Even in the middle of the night with a malevolent full moon hanging over their heads, the air seemed oppressively warm. Ohyama surveyed the scene with a feeling of anticlimax; the tiny, nondescript, unlabeled shrine would have been a fairly short drive from Naha, but as soon as they set foot on the island, the boys were on their own, and none had wanted to spring for a taxi. A long, miserable hike ensued.

"A li-i-i-i-itle to the right," Kazuki said, making little scooting gestures with his hand. Sanada sighed and slid the Shiisa to his right. "No, no, my right. Uhh… uhh… there! No! Stop! Um… now a bit to the- my- okay, your right…"

Quickly boring of this scene, Ohyama wandered away and moved along the cliff to where Osamu stood, aloof and antisocial as ever, gazing out to sea. "Hey," the bespectacled boy asked, "You know where Kiyoshi is?"

"Maybe we passed a shiny object," Osamu suggested.

In spite of himself, Ohyama chuckled. "Very likely." They stood listening to the waves and Kazuki's increasingly frustrated directions for a few minutes before he spoke up again. "Why's Kazuki doing that? I thought the only instruction was to make sure the rising sun would hit its eyes."

"Didn't you know?" Osamu's tone was flat. "He comes from a long line of Fung Shui Masters. I assume he wants to place the statue auspiciously."

"Oh, wow. So all this time he's known…?"

"Ah, no, his father gave up on him years ago. Doesn't stop him from trying, though."

Ohyama rubbed the bridge of his nose and looked back at the shrine. "Whatever happens had better be worth it…"

By now, these hyperrealistic dreams had become old hat. Osaka lay in the grass under a soft pink sky, watching the looping flight of fireflies with mellow eyes and wishing that it was just a tiny bit warmer. Mothra's egg rested against her side; she could feel it sponging her life away, but for some reason just couldn't begrudge it.

Of course, she wouldn't be having one of these dreams for no reason. It wasn't long before one of the Shobijin approached and stood watching the sky with her. "This isn't the scene I was expecting," the priestess observed.

"Hm?"

"It seems like every person we entrust Mothra to reacts in one of two ways—either they're filled with enthusiasm and rush out to save the world, or they panic and flee to its far corners. We've never had someone just sort of… drift along like you are. The strain must be immense--it always is—but still you manage this weird sort of content. It's kind of refreshing."

Osaka propped herself up on an elbow and regarded the fairy oddly. "There's only one of ya. And you're bigger! Didja eat your sister or something?"

"Of course not!" Lefty cried, appalled. "She's off talking to your sister just now."

"I have a sister? That's weird, 'cause my mom always complained about how hard it was having me, and I don't think she'd-" The realization slapped Osaka in the face just then… the Shobijin wasn't any bigger after all; Osaka herself was smaller! "Uh."

"No, no, I mean your sister in the metaphysical sense."

"Ah…" So she had a metaphysical sister somewhere, eh? It was a really interesting thought, but--Osaka glanced at the egg with a soft sigh. There wouldn't be much of a point in getting to know her now, would there? All the same… "She feelin' as blue as I am?"

"You have no idea."

"An' I've been meanin' to ask something." A nod. "This egg here… is it mine?"

"Yours? Well, it was entrusted to you… ah, but I see that's not what you mean. Well, you know, Mothra has bonded with you, and your spirit will be reflected in the avatar, so I guess you could look at it that way."

"Huh…" The Soul of Something sat up and took the egg into her lap. "I wonder if I'll get to see him before I," she faltered, voice thickening, "before I… flicker out."

"Now hold on! We said it was a possibility, but there's no reason to assume you'll…"

"I miss a lot 'o things," Osaka interrupted, distress oozing through her calm, "But I know how much I have to give, an' it's not enough. Just. Not."

"But… hey, what did you mean, 'he'? Mothra is female!"

Though Osaka didn't show a hint of menace, the Shobijin still took a startled step back when she suddenly grinned. "Guess that makes two things I figured out before you guys."

