Hope you enjoy this one.
Mina stared upward, frozen as she briefly forgot her Hero instincts.
The monster towered over the buildings, the tallest one barely coming up to its knees. Floodwater flowed around its toes like a shallow creek, while the creature's tail swayed lazily behind it, occasionally landing in the water and sending a spray onto the nearby buildings.
The monster stepped forward. Mina shook her head. She needed to get these people off the building!
Fortunately, the AMF had started doing just that, either lifting civilians down the side opposite the monster, or standing on the ground to catch ones who jumped. Mina would have used her more viscous acid down to act as a landing mat, but that would be difficult with the water, which was still a few feed deep so she opted to help people lower themselves off the roof.
Mina glanced to the side and saw the soldiers on the other roofs doing the same, helping get the people off the roofs and out of harm's way. However, as Mina worked the tremors grew stronger as a series of massive splashes grew louder.
Soon everyone was off the roof. Mina crawled over the edge and hopped down, landing in thigh-high waters. She looked down the side of the building and saw the monster lumbering past, its footsteps sending wakes down the alleyway.
Alright Mina, you can do this. He may be big, but you're fast. Go in, aim at the legs and-
"All Heroes, this is Battle Fist!" Kendo? "Do not engage the creature that just came ashore! I repeat, do not engage!"
"What?!" Mina said. "You can't just expect us to sit here while he tears the place to pieces?!"
"I don't like I either, but according to the AMF we need to avoid fighting him!
The monster let out another roar, his tail smashing down on some buildings.
Screw it, Mina had to do something. She'd taken a few steps when a hand grabbed her arm. It was the AMF guy from before, the one with glasses.
"Hey, what gives?!"
"You can't fight Godzilla!" he said.
"I can't just let him destroy this place!" she said wrenching her hand from his grip.
"I analyze him for a living!" Glasses boy said. "None of your attacks are can even faze him! You're useless fighting him!"
Mina opened her mouth, but another voice came over the comms. One she was sure she'd heard at the start of the mantis fight. "None of you are strong enough. If you want to help then help move the bystanders out of his path and let us handle the combat."
Kendo's voice returned. "He's right. I just saw that thing cut clean through a naval destroyer like it was nothing. Focus on the people who still need to be evacuated. The AMF are giving me the areas we need to clear right now."
Mina clenched her fist. She hated this, but, they were right. "Alright tell me where I need to go."
Izuku listened to the Heroes give out their instructions. He glanced down his scope on thermal mode. Godzilla stood out like a small sun, a mass of red towering over a sea of blue. He looked almost like an ancient god come to bring vengeance on the helpless mortals.
In a way, he kind of was.
Godzilla raised his head, searching. He soon lowered it, having realized his enemy was no longer here. He continued forward, evidently wanting to explore the dry land. Much as Izuku might want to let him, there were people on this island, and he and the AMF couldn't let Godzilla hurt them.
Izuku gripped his controls, ready for anything. He hoped this didn't erupt into a full-scale battle, but if it did, he would fight.
Mina received the last of her instructions and signed off. The monster's tail idly passed over her before swinging over and smashing a building across the street.
It'd barely come ashore and already destroyed several buildings. This was bad.
The water had receded to the point where Mina could slide using her quirk. She got into a ready stance. "Here goes nothing…"
"Alien Queen."
Mina turned to the analyst.
He hesitated. "Good luck."
Mina smiled. "Thanks." She set off after the monster. She passed the highest point the tidal wave had reached, but even pas that the streets were wet, soaked just from by the water dripping from the monster's hide.
Mina followed the monster, slowly gaining. For an animal that walked with such a slow gait, this thing was fast. Then again, when you were that big, you got a lot more mileage out of each footstep. Even with that, Mina was soon able to pull ahead of the creature and sound the alarm.
"EVERYONE EVACUATE! GET OUT OF HERE! DON'T TAKE ANYTHING JUST RUN!"
Most didn't need the warning. Around Mina, people fled for their lives, turning down side streets, or even running into backyards to escape the monster's wrath. Mina did her best to give advice (especially to those running into the monster's path, instead of running out of its way) and help any who needed it. However, she could never afford to stop for long since there were more people ahead she needed to warn.
The monster towered over the neighborhood like a living mountain. Plumes of dust and smoke billowed behind the it as it plowed through anything in its path. It had been less than five minutes since it landed and this was already a disaster.
