Manda rose himself out of the ocean and shook the salty water off of his scales. He glanced around the beach, his eyes opening and closing slowly as he glanced around, each of his three pairs of lids blinking out the salt. He coiled himself and laid himself down on the sand, waiting patiently for her to arrive. His brilliantly colored, rainbow fins flattened out slight as he felt the wind around him rise up. He let loose a deep rumble when he heard the sound of a pair of enormous wings beat and grow louder as the creature came closer.
The wind is changing, began a soft voice to him.
"I know, Mothra," Manda replied. "He's getting very close."
He has already attacked Kiryuu, said Mothra as her great form landed before him.
"That is why I came here," he began. "I need your help in defending Kiryuu."
There is no need, Mothra said. His friends are helping him. King Ghidorah has released his grip on Kiryuu's mind.
That's good," said Manda. "About King Ghidorah."
You feel the need in battling him yourself, Manda? Asked the great moth. Mothra shifter her position and folded her front arms.
"I feel that I should be allowed to be involved because of the injustice brought upon Kraken," Manda growled. "King Ghidorah tricked him."
This fight must be fought by Kiryuu and Godzilla alone, Manda, Mothra sighed.
Manda growled again, flickers and sparks of lightning appeared around the corners of his jaws. Mothra felt the charge in the air as the wind picked up and the sky itself rumbled angrily, mirroring fierceness of Manda's mood.
Still, Manda, Mothra commanded sharply. This is my decision. I'm sorry.
Manda calmed down and the angry sky cleared. Mothra turned her head towards the ocean and stared out. She sensed the movements of the two creature heading towards the east.
Ah, they are awake, she said.
"Angilus and Rodan," said Manda. "Will they have to fight King Ghidorah?"
No, Mothra replied. They are not strong enough.
"Why are they going towards America?"
You first guess is the correct one, said Mothra. Kiryuu is the reason why they are heading to the West Coast. Godzilla told them about him.
"He must have gloated about his father to them," Manda chuckled.
Godzilla has conflicting emotions about his father, Mothra said.
"And Kiryuu still has conflicting emotions about himself," said Manda. "He is two people, the original Godzilla and the AI once called K-I. Though he leans over towards being K-I, I believe parts of the original Godzilla does come through. He can't be the father Godzilla wants because of this."
Mothra nodded and followed the two dinosaurs' path as they made their way to the West Coast.
You may follow them to the West Coast to see what will happen if you like, she said.
"Yes," said Manda. "I'd like to see this." He glanced up at the sky again. "When will he arrive?"
Within the next two days, Mothra replied.
"I hope Kiryuu will be ready," Manda sighed as he leaped into the ocean again.
Mothra glanced up into the sky: As do I.
"Whoa!" cried Tochi as he perked up at the sound of the sirens. "Hey, Mick!"
Mike Ginsburg glanced up from his hotrod magazine. He leaned over, staring at the screen as two blips made their way towards the West Coast. He brought up the reading from Lotus I, the Foundation's satellite. These blips were not Godzilla.
"That's not Godzilla," said Mike.
"No, shit, Sherlock," Tochi snorted.
"What is it?"
"How the hell am I supposed to know?" asked Tochi. "Call Will and tell him he needs to get Kiryuu ready. He needs to get back into his body."
"Will!' Mike called over the PA system. "We've got monster movement going on. Is Kiryuu ready?"
Down in the clean room, Will was just putting Kiryuu's mind back together. He and his assistants were cleaning all the panels, making sure that the parts were free from dust before they reconnected them.
"Yeah?" asked Will. "We're putting the processors back into the sphere frame. Then, we'll be ready to put the casing back on."
"There's two of them," said Tochi. "They look like they're heading for San Francisco."
"Is one of them Godzilla?" asked Will.
"No," Mike replied. "Lotus isn't picking up any radiation from them. I don't know what they are. Lotus is uploading some images of the two monsters. We'll be able to identify them once we have a visual."
"Come on, guys," said Will. "Let's get this done as quickly, but as carefully as possible. I don't want any mistakes because we're rushed for time."
"Yes, sir," the assistants replied in unison.
Taking Kiryuu's AI apart was easier than putting it back together. Will and his team had to make sure everything fit snuggly and correctly together in their proper slots. It was essential that everything was done in a timely manner to ensure startup success. As soon as they pieced together the last component, Will carefully placed the spherical casing around the Central Processing Unit. Then, with a press off a button, Will switched the AI on, connecting it to a speaker for communication.
