Chapter 4: The Chinese Dragon.

"Have you had enough for one day Penwood?" Admiral Ryan asked. "Should we call it a day?"

"Are you kidding? I have not yet begun to fight!" Penwood replied with a grin. "I'm eager to hear more."

"Well, I suppose these reports aren't going to sort themselves out." Marcus groaned. Penwood got the sense that the mood in the room had shifted. Marcus got up and grabbed the next file. He seemed a little unsettled when he sat back down. "Very well, we'll press on then."

Marcus quietly passed the file over to Penwood. He picked it up and saw it was labeled as 'The Chinese Dragon'.

"As I said, following our victory at the Philippines, we patrolled the waters near the Marianas Trench fruitlessly for months." Admiral Ryan began. "Week by week, our forces dwindled as ships were withdrawn for more pressing duties. It seemed pointless to commit so much of our fleet when there were no signs of danger, and our resources could be used elsewhere."

The Japanese remained a big threat. We managed to cooperate with them while Anguirus was a thorn in both of our sides, but with him gone, relations were slipping back to where they previously had been. The Japanese had taken more losses fighting the monster, but they, none the less, were still trying to aggressively expand their holdings. They focused their efforts on the invasion of China. We did what we could to counter their progress, supplying the Chinese with weapons, but without direct intervention on our part, the Chinese were always going to be at a tactical disadvantage.

The day finally came when the Enterprise was recalled back to Pearl, along with its entire battlegroup. Our task force's departure left only a token force out on patrol near the trench, but there was nothing for it. Command did not like the Japanese being able to keep tabs on so many of our capital ships. They felt it was better to keep them guessing as to our whereabouts. I was personally happy to be heading for home. It meant that I would be able to see Shauna again after being away so very long.

I had been writing to her every couple of days to help fill the void in my down time. I kept her up to date on what I was doing and let her know I was still okay. I told her a little about how the campaign had progressed. I assumed she would have heard about the confrontation with Anguirus in the Philippines and would be curious. I left out most of the gruesome details. It was better that she not know too much.

On that account, I had overheard two officers talking about the aftermath of the battle while waiting to speak with Admiral Nimitz. They were discussing the casualty reports from the field. They were grim to say the least. Nearly a thousand men had been killed or wounded. Twenty-four tanks were damaged or destroyed, mostly destroyed. There were also considerable losses in artillery, trucks, and other equipment.

While it was a victory, it certainly was a costly one. The officers said they had to bring in heavy cranes to pull out several tanks that had been smashed into the ground. Apparently when they did, what was left of the crews started to leak out from the cracks. After a few of those nasty surprises, they debated if it would be better to just leave the rest of the tanks in the ground and bury them. It was terrible business for everyone involved, I'm glad I was not there to see it for myself.

In an effort to avoid hurting morale, only a small unit of select men were assigned to handle that detail after the first day. The rest of the men were assigned to clearing off the remainder of the battlefield, which mostly involved finding and setting off the unexploded landmines. If they didn't, they risked civilians setting them off by accident later, and that would be a public relations nightmare. So, as dangerous and tedious as the job was, the Army had to sweep the entire area clean, section by section. The soldiers even swept over it a second time, just to be certain. The surviving pill boxes were left in place, but the artillery pieces were recovered to be re-purposed.

When I finally got in to see Admiral Nimitz, he was very pleased with the outcome of the battle. In fact, he told me that I was going to get a metal, seeing as my idea made the victory possible. I was less enthusiastic about it than he was. For the second time since I entered the service, I would be receiving a commendation I didn't think I deserved.

The fleet pressed on for a couple more days, and we arrived back at Pearl. We came home to a crowd cheering us on and treating us like heroes. There were red, white, and blue flags waving, confetti falling from the sky, and a military band blaring Stars and Stripes Forever as we arrived. They really went the whole nine yards to make us feel welcome. I allowed myself to feel a bit of pride in the moment. The American Spirit is an intoxicating thing, but the high of it was brief.

