Godzilla vs. King Kong
By C. L. Werner
V
A Gathering of Titans
General O'Brien stood before the crew of Mechani-Kong in GARD's war room. The old army general indicated the enormous monitor behind him and the live telecast being displayed within.
"As you can see, Kong has survived his little dip in the ocean," the General said as the screen showed King Kong tearing apart Osaka's airport with his bare hands. "You already know that Kong was reported in the Aleutians. What is not general knowledge is that the Japanese tried to help us out by having their own mecha project attend to Kong." General O'Brien pointed to a small framed window within the live telecast. Displayed was the still figure of Gigan, tanks and artillery pieces warily taking up position around the cyborg monster. "Apparently, this creature is part organic and part machine. The Japanese have given it the name 'Gigan'. Obviously, Gigan failed in its mission to kill Kong and now Kong has decided to destroy Japan as his way of getting even. To make matters worse, the cyborg is not responding to his controllers at the UNGCC."
"About as bad as it gets," Col. Armstrong sated dryly. The officer's pride had been stung when he had heard of the cyborg's battle with King Kong. Now, in a perverse sort of way, he was pleased that Gigan was giving the Japanese problems.
"For a number of reasons, it has been decided to send Mechani-Kong to Japan to assist the Japanese Self Defense Forces and the UNGCC. I don't have to tell you that a lot of those reasons are political. The eyes of the world are on Japan now."
"So which problem are we supposed to take care of, Sir?" interrupted Capt. Cabot. "Kong or the cyborg?"
"For now, King Kong is the greatest concern. Gigan remains motionless on the slopes of Mt. Fuji. The Japanese still hope that they can figure out why the cyborg is not responding and fix it."
"Are we to subdue Kong?" asked Capt. Wray. General O'Brien shook his head.
"No, it is felt that capturing Kong at this point would cause too many headaches for a lot of important people. Even General Farnsworth isn't asking us to pull our punches this time. Besides, with the machine arm still out of action, capturing Kong would probably be impossible." General O'Brien nodded to his adjutant Lt. Delgado and the officer raised the lights.
"Lt. Delgado has seen to it that Mechani-Kong has been rearmed with plasma grenades and heat seeker missiles in place of the freon bombs and tranquilizers." General O'Brien looked over the three operators of GARD's mightiest weapon. "You leave at once. Do us proud."
Lt. Delgado walked with Col. Armstrong down to the mammoth hangar which housed Mechani-Kong. Technicians and mechanics scrambled as they completed last minute checks on the massive robot. Already, the elevator that would conduct the crew to the cockpit within the Mechani-Kong's head drew near the floor of the hangar. Captains Cabot and Wray walked toward the elevator. Col. Armstrong turned and shook Delgado's hand.
"A lot of people are counting on us. Wish us luck, Lieutenant, that's an order." Colonel Armstrong winked at the junior officer as he departed and joined the rest of his crew on the elevator. Lt. Delgado stared after the commander of the Mechani-Kong, watching as the elevator scaffold withdrew, as the hangar door irised open, as the robot's massive jets lifted it from the bay and into the Nevada sky. Lt. Delgado stared at the empty hangar for a long time before he turned and slowly walked away.
* * * * *
The helicopter slowly descended toward the small cluster of islands. The largest of the chain was Ogasawara, the enormous nuclear energy reactor visible even from this distance. The reactor was Miki Saegusa's brainchild and the young psychic smiled as she saw the structure gleaming in the sunlight. It had taken the Japanese Parliament only a few minutes to approve the construction after Miki Saegusa informed them that the main reason Godzilla was drawn to Japan was to feed. Removing that need would free Japan from the threat of the monster's attacks. The plan had been simple, build a nuclear reactor on Ogasawara for the express purpose of feeding Godzilla. The plan had been derisively called 'Godzilla's lunchbox' but none could say now that it had not been a success. A small team of scientists maintained the reactor and studied Godzilla; already having learned far more about this new monster than fifty years of research had yielded on the older monster. Having almost been raised by humans, the new Godzilla seemed more aware of mankind, and more kindly disposed.
The helicopter circled high above the island. Miki looked down from the window, spying the large canvas canopy that kept the tropical sun off Ogasawara's other monstrous denizen. With Infant Island almost completely dead from ecological abuse, Mothra and her handmaidens the Cosmos had resettled upon Ogasawara. It seemed that neither Godzilla nor Mothra minded the presence of the other, both monsters paying the other little heed. Following her near-fatal battle with King Ghidorah, Mothra had spent almost all of her time in the shelter that had been built for her. There was much speculation that the monster would never recover from so horrible a struggle.
