KellHound270's Work
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Chapter I
Outpost 61, Yunnan Forest, China
Madison lightly bopped her head to the music her earbuds were playing. Her friend Ken had recommended the song to her, and though it was a bit weebish, she actually liked it.
She opened the email her father had sent her. The attached photo was of him and her brother, Andrew, holding wolf pups they had rescued from a trap.
She smiled as she considered a reply. Before she could type, however, the smoke alarm went off.
"Shit!" she exclaimed, bolting to the stove. "Shit, shit, shit!"
She furiously attempted to save the bacon she was cooking, but it was clear that it was beyond saving. She heard her mother walk into the kitchen.
"Maddie?" she said, confused at the situation.
"Good morning!" Madison replied, trying to downplay the situation.
Emma walked up to the smoke alarm and turned it off, saving their eardrums from damage.
"What happened?" Emma asked.
"I got distracted by Dad and Andrew's message," Madison replied. "OK! Breakfast is ready! Bacon, eggs, and toast."
"Which do you recommend?"
"The eggs and toast." Madison and her mother shared a laugh before a knock was heard.
"Come in!" Emma called from the kitchen.
The scientist and her daughter heard the door open and close, with a masculine voice calling out.
"I heard the smoke alarm go off!" the familiar voice said. "I didn't know if there was a fire, or if one of you was cooking again."
Emma stifled a laugh as Ken walked into the kitchen.
"OK, which one of you burnt the bacon?" he asked, a cheesy grin on his face.
"Madison," Emma replied, her laugh barely contained.
Madison shot her mother a nasty look before looking at Ken with an unamused expression.
"Well, let me have a taste before we make any final decisions."
Ken walked past them, his six foot height overshadowing them by a significant margin. He grabbed a piece of bacon and took a bite.
"Oh, that is bad," he simply stated. "I usually like crispy meat, but this is arson-level crispy. I think I actually taste gasoline in this."
Emma's laugh finally burst out. Madison just stood there with a straight face.
"But hey, more food for the compost bin." With that, Ken took the pan and dumped the bacon down the compost chute, where it would be gathered for compost. "At least the worms will like your cooking."
"Cooking?" Emma asked, still shaking from her laughing fit. "I thought she was practicing for Pyromania."
Ken gave a mild chuckle as he put the pan in the sink, while Emma continued her hysterical laughter.
"Is that your Papa and brother?" Ken asked, pointing at the laptop.
"Yes," Madison replied, her voice still somewhat angry.
"That's just adorable," he said, looking at the pups they were holding in the photo. "Hey, I know something they'll absolutely love."
Ken pulled out his phone and scrolled to a photo of a dog. It was a Corgi, dressed in what seemed to be ancient Roman armor. It's eyes were wide, clearly communicating it's disdain.
"Aw!" Madison and Emma both reacted.
"It's my mother's," he said, sending the photo to both Emma and Madison. "He loves people, but hates playing dress-up."
As the Russell girls pulled out their phones, a rumbling sensation was felt, and they heard a tremendous screech. They all looked out the window to see the ancient temple where Monarch Outpost 61 was.
"Dr. Russell," a voice said from Emma's walkie-talkie, "it's happening."
"We'll be right there," she replied.
Emma, Madison, and Ken walked through the stone labyrinth, encountering several scientists. One of them, Dr. Tim Mancini, walked up to Emma.
"Dr. Russell," he greeted before continuing, "this was completely unexpected. They were asleep one moment, and the next, they're lighting up like the Fourth of July."
"Did you administer sedatives?" she asked.
"No effect," Tim replied. "Whatever these things are, they want to be born."
"OK, Tim," Emma said, stopping to talk to him. "We got this. You should get some sleep."
"You kidding? Sleep or no sleep, I'm not missing this."
Emma gave him a worried look before continuing. Ken and Madison glanced at the carving in the wall as they followed, seeing the etchings of two giant moths and their larvae.
They walked into the lab where they observed two giant eggs, one a oceanic green-blue, the other a fiery crimson. Ken walked up to a woman who watched from behind a station.
"Haha," he said, catching her attention, "they're awake?"
"Yes, they are, musuko," she replied, putting her hands on his shoulders. "Our angels are being born."
The eggs released a series of bright lights, accompanied by loud pulsating. When the lights stopped, the pulsating quieted down, but they continued to speed up. The pulsating finally reached a crescendo as the eggs burst, like wet latex being ripped, revealing two monolithic figures.
The figures were very similar from behind, aside from the coloration. The one from the blue egg was grayish in color, while the other was deep black. They then turned around to face the scientists, revealing their differing anatomies.