"Kiryuu?" he asked. "Hey, pal, you okay?"
"Will?" came a rather deep and handsome voice from the speaker.
"Oh, thank God!" Will laughed. "Man, you scared the piss out of me. We all thought you were shut down for good!"
"No," I'm not dead yet," Kiryuu replied. "It'll take a lot more than some electronic fluctuation to bring me down. I knew that I could count on you to fix me."
"Glad to hear your voice again," Will sighed in complete relief. All of this stress clichéd up every muscle in his body. Hearing Kiryuu's calm, dark, and pleasant voice relaxed him and he settled down on the chair. Kiryuu could sense just how worried his programmer was by the sound of Will's voice. And with some of the sensors attached to the sphere, he could see how stressfully exhausted and exasperated the whole situation was to Will Penter.
"Will," began Kiryuu. "It's good to hear your voice."
"Come on, buddy," said Will. "Let's get you back into your body. There's two monsters heading to San Francisco. Don't worry, Godzilla isn't with them."
"He knows better," Kiryuu said. "I thought him well."
Will, with some aid from one of his assistants, lifted the CPU up and placed it down on the dolly again.
"Oh, Katsura said that Io wants to see you before I put you back into your body," said Will as he began to roll Kiryuu out.
"Io was worried about me too?" asked Kiryuu.
"Everyone in the whole building was!" said Will. He took off his cleaning room clothes and tossed them into a special hamper. He rolled Kiryuu's AI down the hall until he saw Katsura and Io come around the corner. Will rolled Kiryuu's AI over to Io and Katsura, smiling triumphantly. Because Katsura blocked her link from Kiryuu, could not sense what all happened during the operation.
"Will," began Katsura. "Is he…"
"Hello, Katsura," Kiryuu began. Katsura ran towards him, wrapping her arms around the sphere and hugging it in a tight, relieved embrace. Io grinned, approaching the CPU.
"Io," Kiryuu continued, his attention turned towards her.
"Hello, Kiryuu-san," Io smiled back.
"I hear that you were worried about me," Kiryuu's voice grinned at her.
"Hai," Io nodded.
"Come here, Io," Kiryuu began. "Don't worry about me. Everything will be fine."
"You're not sick anymore, Kiryuu-san?" she asked.
"No," Kiryuu replied, his voice keeping a perpetual smile to its tone. "I'm fine. Will and his team have fixed me."
"That's good," said Io.
"Come on," said Will. "I need to get Kiryuu back into his body."
Io leaned over and carefully placed one of the sensors of the AI into her hand. Kiryuu rumbled pleasantly when he felt her hand. It was wonderful to have external input again flowing through his processors. She backed away just as Will pushed the dolly down the hall.
"Kiryuu," began Will. "I might want to warn you. Gordon is pissed-off at you."
"What for?"
"You're building an Oxygen Destroyer, Kiryuu," Will said. "That's a good enough reason."
"I see," Kiryuu's voice turned grim.
"Kiryuu…" sighed Will. "Why are you building this weapon?"
"I don't know if I can destroy King Ghidorah," Kiryuu began. "I don't think that even the AZC will help."
"Gordon can beef up your weapon systems," said Will.
"It's not going to be enough," Kiryuu droned.
Will shook his head and sighed as he pushed the dolly into the control room. Io and Katsura followed Will as he went into the control room. There Gordon and Maria joined them as Will pushed the sphere into the room.
"Kiryuu Knight," Gordon growled, his arms crossed against his chest. "Tell me, what is this?"
He pointed at the frozen picture of Kiryuu activating the Oxygen Destroyer in the tank. Kiryuu took in a virtual breath and looked up at Gordon.
"It is necessary," he said.
"The Oxygen Destroyer—a necessary thing?" Gordon asked. "Why?"
"My weapons won't be enough to destroy King Ghidorah," Kiryuu replied.
"I can beef up…"
"It's not enough," Kiryuu interrupted.
Gordon sighed as he sat down on the chair: "It's not enough."
"Gordon," began Will. "As much as we'd love to discuss this…"
"I know," he said. "We have a monster problem. Will, put Kiryuu back into his head."
Maria stood up and approached the AI sphere very slowly.