It wasn't long after we were off the boat that I got an unsettling bit of news. It seemed that I had been told wrong. I wasn't to receive two metals I didn't deserve. Instead, I was going to get five. It was all arranged ahead of time. They held an elaborate ceremony in the parade grounds on the base. Along with many other sailors, I was decorated. Every man who stepped off a boat got a piece of flair to wear.

They rushed us off to the ceremony straight away and started pinning us up. I personally received the Navy Presidential Unit Citation just for being at Pearl when it was attacked, the Navy Unit Commendation for being on the Enterprise at the battle at the Philippines, the Navy Achievement Medal and the Navy Commendation Medal for suggesting how we could lure Anguirus into our trap, and finally a Bronze Star Medal for rescuing sailors from the water at Pearl.

The Bronze Star was the only metal I felt good about. It was the only one I had truly earned. I suppose I should have felt honored for the rest too, but as the ceremony wrapped up, I walked away feeling dour. There were too many dead left on the beaches of Luzon to feel anything positive about it.

Following the ceremony, the officers in charge granted us immediate leave and set us loose to do as we wished. I chose to walk the harbor alone. I inspected many of the repairs to the base that had taken place since the attack. After a couple months of work, they appeared to be progressing very well.

Eventually, I found myself outside of the naval hospital, it was not by mistake. I went inside and found a pleasant young lady manning the front desk. She smiled and blushed when I said who I was and that I was looking for Shauna. She told me that Shauna was not there and that she had taken the day off. I did not press her for more information. I thanked the receptionist for her help and decided to try looking for Shauna at her home address instead.

As it turned out, I wouldn't have to go that far though. Just as I was leaving the hospital, I found an attractive young woman in a radiant yellow sundress waiting for me outside. It was Shauna, and she was all decked out.

"You didn't wait up for me after the ceremony." She smirked tauntingly.

"You were there?" I stammered out, taken a little off guard.

"Well of course I was." She replied, pretending to be slightly incensed. "But I was in the back, and you left before I could get through the crowd. It's not easy to move fast in heels you know." She scowled playfully.

"I had no idea." I replied.

"About the heels?" She asked, raising an eyebrow. "Well, I should hope not." She mocked him with a smile.

"No, about you being at the ceremony." I realized a second too late that she had only been joking with me. I tried to recover my dignity and quickly changed the subject. "You look great."

"So do you." She rebuffed, looking me up and down. "You look more grown-up than I remember." I smiled at that observation. She always seemed to be a step ahead of me in conversation. She was sharp as a tack and didn't miss a thing. In those months at sea, I had turned eighteen. I had grown a full inch in height and filled out a bit too. I looked more like a proper man and less of an adolescent schoolboy. I noticed that Shauna, likewise, looked a little more mature herself. She had grown more beautiful and somehow even more self-confident. Seeing her in that knockout dress probably didn't hurt my perception of her either.

"Well, seeing as we are both already dressed up and free, how about that dinner you promised me?" She suggested.

"I wouldn't dare make you wait a moment longer." I answered warmly. "Please lead the way."

From there, Shauna took me to her favor place. I had little choice in the matter. I hadn't spent enough time on the island to have the slightest clue about the local restaurants, so I was at her mercy. It turned out she had good taste though. She managed to find a nice Italian place that felt a little closer to home for me. I sat and ate while she told me about all the goings-on I had missed while away. It had been slow for her while the fleet had been hunting Anguirus. She relished each of the letters I had sent her. They made her feel like she was a part of it too. A little closer to the action. I was glad that she hadn't been.

Shauna told me that she wished she could have written back to me, but we never stayed at any port long enough to allow for that. There were so many things she asked me about and I happily answered them all. That is, until she asked me about the one topic I had been dreading.

"So, I hear you're the big hero now, impressing the big-wigs and whatnot. How does it feel?" She meant it in the most complementary way. Prodding me to feel good about myself. But I didn't. I just looked down at my empty plate. She realized immediately that she had said something wrong.

"Well..." I struggled to find the right words. "The thing about that is..."

"It's okay, you don't have to say anything." She put her hand on mine. "Let's get out of here and we can talk about it later."

"Alright." I agreed.

