's presence. The thing turned slowly towards the unfortunate animal, each eye giving it an emotionless, unblinking stare. Miki began to feel sorry for the octopus, and even fear as to what the thing would do. She wanted to look away, but she felt herself freeze, almost entranced, as she watched Barubaroi slowly approach its prey.
And then, it struck.
Suddenly, with a speed far greater than what its form or prior movement had suggested, the thing lunged. Or, at least, its head lunged. The body remained motionless, but the head suddenly extended forward, looking as if it were made of playdough. The jaws snapped open, spreading far wider than Miki thought possible. There were no teeth, or even gums for that matter. Simply an open hole leading into a fleshy throat. Within a second, this mouth was wrapped around the octopus's body, the poor, unfortunate animal, struggling as much as it could to free itself from Barubaroi's grip.
But the thing would not let go.
The octopus's tentacles wrapped around the creature's body, squeezing and pulling and trying its best to escape. But it couldn't. There was no escape. Despite having no teeth or gums or arms of any sort, the octopus began to slip further and further down the thing's throat, almost as if it were being sucked in. Eventually, the head and body of the octopus were finally pulled in, leaving only a few tentacles wriggling outside of its mouth. But soon even these were sucked in, disappearing behind Barubaroi's sealed mouth.
Within moments, the octopus had vanished, without leaving so much as a trace. Swallowed alive by whatever this thing was.
The room was, understandably, silent for a few short moments. Eventually, though, it was broken when Otonashi began, "Freaky, but -"
However, Kenkichi interrupted her. "Wait for it…" There was another moment of silence, and Miki began to wonder if anything would happen at all. The creature was motionless, plumper than it was before, but still and unchanging.
But then, it did change.
Suddenly, and in pure silence, the creature began to change. To transform. Its body seemed to suddenly turn to jelly as if all bone (or exoskeleton) suddenly turned to mush. It began to thin and stretch out, taking on an elongated shape. Its tail began to split apart, its legs went limp and began to grow, and its lobster-like claws began to turn backward and grow thinner. Miki suddenly realized that they were becoming tentacles; long, thin tendrils ending in fishtails, crab feet, or even tiny lobster claws. Several other tentacles began to grow from the body of the creature as well, and they began to appear like those of an octopus.
The body itself began to form into three segments, one extending out from the other, with various tentacles extending from in between. The creature's skin began to become more uniform in color. Segments of fish scales and lobster shells remained, but they were few and far between, not to mention tiny. The rest of the skin remained that eerie dark green, and while a few of the sickly yellow eyes seemed to melt into the skin, a few of the others only seemed to grow larger, moving up to the top of the head, surrounding the small hole that was its mouth. A few of the eyes even morphed into each other, becoming larger and more bulbous. Finally, several tendrils began to grow from the head, from between the body segments, and even from a few of the tentacles, though none of them grew long enough to become tentacles and none of them (fortunately) had any eyes hanging from them.
Even so, it was a sick, disgusting sight. So unnatural in nature that Miki wanted to vomit. She wanted to look away even more so, but the transformation was just so alien that she felt that she was frozen in place, forced to watch the grotesque scene no matter how much she didn't want to. Thankfully, and at long last, the transformation seemed to end, and the creature went still. However, it no longer looked like a hideous mockery of a lobster. It now distinctly looked like the hideous mockery of an octopus.
The room was, once again, silent. Close to everyone's mouths seemed to have opened to some degree, including, Miki realized, her own. Kenkichi almost looked worried, as if he wondered if the sight had paralyzed them.
Eventually, though, the silence finally ended. Otonashi gave Ken a serious expression and said, "Okay, we have to talk about that."
"I agree," Gordon growled. "What the fuck just happened, Yamane?"
"Well," the scientist began, "from what I've gathered, Barubaroi has the ability to manipulate its DNA. When it consumes a new organism, it not only takes in its nutrients but its DNA as well. It can then incorporate that DNA into its own, transforming into a doppelganger of the organism. An imperfect mimic of sorts. It's essentially an instantaneous self-evolution. Here… " Ken suddenly turned and walked quickly over to his desk. Scrounging around for a few moments, Ken eventually returned with a collection of photographs clutched in his hand.
