(A/N: I award a pizza trophy to anybody remembers Honada from the other story. Verily, I bow before your mastery of useless trivia. But if you don't recognize him, well, he doesn't really matter anyway.
Minor edits to the previous chapter were at the suggestion of Sunder the Gold. Remember folks: if you want it sundered, go for the gold! …wait a second, did that even make sense? I need to work on my dedications.)

THUD!

The conspirators' flight came to a sudden end. Both boys found themselves staggering away from a broad blue wall and then seized by powerful hands at their collars. "What do you think you're doing in here?" a hard baritone voice snapped. "This is a restricted area!"

The wall they'd run up against, of course, was a police officer. The three of them stood in the warped square of light thrown through the reception area's open door, silent except for the boys' ragged breathing and the distant scuttle of chitinous legs. Kazuki raised a finger, "Seeking the Truth!"

"Where the hell were you?" Osamu yelled, "We could've been killed! Why weren't you there at the front with a nightstick keeping us from going in?"

The officer raised an eyebrow. "I was on the can. Now give me one reason why I shouldn't cuff you two and call your parents?"

"Because we're seekers of the Truth?"

"They only left one officer guarding THIS? What kind of a retarded conspiracy have we stumbled on?"

There was a long pause. Only Kazuki noticed that the aquarium building was missing its omnipresent hum, but the officer spoke before he could comment. "Why. Why do I always get the crazy kids? It's never anybody else."

"You're right. That does sound suspicious…"

"Hee! He called you crazy, Osamu."

"What almost killed you then, huh? One of these guys?" The policeman indicated one of the scuttling arachnids on the floor between them, then winced in surprise when both boys screamed and jumped on it, stomping it into a thin paste beneath their sneakers. "Um…"

"You don't even know, man! It was, like, the size of an elephant! Bigger!"

"Yeah, and it had big… scary… TEETH!"

They were waved down. "Okay, while I can honestly say you two are the most entertaining thing to happen in a while, I have to… homina…"

"Homina?" Osamu asked uncomprehendingly.

"Yeah," Kazuki explained. "It's like what you say when you see something really… big…" Not wanting to waste the moment, they turned in horror movie slow-motion to observe a massive, shadowy form suspended over the reception desk, turning dully glinting red eyes towards them. When they made eye-contact, it hiss/shriek/squawked at them and started to lower its great body.

"I, uh… think I'll let you off with a warning…" the policeman said, fumbling for his walkie-talkie with one hand while he shooed them away with the other, and the boys wasted not a moment in fleeing. "Honada here. I need a tank. …no, I just wish I was joking."

Golden sunlight fell across Chiyo's face, and for just an instant she felt like an old woman. She sat up slowly, loosing a yawn that would have made Tomo fall before her in worship, stretching spindly, protesting limbs until she heard a crack that would probably come back to haunt her thirty years down the road.

She moved to set her feet on the ground, but they ran up against Mr. Tadakichi's shaggy back. The great dog lifted his head in sleepy confusion. "Always underfoot," Chiyo teased gently, scratching behind his ears until he yawned and lay back down. This time, she carefully stepped over him, then picked her way through her friends, who were still strewn throughout the room.

Ahh… just the sort of gentle, pastel morning she liked. Chiyo caught herself wishing that the day wouldn't have to start so soon. Her solitude would surely be broken before long. She started making breakfast out of reflex, and it was only after eggs were sizzling in the pan before her that she paused to wonder how much she should make.

"Morning," Sakaki said softly in passing. She sat down at the table, not in the expectation of food but merely to keep her company.

"Good morning, Ms. Sakaki! Did you sleep well?"

"Yeah. You?"

"I did, thank you. Yesterday really tired me out. How do you like your eggs?"

"I don't. Thanks, though."

"Oh, that's right… it's Ms. Osaka that likes them with cinnamon and Ms. Tomo that… ah, my memory failed me." She shot a glance back at her towering friend. "Um, is something the matter, Ms. Sakaki?"

"Well… I have… I have a question." Her pauses conveyed hesitance, not a sudden William Shatner complex.

"Go ahead," the prodigy said pleasantly, giving the pan a shake. Maybe an omelet…

"Why are you angry with your father?"

Chiyo didn't respond for a long time, working the eggs absent-mindedly, but just when Sakaki was about to withdraw her question, she finally spoke. "Don't worry. I'm just trying to think of a way to phrase it."

"Okay."

"For the longest time, he's been… orange juice?"

"Huh? No thanks."

"He's been playing at corporate espionage, though to be honest he's not really that good at it. I always used to find proprietary documents laying around, about things I preferred to pretend didn't exist. I didn't worry too much about it… I trusted him, you know? He was always so confident, so I trusted that nothing would happen to him and that he'd keep me safe, even after I heard one of his contacts threaten me directly. Are you sure you don't want anything?"