As Mina got further ahead, she started to see civilians poking their heads out to investigate the commotion in lieu of running. Mina waved her arms. "Everybody out! Hurry! Don't grab anything, just RUN!" Her words coupled with the fifty-meter monster behind her were all the motivation they needed. The civilians sprang from their houses and scattered like frightened mice. One even threw himself out a window to escape (he was up and running a few moments later).
As Mina continued, one of the tremors from the monster's footfalls made her lose her footing. Mina tumbled to the ground and rolled onto her side. She groaned. That hurt.
As Mina looked up, she saw the monster's foot falling right toward her.
Oh shit!
Mina rolled sideways, narrowly avoiding the foot smashing into the ground. The shockwave from the footfall lifted Mina clear off the ground while a blast louder than Bakugo's explosions rang in her ears.
As Mina recovered, she realized she had an opportunity. She sprang to her feet and leapt at the foot. "Maximum viscosity, Acidman!" Mina's body was enveloped in a layer of viscous acid, until it had formed a pudgy body of acid with Mina at the center. Mina swiped at the monster's foot, raking her acid over it, before leaping away and shedding her Acidman form. Given the potency of the acid it should-
The foot lifted continued onward. Not even a flinch. On the area Mina had hit, there was nothing. No melting scales, not even a shallow groove. Just…nothing. Her attack had been utterly fruitless. Even the mantises weren't that strong.
Mina stared for several seconds before coming to her to her senses. She had a job to do.
Mina again pulled ahead and sounded the alarm. Fortunately, the further she got the more warning people had received. Now the streets were near deserted, with only a few stragglers needing Mina's help. Through it all, she was always aware of the ever-steady drumbeat behind her.
Mina finally reached the end of the block and was about to high tail it when she saw a woman in the second story window of the last house. The woman reached down and pulled a bundle into her arms. Mina looked back toward the approaching monster. It was heading right for them.
Mina leaped at the house and, using her acid to create handholds, scrambled up to the second story and dissolved the wall next to the window. She rushed in and pointed at the woman. "You!"
The woman turned.
"We need to get out of here! Grab your-" She glanced at the bundle. "ARE THOSE ACTION FIGURES?!"
"They're collectibles?"
Before Mina could properly strangle this moron, the ground shook. Mina turned. A massive foot had landed on the street several meters in front of them. There was a loud crashing to their side. The other foot. Which meant…
"Come on!" Mina grabbed the woman and dragged her out the door and down the hall, sprinting toward the side of the house. She melted a hole and created a small acid mat at the bottom. There was a loud crashing behind Mina. She threw herself and the woman out the hole and huddled down. Just as they landed, the giant foot kicked clean through the house and flattened the back yard.
There was another footstep further away. The foot next to them lifted. Soon the monster was moving away, until its tail dragging over the former house's foundation.
The woman stared. "My home…"
Mina got to her feet. "Just be glad it wasn't you."
Itsuka watched the monster, Godzilla, making his way across the island. If this was the monster from the island's folklore, then legends hadn't done it justice. The creature destroyed everything in its wake, without even be trying. It was like a typhoon concentrated into a single body. Watching it made Itsuka feel…small.
"In all my years," All Might said, "I've rarely seen anything that big. Or that effortlessly destructive."
Given what he'd seen, that was an impressive distinction.
Itsuka continued to direct her friends, focusing on neighborhoods that hadn't been evacuated prior. Fortunately, a lot of the people were already running for it. This came with problems of its own, but it was a definite help.
Also, Setsuna and Jiro had mostly evacuated the neighborhoods the AMF was about to lead Godzilla through. Now they just had to mop up any stragglers in the ones the AMF had evacuated earlier today.
"Battle Fist!" Admiral Mori said. "We're about to drop flares."
Itsuka nodded. Into her comms she said "Alright, everyone get ready! If all goes to plan he's about to change directions.
Setsuna put a finger to her earpiece. "Got it. I'm already in the original evac zone with Earphone Jack. We'll work as fast as we can."
"Good. Alien Queen, continue your evacuation work. Once he changes direction, make your way back to the main base in town. Good luck everyone."
"Thanks Battle Fist." Setsuna signed off and sighed. Jiro was using her quirk to locate people. Fortunately, there were few but the area they had to cover was vast. They had too few Heroes for an operation of this magnitude and Setsuna and Jiro could only do so much on their own.
Yet they had to keep trying.
"Come on! This way! Away from the monster!"
Mina directed the last civilians out of the monster's path. By now nearly everyone had already fled. However, a few still lagged behind, either because of bad luck, being slow to leave their homes, or because they'd run back inside for shelter.
