Part 2: Kaiju In America

Chapter VI: Alien Presence

Aaron opened his eyes to glaring light. Wincing, he imediately shut his eyes. Reflexively, he went to turn his head...

And couldn't!

Panic suddenly took over his senses, and he began to squirm around. Restraints bound his head, legs and arms.

I have a bad feeling about this, he thought to himself with a frown. Why had they suddenly tied him up? Hospitals didn't do that. Was it because of the contact he had had with the monster? But he hadn't been the only one, Jess had been there too. Maybe she's nearby.

"Jess? Jessica?" Aaron called out, his eyes slowly adjusting to the intense light that shined from large fixtures high above him.

An asian face suddenly came into his view, thankfully blocking the light from Aaron's eyes.

"Konnichi wa, Keller-san. How are you feeling?" The man asked him in a heavily accented voice.

"A bit restrained." He tried to joke, still squirming in his bonds. "What's going on here? This isn't the hospital."

"You are correct." The man nodded with a slight smile. "You are in my facility, and will soon become a part of my greatest project ever."

"What?" Aaron winced instantly, feeling the strange pain returning. "What project? Why me?!"

"Your contact with the alien substance down in the Antarctica crater has change the front lobe of your brain. You've been gifted."

"My WHAT?!" Aaron shouted at him. "Nothing had better've messed with my head!"

"Ah, but trust me, Keller-san. The change couldn't have happened at a better time."

He winced against the pain that suddenly began to flood into his head. "What the hell are you talking about? What change? Lemme' GO, you psyco!"

"Telepathy..."



Aaron knew he had blacked out. He was floating, floating in nothing, the sky. A sky. Below him was a strange, tropical, lush lanscape. The trees and plants, they didn't look like anything from Earth. Luminescent blossoms shot up from their treetop perches, bathing in the reddish light of the two nearby moons, so close that they looked like they were crashing to the planets surface. Haunting calls came from the floor of the forest, sending shivers up Aaron's spine. It's just a dream, just a dream, he told himself, gazing at the landscape below.

And just as quickly screamed.

The small, dinosaur-like head shot up through the trees and stared at him.

Aaron screamed again. Tried to swim through the thick, humid air. But he could move, couldn't even fall!

-Mother! Mother!- The creature moaned below.

Mother?! He could hear, sense in his head, what the creature was saying?! Of course, Aaron laughed at himself. This is my dream. If I want there to be talking to monsters, I can!

"Hello there!" Aaron waved, deciding to be jovial about the whole thing.

The creature turned its head towards Aaron, and he could catch the sight of the long, scorpions tail arching slightly out of the foilage.

For a second, it watched him, and then turned back towards the moons. -Mother, I'm calling! Mother!-

Even in dreamscape, Aaron's heart was going out to the little guy. Fear was instantly gone, what real damage could this creature do him here?

"It's all right." He called down to the strange creature. Why is it so smaller in my dreams? Aaron wondered to himself.

-Mother! I'm scared, where is my mother?- the beast continued to moan, so sad, so deep that Aaron could feel tears rising with the lump in his throat.

"Shhhh, relax. It's ok. I'll help you find you're mother, okay? I'm sure she's nearby."

It blinked twice. -Must find mother.-



"Damnit, I'm trying!" One of the doctors shouted at Ikeda, trying to control the restrained man's convulsing body by putting all his weight on it.

"Give him more sedatives!" Ikeda hollored back.

"He's OD'ed as it is! Anymore might kill him!"

"The alien will kill him for sure if you don't! He's my project and I'm paying you, so do it!"

"He's a human!" The doctor shouted back. "You don't own him! You can't control a human being like this!"

Ikeda snarled at the man, pulling out a small hand gun from the inside of his jacket. The doctor stared at him in horror as Ikeda pulled the trigger. The shot rang loudly in the cavernous warehouse, silencing everyone but Keller and his convulsing body. Everyone close enough watched as the doctor held the blood-seeping wound in his chest before slowly collapsing to the floor. No one moved to help, no one dared.

"Give him more sedatives." Ikeda growled to the nearest doctor.

"Yes sir."

"Sir!" Another scientist came running up to Ikeda, pushing wire- rimmed glasses back onto the bridge of his nose. "The baby Tsunagara, we're getting strange brain-wave readings from it and Mr.Keller."

"Sir! I think it's awakening!" Shouted another man from a nearby work station before Ikeda could reply.