"I'm fine."

"You really ought to eat breakfast…" Chiyo's smile faded as she continued. "I would have been better if it was just me. If I were the only person that was attacked by a giant plant monster, or… oh, by the way, I overheard this while I was pretending to sleep. Did you know that some of my genes were used to make Biollante?"

Sakaki's eyes widened.

"I guess that's how it knew to single me out." Her tone suggested that she found this more upsetting than she let on. "But what if it hadn't? Or what if Father's enemy didn't have such a sick sense of humor? What if he'd decided to get rid of me more conventionally, with a car bomb or something? You all were around me the whole time."

"But…"

"Before the trip, I found out that Yomi's microxygen lab was run by this same person." She wasn't aware of the Ogawa brothers, or how similar their voices were. "He could have hurt or killed her at any time and made it look like an accident. I started to think that maybe I was wrong because he hadn't done anything… but I found out yesterday that when the police went to talk with him, he jumped out of a second-story window to escape. One of his students was injured, too."

"Mr. Ogawa is…?" Sakaki shook her head in disbelief.

"I had a hard time myself. But that's not all… last year, when we went to Sendai to find you and so Ms. Osaka could get to her island—well, you weren't there, but he called me on Tomo's cell phone. He'd had a burst of intuition that told him I was there… and do you know what he did? He sent men from G-Force to find us and get us out of the area! Knowing about the giant monsters, alien soldiers and frontier missiles!"

"Isn't that their job?"

"It's their job to help people and oppose the monsters, yes, but it isn't their job to go into a warzone and chase down stupid little girls who…! Twelve men, Ms. Sakaki! They nearly died, too, and it would've been because of us! Because of him! He didn't even tell me that he was doing it—I probably would've thought they were invaders and run! It's a microcosm of my whole beef… he doesn't tell me things, and then these things come to hurt my friends!"

Sakaki wondered about her use of the term beef, but had more important questions on her mind. "But…"

"I know I'm being irrational. I don't know, I guess being poisoned by a five-hundred-foot-tall long-stemmed blue rose can do that to you. It's just that… sooner or later, his games are going to get someone killed, maybe one of us, and… and I don't know what I'll do then. I'd forgive him if I'd just been dragged into his world of terrorists and giant monsters and what-have-you, but now my friends have, too, and I can't… it's not something I can…" She then turned the pan over, revealing that the horribly overcooked eggs were firmly stuck to its surface. "Oh. Look what I did."

At this point, Sandra entered. She looked like one of the walking dead, dragging the stuffed dragon behind her by its wing. "Hey, all," she said dully. "I smell food."

"Pull up a chair!" Chiyo greeted, grateful for the diversion.

Sandra sat down and cricked her neck. "Had this weird dream about a ten-headed…" But then she was cut off by a long, high-pitched, canine yawn. She turned sharply to stare at Mr. Tadakichi's impressive dental battery until he was done, then cringed in surprise as he plodded forward and set his heavy head in her lap, hoping for some ear-scratchage.

Sandra shot Sakaki a look that cried, 'Help!' She replied with a look that said, 'It's okay, just ignore him.' At the edge of panic, Sandra's eyes hollered, 'Ignore him? This monster has his head in my lap and I'm supposed to ignore him?' Sakaki's slight smile said, 'I apologize for finding this so amusing.' Sandra closed it off with a glare/pout that grumbled 'Yeah, well, why don't you take a long walk out a short airlock?' so eloquently that Sakaki's eyebrow rose. 'Airlock?'

Whuffing what must have been dog for, "Jeez, what's your problem?" Mr. Tadakichi moved around the table to get some love from Sakaki, who was only too happy to oblige. "Did I intrude on something?" Sandra finally asked.

"N-not really," Chiyo said. "Thanks for listening, Ms. Sakaki."

"You should forgive him," Sakaki advised. "He's the only father you have."

"I-I will…" the prodigy met her eyes and felt a creeping sensation down her neck. She could normally see through the cobalt wall that was Sakaki's gaze, but this time it was impenetrable. "I will," she continued more firmly. "Yes."

Sandra looked between them, realizing that once again she was completely lost. Oh, well. In spite of what Osaka had said all those days ago, she was getting used to it.

It was officially a bad day to be a member of SSS9. Yasuhiro had carried through on his threat to crush the organization he had helped form; it only took a few phone calls and the authorities were pressing in on them from every side. Whole branches of SSS9 were lopped of in swift, fell strokes. By the time Mr. Ogawa was called to see his brother, their organization was crippled to the extent of Mihama's knowledge, teetering on the edge of nothing. This call, obviously, did not bode well.

"You, ah, you lost the cape, I see," the junior man said nervously. "Good move, I think. The shadowy overlord bit fits you much better."

