Chapter 9: The Yellow Sea Turned Red.
Heinrich and Reinhart ran as quickly as they could. Rain continued to pour down on them, beating against their faces. The storm was making it difficult to see where they were going, and despite their best efforts, they could not keep pace with the monster. It was crashing through the trees ahead of them, effortlessly snapping them like matchsticks. The creature was getting further and further ahead of them with each massive step it took. Reinhart did not have the endurance to keep up with his older, more athletic brother. He was out of breath and losing more ground with every passing second.
"This is pointless!" Reinhart called to Heinrich with his last bit of breath before coming to a stop. "Even if we could keep up a dead-sprint, there's no way we are going to beat that thing to Essenheim."
Heinrich stopped and looked back at his exhausted younger brother, then back at the monster ahead of them. Though Heinrich hated to admit it, it was clear to him that Reinhart was right. Even if he left Reinhart behind, and pressed on alone, he would still continue to lose ground. They needed a better alternative and needed it fast.
"We're going to have to cut through the woods!" Heinrich called back to his younger brother. "If we stay on the road, we have no chance, but if we take a shortcut, we might just make it in time."
Reinhart didn't look too impressed with the idea, as he was still struggling to catch his breath, and more running would not be easy for him. However, he realized what was at stake if the monster reached the village before they did. Heinrich's plan was pretty much their only option. If they stayed on the road, it would only wind them around the woods and cost them precious time.
"Alright, let's do it then." Reinhart said, resolved to follow his older brother's lead. Heinrich nodded and they both darted off the road and into the tree line. The foliage gave them some relief from the hard falling rain, but the terrain was still rough and slippery. Running through it was proving to be more difficult than either of them had expected.
For the most part, it was a downhill dash, which helped, but that made slowing down and dodging around obstacles along the way tricky as their momentum carried them forward. Each of them struggled to keep pace, but finally they came to a clearing on a hill which gave them their first view of the town. The rain had slowed to a sprinkle by that time, so they had a good vantage point to see what was going on.
Heinrich and Reinhart could see gentle lights from the windows below in the dark. The monster by this point had circled around the hill, and they could see it closing in on the town from the far side. Upon seeing it, Heinrich realized they were too late. Even with their shortcut, the monster would still easily reach the town before they could. In desperation, Heinrich came up with a last-ditch effort to warn the people below of the impending danger.
Reinhart watched as his brother pulled the strap of the rifle away from his shoulder and brought the weapon into firing position. He presumed that Heinrich would point the rifle at the monster, but instead, his brother aimed it towards the sky and shot. Once Heinrich had fired, he ejected the empty casing from the rifle and quickly loaded another round.
Without explanation, Heinrich repeated the process, aiming at nothing in particular. The second shot rang out, breaking up the pattering white noise of the rain echoing down into town. Down below in the beer hall, people heard the disturbance and started to trickle out to investigate the sound of gunfire. Heinrich meanwhile made his third shot, bringing even more people from the party outside. They didn't spot Heinrich, but they did see the monster bearing down on Essenheim.
The creature roared as it got even closer to town, making it impossible to miss. The reaction from the villagers was mixed as they realized the threat that was coming towards them. Some people stood there in disbelief and shock, others instantly bolted away, and some simply retreated back inside the beer hall, to what they must have felt, was relative safety.
It was sheer pandemonium, as fear and terror spread throughout Essenheim. Throughout the town, lights began to flicker on as the rest of Essenheim came alive with alarm. The majority of the villagers were inside the beer hall as the creature came within a hundred yards of the first house at the edge of town. Without even slowing down, the monster smashed right through the building with its front legs. Woodshards and other debris showered nearby rooftops as the creature pressed forward.
The monster continued to trample over everyone and everything in its path. A man fleeing from his home, caught the creature's attention. He was snatched up in its jaws. It was over for him quickly after that. People were still struggling to get out of the beer hall as the monster closed in on them. Seeing a man eaten alive, only served to escalate the panic. The doors of the hall were jammed as people rushed to escape. Villagers fell over from being pushed from behind, which only made getting out that much harder. The lights and sounds of chaos erupting at the beer hall only seemed to attract the creature more. It pressed in close until finally its body rolled over the building, collapsing it instantly.
