Chapter Three: The Demon Advances
One Month Later.
The efforts of the Humans to stop the insect advance in Africa had been largely in vain. It mattered not what they threw at the horde, they couldn't stop it. The insects, under the leadership of Megaguirus, succeeded in cutting the continent in half. She would have continued to advance her forces if not for the command of Centaurus to stop and recoup her army.
The African campaign had been implemented for one reason only, to help fracture the thin ties of brotherhood that kept the UN functioning while the Demions prepared for the next phase of their invasion. The surviving African nations, especially the ones who were next in line to be invaded, were near bankruptcy trying to keep an adequate supply of anti-kaiju weaponry on hand. It would do them little good when Megaguirus attacked, but the pathetic inhabitants needed some illusion of security to cling to.
It made Centaurus laugh at the sheer absurdity of it all. As long as he kept applying pressure, the fractures already inherent in the civilization of the Humans would be torn asunder completely.
Very few nations were willing to lend combat support to the losing war in Africa. Megaguirus was all the proof most of those nations needed that sending war machines and soldiers would just be a waste of resources. They were quite correct in their reasoning, but it mattered not. The surviving African nations on the UN were quick to criticize the lack of support. The daily debates were bogging down the proceedings and making any progress the UN made in developing a solution to Megaguirus slow at best.
To make matters even more delicious for Centaurus, millions upon billions of refugees from Africa were swarming towards Europe and Asia, or braving the seas trying to reach the imagined safety of the Americas. Such a huge influx of immigrants was having a definite negative effect on the countries who were forced to take in these survivors.
Yes, Human civilization was starting to strain at the seams. It was time to start snipping the last threads that were holding it together…
M-Watch Kaiju Defender Lab, Arizona.
Hikaru Chen couldn't rid himself of a funny feeling in his stomach. Even though he wasn't privy to a lot of what went on in M-Watch command, and he was usually too busy to watch the news, he had picked up enough to know that things were getting progressively worse.
He couldn't decide what the feeling in his stomach was exactly; dread or hope. For while he had a lot to worry about, he also had one thing to look forward to. Arashi, M-Watch had decided to go with the name, was nearly ready to be deployed. His kaiju was fully grown now, all that remained was training Arashi's brain as he had promised the Shobijin.
Currently the kaiju was resting in a converted missile silo, awaiting the new programming Hikaru would be putting into its brain. His creation was still floating and curled up in the fetal position, but there was one major difference that distinguished Arashi now, other than his growing larger.
Huge cables, filled with fiber-optic lines, were linked to a special device on the kaiju's head and led back to the supercomputers within the compound that would be instrumental in completing the final phase before Arashi would be deemed fit to go into combat. Right now, the kaiju only possessed the intelligence of a common animal, something that would be changing quite soon if all went as planned. Once Hikaru and his team started the 'brain training' in earnest, his creation would have near-human level intelligence and the mind would be sufficiently malleable for it to follow commands unquestioningly, just as Dorat-Ghidorah had.
Hikaru had named him Arashi because in his native Japanese it meant storm. It seemed like a perfect moniker for his creation, considering the special abilities that rested in Arashi's genetic makeup.
His pride and joy measured 120 meters tall now and bore little resemblance to his erstwhile 'father,' Ghidorah. Armored dark blue scales covered him from head to tail, a marked change from the golden scales they were patterned after. The reason for this was that they had been engineered to be tougher than Ghidorah's. Hikaru had used a special manmade protein of his own design that had an unforeseen side effect of staining the golden hue into its current color.
Arashi's body resembled that of a therapod dinosaur. He rested on top of two massive legs and had two powerful arms that ended in three taloned fingers and a thumb on each hand. Unlike the bodies of the dinosaurs, Arashi did not need his tail primarily for balance, and Chen had modified it from Ghidorah's base form and made it long and whip-like.
Two massive wings, with a span of 175 meters, were currently folded on Arashi's back. His muscular neck, while not as long as Ghidorah's, was still vaguely snakelike to give the kaiju a speedy advantage in biting attacks. Arashi's head was also serpentine, with a large mouth filled with two rows of sharp teeth. A single thick horn rested on his nose.
A column of thin spines ran down the back of Arashi's body, starting from the back of his head and ending at the base of his tail.
All-in-all, Hikaru had made a monster that resembled the ancient dragons of European myth. It was an odd choice for him considering that he was of Asian descent, but he had figured that M-Watch America would be more comfortable with a form they were more familiar with.
"Still starry-eyed about this abomination of yours?" A condescending voice said from behind him. "It's a conventional design and therefore it is inherently flawed. It will never survive prolonged combat."
