And I'm back from Wales. Had a fortunate accident while there, actually: My cousins and I couldn't get into the Simpsons movie, so we want and saw Transformers instead. Awesome flick. Anyway, enjoy the scrap!

Only the name for the Husks is © Me.

WAR OF THE GIANTS

The two titans gave one more snarl, each one hunched back and tensed.

Finally, they each charged forward, thundering down the street towards each other as Godzilla let loose a thunderous roar. Once they cleared half the distance, the Gryphon leapt forth, wings open and claws out, snarling viciously. Seconds before it would have impacted, Godzilla hunched down, crouching his legs, and leapt up to plough straight into the Gryphon, carrying it back through the air before they both slammed down into the street, the tarmac below splintering before the force of the impact.

Godzilla rose instantly, the Gryphon turning and instantly leaping up even as Godzilla spun to the side. As it passed, however, the Gryphon flicked its tail sideways, slamming its side into Godzilla's cheek as the mighty reptile gave a furious hiss.

"Do we have any units left?" Jill demanded inside the USMCF building, "Anything at all? I don't care if it's a private with a peashooter!"

"About one unit of tanks and there's an incomplete NT-20 in the subbasement levels." Plaqueze answered.

"Then order them here!" Jill ordered, "Drive them away from this building, for God's sake!"

"Uh… Mom?" Tina spoke up, "That might be a little hard…"

Seconds earlier, the Gryphon had spun round, slamming itself into Godzilla. Just as Tina had spoken, Godzilla had staggered back, his spinal plates stabbing into the side of the USMCF building. Shaking his head and snarling angrily, he charged forward just as the Gryphon prepared for another jump, tackling it to the ground. The effect of this was that his tail arc and sliced clear through one wall of the building.

"Everybody out!" Jill shouted, "Now!"

Even as they darted out, a huge chunk of rubble fell straight down, falling towards them as Tina looked up, gasping in sudden fear.

The pendant started to glow, and Tina felt a sudden heat all through her body. The rubble stopped, exploding into a million pieces; harmless pebbles raining down to the ground.

"Tina," Jill gasped, "How did you…?"

"Long story, no time," Tina gasped, "C'mon!"

Godzilla pulled back one hand, swinging his clawed fingers in front of him to slice through the flesh of the Gryphon's stomach. Hissing furiously, the Gryphon jabbed its tail upwards, stabbing into Godzilla's midsection as Godzilla snarled, before giving a painful rumble and falling back. Already, the deep gashes on the Gryphon's stomach began to heal, the wounds visible shrinking and disappearing in seconds.

"He's poisoned," Mike realised. "He should heal…"

"Mike, did that… thing…"

"Husk," Jack informed her.

"Husk," Jill nodded, "…tell you anything?"

"Well the Husk was comprised of that ooze from the meteorite," Mike recalled, "The Gryphon's had DNA injected, but it should still be made of the same basic compound."

"Did it tell you anything helpful?" Jack asked.

"Maybe intense heat," Mike reasoned, "Dry it out."

The poison in his system already healed, Godzilla leaned to the side, avoiding another stab from the Gryphon's tail, before grabbing it, shifting one foot back and heaving, hurling the Gryphon over his shoulder to slam it into another building, the entire structure giving way and crumbling as the Gryphon fell clear through it, reducing it to a pile of jagged rubble.

"Air strike," Plaqueze reasoned, "Napalm the sucker."

"Napalm?" Jill snapped, "In the middle of New York? We'll trash the place!"

"Yeah, that's completely different from what they're doing," Tina replied sarcastically.

The Gryphon spun round, opened its wings and leap upwards, knocking Godzilla backwards before circling in the air, shooting downwards and crashing into Godzilla's side, ploughing him into the ground.

"Do it," Jill sighed. "We can't move out the NT-20; even if the computers are intact, they won't be online after that. Automated procedure."

"My specialty," Jack pulled a palmtop computer out of his jacket.

"It won't be connected. You're gonna hack the system?" Plaqueze pointed out.

"Been doing it since I was 12. But we need the server online, or this thing's just an excessively expensive lump of metal."

The Gryphon perched itself on top of Godzilla, snarling down directly into his face…

Before a stream of brilliant blue flame shot forth, striking the Gryphon's face as it screeched in pain, howling furiously as it fell back to the ground with the flames burning at its face, Godzilla righting himself with a low growl.

"All available units move in," Jill ordered into her radio, "Fire on only the Gryphon. Repeat: Fire on only the Gryphon."

"Thanks," Jill whispered from beside her.

"Just don't make me regret this."

Another wave of energy shot up Godzilla's back, blasting forth in a stream of fire that slammed into the Gryphon's side, carrying it away into the side of a building before it slumped to the ground, cutting a deep gash into the structure.

As the Gryphon snarled painfully, the deep, bleeding burns on its side began to shrivel and shrink, replaced with healthy, uninjured skin.

Nevertheless, this enemy was powerful, and if these attacks continued, it would face destruction. Although this was not something for which it was wholly unprepared…

Godzilla stepped forward, giving another growl as his spinal plates flashed bright blue…

The Gryphon suddenly leapt up, striking Godzilla and sinking its fangs into his neck, the stream of blue fire shooting away into the air, colliding with the side of a tower in a burst of fire and rubble, as Godzilla stepped back with a painful snarl.