When it was over, the beer hall was flattened. It was obvious that no one who was still inside could have survived. As they watched the aftermath, Reinhart fell to his knees in anguish, while Heinrich belted out a hateful roar that tore up his throat. The world had fallen off its axis for the two brothers. It was almost a certainty that their parents were still inside the building when it collapsed. Reinhart sobbed uncontrollably, while Heinrich threw aside his rifle, having no more use for it. Heinrich collected his shattered brother and dragged him by the collar down towards the village.
"Are you insane?!" Reinhart shouted. "What are you doing?! We can't go down there now!"
"We can and we are." Heinrich declared coldly and calmly, ignoring his brother's pleas. Reinhart struggled pointlessly against his much stronger brother. Meanwhile, the monster continued to rampage through the small village, tearing up everything it came across.
"You idiot, you are going to get us both killed!" Reinhart yelled at his brother, trying to punch him in the ribs.
"No… you and I are going to stop this." Heinrich assured his younger brother as he released him. Reinhart fell to the wet ground, and looked up at Heinrich, who he was certain had lost his mind from grief. Heinrich was walking away, leaving him to fend for himself in the mud.
"Where are you going?!" Reinhart demanded, getting back to his feet.
"There." Heinrich pointed to the police station.
"What, you think you can find a bigger gun there?!" Reinhart asked sarcastically. "What good is that going to do exactly? A bullet or two won't mean much to that thing! A thousand bullets wouldn't stop it."
"Just follow me and shut up!" Heinrich growled back.
The two brothers made their way into the police station. By that point, it was almost completely empty. There was just one frantic officer left inside trying to radio for help from the outside. He didn't even notice the two brothers slip past him towards the weapons storage room. The door had been left wide open in the chaos.
"Here, hold this." Heinrich grabbed a nearby duffle bag and handed it to Reinhart. They went inside the weapon storeroom, and Heinrich began to grab small tin-canisters that were lined up along a shelf. He carefully placed them inside the bag, one by one. "Whatever you do, do not drop the bag." He instructed.
"Okay." Reinhart answered, not certain what they were collecting. Once Heinrich had taken all the canisters, he turned and grabbed a device with a long metal cylinder with a stand attached.
"Alright, let's go." They snuck back out of the police station, undetected. Once Heinrich and Reinhart were back outside, they found what was left of the village in chaos. People were running from the monster in every direction. Most of the police officers had already been killed by the monster. It was unclear to anyone where it was best to take refuge. Anyone wandering the streets would be snatched up and eaten. Buildings certainly weren't safe either. The creature was smashing them at will. The monster had just leveled another structure when Heinrich caught sight of it.
"Come on, follow me!" Heinrich urged Reinhart onwards towards the beast. The creature was moving towards City Hall.
"What did we just steal?" Reinhart finally asked as they chased after it.
"A mortar." Heinrich simply answered.
"A mortar?!" Reinhart shouted back. "Those things that launch explosives?!" He shuttered and held onto the bag he carried extra tight.
Once they had come within a block of the monster, Heinrich signaled for Reinhart to stop. Heinrich set down the pipelike armament he was carrying and told Reinhart to open the bag up. Once the stand was set in place, and the mortar was pointing at the monster, Heinrich told his brother to hand him one of the canisters from the bag. Reinhart obeyed.
Heinrich carefully slid the canister into the opening of the pipe and then quickly turned away from it. The canister rattled its way down the pipe until it hit the bottom. Once it had, there was a slight pop followed by an odd zooming sound. The canister flew back up the pipe and burst out of the opening.
Reinhart watched as the shot arced up in the air and came back down close to the monster. The canister hit a couple yards away from its intended target, but it didn't explode on contact. Instead, there was a slight crackle and smoke came out of it. Reinhart thought the explosive was a dud. He sighed, thinking they weren't off to a great start. Just then, the canister erupted, billowing out copious amounts of smoke. Heinrich launched another two canisters in rapid succession, each landing close to the first one. They too let out a cloud of gas which began to spread all over the area.
The monster didn't notice any of it at first. It just continued to smash City Hall piece by piece, undeterred. The bell within the tower rang out as the creature used its claws to tear down the structure around it. The building gave out and collapsed towards the ground. Slowly, the smoke from the canisters began to rise up. It took a few moments, but once the smoke had reached the monster's face, there was a noticeable reaction. It was plain to see that the creature didn't like it. The monster moved forward out of the cloud, and further down the block to escape it.
"What is this stuff?" Reinhart demanded from his brother.
"It's tear gas." Heinrich answered plainly.
"How did you know it would be in there?" Reinhart motioned back to the police station.