I paid the bill and then the two of us set off along the harbor. It was quiet for a time. The sun was setting, and, aside from my gloomy attitude, everything was perfect. I looked down at the water in the harbor.

"I feel like I should throw these metals into the bay." I told her.

"Why would you say that?" She stepped up beside me looking down at our reflections in the water.

"I didn't earn them, and these metals are weighing heavily on me." I laid out all that had been burdening my mind. For some reason, it was very easy to talk to Shauna. When I was done, she took my hand and squeezed it tenderly.

"I understand how you feel." She began, looking out over the waters of the bay. "My father was a Navy man too and he went through something similar during The Great War. He was on a ship that was torpedoed by a German U-boat. Only a handful of sailors managed to get on the lifeboats in time. Most of his friends didn't make it. They went down with the ship. He had been lucky enough to be on the deck at the time of the attack. I'm telling you this because I think you have what he had, survivor's guilt. My father went on for years dealing with it on his own and it tore him up inside. I'd hate for you to go through the same thing. I know it's not going to be easy, but in time it will get better. You mustn't blame yourself for what happened to your crewmates on the Houston."

"You might be right about that, but I certainly can for the soldiers lost in the Philippines." I answered.

"Well, that is a different sort of beast." She noted. "But allow me to play Devil's Advocate for you. Let me begin by saying I don't agree that you are responsible for any of the deaths that resulted from your suggestion to use oil to lure Anguirus into a trap in the first place, but let's pretend for a moment that I do. Given the circumstances, I think sacrificing a thousand men is the right call." I listened to her in shock, letting what she said sink in.

"Has anyone ever told you you're pretty cold for a registered nurse?" I said, half joking.

"Well, let's look at it from a medical standpoint then." She began. "If you have a patient with diseased tissue that is not salvageable, you cut it out. And when you cut it out, it is common practice to remove a fair amount of healthy tissue around it to insure the infection is totally gone. It's a harsh reality, but there's no getting around it. Sometimes you have to make a smaller sacrifice for the greater good. So, as sad as it is to lose a thousand men, I think it's worth it when you consider just how many people might have been saved in the process. Who knows how many more people would have died if Anguirus hadn't been stopped when he was. Maybe, just maybe, the people who put those ribbons on your chest knew what they were doing." She smiled. I sat there and thought it over.

In the long term, the question of sacrificing soldiers for the greater good was an idea I would struggle with for the rest of my career. It's a fine idea if you can just think of the men as numbers on a casualty report, but that doesn't account for all the living breathing individuals lost. In that moment though, Shauna had me convinced, or maybe I just needed to believe it at the time. Then and there, she was a saving grace in a moment of uncertainty.

"Did it hurt?" I asked her.

"What?" She replied understandably confused.

"When you fell from heaven?" I mused.

"Are you implying that I'm Lucifer?" She smirked devilishly at me.

"Ha… let's go Lucy." I took her hand.

"Hey, who's Lucy? You trying to two-time me sailor? If so, I'll blacken yer eye good!" She always had to have the last word. But I got the last laugh in the long run. From then on, my pet-name for her was Lucy.

Shauna and I walked on the beach after that. There was just a crack of sun left when we settled under a pair of palm trees. The wind was gently swinging the leaves above us, and waves rolled calmly up the sand. I made use of my former boy-scout training to build a small fire. Shauna seemed impressed by the minor feat, but she was from San Francisco and building a fire must have been something pretty far removed from a normal city girl's life experiences.

We sat and watched the waves roll in and she told me about her upbringing, her family, and her city. I had never been to San Francisco, but it sounded nice. I told her I'd like to visit it. She told me that someday she'd take me there and show me everything there was to see. We talked so long that the stars came out. The fire kept the cold away, though the night was fairly mild in any case.

After a few hours of stargazing, we decided to go back to Shauna's to have some dessert. She had made a chocolate pie that morning, and it was pretty hard to say no to. It was well worth the trip. It was so good, I had to have a second piece. After we were done eating, we turned on the radio and sat on the couch to listen to some music. Eventually, it turned into the news.

