Humanity's Stand

Chapter 7

Battles in the Americas

The smell of coffee, donuts, and other energy boosters was stifling in the small meeting room outside the main command center of the Shatterdome, everyone inside walking around with bleary eyes and sagging expressions. Sleep was something long since discarded for many of the people working at this level, as had politeness, dignity, and any sense of calm. Cots were laid out along the walls where some lucky souls were taking quick cat naps between missions. Whiteboards had been brought in to write calculations on, tracking fuel reserves, velocities of transports, fatigue hours on pilots and so many more. Not since the events of the Xillian invasion had the command crew been this busy, but the end was now in sight.

Many of the mutants had been beaten back, disasters had been averted in so many places, and only a last few locations were at risk. Those locations though had effectively nothing left to send, so it was down entirely to the kaiju being tentatively called 'allies' left to their defense. All the Jaegers deployed from Shatterdome were too far away or too spent from prior missions to be sent, and Jaegers in Europe and Africa were still in the process of being redeployed. They'd relied on miracles already to get this far, and now they needed a few more for the people of the Americas to come out the other side okay.

All of this was completely unnoticed as in one corner a man was fretting to himself about his daughter. Anyone who knew Professor Wylder knew making him panic was almost impossible. Partly due to dealing with nightmarish foes day in and day out, and partially due to literal brain damage killing his ability to feel fear. Right now, however, he was proving that could not stop his fatherly instincts from going haywire at the information in front of him.

"Three mutations heading straight towards LA!" He shouted, scrambling over to the rest of the Council and sharing the footage. "Shimidah, Archaeo, and Deuterius, all bee-lining for LA! Why!?"

"Maybe they wanna be in Hollywood," Gordon snarked gruffly.

Theo's eye twitched as he sent a glare at the sword wielder. "I'm going to pretend you didn't say that and remind you that my family lives there."

"Your family being in danger is a concern, yes, but a lot of people are in danger right now," Serizawa added, his concern genuine but exasperation tearing away any sympathy. "The bigger problem is wondering where we're going to find someone to defend the place. No Defenders are en route, and we are out of resources to send ourselves."

Theo looked at his erstwhile coworker with a critical eye. "Ignoring the snark there, there's a specific member of my family I'm referring to… or have you forgotten 'Project: Dragon Knight'?"

Dead silence filled the briefing room. Technicians, soldiers, engineers, scientists, and politicians went silent, either already in the know about one of the GDF's double-Black research projects, or about to learn about one first hand.

"What the heck is that?" someone asked, only to be shushed by his partner.

Theo looked at his fellow Council members expecting looks of concern and panic, but instead was met with thoughtful expressions. Worried his point wasn't coming across, he forged on, saying, "If Tya makes her debut now, without any preparation we could be escalating the incoming political shitstorm with zero control over the public reaction..."

"We're on the pyre bad enough with the DT," Gordon said flatly. "Having her show herself can't reasonably make things worse for us. If anything, this is a perfect opportunity for her to show what she's capable of."

"Maybe," Theo countered, "But how do you think the public will react to a genetically engineered human-kaiju hybrid?"

"A genetically engineered human-kaiju hybrid who saves millions of people from attacking kaiju?" Stacker asked. "Yes, there always will be naysayers, people who are suspicious of her just for what she is, but actions always speak louder than words. And the actions of a hero can buy a lot of good will."

"Point taken." Theo sighed running his hands through his hair, "... Excuses aside, I just… you KNOW I don't like missing important moments and all, and this is her first real fight."

"What are you still here for then?" Stacker asked pointedly. "You have transport of your own you can use, and unless I'm misremembering your boasting you should be just fast enough to get there."

The scientist blinked for a moment, then started to nod. "Y'know what, point, I'll keep you guys updated on the situation. Anyone wanna go with me?"

The three men stared at him flatly before all shaking their heads in unison. Gordon was the most blunt about it, saying, "The moment I'm crazy enough to trust a ride on that cyber-dragon jet thing you built is the day I will officially say I've given up on making sense of this world. And I want to pretend to be sane for a while longer."

"Alright, see ya later!" Theo shrugged off the stares and hauled ass to the hangar. By the time the rest of the council were back on their work, they heard the sonic boom of Aurora flying away, back home to Pasadena.

In the back of the room the pair of technicians were still whispering to each other. "Seriously, what the heck is Dragon-Knight?"

"Okay, so ever hear of those porn sites that make sexy lady versions of kaiju? Well imagine that but-"

**HS**

Baragon had seen a fair few mountains in his time, being a burrower as he was, and he'd come to appreciate the different kinds of mountains the world had to offer. Volcanic mountains were obviously the most volatile, at least while they were alive, but those were more of interest for kaiju like Godzilla, who could feed off of the radioactive materials brought up in the magma flows. No, the kind of mountains Baragon liked most were tectonic mountains, ones pushed up and up over time by the moving of the continental plates. It was fascinating to get an up close view of how the lands changed over time, being able to see the rock flow and shift through the physical record of ages. Were he to have more free time to spend he'd love to examine these mountains of the southern part of the New World more.

Unfortunately there was another bit of rock that had his attention, one that was swinging for his face at high speed. Using a careful front flip he was able to avoid the hefty mass, bouncing off the top of the swinger and spraying a gout of flame across its back. Clinging algae and vines instantly started burning, but the rock underneath wasn't so easily charred. Baragon ducked under a return swing and made his way underground to distance himself before coming back to the surface.