She could feel him now, responding to her. But he wasn't alone. Something else was with him, smaller, yet just as powerful. In her mind, she called out to him, -I am here, I am coming, Young One.-

He called back, a bright burst of colors. He wasn't scared anymore, wasn't alone.

There was another ray of colors, from the Other, scared, confused, but helping her young one.

She was in its debt.



Home was gone now, so was the Other above him. He could touch mother's mind, and it was thanks to the Other.

Mewing in happiness, he went to swing his tail...

He suddenly cried out in frustration. Why couldn't he move? Where was he? So many, many strange things below and above him, the suns blinding him....

Paniking, he pushed up with his enormous legs. Things held him in place, pushed him back down. Again he tried, crying out louder. There was a snapping sound, followed by another, and another. With an ear-shattering cry, he shrieked in triumph, climbing to all four feet, swinging over grown arms around.

Loud sounds and small points of pain began to erupt against his hide, and he began to cry out in pain as tiny shots of fire ran through his being. Looking down, he could see many Others running around screaming, some pointing strange things at him. Small licks of fire erupted from these. The source of pain!

Mewing in annoyance, he swung one of his arms acrossed the cold, hard ground that really wasn't ground, scattering many of the Others near him.

Pain was suddenly coming from his otherside, and he swung his neck around to target them...

-Other?- he mewed, taking a step forwards.

It was the familiar Other, from Home. It wasn't moving, wasn't floating above him anymore. This time, the Other was in pain.

He slowly closed the lids to his eyes, releasing a long, low moaning from deep inside his throat. The Other began to calm down, the shadows in his mind not so dark anymore.

He needed the Other. It promised to help find mother.

Aaron woke up, a horrible headache still linguring at the edge of his mind. His eyes were still shut, sounds and sensations bombarding his senses. What the hell was going on? What had that quack told him before he blacked out? Telepathy? Wasn't that mind reading or something?

What the hell have you done to me?

Opening his eyes, a doctor stood over him, releasing his restraints. He was saying something, his mouth moving, and yet Aaron couldn't hear a word he was saying. Or, maybe, he couldn't understand?

He felt so strange, like he was looking at himself through someone elses eyes and senses, but still in the inside looking out, and yet again as if he were in another place altogether.

Jess, where are you? Was all he could think about as darkness shrouded his senses once again.



Chapter VII: Jessica's Plan

:Fairport, NY:

They hadn't told her anything. She'd already figured out as much though. She didn't think they would tell her anything, but that was all right. The answers were already clear to her.

Sweeping loose, red hair behind one ear, Jessica pressed the doorbell again.

It opened just as she pulled her finger away from the buzzer, Mike Galers peeking out from behind the door. "Jessica!" He shouted, throwing open the door and quickly embracing her. "Damn, girl, you look like shit."

"They have him, Mike." She whispered in his ear, still hugging him. "Whoever funded us took Aaron."

"What? Who took him? Why?" Mike pulled her into the house, shutting the door behind him.

"Ikeda-Remming, the joint company that funded the Antarctica expedition."

Mike looked at her, confused. "But why would they take Aaron? That just doesn't make any sense."

"We have to go back."

"What? Are you kidding?"

"No." Jessica pushed back hair behind the other ear. "No, we have to go back to Antarctica, back to the crater. That blue stuff at the bottom, do you rememebr that?"

Mike nodded.

"This all has something to do with that and the alien."

"Alien?" Mike ran a hand through his hair. "C'mon, Jess, now you're starting to freak me out with all this."

"I freaked myself out too, but I'm not joking. We dug up something that was asleep and would have stayed asleep, the alien, the Tsunagara. Now, I don't know what exactly that blue stuff was..."

"Alien snot." Mike muttered

"...But I figured that's why all those weird government types were so concerned with Aaron. He touched it, we didn't."

"Jesus, Jess. What if it did something to him? What if they're doing something to him?"

Jessica nodded, thankful that this whole meeting was going better than she though it was going to go. All the other team members that she had rounded up had taken a lot of convncing. "Come with us, Mike. We need you're help, your expertise. Aaron needs you." She suddenly felt a pain of fear, dread, sadness all rolled up into one in her heart. Why did it have to be Aaron, why? Why any of them, why any of this?

God-damned alien, she cursed, the image of the beast rising from the frozen landscape still burning in her mind. It was all over the news now, all over America, but the pictures they saw were so unreal. It seemed smaller, harmless, almost as if it were some Hollywood prank on American society.