As I listened, Shauna leaned over and rested her head on my shoulder. I felt a mixture of excitement and panic in equal measure. I felt woefully under-prepared for the situation. The only thing I could think to do was to lean back towards her and rest my head on hers. I sat there with butterflies waging an all-out war in my stomach and my mind racing in circles. I only hoped the chaos running through my whole body wasn't showing through on the outside. The sounds of the radio drifted away while I was lost in my thoughts.

A few moments later, Shauna's head lifted away from mine and I froze. I just stared forward for a few seconds, considering my next move. I turned my head to see her staring at me. Her green eyes fixed on mine. My uncertainty melted away as I understood what she wanted. I could see for the first time that she felt as uncertain as I had a moment ago. We were finally on an even playing field. She leaned in and I instinctively did the same. I closed my eyes as we inched closer together slowly. After a second, that felt like an hour, our lips finally locked. In that moment I felt like sparks might have been flying out of my whole body. Lightening flashed up and down my spine.

The sensation died down, and all that was left was the warmth of her lips on mine. It was nice, nicer than I would have thought possible. Something in me shattered, and I felt real love for the first time in my life. It had eluded me up until that point, but it had finally found me. In the background, I didn't hear the newsman say that there was a level nine earthquake recorded in Northern China that day. The only thing in the world to me at the moment was Shauna. We lay on the couch snuggling together and fell asleep.

The next morning, Shauna was up before I was, making breakfast. I awoke to the smell of eggs, bacon, and toast. I came into the kitchen just as she was finishing things up. I wrapped my arms around her from behind and embraced her gently, being careful not to make her drop anything by accident. She turned her head and caressed my cheek with her hand in a warm greeting.

"Good morning sleepyhead." She said with her typical smirk. "I was hoping you'd be up soon. Go on, sit on down, I'll be right with you." I did as she asked without protest, but she flicked her hair and hit me in the face as a tease anyway. Her hair smelled nice, like a fresh field of summer flowers.

We sat down together and ate. It was clear from the first bite that Shauna knew what she was doing. I complimented her cooking, which she seemed to appreciate. When we were finished, she changed clothes and we set out on the town to explore. I still had a few days' leave, and I wanted to spend every minute of it with her. I was completely enthralled with Shauna. Unlike myself though, she still had responsibilities.

After a few hours of running around, she had to report back to the hospital. I hated to see her go, but there wasn't much I could do about it. I couldn't follow her around all day like a lost puppy. Not knowing what else to do with myself, I reported back to the base. I wasn't there for more than five minutes before Joe found me and was pressing me for details. I tried to avoid telling him too much, but when you're happy, sometimes it just comes bursting out of you. Joe swooned with all the pride of an older brother. He was happy for me.

Joe had news for me too. While I was gone, a letter came for me from the Naval Office. It had somehow fallen open while he was holding onto it for me. It contained news of a promotion. I was to be raised from a Seamen to a Petty Officer, 3rd class. I stared daggers at Joe for opening the letter for me, but it was hard to be mad at him once I read it.

"I don't believe it!" I burst out in shock. "Down and give me fifty sailor!" I ordered Joe mockingly, reminding him that I outranked him now. I slapped him in the arm to make sure he knew I was only joking.

"I'll buy you lunch to celebrate." Joe offered.

"No, I think I'll treat you instead buddy." I countered. "I feel like a million bucks. I finally feel like things are starting to slide into place for me."

While we were chowing down, Joe asked me if I had heard about the earthquake in China. I told him I had no idea what he was talking about, and he seemed surprised. He told me that I outta have. Everybody on base was talking about it. It was the biggest earthquake on record, estimated at 9.6 magnitude. The old record had only been about 9.0, set over sixty years ago. He also said that the aftershocks were still ongoing.

I remarked that it must have been one hell of a shake, rattle, and roll. He countered that I probably hadn't noticed because I was doing too much of that on my own the night before. I gave Joe a sharp glare and he dropped it. After lunch, I spent a few more hours with Joe, mostly just screwing around. We met up with some of the other guys from the Enterprise and I got to show off my new stripes. Joe and I were still relatively new, and thus, outsiders from the rest of the crew, but they were quickly warming up to us.