Hikaru turned to face Sean Varnbel with a raised eyebrow, doing his best to suppress his irritation. Lately Varnbel had become more and more verbal about his dislike of Arashi and he seemed compelled to let Hikaru know about it every time they saw each other. "At least Arashi is based on real science, which is more than I can say for your proposed entry into M-Watch's kaiju defender project. Gabara will never be anything more than a fevered dream."
Varnbel laughed, the tone of which bordered right on being manic. "Gabara's dream is a reality."
Something else that was becoming evident was Varnbel's increasingly erratic behavior. When Hikaru had first meet Varnbel, the other professor had been fiercely dedicated to his ideas, but he had also demonstrated a strong intellect. Lately though, in fact ever since this Gabara business came about, Varnbel's dedication to Gabara seemed so zealous that it bordered on mad scientist. He would often get into arguments with the other scientists about him, sometimes physically.
At first Hikaru had assumed it was due to Varnbel's lack of sleep. Like him, Varnbel didn't rest that much. Now though, Hikaru wasn't so sure…
"What are you talking about, Varnbel?" he asked cautiously. "Gabara was canceled in the planning stages. It was too infeasible to work."
"Perhaps," Varnbel agreed cryptically. "But the limited minds of my superiors will no longer be a problem. I've come to tell you, Chen, that this is my last day. I've found new employment with a group who agree with my ideas."
That took Hikaru by surprise, but there were private enterprises out there trying to make money by developing anti-kaiju weapons. It was entirely possible that Varnbel had been bought by one of them. He managed a smile as he extended a hand. "I'll be sorry to see you go, Sean. We may have argued a lot in the past, but I always did respect your conviction. I hope you manage to prove me wrong about Gabara."
Varnbel declined any contribution to the handshake and kept his hands clasped behind his back. "A word of advice, Hikaru… I think today would be a good day to take that vacation with your daughter that you're always going on about. You work way too much."
Before Hikaru could question just what Varnbel meant by that, the professor turned and left, apparently done talking. Hikaru watched him leave, trying to figure out what he meant by that last cryptic remark, before shaking his head in exasperation. Varnbel was definitely out of it. He only had a day or two left before Arashi was ready to be implemented. His vacation with Saeko could easily wait till then.
Putting Varnbel out of his mind, Hikaru got back to work. If he slaved through the night, he could get a large portion of the new brain pattern he had created imprinted over Arashi's feral base thoughts by the day's end…
M-Watch Headquarters, New York.
The alarm klaxons that signified a kaiju attack suddenly blared to life in the command center of M-Watch. General Nassel waited patiently for his subordinates to get more details. Aside from the disaster in Africa, there hadn't been a kaiju problem since the attacks of a few months ago.
The large viewscreen in the front of the command center switched from a world map showing the current locations of the known locations of kaiju to a real-time video-feed of the newest menace. It was some sort of ogre-ish monstrosity with knobby green skin and a pugish, vaguely dog-like face. On top of its head rested a short row of long horns. Even as he watched, the new kaiju gave out an odd-sounding caterwaul.
"What the hell is that thing?" Nassel wondered aloud.
"Unknown, sir," Commander Onder reported. "It just suddenly appeared out of nowhere. I can't explain it. There also is no record of it in our database."
"I believe that is Gabara," an awed voice spoke up.
Nassel looked to his right, where the voice had originated. Professor Matthew Diamr was the head of M-Watch's research division, and was thus privy to everything that went on in the scientific circles of M-Watch.
"Care to explain, Professor?" Nassel asked.
"Gabara was the brainchild of Professor Sean Varnbel," Diamr explained with a nervous adjustment of his glasses. "I vetoed his idea in favor of Doctor Chen's Arashi proposal. Anyway, according to Varnbel, Gabara would not only be powered by mental energy, he would be composed of it. The monster we are seeing now very closely mirrors the initial designs Varnbel showed me."
Nassel studied Diamr for a moment. He remembered hearing talk of Varnbel and Gabara, but he had been more concerned with the Moguera and the African crisis to bother investigating any further. He regretted it now because he wasn't getting the concept. "Comprised of mental energy? What exactly is that supposed to mean?"
"According to Varnbel, it means that Gabara does not have a conventional body. It can't feel pain, it can't be wounded. It exists only to do the bidding of its master. Essentially, it would be invincible." Diamr shrugged. "There's no way to tell if the Gabara we are seeing here matches the one Varnbel envisioned."
"You speak of Varnbel in the past tense," Nassel noticed. "What happened to him?"