But it is real, so real, and we have to get to the bottom of this.

"Aright, I'm in." Mike nodded. "But how are we going to do this? None of us has the funds to even get a plane to Antarctica, let alone food and supplies and the trip back!"

"Ever hear of G Force?" Jessica asked with a grin.

Mike blinked. "No, and I'm almost afraid to ask."

:Mito, Japan:

Eric grinned at the sudden news. That's great! Is there anyway I can talk to her?

Natsuki shook his head. She and her team are probably en route to Antarcica now. She'll be safe there, don't worry.

"I'm not worried about that," Eric muttered as Natsuki exited the room.

"So, your sister was one of the people on the original team?" Samantha asked, her eyes still glued to the T.V.

Eric nodded, flopping backwards onto one of the hotel beds, tucking his hands behind his head. "Yeah. She told me before we left that she was going on some expedition, but she wasn't able to tell me anything about it. Man, can you imagine? She must have seen it when it woke up. Up close!" He shouted jealously.

"Well, if it makes you feel any better, you can tell people that you got to see Godzilla up close." She shuddered at the memory.

"Hehe, you're right. And Godzilla is a legend. A lot better than some freaky alien."

Samantha rolled her eyes. They were all big, scary monsters to her. She'd be glad when they left Japan, she had had enough of this place. Ever since Godzilla's inital attack on Tokyo, they had been carted all around by the JSDF officer, Natsuki.

Godzilla. He scared her, and she hated him. It would be too soon to never see that horrible monstrosity again! Him, and that overgrown, winged lizard, Rodan. How could they possibly have laid waste to Tokyo like that?

"So, um, when are we leaving again?" Eric asked, sitting back up.

Samantha sighed, This would be the third time she'd tell him this. "Sometime tonight. You're sister arranged with General Takahashi to get home ASAP."

"I thought all the planes were still grounded because of the Rodan threat?"

"Well, yes, but this is a private plane, belongs to some merged company, Ikeda-Remming or something-other like that. I guess they're flying a bunch of scientists over to help figure out the Tsunagara problem down in the Carolinas. They'll be here in a few hours to pick us up."

"Maybe we'll be lucky enough to see the Tsunagara too." Eric grinned.

"God, I hope not!"

Chapter VIII: Landfall

:South Coast, Florida, the wake of Tsunagara's destruction:

Godzilla continued to follow the sound onto the land, the call pulsing throught every cell in his body. There was nothing he could do to turn away from it, but why should he?

Why? It felt strange. The humans were behind this. He could feel that beneath the pulsing of the call. He growled quietly as his 25,000 ton frame settled into the sand with every step.

Even in the dark, he could see the shadows of destruction, so similar to those that he himself had created so many times. But this wasn't any of his doing, none of any of his enemies.

This was the work of a nightmare, somewhere ahead of him.

And he was headed straight for it.

Takahashi smiled as Godzilla climbed up onto the shore, still following them. It seemed to have taken them forever. Nearly did. Acrossed the Pacific, through Panama, the Gulf of Mexico, and they had finally reached the United States. American jets met up with his own forces with high-tech sound systems attached to their underbellies that emited the same signals to Gojira as his jets did. As long as the could keep the signal going strong, Gojira would follow them.

Until he met his nightmare, Tsunagara.

The destruction was aweful. It seemed as if an entire army had been wiped out. Bodies lay bloated in the sands and grasses, flocks of seagulls pecking at the bodies. Tanks, jets and other vehicles lay in crumpled heaps, the fires they had started long burnt out.

They seemed to have done some damage to the kaiju though. Large circular marks of blood stained the landscape, and a few of the giant, turquoise scales were here and there. The question was, could this beast regenerate like Gojira? Could it already be healed, or was it still storming acrossed the landscape, tired and injured?

Takahashi didn't know, and no one in the US army wanted to get close enough to it to find out either.

Problem was, Gojira was more then likely weakend and tired from his long trek acrossed the Pacific. Would he even be able to fight when he reached Tsunagara?

It was a chance they were going to have to take. Besides, as soon as they reached the arranged coordinates, Gojira was no longer his problem. It would be Ikeda's and the US govenments.