"I told you; I was working for the intelligence-branch of the army." Heinrich explained. "The gas was supplied to all police stations in the country since the Fuhrer's death. It was meant for crowd-control. Given the riots that have taken place in recent times of political instability, the powers that be felt it would be wise to have on hand."
Heinrich and Reinhart soon had to pick up their mortar and carry it down the street. The monster had retreated out of range. The two brothers quickly caught up and began to set of the weapon again. Within just a few seconds, they resumed launching tear gas at the creature. Again, once the gas reached its face, the monster was forced to retreat out of the gas cloud. The brothers kept pace with it, moving and firing when needed. They had nearly managed to force the creature out of town after several rounds of attacks.
Heinrich and Reinhart were setting up for the fourth, and what they hoped would be, final time. They were riding high on their momentum. Reinhart was on his knees bent over, grabbing more canisters out of the bag, while Heinrich was standing, positioning the mortar.
As they resumed firing, the first canister they launched actually hit the monster in the face and bounced off. They had gotten really good at determining the range through repeated use of the weapon. Reinhart thought to laugh, that is, until he saw the monster start to turn its head towards them. Their luck had run out. The creature had spotted them. Heinrich launched two more canisters, which he hoped would make the monster retreat like it had before. The gas was on target, but to their horror, the monster blinked, bringing up a semi-transparent membrane to protect its eyes from the gas.
The monster glared down on Heinrich and Reinhart menacingly, seeming to understand that they were the source of all its irritation. The creature roared malevolently, the sound and resulting vibration paralyzing both Heinrich and Reinhart. The monster reared back its gigantic tail and swung it down at them. There was nowhere to run, they couldn't hope to escape its attack.
The massive tail swipe pulverized everything in its path. It shattered trees and turned a house between it, and the intended targets, into a pile of kindling. The tail also hit an automobile that was sitting across the street, sending it, along with other debris, flying towards the brothers. Reinhart instinctively lay down flat. The car flew right over him, landing fifty-odd yards behind him inside of a house with a tremendous crash.
'Jesus Christ!' Reinhart thought frantically, frozen to the ground with fear. 'I should be dead.' He noted, dripping with sweat. The monster's tail still hung above him, blocking out the moonlight. Reinhart was certain that at any moment, it would come falling back down to finish him off. To his disbelief, the tail floated away from him back the way it had come.
"My god Heinrich, can you believe that?!" Reinhart asked, rising to his knee. "He missed us!" Heinrich did not answer though. Reinhart looked back to where his brother had been. He was gone. "Brother…? Brother!" He shouted, his voice echoing in the ruined neighborhood. "Where are you?!" He looked for Heinrich, but he was nowhere to be found. There was a gust of wind from behind Reinhart, but he ignored it, still looking for Heinrich.
What Reinhart wasn't seeing was the monster beginning to move again. While its eyes were protected from the gas by its transparent membranes, the creature still had to breathe. The monster had inhaled a significant amount of gas when it swung its tail. The gas was doing its work, attacking the monster's respiratory track. With its chest on fire, the monster had finally had enough. It leapt into the air with its powerful back legs. While leaping, the creature opened up membranes between its front and hind legs and glided away from the village.
The force of the jump caused a strong blowback, which resulted in the teargas spreading all over Essenheim. The surviving villagers, including Reinhart, were all caught up in the cloud. Reinhart was still trying to find his brother when the gas overtook him. Within seconds, he was plagued by respiratory pain, skin irritation, and a horrible stinging in his eyes. Reinhart stumbled around, impaired by the effects of the gas. He took his shirt off and wrapped it around his head in an attempt to limit his exposure.
In the immediate aftermath, the monster, who went on to be known as Varan, disappeared. The popular theory was that the creature retreated back into one of the various lakes of the region to wash the gas residue off of himself. Once again, the initial reports made it sound like it was Anguirus who had reappeared. After all, there were certain characteristics that both monsters shared, but given that the new monster possessed the unusual ability of flight, it was quickly concluded they were dealing with something new.
…
Meanwhile, in the Gulf of Lion, just south of France, a strange object was found floating in the water off the coast of Toulon. A fishing trawler was the first thing to run across it. The crew of the vessel radioed their discovery into their company's headquarters, who then proceeded to report it to the French Government. What they had found appeared to be a gigantic egg. It was robin-blue with yellow stripes and white spots.