There had been many strange creatures Baragon had met and fought in the last few years, but he had to say that an oversized crab with a shell made of rock was a new one. And it was far faster than it should be given its apparent weight and power. Its right claw was less of a claw and more of a cudgel, almost as large as its main body and nearly as heavy. The left claw was smaller but the upper half was extremely sharp and made of a bright orange rock that was even sturdier than his main body. All in all a formidable opponent that could be a serious problem for most fighters. Baragon smirked as he flexed his claws.

Good thing I'm not most fighters.

As the crab rushed towards him, claw raised to run him through, Baragon dived right into the rocky shelf, using his geomancy to clear the path ahead of him with ease. He felt the crab skitter to a stop and look back and forth, trying to figure out where he went. Baragon moved further up along the mountain, popping out on a higher precipice. Some quick calculations and aim made him smirk as he smashed his foot into the rock below him, causing the entire shelf to start rolling down the mountain towards the unwitting crustacean. Baragon leapt free from the shelf just before it smashed into the mutant, rolling to his feet only to groan as he saw his opponent had just managed to catch the shelf, its legs scraping meters deep gouges in the rock as it tried to hold itself in place.

'Faster than I expected,' Baragon said. 'Let's see how you handle more.'

The guardian ducked as a chunk of the shelf was carved off and flung in his direction, returning underground as he started to put his plan into motion. He dug back and forth underneath the crab, popping up here and there to keep it distracted with tossed rocks or trees. After a few minutes he suspected the crab knew he was up to something, but considering it stayed in the same area just trying to chase him over and over it clearly wasn't bright enough to figure out the danger. Finally with a flourish Baragon appeared in the center of their little battleground, tossing a jet of flame at the monster to get its attention.

'Over here, bud! Come and get me!'

Predictably the crab was heedless of the obvious trap and came rushing at him, pummeling claw forward and piercing claw held up high. Baragon just stood there with a smirk, then raised a foot as it got closer and stomped once. Instantly the rock beneath them both collapsed, Baragon leaping up to escape the trap while the crab was firmly caught in place, its legs trapped by kilotons of rock and pieces of mountain. With the target perfectly immobilized Baragon was easily able to hop onto the monster's back out of reach of its two claws, unleashing all his flame on a single spot to rapidly burn through its armor to the weaker shell beneath. The crab suddenly froze as it realized its vulnerability, surprising Baragon at its apparent gaining of sense.

'This is your one and only chance here bud,' Baragon said with a warning growl. 'Give up and I will let you go. Never approach a human settlement again, if you do, then we'll leave you alone, and I will make sure the humans leave you alone as well. Deal?'

The mutant mulled that over for a while, lowering its claws as it pondered. Then it let out a faint chittering noise, which Baragon assumed was a sigh.

'Yah win, man. Ah give. But ah got nowhere tah go. What do yah wann me tah do?'

Baragon hummed, tapping his chin with his spare claw thoughtfully. Then he smiled, saying, 'I think I know of a place. There's a particular island folks like you could go to, presuming you get on the owner's good side.' He leaned over to look at the crab face to face, a cheeky grin on his face. 'How are you around plants?'

**HS**

In the midst of the many mutant attacks that were taking place around the globe there was another group that saw its opportunity to act and were taking hold of it with both hands. Despite their failed attempt to capitalize on the Battle of Solgel, the Antversers were unwilling to let their chance slip by them. Once again the depths of Challenger Deep lit up as the portal leading to another dimension strained to its limits. Monster after monster poured from its depths, splitting up into different groups. One, a trio of creatures built with meldable bodies, drifted off to the west. Another, a pair of large, bullish fighters armed with natural weapons in their anatomy. The last, another trio, led by the largest of their kind yet made, slunk off into the distance to wait for the best target.

It had taken all of their production capacity to prepare these assaults, and it wasn't expected that a total victory would be achieved. Yet the hope that this would be enough to at last put their target on the backfoot was clear. And the lack of a particular monster king who could have interrupted the transport gave them the opening they needed. Yet as they split up to achieve their objectives, secure in the knowledge they would not be caught at their portal ever again, many thousands of kilometers away a rumbling mountain rose from its slumber.

The balance had been thrown off, the mantle holder was gone, and a foreign invader once again threatened the world. The problems of millions of years ago had reappeared, and with it would come the old world's guardian beast. The Ancient Apex was awakened again.

**HS**

Of all the guardians, Yongarry was the one that probably had the most respect for human achievements, at least in the fields of technology and construction. Gamera and Mothra both appreciated the parts of human culture that focused on peace, freedom, and empathy, Varan hated how humans let their greed and shortsighted desires drive them to ever more costly ventures that damaged the world around them, and most of the other guardians had mixed opinions. But being as he was the Guardian of Metal, Yon had to acknowledge just how skilled humans had become at manipulating his natural element in their construction of their ideal modern world.

Take the location he was currently defending, an artificial rising and falling river carved through the thinnest part of a continent to connect two entirely different oceans. How many species could claim to have shaped the environment, the very geography of the planet itself in the way they had? Even for a kaiju the effort of tearing their way through that much land would be the effort of weeks, and would amount to little more than a temporary tear in the landscape which erosion and time would fill up easily. Humans though managed to build a whole strait that went up and down across land, letting ships massive enough to make Yon feel small pass over where they would otherwise be forever locked out. Save maybe those who had grown up alongside humans, Yon felt only he truly grasped the scale of what humans had achieved in constructing these massive projects, stamping their impression into the planet they lived on in a way no other species could achieve. It was a wonder to behold… and it was also currently under threat.