She was no longer hungry, that was for sure. There was food aplenty here in this strange place. Strange food, with odd tastes, but it was still energizing. For two days now, she gorged herself on the plantation, without harassment. The Others had stoped hitting her with their strange, painful things that burned, made her bleed. She was no longer worried either. The strange Other, the gifted Other was taking care of her Young One. Everything was perfect.

Aaron felt numb as he woke up again. How long had he been out? Where was he? He was hungry, so horribly hungry...

Once again, he was strapped down. IV's were hooked up in his arm, strange, green fluids dripping ever so slowly into the tube, even more slowly working it's way into his bloodstream. He could move his head though, and if it weren't for being so weak, he would have screamed.

"Tsunagara." The familiar sound of the Asian man's voice reached his ears. "It's the baby Tsunagara. Isn't he beauitiful?"

Aaron tried to respond, but he was too tired, his mouth dry as a desert. "Water," he tried to spit out, but it came out more as a moan.

"I thought that blue stuff was a shell, or part of a ship, wreckage, but it's not. It's a virus, a parasite. I'm not sure which." The Asian man finally came into view, walking towards the very large baby Tsunagara.

The baby was laying down like a horse, its legs curled up underneath it. The scorpions tail was tightly curled up, resting on the back. Its long, muscular arms were resting against its sides, and its neck and head were resting against the floor, hardly more than four meters away. It stared at Aaron, unblinking, a small, moist puff of cinnimon scented air washing over him as the creature exhaled. Like this, he was so calm, so peaceful, and completely unlike the one that had risen from Antarctica, killing Blake.

The Asian man stoped next to what was about the creatures cheek, running his hand underneath the small, turqouise scales that overlapped. He drew his hand back slowly, revealing the strange, metallic blue substance covering his entire hand. "Isn't it beautiful?" He whispered, rubbing it slowly with his other hand.

The substance shimmered and began to dissappear slowly as if it were being absorbed into his skin.

"It's what binds these creatures together, binds everything together. The hum of nauture, of the universe can be heard with this." Smiling, he returned to Aaron's side. "This is the purest element. It is power. It is control."

"Crazy." Aaron managed to say through parched lips. He rubbed his tongue against the iside of his mouth, trying to work up more saliva. "You're a psycho."

"Am I?" He chuckled. Slowly, he turned to face the beast.

Nothing happened for a second. Then suddenly, the creature raised its head a few meters, a strange growl forming in its throat.

"Hmm... He doesn't quite seem to like you."

"You... You're controling him." It suddenly upset Aaron, and he wasn't sure why. Because he had already befreinded the beast? No... Because this man was abusing the gift, manipulating the creature. The child.

I have to do something, he thought, closing his eyes. What was he supose to do, focus? Say some magic words? How come they never taught you possible telepathic encounters in school?

"You won't be able to touch the creatures mind." The man said.

Aaron snapped open his eyes. "And why not? I touched the same blue stuff in Antarctica. I already spoke with the Tsunagara."

The Asian man jiggled the green IV bag, grinning. "I had my scientists develop a sort of temporary antidote for the virus/parasite. It numbs the brain waves that you emit, rendering you unable to comunicate with others. Unfortuatly, it also dulls all of your senses."

Aaron wanted to scream, thrash about, do something other than lay here, taking this crap. Jess, I don't know where you are, but please, please be ok...

He felt so strange. He tries to call out to the familar Other, but it wouldn't respond. Mother was nearby, but he was still worried. Another Other had begun to talk to him, make him do bad things completely beyond his control...

-Mother, help us,- he whimpered in his mind, staring at the two Others. -Please hurry...-



Chapter IX: The Battle Begins

:Northern Pennsylvannia, Allegheny Plateau:

"Okay, we have a visual." The American pilots voice came over the comm system.

A minute later, Takahashi saw it as well.

At least a dozen helicopters hovered a safe distance away from the Tsunagara. Buzzing around them, and zipping back and forth between tall, rolling green hills were jets, all American. His was the only JSDF plane left in the sky, all the others had turned around back in Florida.

The Tsunagara's head was down, casually munching on the trees. The US military had stopped their fight against the creature long ago. As long as they didn't harrass it, the beast seemed to ignore them, and did a pretty good job of migrating around larger cities and towns. There was some damage, but no where near as to what had been originally estimated.

Behind them, Gojira lumbered closer, not quite moving as fast as he usually did. Takahashi could tell he was tired, hungry. This isn't going to work...