"Just what are you saying?" the priestess asked, distressed, "You don't mean to tell me that-!" THUD! Osaka snapped awake on the hotel room's floor, having dragged the covers on her way down. She might have felt guilty about this, but Tomo had been hogging them all night.

As she lay there, a voice slid through her mind almost sheepishly, in a 'sorry-I-forgot-to-mention' sort of way. "All roads lead to Sendai," the shobijin murmured in closing, "There you'll only have one chance to save Andrea."

Andrea? Who the heck is Andrea? But she was already drifting off again.

Xandra slid out of bed, wincing as her bare feet fell on the icy decking. It was still the middle of the ship's night, but she knew that there would be no going back to sleep. The dragon rolled onto the warm spot left by her body, drowsily humming its satisfaction, and for an absurd moment, she felt a stab of resentment towards the beast. It surely wasn't troubled by nocturnal visitors and mental voices telling it to do crazy things!

A silvery nightgown flickered about her knees as she moved through the small suite, coming to the tap. A healthy dash of water to her face pushed fatigue back and left her blinking into her reflection's wide, bewildered eyes.

"Disgusting," Xandra muttered. "No wonder everyone around here treats me like a bloody twelve-year-old."

There was no point in moping around the room any longer, and she'd never get her spot back from the dragon anyway. (She remembered its name belatedly- but not how to spell or pronounce it. Xcisha? Xixxsha?) Dressing quickly, she set out to stalk the darkened corridors until the day started.

As she wandered, her mind went over all of the things the fairy woman had said. Ridiculous! Xolarus wouldn't have come with all of his high-minded ideas of preserving life and granting other races dignity bringing a ravenous space demon that was impossible to restrain. And what was this about having a sister among the Earthmen? It was just too much!

She needed some time to sit and think. No overbearing brother, no looming Ghidora, no intimidating Earth girl and no…

"Ahem." Xandra whirled, frozen on the very edge of screaming. Agent Xond leaned the wall behind her, smiling thinly and reaching into his jacket's inside pocket significantly. "I take it you had another dream."

Naturally, Sendai was evacuated at alien's next ultimatum. How was it managed? Where did the people go? You're already asking too many questions. It is only important that the conveniently empty city, an essential ingredient of any battle between giant monsters, was supplied.

Still flush from their victory over Godzilla that afternoon, the brave men of G-Force rumbled into the city and took their positions. Lasers were recharged, tactics adjusted and anti-Godzilla cadmium shells switched out for more conventionally lethal armor-piercing. They were ready. They were PSYCHED!

Of course, being psyched counts for absolutely nothing where invincible space monsters and the workings of fate are concerned. Earth's deadline was midnight, the alien prince had pronounced with self-conscious melodrama, and if they did not surrender by midnight then there would be nothing to save Japan.

At 11:56, the brooding overcast in the Eastern sky started to turn ominously. Minutes passed, and it became a veritable whirlpool, filled from within by a slowly growing golden light. Though uneasy muttering spread through the ranks, the commander put a stop to it with an eloquent sneer. "Dramatic bullshit," he growled around a cigarette. "It's nothing but…"

"Sir--!" The warning came too late. In eerie silence, exactly on the stroke of midnight, a trio of jagged beams lashed out of the swirling brightness and played over the ranks of defenders. For the briefest of instants men and machines were hauled into the air, wreathed in angelic light—

--and then the streets of Sendai became a sea of flame.

King Ghidora descended from the dark clouds, each thunderous beat of his wings filling the city with howling wind. Rather than writhe about, burbling senselessly, his three heads moved with viperish speed and deadly purpose. Gravity beams scythed this way and that, sowing explosions and death wherever they fell.

A few strident blue lasers stabbed skyward, but they had absolutely no effect except to draw the monster's lethal attention. Before he even made a full pass of Sendai, its defenders had broken and fled, chased by his hideous tri-toned cackle. Patches of his great body still glowing from laser strikes, Ghidora swept over the burning city that was now his.