Yon had already beaten off a small mutant pair who had been looking to cross the continent, neither being much of a threat given their small stature and weak abilities, but before he'd had a chance to leave he'd seen the human defenders continue to gather, suggesting that another attack was on the horizon. What the threat was he wasn't clear on, but until he was satisfied that the danger had passed he wouldn't be leaving his post. So he sat on the small islands leading to the entrance of the canal, watching passively as a pair of darker waves made their way towards him.

A quick magnetic scan of his surroundings showed that numerous tiny flying machines were hovering around him at numerous angles, which he knew from experience humans used to get a bird's eye view of the events. Further out on shore were numerous slightly larger machines, arrayed around the nearby city's shoreline, ready to pour fire onto anything that approached too closely. High in the sky above those fast flying machines of theirs orbited, waiting for their chance to take a shot. He wondered if the humans would be more willing to fire when he was in close proximity, given his power over magnetism was fairly well known at this point. He wouldn't take offense if they did, after all their weapons couldn't hurt him very much at all. Whether they'd be useful on these particular targets though… that remained to be seen.

The waves were on their final approach when Yon saw a geyser of water explode only a few hundred meters away from him, out of which a sea-green creature with two massive tentacle arms came out. It swung its arms at him, sending a cloud of quills at him as it landed on the rocky beach. Yon smirked, showing no sign of moving to evade the cloud. Instead he reached out with his magnetism to grab hold of the 'prize' he'd brought along with him. Rising out of the water and flying into the air ahead of him was a twisted, rusted pile of metal in the vague shape of a human ship. Two barely visible white letters saying 'DE' were painted on the forward part of the hull, next to a jagged hole torn in the side that had become rusted with time. The quills impacted the ancient ship and quickly caught in the still hardy metal.

Yon grinned to himself, giving the long-sunken ship a twirl as he returned it to his side. In his explorations of the sea around Solgel he'd found many such lost vessels spread out on the seabed, which he made a habit of collecting and bringing back with him to serve as material for exercising his powers. Varan was upset with him for bringing human debris onto the island, but Yon was always unrepentant. And when he had the opportunity he liked to bring them along with him onto the battlefield.

What better way to honor these dead fighting ships than giving them another chance to protect the people they once fought for after all?

By this point the second monster had crawled up onto the sand, showing that both were indeed antverser kaiju, albeit ones unlike any Yon had heard of. The second one was shorter and stockier than its partner, having a burnished red hide with volcanic crimson veins along its underside. Its head was armored, it had tough claws of the same material, and a sharp trident-shaped tail at the far end. If he were being honest it almost looked like an earthborn kaiju with how dissimilar it was from its peers. The tentacled one was a more 'normal' color for its kind, but it was also more robust than the usual antverser. Now that it was on shore Yon could see that its front arms were heavily overdeveloped compared to its tiny hind legs, standing upon them and balancing on its long tail while its shoulder tentacles swung about. Both kaiju were a fair bit smaller than him, and he was reasonably sure he outmassed the both of them by a significant margin.

'Well then,' he said as he brought his floating ship closer even as he could sense the human artillery on land already opening fire. 'Let's dance.'

The duo of Antversers charged him, the tentacled one racing ahead using its four major limbs to pick up speed. Yon met its rush with an uppercut to the creature's face, followed by slamming his ship down onto its back to keep it trapped on the ground. The red one reached him at that point, jumping up and latching on Yon's arm with his jaws while trying to claw at his thick hide. Once the beast was latched on Yon twirled on the spot, carrying the Antverser into the path of the numerous masers, shells, and missiles fired from the shore. On a normal kaiju the weapons would have done next to nothing, but something about Antversers left them more vulnerable to damage from such underpowered weapons, meaning the creature soon let go of Yon's arm in order to jump away and escape the barrage.

Yon let him, as it gave him the chance to respond when its partner finished pushing away his ship and flung more quills his way. To evade Yon planted the ship into the ground and pushed himself magnetically off of it, shunting his body to the side so that the quills all missed. Feeling the air behind him be disturbed Yon dropped flat to the ground, perfectly timing it as a wave of fully metallic missiles landed upon the Antverser, puncturing its body and opening multiple thin but penetrating wounds. The guardian followed up while the monster was distracted with a hefty kick to the jaw, leaving the Ant in range to once again be smashed into the dirt by the increasingly damaged ship.

The other attacker then leapt at him, but was met in midair by another ship Yon had pulled from the waves just out of sight. The sharpened frontal bow of the ship pushed into the crimson monster's side, the careful bending and twisting Yon had done to strengthen the bow into a proper spear point showing its value as it punctured into its chest deep enough to go into where the lungs would be on a normal creature. Wounded as it was though the beast still fought on, running at him even with the weight of the impaled ship still hanging in his side. At the last possible moment Yon made his move, jumping over the rushing kaiju and kicking it in midair into its fellow that was just coming to its feet. The two fell over in a tangle of limbs and blood, Yon pulling both ships away to hover in the air above their heads.

'Party's over, Ants. Time to ship out.'