The Tsunagara was bigger in person than what he had seen from feeds and pictures. It seemed to be easily three times bigger than Gojira, and no less hideous. Although it looked healthier now, its scales gleaming brighter, the clumps of feathers a bit brighter, more vibrant looking, it was still a hideous beast with its long, thin neck, tiny head and long, muscular arms and gigantic hands.

There is no way Gojira is going to win this fight...

The sounds suddenly stopped. He was gald for that, but he was hungry, tired...

And something smelled very dangerous.

Rising over the crest of the hill, he sniffed the air, glancing down at it. A strange, new monster, larger than himself. He could tell by its scent that this was what had caused all the destruction behind him. But this creature wasn't from here, from anywhere on the planet. Although even this place smelled unfamiliar to him, it was still more familiar than this creature'e exotic scent.

Growling in hunger, he began to turn away, to the northwest. He could smell large waters. There would be food there.

Damn, neither of them is doing anything. Takahashi growled to himself in the copilots chair.

The plane captain nodded. Maybe we need to harass it and Gojira.

Takahashi had thought of that. I'm afraid it's not my call, it's the Americans. He didn't bother mentioning the fact that there was a good chance it wouldn't work, that the kaiju would end up retailiating on the shooters instead of turning on each other.

Shouldn't we at least suggest it to them? The pilot continued.

I supose. Takahashi sighed, watching as Gojira continued to walk away from Tsunagara. Slowly, he flipped on the ship-to-ship comm headset he wore. "Captain Brown, this is General Takahashi. I have a suggestion..."

The strange flying things began to buzz around her. She was a bit wary of them, but continued on with her feeding. She would need her strength when she found the Young One.

Suddenly, there was a loud sound as pain erupted in her flank. Crying out, she threw her head up, watching as the flying things began attacking her.

Evil things.

Swinging up both of her long, muscular arms, she caught one of the things, crushing it slightly, throwing it towards the other one. It barely hit it, yet the other object began to flip wildly out of control, landing in a burning heap not to far away from its brother.

Loud, angry cries came up from over the next hill, and she guessed that it was from the other creature that she had spotted moments before. It sounded as if it were in pain.

-Help. I must help it.- She thought to herself, taking off at a suprisingly fast gallop in its direction.

Gojira missed again. He was too tired, couldn't seem to focus on the planes that were shooting at him.

One came in close, and he leaped at it, smacking it with a giant clawed hand. Roaring in triumph, he turned, watching the other two regroup and come at him, small licks of fire spitting from their artificial wings.

The ground shook, and he paused a second to look, watching as the strange being galloped towards him.

-Leave me alone,- he growled at it, turning his attention back to the humans who were attacking him.

With an irritated cry, he opened his maw wide, releasing a horrific wave of thermonuclear atom fire. It caught one of the planes, which quickly crashed into the landscape below. The other veared off, barely in time, skimming his body and nearly clipping his shoulder.

And then sudden, he was knocked off his feet.

The creature mewed in triumph, furling and unfurling its strange tail. It had smashed the plane into his shoulder with one of its hands.

-I said, leave me alone!- Gojira roared, climbing back to his feet. In a fit of rage, he released another wave of atom fire, hitting the creature straight in the chest.

It moaned it pain, bringing up its large arms to block it. Instead, it left horrible burns on its arms.

Shutting his mouth, Gojira growled warningly, turning away.

It was a threat. She was only trying to help, but instead, it attacked her. There was a chance, then, that it could attack her Young One.

A mothers first responsability was to protect her child.

A loud, high pitched cry rose from deep inside her. Pushing off with all four legs, she leaped, pouncing on the creatures back.

It roared back at her in shock, immediatly trying to turn over. Before it had the chance, she began to beat it with her hands.

The creatures back suddenly began to glow, an unbearable warmth emitting from the spines on its back. With a strange sort of yelp, she backed off.

That gave the creature enough time to turn over, attacking her with another wave of unbearable heat and pain.

Gojira climbed to his feet, rage building up inside of him. He didn't think it would attack him back, expecially the way that it had. Growling, he dove at it, grabbing at the scrawny neck. The creature mewed in pain, trying to pry his arms away with its enormous hands.

And then it hit him.

Blood sprayed from his shoulder as the creatures normally curled tail unfurled, the sharp point driving deep into his shoulder. He released his grip on its neck, staggering backwards, trying to pull out the end of the tail. With a terrible jerk of pain, the creature pulled it out itself, raising its arms high.