Unaware of the irony, he chose the Mihama Heavy Industries Manufacturing Works building as his throne. It crumpled horribly under his colossal weight, windows blowing out into the ruined streets and structural members shrieking, but held. So perched on this former center of resistance, the golden gargoyle folded its wings and waited for dawn, daring a stunned world to do its worst.

Chiyo returned to the hotel room with yesterday's evening newspaper under her arm and a tray of pastries. Her friends were still sprawled all over the room, painted by the soft morning light; Kagura had claimed the table as soon as they'd entered, while Yomi resigned herself to the floor. As for the beds, one had been shared by Kaori and Chiyo, while the other… well, "shared" wasn't exactly the right word for what Osaka and Tomo were doing. History had never seen such a furious duel between somnambulists.

Still, there was a little time to enjoy the quiet. Kagura had asked for six hours of sleep; Chiyo was eager to oblige, being uneasy enough about this whole "roadtrip" thing with a fully-rested driver. She took the room's only chair, setting the pastries aside and flipping the newspaper open.

'SPACE MONSTER INVADES!' the headline shrieked. The then article described the repeated, somewhat confused, ultimatums of this 'Xolarus' character, detailed the second trouncing of Godzilla (poor guy had a bad day, Chiyo thought absurdly), and went on to say that Sendai was under threat of attack by midnight if the governments Earth didn't capitulate. Naturally, no such surrender was in the cards.

So the attack, however it'd gone, had already been decided. Chiyo considered turning on the TV news, but elected to content herself with the paper rather than wake her friends.

Near the end of the article, however, was something that gave her serious pause. The success of G-Force can in large part be attributed to Mihama Heavy Industries, which, though well known for textiles, medical supplies and dozens of other products, finds most of its business producing experimental weapons systems for paramilitary units around the globe.

"I can't say I'm proud to be in this business," says Yasuhiro Mihama, founder and President of MHI, "But I am glad our products are being put to such a noble purpose as the defense of Earth."

Though she knew it wasn't justified, Chiyo felt profoundly betrayed. Sure, her father wasn't obligated to tell her every little detail of his company business, but… in light of this, she could think of at least four separate occasions he'd blatantly lied to her in order to keep these, er, projects a secret from her. And, now that she thought about it, there were certain, more disturbing things he might not have been entirely truthful about.

"I smell doughnuts…" Kagura mumbled thickly, sitting up and rubbing her eyes. Recognizing that the athlete could go through pastries like a demon on marijuana, Chiyo moved quickly to get the others up. The bustle and clamor of their rising helped her forget her momentary angst.

"What a horrible night! How could I get any sleep sharing a bed with this?" Tomo sulked. "Goddamn, how can someone with a kadjillion degree fever still have feet like blocks of ice, huh? And hey, why don't you thrash around a little bit more next time?"

"Sorry. Bad circulation."

"How do you feel, Ms. Osaka?" Chiyo asked in concern, pressing a hand to her friend's forehead and stifling a gasp. The "kadjillion degree fever" had in fact faded, which would have been reassuring if it hadn't been replaced by an awful, clammy chill. The egg-bearer's face was pale and drawn, her expression miserable, even more haggard than when they'd taken refuge.

"Actually, I feel a lot better now," Osaka assured her. The young prodigy could be forgiven for her skepticism. Before she had to act on it, though, Yomi stepped up to the plate admirably: "Well, you look better, too," she said, almost convincingly.

"What are you talking about?" Tomo yelped, "She looks like--!" Her best friend's hand clapped over mouth with enough force to rattle her teeth. "Just fine," she mumbled sullenly around Yomi's fingers.

"By the way," Osaka asked, casting a glance after Kagura as she disappeared into the bathroom for a quick shower. "Do we know anyone named Andrea?"

"I can't think of anyone," Yomi said, and Tomo shrugged. For her part, Chiyo opened her mouth, looked uncomfortable, then stood and started to walk away. She hadn't made it four feet, though, before she was brought up short by Tomo's abrasive voice. "Ut! We all saw that, Chiyo-suke! Get back here."