A disgusting, sucking noise started from the Gryphon's mouth, slurping greedily as Godzilla bellowed in pain and rage and the blood flowed from Godzilla's veins and into the Gryphon.

"It's drinking his blood?" Tina gasped fearfully.

"No," Mike realised, even more worried, "It's assimilating it!"

Grabbing hold of the Gryphon's back, Godzilla finally yanked the demon away, taking shreds of his own flesh with it. Godzilla dropped the creature, putting a hand to his neck as the Gryphon rose to its feet, coughing in what looked like a sudden fit. On its shoulders, its skin rose and parted to reveal a small number of jagged, forked spikes.

"He won't be able to heal as quickly if he's missing enough of his blood," Mike realised. "He's weakened."

The Gryphon's spasms ceased, the creature turning to the staggering Godzilla with a wicked glare in its evil eyes. With a flash of its newfound spikes, a blast of blue fire shot from its mouth, striking Godzilla in the face and sending him falling into the side of an apartment building, cutting into the side as another blast struck him in the chest, knocking him the rest of the way down as the building crumbled.

"No!" Tina cried out, shaking with fear as the Gryphon approached, turning sideways.

The Gryphon's spiked tail jabbed into Godzilla's stomach, pulling out and stabbing in another time, then finally a third, as Godzilla howled in pain; a massive dose of poison when he was weakened.

Pulling back its head, the Gryphon opened its wings and shot up into the air, shooting forth a stream of fire and bathing Godzilla in flame.

As the flames parted, Godzilla lay amongst the rubble, his chest rising and falling slowly and shakily.

"He's not dead," Jill desperately reassured his daughter, "Just knocked out…"

The Gryphon turned, its gaze travelling down to regard the humans, focusing on Tina and Tomoyuki. A wave of energy shot up its back…

Three streams of burning smoke suddenly shot through the air, striking the side of the Gryphon's face. Taken by surprise, the creature spun round, the stream of fire shooting forward to consume the MRLS launcher as the tanks rolled forth behind it.

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"Got it!" Jack shouted as he pushed another cable into the Modem, before opening the palmtop. "Come on now… Jill?" He spoke into the radio, "We're online. Call out the NT-20 at your leisure…" He turned to the window, seeing the Gryphon advance on the firing tanks and launchers past the unconscious Godzilla. "…Though now might be a good time. Oh and I need to talk to Tina."

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Tina took the radio, lifting it to her ear.

"That plan," Jack informed her, "This seems like a good time."

"You think we can do it?" Tina asked, turning to Tomoyuki.

"Bring him round?" Tomoyuki asked, "Well we haven't got much to lose…"

The Gryphon pounced forwards, crushing the tanks beneath it before it closed its jaws around the MRLS, a streak of blue fire shooting out as the remains of the launcher fell to the street.

"Airstrike's on the way," Plaqueze informed Jill, "ETA 15 minutes. The NT-20's rolling out right now."

"Fifteen minutes?" Jill shouted.

"The nearest air base used everything they have when that thing showed up here," Plaqueze answered. "Nothing I can do about it; hell, the Pentagon wants all units to withdraw immediately!"

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In the closed-off garage behind the USMCF building, a pneumatic lift rose from the subbasement, carrying with it the massive vehicle mounted with the shimmering mirror.

Turning on the spot, the NT-20 rolled out.

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"Ready?" Tomoyuki asked, holding up the radio. "Just let the gift work on its own, and it'll transmit through this and every other device in this city that's capable of broadcasting. You can do it, Tina."

Nodding, Tina closed her eyes, holding the pendant in her hands, focusing on the warmth…

And then, she felt like she was spinning rising into the air on an unseen vortex, the world slipping away to be replaced by this… feeling, the feeling of a great matrix of energy, and there she was, in the centre of it all…

The Gryphon stopped, turning, sensing what was happening. It broke into a run, shooting towards them, before a pair of missiles shot towards it.

The D-3s clamped onto the Gryphon's chest, whirring to life before exploding, the beast turning as the NT-20 rolled forward.

The newly formed spikes on the Gryphon's back flashed bright blue, the stream of fire shot forth…

And shot straight back, slamming into the Gryphon even as the uncompleted mirror fractured.

Shaking its burned head even as the burn-marks healed, the Gryphon snarled furiously, leaping forward and stabbing its tail clean through the NT-20, hurling it to the side and sending it crashing into the side of a building in a burst of fire.

Tina's eyes snapped open as she felt herself return to her own body, with a sudden shock like that which follows suddenly waking from a dream.

"That's all I can do," She gasped, "I don't know if it worked…"

The Gryphon turned, advancing slowly upon them both, its jaws dripping with saliva as smoke rose from its nostrils, its spinal plates glowing.

Suddenly, from one side, behind Tina and Tomoyuki, there was a great rumbling, something rising through a layer of rubble.

In the middle of a cloud of dust, a row of glowing spinal plates told them all they would need to know.

Another long chapter… and quite a lot of violence there. As for that server/modem thing: I don't know much about computers, so if there's a mistake there, it's because I have no clue what I'm talking about. Anyway, hope you enjoyed, and you can hopefully see how everything sort of came together there.

Next Chapter: The Final Battle… Need I say any more?

All Reviews Welcome!