"What are these things for?"
"These? Oh, those are exercise machines," Unazuki explained as they stood in front of a store that sold weight machines, treadmills and exercise bicycles. "I can only guess that a guy like you is interested in such things," she winked. "You're pretty muscular... or what do you do for training where you come from?"
"Training? Huh, I don't really need silly machines like that," Mamoru huffed. "I just reduce a few small mountains into rubble with my fists, that's enough of a workout."
The redhead laughed, not knowing that he was serious. "I bet you do, beef-cake," she giggled. "Well then, I can tell that such machines are beneath you... okay, any more of interest for you?"
"I dunno..." the former kaiju looked around. There were quite a few interesting stores in this human 'mall'... if he only knew what half of the things were they sold...
"And what's that over there?" he asked, pointing at a colorful entrance.
"What, you hungry?" she asked.
Mamoru sniffed. "It smells like... meat!" He licked his lips. "Yeah, I'm getting kinda hungry... but wait... something about this smell... is off."
"Yeah, sometimes they turn up the grill too much when they prepare their burgers," Unazuki nodded. "Aw, what the heck, I'm hungry, too. Here, I have some money left. Enough so that each of us could get a Whopper, some fries and a drink."
Mamoru scratched his head as he followed his new friend into the fast food restaurant known as Burger King. "They GRILL meat now??"
A pair of attentive eyes appeared behind one of the flower pots that were standing around in the mall.
"They went into that Burger King," Shinji said.
"You know, in some cultures, this is known as 'stalking'," Asuka told him. "What's gotten into you, baka? You're always such a weenie... did the military work turn you into a stalker or what?"
"I wish..." Shinji muttered. "No, it's just that there's something really fishy about that guy... and I want to find out just what the heck is wrong with him."
They carefully scooted closer to the restaurant's window and peered inside.
Asuka sweatdropped when she saw the couple sitting at one of the tables. "You're right, this guy can't be human..."
"WHAT?? How do you know...?" Shinji gasped.
Asuka grinned as she pointed at the tray that was standing in front of him. "Have you ever eaten five Whoppers at once?"
Shinji groaned. "That proves nothing, Asuka..."
"I beg to differ, baka-Shinji, it gives us a good hint at what his character is like."
"So? And what's that?"
She giggled. "That he's a big eater."
Shinji facepalmed.
They didn't notice that another couple in the mall was paying close attention to the Burger King table Mamoru and Unazuki were sitting at... and that they, unlike most of the customers present, weren't interested in the food, but in the young man who tried to shove a single burger into his mouth.
"You sure that's him?" the long-haired bishonen asked his partner.
"No doubt about it, Kunzy!" the blonde next to him giggled. "Don't you remember the Silver Millennium? That's our Endymion, or else I'm a three-headed dragon!"
Kunzyte sighed. "Zoisite... you already are one... that is, one third of it."
"Oh yeah... tee hee!"
"Well, we certainly will have a nice present for Queen Beryl when we return..." the white-haired general smirked. "Try to keep as many civilians away from our fight... Endymion is mine!"
"Everything you ask of me, Kunzy!" gushed Zoisite.
Unazuki noticed that something was wrong when a human body came flying through the window. Too bad it was closed at the moment... and so, a shower of glass shards came raining down on her and Mamoru.
Asuka and Shinji ducked instinctively, although the body had already flown past them. "What the...?" Asuka gasped.
Shinji looked around. "Oh no... aren't those the guys the Sailor Senshi always battle on TV?"
"Youmas?" Asuka gasped.
"No, I think they are their leaders... stay down, we can't do a thing!"
"You want me to hide like a scared, little school girl?" the redhead snapped. "I'm not a wimp like you!"
She eeped when a bolt of darkness came flying after the human body, increasing the size of the hole in the window even more. She quickly pulled her head back behind the next flower pot.
"Sometimes, it's safer to be a wimp..." Shinji murmured. He quickly pulled out his cell phone. "Father, send some help!"
"What is it now? I've already sent someone to pick you up!"
"No, send in some soldiers! The Negaverse is laying waste to the mall!"
Curses were heard on the other side of the line. "Those idiot Sailor Senshi! Can't they do anything right? Stay where you are, Major Katsuragi will be with you in a minute."
"Misato...? Hey, why did you have to send her?"
But the line was already dead.
"Well, as long as she isn't drunk..." Asuka murmured.
Meanwhile, Mamoru had noticed that the attacks were aimed in his direction. He grabbed Unazuki, pulled her to her feet and knocked the table over with a savage growl. He threw her to the ground, shouted: "Stay there!" and leapt out of the window.