"I agree," his brother said in a self-consciously deep voice. The office was barely lit, and even the dim early-morning light through the windows was arranged so that it fell across his broad shoulders but not his face. The effect was only slightly ruined by the swath of flattened carpet that indicated the desk had been intentionally placed for it. "It's much more dignified."

"So, ah… what did you want to see me for? And what—what's that smell? Do you have one of those spring rain aromatherapy candles in here?" At least, that's what the younger Ogawa was desperately hoping.

"I was curious to know if you were still having second thoughts," the senior man said calmly. "Or if you still wanted to work for us."

"Of-of course," the junior man nodded quickly. "I've been feeling better about the whole venture, especially since it turns out that Chiyo's all right. I figure once the world powers see that we can and will make more monsters like that, they'll agree to…"

"Wait, wait, wait, you said that Chiyo's all right?" When his younger brother trailed off and swallowed, the Senior Man smirked. "She couldn't be less all right. She's not twenty-four hours from shuffling off this mortal coil."

"Wh-what?"

"Did you think she'd just get off with a little poisoning?"

"But why?"

"Because I want to hurt Mihama in the worst way possible. Over the years of our correspondence, I've grown tired of his threats and his ideals and his constant whining over the ethics of our activities. He has always said that he could break SSS9 if he wanted to, and he gave it his best shot. Now I will prove that I can break him."

"But she's just a little girl!"

"So sad. Oh, and I'm hoping to get your favorite student… ah, Mizuhara, was it? in the same go. You really should invest your affection more wisely."

"But… what are you… how… how…?"

"How do I plan to kill them? Well…" Two long, scythe-like claws slid out of the pool of shadow behind him and lit gently on the desk. "I'm sure you've kept abreast of our micro-oxygen project… you probably know the creatures have figured out how to fuse with each other and grow. What might surprise you is that we can still control them, provided we don't let them get too big."

"You're going to unleash those… those… things on a bunch of kids?"

"Of course not. They'll be on our leash the whole while."

"But… how could you?"

"You're a lot like Mihama, you know that, little brother? You have an amazing capacity to see people the way you want to, rather than the way they are. Know, then, that I am a maniac. I'm about the closest thing this world will ever see to Dr. Doom or Lex Luthor. I am out to make my world-domination omelet, and I don't care who or what I have to break to do so. Do you understand?"

As he spoke, the hideous arachnid climbed over the desk, lifting its body above Lord Ogawa's head and staring at the science teacher with malevolent crimson eyes. "I… I always thought… you were always so…! I'm out! I'm not gonna do this, man!"

"I was always so what, exactly? Merciful? Kind? For a teacher, you sure are remarkably stupid. This is your last chance, brother. Little Chiyo's dying in any case… so are you along for the ride with me… or her?"

"Tomo vs. Kagura, round two: Tomo-chan's revenge!" Tomo announced to the world at large. "Today and today only, you get to see me stomp this meathead into the ground! Yaayy!"

"Yay!" echoed Osaka, once more safely on the sidelines.

"This is stupid," Yomi grumbled. It was too late to change things, however; the battle-lines were set. Kagura had suggested two-on-two for their earth-shattering rematch while simultaneously grabbing Kaori by her arm and dragging her to the "court." Tomo had agreed instantly, and before Yomi could even call her an idiot more than five times, she'd been pressed into service.

It was hoped by the spectators that Ms. Mizuhara's height wouldn't let this become too much of a slaughter, but sadly, Tomo's revenge was to be postponed yet again. "You're pretty quick, Kaori!" Kagura commended, "You ever considered trying out?"

"You mean like for the basketball team?" Kaori yelped, honestly shocked. "But I'm no…!"

"Hey, I don't tell people they're talented when they're not. Ms. Kurosawa's been looking for people, an' while I don't think you'd be point-guard right of the bat…"

"Shut up and toss me the rock!" Tomo yelled, "It's still on!"

"Fine, fine." And so their epic duel continued.

"Ms. Tomo seems even more into it this time," Chiyo observed. "Almost like she has something to prove?"

"Doesn't she always?" Sandra asked airily. "Okay, let me see if I got this straight, Osaka. Kagura's the quarterback, and Kaori's the goalie. They start with zero points, which is called 'love,' then get seven points for every goal, but fifteen for a field goal. The game ends when Tomo catches the golden snitch or one of them is pinned for a three-count."

"Yup," Osaka confirmed happily, "You got it."

Sandra stared at the combatants, slack-jawed. "What a stupid game."

"Eh, y'get used to it. Oh, Chiyo's pop is back!" she stood and waved. "Hey, Chiyo's pop!"

