Reluctant Rendezvous

Ever since his first face-to-face encounter with Kiryuu, Alan's life had taken a most unpleasant turn. He still vividly remembered what happened all those months ago, of how he had broken into the CCI's headquarters and obtained highly confidential files pertaining to the Oxygen Destroyer; the only weapon ever to kill Godzilla. That file was now destroyed, though that wasn't what had really bothered Alan. He still remembered seeing his friends connected to the ICUs, both of them not recognisable due to the horrifying mutations caused by Organiser G-1.

His reward for obtaining the files was the proof that he had been searching for all those years; the evidence he needed to prove that the American and British governments had tried to cover up the truth about the invasion of King Ghidorah. At last, he had the information. Against his own bitter desire to see humanity punished for its mistakes, he had passed on the information to as many newspapers and TV studios as he could; not just in America, but elsewhere in the world. The news had instantly hit the airwaves. The truth was finally out. Much had happened since then, all stemming from a few pieces of paper. He'd had half a mind to pass on the information about the Organiser G-1 experiments as well, but he had stopped himself, knowing he could be tracked down if he did that. He wasn't surprised nobody had been able to find him after the exposure of the cover-up; Kiryuu was good at covering up his tracks.

That was no reason to relax though. After he and Kiryuu had parted ways, Alan had travelled all across the States, staying in low-rent motels, places where the right amount of money could buy anonymity. Often he even slept in the back of his car. He didn't want to be followed and didn't want to leave any signs that could be traced. Kiryuu had paid him $10,000 for taking the files from the CCI, but he'd barely touched it. When Kiryuu had contacted him, Alan had been stopping off in Montana, on the point of heading further north, to Canada first, then onward to Alaska. He wanted to find somewhere quiet to spend his remaining days, even if he knew those remaining days were to last until doomsday. He'd found himself drinking a lot lately too; the presence of Organiser G-1 in his bloodstream stopped him from causing damage to his liver or kidneys, but it didn't stop him getting drunk.

He'd been drinking a lot to try and prevent the memories coming back. For, in order to get Alan to understand King Ghidorah's terrible power, Kiryuu had somehow implanted some of his memories into Alan's mind. They still haunted Alan every so often, usually while he was dreaming. Reliving bad memories was bad enough for him, but to find himself reliving someone else's memories had to be one of the scariest things he had ever witnessed. Not amount of alcohol seemed to help him forget them.

That had been a few days ago, when Kiryuu contacted him, and now finally Alan had managed the long journey back to the state of Utah, the last place on Earth he really wanted to be right now; well, aside from Japan, where he would have been caught for the CCI theft. On arrival in Salt Lake City, Alan had found himself a computer at an Internet café, and had checked his email. Sure enough, amidst the months worth of spam, he found a message from Kiryuu;

"Alan, these are the coordinates that you'll need in order to make it to the base. Again, like the Yokohama base, the building looks like an office building. Only it's a bit bigger. This is not the headquarters of the Utah Foundation; that is a 100 storey sky scraper in Salt Lake City. This is the main base. When you get to the receptionist, just ask for Mr. K. Knight. She'll contact me and I'll be there to meet you at the front desk."

Sincerely,

Kiryuu Knight

Kiryuu Knight? Alan had thought disbelievingly. Dear God... Gordon Knight's becoming too attached to him. How the hell's he going to speak to me at the front desk, anyway? Shrink himself?

He had checked the coordinates Kiryuu had supplied, and had pinpointed them to an isolated area between Salt Lake City and Provo. Alan reasoned it would be a bit much for Kiryuu to suddenly burst out of a busy city street. So now he had arrived at the base. Kiryuu had not been kidding; the look of the base brought back vivid memories of the Foundation's 'branch office' in Yokohama. Alan had been there once, and had not been successful at finding any information on Kiryuy there. That wasn't why he was here though; he knew more than enough about what exactly made Kiryuu 'tick'. He took in a deep breath, preparing himself for another encounter with one of the last people on Earth he wanted to see right now. Still, at least this meant he wouldn't be bound up in syntech again; that was one experience he was rather keen to avoid.