There was much debate about what to do with it amongst the French Government. Some wanted it destroyed on the spot, others wanted it brought inland to be studied, and a few simply thought it should be left alone to drift somewhere else. As it was floating in French territorial waters, it was within their jurisdiction to decide how to deal with it.
The French authorities eventually concluded that it was to be studied. Their scientific community felt it might offer some much-needed insights to the sudden appearance of giant creatures all over the world. Such as it was, the egg was towed into port and brought inland. A shelter was quickly erected to house the egg and protect it from the elements.
It didn't take long for the experts on hand to conclude that the egg was fertile and contained some type of lifeform. It was giving off heat, and, from time to time, movement was detected within. Exactly what was inside was a mystery though. The two leading theories were either something avian or reptilian in nature. Small samples of the eggshell were chipped away and sent to a lab for analysis. The results were inconclusive.
Whatever was inside the egg, it was completely unlike anything the laboratory could find a reference match for. It appeared to be entirely unique. Though the studies would continue, it was starting to become clear, they wouldn't know exactly what they were dealing with until it hatched.
…
"Take that you bastard!" Marcus said excitedly, having just finished reading the report about the ambush on Baragon.
"They got him, then?" Joe asked.
"They are optimistic that Baragon crawled into a hole somewhere and died." Marcus answered. "No seismic activity has been reported anywhere in China since the attack. It's a very good sign."
"So, it's just the big bird we have to deal with now, then?" Joe mused.
"Don't take Rodan too lightly." Marcus warned. "I'd rate your 'Big-Bird' as being far more dangerous than Baragon ever was. We were able to defeat Baragon because we were able to exploit a weakness. Rodan has no such weakness, at least not that we've been able to identify. The Japanese should wait until we can study him further before committing to such a large engagement."
"It's funny, I think the fact that we were successful in our assault on Baragon has emboldened the Japanese." Joe suggested. "Or maybe they just don't want us making them look bad?"
"I'm afraid your assessment may not be too far off." Marcus frowned. "The Japanese are a prideful people. The fact that we were able to defeat both Anguirus and Baragon, particularly as they themselves had been unsuccessfully hunting for the latter of the two for so long, just might have bruised their national ego. I just hope it doesn't push them into doing something rash."
…
In Japan, the radar network was being completed and the Japanese fleet was gathering in their northern bases. Akira had volunteered to join the mission to attack Rodan. Given his experience with the monster, his superiors agreed. It wasn't quite as simple as that though. Akira would be required to do some additional training if he wanted to participate in the forthcoming attack.
Akira had spent the entirety of his career as an aviator assigned to close-air-support for the Japanese Army. Thus, he was used to takeoffs and landings from land-based airstrips. This mission, however, would be primarily carried out by navy planes, and that would mean takeoffs and landings from a carrier. It was considerably more difficult to land on a carrier. Even for an experienced pilot like Akira, it was no walk in the park for someone who had never done it.
Over the two weeks leading up to the mission, Akira practiced regularly. He was not an expert by the time they were done, but he was adequate enough to do the job. There was, however, one other condition required before they would allow Akira to join the attack. He was not to speak of his previous encounter with Rodan or express his opinion of it to anyone. Not having much other choice in the matter, Akira agreed.
Once the radar stations were operational, the Japanese were able to narrow down the prospects of Rodan's nest site. The large stations had a range of about one hundred and twenty-five miles. They could not detect Rodan all the way to mainland Asia, but they could detect the monster flying over the Sea of Japan. Through repeated radar contacts, the Japanese were able to determine that Rodan was regularly flying towards a particular patch of airspace. The airspace in question was over an area of land just northeast of Korea, somewhere close to the coast.
With that knowledge, a radar station was hastily constructed in Northern Korea to try to pinpoint the nest's exact location. The station was up within seven days, and it made contact with Rodan almost immediately. However, that station also proved to be too far out of range to determine the exact location of Rodan's nest. It did, however, give the Japanese enough information to know that the nest was within easy striking distance of the coast. It couldn't be more than twenty miles inland, and that meant the fleet could launch their raid from the carriers as planned.
Factions within the Japanese military disagreed on whether they should immediately mobilize the fleet to strike or construct a second tower in Korea with the intent of providing them with even greater intelligence. Most of the commanders felt that it was unnecessary to build a second tower. They felt as though they had sufficient enough information as it stood to carry out the attack. They also argued that if they built another tower too close to the nest, it might alarm Rodan, and they wanted to surprise him.