"Maria," Kiryuu rumbled deeply.
Maria just shook her head, reaching out to the sphere to touch it. Still, in her mind, she could not quite equate that this being before her was still a computer. She knew in her mind logically that it was, but in her heart, she could not accept him as a machine. She came close to the sphere and laid her hand on its smooth surface.
"Maria…" Kiryuu rumbled again, his voice going even deeper giving, his tone giving way to longing.
"You're okay," she breathed, completely baffled, and though reassured that he was well. "Kiryuu…"
"I'm fine," Kiryuu rumbled again, his voice letting off a soft purr when he spoke as she caressed the surface of the sphere. She leaned in, laying her head against the AI's casing. She knew it was him, even if the AI was nothing more than a sphere. It was still Kiryuu.
"Maria," began Will. "I gotta put his brain back in its body."
"I'm sorry," Maria corrected herself as she lifted up off of the casing.
"Está bien," Kiryuu purred back at her.
"Mi Kiryuu," Maria smiled as Will positioned the sphere for the robotic arms to lifted it back up again. He disconnected the speaker from the sphere as Gordon commanded the arms, picking up the AI and placing it back into the slot behind Mechagodzilla's head. The enormous mecha turned on and the eyes flew opened. Kiryuu, finally back into his body, let loose a powerful yawn, stretching his maw wide open, showing off his gleaming, pearly white fangs. He stretched his neck out, rolling it around and wiggled his fingers and his toes. It felt wonderful to be back in his body again. He leaned down to his human overseers with a broad grin on his mouth.
"Kiryuu," began Gordon. "I'll discuss with you later about this weapon. But right now, we need you to be prepared to engage these two monsters."
"What are they?" Kiryuu asked.
"We're pulling up a vector on them now," said Will. "And a visual. Lotus has their images stored."
Kiryuu closed his eyes and began to download the information from Lotus I. The images flowed through his processors. They were blurry at first, but Kiryuu quickly enhanced them as he gathered them up. There, he saw the two creatures heading towards the West Coast. One was an armadillo looking creature with huge spikes running along its back, and the other looked like an enormous bird with broad wings. Kiryuu quickly ran through the database listing of various monsters that had appeared before he became a cybernetic automaton and after. He ran across a match for the two monsters and found the names the humans have given them.
"These creatures are Angilus and Rodan," Kiryuu replied.
"Angilus and Rodan?" Gordon asked. "Are they new?"
"They wouldn't be in my database if they were," said Kiryuu. "No, these monsters have surfaced before, but not as frequent as Godzilla. Atomic tests made them large, but that is all."
"They don't have any special weapons?" Will asked.
"No," Kiryuu replied. "No other abilities are listed, but Rodan has the ability to create a supersonic screech so powerful that it can cause electronic hardware to fail. Though, he is only able to do this when in flight. Angilus just has a thick outer shell and those spikes. But no particular energy weapon like Godzilla and I."
"Well, they are posing a threat," Gordon said. "Go after them anyways. Mount the back unit on him, and fully charge his cannons."
"Gordon," began Kiryuu. "About my maser cannons…"
"Can you reproduce that plasma beam?" Gordon asked.
"Yes," Kiryuu replied. "I can."
"How do you know?"
"I just do," he shrugged.
Gordon sighed: "Fine. But I'm sending you out with your other weapons as well."
"Yes, Gordon," Kiryuu nodded.
"When will they be in San Francisco?" Gordon asked.
"Within five hours," Will replied, getting a reading from the satellite. He glanced down at the screen, seeing the estimated time on the left corner. Just then, the screen began to flicker. The time changed. "No, wait, now it's saying 2 hours." The screen flickered again. "Now 10 hours. What the hell?"
Gordon glanced over at the screen, seeing the flickering and the change in ETA times. Will's fingers swiftly flew across the keyboard, trying to find the glitch that was in the system.
"Gordon," began Kiryuu. "I'm getting static feedback from Lotus. Something is disrupting the feed."
"Great," Gordon sighed. "More problems."
"Kiryuu," began Will. "Disconnect your ties to Lotus so it won't affect your systems as well."
"Compliance," Kiryuu replied as he disconnected from Lotus. Will's eyes widened just as the monitors clicked off, becoming black. He reached down and restarted the system, bringing the monitors back on line. His fingers once more glided over the keyboard as he tried to bring the feed back. He found that there was no signal coming from the satellite.
