V: Desperate Measures
Miki's heart belted in her chest as she watched the image of Godzilla on the screen staring at the mechanical creature housing her. He cocked his head almost like a cat and roared, wondering if the sound of his voice would scare MechaGodzilla away, of course it didn't—nothing would.
"Miki. Try to lour him away." Kuroki ordered while continuing to focus on the piloting, he had to keep Argus hovering, they had the advantage.
Miki nodded and closed her eyes. After a few deep breaths she regained her focus and felt the walls of her mind falling away. A vast expanse of black fell around the image of her astral self on the psychic plane. Thick cloud blankets billowed across distant water and Miki could see the giant silhouette of Godzilla looming against the void. With her powers she imagined being right in front of him, standing on the sea water without any fear. Godzilla stared down at her, aware of the familiar presence. He leaned forward until Miki could feel the wind of his nostrils breathing against her.
Little One.. Can you hear me? Miki smiled, allowing her telepathic voice to echo throughout the void around them.
Godzilla's eyes grew upon recognizing Miki's voice. He opened his maw and lapped his tail against the water almost playfully. If he had been a human, Miki figured that would be his equivalent of a smile. She giggled for a moment, and then remembered the task she was entrusted. Her smile transformed into a serious expression.
Little One, you must leave this place. Miki begged, projecting her feeling of desperation at the saurian beast, hoping that he may understand.
Why?… I… I'm hungry…
Miki's eyes widened at the male sounding voice echoing in her mind. She clenched her chest in amazement, realizing that Godzilla Junior could recognize and comprehend telepathy much more openly than his father. Miki remembered how Godzilla only responded with emotions, or short growls and roars, never with human language.
You can speak… How? Miki felt her heart welling with glee at the fact that Godzilla proved much more intelligent than she originally anticipated.
You. Godzilla's eyes remained focused on her, and within the span of several seconds images blazed through both of their minds—a sharing of memory. Miki felt ocean water around her and the sound of a helicopter hovering a few hundred meters above. The daylight seemed almost brutal compared to the dark void she was once in, but after a moment of adjustment she realized what she was seeing—one of his memories.
Miki gasped as the image inverted back into the psychic plane. The emotions she could feel coming out of Godzilla seemed much more negative than before. She stared into the beast's eyes, to any person they were giant earth-colored basins with black pupils, but to her they were windows into his mind and soul. While Miki was no empath she could sense an emotion hidden behind Godzilla's cold and tortured eyes—betrayal.
Little One.. My God what have I done? Miki felt herself choking on the taste of his sense of betrayal and realized the source of it—her. Ever since she entered his mind and persuaded Junior to go to his death and battle Destoroyah he had never been the same. For the first time in his life the young mutant felt the pain of death.
I'm so sorry… I had no choice…
Choice…what is choice? Godzilla lifted his lip and hissed in confusion, unaware of the meaning of the word. He was intelligent for sure, but still could not understand the meaning of certain human concepts.
Miki stepped forward, intending to explain to him the meaning. As soon as she felt her connection grow stronger, a powerful jolt ripped her away from the psychic plane completely like a sling shot. The black void faded into the glimmering bridge of Argus. Miki cleared her vision and gazed at the view screen. The image of Godzilla cradling a wound filled the image as smoke drifted away from a gray scorch mark on his chest.
"Put some distance between us and Godzilla, Kuroki. Keep us hovering." Meru ordered from her telepathic pulpit.
"What the hell are you doing? I was trying to get him to leave!" Miki screamed, trying get out of her seat until remember that she was buckled in.
"It wasn't working. Now we're doing it my way." Meru snapped while hooking several wires from the console in front of her to her helmet.
Meru placed her hands back on the globular sphere, re-connecting her telepathic link with Argus's arsenal.
"Firing mega buster." She muttered, cringing at her soon-to-be victim out in the bay.
A pulsating rainbow blast riveted out of MechaGodzilla narrow maw and slammed into Godzilla's side. An explosion hid his entire upper half as the kinetic force tipped him over. A shrill cry overpowered the Takahama sirens as walls of water undulated beneath Godzilla's weight.
Argus hovered over the disturbed waters, continually releasing the plasmatic blast. The sound of Godzilla's agonized roar rose over the bay whenever he landed a hit. Godzilla could feel the burn of his enemy's rage sear throughout his body even beneath the water, he couldn't understand why this metal contraption was attacking him. All he knew is that Miki was inside it.
Quickly, Godzilla dived into deeper waters farther out in the bay. The cold salt seemed to lessen the pain of his wounds as he swung back up toward the surface directly beneath Argus. His spines flashed behind the maelstrom of conflicting currents seconds before a convulsing blast of energy pierced the ocean depths. Godzilla's atomic blast slammed into Argus's underside. While the kinetic force seemed to push the mechanical Godzilla higher, it merely spilled across his synthetic diamond armor like water hitting glass.
