Chapter 7
Okinawan Night of Terror
Near the slopes of Mount Yakasawara, a trio of American tourists took the time they had to explore the surrounding environment, taking pictures of the trees, birds, and every form of natural beauty within the region.
An orange gleam illuminated the mountain, projected by the sun as it set beyond the horizon, and an owl hooted somewhere in the trees. Racoons emerged from nearby rocks, chittering softly, and began searching for food.
A warm twilight breeze floated through the area, and a couple leaves within the tree branches shuddered. Shrill whooshing sounds cut across the air, and the tourists looked around, bewildered and wondering where the noise was coming from.
After a moment, their gaze shifted to the sky.
A large UFO hovered over the mountains, with bright flames flashing around the saucer-like object, and the curious Americans clicked a few photos before making their leave.
The UFO hovered towards the closest hillside cave, and glided in before landing gently on the ground. Gamera raised his head, and a growl resonated off the cave walls.
His arms and legs emerged, and the titanic reptile lay silently still, waiting to heal and recover from the prior battle with the radioactive prehistoric leviathan. Perhaps this was a good time to seek out a source of heat and radiation.
More fire, and more radioactivity meant more strength.
Many times before, Gamera had found his nutrition in nuclear reactors, even when the humans tried to deny him his resource. It had been years since his last radioactive meal, and the behemoth was starting to hunger again.
Gamera couldn't feast upon the radioactivity that his enemy was utilizing, nor could he absorb that leviathan's own heat ray energy.
The battle had exhausted him, and drained Gamera of a third of his strength.
He had no other choice, it was time to feast upon manmade fire and nuclear energy again, and Gamera could sense Godzilla was on the move.
He was hunting for him, and the irradiated monstrosity would rip apart Japan if he had to find him.
Gamera usually did not care about the lives of human beings, but he had little choice when facing Garyaos all those years ago, and humanity's military forces with their weaponry had not hounded Gamera in a long time.
The turtle-like titan's choice was made. His limbs were retracting, and the turtle was in flight once more. He soared out of the cave, and climbed into the sky, leaving Mount Yakasawara as the mighty turtle followed his instincts.
It had been too long since his last meal, and his lengthy battle with Godzilla had brought Gamera to the point of near-starvation. Now, he was going to take care of it.
The Okinawa U.S. navy base.
Majestic warships bearing the American flag rolled through the open water, patrolling the area near the shoreline. The Star-Spangled Banner played over a loudspeaker now and then, resonating across the deck of every ship and around every sector of the base, which filled the sailors and guards with patriotic confidence.
An inviting sense of peace carried across the area around the navy base, just as it swept through the rest of the island, even as soldiers, ship crews, and guards remained alert and ready for the first sign of trouble.
Off-duty American soldiers helped themselves to bottles of beer, and hung out with a couple of Japanese citizens in the fishing village away from the base. Palm trees swayed in the wind, and a pair of birds rested upon a rock before flying out.
No one knew what surprises lay in wait beyond Okinawa's shores, no one knew that something was out there in the ocean, and nobody noticed the UFO that had passed them by.
Gentle tides rolled towards the beach, and rolled back into the sea. A klaxon alarm on a United States battleship went off now and then, with crews carrying out drills or tending to their occasional briefing. The last shred of sunlight vanished from the sky, and gleaming stars began to appear in the black of night.
Searchlights activated, and soldiers quietly observed the ocean. Wait-and-watch. Okinawa belonged to Japan, even as American military and navy forces maintained a light presence, protecting the land from enemy attacks and watching over Japan.
In that moment, bright flashing lights went off in the water, barely a mile away from Okinawa. Waves began rolling in, and a small bubbly geyser rose into the air, which attracted a Japanese fishing vessel crew's attention. One sailor poked his head over the edge, and observed the lights and the odd disturbance in the ocean.
The water continued to churn, and the fishing vessel shuddered.
Upon Okinawa, the ground rumbled, and sand shifted. A palm tree shook on its roots, and a couple waves crashed against a pair of docked military vessels, confusing a pair of soldiers. The spotlights turned, and shone upon the disturbance in the ocean.
And soon, the scaly visage of a monster rose from beneath the waves.
Godzilla's head emerged first, followed by his torso, arms, and dorsal plates. The imposing titan faced the land mass before him, and his mouth opened as he let out a dementing, world-shuddering roar.
His dorsal plates crackled intensely with nuclear fission that rolled around his body, and Godzilla made his way towards the shore.
Every battleship near the Okinawa navy base turned towards the irradiated prehistoric lizard, with all guns aimed at the enemy. On shore, soldiers and guards scrambled, with efforts being made to evacuate citizens to safety. A feeling of dread settled upon the island, and all eyes were upon the approaching beast.
Defense units hurried to their stations, and battleship crews made haste to load the cannons while soldiers grabbed as much ammunition as possible.
Godzilla surveyed Okinawa, and a spine-tingling snarl resonated from his vocal cords.
The American defense force responded accordingly, as if answering the challenge.
Bursts of gunfire lit up the night, with battleships and artillery nests firing upon the King of The Monsters. Ammunition rocketed towards Godzilla from every direction, and the flotilla of battleships moved in, unloading their guns with shells exploding against the behemoth upon contact with his body.
He pressed forward, shrugging off the storm of bullets, while the air exploded with artillery fire around his body. The gargantuan reptile arched forward, and his mouth opened with a "SKREEE-GYAAAAAAAAOOOOOOOOONGK!"
Godzilla's dorsal plates lit up. He opened his mouth once more, and his radioactive heat ray tore into the encroaching battleships. Explosions lit the water, and the vessels sank to the bottom of the sea. Godzilla turned his attention towards the base, and fired another burst of nuclear energy.
The shoreline of Okinawa ruptured, and a bright orange cloud of destruction rose into the air as the titan's nuclear heat ray decimated the navy base. More battleships exploded, and soldiers scrambled before they were snuffed out.
"MAYDAY! MAYDAY!" A soldier yelled into a radio, "WE ARE..."
He was silenced by the approaching flames of death in moments. Godzilla took a moment to tear into another battleship, and the vessel erupted in a ball of fire like the navy base.
Brimming with satisfaction, the victorious Godzilla howled a victory cry, and dove back into the depths below. The radioactive monster pressed onward, leaving the shores of Okinawa behind, and made his way towards the Japanese mainland, intent on finding the fire-breathing turtle titan.