With that Yon plunged both ships down onto the heads of the fallen creatures as fast as his magnetism and native gravity would propel them, pasting them both onto the ground and leaving both to gradually fall still. The damaged ships came apart just as much as the kaiju they had just killed, leaving their wreckage strewn about the island as their structures finally failed them. Yon sighed as he took in the sight, then put his hands together in a way he'd seen a human do once as he bowed to show his respect.

'Your bodies of metal may pass, but your memory lives on in those you saved. May your fighting spirit never rest, and your will to protect live on until it is no longer needed.'

With his honoring of the lost weapons complete Yon went out into the surf, leaving the human engineering wonder behind. Perhaps another day he'd be able to observe it in action, even swim up it himself. A dream for the future, when the world was a bit safer. When guardians like him weren't quite as needed anymore.

He hoped he lived to see that day.

**HS**

Gabara hated a lot of things. He was a spirit made of negative emotions after all, so it was natural for him to despise and loathe, just as it was for him to complain and insult. He hated most other kaiju, save for the ones who he lived with on Solgel. Them he tolerated with a frankly saintly degree of patience, if you asked him at least. He hated a lot of humans, not for being human, but for being absolute morons. How a species with their rate of unintelligence had survived this long boggled his mind, even if he intellectually knew how they got away with it. Those were abstract hates though. Distant, impersonal - at least right now - and not what he was focusing on. No, what he was focusing on right now was his hate of the environment. Namely…

'HOW IS POSSIBLE TO BE THIS FUCKING HOT RIGHT NEXT TO THE OCEAN!? HOW DOES THAT MAKE SENSE!?'

His complaint, rude as it was, was perfectly valid given his current location on the western side of the Baja Peninsula. Formerly part of the American continent before being split off by the Pacific plate, the northern parts were still pleasant on this side of the landmass, but down in the southern half the environment quickly became dry, bleak, and very, very dusty. For a spirit born in temperate Japan, Solgel's tropical location was painful enough. Somehow this dry heat was so, so much worse. Gabara was itchy, hot, irritated, and quickly losing patience.

'FUUUUUUUUCK!'

As should be obvious.

'Would this fucker just show up already! I've been sweating my soul out for two hours now!' He paused, thinking about what he just said. 'Wait… I'm a spirit. What does sweat even do for me?' Pondering the question occupied his next few minutes, during which the wind started to pick up. The breeze was nice for a bit, but then the dust started to get caught up in the air and just made the problem worse.

'Gah! More dust and sand in my eyes! It gets everywhere, how does it get everywhere! Aaaaaaahhhhhheeeeey wait a minute…' With a conscious switch in his mind Gabara's body became intangible, providing him instant relief. 'Damnit, why didn't I do this hours ago?!'

The wind continued to pick up, blowing faster and faster to a suspicious degree. With it came a peculiar scent, one that Gabara realized he could smell even while his physical body wasn't active. Which meant only one thing.

'...Which of the mutants were magic again? There was the crystal guy, the lava guy… wait, wasn't there another one that Xen didn't ma- oh SHIT!'

Gabara went tangible again so he could use his legs to jump away, just in time as the dust storm suddenly became a hail of dark sludge which burned and scalded the land beneath it. Now that he knew it was there the presence approaching him was obvious. Malicious didn't begin to describe the being forming in front of him. It was like it was made of aggression, which now that he looked closer… it actually was.

'You know, I've heard of a lot of powerful fae over the centuries, known a few of them personally even.' Gabara's eyes narrowed, lightning crawling over his fists as he prepared for battle. 'But I do not recognize you in the slightest. What… are you?'

A demented chuckling came out of the rising lump of black slime. The smell, both real and magical, was horrendous, enough to almost floor him from its overpowering miasma alone. The creature's body was viscous, constantly dripping and sliding off of itself only to slump back into the main pile. Glowing yellow eyes opened from inside the depths of the slime, filled with malevolent energy and vile glee. 'I am Hedorah, and I am here to boil away this planet's biosphere and replace it with one of my own. A new, glorious realm fit for my real home! Pollution, destruction, extinction! I am the living calami-'

A bolt of lightning landed right between its eyes, exploding the evil being's face across the landscape. The sludge pile started to slump down, and Gabara was… suspicious.

'No fucking way it was that easy. Whelp, in for a yen.' With that Gabara punched repeatedly, each punch unleashing a bolt of lightning into the remaining sludge. Sure enough, the slime started to flow out of the way with unnatural speed, splitting up into many clumps to avoid his strikes. Despite his many misses Gabara kept up the barrage, a plan growing in his mind as he watched the trails of sand being absorbed by the slime.

Don't say it out loud, don't say it out loud! Don't be that much of a nerd damnit! He shouted internally. Don't say Ora ora! The only one who will get it is you!

The wind picked up again, static flowing through the air deflecting his bolts and allowing the sludge monster to finally collect itself again. 'Impudent spirit! You dare strike me while I espouse my greatness?'

'First rule of villain monologues. Never let them finish.' Gabara practiced what he preached as Hedorah started to crow at him again, rushing forward towards his opponent. The malevolent fae responded by lifting up freshly made arms and launching globs of polluted muck at him. Gabara was tempted to avoid them just by going intangible, but when he looked closer he realized the material was laden with horrible curses, so he had to duck to avoid both attacks. As he did he scooped up large pieces of dirt and sand and tossed them right back at his opponent. Hedorah didn't bother to dodge the attack, the natural material clumping on its body. Just as Gabara hoped.