He walked up the front steps and through the sliding doors. Even the interior decor was similar to the Yokohama building, possibly even plainer. A few photos and a plain-looking carpet seemed to be the only forms of decoration; the only sign of greenery was a small potted plant on the front desk. The receptionist on duty there looked surprised to see that somebody had come into this place.

"Can I help you, sir?" the receptionist called over to him. Alan sighed, approaching the front desk and not believing he was going to say what he was about to.

"I'm here to speak to Mr. K. Knight," he said.

"Mr. K. Knight?" the receptionist asked, blinking in rather some shock and some minor confusion. "I'm sorry, sir, but no one sees that Mr. Knight…"

"Look, love," Alan growled. "I'm here to see Mr. K. Knight. He bloody summoned me here, now let me see him."

"But…" she shook her head again.

"It's okay, Darla," began a deep voice coming from behind the corner. "He has an appointment."

Alan stepped back just as something new to the equation came into his eye range. There he was; Kiryuu, the Mechagodzilla himself, standing no less than eight feet tall right in front of him. Alan's eyes felt like they were about to pop out of their own sockets after this one.

"Y—yes, Mr. Knight," Darla nodded, rising up from her seat. "I'm sorry, sir."

"No problem," Kiryuu began, his lips curling in a half smile. "Mr. Tyler, I've been expecting you. Welcome to the Utah Foundation's Site Alpha Base." His head turned back to Darla. "Cancel all of my appointments, Darla. Reschedule the broker meeting to Thursday and tell our investors that my meeting with them has been reschedule to five this afternoon."

Alan still remained as silent as he could, his eyes just passing from Darla to Kiryuu. Darla had already taken out a pad, notating what Kiryuu had said to her.

"Mr. Knight, there is that meeting in ten minutes with the company's chairmen today," she began. "Gordon Knight insisted that you attend…"

"Is he there now?" Kiryuu asked.

"Yes, sir," she replied.

"Give my regards to Gordon," Kiryuu sighed. "But I can't possibly make it today. As you can see, I have more important things to handle right now."

"Yes, sir," Darla sighed, taking down the last of the notes.

"I'm terribly sorry, Alan," Kiryuu began. "But you will not be meeting Gordon Knight today. Perhaps next time you visit. But I'm so glad you stopped by on such short notice. Now, follow me, I'll show you where Io is."

For a few moments Alan found himself unable to take his eyes off Kiryuu, as he straggled slightly behind the mecha, following him through the building. It dawned on him that this had to be some kind of hologram, but he had never seen one so convincing and so solid-looking. At every security station they passed, the guards allowed them both through with no questions, saluting Kiryuu as they passed. Alan could not help shaking his head at this; Kiryuu seemed to be completely in control, and everybody here answered to him.

As they rounded a corner, approaching what looked like a pair of elevator doors, an idea formed in Alan's head, something he'd wanted to do ever since he met Kiryuu. Ever since that day he'd wanted to hurt Kiryuu somehow, leave his own mark on the droid. Just one punch would really make his day. Alan smirked; even if it was just a hologram, this was too good an opportunity to pass up. Checking around him to make sure no-one was looking, Alan crept up right behind Kiryuu, his fist clenched. Then, as quick as a flash, he swung his fist, aiming straight at Kiryuu's head.

However, just as his fist was about to make contact with the back of his head, Kiryuu suddenly side-stepped, the punch ending up well wide of the mark. Alan staggered forward, thrown forward by the force of his failed attempt. As he dodged the punch, Kiryuu suddenly stuck his foot out, tripping up Alan. A yelp of surprise escaped Alan's throat as he was sent crashing face-first onto the floor.

Alan slowly rolled over onto his back, until he was staring up at the lights on the ceiling. He groaned slightly; it didn't really hurt, but he still felt sore after taking a knock like that. Presently, Kiryuu came into his view, standing over him and looking down. Alan could see a half-smile on his snout; clearly he was enjoying every minute of this.