In the days that followed, I spent more and more time with Shauna and our bond grew stronger. I took her out to dance each evening and we listened to the radio afterwards. The news from the other side of the world grew stranger and stranger. The aftershocks following the huge earthquake had not stopped. The broadcaster explained that aftershocks would normally stop relatively soon after the main earthquake. At the very most, they typically would not persist past the first twenty-four hours. It was now three days later, and they were still going strong. Even more strange, the aftershocks seemed to be moving away from the epicenter of the initial earthquake, moving southward. That was completely unheard of. Geologists couldn't agree on why it was happening, but they all agreed that it was happening and unprecedented.

The epicenter of the earthquake had been in a remote area, so damage to human life was minimal, but the aftershocks were hitting pockets of civilization as they moved further southward into the Japanese puppet state of Manchukou. Roads and railways were caving in all over the country, disrupting travel and trade.

Manchukou had formerly been the Northmost region in China. It had been conquered by the Japanese some years earlier and was being used as the staging ground to invade the southern regions of China that the Japanese didn't already control. The fact that the infrastructure there was being torn up was great news for the Chinese. It meant that the Japanese would have a hell of a time moving troops and supplies south. None the less, there was still an uneasiness to the unusual turn of events.

As for myself, I was downright worried as I sat with Shauna listening to the circumstances unfold. The radio reports indicated that the tremors were on a direct path towards the city of Beizhen, the main supply center of the Japanese army in Manchukou. Something seemed awfully wrong about it.

The very next day, my worst fears were realized. The news reported that during the night a monster had appeared and attacked Beizhen. At first, they reported it as being Anguirus, but soon the reports were amended. They said, instead, that it was a completely new monster. They were lucky enough to have gotten a couple of photos, which confirmed that a totally new creature was responsible. A surveyor happened to be taking pictures in the hills nearby and snapped several photos of the monster, giving the world at large their first real look at it.

Penwood came across a page in the file containing the first photos taken. In some ways, the new monster was similar to Anguirus, which is probably why it had been misidentified initially. It too, was a massive quadrupedal reptilian creature. The photos in the file were black and white, but there was a note identifying the color of its body as reddish-brown. The monster also had a horn on its forehead and, what appeared to be, armored plates on its back. The one thing that distinctly set it apart from Anguirus were its large floppy ears that were not unlike a K-9s.

Two days passed, and more attacks followed. Perhaps the most important thing that set Anguirus and the new monster apart were the results of their attacks. Unlike Anguirus, very few people who saw the new monster lived to report anything useful about it. There were two things they knew for sure about the new monster. First, they knew it liked to attack at night. Second, it seemed to like eating people. Every place that was attacked had one thing in common, after the attack was over, a sizable portion of the population was missing.

The best documented attack had been the first one. The monster attacked the military supply depot on the outskirts of Beizhen and then rampaged through the city itself, catching the Japanese garrison completely by surprise. Food stocks, piles of ammo, and a field full of tanks and other vehicles were destroyed. Once the monster had devastated the city, it started moving further southward.

Two days later, orders came down. The Enterprise and her battlegroup were being recalled. The monster was just a few hundred miles north of the Chinese border and it was moving further southward every day. The Chinese were not equipped to handle the monster on their own. We were being sent to support them however we could.

The Enterprise set sail the following day. I had enough time to say goodbye and give Shauna a kiss before I went aboard. I wished I had a little more time with her. She dutifully remained on the docks below to see me off. I watched her from the deck above. She was crying as the ship started to move forward out of the harbor. She hated the idea of me having to face off with another giant monster again, but there was nothing either of us could do about it. All I could do is wave farewell and hope I'd see her again soon.

In the time it took the fleet to steam across the Pacific Ocean, the new monster had crossed the Chinese border and destroyed three villages before retreating back across the border into Manchukuo. As expected, the Chinese could do little to stop it. They had thousands upon thousands of riflemen, and some light artillery, but that simply was not enough for the threat at hand.