News of the American victory over Baragon did seem to have some effect on Japanese military planning. After only two days of debate, the decision was made to proceed with the attack without building the second tower. The IJN fleet made final preparations and then set out for the Korean coast.
The fleet represented one of the largest gatherings of naval power the world had ever seen. There were well-over a hundred warships, including most of the IJN's carriers and battleships. They sailed with an aura of strength and confidence. In terms of shear tonnage, it was unprecedented for a Far-Eastern power. The Japanese armada had enough firepower to rival the British Home Fleet. How could such an overwhelming force fail?
On board the fleet's flagship, the Akagi, the mood was no different. Many of its pilots and crew were gathered in the main hanger bay. They were only hours away from the target. Mechanics were hard at work making last-minute adjustments to the planes. Ordnance men were wheeling in bombs and ammo belts. The pilots were standing in a circle, psyching each other up for the mission.
Akira was alone, sitting off to the side, watching and listening. Nearby, he overheard a squadron of young pilots boasting about what a victory they were about to achieve, and the eternal glory that would be heaped upon them once they brought the beast down.
As he listened to the cocky spirits of the young aviators, it was starting to become clear to Akira why he had been put under a gag-order. The other men on the mission didn't seem to have the slightest idea what they were in for. The government had hushed the facts about the monster and what it could do. Beyond the few other surviving pilots from the first encounter, the men at the conference, and the higher ranks of the Japanese military, everybody else was in the dark about the true threat level Rodan represented.
Beyond shear ignorance, there was another major issue Akira was starting to recognize among the other pilots on the Akagi. Quite a lot of them had taken part in the seek-and-destroy missions looking for Baragon. These pilots were used to the monster running away and avoiding any contact with aircraft. It gave the men an ego boost, and an inflated sense of power. Akira knew both of those things would be deflated very quickly once they came up against Rodan. In the sky, Rodan would not be running or hiding from them.
Akira looked around the deck and realized that the buzz, excitement, and overconfidence was not limited to just one squad of cocky flyers. Unfortunately, the problem was far worse. It appeared to be all the pilots onboard. They were all strutting around, as if they didn't have a care in the world. Too long, they had been at the top of the food chain in the sky. There had been too many easy victories in China. A very harsh lesson was lurking behind the clouds waiting for them, and there wasn't much Akira could do to stop it.
"Hey Captain Akira, don't you think we'll be the first ones to have a crack at the monster?" One of the youngsters in Akira's new squadron yelled over to him. "Batu doesn't think so, but I told him we're the best pilots in the fleet, and it's always best to lead with strength!"
"I think once we are up there, you'd best keep your wits about you." Akira replied cryptically. The young pilot looked puzzled. That simply wasn't the answer he'd been expecting. Akira wanted to say more, but if he did, he would be breaking his word.
A warning klaxon erupted above them, bringing the short-lived conversation to an end. The voice of the Akagi's captain crackled over the intercom. He ordered his crew to general quarters. Rodan had been sighted on radar. It was not approaching the fleet, but it was flying over the Sea of Japan ahead of the flotilla. The Akagi was to scramble all of its squadrons.
…
Minutes later, Akira was in the cockpit of his fighter preparing for takeoff. He throttled up, and his plane lurched forward, thundering down the flight deck. His plane caught air three-quarters of the way down, and he soared into the sky. The line of fighters behind Akira followed shortly after, launching one by one. After all the fighters were up, the dive-bombers were next. The fighters climbed and circled the carrier, waiting for the bombers to catch up with them.
Peering through his canopy, Akira saw the other carriers in the fleet launching their squadrons as well. The sky was quickly filling up with warplanes. The fighter-director on the Akagi below started to issue out his orders, and the cloud of planes began to organize themselves into a massive formation. Akira's squadron became a part of the left wing.
Altogether, there were well over five-hundred aircraft. It was impressive to see so many planes coordinating all at once. The formation took shape as the last squadrons got into place. Finally, they were ordered to advance. The huge formation of aircraft pressed onward toward the horizon and battle. Akira felt a sense of awe with the amount of airpower that was arrayed around him. He had never seen so many aircraft in one place before.
The sun had just risen in the east, and somehow, that comforted Akira in the cockpit of his Zero. The rising sun was the symbol of Imperial Japan, and he felt as though maybe it was a good omen for the mission. Akira had been dreading this moment in his mind, but now that he was actually here, it wasn't so bad. Akira had a job to do. He just needed to get it done and come back alive. It was as simple as that.