"Fuck!" Will cried, throwing his pen against the computer in frustration. "Damn, you piece of junk!"
"Will!" cried Katsura. "Don't cuss around Io!"
Katsura quickly covered the little girl's ears and gave an accusing stare back at the computer programmer.
"Sorry," Will sighed. "Wait…she doesn't know English."
"What happened?" Gordon asked.
"Lotus…" Will began. "There's no feed. I can't even tap into the satellite's CPU. It's like Lotus is gone."
Kiryuu closed his eyes and concentrated. He tried to contact any other satellite that was in the area, military, private, or commercial. He managed to tap into a commercial satellite, and focused his energies in getting a reading from that satellite. He growled when he found that he could not tap into Lotus from the other satellite, but he found that he could not even do that. It was as if Lotus was no longer there.
"Nothing," he sighed. "I can't contact Lotus."
"What about our other satellites?" asked Maria.
"They're not configured the same way as Lotus," Kiryuu replied. "Some one is purposely blinding me. And I think I know who it is."
"Never mind that," Gordon waved his head in a dismissal. "Will, where can we get the information about how close Angilus and Rodan are to the West Coast?"
"Well, the army might have an ETA," Will said. "I can call them up."
"Make it quick!" barked Gordon. "And get me an aspirin. My head hurts!"
Will opened a phone line and began to dial out to the nearest army base.
"Yes, hello," he began. "This is Will Penter from Utah Foundation Site Alpha Base. Could I speak to Colonel Sparks please? Yes, I'll hold."
Maria handed Gordon an aspirin and a glass of water as Will waited for an answer on the other line. He ran his fingers through his white hair, shaking his head. Kiryuu closed his eyes again as the technicians began to attach the back unit onto his spines and rearming him with his forearm cannons. Above, the arms came down and snapped on his helm and faceplate over his face and his green, fleshy dreads whirled back to their protective spots under his armor, reattaching themselves to the back unit and the forearm cannons. The golden optics flashed brightly and the red tear lights flickered on, signally the helm was properly connected to Kiryuu's head. He opened his eyes again, feeling that the procedures were completed.
"Hello, Colonel Sparks?" began Will. "Yes, this is Mr. Penter. Yeah…uh, sorry about that we had a malfunction in the base, our whole system just crashed due to some sort of electromagnetic disturbance. Right, well, he didn't do it deliberately. I know—right, I understand. I know—you took over Levi's headache…"
"Mr. Penter," began Sparks over the phone. "I'm easier than General Garrison. And I know what Kiryuu is, hell I even met him myself last week when I was assigned to monitor him. I find that he's a decent fellow to get along with. Now, I've been diligent in trying to keep his secret out of the eyes of the public, and the government itself, but this is pulling a little more than I can give. I don't want to get you all in trouble for that hacking attack you did to my base…"
"Did he attack any other base?" Will asked.
"No," said Sparks. "I've called down to the other base, trying to make it sound like just an inquiry—and not pointing any fingers at anyone in particular—they said that there haven't been any other attacks. Actually, just before the attack ended, there was a note from Kiryuu. He wanted to apologize for the attack and that the attack was not on purpose. Then, he stated that the attack was to get information that he knew that he could never have access to."
"Did the note say what he was looking for?" Will asked.
Sparks glanced through the files: "No. Just that short note. The attack happened so fast that none of my boys could tell what Kiryuu was after. What's going on?"
"Kiryuu says the attack was caused by some hacker going into his systems," said Will. "He said that the attacker was trying to use him. The attacker called himself King Ghidorah. And now, our warning satellite is malfunctioning and there's two monsters heading for the West Coast."
"I thought Kiryuu's system as the toughest in the world to break," Sparks began.
"They are," said Will. "But that don't mean that someone can't find a way to hack into him. There's still that possibility."
Sparks sighed, shaking his head.
"I like you guys," he said. "I really do. But I'm going out on a limb on trying to keep this under the rug."
"You don't know how much we appreciate this," said Will. "All I can say is shit happens."
"Yes, well, when shit does happen…" began Sparks. "It lands in both our laps. And we have to clean it up."
"I need your help, here," began Will. "Can you track the monsters that are heading towards the West Coast?"
