DISCLAIMER: I OWN WHAT IS MY OWN.
The OtherSide
By Corvus no Genmu the Prince of Slumberland
Panzer
Crimson eyes flashed in the twilight, fangs longer than a man's arm glistening in the fading light of the falling sun. A sinuous tail twisting to and fro as muscular legs tensed, waiting for just the right moment… to… strike! Nuclear energy burst forth from fang-lined jaws, cleaving through the sky and charging into the swarm of airships, destroying several hundred in a long line of burning destruction. A beastial roar screamed out in victory before the monolithic monster stepped slowly forward, cautious of trickery and deceit. It was right to be cautious as a swarm of creatures, avian in nature but rich with the stink of humanity, shot down towards it, sickly green light pulsing from spiked necks and escaping through eyeless skulls with burning energy.
The pain was small, a mere bee's sting to its thick hide. Its glimmering eyes narrowed in annoyance. These small creatures were not worth the waste in its energy, plentiful though it was in the twisted landscapes of this strange, new world. A swipe of tail and claw, and it was rid of them and free once more to continue on its search for her.
A sudden change in the winds brought it to a sudden halt, nostrils flaring, taking in the scents both big and small. The strange scents of the prey were strangely exotic to its nose and the stink of machines and oil were a familiar memory playing across its mind but there were two distinct scents in the southern-bound wind that brought forth its attentions. One smelled of wind and sunny fields of long grass, change and freedom. The other, the more important of the two, smelled of lilacs and freshly carved marble. It could almost envision the silken flesh and glistening white hair of the one who created this scent. It snorted a cloud of blueish smoke, looking back at the metallic swarm now in quick retreat from its wrath before looking once more towards the north where the winds carried her scent.
It followed.
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It had taken most of the night and the day before it had at last entered the frozen lands of snow and gleaming mountains of ice. A heated breath blasted out from flared nostrils, burning eyes narrowed against the cold blowing winds of the desolate landscape. Too many mountains to risk calling for the lost ones and the winds too erractic to track down the scents. It would have to search for them on foot if it had any hope of finding them.
Another blast of cold wind mixed with shards of ice brought back the familiar hatred of the snow and the cold. Yet it continued to strive forward, dorsal spines lighting with inner fire, heat blasting snow and ice into warm clouds of steam as it trekked for the better part of the day searching for the lost ones. More of the bizarre prey of this world flocked far from it, their eyes going blind from the heat of its fires.
Night had fallen, the ancient sun falling into the white horizon and blanketing the frozen world in darkness and with the growing dim, so too did its concern grow. The flyer would, naturally, be alright despite its natural hatred of the cold for, like it, the flyer breathed forth burning light and so could keep itself awake even in this frozen landscape. The girl though, she who smelled of lilacs and marble stone, had no protection save for what it and the flyer gave her and though she was undoubtedly with the flyer, it was concerned nonetheless.
To have been blown so far as this, it marveled at the flyer's resiliency before a roar shattered the tranquility of the night. It stopped, muscles clenching, ready to strike at the opportune moment but it never came. Confused, it listened and again heard the terrible sound, farther away yet still filled with territorial rage. It looked to the east, where the sun would soon rise and where the cries came from.
It climbed the hill and stood at its crest, eyes looking down at the vast gorge, large enough to even make it pause in concern for dropping into that dark abyss, before it spotted the faint trail of stone that stretched between the mountains where a creature of ice and snow flew on the wings born from the currents of the sea. It soared tightly around the stone bridge, attacking they whom it had been searching for.
In any other situation, it would glady have attacked the ice-flyer without hesitation but the winds granted mercy to the denizen of the bottomless gorge. It could smell the younglings, hiding in the cold stone as their mother fought to destroy that which she knew could kill her and her young.
Tilting back its head, Godzilla roared, burning flames of nuclear energy firing into the sky. The ice-flyer's attention drawn from the girl and flyer, the monster king walked slowly along the cliff, its burning eyes never leaving the ice-flyer as it soared high above, preparing to dive down when she saw just where Godzilla was heading. She screamed in maternal rage as the monster king stood above the cave where her younglings were hiding, quivering in fear of the behemoth's presence and the heat its burning spines generated.
She hovered back as far as she dared, scared to attack from a distance lest she do more harm than good for her younglings but near enough to slam the intruder into the abyss along with herself if she had to. Godzilla remained where it was, looking back towards the bridge and watched as the flyer's injuries fully healed at last, taking off into the air, moving slowly lest it draw the ice-flyer's attention and wrath upon it and its charge.
The ice-flyer remained hovering as the flyer landed gently in Godzilla's outstretched claws. The Monster King gazed down upon them with a pleased rumble, almost a purr. Slowly, it backed away, keeping its two charges close in case the ice-flyer sought retribution but though she followed them, she did not attack. The message between her and Godzilla was clear.
"You have your charges and I have mine. Hurt them and I hurt yours."
She made sure to watch them until they were well out of her territory but otherwise left them alone to their journey. Pleased that innocent younglings were spared the loss of a mother, Godzilla looked down to see the flyer asleep and resting, and the girl not far from falling asleep herself. Her hands reached up to it and, upon raising its hands higher, allowed her to gently stroke the leathery hide along its jaw. Deep inside its mind, a part of a different mind felt at ease. Though Orta was by no means his family by blood or otherwise, she was truly all that he had left in this world and, perhaps, Eiji Kusanagi's only true chance of remembering his humanity. It breathed upon them a cloud of warm air and she laughed, tickled by its strange breath. It snorted, looking up towards the rising sun and followed the eastward horizon.
To Be Continued...
A/N Inspiration:
Panzer Dragoon has been one of my favorite video games since video games have been created. Though the series is rare and hard to find, the story and ideas of a futuristic world inhabited by beasts created from biological warfare virtually parallels the Riders' former world. That and I've often considered the "dragoon" a sort of relative to Godzilla as both use killer beam-breath weapons that are too damn cool to ignore.
Next Reflection...
"Daikaju Days"