Across the border, the Japanese were still trying to get reorganized. They were having a hard time scraping enough forces together to counterattack the beast. They had lost a lot of equipment in the monster's initial attack, and despite the fact that the monster was on land and huge, they were having a difficult time keeping track of it. The creature would disappear randomly and then pop up somewhere else.

It didn't help that the aftershocks that had proceeded the creature's appearance persisted long after its reign of terror began. They tore up the landscape and everything in it. Columns of troops searching for the monster would suddenly find the road they were using gouged and ready to give way, making their pursuit hopeless. Tracking the monster also proved difficult as the aftershocks that plagued the country made it hard to discern what was damaged due to the monster's passing and what wasn't. A week before our fleet arrived, the monster attacked the main railroad hub in Manchukou, which further debilitated the Japanese's ability to move men and supplies around the country.

A week after the trainyard attack, the Japanese were able to patch enough of their forces together to make a major counterattack. Reports indicated that the creature had been spotted about thirty miles south of the city of Shenyang. The opportunity to strike back had finally come. The Japanese wasted no time and rushed their forces in.

Unfortunately, they didn't understand what they were dealing with yet. They assumed that this monster could be dealt with in the same manner we'd handled Anguirus. This monster was very different however, and they were about to discover that firsthand.

As the Japanese army columns approached the area, their scouts reported that the monster had settled in a nearby plain, apparently resting. The creature had finally stopped long enough for the Japanese forces to zero-in on its position. Scout planes ran hourly flights to keep track of the monster, just in case it tried to slip away. Air patrols were hard though, the weather had been overcast for days, making it difficult for reconnaissance flights to spot the monster.

When the main body of the Japanese army was able to catch up, they set up camp just outside the mouth of the valley. They were confident of a pending victory. The basin where the monster had chosen to rest only had one way in or out. The Japanese quietly dug in the night before, sealing off the area, and preventing the creature's escape. Artillery was placed in the hills, and tanks were stacked up behind them, waiting for the order to attack.

By the morning, all was in place and ready. The original plan had called for the Japanese air-force to make the first attack. The Japanese army's only job was to contain the monster. If it approached their position, the artillery would open up on it, followed by a charge from the tanks to repel it. There was a big issue though. The weather was not cooperating. The overcast night had progressed into a general fog by 0700 hrs. The soup was too thick for planes to accurately navigate the morning air to the attack zone.

On the ground, there was enough visibility to see about sixty meters. The army commanders were confident that they would be able to handle the monster on their own, since they had it penned in. After weeks of fruitless chasing, they were all eager for battle. The army officers decided to proceed without the aid of the Japanese air-force. The order was given, and dozens of tanks poured into the valley after the monster they had dubbed Baragon. With the creature trapped, and their armor closing in, they felt that it was just a matter of time before they'd have victory.

The Japanese tanks rolled down into the valley and raced forward to get the monster within range of their cannons. Through the fog, they could see the outline of Baragon's bulk. The gunners began to adjust their rangefinders, while other members of the crew prepared shells. On the far side of the valley, Baragon stirred from his rest, having heard the tank's engines and the squeaking of their treads. He roared a challenge to the invaders, but otherwise held his position.

At the front of the armored column, the Japanese tank commander could feel his teeth rattle from the monster's war cry, but he was undeterred from his mission. He urged his men to be brave and to press forward into firing range. A few of the tanks slowed down, but none of them stopped. They dutifully pushed onwards towards their target.

Suddenly, the ground below the lead tank gave out. It fell into a deep crevice and landed on its side, stopping the machine cold. Crews from other tanks had not noticed. The lead tank's sudden disappearance went entirely unmarked. Most eyes were still focused on the monster, which was becoming more and more clear as the tankers approached it. The column continued on, unaware of the danger around them.

Another tank quickly disappeared, sucked into the ground. Then a third one after that. This time, other tank crews did take notice, but they charged forward anyway, not understanding what was happening. More tanks started to fall through the earth, most being disabled in the process. With five of his units falling victim to the treacherous terrain, the tank commander finally signaled for all his men to stop and hold their position.