"I'm, uh, not sure if I'm supposed to tell you guys," Chiyo replied, eyes averted.

"Ooh, this sounds good!"

Yomi sighed. "You know she won't leave you alone until you tell her. You might as well spare us a long ride with her moaning and wheedling."

"Well…" Chiyo looked at the ground. "It's… Ms. Sakaki. She signs things 'Nanashi,' but her… uh, her full name is Andrea Nanashi Sakaki. I, I just saw it when I was handing out transcripts, and since she never told us, I thought…"

"Andrea? What the hell kind of name is that?" Tomo scoffed, butchering the pronunciation.

"Her mother is American, you know," Yomi pointed out.

"Oh! Well, that explains 'em…"

"What, her blue eyes?" Chiyo asked.

Tomo shrugged. "Well, that. Actually, I was thinking of her humongous boobs." She didn't seem to notice when everybody cringed. Would she have cared even if she had?

"You seem ta do that a lot, y'know?" Osaka had that almost-sly look of hers out again. "Makes a person wonder…"

"You-!" Tomo shook her fist. "If you weren't sick, I'd pop you right in the mouth! In fact, you know what? I think I'll-"

Now, this whole time, Kaori had been sitting on her bed brooding, but she exploded into action before Tomo could carry out her threat. In an instant she was in their midst, grabbing Osaka by a (figurative) lapel. "Where did you get that name from? Did you have another one of those freaky psychic dreams?"

"Y-yeah…"

"Stop that! Leave her alone!" Yomi snapped, swatting her hands down. The Bespectacled One was about to say more, but the intensity of the next question brought her up short. "What's going to happen to Ms. Sakaki?"Kaori asked wildly. "What did your dream say?"

"Uh… uh… all roads lead to Sendai. An' that we'll only have one chance…"

"She'll be at Sendai? Well what are we waiting for?" There was a few seconds of stunned silence after she tore out of the room. Finally, Yomi walked to the window and glanced down to the car. "Wow, she's already outside! Here, Tomo and I'll go and keep her out of trouble."

"Hey, I still have to beat up this little--!" Tomo protested as she was dragged away.

They sat and listened to Tomo's complaining fade into the distance and Kagura's feeble attempt to imitate Nanase Aikawa in the shower. After a minute or so, Osaka sat up and leaned on the wall behind the bed, taking the egg into her lap and sagging back. What little animation she'd shown before bled away as her eyes drifted shut.

"Ms. Osaka?" Chiyo squeaked.

"S'okay… just a little tired." She pulled the blankets over the egg in her lap and rested her hands on it. Nearby, the shower died down along with the horrifying singing. "You know something, Chiyo-chan? It's… it's real stupid, but this egg…"

"Yes?"

"I can't help but feel like… like it's mine. Like when it hatches it'll be…" Kagura finally emerged as Osaka finished her sentence with relish. "…my baby."

"What?" Kagura yelled, staring at her—and the blanketed lump—wide-eyed.

"Ms. Kagura, it's not what it-!" Chiyo cried.

"Never mind, forget it!" Kagura covered her eyes and waved her friend off. "I don't even want to know." She snatched her keys off of the table, grabbed the last doughnut and left, making it clear with her stride that the time-trial was on again. The prodigy turned back to her friend contemplatively.

Now, the thought of Osaka raising anything with more complicated needs than a chia-pet was a little frightening, but Chiyo couldn't help but be warmed by her happy maternal glow. It made her think that everything might be all right after all… "We'd better go," she said, taking the older girl's arm gently. "C'mon, Ms. Osaka."

"What on Earth are we waiting for?" Xethnex asked in vexation. "The Earthmen are off balance! They've just seen their mightiest weapons crushed! We have to press the advantage!"