"Yeah," Sparks replied. He pulled the information up on his screen, finding that two subs have been dispatched to their location. So far, the flying one is too fast for the planes to catch up and get a clear shot at it, and the one swimming is a bit tough to destroy."
"How long do you think it'll take for them to get to the West Coast?"
"I've got an ETA at about two hours," said Sparks. "Your satellite couldn't track them because of the malfunction?"
"It did at first," said Will. "But then it failed. We can't track them since the malfunction. I don't know what happened."
"You better hurry and get to the spot," said Sparks. "Looks like their destination is San Francisco."
"That's what we figured," said Will.
"Any idea as to why they're heading here?"
"I have no idea," Will sighed.
Sparks chuckled: "I thought you guys were supposed to be the monster experts."
"No, we're the Godzilla experts," Will said. "These two monsters haven't been since sense the early 60s."
"Well, you know more about them than we do," said Sparks. "Any idea as to what they are?"
"Kiryuu pulled that information up," Will replied. "They're called Angilus and Rodan. The one with the spikes on its back is Angilus and Rodan is the one in the air."
"When do you think Kiryuu will be ready to face them?" Sparks asked.
"We're mounting his weapons up now," said Will. "Just tell who ever is over the defending of the West Coast that Kiryuu's on his way."
"Will do," said Sparks. "I'll inform General Ester on this."
Will backed away from the computer console and took in a breath of relaxation. He turned back towards Gordon and nodded.
"Sparks said they'll be there in 2 hours," he said. "We need to get Kiryuu up attached to the long range jets."
"Call the White Herons," Gordon ordered. "Get Mai on the phone. Kiryuu's all set up from here."
"Right," said Will. "Kiryuu…"
"Let's do it," said Mechagodzilla. "All systems green!"
"Launch!" Gordon backed.
Katsura sat down at the console, handing Io over to Maria. She placed her headset on her head and glanced over at Will, who was contacting the Shirisagi VTOL jets. The body arms opened up around Kiryuu as the pedestal he stood upon lifted him up towards the opening bay doors above. He cleared the bay, his body ending up in the large parking lot above. Above him were the VTOL jets, extending their wires down and connecting up to him. Kiryuu closed his eyes just as he felt himself being lift up off the ground. Gordon sighed just as he saw Kiryuu lift off into the sky, heading for the west. He glanced back over at the images of the Oxygen Destroyer before him. Gordon laid his hand on the screen, his eyes showing his concern for what his creation had created. Kiryuu dared to do it, even against his creator, he dared to recreate Serizawa's weapon.
You promised me you would not create this weapon for yourself, Kiryuu, he sighed. I've known you to lie before, but this time—I can't forgive you for this.
He glanced back at the empty bay area, trying to collect his thoughts on what he was going to tell Kiryuu once the mecha returns from his fight.
Manda raised his head up out of the ocean, shaking the saltwater from his frills. He ducked his head back under the water and slid through the waves silently. He knew that there were two submarines in the area and why they were there. Swimming not far from him was Angilus and flying above Angilus was Rodan. He sensed that they had not made any motions to attack the submarines in the water nor the aircraft following them, though the military had done what they can to try and drive them away. Manda slipped once more out of the water and onto the beach a short ways from the two oncoming monsters, his form shifting back into his human shape. Marx glanced up, hearing the sounds of the roaring engines as the fighter jets screeched on by, engaging Rodan in a frantic dogfight. Rodan swooped and swerved, dodging their missile attacks. Angilus just kept swimming towards the city, his tough hide protecting him from the submarines. The ankylosaur glanced up as he sensed something coming out of the east. Then, he saw it, flying through the air with two jets flying along side of it. It looked like Godzilla, but it was silver. Angilus called to Rodan, whose eyes turned towards the new adversary that appeared out of the sky. It looked like Godzilla.
Angilus bellowed out at Rodan, warning him about the new adversary. Once Rodan saw who it was, he sensed a familiar kinship. The scent was very similar to Godzilla's own. That shiny creature was the father.
It's his father! It's his father!
Angilus paused in astonishment as he watched Mechagodzilla slowly land on the beach before them. Godzilla was right, the father had changed much under the care of the humans.
Marx glanced back at the two dinosaurs and then back to Kiryuu as he stood there silently waiting for them to come at him.
That's all they came here for, Marx thought. Kiryuu was why the came here. Look at them; they're just standing there!
"Why aren't they attacking?" Marx heard a man cry.