"Now what on Earth prompted you to do that, dear grandson?" he said, in mock surprise. "Hitting your loving grandfather... Not that it'll harm me anyways; you're looking at a hologram. A photonic projection of my person, if you will. The real me is somewhere in the lower levels. And you will see him when we go through that elevator."

Kiryuu jerked his head up, and Alan turned his head to see where he was pointing. The elevator was scant yards down the corridor. Alan pulled himself to his feet, wincing slightly, his dreams of at least a small form of payback against Kiryuu shattered. He dusted himself off, looking back at Kiryuu.

"Not bad, for an old-timer," Alan said. If Kiryuu persisted in calling him his grandson, he felt he was at least entitled to use age jabs.

***

Kiryuu lead Alan into the elevator and punched for the correct floor he needed to be on. He closed his eyes as the door closed behind both of them. Kiryuu glanced down at Alan, sniffing at him slightly. This was a slight shock to him now as well. He could see those eyes of the human's, the eyes that looked exactly like his. They did a good job in melding his son's DNA with the human that stood beside him. Alan glanced up at him, his face bunched up in a mixture of curiosity and annoyance.

"What are you looking at?" he asked.

"This is the first time I have been able to see you face to face like this," Kiryuu began. "Those eyes…"

"Cute, aren't they?" Alan said wryly. "I remember you telling me why I have them."

"I know I did," Kiryuu rumbled. His eyes narrowed slightly. "Don't think that I am for one using Io for anything. I think you should read this for yourself before you meet her."

Kiryuu pulled out a note and handed it to Alan. The human took it and read it.

"I suspect you can read Japanese," Kiryuu began. "You've lived in Japan for a good while. Shinoda wrote that for an old friend of his, the creator of my syntech, Dr. Katsura Yugami. They've known each other since college."

"Shinoda knew someone inside the Foundation?" Alan's eyes widened even more when he started reading the note. "He never told me that…"

"He knew one of the Foundation's top scientists?" Kiryuu asked, chuckling. "Possibly not really necessary for you to know. Another piece of information during the time not really worth mentioning."

"And look where that line of thinking got him!" Alan snarled. "He should've told me sooner!"

"They haven't seen each other in a long time, Alan," Kiryuu said. "Not since college. He risked everything in even trusting her with the care of Io. He was probably not sure she remembered him. Don't be so hard on Shinoda."

Alan glanced away again, reading the note. All of this that has happened recently was a request from Shinoda. Kiryuu sighed again, as he glanced out the glass window. Alan followed his gaze, seeing what he was looking at. Before him was the enormous bay area housing the body of Kiryuu. The syntech green dreads grew out and attached themselves to the walls and the eyes of the great mecha were closed. Alan passed his eyes between the real machine and the holographic image that stood beside him. Once more, it was hard to believe what he was seeing. The bay was a sight to see. Balconies and catwalks wove every which way around the form of Mechagodzilla. There were people up on Kiryuu's shoulders, doing some sort of odd job to maintain him. There were people wearing hard hats and carrying binders and clipboards, taking notes. Then, he saw her, Io, standing beside a woman with a long, black braid. Alan glanced over at Kiryuu, noticing that he had closed his eyes. For a moment, he thought he heard a voice in his mind, two voices. One he could recognize as Kiryuu, and the other, he also recognized. Still, he could not quite place it since it sounded muffled. Alan put his hand on his head, shaking it. The elevator came to a stop.

"Alan!" Io cried when she saw the doors open. "Alan! I've missed you!"

She ran up to him, pausing a pace from him. She bowed respectfully, though her bright smile never slipped away from her face.

"It's good to see you again," Io continued.

Alan gave a similar bow to Io, a warm smile on his face. He had not seen either of the Shinodas for a long time, and was relieved that Io was okay.

"The feeling's mutual, Io-sama," he replied.

"There is so much to tell you, Alan!" Io said, breathlessly. "Come! Come on!" At that, she started run back out onto the catwalks in the immense hangar, towards the woman with the braid, clearly somebody she wanted Alan to meet.