The commander popped his hatch and took a good long look at the ground around them. He could see that the soil had been disturbed throughout the entire valley and he understood the pressing onward would only result in the loss of more of his tanks. He radioed for his men to fall back to their original defense line. They would let the artillery and air force take care of the monster as soon as the weather cleared up. He instructed the crews of the disabled units to abandon their tanks and get out of the holes if they could. They were to make their way to the nearest vehicles, or, to hoof it back on foot if necessary.

It was at that moment that Baragon struck. He thundered across the gap between himself and the tanks in no time at all and began to smash them one by one. In a panic, the men tried to retreat, but in their haste to escape, even more of the tanks fell into holes.

With his forces in shambles, the tank commander frantically radioed his men, attempting to rally them to stand and fight. To their credit, the remaining tanks turned their turrets and took aim at Baragon. Muzzle flashes lit up the patches of fog in the desperate fight. Artillery crews at the valley entrance could see what was happening and began firing their cannons trying to help their comrades. Unfortunately, the monster was so intermixed with the tanks that their shells were hitting their own men as well as the monster.

The artillery fire seemed to enrage Baragon. His attacks became more feral with every passing moment. During the fight, an artillery shell hit him on the side of his belly where he had no armor plates. The monster roared in anger and thrashed, ripping off the turret of a tank with his claws. Then something happened that no one was expecting, the monster opened his mouth and spewed forth flames. The flames engulfed three tanks that were in front of him. The tanks exploded as their ammunition stockpiles ignited.

With that hellish sight in front of them, most of the remaining tank crews had seen enough and withdrew. At that point, the tank commander was left with just a handful of men and machines left to fight with. He watched in horror as the monster was bearing down on his own tank. The victory he sought, which seemed to have been within his grasp just minutes before, was now burning all around him.

Baragon briefly hovered over the commander's tank, looking down at the man. His sharp red eyes watched closely, waiting just a moment longer, before he brought his jaws down on the steel machine, crushing it.

The Japanese were in complete disarray from that point forward. What remained of their forces tried to retreat out of the valley all at once and got bottlenecked at the entrance. The vehicles in the rear were trapped by the ones in the front and were sitting ducks for the monster. Baragon smashed his way up the line until most of the machines were wrecked. He used his flaming breath a second time, turning the remaining tanks into steel ovens, cooking the men inside alive. Moments later, pops from inside the machines could be heard as the ammo went up, bringing the torment of the crews to an end.

The artillery crews routed in terror upon witnessing that and left their equipment without firing another shot. The defeat was complete and total. The Japanese had lost five hundred men and nearly forty tanks.

Two hours later, the weather started to clear, and the Japanese air-force was sent out to avenge their fallen countrymen. Scouts reported that Baragon had remained in the valley after the battle. He was eating survivors and corpses that were left behind. As word got out about it, the airmen swore revenge as they closed in on their target. The honor of Japan itself had been besmirched by the monster, and they would reclaim it.

The fog had completely lifted by the time the planes arrived at the battlefield, which meant they had a clear shot at the monster for their attack run. Baragon's ears perked up when he heard the hum of the Betty-bombers approaching. The monster seemed to understand that the aircraft were a threat as they continued to close in on him. He sat there like a sitting duck, seeming to consider his options. Perhaps he was trying to decide if his flames would be able to reach the aircraft. It was his only real defense against them. The answer came only a moment later.

For the third time that day, Baragon managed to surprise the Japanese. Anyone who was watching, expected to see the monster try to make a vain attack on the bombers with his breath. Instead, Baragon did something completely unexpected. He crouched down and began to dig into the earth with his massive claws. To the astonishment of all present, he managed to disappear into the ground before the planes scored a single hit with their bombs on him.

It was only at that moment that the Japanese realized the monster had been playing with them from the very beginning. Baragon had chosen that valley intentionally. He had drawn them into an ambush. They never had him cornered at all. He could have escaped at any given point. What's more, it was also clear that the ground beneath the tanks that had given way during the battle was in fact a trap the monster had dug out for them in advance. The beast was far more intelligent than they ever dared guess.