Rodan landed only shin-deep in the water, just staring in aghast at the metallic being before him. Marx watched as Kiryuu turned his head slightly. He could sense a puzzlement going on inside the bio-mech's mind.
Kiryuu was completely dumbfounded. As soon as he arrived, the two other monsters ceased their attack. And now, they were just standing there staring at him. For once, he lowered his guard, lowering his arms to his sides. Neither Angilus nor Rodan made any sudden moves to attack him. Kiryuu glanced over, seeing a division of the Army waiting alongside him, ready to strike at the monsters. He made a gesture at them, his hand motioning to lower their weapons. General Ester who was in charged of this division also knew of Kiryuu's sentient mind. He knew this from Colonel Sparks, who was a good friend of his. The moment he saw that gesture from Mechagodzilla, he told his men not to fire, but to be on their guard.
Kiryuu slowly began to detach his exterior weaponry, lying them softly down on the beach. And then, he took of the helm, pulling his dreads free from their confinement. Still, he made no movements in approaching them. And still, they stared.
Angilus looked over at his companion and rumbled to him.
"They did bring his father back to life. Look, the eyes."
"The eyes. He's all covered in metal. It's him, it's really him. Let's go back. That's all we wanted to see. Let's just go back."
Angilus snorted: "Why? I want to know if he is as strong as the 'hatchling' says he is."
"Maybe you can just ask him," Rodan squawked.
"Ask him?"
"Ask him!" Rodan repeated.
Angilus glanced away and shook his head.
"Alright, I'll ask him!" Rodan sighed. "Hey! Strange-Eyes! Are you as strong as your son says you are?"
Marx chuckled, understanding those squawks. But Kiryuu's expression turned to surprise when he understood the squawks.
"What?" Kiryuu bellowed back.
They came here because of you, Kiryuu, hissed a voice into his head. Kiryuu glanced back behind him, his eyes narrowing when he saw the glowing image of King Ghidorah. He knew that no one else could see the dragon because he sensed it was a projection. Kiryuu knew it was pointless to even attack this apparition.
"You have a son, right?" Rodan squawked.
"Yes, the humans call him Godzilla," Kiryuu replied.
"Are you as strong as he says you are?" he asked.
Kiryuu glanced down at the army platoon. Kiryuu's eyes single out General Ester and his comment was directed towards him.
"General Ester," he began. "It appears that the monsters have come to see me."
"Excuse me?" Ester asked.
"If you don't mind," Kiryuu began with a huff. "I am going to lead them away from here. Tell the submarines to back off their attack and allow them passage. They want to talk to me."
"I'm holding you on this, Mr. Knight," Ester growled. "Sparks might have confidence in you, but I beg to differ."
"Your statement has been noted," Kiryuu coolly replied back as he pulled off his armored gloves. He looked slightly back over his shoulder when he heard the deep, sinister chuckle coming from King Ghidorah. Kiryuu said nothing to the ghostly image that he could only see as he leapt up into the air. He undressed one of his forearms, exposing the silvery and blue metallic synthetic muscle system underneath. There was a reason why he exposed his syntech. He knew that just in case he had to fight these monsters, he would need a weapon besides his speed and strength to assist him. Rodan bounded into the air, spraying water as he flapped his great wings. Kiryuu glanced down at Angilus silently and then pointing at him.
"You and you," his finger shifted from Angilus to Rodan. "Come with me."
"Why?" Angilus asked.
"If you wish to speak to me," Kiryuu replied. "We will do it away from the humans. If you have spoken to my son, then you have heard his warnings on not approaching the human lands. Now, come with me. Or do you want me to demonstrate why my son was right?"
Kiryuu lead the two monsters away, flying for a lonely, stony island with an old, almost crumbling looking building on its rocks. The island was Alcatraz. Kiryuu landed on the rocky slopes and Rodan landed beside him. Angilus pulled himself up out of the ocean, climbing up on the rocks. Rodan softly crawled over to the bio-mecha, the claw on his wing poking at the exposed arm.
"Why have you come?" Kiryuu asked, pulling his arm away from the large bird-like creature.
"Your son said you died," Angilus began. "Then he said the humans brought you back to life."
"Is that why?" Kiryuu growled. "You wanted to see if his father was some sort of undead freak?"
"No!" Rodan retorted defensively. "It's just that…"
"What?"