He took the oppertunity to dive straight at the creature, sinking claws and teeth past cold, hard scales and into flesh, pulling.

The creature cried out shrilly in pain, grabbing the back of Gojira's head, but he pulled away on his own, huge chunks of bloody flesh yanked out, some bits stuck to his claws.

A horrible, metalic taste flooded into his mouth as a strange, blue substance began to flow around the wounded areas. He rubbed his paws against his snout, trying to get the sticky, blue stuff off.

The creature sank to all four of its knees as red blood gushed from the wounds and began to mix with the blue substance.

It was down and weakened! Focusing as hard as he could past the hunger and weariness, Gojira released another spray of atom fire, watching in silence as the creature screamed and writhed in pain, unable to rise to its feet as blood ran from its wounds, the fire enveloping it.

She was dying, she could feel it, but she couldn't! Her Young One was still at risk, wasn't safe. She couldn't die here, now. And yet, she had never fought before, not like this, against whatever this creature before her was. But she no longer had the strength to keep going.

She suddenly stop her cries of pain as a strange warmth and numbness flowed through her. Closing her eyes, all she saw was her home, shadowed in the shade of blue.

Chapter X: Pure Form

:Antarcica, the crater:

"Jesus." Was all Mike could say.

Jessica shook her head in disbeleif.

The crater was filled with dark green vines, broad, glossy-leafed plants and gorgeous, pink blossoms.

These were tropical plants, there was no way they could grow in Antarctica in the middle of a glacier. There was just no way!

"How, how could this've happened?" Mike stampered.

Reaching down, Jessica ran a finger gently down one of the leafs, as if it were all a dream, and touching it would bring back reality. "It has to do with the blue stuff. I know it does."

"Shit, you don't think it's doing the exact same thing with Aaron, do you? You don't think it's turning him into some kind of plant, do you?"

She couldn't help smile, even despite the seriousness of the situation. "No. The Tsunagara touched it too, and that hasn't turned into some giant plant."

"Watch, it'll just be a matter of time." Mike muttered with a shudder. "I think we'd better not touch the stuff if we find any of it."

She silently agreed with him as she raised a layer of the thick leaves and vines.

A small spot of the blue substance shimmered in the tiny beam of sunlight that hit it. Pulling out a small jar from a pocket, Jessica unscrewed the lid, using it to help her scoop up some of the gunk into the jar which she quickly resealed and deposited into her arctic coat.

Had the blue stuff really grown these tropical plants, adapting them to the freezing cold? Was it possible? No, it wasn't, and yet here it was. Whatever it was, was definitly alien.

Aaron, wherever you are, please, please be ok!

:Upstate NY, facility:

Ikeda smiled at the doctor as he relayed the message.

"It's strange, despite its size, I guess the Tsunagara didn't put up much of a fight. Godzilla toasted it before the Tsunagara could do him any real harm."

He nodded, and the doctor moved away, returning to his duties.

-So, Little One, you are truely mine now.- Ikeda touched the beasts muzzle, feeling the beasts cofusion and anger towards him inside his mind.

The American scientist struggled still, swearing at him in the colorful language many Americans liked to use. It didn't matter though. Nothing mattered now, nothing...

Bright waves of pain suddenly slammed through his body. Ikeda collapsed, struggling to breathe as the pain forced the breath from his lungs.

All around him, he could hear voices, worried, some shouting. None of it made sense though, it was all jibberish as the pain continued to wreck his focus.

Then, above it all, rose a mournful cry that actually made him want to weep.

Aaron saw Ikeda collapse, moaning in pain. For a slight second, he was confused, concerned, but quickly recovered by grinning. "There, like that, you bastard? It's all worth it now, huh?"

One of the scientists nearby shot him a warning glance. Aaron just grinned back even more.

He could feel the sudden rush of pain swarm inside his mind, his entire body, but thanks to that Jappo-nutcase' telepathy blockers, it didn't quite have the same effect on him.

But what the hell is it?

Even Tsui, his new nickname for the baby Tsunagara, seemed to be trapped in the intense waves of pain, his neck streched out and up as if he were choking, his scales suddenly glistening as the parasite/virus organism shimmered and hummed, flowing in and out of the spaces between scales. The effect made Tsui look like a giant, beached Leviathan. It was beautiful, but very, very horrifying to watch.

"What the hell is going on?" Aaron shouted.