Godzilla burst from the depths directly beneath MechaGodzilla, only to find that he hadn't even been scratched by the atomic onslaught. Godzilla hissed as the mechanical head on Argus turned to its side, casting a lifeless yellow stare from its optics. In response, he released a mechanically garbled squall. Fear shook Junior's audits as the sound reminded him of SpaceGodzilla's war-like cry—something he had tried to forget.
Once again, Godzilla's spines began to flash. His toothed maw hung open as he arched his neck. Thousands of blue-orbs circled his mouth and contracted inward as the beast inhaled deeply. With all his might, Godzilla threw himself forward—releasing the most potent atomic blast he could muster. The pulsating sapphire spout of pure nuclear energy slammed directly into Argus's chest, once again pushing him backward yet merely deflecting from his jeweled carapace. Upon impact the ray streaked in dozens of different directions, sparing MechaGodzilla the damage.
"Meru we must stop!" Miki hollered, knowing that Godzilla was simply trying to defend himself. She eagerly watched the screen at the mutant's confused expression.
"Thanks to Godzilla we have enough energy for the plasma grenade." Meru commented positively, repositioning her hands on the globe in front of her.
Far below them, Godzilla continued to stare mindlessly up at the artificial life-form. He didn't understand why it had such a physical likeness to him, granted its body was much more skeletal, jagged, and smooth than Godzilla's. It glowered down at him menacingly, like a metallic phantasm hating the object of its desire. Godzilla curled his lip and stammered hesitantly. A burning sensation in the pit of his stomach told him that he needed to flee, but he couldn't make himself do so.
Before freeing himself of the thought, Godzilla felt a sharp current of wind batter his face. The next thing he knew, MechaGodzilla's iron-clad tail whipped him across the mouth. Hundreds of delicate jaw bones shattered like brittle toothpicks splintering under too much pressure. Amidst the pain he could feel his regenerative abilities repairing the damage almost instantly.
Godzilla raised himself upright again and gazed at his foe angrily. Amidst his painful recovery, Argus had the opportunity to charge his most powerful weapon—the plasma grenade. Godzilla watched as yellow hued energy pulsated across MechaGodzilla's body eventually spiraling into a sphere of energy directly in front of his torso. Swiftly, Godzilla raised his tail out of the water, knocking MechaGodzilla off-kilter. Even though he still managed to hover above the bay, the massive plasma discharge spouted in a different direction. The ocean several hundred meters behind Godzilla erupted in a massive explosion. The potent shockwave from the impact threw Godzilla forward, toppling him over.
"Damn him!" Meru hollered as she nearly fell from the platform. The shockwave from the plasma grenade proved more powerful than she anticipated, which was a testament to Godzilla Junior's increased power, "activating grappling arms! I have to keep him from moving, we have energy enough left to use one more plasma grenade!"
Miki grabbed onto her console as the entire room heaved back and forth. The sound of Meru's voice in the background angered her, again she was going to watch as Godzilla suffered. She only hoped that Meru flew off her pedestal and knocked herself out.
Long cables burst forth from Argus' body and latched onto Godzilla's arms and legs. The black bulk writhed in the waist-deep water in an attempt to break free, but the cables were too strong. He fell limp in them when electrical discharges began lancing into his muscles.
Smoke rose from Godzilla as his pain-stricken roar became muffled by Argus's metallic croon. He fell to his knees until the water rose up to his chest, adding to the intensity of the electrical shocks. Godzilla opened his maw and released several blasts of nuclear energy, merely absorbing into MechaGodzilla's armor plating like before. It was no use to use his abilities.
Gradually the electrical shocks increased until Godzilla could barely feel his limbs. He was completely paralyzed in Argus's grip.
"Firing plasma grenade…" Meru smiled, knowing she had Godzilla right where she wanted him.
Miki felt oceans form in her eyes at the thought of that weapon obliterating her Little One.
Run away… She whispered telepathically, unable to concentrate well enough to send any further message.
The room shifted and quaked as the plasma grenade billowed from MechaGodzilla's abdomen. On the screen, Miki watched Godzilla disappear behind a blinding yellow light. As the light faded chunks of flesh drifted toward the ocean.
Godzilla whimpered as the salt water washed his gaping chest wound. He sunk beneath the surface, feeling light-headed from the blood vacating his body. The last thing he could remember was hearing Miki say, run away. As if she actually cared for his well-being. It didn't matter, nothing mattered anymore. Godzilla would continue to be hungry and alone until he could actually lay waste to this hateful machine.
The bridge of Argus remained quiet, though Miki could hear Meru jumping for joy in her mind. Miki felt a black void forming in her chest upon realizing that she had allowed the Little One to be brutally wounded… again. Thankfully he was still alive, but just barely.