"King Ghidorah is coming back," Rodan chirped solemnly.
Kiryuu could do nothing else but nod.
"If you really are his father," Angilus began. "Then, you would remember what happened then. You would remember that we are all that's left of our families."
"I remember," Kiryuu replied. "I got that much of my memories back since the humans turned me into this. So, you come to call upon me? Do you think I'm some sort of hero to you? I never heard any of us looking for heroes. Back then, it was every creature for himself, especially when King Ghidorah came. And because of that mentality, I watched my mate and my children die."
"We're not asking for protection," Angilus growled. "We're asking you if you can defeat King Ghidorah."
"Just out of context, or out of curiosity?"
"Curiosity," Rodan shrugged. "We never met someone from the undead before. Perhaps death does not apply to you and that means that King Ghidorah won't be able to kill you."
"So, that's what you see," Kiryuu growled. "I am an undead freak to you. That's what my sons sees as well."
That does hurt you, doesn't it? Kiryuu snorted when he heard that voice in his head again. It was not Biollante.
Leave him be! That was Biollante. He's my play toy, not yours!
Yes, that's right, I'm her plaything, Kiryuu thought with a roll of his eyes.
Not right now…King Ghidorah chuckled. Kiryuu's head began to pound with pain and he raised his claws up to his brow.
You controlled the son…I shall control the father…
Kiryuu's lips curled up in a feral snarl and his eyes narrowed. His claw shot out and gripped Angilus' stumpy throat tightly. He rose up from his seat and lifted the armadillo-like dinosaur up off the ground. Rodan's eyes blinked in confusion and shock as he watched his companion squirm in the tight, air-clenching grip of the biomechanical dinosaur.
"Hey, what are you doing?" Rodan squawked.
Kiryuu growled again, glancing back at Rodan as the bird took off, flapping his wings. He latched himself onto Kiryuu's back, thrusting his beak at the back of his neck and pecking at him. Kiryuu let go of Angilus, only to hold him down with his foot. He tossed the bird off of his shoulder. Angilus reared back and bit into Kiryuu's shin, latching on tightly with his fangs. Kiryuu just glanced down with little thought to the bite against his metallic plating. Angilus latched his claws onto Kiryuu's metal plating, trying to tear it off. Rodan got up off the ground flew straight for the bio-mecha. Kiryuu glanced up and reacted swiftly, dodging nimbly away from the attacking pteranodon. Angilus got up off the ground and charged straight for Kiryuu. Kiryuu swiftly swung around and knocked the dinosaur off his feet with a bat from his tail. Angilus flew back over the beach and dove into the water. Kiryuu turned back to Rodan, who made another swoop to attack him. Kiryuu grinned darkly as he leaned back, allowing the speedy bird to pass over him. He grabbed the tail of Rodan and jerked him to the ground.
"A freak!" Kiryuu bellowed. "An undead monstrosity! Let me show you just how freaky this mobile sideshow can get!"
"We didn't call you a freak!" Rodan squawked, clawing the ground as Kiryuu dragged him closer to him.
Kiryuu grabbed the throat of the bird and turned him around so that he could face his attacker. The biomechanical pulled his exposed arm back, opening up his claw. The sides of the syntech forearm began to spout out with silvery, lengthy tendrils, their tips fashioning into piercing blades. Kiryuu's fingers began to sprout out longer, the tips of his fingers slandering out into sharp, thin, gleaming blades.
"Is this freaky enough for you?"
That is it, Kiryuu…King Ghidorah chuckled. That's it. Spill his blood on the rocks!
Kiryuu! Biollante cried. You're not a cold-blooded killer! Let him go!
Kiryuu shook his head and snarled, fighting against the two voices in his mind. He hesitated, pulling his blades away.
What are you doing? King Ghidorah roared. Finish it!
Kiryuu pulled away from the bird and got up off the ground, backing off. His eyes closed as he felt a heat build up inside his throat. He heard a buzzing sound come from his back, the sound of a power station, or a semiconductor charging up. And he could feel the heat fluctuate on his back.
On second thought, do that, King Ghidorah said with a sinister guffaw. Oh, yes, do just that. Roast him like a piece of turkey!