"This isn't the first time this thing has evolved. Here is what it looked like when I first found it." Ken handed over one of the photographs to Otonashi, who quickly began to examine the image.
"Fascinating," she said as she passed the photo to Azusa. "You say you found it in a pool of the Destroyer's blood?"
"Yeah," Ken said, "and I know what you're thinking. I believe that has something to do with its origin as well."
Azusa then passed the photo over to Miki. She looked closely at the photograph. It showed an image of what appeared to be a small, fuzzy, dark green ball held in the palm of a gloved hand. However, Miki could quickly tell that it was the same as the creature in the tank. Its form was completely different. There were no arms or legs, no fins or tails. However, it had that same green skin and multiple sickly yellow eyes staring into the camera.
"This was its first form?" Miki asked. When Kenkichi nodded, Miki, passing the photo on to Koji, asked, "How many times did you feed it?"
"Pretty much every day," Kenkichi replied, "but not all of those times were with animals that I hadn't given it before. I first fed it some algae, which I didn't notice much change. I then fed it some seaweed, and I thought there might have been some new tendrils, but I couldn't be sure."
"Then you fed it a fish, I assume," Otonashi guessed.
"A Japanese rice fish, to be exact," Ken confirmed. "That was the first time I discovered this ability. I then fed it a Japanese spider crab and, of course, it evolved again. I experimented with a few different species of plants and animals. Some different species of fish, an assortment of plants, various insects. I gave it the Japanese giant salamander a few weeks ago."
"Did anything happen when you gave it something it's already had before, specifically after it transformed into something else?" Otonashi asked, passing the photos on to Azusa.
Ken shook his head. "No. Only when given something new does it change, and its new form isn't always vastly different from its last. The first transformation was probably with the algae, but the change was so small that I didn't notice. I guess that the degree of change depends on the complexity of the DNA it's consuming and how different it is from its own. So, if I were to feed it some species of grass, nothing much would change. Maybe a few grass-like tendrils would appear, but that would probably be it. The same thing goes if I feed it another octopus, even one of a different species. But if I were to feed it something completely new like, say, a dog, I'm sure its new form would be drastically different."
Miki was then given the other photos, of which there were only three. The first seemed to be Barubaroi's mockery of a rice-fish, with a bulbous, spherical body and a thin tail trailing behind with tendrils growing from it. The second image showed a form that seemed like a cross between a frog, a cricket, and a crab. This form had a longer body, which ended in a tadpole-like tail. The back legs were bent like that of a cricket's and the front legs were bent almost like a frog's, though they ended with crab-like claws instead of webbed feet. The last photo, of course, was of Barubaroi's salamander form. Each form was drastically different from the other, but the creature's dark green skin and numerous sickly yellow eyes scattered across the thing's body made it clear that each photo was of the same creature.
"So, you do think this thing is connected to the Destroyer?" Otonashi asked as Miki passed the photos on to Koji.
"Of course," Ken replied simply.
"Well isn't that all the reason to have it destroyed?" Otonashi then asked.
Kenkichi frowned. "Barubaroi isn't the Destroyer," he said. "It was probably just a single-celled bacteria that either lived in or was consumed by the Destroyer, mutating it into what it is today."
"And if that's the case, then it was probably mutated by the micro-oxygen in the Destroyer's blood," Otonashi said. "We all know what happened when prehistoric crustaceans were mutated by micro-oxygen. How do we know that won't happen to this."
"It could have been mutated by radiation, like Godzilla," Ken suggested after a moment's thought. "The Shockirus discovered in 1984 were sea lice that were mutated by the radiation coming from Godzilla's body. Barubaroi could have a similar origin."
"But the Destroyer wasn't radioactive," Otonashi said. "All of the radiation that had been present at Haneda Airport came from Godzilla. Even if we assume that it was never inside the Destroyer, it was most likely mutated by the micro-oxygen in the blood you found it in."
Ken was left in thought for another moment, eventually saying, "Well, just because they both came from micro-oxygen doesn't mean they have the same powers. The Destroyer clearly didn't have these evolutionary abilities, and the Barubaroi has shown no sign of spitting purple rays."
"But that's my point," Otonashi countered. "How can you know the capabilities of a creature that can manipulate its own evolution, and how can you then expect to control it? You found it in a puddle of the Destroyer's blood - you grabbed it because you wanted to study it, but this thing has no idea where it is or even what it is and it will defend itself, violently if necessary."