That last category was a particular problem. Mina had seen five, and helped four. Most of them left their refuges after a simple order, but one had needed to be forced. And that was the ones Mina had seen. There were plenty she'd failed to notice completely. She had to hope the monster didn't go near them. If it didn't...
Mina had watched the fifth civilian huddled in their living room as a reptilian foot leveled their house. She hoped that was the exception, not the rule.
Mina grabbed a hapless civilian about to run in the direction they were about to drive the monster. "No, you don't! Run the other way!" That was when she heard the roar of engines overhead.
A group of jet fighters passed over. They flew passed the fields and dropped flares.
The monster stopped its deadly advance. It turned toward the flares and stared, it's yellow eyes fixated on the new source of light.
Mina held her breath. Come on…
The monster turned. Yes! However as it turned, its tail swept out.
Mina tackled the civilian to the ground just as the tail passed over them, slicing clean through multiple homes. The monster continued forward, kicking through yet more on the way.
Mina got to her feet. The civilian she'd saved ran away while Mina took in the row of destroyed houses behind her. All that from the simple act of turning…
She caught sight of a hand sticking out of a destroyed house. She went over and felt for a pulse. There was none.
Mina of that day in High School when Aizawa-sensei looked each of her class in the eye and said, "I know you all like to promise yourselves you'll save everybody. It's a worthy goal to aspire to, something every Hero desires. But the hard truth is…you can't. You must accept that and keep moving."
Mina sighed. She'd done all she could here. Time to-
And what about my grandchildren? They're in a house beyond the fields!
As the memory flashed in Mina's mind, she looked where the monster was heading.
The fields.
Mina clenched her fist. She told Kendo where she was going and once again set off.
Setsuna and Jiro rushed to get everyone away as the creature approached. They narrowed their search in response to its current trajectory while Jiro used much stronger sonar pulses that cracked the asphalt. They needed to get any and every one out, and they needed to do it now.
After ushering one last civilian to safety, Setsuna recalled most of her pieces to herself and flew back to Jiro. "Are there any more left?"
"No that's the-" Jiro's eyes widened. "People coming! A lot of them!" She pointed.
Setsuna turned and saw dozens of AMF infantry riding on motorcycles with rocket launchers strapped to their backs.
They were not.
The leader (Gondo?) pointed at the two Heroes. "You two! How many left?"
"Aside from you? None!" Jiro said.
He nodded. "Good. You two get out of here. Everyone else, take positions! Rocked teams, hold fire until ordered and try not to get stepped on. If he moves off course, we're gonna be to him what a Lego brick lying on the floor is to the bare foot! Mortar teams, take positions on the edge of the neighborhood. When the order comes, I want a bonfire that Shoto couldn't beat!"
"Yes sir!"
The soldiers raced in various directions, taking positions all around the neighborhood.
"Hold on, you're not going to try and fight that thing, are you?!" Jiro said.
"Only if the situation calls for it," Gondo said. "We're hoping the flares do the trick. If they don't..." He patted his rocket launcher.
"That's suicide!" said Setsuna.
"That's G-Force," said Gondo. "Now, you two get out of here."
"But we can help you!" said Jiro. "My amplifiers- "
"No," he said, his tone brokering no disagreement. "Godzilla is ours. G back to the main base. They'll be work to do there.
He mounted his bike and rode off.
Setsuna sighed. "He's right. Let's go."
Jiro nodded. "Yeah."
Setsuna picked up Jiro and flew back toward town.
Izuku looked between his scope and his tank's viewing screen. Godzilla was still following the flares, but he was starting losing interest. He could change directions any moment.
Come on. Keep following the strange lights...
If Godzilla turned before reaching the fields, they might have to engage to steer him back. That could get ugly. Very ugly. A battle was the last thing this town needed right now.
Just a little further. Come on!
Finally, Godzilla cleared the last of the buildings, stepping onto the farm fields. He was in range. Izuku locked target in case he was needed.
Godzilla turned toward the nearby hills, away from the shoreline the AMF was trying to get him to go towards. Fortunately, they had one last trick to direct his attention before using the masers and provoking a fight…
"Napalm bombardment," said Sakaki. "OPEN FIRE!"
That bit with the action figures was meant to have an actual baby, but since she sets out to save a couple children at the end, I decided repeating it would be boring. So, I made the joke about her actually trying to save her collectibles.
Hope you enjoyed! Reviews make me smile!