Miki hoped that such speculation was untrue. She knew, however, that if Mothra did succumb, it would not be the end of the giant insect. Already she had lain the egg that would one day hatch her successor. The psychic's thoughts suddenly turned away from Mothra as the waters below foamed and churned.
"There," Miki said, pointing over the pilot's shoulder. In the water below, a black, scaly head emerged from the mass of white foam. The reptilian snout turned upwards, the large, red eyes regarding the hovering UNGCC helicopter. Godzilla let a small roar escape his dripping jaws. Miki stared at the monster for a long period, then closed her eyes as she sent psychic feelers into Godzilla's cold-blooded brain. It was several minutes before the young woman again opened her eyes.
"He is going to feed," she told her companions in the helicopter.
"And then?" asked Director Segawa nervously.
Miki watched as Godzilla emerged from the ocean and walked toward Ogasawara's reactor. As the giant reptile drew near the structure, klaxons sounded and the chief curiosity of the reactor's construction displayed itself. Rising upon a hydraulic lift, the reactor's nuclear pile emerged from the roof of the structure, glowing radiation pouring from it like a halo of death. Godzilla stood above the exposed pile and slowly the glow faded away from the pile. When radiation levels fell to almost nothing, the klaxons stopped sounding and the pile withdrew back into the building. Godzilla turned away from the structure and made his way back toward the beach.
"Yes," Miki said quietly, "he is going to follow us back to Japan. Godzilla will fight King Kong."
* * * * *
Vander Van Hise laughed as he read the report for the second time. Vice-president Maxford stood in front of the president of MARS, his face unreadable. The executive had been with MARS for a long time and knew better than to give anyone an idea of what he was thinking, especially Vander Van Hise.
"This is perfect!" the president of MARS chortled, his laughter dry and cackling. The old man beamed at Maxford. "We could not have planned this better if we tried!" Vander Van Hise rose from his chair and walked over to his liquor cabinet, pouring two liberal doses of scotch into a pair of crystal goblets. He handed one of the glasses to Maxford. The younger man sipped slowly from the glass as the old executive bolted half of the liquid and laughed again.
"As long as it happens after the Mechani-Kong has engaged Kong or Gigan, it will be perfect!" Vander Van Hise laughed again. "It will appear that the robot's destruction was due to some battlefield damage," Vander Van Hise's eyes gleamed as a new thought struck the MARS president. "We can even claim that the robot's destruction was due to its' crew's incompetence, rather than any mechanical failing!"
"I think our foreign contract would believe that," Maxford quietly agreed. Vander Van Hise raised his glass and motioned for Maxford to join him.
"To Monsters," the old man toasted. "May the font of horrors never run dry!"
King Kong snarled as he reached down and grabbed the retreating tank. The giant ape clenched his fist, crushing the armored vehicle as though it were made of clay. Kong threw the crushed ball of metal at the rest of the retreating armor, the resulting collision disabling two more of the vehicles. The rest of the column continued to fire as they slowly led the giant ape away from Kyoto. The monster had almost reached Japan's ancient capital before the JSDF had finally managed to turn him. Now, the army commanders desperately hoped to lure the giant ape to the grassy plain to the west of the city. If their plan worked, neither cyborgs nor Godzilla would be needed to end King Kong's reign of destruction.
The remnants of the armor reached the edge of the field. Having at last reached their destination, the tank commanders gave the order to cease fire, not that the shells were having much effect on King Kong to begin with. The giant ape's regenerative powers were almost as incredible as those of Godzilla himself. It would take more trauma than the tanks could inflict to seriously injure Kong. The JSDF high command hoped that the weapon housed on the plain would be able to deal that much damage to the rampaging monster.
Kong began to follow the fleeing tanks into the field when he stopped. The monster's eyes narrowed as he saw the giant metal discs embedded in the earth. Kong had never seen their like before, and to Kong, the unknown was always a threat. The giant ape bared his fangs and snarled at the field of gleaming metal. He did not know the true nature of the discs, did not know that they were weapons developed to battle a different monster in a different time. The field outside Kyoto represented the JSDF's second deployment of the Thunder Control System, a massive system of enormous land mine-like weapons designed to deliver tremendous electrical shocks to whatever might enter their range. It was enough to Kong that they were different from anything he had ever encountered before. The giant ape stopped pursuing the fleeing tanks and glared at the Thunder Beam field suspiciously.