"It hasn't shown any violent behavior before," Ken said.
"But that doesn't mean it won't in the future," Otonashi countered. "Like, for example, if you were to begin more… aggressive experiments."
Kenkichi shook his head as if he couldn't believe what he was hearing. He then looked back at the biologist and said, "I expected this sort of thing from the soldiers, but not from a scientist." Gordon glared at Kenkichi but the young Yamane continued. "I mean, how can we stand in the light of discovery, and not act?"
In response, Otonashi scoffed. "What's so great about discovery? It's a violent, penetrative act that scars what it explores. What you call discovery…" Otonashi paused, a small smirk slipping onto her face, almost as if she was reminded of something. "I call the rape of the natural world," she finished.
There was a moment of silence, but it was quickly broken by Captain Gordon. "Why did you try to hide this from us, Yamane?" the American asked gruffly.
"I didn't want to run the risk of you guys having it destroyed," Ken said. "Not until I could find something that would advance either our technology or our knowledge of it."
"Well, you're right about me wanting it destroyed," Gordon admitted. "If that thing evolves into something we don't want it to, like a human or - God forbid - a kaiju, it's going to be more trouble than it's worth."
"But don't you think there's a chance we could get something out of it? Like a weapon against kaiju, for instance?" Ken asked, clearly trying to get Gordon's interest.
The Captain did seem to consider the prospect, as well as Yuki, Koji, and even Kiyoshi, but Gordon then said, "We have the Gotengo for that."
Ken opened his mouth as if to protest, but was suddenly interrupted by Otonashi. "That reminds me," she said. "Whether or not you destroy this thing - which I suggest you do - there's still the matter of Angilas, or whatever it's called."
"Anguirus," Azusa corrected, "and we're not going to kill him."
"But why not?" Otonashi asked. "If the Gotengo and its Absolute Zero Cannon are as good as you say they are, then we should use them to destroy the kaiju before it has the chance to destroy one of our cities. Even if it isn't, it's still a good opportunity to test if the cannon actually works."
"It works," Azusa said. "We have test footage if you want proof, but we're not using it on him."
"Well, let me ask you this," Otonashi said, "Do you consider Barubaroi to be a threat to humanity?"
Azusa glanced at the strange creature sitting idle in its aquarium, deep in thought. Eventually, she said, "Well, I guess if it consumes DNA of a dangerous animal, like a kaiju, maybe. And, as you said, we don't know this thing's full potential."
"So you agree that it should be destroyed." When Azusa hesitated, giving the creature another glance, this time one that was more unsure, Otonashi said, "Look, Azusa, I understand that you probably find Barubaroi to be quite the discovery. I myself find it to be very fascinating. But the things this creature can do if it gets ahold of the wrong DNA makes the risks far greater than any possible rewards we could get from studying it. That is why I believe this thing should be destroyed before it either escapes or assumes a form that cannot be destroyed. Do you agree?"
After a moment, Azusa, giving Ken an apologetic look, nodded solemnly and said, "Yes."
"Well, let's be consistent then," Otonashi said, a small satisfied smile slipping onto her face. "Right now, Anguirus is dormant, but it will likely awaken within a short period of time. That's why you brought Miss Saegusa here now rather than before."
"Let's also look at what we know about Anguirus," Otonashi continued. "This kaiju is, to put it simply, a mutated Ankylosaur. It has the dinosaurian appearance, the thick armor on its back and legs, and even the club at the end of its tail. The only things that make Anguirus stand out when compared to its prehistoric counterpart are its back spikes and its massive size. But even so, that is still enough to make this kaiju a potentially dangerous one.
"Angurius can easily destroy buildings, let alone military vehicles. Its club alone could probably carve out entire swaths of a city. Anguirus is likely slow, given its size and armor, but this thing is also a kaiju, meaning it also has the possibility to move at greater speeds than expected. In speaking of possibilities, it's likely that Anguirus probably also has some sort of beam attack, which would be its most destructive ability, and one I call likely because almost every other kaiju that appeared had a beam attack of some sort."
"Actually," Azusa said, "we've made x-rays of Anguirus and we haven't found anything that could point to it having any long-range abilities."