"I disagree," Xolarus replied, hopping into the command chair and putting his feet up on a console. "Ghidora will remain in Sendai for now. His presence will draw out their strongest defenders, including this Guardian that Xandra was talking about. We can crush them in the empty city without killing too many more Earthmen."

"With respect, my Prince, I don't feel…" the second-in-command sputtered out when he saw Xolarus suddenly stand uncomfortably and nod respectfully to the entryway. Xethnex and the rest of the bridge turned as one to see what had inspired this.

Sakaki had entered the bridge, dressed for the first time as an Xian noble. The outfit should have looked awful and garish—lilac, button-up shirt, cream-colored pants, a light golden cloak that nearly closed in front of her and a slender circlet in her dark hair—but her bearing infused it with impossible dignity.

At least until she noticed everyone staring and looked down shyly, ruining the effect. Xandra followed at a respectful distance, wearing a dark dress with a gold stripe on one sleeve to mark her as a royal attendant and bearing the white dragon across her shoulders. Since she obviously wasn't needed as a Ghidora-keeper anymore, Xethnex had decided to put her to use this way. Their expressions were both extremely grave.

"Good morning," Xolarus greeted. "Did you sleep well?"

Sakaki nodded shortly. "Good morning."

"You'll be happy to know…" the Prince stopped in midsentence, realizing that in all likelihood, she would not be happy that Planet X had won the day. "Well. I'm glad you've come up. Here, take my chair and make yourself comfortable; we'll show you how things work around here. And Xan…"

At this point, the white dragon leapt from Xandra's back and latched on to his arm. He flinched in surprise, but then laughed and waved his guards back. "Ah, Xixsha! I mean, Xicksa! Uh… whatever!" The dragon sang as he stroked its back, obviously thrilled to see him. "Xandra, you can have Xethnex's chair. I'm sure he won't mind."

Grumbling, the portly second-in-command surrendered his chair. "As I was saying, my Prince, I don't feel that your plan is very wise. If we don't strike quickly, the Earthmen may discover a way to stop Ghidora!"

"Xethnex, King Ghidora ravaged our world for five hundred years before we figured out how to control him. Don't overestimate them. And before you can try and tell me that Earth's defenders won't attack him in Sendai… I'll bet you seven hundred space dinero that they come out of the woodwork within twelve hours."

"I'll take that," Xethnex replied stiffly. Before they could continue their conversation, an Xian in a white coat entered and knelt before the Prince, holding out a sheet of paper. "Doctor," the Prince nodded for him to rise. "I take it you've completed your studies?"

"Yes, my liege."

"Your conclusion, then?" Xolarus asked, looking the paper over disinterestedly.

The doctor cast a nervous glance at Sakaki. "They'll be a little pinkish, but there's no problem biologically." It took a moment, but a wave of nausea rolled through Sakaki when she realized what he was talking about. Xandra laid a hand on her arm, looking a little ill herself.

"S-sir!" the sensor operator suddenly cried, "Spectrography shows… I, I don't even know what this is!"

Xolarus pointed to his second in command and grinned, then walked up behind the operator. "Let me see that, son. Hmm… well, how very interesting. It's a large creature of some kind, 50 meters at least, moving across Kyushu towards the Space Monster. Who would've seen that coming, huh?"

"Fifty meters? But our surveys didn't… where did it come from?"

The boys stood in a loose line on the cliff, staring in shock. The shrine had fallen into the sea, along with about thirty tons of earth. Even then, the perpetrator of this damage was loping off over the horizon, raising a wild, ululating bellow.

"…oh my God!" Ohyama finally managed.

"Oh my God!" Sanada agreed.

"That… that was so… so…" Kiyoshi sputtered.

"Don't say it!" Osamu warned.

"So awesome!" he finished anyway.

There was another long pause as the thunder of the Azumi family guardian's passing faded and its brassy voice vanished on the wind. Still they stood, not daring to move or make a sound lest another titanic beast burst from the Earth. But then, after an interminable silence, Kazuki straightened his shirt cockily and started to swagger away. "How's that for auspicious placement?" he crowed.