Part Six: SACRIFICE
Maki Sato hung lost somewhere between awareness and oblivion. There was so little left of his true body to connect with, its liquid mass now dissipating away. Then he realized, he was no longer alone.
"Sato San," said Iwa. "I have found you."
"Iwa sama! I am dreaming. You cannot be in my mind."
"We spoke like this before, Sato. You came to my home, you said you wanted to die. I thought it was a dream then, too."
"Hei, you are right. I did dream of your home, and now I must ask of you again what I asked in that dream. Tell them to finish me off, General."
"The two of us must be very near death now. Mine has crept close for a long time. The Old War-horse, fighting for nearly a century, finally grown too old. But we may yet save you, my friend."
"General, after I destroyed the Radion labs, I went to Ogasawara, intending to confront Godzilla in the hopes of destroying myself. Instead, this...disease changed me into something that could stop the beast, but with no control over what I had become. You cannot save me, Iwa sama. You must see that I am destroyed now, before I mutate again and kill you all!"
"There is a chance, Sato San. A chemical stabilizer has been developed. Absorb it, and you may yet regain your human form."
"Look at me, General. There may be nothing human left to save."
"I know. That is why my body will carry the stabilizer. My body that you will absorb."
"General, you can't truly believe I would do that."
"I told you, Sato; I'm dying anyway. Besides, you don't have the strength to stop it..."
*
Iwa and Anna approach the creature shakily. Tominaga and Masada are already there. The old soldier addresses the crowd. "I want this area cleared. Chief, please tell your men to pull back."
Komai turns and gives the order, breaking the massive barricade the Police had formed.
"Miss Masada, the stabilizer please," asks Anna. Miname hands her a small case containing a vial and syringe. Carefully, Anna fills the needle and checks it while Iwa removes his jacket and shirt.
"General, what are you doing?" Asks Tanaka.
"I am preparing for battle, Captain. A battle we must all face someday, when our time has come." Quickly, Anna injects the General, and he falls.
"Iwa sama!" Tanaka cries, the shock of Anna's action now hitting home. "What have you done, Bradley San? Are you mad?!" Anna's tears are her only response. Then the General spoke.
"All of you, listen! This was my idea, and I am going to see it through. My death was imminent long before the injection you just witnessed, but young Sato's was not. My hope now is to make him human again, using the stabilizer as well as my own body as a template to work from. If it does not work, you will have to destroy us. We are both as good as dead now anyway."
"You knew, you old bastard," said Komai.
"I am sorry, Komai sama. I should have told you, but I was too ashamed. It was I who authorized your nephew's actions against the monsters. Now I must try to make things right."
"Captain, aren't you going to do something?!" Cried Munabe, another of Tanaka's squad.
"The General is right, Munabe. He is also my Commander, I won't stand in his way."
"But, Captain, you have to stop this! You can't just..."
"Captain, for once I agree with Munabe," began Fujiko, the squad's surveillance expert. The soldier held forth a small tracking unit, its screen now lit by a bright and moving blip. "I think you had better do something quick. We've got company coming."
"Damn," spat Tanaka. "It's Godzilla."
*
The King of the Monsters swims steadily toward the mainland, toward the domain of the humans. The liquid beast who attacked him was one of their kind, changed somehow into a creature of great power. A creature Godzilla would now destroy.
Ever since the battle with the Lakebeast Varan, when the stars had called him from the ocean's depths, there has been conflict. Battle after battle he has faced, as if all the Wild Gods had gone mad and arrayed themselves against him. Even the humans had called upon their power, summoning the aid of the tiny beast that now ran with them. Godzilla had seen the Spiritfire burning around the creature, urging him not to strike. That force had been of aid to him as well once, but now it stood among the humans, among his enemies. This war had gone on long enough, now the time has come to end it.
*
"I'm sorry, Captain. I can't let you do this," said Munabe, drawing his pistol. Before anyone could react, Mikki moved, leaping at the soldier and biting his unarmored wrist.
"Mikki!" Anna screamed as the gun fell from Munabe's grasp, discharging into the air.
Munabe screamed as well. "That dog is crazy! I think you all must be!"
"Munabe, get a hold of yourself!" Ordered Tanaka.