"Even so," Otonashi said dismissively, "it's still something to be prepared for. And whether or not Anguirus has a beam attack, it still has very thick armor, which you can bet makes Anguirus invulnerable to conventional weaponry.
"If it is true that the Gotengo has the weaponry to kill this creature, despite its armor, then you should go for it, preferably before it wakes up, preferably before it can fight back, and preferably before it can attack us. The only thing that is keeping you from killing it is your desire to study it, and your hopes that maybe, just maybe, it is a creature that would rather protect us than destroy us. And just like with Barubaroi, the possible rewards aren't worth the risks."
Despite Otonashi's lecture, Azusa didn't surrender her position. "In case you've forgotten," she said, "Monarch's goal is to find and study kaiju, not to kill them. Though this is the first kaiju we've seen in eight years, it won't be the last. We need to find a way to coexist with these titans because all-out war against them would be far more destructive than if we left them alone and studied them in peace."
"But we might not have a choice in the matter," Koji spoke up. "Most of the kaiju we've encountered have attacked us first. Sure there were a few that tried to protect us, but assuming that Anguirus will be one of them is taking a pretty big risk."
Miki couldn't help but frown at Koji's statement. She agreed that assuming Anguirus was benevolent was taking a risk, but she felt that attacking Anguirus first was taking a greater one.
"Actually, I think it's the opposite," Miki said, deciding to voice her opinion. "Most of the kaiju we've encountered didn't attack us first. Rather, we attacked them. When we look at the history of kaiju, while some attacked out of malice, more of them attacked either to defend themselves or even for revenge.
"Rodan attacked in 1994 to protect Junior, who he believed to be a part of his family and that we were going to hurt him. He fought Mechagodzilla and even gave his life for Godzilla to help save Junior. Battra attacked the year before because he saw the pollution humanity had created and took it to be an attack on the planet, which, according to the Cosmos, he had been created to protect. If you remember, Mothra briefly attacked us as well, because we had stolen the Cosmos from her."
Miki sighed as the last example entered her mind. "Then, of course, we have Godzilla. The first Godzilla attacked in 1954 not because it was evil, but because it had been attacked first by the American nuclear tests a few months prior. The second Godzilla was an innocent creature living by itself before it was attacked by American troops during World War 2. It was then, like the first, mutated by a nuclear bomb.
"But if that wasn't proof enough," Miki continued, trying to suppress the sad memories, "then we have the third Godzilla, Junior, who, unlike his predecessors, was not raised in atomic fire, but in the care of humans." Miki glanced at Azusa, who smiled at her. "It was this care that made Junior grow up with a far different view of humans than his adoptive father. While Godzilla protected humanity against Astrogodzilla and the Destroyer, it was because they had attacked Junior, not because they had attacked us. But Junior, when he fought the Destroyer, he had tried to protect us, and it was because he decided that we were worth protecting. This is a view he gained through the love and care he was shown by us when he was born."
"But Anguirus isn't Godzilla Junior," Otonashi pointed out. "Junior was just born when you and Azusa took care of him. Anguirus is an adult. And what's more, for all we know, Anguirus might not be sentient. It might attack a nuclear reactor, not because we attacked it first, but simply because it was hungry and we happen to have the food it needs. That's why the Gyaos attacked us, not because they hate us, but because we happened to be a source of food."
In response, Miki said, "The behavior of a kaiju is never certain unless we make it so."
Otonashi seemed to understand the meaning behind Miki's words, but she sighed and shook her head. "But there won't be the risk of it having destructive behavior if we kill it right now, which, thanks to the Gotengo, is something that we can achieve."
"And what about the risk that it won't work?" Miki said. "I trust Azusa when she says that the Absolute Zero Cannon will work, but you don't seem like the kind of person who takes risks."
Otonashi was silent for a moment, the biologist being deep in thought. After a moment, though, she chuckled. "That's very perceptive of you," she said. "On the contrary, I am all for taking risks. I am simply more hesitant to do so when the risk is more detrimental than the reward is advantageous, and especially when innocent lives are involved."
"Anyway, I would still like to know," Otonashi continued, looking between Miki and Azusa, "why are you two fine with the destruction of Barubaroi and yet so adamant about keeping Anguirus alive?"