Diamr looked surprised. "Oh, well, actually today was his last day with M-Watch. He left for another job that he refused to talk about. He followed procedure and handed over all of his files and anything else that we would need to be kept out of the private sector, so I had no choice but to let him go."
"We've extrapolated Gabara's course," Onder reported. "He appears to be heading straight for the Kaiju Defender Research Lab in Arizona."
"That's where Arashi is being housed," Diamr reminded Nassel rather needlessly.
"What do we have in the way of defenses at that base?" Nassel asked.
"Nothing that will stop a kaiju," Onder told him regretfully as he consulted a readout screen. "A handful of tanks and a regiment of infantry. It was decided that not calling attention to the base would do more for security than a bigger military force."
"Send the tanks to intercept Gabara. Alert Luke Air Force Base to scramble their jets." When he saw Diamr attempt to protest, Nassel held up a hand. "I know the theory is that Gabara is invulnerable, but that isn't proven yet. If it looks like they're having no effect, have them pull out. In any case, I only want them to delay Gabara until Moguera arrives."
Nassel smiled tightly. "It's time for Mr. Adams to earn his pay and to prove Moguera's worth."
Chen rubbed his eyes wearily, he was only about halfway done inputting Arashi's new brain. Stifling a yawn, Chen stretched his arms and reluctantly got up from his computer terminal. As eager as he was to finally finish Arashi, staring at the lines upon lines of code that constituted the kaiju's new brain was, ironically enough, mind-numbing. He needed some more coffee before continuing.
Chen didn't get far before the distinct alarms that warned of an impending kaiju attack sounded. He froze in place, unsure what to do. Procedure dictated that since he was a noncombatant he was supposed to report to the nearest safe area. On the other hand, he couldn't just abandon his creation now that it was in its most fragile state. There was no telling what the effect would be if Arashi's mind transfer was interrupted.
Sean Varnbel laughed with delight as Gabara approached the base that housed the kaiju project. The tanks that had been sent to intercept the demon of dreams had been predictably ineffective. Their shells did little more than bounce off of the kaiju's skin. The jets shared the same fate. Gabara was able to destroy them all with little trouble.
Over Varnbel's head rested a silver helmet of alien manufacture, but one that used the blueprint that he had designed. This helmet was what gave Gabara form and power, as long as Varnbel wore it, the monster would do his bidding. It also allowed him to see the world through Gabara's eyes and funnel more mental energy to him if the need should arise. If, for some reason, Varnbel were to take off the helmet, Gabara would disappear.
Gabara really was the perfect monster. "Your revenge is at hand, my lord," he said to Gabara mentally. "There is nothing that can defeat you."
"My revenge will not be complete until this planet is a cinder," Gabara corrected him. "Then, once that is accomplished, I will crush the Demions and all who reside in this reality. No one will be spared."
"Except for me," Varnbel reminded him. "It was I who gave you form in this place."
Gabara laughed maliciously. "Your soul is mine, Sean. I have no need to destroy you."
The old Sean Varnbel would have balked at that thought, but now his mind was so far gone that Varnbel only felt comfort at the proclamation.
Even though he owed the Demions for giving him the technology to bring Gabara into this reality, he couldn't disobey his master. Gabara would destroy everything in his sight.
"God damn monsters!" Max growled as he rushed into the piloting room for Moguera. The giant robot was designed to be controlled remotely to eliminate the possibility of death for the pilot. The actual piloting room was currently located in the machine lab. The commands would be relayed through a special military satellite from the room to Moguera.
There were plans to construct a combat transport that would function as the pilot's room as a backup in case the satellite network was ever compromised, but it was still in the preliminary stages.
Max's hands moved through the start-up commands fluidly. Monitors came to life all over the room as Moguera got ready for lift-off. It was then that Max got a good look at his target.
"You are an ugly one, aren't you?" he mumbled to the screen. "I don't really care how you made it this far inland without being detected, but your rampage ends here."
Max hit the throttle for Moguera's engines and watched the land under him become a blur as the giant robot left for battle.
"This hunk of junk better be worth it."
Gabara advanced with a challenging yowl. What few tanks had survived were already in retreat, unable to do anything to halt the kaiju's advance. Dozens of trucks were hauling personnel away from the doomed base and away from Gabara. The kaiju let them go, unconcerned, for now, of such inconsequential pests. There was a bigger target here, the monster known as Arashi.
With purpose, Gabara approached the converted missile silo that held Arashi's body and leaned down, clawing at the ground to find the crack in the closed silo doors. He didn't make much progress before his body was unexpectedly pummeled by a salvo of freezing laser blasts.