"Forget it, Tanaka. I'm not taking orders from you anymore!" The soldier backed quickly away, then broke into a run. "You won't get away with this! None of you!!"
"Captain, should I stop him?" Asked Fuji.
"Let him go, Fujiko. I need you here. Kazuki, I know Munabe is your best friend. If you want to join him, you had better leave now..." The Captain eyed the squad's final member grimly.
"No, Captain. I never could pick my friends wisely. I'll stay."
"Thank you, Kazuki. Now, I want you and Fuji at a fifty meter spread down this pier. Tominaga, please see the ladies safely back to G-Command. Chief Komai..."
"I'm staying." The old Policeman replied. "I want to be here for Sato."
"I know, Chief. I would not have it any other way."
One by one they turned to leave. Miname eyed the group, her gaze settling on Tanaka's scarred features. "Good luck, Captain." She said, then turned to bow before the General. "Perhaps we shall all see you again, Iwa sama."
"Perhaps," the General replied weakly.
Tominaga too bowed before him. "Good luck, my friend."
"Thank you, detective."
Wordlessly, Anna approached him, bending slowly to her knees to embrace the man. A tear escaped Iwa as he spoke to her. "Anna, how is it that in just a single day we have become so close? You have done more for me in that short time than anyone in my whole life," slowly, they drew apart to look in each other's eyes. "You must be strong a little while longer. The war is almost at its end."
Anna nodded, and forced a smile. Then she kissed him sweetly, and quickly joined Tominaga and Miname as they made their way from the scene. Mikki watched the departing trio, then looked at the General. The little dog gave the man a quick wet kiss, then joined her mistress.
"Shiro," said Iwa.
"Yes, sir?"
"Do me a favor. Wipe this dog drool off my cheek."
"Yes, sir."
The waters of Tokyo bay churned as Godzilla rose roaring from the waves. Before him lay the liquid beast, now tiny, almost human in form. Godzilla would have preferred to face him at his former stature, and hesitated to strike. The being was obviously dying already. No matter, the saurian decided, an enemy was still an enemy.
The Radion charge now shunted from his system, the King of the Monsters drew upon the Atomfire which was his life blood and prepared to strike. Suddenly, a trio of Markalite beams struck him first, forcing him back into the surf. Godzilla twisted and turned, trying to avoid the onslaught, firing blind against his attackers with a return blast of energy from his jaws. The plasma beams continued their barrage, relentless, and Godzilla fell.
"All right, General," Tanaka called. "It's now or never!"
With the last of his strength, Iwa hurled himself into the mass of colloidal slime that was the H-Man. He screamed as the enzyme like fluid began dissolving his ancient form, his soldiers praying now more than ever that this was truly the right thing to do. Tanaka was closest, the only one to see the smile break over Iwa's now skeletal features, and hear the muted, liquid rattle of his voice; "Come on, Sato! We can do it! Together we can!!" Then the General was gone.
"Captain, What is happening?" Cried Kazuki. The squad watched in horror as the H-Man began to shudder and shift, vibrating to the pulse of the alien energy that powered it.
"Captain, we must leave here now," spoke Komai.
"I think it's a little late for that, chief," Tanaka answered grimly.
"No! Somehow, I think it is Sato's idea. I am sure, it is what he wants."
The creature's pulsing increased, and it began to flail, to change, to grow. Shiro looked at the Police chief and nodded. "Fuji! Kazuki! Fall back! Fall back!!" He screamed, running alongside Komai as the H-Man began dissolving the very wood of the pier itself.
The green fluid raced behind them as they fled the harbor, disintegrating the boardwalk and absorbing it as it grew. The storefronts and warehouses began to fall as well, crumbling as Tanaka and Komai ran for safety. Then, they froze as a flash of Atomfire lit the sky, and the warcry of Godzilla thundered out across the bay.
At the mouth of an alley leading into the streets, they turned to see Godzilla standing face to face with the H-man, now enormous in size. Somehow, the stabilizer must have failed, either that, or there was some new force at work here which they had yet to understand. Either way, the situation was about to get ugly.
Then, the giant mutant spotted the men, and to their utter shock, it spoke. "Go on, get out of here," the H-Man screamed, its voice booming through the air. "I'll hold the monster back as long as I can."
Komai clutched Tanaka's arms. "My God. What the hell has happened to them now?"