Miki considered the question, in which she began to wonder whether she actually did want Barubaroi to be destroyed. The creature was certainly odd, but should it be destroyed because of that?
Before Miki could think on that further, Azusa said, "I think it also has something to do with risks. You say that studying Barubaroi creates a risk that is not worth the possible knowledge or advancements we could gain from it. I agree. However, I do not believe that the risk of keeping Anguirus alive outweighs the rewards we could get from studying him. In fact, I think it's riskier to attack him than it would be to leave him alone. As Miki said, most of the kaiju we've encountered only attacked us because we attacked it first. Even in the wild, there are numerous animals, such as venomous snakes, that only attack humans because humans messed with them. I believe the risk of letting Anguirus live and giving him the chance to attack our cities on its own does not outweigh the risks of Anguirus surviving an attack from the Gotengo, in which it is certain to fight back."
Otonashi thought about Azusa's statement for a moment. "If the kaiju does survive the Gotengo's attack," the biologist contemplated, "it would most likely cement it as being our enemy. But, again," she continued, "that's under the assumption that it can survive the Absolute Zero Cannon. Considering how the kaiju would be unable to avoid or defend itself against the attack in its current state, I think that the chance of Anguirus surviving is low enough to make the risk of attacking it less than the risk of letting it live. After all, it's much easier to kill a sleeping foe than it is to kill an active one."
Azusa shook her head. "As I said earlier, Monarch's purpose isn't to kill kaiju, but to study them."
"But your organization is under the jurisdiction of the UNGCC, whose goals are to kill kaiju." Otonashi countered. "You were established to study kaiju, yes, but it was so they could use that information to find a weakness in the kaiju that they can exploit. In this situation, however, you don't need to study this creature because you already have something that can kill it. So I say cut out the middleman and kill Anguirus here and now while it can neither defend itself nor attack anyone."
Azusa opened her mouth and was about to reply, but she was suddenly cut off by Yuki. "This conversation is going nowhere," the colonel said. "We still have a few days before Anguirus wakes up, which is plenty of time to make a decision and call the higher-ups for authorization. For now, let's deal with the matter at hand. What should we do with Barubaroi?"
"I still think we should keep it alive and study it," Ken said. He then looked at Azusa and continued, "If Monarch's goal is really to study kaiju, then shouldn't we study this thing as well? It's not really a kaiju, per se, but studying its powers could help us unlock the secret of evolution!"
"At the expense of what?" Otonashi said, "The lives of hundreds, or even thousands?"
"No," Ken said. "We easily have the technology to keep Barubaroi safe and secure in containment, with full control over what it consumes and thus what powers it gets."
"But we don't know what exactly it can do," Azusa said. "How do we know it can't fire beams of micro-oxygen? How do we know that it doesn't have some secret ability we've never seen before? We may be able to control what new powers it can get, but we can't stop it from using powers it already has, powers that we may not know even exist."
"The same can be applied to Anguirus, and you want to keep him alive," Ken retorted. "I know we've made x-rays of him," he continued, cutting Azusa off, "but that doesn't mean there isn't some ability Anguirus possesses that we don't know about." A smile suddenly slipped onto Ken's face, as if something suddenly popped into his mind. "And you know how we find out about these hidden powers? We study it. That's how."
"You've been studying Barubaroi for eight years," Gordon pointed out gruffly. "If there was something important to be discovered, you should have discovered it by now."
"First of all, I haven't been studying this thing around the clock," Ken said. "I usually only have the time to feed it a couple of times a day."
"That's still eight years, no matter how much time per day you spent actually studying it," Otonashi pointed out.
"Sure," Ken admitted, "but the fact I haven't discovered anything other than its ability to self-evolve points to the creature having no other power. Thus, we do know the extent of Barubaroi's ability, and we can safely put it into captivity and study its ability to evolve without any worry of it escaping through the use of hidden powers."
"It may not need special powers to escape," Otonashi said. "Octopi are infamous for their ability to squeeze through tight places and escape containment. Oh, and, in case you forgot, you just fed it one a few minutes ago."
"It's possible to keep an octopus in containment," Ken argued. "You just have to be careful."
"Maybe so," Otonashi began, "but the history of evolution tells us that life escapes all barriers. Life breaks free. Life expands to new territories. Painfully, perhaps even dangerously. But life finds a way." Otonashi smiled. "And, as it so happens, Barubaroi is a master of evolution."