'Second rule of villain monologues,' Gabara said as he evaded a wide arm swing by jumping up and letting himself be carried by the wind. 'Use them to distract your enemy.'

'You won't evade me forever, you pathetic toad!' The wind changed directions and grew dark as foul miasma became embedded within it. Gabara tensed as he tried to force his way through the barrage. A coat of lightning helped mitigate most of the force, but some of the magical energy leaked through and started to disrupt his body's cohesion. The wind was also carrying yet more sand into the air, enough to cover most of Hedorah's body in the stuff. Its black sludgy body was now mixed with a healthy amount of brown.

Just enough for Gabara's plan.

'Third rule of villain monologues!' Gabara shouted as he landed close to Hedorah but just out of its reach. It was moving more sluggishly now, and its yellow eyes widened as it realized what was wrong. 'One up them with your own badass line! Hey Hedorah, what happens when you hit sand with lightning?!'

Hedorah attempted to dissolve to avoid the coming attack, but its body was too loaded down with foreign material for the effort to work. Gabara had plenty of time to charge up his most powerful lightning ball, reeling his arm back for a serious pitch.

'You make yourself a really big glasshole! DIE!'

The ball of voltage was tossed right into the center of Hedorah's body, exploding into a cloud of lightning chaining magically across its form. Sand was flash melted into a rough, semi-transparent glass, freezing within it large portions of Hedorah's slime. The fae started to fall apart, its body splitting into numerous chunks and dropping into the sand. A portion deep inside the center managed to escape the glassing, forming into a small ball and flying off.

'Curse you, toad demon! I will have my vengeance one day. In the name of Kilaak you will suffer our wrath!'

A casually tossed bolt of lightning shut the malefic ball of curses up, Gabara watching with a smirk as it floated away into the distance out to sea, far away from the human settlements Gabara knew were over the horizon to the east.

'Ora ora, bitch,' Gabara said to himself, folding his arms in proud content. 'Now… what does this stuff taste like when turned into rock candy?'

One curious bite later and he was left gagging, resolving to blast this entire stretch of desert into oblivion in a rather forceful exorcism. Anything to wipe the taste of spirit poop out of his mouth.

**HS**

Depending on who you asked, Los Angeles could be a lot of things. For some it was a distant city where Hollywood apparently resided. For others it was an oversized and massively overpopulated county that took more than its fair share of resources and attention from the rest of the state. For others, it was home. Those others numbered nearly 12 million, and all of them were currently staring down the barrel of a mutant shaped gun aimed straight at their home. GDF reinforcements were myriad, but none of them were of a substantial size. The nearest Jaegers available were still hours away, and even if the mutants incoming were on the smaller side the local ASP squadron warned that they were simply not capable of taking on three Cat 2 kaiju by themselves. It was looking like a truly hopeless situation, even as every effort was spent on speeding up the evacuation.

Then, amidst the chaos, the Emergency Broadcast System came online, only with a tone most of the city was familiar with. Three familiar drum beats, before the warning tone of the EBS, Theodore was taking the reins.

"Ladies and gentlemen of L.A, remain calm and follow standard evacuation orders. We have a defender on our side, she'll be making her debut shortly. Please be nice, it's my daughter's big day."

Many in the county were aware of their home-grown member of the GDF's High Council, even if few were clear on just what exactly he did working with them, and some of that number were familiar with his daughter, a minor internet celebrity who helped with her father's company in their numerous forms of charity work. Those who could spare the moment of thought in the midst of the evacuation wondered just what a nice but normal - seemingly, she was a Wylder, and they were known weirdos - teenager could have to do with defending the city from invading kaiju.

Barring a few slightly insane observers and a handful of the braver ASP pilots, there was only one person to focus on at Venice Beach. She was a beautiful woman by most standards, emerald green eyes gazing out to the sea, spotting her father approaching fast, and the real enemy on his tail. Golden hair fluttered in the wind as she took a breath, stripping nude without a scrap of shame.

Words unspoken, a thu'um of power quaked across the beach, through the city, washing over everyone. The evacuation halted, if only for a brief moment, as a wave of pressure washed over them all, as if a magical force had landed among them.

There, towering over the skyline, at Venice beach, stood that same girl, but new, stronger, a form she'd rarely gotten to take. Her pale skin was replaced by red scales dotted by black spots, with thick golden scuttes lining her outer thighs and crawling down from her throat all the way to her tail. Twin antennae peaked out from her forehead, glimmering holy lights before her eyes, while her blonde hair still rode down her back, fluttering in the sea breeze. A long, powerful tail with a maple-leaf-shaped fan whipped behind her, kicking up cyclonic winds. Gone were impressive curves, instead replaced by lithe, powerful muscles, and perfectly manicured nails were replaced by glistening sharp caws. But her eyes were still a shimmering emerald, glinting with delight at this change.

Tytanna had joined the fray.

The evacuation continued, but many were distracted by the sudden appearance of a kaiju standing on the beach, well before the mutants were projected to make landfall. Images and video of the transformation started to make the rounds, people putting two and two into a number they weren't quite certain was actually four, but the equals sign was standing there before them, plain as day. The only thing that kept panic from ensuing was the fact that the kaiju was just… standing there, not moving or acting threateningly at all. As the sight was more observed people realized that there was something… unnerving about this kaiju compared to most they knew. Many kaiju did have a vaguely humanoid stance, standing upright on longer hind limbs with a vertical posture, but this kaiju wasn't just humanoid-like, but almost looked like a massively oversized human with reptilian features. Were there more time to process questions might be seriously asked about just who or what the creature was.