The fighter-director radioed to the squadron to update them on Rodan's position and ordered the group to adjust their course. The planes responded accordingly. Given the sheer number of aircraft involved, radio-silence amongst the pilots was being strictly enforced. Excessive radio chatter would be extremely disruptive. The pilots were only to listen to their orders. The only exception to breaking radio-silence was to report the position of Rodan once the monster had been spotted.
The huge air-group pressed on, flying over a small island as they continued on course towards their quarry. Akira noted a small mountain peak, a dense jungle, and some huts dotting the beach. The simple islanders below might be getting a heck of a show soon. When the formation had closed to within a range of forty miles of their target, the fighter-director crackled over the radio again. He updated the squadrons, letting them know that Rodan had changed course again. It wasn't clear how, but the monster must've somehow become wise to their presence. It was now coming straight at them.
Akira tensed up, thinking about his last confrontation with Rodan. He pushed the thoughts out of his mind, but he could not help but feel anxious. They had been hoping to catch Rodan on the ground. They were only to engage the monster in the air if that wasn't possible. The plan was already shot to hell, and it hadn't even gotten off the ground. There was no help for it though. The only choice they had was to press on. Akira just hoped that their sheer numbers would balance the scales.
The fighter-director came back over the radio again, this time sounding more urgent. Rodan had rapidly closed to within ten miles of the formation, and then disappeared off the radar. Akira had read the post-battle report from the American fleet's encounter with Rodan and knew this could only mean one thing: The creature had climbed above the radar's ability to track it. Could Rodan somehow know he was being tracked and was intentionally climbing so high because he knew that would shake them? Or was this simply how the monster liked to hunt?
"Watch out from above." Akira warned his squadron, using a separate radio channel that only they could hear. He wanted to broadcast that message to the rest of the formation, but he would have to break radio-silence to do so. At that point, Akira could only hope that some of the other squadron leaders were given the American reports to read as well. Somehow, he didn't think so. Akira watched breathlessly, waiting for a sign of the monster.
'Where is it...?' Akira thought impatiently. Moment after painful moment stretched by without anything happening. He thought for sure they'd have seen it by then. The giant formation of Japanese warplanes pressed on unopposed through the seemingly empty sky. Each pilot looked around in every direction without a sign of Rodan. The only thing that could be heard was the humming of the plane's engines.
There was finally a crackle over the radio from the fighter-director. It was a warning, but it had come far too late to be of any help. Rodan rose from below the formation, crashing right through the center of it. The monster took out an entire squadron of planes just with its body and wings. The squadron of aircraft following directly behind the first, were caught up in the wash of Rodan's wake. The force behind the displaced air was intense. Most of the warplanes that encountered it went out of control, rolling towards the sea below.
The Japanese formation was so tightly packed, other planes collided as they tried to avoid the aircraft that Rodan had destroyed or disabled. In just one pass, Rodan had taken out two and a half squadrons of fighters.
'The son of a bitch must have been skimming the surface!' Akira thought to himself bitterly. 'Why didn't the radar pick him up though?' Then Akira realized the mountainous terrain of the island they passed earlier must have created a blind spot in the radar screen between the fleet and the formation of planes. 'He was staying under the radar...'
The fighter-director ordered the squadrons to break up into individual formations, so they weren't all clumped up together and could maneuver. Though shaken, the pilots followed their orders, stretching out the formation. Meanwhile, Rodan had risen up above the radar screen and disappeared again. The fighters wanted to pursue and counterattack, but with no target in sight, they could do nothing but wait.
The formation of warplanes came to, and then passed through, a wall of clouds. Visibility was momentarily limited as the aircraft worked their way through the soup. When they came out, a section of planes was still in the dark, and didn't realize they shouldn't be. A shadow was looming over the air-group, following their course and speed. Again, the aviators were too late to realize Rodan was right on top of them before it was too late.
Unlike last time though, Rodan did not swoop in and out. The monster remained in the midst of the planes and started to rapidly swat them from the sky. One of the pilots broke radio-silence to report Rodan's presence, but the only thing the rest of the aviators got out of him were his screams as his plane was torn apart and exploded around him.
The rest of his squad-mates responded, trying to help out their besieged comrade. They pulled in behind Rodan and opened up with their cannons. Once Rodan felt the bullets hitting him, he dove down to avoid the fire. The lines of tracer rounds streaked behind the monster, trying to reacquire him, but only found friendly planes along the way. At least two aircraft caught fire and trailed smoke as they fell out of formation. One of the surviving planes stalled as it tried to maneuver away from Rodan and friendly fire.