Rodan's golden eyes widened just as the violet-white heat exploded out of the cyborg's mouth. The scaly bird flapped his wings, trying to right himself to leap back into the sky. He could feel the heat on his back just as he leapt into the air. Kiryuu swung his head up; the blast of his hot jet caught the bird as he flew away. Rodan screamed out in pain as the blast burned his backside, setting fire to his broad wings. But he continued to fly away, despite the pain and the heat. Kiryuu felt the heat subside and he staggered back in shock at what he had done. And then, he felt King Ghidorah leave him, chuckling again. He glanced over, seeing a back full of spines dive under the water again, disappearing under the waves. Kiryuu shook his head, not quite remembering just what he did. He sighed, sitting down on the rocks near the prison. Resting his head on his claw, Kiryuu began to think back at what made him attack the two monsters. He did his job, though. He did exactly what he was told to do. He defended the humans from the monsters. That was his job.
Marx sensed what had transpired. He sensed exactly who was pulling Kiryuu's strings, who made him attack those monsters. Kiryuu told the monsters to follow him so that he could resolve this peacefully. Something he would have done. But, that peaceful chat turned into a fight. Marx shook his head as he walked down the streets of San Francisco. King Ghidorah was in control over the movements and the attitude Kiryuu displayed. This began to worry him. Marx glanced up in the sky, feeling the air change again. Something was burning in the atmosphere. He smelled the flames and he saw the streak in the sky. In fact, many people saw the flaming ball in the air. They heard the sound of a sonic boom as the comet streaked through the clouds and over their heads.
He's here…Marx thought.
The whistle grew louder and Marx ducked just as glass exploded out from the window of a shop next to him. His phone rang.
"Hello?" he asked.
"Tim!" called Jo. "You there?"
"Jo?" Marx asked.
"Marx, there's a comet flying over the West Coast," Jo replied. "I saw it on the news."
"That quick…" Marx sighed. "Yeah, there is one."
"They said that some of the satellites it passed over, are going haywire," she said. "Some of them are even falling out of the sky."
"It's King Ghidorah," Marx sighed.
"What?" Jo asked.
"King Ghidorah," Tim replied. "This is how he comes to planets, in the form of a meteor crashing on the ground, or a comet, or some sort of astral body falling out of the sky."
"I have to see this, though," Jo said. "You'd promise you'd tell me where you were going."
"I know," Tim said. "I know I promised."
"And then, you just vanished again," Jo continued. "I'm getting more and more worried about you."
"Don't be," said Tim. "I've handled this lots of time. I was there when King Ghidorah attacked Atlantis. I'm going to follow that meteor. I want to know where King Ghidorah is planning on landing, but it looks like it's somewhere in the east."
"What are you going to do about it?" Jo asked.
"What I should do," Marx replied. "I'm going to follow it. Mothra says I shouldn't interfere, but she didn't say anything about me watching King Ghidorah from the sidelines."
"Could I join you?" Jo asked.
"What?" Tim called. "Why?"
"I want to see it for myself," she replied. "Come on. I want to see what you do as Leviathan. Let me come. And don't tell me where you are. Come and pick me up and fly me there!"
Marx sighed again and shook his head, running a hand through his blonde hair. He glanced back up at the sky, searching for some sort of sign to tell her 'no'. He did not want her to get hurt, he did not want her to get into danger. Though, he remembered that being a cop holds some dangers too, the dangers of King Ghidorah were much worse. But she really wanted to go.
"Okay," Marx said. "Okay. I'll be down there to pick you up."
"Promise?"
Marx chuckled and snapped his fingers. Suddenly, his form vanished.
"Promise," rumbled a deep voice from behind Jo. She spun around, her eyes meeting the fiery orange eyes of Leviathan. Manda chuckled, winking at her as he tilted his enormous head down to her.
"Tim," Jo laughed. "Don't do that again. You scared the shit out of me!"
"Lo siento," Manda chuckled. "Get on."
Jo checked her firearm, making sure she had bullets and her badge. She had a feeling she was going to need her revolver. She climbed up onto Manda's green mane and seated herself between his horns. The Dragon raised his head up and leapt up into the sky.
"Comfy?" Manda asked.
"Yeah," Jo replied.
"Good," Manda said. "Here we go."
Manda's serpentine form swam through the air currents. His body was a shimmering blue tube of muscle and magic. His tail whipped about as he flew through the air swiftly, making his way to the north, to where that meteor was heading for.
He's heading for Tennessee! Manda thought. But where is he going to land?