But as Theo's dragon-jet soared overhead the fateful moment had come. The mutants had arrived. The first to appear was the flier, a mutated serpent-shaped creature with the face of an evil chicken. It flew on stubby bat wings at its shoulders and near the hindlegs that were flapping mightily to hold its current altitude, the front half of its body covered in sullied white feathers while the back half was scaly. The next out of the water was what can be best described as a 'freaky scorpion-bobbit worm', with long, spindly, spider-like legs on a fat, bulbous body, and six gruesome mandibles chomping with delight. The last was the largest of the three, a hairy beast with an anglerfish tentacle on its head and a rat-like fleshy tail trailing behind it. That mutant was the most notable of the group in the GDF bestiary, going by the name Deuterious, and it had an unknown relationship with gas isotopes that gave it a strange suite of abilities. It was far from the most dangerous of groups, but their numbers ensured that even the amount of force the US government had been able to amass in the short time frame allotted was far from sufficient for the task.

Luckily, they weren't alone in this fight. As soon as the trio revealed themselves the strange kaiju upon the beach awakened from her static pose, shifting into what any trained fighter would recognize as a martial stance.

"DEUTERIOUS!" The kaiju shouted, loud enough the city could hear her clearly, "You and your minions, stand down or be broken!"

The trio of kaiju all shared looks with each other, completely bewildered by the kaiju standing before them. They were far from alone though, as every human in range stared in abject confusion at the kaiju on the beach.

"Did… did that kaiju just talk?" a reporter asked as she watched from above in a news helicopter.

On the city's edge a squadron of ASPs were watching the stand off with drawn weapons, looking at each other trying to figure out what to do.

"Who do we fire on Captain?"

"Wait until something happens, I'd say. Or until we unhear what we just heard."

Eventually the leader of the mutant band just shook its head, its vast mane behind it spraying waves of water as it turned. 'Don't know you, don't care. Fight us and die, she-thing. Attack!'

The cockatrice and bug ran forward through the waves, coming at the waiting kaiju from two different directions.

"...What?" Tya stopped for a moment, visibly dumbfounded by the insult slung her way, before turning beat red, steam billowing from her ears and nostrils, "Yo-you… you… That's it, I'm officially angry! All ASP units, prepare to open fire!" Tytanna roared, leaping into the fray at speeds far faster than anyone, human or kaiju, had anticipated. Fast enough that small tidal waves kicked up in her wake, blitzing past the two attacking 'minions', and bee-lining towards Deuterious.

"Sir, do w-"

"We don't take orders from kaiju. Not even ones that talk. That said… keep your weapons ready."

"You do take orders from me, though!" Theo called over the comms systems, "Professor Theodore Wylder, GDF Security council and head of Langoud Paranormal R&D, that is my daughter and she's a member of the GDF kaiju warfare forces! She is your ally and team-mate as far as this conflict is concerned. Now open fire on those fugly bastards!"

For all their professionalism and hard training it took most of the defenders a few seconds to process that order before they actually reacted. Eventually though they decided to trust in the man's word and took aim. Priority fire was immediately marked at the flier, masers from the ASPs and several artillery vehicles homing in on it as it was turning around to try and catch up to Tytanna. It screeched as the energized plasma lanced across its hide, immediately focusing on its own survival by dodging about in the air, coiling and twisting to avoid further hits. The worm creature was comparatively unengaged, allowing it to come up behind Tya aiming to bite at her tail as she gave Deuterious another wallop.

The moment Tytanna felt it bite down, her gaze turned back, almost ominously slowly, glaring pure, rage-fueled daggers at the bobbit-worm-thing, which had the presence of mind to let out a fearful gulp at the glare going its way. That ended, quickly, as Tytanna took up a pirouette stance and began spinning in place, the whiplashing of her tail kicking up a tornado around her, though the worm-thing's muffled scream of terror was audible over the howling winds, just before it was sent careening out to sea.

Tytanna, now exceedingly dizzy, took a moment to regain balance, nearly vomiting right on screen, only for Deuterious to rush in and try to tackle her. The impact came unexpectedly, the ruby sea-dragoness too dazed to dodge properly. Landing back into the ocean, Deuterious expected to see his prey in his grasp, but a closer look showed she was, in fact, gone. The onlookers were baffled, as were the kaiju that had moments ago just been fighting only to lose sight of their target.

"Psst," Theo called over the comms to the helicopter news crew, their radio crackling with his voice, "Take a look around his legs for a surprise." The chopper pilot shrugged and brought the craft around to a better angle, allowing the cameraman to zoom in. Sure enough, there was Tytanna, far smaller but still recognizably a kaiju, sprinting like a mad bullet up to Deuterious' leg, having shrunken down to escape his grasp.

The she-kaiju crawled up the forest of long, thick brown fur like a woman possessed, trekking the whole distance up while regaining her balance, and keeping from being flung off by the growing paranoia of her foe. Once she was on his head, she leapt up an inhumanly high distance, shifting back to her kaiju size mid-flight to come down on his head with a Tombstone Drop right on his neck, stunning him temporarily and giving her time to prepare for his thugs.