Seeing Kong stop, the rearmost tanks did likewise. Valiantly, the tank crews opened fire on Kong once more. They knew that it would be necessary to goad Kong into entering the field. They also knew that there would be no time for their vehicles to escape the range of the Thunder Beam when it was activated. The shells impacted on Kong's chest, delivering pain, if not actual damage. Kong roared and dropped to his knuckles, charging into the plain.
Almost as soon as Kong entered the field of discs, the Thunder Beam was activated. White-hot artificial lightning erupted from the dozens of immense microwave towers to either side of the field, crackling across the landscape and descending with destructive force upon the metal discs and the half-dozen tanks within their range. Trapped within the sudden maelstrom of electricity, Kong's body was struck again and again by the jagged fingers of man-made lightning. Kong's jaws gaped in a silent scream as his black-furred body twitched and danced under the impact of the thunderbolts. Far away, the JSDF commanders watched as the Thunder Beam did its work. At first, they smiled, but slowly grim expressions came upon their faces.
Synthetic lightning continued to strike Kong, but the giant ape no longer screamed with pain. His body no longer twitched and jerked as each new synthetic lightning bolt struck him. A dull blue glow seemed to surge about the enormous monster. Suddenly, with growing horror, someone at the command center realized what was happening. At once, the Thunder Control System was shut down. The arcs of white fire stopped crackling about King Kong as soon as the switch was thrown. The giant ape looked around him for a moment, as if wondering where the storm had gone. Then, slowly, Kong turned away, his body fairly crackling with the power of a thunderstorm. In trying to heal him during the electrical onslaught, Kong's body had absorbed most of the Thunder Beam's energy. The JSDF watched in silence as an even more powerful King Kong made his way back towards Kyoto.
General Yamoto continued to watch as Colonel Nomura made adjustments to the massive console. It was an exact duplicate of the one buried deep within the UNGCC base, the control device Colonel Nomura had watched over during every facet of its construction. The fact that the Red Bamboo had been able to effect so exact a copy had impressed Colonel Nomura greatly, and it was soon after that the ex-GCC officer had sworn loyalty to the Red Bamboo organization. And with Colonel Nomura's loyalty had come that of Gigan. Still, General Yamoto was not completely satisfied.
"It will go faster if you let my men help," the General commented for the tenth time. Colonel Nomura rose from the consul and shook his head.
"I am completely rewriting the binary language used to communicate with Gigan. You may trust your people enough to have them assist, but I do not. If I do it, I will know it has been done properly. I will know that we will be the only ones capable of controlling Gigan and that he will understand our commands." Colonel Nomura returned to his work.
"Every minute that you leave Gigan at Fuji, the Self Defense Forces surround him with even more tanks and artillery." General Yamoto swore. "And what if the GCC manages to regain control of the cyborg?"
"They won't," retorted Col. Nomura. "I have already erased Gigan's command language, that is why this is taking so long. I have to rebuild his control structure from the base up." Colonel Nomura paused to smile at the Red Bamboo commander. "As for the JSDF, if they want to waste their lives, let them surround my monster. When I am ready, Gigan will not leave one uniform intact."
General Yamoto looked through the blinds of the window beside Colonel Nomura's workstation. "From here, we should be able to see the Diet fall."
"From here, we will hear parliament's screams," Colonel Nomura corrected.
* * * * *
King Kong roared as the giant ape battered the elevated train rail. Electricity crackled from the monster's fingers as they touched the metal. Kong had already grown used to the strange sensation, even begun to figure out how to control the energy which surged through his body. Kong rose from the twisted wreckage and lumbered toward the high-rise buildings beyond. The giant ape had nearly reached the shadowy structures when a blast of burning blue flame struck him, sending him rolling across the rubble-strewn ground.
Godzilla shrieked as he made his way from between the buildings, blasting his prone opponent with another gout of atomic fury. The radioactive flame struck Kong's body, singing fur and burning skin. Godzilla shrieked again and strode towards the reeling ape. Kong rose, roaring and beating his singed chest with bloodied paws. The two titans drew closer to one another, each taking in the measure of his enemy.
In the distance, from a hovering GCC helicopter, Miki Saegusa watched as Godzilla and King Kong circled one another in the ruins of Kyoto's western ward. The psychic tried to tell herself that Godzilla would be triumphant. But she could sense the tremendous rage and fury within Kong and knew that the coming battle was anything but decided.