The grey one was very similar to a caterpillar, with short, stubby legs and glowing angelic, blue eyes. The black one was far more offensive, with sharp claws on it's legs, and a yellow horn atop it's head, it's eyes glowing a fierce red.
"Meet Titanus Mosura," Dr. Mancini said, "or as we like to call them...-"
"Mothra and Battra," Madison and Ken said, at the same time.
One of the scientists stood up to speak.
"Radiation levels are normal," he said. "Should be safe to go in."
Emma nodded as she and Ken's mother walked to the door, hauling a black suitcase.
"You two coming?" Emma asked.
"Hell, yeah!" Madison replied, earning a smirk from Ken and disapproving looks from their parents.
The four walked out of the decontamination chamber. They walked up to the two larvae.
"Be ready," Ken's mother warned the guards, "but don't raise your weapons."
"Roger," one of them responded.
Emma opened the suitcase, revealing a hodgepodge of gadgetry, complimented by two touchscreens.
"Activating containment field," an automated voice said over the intercom. When it finished speaking, a wall of blue light appeared around the larvae. The newborn caterpillars seemed to be somewhat entranced by the dazzling light.
The light faded, however, as the base where the light originally came from sparked. The larvae emitted disappointed moans.
"Tim, what's going on?" Emma asked, forcing herself to keep calm.
"I don't know," he replied over the intercom. "I think... someone else is doing this."
Emma looked back at her device. It had recorded the larvae's sounds, and she was ready to test it.
She pinched her fingers together on the lower touchscreen. A high-pitched droning was heard, startling the larvae, especially the black one.
Battra screamed as he thrust one of his claws at a guard. Mothra also screamed as she spat a web of white silk at a group of guards. The larvae were going berserk.
"Emma," Ken said, standing in front of the others, "hurry up."
Emma touched the screen again, creating a higher-frequency sound.
It only made things worse. Battra went into a frenzy as his horn glowed and swept through the line of guards. Mothra grabbed a guard with her jaws and threw him into a wall, using her silk to freeze him in place.
"Not that way," Ken said, the anxiety in his voice rising.
Emma pinched her fingers again, causing a low-pitched humming to resonate through the cavern.
The larvae finally calmed down, Mothra's glow changing from red to blue, and Battra's red glow softening to orange. Mothra approached the group, ignoring the remaining guards.
Madison reached out to touch Mothra's forehead. Emma held her hand as she stretched out.
Mothra made a playful chitter as her head jerked forward. Madison drew back into her mothers grasp, laughing at Mothra's antic.
Ken shared a look with Battra, who seemed to be the more serious one.
"How ya doing?" he asked.
Battra only cocked his head to the side. Ken smiled at Battra's confusion, and it seemed like the giant caterpillar was smiling too.
The tender moment with the larvae was interrupted by a loud explosion. Everybody turned to see the lab's wall collapse to reveal a group of soldiers.
But they weren't soldiers.
The glass shattered as a bullet shot through, landing in Ken's mother's chest. Ken attended to her immediately.
"Haha!" he yelled, cradling her in his arms. "Please, don't go."
"It's OK, Ken," she replied, gasping from her pain and lack of breath. "Grandpa will take care of you."
"Like hell he will! I would take care of him!"
His mother laughed weakly before she fell limp in his arms. Faced with his loss, he pressed his face against her shoulder.
After a while, he pulled his head up, seeing her name tag.
Dr. Kina Serizawa.
He looked at the faux soldiers with anger in his eyes.
Madison, seeing an opportunity, grabbed her mother's device and took Ken's hand in her other. She ran toward the larvae.
"Madison!" Emma yelled.
"Mom, c'mon!" she replied.
Emma held still as she realized what they were doing.
Madison stopped when she and Ken were standing between Mothra and Battra. She saw that her mother hadn't followed them.
"Maddie..." Emma pleaded, holding her hand out.
It all fell into place. Emma was working with these murderers.
Seeing the error of her mother's ways, Madison opened the device and touched the screen. The high-pitched droning returned, spurring the larvae into a frenzy.
The caterpillars screeched at the intruders, their glows becoming red once again. The false soldiers opened fire on them, angering them further.
Before the larvae made any movement, another screech was heard. This one, however, came from behind. Madison, Ken, Mothra, and Battra turned around to see a bright light descend into the cavern.
Two bright lights, actually.
One source was much larger, forming a pair of lepidopteran wings. The other was smaller, seeming to be a human-like figure.
Everyone turned back to the intruders. The larvae and the moth released loud screams as the humanoid punched it's fist into it's hand, the spectacle brightening dramatically.
"Get them," Ken growled.