Another silence fell across the room, each person considering each perspective displayed in the debate. Glancing at the strange creature sitting practically motionless in the tank, Miki found herself agreeing with Otonashi and Azusa that it was too dangerous to keep Barubaroi alive. She shuddered at the thought of such a creature consuming kaiju DNA, especially if it were from a powerful kaiju - like Godzilla - and gaining that kaiju's abilities. There was also so much they didn't know about it. Maybe Barubaroi did have some of the powers the Destroyer had used. Maybe it had other powers no one had ever seen before. And even if it didn't, the power of evolution was enough by itself to make Barubaroi a potentially extremely dangerous threat.
A part of Miki did feel guilty for having such thoughts. After all, she had defended Godzilla from similar arguments. Godzilla had been, of course, extremely dangerous himself, and Miki knew there was good reason to hate him. But Miki had been in Godzilla's head. She knew what he had been through, and why he had come to hate humanity. She knew he had feelings - not just anger and hate, but love too. His appearance in 1995 hadn't been an attack on humanity, but on the creature that had kidnapped his adopted son. In 1996, Miki had watched Godzilla grieve for the death of the very same creature.
Should Miki really assume this creature wouldn't be the same just because of its odd appearance and dangerous abilities? Should she doubt its sentience just because she lost her own telepathic powers? Should she condemn it to death because of that?
Oddly enough, Miki found herself wishing for her powers back. Before, she had been perfectly content without them. She had been enjoying a nice, peaceful life as a normal person. But now there was a situation that required her help, but Miki no longer had the powers to do so. She could have easily found out if either Barubaroi or Anguirus were peaceful. She might have even been able to calm and subdue them if they weren't. But all she had now was her own logic and reasoning, and while she believed it to be a bad idea to attack Angurius, with Barubaroi, she wasn't as sure.
"Well…" Ken said after a moment of thought, "how do we know trying to destroy it won't make it want to attack us, like with Anguirus?" Ken looked at Azusa. "This is all under the assumption that Barubaroi would attack us the first opportunity it gets. But what if Barubaroi is like Mothra? What if it's like Godzilla?"
Ken looked at Miki at the mention of Godzilla, and suddenly his eyes brightened. "I know!" he proclaimed, glancing around the room. "We have Miki right here! One of the most powerful psychics, and the only person to have communicated with kaiju, is right here." Ken's eyes returned to Miki with a pleading look in them. "Could you read Barubaroi's mind for us so we can find out if it's aggressive or not?"
Miki couldn't help but wince at the question, and she found herself looking away from Ken's gaze. Once more, despite enjoying eight years without them, she wished for her powers to return. Ken seemed so excited at the idea, only for Miki to let him down. At the same time, the rest of the room went quiet, knowing how useless Ken's idea was. The young Yamane glanced around, seemingly recognizing the change in mood.
"What?" he asked innocently.
"I'm sorry, Ken," Miki said, looking back guiltily, "but I don't have my powers anymore. They're gone."
Ken looked back at her, a shocked look in his eyes. "What?"
"Ever since Godzilla died, my powers have disappeared," Miki explained. "I can't communicate through telepathy, move objects with telekinesis, or even read minds. I can't hear anything that isn't audible."
"But…" Ken stammered, "but how?"
"We don't know," Otonashi said. "Trust me, I would tell you if I had the slightest idea."
"I guess that explains why you left G-Force and the psionics institute," Ken said, looking at the tank in deep thought, "and I guess that's why you haven't already read its mind." Ken looked back at Miki, confusion on his face. "But why'd you come?"
Miki gave a brief glance at Koji before saying, "Well, I spent eight years trying to live a normal life, which I feel I was successful at doing. But that meant I was away when the Gyaos appeared, or when Desghidorah attacked. I realized I could have helped in those situations, even if only a little, despite the loss of my powers. I could have done something then, and I can still do something now."
"Well," Ken said, giving Koji the briefest of glances while considering Miki's words, "what do you think? Should we destroy Barubaroi, or should we study it?"