Alan shrugged, and walked out onto the catwalk himself, towards Io. It was then that he started hearing the voices in his head again; both Kiryuu's and the other voice. He stopped in his tracks, wincing slightly as he held his head. He used his other arm to lean against the railing. Io ran back over to him, looking concerned.

"Alan!" she asked, urgently, "Are you alright?"

Alan shook his head, as if trying to shake the voices out. He looked back at Io, trying to make himself look calm.

"Yeah, I'm fine," he said. "Just a headache. Didn't get much sleep last night."

Alan only wished he could believe his own words. He decided to take a moment to look around the hangar from his vantage point. It was an impressive sight, to say the least. Alan only wished he was seeing this under happier circumstances.

"How much did all this cost the taxpayers?" he wondered aloud, figuring Kiryuu could hear him. Kiryuu chuckled at the remark stepping forwards towards Alan. An eyebrow cocked up slightly as he took in a breath, about to explain what all of this was about.

"We don't use tax payers' money," Kiryuu began. "The Utah Foundation of Bio-Organic Research is a privately funded organization. We're a foundation, meaning we accept donations from people with large wallets. The research that has gone into this was paid for partly by grateful customers and clients who use our products. And a few times we have fundraisers for such things as this base. But most of this is actually paid out of Gordon Knight's pocket, as well as the pockets of various other companies. For instance, the Chrysler Company."

"Gordon always said that a privately owned company can build anything ten times better than the government," the lady beside Io began. "Because since it's his money that's going into research like this, he makes sure that every last penny is spent wisely."

"Ah, Katsura," Kiryuu began. "Alan, this is Dr. Katsura Yugami, the head of the bio-organic project and the construction of my muscle system."

"Nice to meet you at last, Mr. Tyler," Katsura smiled slightly.

Alan stepped forward as Katsura took out her hand. He shook it slightly.

"You're the scientist who created Kiryuu's muscle system?" he asked. "And you knew Shinoda…" Her voice was familiar to him somehow, but he could not quite place it.

"I'm sure it came as a shock for you," Katsura began. "For as long as I have known him, I haven't seen him in a long while. I'm surprised he even still remembered me. Which reminds me, Kiryuu, the fundraiser's tomorrow night. And you promised to take Maria to it."

"Did she go shopping with the money I gave her?" Kiryuu asked.

"She's in the control room, right now," Katsura said. "With the dress on."

"Katsura, I don't have any time…"

"I'll handle Alan and Io," she said. "You go in there make Maria happy. She's your girlfriend after all."

"And your assistant," Kiryuu chuckled. "I'm sorry, Alan. It's the first fund raiser Dr. Vasquez has ever been to. I'll be right back." Katsura…

You know I'm going to tell him, Katsura projected. No doubt he can already sense it.

Alan watched as Kiryuu's image ran off, disappearing behind a door where the control room was. He tilted his head slightly to peek in, noticing a pair of arms reaching up and folding around Kiryuu's neck.

"Alan," began Katsura, drawing his attention back to her again. "I'm glad that you could come. From Shinoda's note, he seemed rather worried about you. We all know what you have inside of you. No doubt it's been more trouble than it's worth."

"You could say that," Alan replied. "Looking on the bright side though, like Kiryuu said, at least I don't have to worry about doctor's bills anymore."

"That's still no excuse for you to drink so much," Io added despondently, shaking her head. Alan sighed, knowing she had him there. He felt ashamed that he'd spoken the way he had over the phone with Io listening in.

"I'm sorry about the way I spoke over the phone," Alan said, apologetically. "I was just looking for an excuse not to talk to Kiryuu. We... we didn't part on the best of terms."

"I can believe that," Katsura replied. "I've been working with Kiryuu for a long time, and he still finds ways to frustrate me. This whole mess with Yuji's been another of those moments." She looked out across the hangar and sighed. "God, I hope he's alright."

Kiryuu came out of the control room again, leading a very lovely, Hispanic woman with his arm. She was dressed in an evening gown, with golden sequins and sparkling jewelry around her neck. Alan's eyes widened, finding that he could not keep his eyes off of her.