Having moved out of range of the majority of the human's fire the cockatrice tried to dive bomb Tya from above. Tytanna, in response, tucked and rolled out of the way, fanning her tailfin out and whipping her tail around and sending a gale-force blast of air towards the overgrown avian, just in time to make some distance and get a solid eye on all three of the kaiju.

The bug, surprisingly, had already had enough and decided to turn tail and swim back out to sea, its two fellows roaring in anger at it for leaving them behind. Deuterious snarled in fury at the betrayal but turned his attention back to his current opponent. 'She-thing stronger than expected. Time to fight stronger.'

"I'm not just strong, furball, I'm trained, too. By the best!"

The mutant ignored her comeback, instead sinking deeper into the water. Strangely the water started to take on a neon blue glow, the light moving along the kaiju's fur. While he did that Tya was distracted by the cockatrice being impatient and moving to attack her again. As she fended off the feathered fiend Deuterious continued to absorb energy from the water, the blue glow growing stronger and stronger. On shore and in the air radiometers started to scream loudly at whoever was in range to listen, and fire was shifted away from the flying threat to the mutant lurking in the water. By the time they'd switched targets though it was too late.

As Tya gave the ugly chimera a throat chop that sent it sprawling and gasping on the beach Deuterious lunged at her, coated by the same blue glow he'd just been absorbing from the water. Tytanna, under most circumstances, would have simply ducked, but with his newfound speed and strength, Deuterious would have sailed right into the city behind her. There was no safe way to not take the hit.

So she tanked it, putting her shoulder forward and lunging as well, slamming into his chest with slightly more speed and definitely more force than his own momentum, the collision causing a huge shockwave that partially flooded the beach but, thankfully, didn't reach the streets.

Recognizing the risk to any people still near the shoreline, Tytanna decided it was time to take this fight back to the high seas. Locking her claws onto the mutant's shoulders she pushed into him with monumental force, shoving the smaller but unnaturally strong kaiju back against all of his newfound strength. She found that as they got deeper and deeper into the water his strength seemed to grow as well, and she realized why he'd gotten the name that he did. He grows stronger in water, but I can't just take him up to the beach. He'd have too many chances to attack the city if I did. Plus there's the other guy I still have to deal with… Think, Tya, think! She strained against Deuterious, matching his snapping jaws aiming for her neck with headbutts to force him back. It was a contest of strength at this point, two titans giving it their all, and that thought triggered a memory from her history classes with her mentor.

"Oh, lord, Hercules versus Antaeus!" she shouted, a 'eureka!' moment if there ever was one. Lunging in, she grabbed Deuterious' ears, flipping backwards to fling him skyward, and immediately scrambled to intercept him before he could land in the water. Her opponent, mildly stunned and confused due to the sudden lack of his power boost, wasn't fast enough to react as Tya made her move.

Tytanna pulled Deuterious into a tight hug, so tight it was almost bone-crushing, before moving one arm to wrap around his neck, tightening down and searching for his windpipe. She had to move quickly, lest he figure out her plan, so she could knock him out completely. For as dangerous as he was, she had no desire to kill him. Harm? Maim? Definitely, after those insults, but not kill. Not unless it was someone beyond redemption.

'Le-let go! Ch-choking!' Deuterious strained to say. His tail tried to wrap around her to get free but her tail, being thicker and more muscular, was easily able to swat his away.

The cockatrice was waking up again at this point, and when it realized its leader was in danger it tried to get airborne to help. Unfortunately it took too long while grounded to lift off, giving the human defenders plenty of time to pick their targets: its terribly weak wings. The membranes were quickly perforated by small burnt holes that made it difficult to fly, leaving it open to more damage such that it decided it had to cut its losses and fly away. Deuterious watched helplessly as its only other aid fled in fear, straining to get any breath to keep himself conscious.

"Give up, Deuterious." Tytanna growled, just loud enough to be heard by any onlookers near the beach, "Give up and leave us alone. I don't want to have to kill you, but I will to keep my friends and family safe. Just forfeit the fight and leave."

The kaiju growled with what energy he had left. 'Mutants… never… give up. And neither… will… I!'

Deuterious' glow grew stronger again, the air around him vibrating violently as steam rose from his fur. Tytanna, realizing what was about to happen, worked like lightning, twisting his neck with a flick of her wrists, struggling to ignore the sickening crack before grabbing his tail and spinning like mad, building up enough momentum to fling him far FAR away from the city, high into the air, just in the nick of time to shout- "HIT THE DECK!" just moments before the kaiju's cadaver detonated.

The blast was half a klick out based on how far his body had flown, and it still knocked every ASP in range on their asses. Several helicopters were thrown around in the air, one of them flipping end over end falling right towards the sand. Tytanna, seeing what was happening, lunged forward, grabbing the tumbling copter by the tail to lower its speed, before cupping her hand underneath it, gently lowering it down to the beach below, the rotor blades thoroughly ruined by her armor-plated palms.

"Is everyone okay?" she asked, tone and visage one of sheer worry at the tiny people she was tasked with keeping safe.

The humans inside all gave her unsteady nods, caught in such a surreal situation they couldn't do much else. The ASPs and other defenders lowered their weapons for the moment, but didn't completely put them down. The Captain of the ASP team switched frequencies to the known command channel and said, "Sir, respectfully… what the fuck is going on?"

"Captain Petrenko," Theo responded, "Recall when I mentioned a double-black project I'd been tasked with?"

"Which one? What, was it Project: Dragon Kni- ...no … no way in hell."