Miki sighed as she weighed the options once more. Should Barubaroi be destroyed, or should they let it live and risk the chance that it would escape and begin attacking? But what if they tried to kill it but failed to do so, giving incentive for Barubaroi to attack anyway? Sure, Barubaroi wasn't even close to being the size of Anguirus. It wasn't even as large as a baby Gyaos. Surely they couldn't fail to kill a creature that was the size of an octopus and barely moved, right? But Barubaroi did have the power to manipulate its DNA, and it was possibly mutated by micro-oxygen. Could they really assume they could control such a unique creature, whether they tried to kill it or not?
In the end, all Miki could say was, "I… I don't know."
Everyone else sighed, seeing that the debate had no end in sight. However, it was at that moment when the discussion did end. Yuki, who had been mostly silent over the course of the conversation, suddenly said, "It doesn't matter. At least not yet. I still need to report the situation to my commander. If you want to continue this debate, you can do it over dinner."
Yuki then glanced over at Captain Gordon, who nodded in understanding. "I'll notify the kitchen staff." The captain of the Gotengo then looked over at Koji and Kiyoshi. "I won't be joining, but you two should. If you come to a decision, I'd like to know about it."
Koji nodded and Kiyoshi smiled. "Good, I'm starving," Kiyoshi said.
As everyone began to leave the room, Ken rushed over to Barubaroi's tank, putting the tank roof firmly over the aquarium, sealing the creature in. Miki gave the thing one last glance. The creature had remained motionless, but that only seemed to make it creepier.
That, or the fact that each of its yellow eyes seemed to be staring directly at her…
Miki shook her head and turned to leave, though that certainly did not dissuade the feeling of multiple eyes watching her. She once more wondered if it was worth keeping the creature alive. Was she letting the creature's odd powers and disturbing appearance manipulate her biases? Or was it really too dangerous to be left alive? Miki suddenly remembered the words of the Shobijin and the prophecy they foretold. The prophecy wasn't exactly clear, but could this creature possibly be the certain doom they had referred to?
Miki sighed a final time as she left the laboratory, wishing once more that she still possessed her powers.
Colonel Akira Yuki walked up to a landline in an empty office, picking up the phone and dialing the number of his commander. Monarch technically didn't have one person in charge. There were head scientists and people like him overseeing the organization's security division and military pursuits. But it was G-Force, and by extension, the UNGCC, that led the organization. Yuki, as well as Koji, Kiyoshi, Gordon, and his crew, were all members of G-Force, which did have a commander in charge.
In the 90s, it had been Takaaki Aso, who had commanded G-Force since its inception in 1994, when Mechagodzilla had been completed. But in 1999, after the Battle of Kyoto, he had retired. In his stead, a far younger commander, who had been involved in Godzilla's attacks since before even the UNGCC had been established, was given command. A man who had been in charge of the team controlling the Super-X 2 in 1990, and the man who had piloted the Super-X 3 in 1996, before it had been handed over to Koji, Kiyoshi, and Yuki himself.
Suddenly, the phone clicked, and a familiar voice said, "Kuroki speaking."
"Sir," Yuki said, "this is Colonel Yuki."
"Ah," Commander Sho Kuroki replied, "I take it you've arrived at Monarch's outpost?"
"Yes," Yuki said. "We met up with Azusa and Kenkichi. They and the others are having dinner right now. We met Gordon as well, but he's not joining them."
"Is Miki there?" Kuroki asked.
"Yeah, she's here. She's eating with the others," Yuki sighed, "but we have a situation. A few, actually."
Yuki heard a sigh from the other end of the phone. "What is it? Did Anguirus awake?"
"No," Yuki began, "but he's not our only problem either."
Yuki explained Kenkichi's discovery, as well as the powers the creature possessed. He also went on to explain the debate that had occurred afterward, mentioning the discussion about Anguirus, though he left out Miki's lack of powers. Of course, Yuki knew it wouldn't take long for that to come up.
When Yuki had finished, Kuroki sighed and said, "A creature that can manipulate its DNA and evolve into any organism it eats. And I thought the Destroyer was bad."
"For all we know, Barubaroi might have those powers as well," Yuki said grimly.
Kuroki chuckled. "Goro would have been overjoyed."