"Alan, this is Katsura's assistant and also the project manager of the Utah Foundation's branch office," Kiryuu began. "Dr. Maria Vasquez. I believe you might have heard of that name from the news. Her programming allowed my syntech to function better underwater."

"Excuse the way I'm dressed," she began. "The big fund raiser's tomorrow. And on my salary, I couldn't…"

"But I could," Kiryuu chuckled. "So, I did and now you look as sophisticated as a lot of the old fossils you'll be meeting there."

Maria leaned up and kissed Kiryuu on the cheek. He chuckled again as she let go of his arm. Alan arched an eyebrow, and decided he really didn't want to know how close these two were.

"Sorry, I have to get back dressed in my work clothes," Maria gasped in some excitement. "Your photography is lovely, Mr. Tyler. I saved that picture you sent Gordon. Got it hanging up on my wall in my office. Hasta luego!"

Maria scampered off, picking up her dress as she headed for the elevator. Kiryuu shook his head as he chuckled again, watching her with pleased eyes as she disappeared into the elevator.

"Ay, mamasita," he rumbled. "She's very excited about this. Since Katsura has to take care of Io, Maria decided to go in her place."

"Usually, I would go," Katsura began. "But I've had it with those big parties Gordon has to raise more money for the company."

"And…Kiryuu goes to these…" Alan broke off, not really sure what he was about to say next. He was starting to get a mental image of Kiryuu in a tuxedo; a thought he found both disturbing and hilarious.

"If you think I go as I am, you are mistaken," Kiryuu said. "Because this is a hologram, I can change my appearance. I often go under the aliases of other names, most often as Gordon's financial advisor; a Japanese man wearing a plain black tux. They don't know who I am, and for now it will be kept that way. But the day when the world finds out…"

"Let me just stop you right there," Alan sighed. "We need to talk about your call. What exactly happened?"

"Follow me," Kiryuu began. "I'll have Will Penter aid me in explaining to you what has happened."

Kiryuu lead Alan into the control room, Katsura and Io following them. Will was sitting down at the control panel, running some numbers. He turned around, smiling back at Kiryuu.

"Alright," he began. "It's about time you introduced me. Why am I always the last person on the list, Kiryuu?"

"Will," Kiryuu sighed.

"I mean, I'm the guy who programmed your AI," Will said, rising up out of his chair. "I should be at least the second on the list when you bring new people into the base. But here I am, the last person. No respect at all."

"Will, Alan," Kiryuu motioned. "Alan, Will. And what he said…the programmer of my AI."

"Every line of code!" Will called. "Every line, every bit of hardware, software, wiring, smelting, programming, debugging, protocols that go into Kiryuu, I'm the guy who writes it. And he doesn't take time out of his busy schedule to play at least one game of Halo 2 with me."

"What about two hours ago?" Kiryuu asked, staring back at Will with a 'what-the hell-are-you-talking-about' expression.

"Oh, yeah, sure, two hours ago," Will sighed. "You didn't even give it your best that time. I kept sniping you and you did nothing!"

"Well, I'm sorry, I haven't played it as long as you have, Will," Kiryuu sighed. "I haven't had the time."

"I gave this guy life, and he doesn't have the time!" Will threw up his hands in mock exasperation. "Do me a favor and run these numbers through your processor, Kiryuu."

Will handed a piece of paper over to Kiryuu. The bio-mecha began to read it, and his eyes turned back to Will again, with an even more horrified expression. Alan had never seen Kiryuu give such an expression before.

"Will, these are roulette numbers!" Kiryuu breathed. "Gambling, Will? You want me to gamble for you? Q tried that, and you said-"

"I know what I said," Will began. "But right now, I'm feeling lucky."

"You're cheating," Kiryuu shook his head again. "You're getting me to cheat for you."

"Look, I got the weight, the height, and the size of the table," began Will. "The weight of the ball, and the fact that the table leans slightly 2 degrees to the left. The same table."

"And it's a 6 percent chance of failure as well, Will," Kiryuu growled back.

"A narrow margin," Will continued. "Just do it once. I won't ask again. Once, just once."

"Fine," he sighed. "I'll do it, where's the pencil?"