As fighter after fighter was knocked out, the formation started to fall apart, and general chaos began to set in. Most of the squadrons managed to stick together, but amongst the ones that had been attacked, and other ones that were simply closest to the monster, it was degenerating into every man for themselves. The very sight of Rodan was enough to inspire dread in the heart of many pilots.
The radio-silence rule went right out the window as discipline began to break down. Panicked aviators began to flood the radio waves with distress calls. With the main channel all jammed up, orders could not be passed along from the fighter-director. There was no hope for coordination anymore. The center of the formation was a furball of planes trying to maneuver. It was a mess and the men stuck in it desperately needed help.
Akira eventually had to resort to using hand-signals to communicate with the rest of his squad-mates, as even their own radio frequency was bogged down by pilots from other squadrons desperately switching channels. Akira wasn't ready to give up the fight. He began to turn his Zero inward and urged his men to follow him toward the center of the formation. As they closed in, Rodan's jaws snapped down on the tail of a bomber he was chasing. The bomber's tail section snapped right off, and the remaining portions of the aircraft began to spin and tumble from the sky.
As Akira's group of Zeros pressed in, they were trailed by other contingents of the formation's left wing that had decided to follow him too. As one, the fighters opened up and showered Rodan in a hail of bullets. Rodan broke off his pursuit of another plane he was hunting and came right back at Akira's group. The monster raced forward nose to nose with the fighters as they continued to fire. Rodan passed just a couple of feet below Akira's plane, which was close enough to push the Zero higher by a pocket of displaced air as the monster zoomed by. Two of Akira's wingmen weren't as lucky. Their fighters disintegrated as Rodan rammed directly into them. Several other planes were also thrown off course as the monster passed.
The flight groups that had followed Akira's, had similar results to their attacks. There were several more aircraft demolished, with no clear damage inflicted on Rodan in return. Maintaining his advantage, Rodan pressed on, attacking several other squadrons who were less prepared for him. It was more than clear by this point that machine guns were not going to get the job done. Of course, the Japanese had dive-bombers in the air with heavier ordnance, but they were perfectly useless unless Rodan landed.
The Commander of the IJN fleet, Admiral Asakura, was keeping close track of the situation. His air-groups were quickly getting cut to pieces as the battle continued. Asakura could see fewer and fewer of his planes on the radar screen with each passing minute. He knew he had to do something to change the course of the battle. Ultimately, he decided to move the fleet closer to try to support his squadrons. His intent was to use the numerous guns of his powerful surface fleet to shoot Rodan down. If they could just get the monster out of the air, they'd have a fair chance.
Admiral Asakura had some cause to feel optimistic about their chances. The Imperial Japanese Navy still had a great number of battleships and heavy cruisers at their disposal. Battleships had proven to be at least semi-effective against other giant monsters in the past, and the strength of the Japanese surface fleet was formidable. Admiral Asakura felt moving in the fleet was the only logical thing left to do, given how disastrous the air battle had unfolded.
Minutes passed by as the air-groups continued to take terrible casualties. The fleet meanwhile pressed forward towards a showdown with Rodan. Admiral Asakura began to see the monster's handy work up close in the sky. Through his binoculars, he could see warplanes falling out of the skies regularly. The air battle had already been raging for a half-hour, and the Japanese had little to show for it, aside from the loss of many of their veteran airmen and aircraft.
Admiral Asakura sent out an order for his fighters to retreat. He wanted them to regroup behind the fleet. Asakura was hoping Rodan would follow the planes so he could concentrate all of his anti-air guns in one powerful barrage. The pilots, however, struggled to retreat as they got the recall order. Rodan destroyed even more fighters as they withdrew. He was so fast and agile compared to them. It was heartbreaking to watch the futile efforts of the brave airmen. Rodan followed fighters that were straggling behind, knocking them out one by one. But in doing so, he found himself right where Admiral Asakura wanted him.
The order was given, and all of the surface ships erupted with heavy gunfire. As Rodan flew over the fleet, he was peppered with rounds. Rodan quickly altered course, sweeping away from the majority of the onslaught. The monster came in low, and before the gunners could make any adjustments, he plucked a destroyer clean out of the water with his talons. Rodan continued to skim the water with the warship in its grasp until it came across the aircraft carrier Kaga. As Rodan passed over the carrier, he jammed the destroyer directly into the portside hull of the warship. The sound of twisting and tearing metal could be heard even inside of Akira's fighter above the fleet.