Yasuhiro stood stepped out of his modest compact car and waved back uncertainly. He never seemed to know what to do or say when interacting with Osaka; he wasn't alone on that count, of course, but he didn't know how common his problem was. "Er, hi."

His trip had sadly been postponed. His contact had claimed sudden illness, and when he tried to press his case, the flight was cancelled due to a pilot's strike or somesuch. As he left the airport in disgust, one of his junior advisors had happened across him as if by providence and made an interesting suggestion as to how they could recoup the financial losses from rebuilding Mechagodzilla…

Osamu would have seen the obvious. Yasuhiro, on the other hand, had no reason to suspect anything untoward from his trusted employee of eleven years. "So, we need a test group, see if this whole business is as fun and interesting as they're hoping…" he muttered to himself on his way past them.

Chiyo shot an entreating glance to Sakaki, but her friend had become a wall again. Maybe his mistakes had hurt her and her friends, but he'd learned from those mistakes and was trying to help them. Sakaki was right. The young prodigy stood, steeled herself, and then the two of them started after him. "F-father?" Chiyo called.

"Hm?" he turned as they drew near, acting for all the world as if she hadn't been rather cruelly snubbing him since her return. Behind them, he could see Kagura's final victory, as well as the extremely entertaining fit Tomo threw in response.

"Father, I…" Chiyo stumbled over herself. He waited patiently as she tried to wring words out, but all she could manage was to sniff thickly as a tear tracked down her cheek. "I'm very sorry. I need to compose myself," she said finally, and retreated like the wind.

Yasuhiro looked at Sakaki questioningly, who spread her hands.

"Jeez, Andrea!" Tomo yelled, suddenly less than a pace behind her. "What did you do to her, huh?"

In truth, all Sakaki did was glance at the Wildcat Idiot, but from her lofty height, with her dark eyes and customarily dire expression, this glance struck with apocalyptic force. Tomo skittered away like a leaf and continued to taunt her from a safe distance. Well, safe from Sakaki, anyway…

"Next time why don't--!"

Whap! "Tomo, would you shut up already?" Yomi snapped.

"Well, sor-ee for trying to inject a little life into She-zilla over there…"

None of her friends saw Chiyo's apology and reconciliation. It was probably a good thing, as this was a profoundly awkward experience for her. After all, how often did such a gentle, polite girl find herself in the position of (passive) aggressor? They spoke in private for some time, and when Chiyo-chan returned to her friends, she was teary-eyed but relieved and happy.

It was twenty minutes or so later that Yasuhiro came to them with a proposition.

"You see, building Mechagodzilla pushed us to the edge of bankruptcy, believe it or not. Rebuilding him, in spite of the help we're getting from the government, could ruin us. Some of my employees decided that to help ends meet, we could start giving paid tours of Mechagodzilla's silo."

"Sounds boring," Tomo said frankly. Yomi moved to preemptively clap a hand over her mouth if she started going, "Boring! Booooring!" but fortunately she didn't think to.

"Well, that's what I said, but they reminded me that a lot of kids are into dinosaurs and a lot of others are into giant robots, and he's both. One of the technicians volunteered to conduct it, too; he said that he's good with youngsters and had a few ideas to keep it entertaining…" Yasuhiro paused. "You know, he was kind of smirking when he said it. I hope he doesn't plan to pull a prank on the group or something."

"But isn't all that classified?" Yomi asked.

"Not anymore. The stupid news networks haven't been showing anything but Mechagodzilla since we used him 'round Okinawa."

"So you want us to try it out, then?" Kagura seemed amenable enough.

"Only if you want to," he assured them. "I was going to go through the normal market research bit, but I happened to notice that you were all here. What do you say?"

"It seems interesting to me," Chiyo offered.

"I have to admit," Yomi added, "I'm a little curious to see how it works."

"Me, too." Sandra was unable to keep suspicion out of her voice. Yasuhiro chuckled at her reaction. "Don't worry," he assured her, "We haven't been stealing secrets from your country." She swallowed her gum in panic before realizing that he thought she was from America. "Aheh…"

Sakaki gave an imperceptible shrug and a fractionally greater nod. Why not?

"If you guys say so…" Kaori sounded doubtful.

"Sure, okay," Kagura said.

"Oh, come on, guys," Tomo shook her head. "This is gonna be the driest, lamest…"

"But Tomo," Kagura cut her off, "Mechagodzilla is, what, eight stars worth of carjack, isn't he?"

An evil gleam appeared in her eyes. "I'm in."

That left Osaka. She deliberated a moment longer than the others, mainly because she was Osaka, but also because she noticed another purple doom appear. It was just like the dooms she had imagined around her report card and hovering outside in the storm, but this one was about the size of Biollante and twice as mean. As the girls started to give their assent, it reached up through the ground and closed its terrible clawed hand around all of them.

She grinned. "Sounds like fun t'me!"