Yuki couldn't help but chuckle as well. Goro Gondo had been a colonel with the JSDF all the way back in 1990. Yuki and Goro had gone to the academy together before then, and they had grown to become the best of friends. Yuki knew Kuroki had been close to Goro as well, for they had been partners in the JSDF. However, Goro would never get to join G-Force or to see his partner become its commander. Colonel Goro Gondo had died during Godzilla's attack on Osaka in 1990, firing a shell of Anti-Nuclear Energy Bacteria into Godzilla's before the building he had stood in was collapsed by that same creature. Yuki had vowed since that day to avenge his long-time friend's death by killing Godzilla. Of course, that desire was long gone. Godzilla was dead and Yuki had come to terms with Goro's death even before then. But, hearing his name stung nonetheless.
Yuki could guess even now how his old friend would have reacted. He could hear his voice and see his smile as he would have said, "Another giant dinosaur and an unholy amalgamation of evolution? Things are finally starting to get good!"
Yuki sighed and said, "Yes he would, sir. Yes, he would."
A brief moment of solemn silence fell between them for a moment. Eventually, it was dispersed when Kuroki asked, "Well, did Miki get anything from it? From either of them?"
"That's the other problem," Yuki said. "She says that she no longer has her powers. She hasn't heard a single thought since Godzilla died. We - including Saegusa - have no idea why."
"Damn," Kuroki said with another sigh. "I guess we're SOL in the psychic department."
"We could get another psychic and see if they can find anything from Barubaroi," Yuki suggested.
"We could," Kuroki admitted, "but it would take at least a day for them to arrive, and getting anything from Anguirus is a lost cause either way."
"Do you think we should kill them both?" Yuki guessed.
There was a moment of silence as Kuroki considered the question. When he did reply, instead of answering, he asked Yuki, "What do you think?"
Now it was Yuki's turn to remain silent as he considered the question before him. He had already pondered this during the prior debate, but he hadn't yet made a decision. Now, however, whatever he said could help determine what course they took, and Yuki couldn't just leave a neutral answer, as Miki had done.
Eventually, after deep thought and consideration, Yuki decided on an answer. "I think we should kill them both, sir," Yuki said. "Barubaroi should be easy, considering we could probably just torch it. Angurius might be a bit tougher, but as long as he remains dormant, the Gotengo should be able to do its job."
Kuroki was silent for a moment longer before saying, "I think I agree with you. I'll have to consult the UNGCC, but I think they will probably agree too."
"Miki and Azusa aren't gonna like it," Yuki said, "Kenkichi definitely won't, but it's the best way to keep people safe."
"Exactly," Kuroki said. "I'll call you after I've talked with the UNGCC. You'll get your orders then."
"Yes, sir," Yuki said, and he heard the line disconnect with a click.
Setting the phone back down onto its receiver, Yuki couldn't help but let out another sigh. It seemed that, no matter how the debate ended, Anguirus and Barubaroi's fates were probably sealed. Otonashi would be happy, as well as Gordon. Azusa might be glad to hear of Barubaroi's fate, and perhaps Miki as well. But Azusa, Miki, and Ken will all probably object against the verdict that would most likely drop on Anguirus's head.
Yuki sat down in a nearby chair and lit another cigarette. Whether or not they liked it, it didn't matter. Yuki knew they all were on the side of protecting innocent lives, and killing both creatures was the best way of ensuring that.
Assuming, of course, nothing went wrong.
A/N - Hey guys! I'm back again. As you can tell, this chapter was heavily influenced by the dinner scene in Jurassic Park. There were even a few lines I pulled or paraphrased from that scene. I also blatantly ripped the "life finds a way" quote, but I felt it fit quite well with the context and couldn't resist. Hopefully, the more original dialogue would be enough to make up for the ripoffs. I also hope that none of you were bored by all the talking. It was pretty important, or even vital, that the characters discuss the situation in this chapter. Jurassic Park would be a lot worse without that dinner scene, just as this story would be a lot worse if the characters just didn't talk about the situation they were in. While it's important to have monster action in a monster story, sometimes it's just as important, if not more so, to have the characters just talk. This way, we can learn more about their personalities and their beliefs, and thus their character. Hopefully, I was able to do that in this chapter. If you have any criticisms or suggestions, don't be afraid to share them. Hopefully, there will be more monster action in the next chapter. If not, it is definitely coming soon. Well, that's all for now. I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter, and that you have a great day!