Unazuki carefully peered out of her hiding place and after the young man she had saved. She shivered when she saw him move. 'He's so... so savage... like an animal...'
Mamoru apparently didn't recall that this wasn't his natural body or that he didn't have his natural weapons. He roared as loud as his puny human vocal cords allowed and tromped through the mall like through a city that was waiting to be trampled. He took one of the potted plants and ripped it out of its pot, swinging it around like an uprooted tree.
Zoisite blinked. "Is... that supposed to be some sort of new fencing style?"
Kunzyte sighed. "He hasn't remembered his past yet... he still fights like a kaiju, even though he's in human form right now. Zoisite, please show them that we are serious about this."
"Oh, but with pleasure..." the blonde general grinned as he focussed some more dark energy in his palm.
But Mamoru's instincts could tell him that one of his opponents was building up an energy attack. After having fought other kaijus for years, he could tell when an enemy was about to attack.
He now acted solely in instinct. The only coherent thought that went through his mind was: 'So, the humans apparently do the same when they're bored as we do... they kill each other!'
With an even louder yell, he swung the poor, defenseless and potless plant through the air, before throwing it directly into Zoisite's face.
"OW!" the blonde general yelled as he stopped his attack to feel his face. "That was my nose, you black-haired b..."
"Never mind, I'll do it myself," Kunzyte grumbled, pulling out two boomerangs that were made of evil energy. He threw them both at once, and they flew wide circles, approaching the human Godzilla from both sides.
'Is that all? I can easily destroy both of them with my nuclear breath...' Mamoru thought, not remembering that at the moment, he didn't have such a weapon. He inhaled deeply... and smiled when he felt the familiar surge of power flowing through his backside.
The few humans that were still in the area were too busy with fleeing to pay any attention to what was happening to the black-haired boy. Unazuki was being pushed to the exit by the panicking masses, and so she didn't see a thing either.
Asuka didn't see a thing because she was busy sending a SMS at her classmate Hikari.
Shinji, however, saw the whole thing. His eyes widened when he saw the almost crystalline ridges that were bursting through Mamoru's shirt, and the tail that was shredding his pants. A bright light surrounded him as well...
In the end, there was a two-legged creature that only resembled a human being. In spite of the black hair and the still human-like face, it still remembered Shinji of one being:
"Godzilla..." he whispered.
Mamoru had regained his scales, his glowing back ridges and his long tail. He had claws on his hands and feet, but he wasn't as big as he used to be. Instead he was only a bit bigger than in his pure human form.
There was also what looked like the ripped-up version of a tuxedo and cape on his body. The whole scene reminded Shinji of a werewolf movie... only that the monster wasn't a wolf, but a miniature kaiju.
Godzilla felt a new power deep within... and it was more than just his nuclear breath. He couldn't know it, but it was the power of the Earth Prince...
"NUCLEAR PETALS!" he roared. The radioactive fire deep within his body was channelled by the earth power of Endymion, and manifested itself in a bunch of rose petals that were gleaming with the same blue heat as the ray he used to shoot from his muzzle.
One elegant twirl of his body, and Mamoru threw the nuclear flower petals at his opponents. Kunzyte managed to raise a defensive shield just in time.
"Where in the world did he learn THAT?" Zoisite gasped.
"This must be a side-effect from his time as Godzilla..." Kunzyte grumbled. "Let's retreat for now... Queen Beryl must learn of this."
Zoisite touched his swollen nose. "But can't I beat him up first?" he whined.
"We leave! NOW!" Kunzyte ordered, and he disappeared in a puff of dark smoke. Zoisite reluctantly followed.
For a moment, Mamoru felt the urge of taking on a regal pose before mysteriously vanishing through a window... but then he remembered that he was GODZILLA, the king of kaijus. He raised his arms up into the air and let out a deafening screech of triumph. His long tail waving behind him, he stormed out of the wall, destroying the big entrance door in the process, and jumped across the street with a single leap. Another jump, and he was on top of the next building.
The people were looking after the creature with awe.
A fast convertible car came to a stop in front of the ruined mall, with screeching tires, and a good-looking, purple-haired woman came jumping out. "Hey, what happened here?" she asked the people.
"It was Godzilla!" a frightened woman cried. "Godzilla came to kill us all!"
"Are you blind? That wasn't Godzilla... he was way too small!" a man protested.
"Did you see the cape he was wearing?" a teenager with a baseball cap asked with awe. "I bet that was some sort of super hero!"