"Yes, Captain. My daughter, Tytanna, is Project: Dragon Knight, our fully functioning prototype and the first of the GDF's Kaijin super soldiers."

"Respectfully, sir, are you nuts?" Artyom countered, "I know the answer is 'yes' because you're expecting me to believe THAT thing is the small bean who kicks my ass at the arcade every Saturday?"

"That I am, Arty!" Tytanna replied with a smile, walking onto the beach and shrinking down to her human-like size, standing about the same height as a large human, built much thicker and curvier than her kaiju form, but otherwise recognizably identical. A blue and white serpentine creature zipped in to meet her, a bundle of fresh clothes on its back. "Oh, thank you, Lagi!" Tytanna responded, fully shifting into an all-too-familiar human appearance, and quickly dressing herself in a pink sweater and black slacks, settling a pair of sleek red glasses on her head.

Everyone in the area was too shocked to have seen the transformation to comment on her momentary nudity, but that shock belied the fact that they had just seen something truly impossible. A human had transformed into a kaiju… and then transformed back. It was too ridiculous to believe, yet it had just occurred before their eyes. And video footage of the whole event had just been uploaded live to a public news broadcast, soon to be viewed the world over. Theo's 'double-black' project was now blown wide open, and as Tya opened the door of the helicopter she had saved and helped the crew inside out, it was about to be given much more information than they could have possibly anticipated.

**HS**

For all that they were supposed to be the enemy of their governments, the mood was somber in the control room of the Coalition Antarctic base as they watched the events of the past few days unfold across this hemisphere of the planet. Each species that made up the Coalition had their negative experiences dealing with titans, and they were not so devoid of empathy as to watch the rampage occurring before them with empty hearts. Kabo had refrained from usual dry wit when making his reports, Skitter was too busy taking notes on the performance of the human war machines to show off his high energy antics, and Controller 437 was just… tired. Tired thinking of how much death and destruction she was observing, and tired wondering how much worse it would have been if High Command had known about the situation and ordered the kaiju still present on the planet to join in the slaughter.

For their part the titans had been keeping themselves busy out on the ice in their own ways. X had been meditating, giving the base the unnerving image of a several dozen kiloton monster hovering in mid-air with its tail moving in the frigid winds. Gigan and Megalon had dug out a shelter for themselves below the ice, while the Chimera was hibernating out on the ice without a care, having grown a thick layer of fur to keep itself warm. There wasn't much else for any of them to do, and 437 much preferred it that way. The alternative didn't bear thinking about.

And yet it was something she was going to have to consider sooner or later, as the looming approach of the Golden Death was lingering in her mind. Her plan, if it could even be called as such, was absolutely going to attract attention from the human governments and most likely reveal the existence of this base, even if not their exact location. One does not just casually teleport a squad of four titans around the planet and go unnoticed, especially if a hydra dragon is following them around. It would only be delaying the inevitable in truth, and 437 was well aware that the humans and local monsters were in no position to try and overpower the ancient demon, and trying to aid them would cause more problems than it would solve. If High Command ever heard that they had used the titans to aid the beings of Earth… they'd be lucky if they got a warning before the fire rained down from space.

"Controller."

"What is it?" she asked, not glancing at Kabo as her thoughts were stuck in images of molten ice and slag.

"The perimeter sensors are detecting movement. Titan class, two distinct signatures."

The Controller stared at the Simian flatly for a moment, almost in as much disbelief as he seemingly was. "Surely you can't be serious."

A familiar smirk crawled up the Simian's face. "Oh I'm serious, but I'm also Kabo, not Shirley."

437 blinked a few times as she tried to process. "What?"

"Nevermind, human joke. But yes, it appears a few of those overeager violence causers are headed our way. They must have sensed the presence of our fighters and came looking for a challenge."

For a moment she fought the urge to pinch herself, choosing to just close her eyes and recite a few formulas instead. The fact that she could feel Kabo's smug presence next to her the entire time made the effort take longer. "Fine. If they want to bother us, we'll give them what they're looking for." Clearing her throat, she stated her order. "Megalon, Gigan, we've got some uninvited guests showing up on our doorstep. Deal with them."

"Yay! I was getting really bored digging in the ice. Not as fun as digging through rock."

437 watched dispassionately as the two cyborg titans came up out of their hole and went in the direction of the approaching monsters, Megalon's movements more akin to a giddy child than a highly advanced war machine. Skitter dutifully took up his maintenance station to keep an eye on the fight, but 437 doubted he'd have much work to do after they came back. She'd seen the combat performance of most mutants on this planet by now. What they lacked in intelligence, skills, or actual combat mastery they often failed to make up with aggression and blind rage. In short, she was very unimpressed. If those two monsters managed to walk away from this fight with their lives she would change that impression.

Turning away from the fight that was about to start she looked again at the star map, showing that the signature of Grand King Ghidorah was growing ever closer.

Two days. Less perhaps.

She closed her eyes as she settled in her chair, trying not to think about how that chair, this base, and everything else around her might not be here much longer.

At least she wouldn't be cold much longer…


And we're back again for the end of the Mutant Rampage. This chapter was actually done a while ago, but I didn't get around to final editing and posting due to family stuff and preping for the next college semester. Just one more year and I get started with my new career as a teacher. Hopefully I survive the high level maths needed to get the degree first...

Anyway, next time we get to see some of the fallout from everything coming down, which should be interesting. Until then, hope you enjoy.