Will handed Kiryuu a pencil from the desk and the hologram began writing down percentile chances on whether or not the ball would land on each number. He slapped the paper back at Will, shaking his head again.

"It won't be my fault that you go broke, Will," Kiryuu said. "It's your money. And you get caught…"

"I'll deny everything," Will smiled. "Don't worry."

Alan remained silent through all this, not knowing what to think. It sounded like Kiryuu had developed quite a life for himself outside of fighting monsters, but all this talk about company parties and Halo 2 irritated him as well. He was worried about Shinoda, and thought they were wasting time on this more frivolous conversation.

"Okay, now, Mr. Tyler," Will continued. "About the CCI. This will answer your questions. We suspected a bug. It was possible that Katagiri bugged a phone line somewhere and that's how he knew about you and Kiryuu's little theft."

"So," Kiryuu began. "While he came here, searching for you and Shinoda, he sent his hackers to break into the Foundation's databases. In a way it was to keep us busy until he found Shinoda and Io. Which he did, but he only captured Shinoda. Io escaped and came to Katsura, bringing the syntech with her, as well as the note. But I grew tired of Shinoda and for what he did to you and to the others, as well as my son, and so I attacked back. How I did this was I sent the hackers from the CCI into other databases, including government databases. They delved into places they weren't supposed to go. Now Katagiri has been captured by the FBI for the theft of important, top secret information. One of the databases I had the CCI hack into was the database found in the US's government grid. And now America is angry at Japan. Katagiri has been arrested by the FBI and Shinoda is being held for questioning. This was the best I could do in saving Shinoda for now. As for Io... Well, Katsura has been doing her best to take care of her until I figure out how to get Shinoda released from FBI custody. He has not been charged, he's just being held for questioning."

"And well, because of what happened," Will began, chuckling slightly. "They thought the hunt for the 'traitor' Shinoda was a ruse to distract the FBI's attention away from the CCI's break in of their databases. Katagiri's in hot water now. And now, not even Japan can save him. Ifume has called off the search for you and Japan's eyes are no longer looking at Kiryuu for aiding you in stealing that information."

"In other words," Kiryuu laughed. "In a way, all of this worked out perfectly. I have Katagiri where I want him, the CCI is now slowly being down for what they have done and an investigation of their databases and their files is being conducted by the UN. And the UN will find out about Organizer G-1, Alan. They will find out, and they will convict not only Katagiri, but Ifume for allowing these inhumane experiments to persist. But you see, you have the final files…"

"I assume you want me to turn them in?" Alan cut in.

"No," Kiryuu replied. "I don't. I want them to find out about the two other subjects. But they will never find out about you. Ever. It won't matter anyways. I've been monitoring outer space. King Ghidorah is coming close, very close. I've estimated about four months before he arrives, though I admit I'm guessing here."

Kiryuu sighed again, leaning up against the wall.

"You can stop him, right?" Alan asked, sounding slightly unnerved by Kiryuu's defeatist stance.

"To be honest, Alan," Kiryuu sighed, his voice nothing more than a frightened whisper, "I don't know if I have the power to do so. I want to, but I don't think I can."

Katsura came over to Kiryuu's side, laying a hand on his shoulder. She comforted him.

"You will," she said. "We all will. This is our fight."

Alan sighed again, looking at the two. Then, that was when he saw a dark spot on Katsura's neck. It looked like some sort of headphone jack sticking right out of her bare neck. He found himself unable to look away from this mark for some reason. In the end, he thought it best to satisfy his curiosity now; he could not see how things could get weirder than they already were.

"Er... Dr. Yugami?" he started, "You... you've got something on your neck..."

Io and Will looked awkwardly between Alan, Katsura and Kiryuu. They knew Alan had seen the jack on Katsura's neck, and wondered what was going to happen next.

As Katsura looked between Alan and Kiryuu, Alan suddenly started to feel a strange buzzing in his head again. He held his hand up to his forehead, wincing slightly as the voices started to come again. He knew he could hear some sort of conversation, involving Kiryuu and the other figure. He could now hear the voice as clear as day, and his eyes widened as he recognised it. It was Katsura's voice; no doubt about it. He looked between Katsura and Kiryuu, now visibly shaking.