Yelping in surprise, Gabara turned to find a silvery object descending from the sky. It had a head that seemed too small for its large body. Both of its immense arms ended in rounded cones and its legs, looking vaguely like pantaloons, ended with feet that had treads on the bottom. With his mind connected to Varnbel's, Gabara knew this strange creature was really a robot named Moguera.
He also knew that it posed no threat to him.
Releasing another caterwaul, Gabara approached, eager to destroy this creation of man. As soon as Moguera landed, it opened every weapon port it had and aimed for Gabara. ULT lasers in it's eyes, a plasma maser cannon in it's chest, spiral grenades from it's 'hands', and hidden missile launchers from armored ports on different parts of it's body. Everything was ready to fire.
Max waited for Gabara to draw a little closer so the kaiju could experience the full effect of its weapons. As soon as the monster was within the designated range, Moguera fired everything it had. It unleashed salvo after salvo into Gabara, unwilling to give its foe a chance to recover. Kaiju were notoriously difficult to kill and Max wasn't willing to take any chances by giving Gabara time to retaliate.
The enormous amounts of energy and ammo being expelled quickly covered the area where Gabara was standing with black smoke and fire. Nothing could be seen within the hellstorm, let alone Gabara's condition, and still the great machine continued firing.
Judging that the barrage of concentrated fire had gone on for a sufficient amount of time, Max quieted the guns and waited to see Gabara's condition. All was quiet for a moment as the smoke started to clear, but it wasn't long before Gabara's distinctive wail was heard. The ogre emerged from the smoke unscathed with an expression that almost looked like a savage grin.
Max immediately resumed firing Moguera's weapons, only this time, instead of striking the other monster, they passed through him. The robot fired again and again, with the same results. The treads on Moguera's feet activated and began moving the robot back while it fired at Gabara, hoping to get in a hit, but the energy kept passing through the kaiju.
Gabara suddenly sprinted forward to catch up with the retreating robot, tackling the oddly shaped robot to the ground. Sparks erupted from Moguera as its systems struggled to stay online. One of Moguera's arms jutted forward, trying to impale Gabara on the end of its cone-like hand. However, the metallic object simply passed through the other kaiju without doing damage.
What could almost be described as a nasty cackle issued forth from Gabara as he realized that Moguera was out of tricks. That last swipe had been made out of desperation. The green ogre reached back and plunged both of his clawed hands into the chest plate of Moguera. However, instead of meeting resistance against the hard metal, Gabara's hands phased right through. Gabara laughed once more before unleashing a powerful electrical current inside of Moguera.
White electricity played over Moguera's surface as parts of the great robot began erupting in small explosions. Sparks and smoke spilled out of the crevasses of Moguera as the electrical damage played havoc with its internal circuits. Finally, in one massive explosion that leveled any standing structure that was nearby, Moguera was blasted apart by its own incendiary nature, sending shrapnel flying everywhere.
Gabara emerged from the inferno unharmed. Now that his little diversion was over with, he could proceed to killing his intended target: Arashi.
As his screens turned to static one-by-one, Max banged his fist against a nearby console in anger. "Not again! No, I won't let another monster take innocent lives!"
But the screens continued to hiss back at him, as if mocking his futile attempts to revive a destroyed machine.
He leaned back in his chair in defeat. "I hate this," he all but whispered to no one in particular. "I hate being so helpless."
With a sigh, he calmed down a bit and pulled out his wallet and a picture of Saeko. "At least you're okay. You picked a hell of a day to go shopping. I hope your dad makes it through."
Putting the wallet away, Max sprang out of his chair, took out his cell phone, and dialed Saeko's number. When he didn't get an answer, he rushed out of the room towards the nearest vehicle.
"You better be okay," he privately amended as he tried to ignore his growing fear.
Hikaru was at his terminal, trying every trick he knew to speed along the transfer of information to Arashi's brain. Whatever was out there had no doubt come here to attack Arashi, he could think of nothing else on the base that would interest a kaiju.
The groan of metal caused Hikaru to look up in horror to see two enormous green hands slowly prying apart the blast doors that covered the converted missile silo. Inch by inch the doors gave way to the strength of the creature on the other side and that's when Hikaru finally saw the source of all the trouble. A pugish, fang-filled face filled the opening with a terrible caterwaul that almost sounded like laughter.
"Gabara!" Hikaru said in astonishment as Varnbel's cryptic words earlier in the day came back to haunt him.
With a malevolent cackle, Gabara reached in, grabbed Arashi by the head with both hands, and unleashed his electrical discharge. The energy surged over Arashi's body, crackling and popping as it played over the dragon's blue scales. The synthetic embryonic fluid acted as a conductor, increasing the power of Gabara's attack.