No one paid him any attention.

"Yo! Turncoat!" He shouted to a scientist who suddenly stood up from Ikeda's side.

The man turned, looked irritated at Aaron.

"What's wrong with them? Why are they..."

Tsui opened his small mouth, a moan, sadder and louder than Aaron had ever heard him make yet, escape from the depths of his monsterous size. He suddenly found himself with tears in his eyes, the pain magnifying until he too was moaning in pain.

So much for Ikeda's blockers, he thought as the sudden familiarity of blackness swept over him.

It was more than a host. More than a symbiot even. It was home, it was a part of it's very own being now. More than just symbiots, they could touch each other, reach out to others, turning the many into one. But not a one like a hive. More of a one like a perfect machine, many pieces, each differant, all unique, but making up the one, the whole.

Lately, it could feel its reach expanding, the distances inbetween great, but continuosly expanding each time the electric tingle of a new live cell touched it.

It had touched something unatural of late though. A part of it actually died, simplely ceased to function, to exist. What was this thing that could destroy with a touch of its own energy? What? What being could it have possibly encountered that had this ability? It, until now, was completely undestructable.

Its current host was dying, almost dead. The beings touch had been enough to shock it, rendering the host unable to fight back. But now the thing was gone, and its host was dying. It couldn't die, couldn't let the host die.

It flowed from every corner it hid in, every crevice, even from the unbearable heat that tried to consume it. In a strange, shimmering pool of blue, it colleceted beneath the burning, unconsious host.

In a sudden, last effort at survival, it rose like a wall around the host, reaching towards the sun, shimmering and glistening in the pure heat, the pure energy that radiated from the small, yellow-white star. Collapsing onto the host, it smothered the flames with its own body, form, reaching into the live cells of the host that hadn't been utterly destroyed by the flames.

As if it were the most simple thing in the universe, it began to rewrite the genetic material in each cell, forming them into new ones, more adaptable to what it needed. The newly rewritten cells shuddered, electric energy suddenly streaking acrossed their membranes. One of them expanded, pinching at the middle until the umbilicil snapped, leaving two cells in place. As if on cue, thousands of other newly mutated cells began to pinch, to copy themselves. In an instant, there were millions where before there had been only thousands.

And resting inside the very cells themselves, it found a new meaning to life. It no longer needed a home, a shell. It was now a free entity.

It was now its own master.

The tropical, alien landscape rose up from the darkness. Aaron recognized it, and was instantly calmed. If he was here, he assumed that Tsui would be too, meaning that the creature was now free from Ikeda's aweful mind control.

At least there is no pain here, Aaron thought with a smile.

-Mother!- Tsui cried from below in the forest, his small, dinosaur- like head poking out from the trees.

"Don't worry, it's all right, Tsui." He called down. "I told you before, I'll help you get back to your mom."

"His 'mother' no longer exists." A heavily accented voice behind him spoke.

Aaron whirled around in the air. "Ikeda."

Ikeda was grinning, his eyes narrowed to nothing more than dark slits. He slowly held up one hand. The blue substance that Aaron had seen him pull out from Tsui's scales again covered his hand. The blue stuff appeared to be alive, shifting and rolling along Ikeda's hand. "It's the perfect organism. A parasite, invading and living of another organism. And, a virus, capable of replicating, and rewriting. Beautiful."

Tsui released a small growl at the sight of Ikeda. Aaron agreed with the Tsunagara. "What do you mean the Tsunagara doesn't exist? What have you done to her?"

Chuckling, Ikeda ran a finger from his other hand acrossed the blue stuff. "I actually had nothing to do with the Tsunagara's destruction. Gojira nearly killed it, andd the parasite/virus merely rewrote whatever living cells were left to allow it to survive."

-Mother!- Tsui came closer, his head almost grazing Aaron's leg. -Where's mother?-

"Gojira?" Aaron whispered. "Godzilla?" To kill the Tsunagara, he would have to be in the U.S., and the only one that I know of who would be able to pull those kind of strings...

"You god-damned bastard!" Aaron hollerd, grabbing the front of Ikeda's suit with two fists.

Ikeda smiled, and dissappeared.

-It's a pure organism. Its existance, down to its form is so pure, so magnificent.- The accent voice was all around him, inside of him. -The power... Not from control, but from creating.-

"What have you done? Bastard, what horror have you just unleashed?!"

-Genesis.-