What the hell's going on here?! he thought. Am I going insane?!

Kiryuu sighed, looking away from Katsura. There was no sense in hiding it, though he could not have the heart to tell him. He did not want to.

I'll tell him, Kiryuu, Katsura projected. "Alan, how can I explain this? Like you are connected to Godzilla, I am connected to Kiryuu."

"Huh?" Alan asked.

"It happened two years ago," Katsura began. "Because Kiryuu attacked Tokyo, we shot him with an EM pulse, and it shut him down. But because of the pulse, Godzilla was drawn to Tokyo. We had to figure out a way to turn Kiryuu back on. Will was…"

"Kiryuu shot a bio-feedback through the control consol in the base and I got fried," Will sighed. "I couldn't turn Kiryuu back on. Katsura was the only one left who could."

"So, I did," Katsura said. "I went inside the cockpit while Kiryuu laid there in the street, hoping to reactivate him. But he wouldn't turn back on."

"I refused," Kiryuu rumbled. "I wanted to know what morality was. No one could tell me; all the time before my first battle as Mechagodzilla, no one would tell me. So I revolted against them. Humans, illogical creatures you are! Nothing could compare you to the cold logical computations of a machine. Your paradoxes, just being what I was then, trying to understand that paradox that you are, I would have self-destructed. There was no way I could understand, save one. So, while Katsura was trying to reactivate me, through what reserve power I had, I proposed an alternative. My syntech formed into an implant that I inserted into her neck. I shouldn't have done it. I regret doing it. I regretted everything I had done to Katsura…"

"But if he had not, who knows what could really have happened," Katsura began. "He could never understand human morality. Not even animals could understand that. Even if he was the reincarnation of Godzilla, Godzilla doesn't know what moral values are. This was more than Kiryuu wanting to hurt us for enslaving him; this was the computer inside of him, the machine telling Godzilla that we humans were the cause of everything, because that was logical and humanity wasn't. The AI wanted to rid the world of the illogical, to purge it from this place. So, the implant I have inside of me now literally infests Kiryuu with the illogical to where he has no choice but to accept it. And for a while, it allowed us to control him, for lack of a better term, just a little bit longer. Thing is, it puts a price on him, makes him realize he's more vulnerable. If his AI ceases to function all-together, I die."

"And that's the last thing I want to happen," Kiryuu said.

Alan looked between Katsura and Kiryuu, this new information hitting him like a ton of bricks. He sat down on one of the chairs in the room, holding his head in his hands, trying to fathom what he had just heard. It was then that remembered the memory Kiryuu had shown him of that fateful night in Tokyo when he had rebelled against his creators. For a moment he wanted to yell at Kiryuu and let him know the damage that had done to him, but the words died in his throat.

Kiryuu stared for a moment at Alan, waiting for him to say something. There was nothing but silence. Nothing could break it. He was not sure he wanted to right now. He had other things to worry about. He could tell that Alan was struggling just to take in all that he heard he and Katsura told him.

Kiryuu, perhaps we should leave him be for a moment, Katsura suggested. He didn't expect this. Kiryuu sighed. Very well. He finally spoke aloud. "Perhaps you need some time alone to figure all of this out. There is a conference room on this level that I can show you to."

Alan's only reply was a quick nod. The hologram motioned for him to follow.

"Come with me," Kiryuu rumbled.

"Alan?" Io asked.

"He needs some time to himself right now," Katsura said. "I don't think he would have suspected we literally tell him everything."

Just when he thought he had me figured out, Katsura, Kiryuu rumbled into her mind with a slight cynical chuckle.

Kiryuu and Alan turned the corner to a door at the end of the hall. Alan's eyes just grew slightly wide when he saw the hologram grip the doorknob with is claw and opened the door. That hologram was more real that he thought it was.

"There's a phone in there," Kiryuu said. "Just dial extension 2753 when you're ready to talk some more."