However, it did more than that, the excess energy that danced off of Arashi's body played havoc with the nearby electronic systems, feeding through the wires that had connected Arashi's head to the education program that Hikaru had been installing.
Hikaru was forced to get down on the floor and cover his head as lights and monitors blew out from the feedback surge. All the while he cursed Varnbel's name for unleashing such misery upon the world. Not just for Gabara, but also now for Arashi. The same blood that ran through King Ghidorah's evil body was essentially the same within Arashi's. Even if the Shobijin had lessened it by a degree, a portion of it would always remain.
Hikaru knew that his creation had enough of a brain to survive on his own, but now that the transfer of his more benign mindset was irrevocably canceled, what would be the effect? As much as he hated to admit it, he wanted Gabara to kill Arashi now. Otherwise Hikaru would be responsible for creating another evil monster. There would be no way to control Arashi if he were to escape from Gabara's attack or somehow beat the other kaiju.
A low growl suddenly filled the converted missile silo and ran right through Hikaru's body. In the darkened monitor room, a reddish glow suddenly lit up the area. Hikaru looked up from his crouched position and saw with an odd mixture of glee and horror that the blue dragon's eyes were open. For one terrible moment, the glowing red irises focused on Hikaru before they turned upwards towards Gabara.
Arashi had been awakened.
Saeko was eating a hamburger at a local restaurant when all of the sudden that all too familiar and terrible cold chill rushed through her body. She gasped in astonishment and dropped her food quite by reflex. The chill stayed with her and didn't vanish as it had when she had first touched the pendant.
She clutched the pendant of Ghidorah, ready to take it off, but as soon as her hand grasped the object, an image filled her mind. There was a terrible green ogre laughing at her. All she could feel was rage, a terrible consuming rage, and a need to destroy everything in sight, starting with the grinning fool before her.
"No, it couldn't be," she thought with realization, but her voice sounded distant and weak. "I'm seeing this through Arashi's eyes. He's fighting something right now."
As she thought that, she could sense that Arashi was aware of her too. The idea that someone was in his mind angered him greatly.
Saeko yelled out as Arashi's rage washed over her like a turbulent ocean. It was too much for her mind to bear and she felt herself slipping into blackness as she lost consciousness.
Thousands of miles away, safe in the M-Watch control center, Nassel felt his heart sink as he watched Moguera's completely ineffective attack and subsequent destruction. "All of that time and money… wasted in less than fifteen minutes. The Pentagon is going to have my ass on a platter!"
Growling in anger, he looked to Diamr. "Explain this to me, Professor. Why is it we saw the tank shells bounce off of Gabara's skin, and even saw Moguera get in a few hits, before it all started passing through him?"
"As I said earlier, Gabara is not based in the physical world," Diamr explained. "He cannot be hurt by physical weapons, because he is, in essence, just a mental picture that Varnbel has somehow managed to get to interact with the real world. In order to get Gabara to fade, so that objects would pass through him, all Varnbel has to do is lessen his concentration. I imagine Varnbel is still testing the limits of his creation."
"Then how the hell are we supposed to beat something like that?" Nassel wondered as he watched Gabara pry open the missile silo doors. "More importantly, why didn't we take advantage of such an innovative idea?"
"With all due respect, General," Diamr said. "It would have taken us untold years to get to the technological level that would be required to create Gabara, that is why I vetoed it. You wanted a monster created in the fastest amount of time possible. How Varnbel has managed it, I can't imagine."
Nassel scratched his chin with a bit of worry. "I think I know. Things have been set up too perfectly. We're under invasion, Professor. This is the work of aliens, it has to be."
"But there hasn't been any sign of alien craft since the Kilaaks," Onder spoke up. "And we've heard no demands or anything. How can you be sure that aliens are behind this, sir?"
"We've had too much disappear on us and had too much go wrong for me to believe that it's all coincidence," Nassel explained. "Whatever alien race that is behind this is taking their time attacking us, picking us apart piece-by-piece. Mark my words, we'll hear from them once they think they have us beat."
Unexpectedly Gabara was hit by an electric blue bolt coming from within the missile silo. The ogre fell back as another creature emerged from the silo, looking for all the world like a massive blue dragon. With a crackling roar, the dragon stretched his wings so that they reached their full span before the creature lifted off from the ground. The powerful winds that resulted blew the desert sands everywhere, obscuring Gabara in an impromptu sandstorm.
"That would be Arashi, I assume," Nassel guessed.
Diamr nodded. "That's him, alright."
"Well, I hope to God that Chen's creation can do better against Gabara than Moguera."