"With a ripped tuxedo like that?" an elderly gentleman frowned. "Don't be silly, boy!"
"He looked so cool..." a girl whispered. "Go, Godzilla Kamen!"
Misato Katsuragi frowned. "Godzilla Kamen? Why do I have a feeling this means more trouble with the commander...?"
She sighed as she looked at the wrecked mall entrance. "Oh well, first things first... First I pick up Shinji, then I'll report to Commander Ikari."
She shook her head. "Screw that! I pick up the kid, but then I need a drink first..."
Meanwhile, the Senshi and their new Hybrid kaiju team members were already on their way back. Whoever was half kaiju was in her hybrid form, whoever was able to fly did so. Even Hotaru was happy to fly again, now that she knew she could freely change back and forth between her forms. While she was flying, she held hands with Chibiusa, smiling at her friend.
Makoto and Ami were being carried by Rei and Minako, both of the strong enough to carry their new friends.
"I'm at least as big as you," Ami wondered as she tried to look back at the reptile-girl that was carrying her. "Well, if you don't count the wings... aren't you getting at least a bit tired?"
"Not in the least," Rei smirked. "You really are a lightweight, Ami!"
"Was it right to just leave your priestesses and little Junior behind on the island?" Luna wondered as she was being carried by Usagi. She enjoyed the soft sound the moth wings were making while flapping through the air, but she still was a bit nervous about how high they were above the ground.
"Junior has been on his own for a few times now," Usagi smiled. "He's not a little hatchling anymore. And besides, Anguirus is still with him. Although I wonder where my sister has flown off to in such a hurry..."
"Feh, I really never liked her..." Rei grumbled. "Good riddance, I say!"
"Hey, we're back already?" Ami asked as she let her gaze sweep across the familiar skyline of Tokyo. "Mako, you can open your eyes now!"
"N-no thanks, I'll wait until we touch solid ground, thank you very much," the Senshi of Lightning and nature murmured with closed eyes.
"Tokyo Tower ahead," Minako said as they flew past the famous landmark. "Say, how about I shoot a little missile in it? It's going to be destroyed in the next kaiju battle anyway..." She giggled.
"Don't make silly jokes about that, Mina-chan!" Usagi scolded her. "We want to try to keep the kaiju battles out of Tokyo from this day on, do you understand?"
"Hey, it was just supposed to be a joke... huh?" The robot girl narrowed her optics. "I spy, with my little radar, something... well, I'm not really sure what it is that I spy..."
"I see it too," Artemis said as he looked out of Minako's kitty transportation hatch, located on her hip. He put his paw above his eyes. "Looks like some sort of jumping lizard..."
"A kaiju attack?" Rei gasped. "Now?"
"That is a bit too small for a kaiju... for a normal kaiju, anyways," Ami remarked.
"Wait a minute..." Usagi murmured. "That tail... isn't that..."
All the girls looked at each other. "Godzilla!" they shouted.
"Look at how fast he's jumping from roof to roof," Ami noticed. "Much faster than Mako and I would have ever been able to... look, Mako!"
"No, thanks..." Makoto murmured, her hand flying to her mouth. "I think I'm feeling sick again."
"Something must be wrong if Gojira-san runs so fast," Hotaru remarked. "Maybe we should go after him and see what's wrong."
"Yeah, and ask him where he was all the time," Rei nodded. "Too bad I'm slowed down by this weight... um, no offense, Ames!"
"I could activate my jet engine!" Minako cheerfully suggested.
"NO!" both Makoto and Artemis quickly shouted.
"It was just a suggestions..." Mina murmured in a slightly miffed voice.
"Mom... how about I go after Dad?" Chibiusa suddenly suggested. "I can fly faster than you or Hotaru... I'm a space flyer, after all."
"You? Well, I don't know... he doesn't know you yet..."
"Oh, please, Mom!" Chibiusa pleaded, her puppy dog eyes sparkling almost as much as the crystals on her shoulders. "I want to make up for what I wanted to do to Dad and Junior... I promise I won't attack him! I don't do such things anymore!"
Hotaru smiled. "I know you won't, Chibiusa-chan!"
Usagi sighed. "Oh well, go ahead and do it... but please don't give him his biggest scare, we don't know what caused him to be like this."
"I have a hunch..." Luna muttered.
"I'll be back soon," Chibiusa said as she took off and flew after the transformed form of Godzilla, faster than most of them were able to fly (except for maybe Minako).
"I just hope the little spore knows what she's doing..." Usagi grumbled and crossed her arms over her fur-covered chest. "If she messes this one up, she's grounded for the rest of the week!"