Alan watched as the holographic mecha closed the door, leaving him alone inside the conference room. He sighed, and sat down on one of the chairs in the room. He knew there was a lot to say to Kiryuu, but not right now. Not at least for a few minutes. He glanced all around him, at all of the walls and at the lights on the ceiling. He had the sneaking suspicion that Kiryuu could see him, but right now that didn't matter to him. He was turning over everything that he had found out, not just what Katsura had told him earlier, but everything that had happened to him ever since Kiryuu entered his life. Much had happened, and now this new information, not to mention everything that happened to the Shinodas, had thrown him into new doubts.

After a few moments, he decided that a bit of music would help him process his thoughts bette; it usually did. So he pulled a small mp3 player out of his pocket, plugged in his earphones and switched on. The soft piano that signalled the beginning of Radiohead's Karma Police kicked in. Alan gave a slight smile;this was one of his favourites.

It was then that he noticed he was starting to feel drowsy. His head nodded slightly. He knew he was tired, but he didn't feel that now was the time or the place to be sleeping. However, it seemed his body didn't want to obey his mind. He found himself closing his eyes as the slow, haunting vocals began:

Karma Police... arrest this man, he talks in math...

He found this tiredness overtaking him, his head drooped and rested on his shoulder. He felt his arms going slack.

He buzzes like a fridge...

His eyes shut, and almost as once he felt himself drifting off.

He's like a de-tuned radio...

The sound of the music faded, until there was nothing but silence, presently replaced by the sounds of waves crashing on rocks.

As he opened his eyes, he found himself looking upwards towards the heavens. Wherever he was, it was a beautiful night, the sky as clear as it seemed possible to be. He could feel himself taking a look at his surroundings. He noticed he was hundreds of feet above the ground, the exotic trees far below him rustling with the slight breeze blowing through the area. He could clearly see the shore from here, the moon's reflection sparkling on the surface of the calm ocean.

He had a strong feeling of déjà vu, like he had seen this place so many times before. He felt like he was at peace, but at the same time felt a part of him was lost; a part that he missed terribly, like a gaping hole in his heart.

He felt an impulse to go down to the shore, and he did there, somehow making the journey in all of seven strides. The footfalls were loud and resounded through the area. He had a horrible feeling as to what this meant. Presently, the ocean completely filled up his field of vision. He had always liked the ocean, but somehow he now felt a sense of unease about it, as if terrible things had happened to him there that he had tried to forget. Without even thinking about it, he found himself glancing downward, until, perceptible by the moonlight, he saw his own reflection, only it wasn't his reflection at all.

It was Godzilla's.

The titanic reptile's face glared back at him, the image distorted slightly by the rippling water though still clearly showing the same grey scaly skin, those red-brown eyes, and the sharp teeth poking out slightly from under the lips.

It was then that his vision began to darken again, and he thought he could hear the sound of a rising crescendo of drums, piano, and guitar music. As Alan opened his eyes again, he found himself back in the conference room. The song had almost ended, with the final lyrics being sung in their familiar uncertain tone:

For a minute there, I lost myself... I lost myself...

He switched off the mp3 player, and held his head in his hands. It gradually dawned on him what had just happened, for it had happened every so often whenever he fell asleep...

"Oh, God..." he groaned. "Not again..."

Alan could not explain how the link between himself and Godzilla was possible; not even the scientists who experimented on him could give a definite answer. Their theory seemed to centre around some kind of 'blood bond' that existed between all members of the Godzilla bloodline; since he had heard both Kiryuu's and Katsura's voices in his head, there seemed to be some support for that theory. It was that link that had prompted the CCI to try and use him to control Godzilla. That was Alan's biggest fear, now compounded by what Katsura had told him of the link she had with Kiryuu.

At least she had a choice... he thought bitterly. She could've just left Kiryuu there to rot...

He sighed, removing his head from his hands. He knew the others would be wondering about him, but he still didn't want to say anything in front of Io yet. However, he knew he could not put off talking to Kiryuu, so he stood up and walked over to the phone in the room. He picked up the receiver and dialed the number of the extension Kiryuu had mentioned.