The crippled destroyer sat inside the Kaga for only a few seconds before its forward magazine exploded, causing even more damage to the carrier. Both ships started to take on massive amounts of water and began to sink. Meanwhile, Rodan banked sharply, and used his claws to slash at the side of a nearby cruiser. He left a gash in the side of the ship that ran almost the entire length of the hull. The cruiser also started to sink from the lethal damage Rodan inflicted. There was little the sailors aboard any of the three ships could do. The damage was simply too extensive for their repair crews to handle.
Rodan found his way to the next closest carrier and landed right on the flightdeck. The monster brought all its weight down on the bow of the Shokaku and waited while the whole front of the ship dipped down into the water. The forward sections of the carrier quickly filled with seawater, while the stern rose clear out of the sea.
Several light cruisers were nearby and took aim at Rodan. They landed a number of hits with their seven-inch guns, but if they bothered the monster even in the slightest, it was not apparent. The battleship Kongo was also nearby and leveled its fourteen-inch cannons at the monster. The Kongo fired, and one of its shells hit Rodan square in his armored torso. This time, Rodan definitely took notice. The monster rocked back and forth, digging his talons into the flightdeck of the Shokaku, even as the carrier continued to sink below him. Rodan nearly lost his footing as he tried to recover on his perch. He roared angrily and then took to the sky once more. The sound of the monster's fury could be heard throughout the fleet.
Rodan came back down at the Kongo and lashed out at the battleship. The monster's talons clasped onto the Kongo's bridge and pulled it clean away from the warship's superstructure. Still enraged, Rodan swept back down over the fleet. He passed over the carrier Hiryu at an incredible speed. As the monster went by, the flight deck of the ship was ripped away like the roof of a house being torn off by a tornado. Two nearby destroyers were also blown over and capsized by the sheer force of the wind. The displaced deck of the Hiryu whipped around wildly until it crashed into the hull of a cruiser, causing even more damage to the fleet.
Admiral Asakura watched in horror as his fleet was being decimated. One of his subordinates handed him a piece of paper while the carnage continued to unfold. Asakura unfolded, and then read through, what turned out to be an urgent report. At last, some good news had come in. A ground unit that had been scouting for Rodan's nest for days finally found something that looked promising. Even better, the probable nesting site wasn't too far away from the battle-zone.
Admiral Asakura sent an urgent radio message out to any of his surviving squadrons. He instructed any planes that still had enough fuel, to make for the grid-coordinates of the supposed nest. They were to attack with whatever ordinance they had at their disposal. Akira got the message and started to coordinate with the remnants of other flight groups. He quickly managed to patch together a strike force. Along with his own group of fighters, three full squadrons of Val dive-bombers joined him and detached away from the main fleet.
It took the aircraft less than fifteen minutes of flight time to reach their target. While they were in route, the Japanese fleet started to have better luck against Rodan. The battleship shell Rodan had taken to the chest, had slowed him down considerably. His attacks had become less frequent and less deadly. The monster was circling the fleet, periodically swooping down at them to attack. Rodan was still damaging ships and sinking them, but not nearly as easily as he had done before.
As Rodan came in for another attack on the battleship Fuso, the warship's main guns managed to score a second hit to the monster's chest. Rodan sunk his talons into the side of the vessel, and tore enough of the hull away to ensure the Fuso would sink, but the latest volley was enough to convince him that further attacks on the fleet were something he was no longer interested in.
Rodan began to retreat as a pair of heavy cruisers pressed in towards him. The warships fired several volleys of their main guns at the monster, two of which managed to strike him in the left wing. As a result, Rodan lost both speed and altitude. It seemed as though the IJN fleet was finally starting to gain an advantage in the fight. Rodan hit the water, and Admiral Asakura ordered all ships to move in.
Just as things were starting to look in the Japanese's favor, the radar officer aboard the Akagi spoke up with a warning.
"Admiral, I have a second radar contact incoming!" He said, stepping aside so Admiral Asakura could see for himself that there was indeed another large radar blip closing in on the fleet. Worse still, he noted that it appeared to be very similar to the signature of Rodan. No one exactly knew what to make of that, but the contact was coming in from the North, and moving fast.
Meanwhile, Akira's fighters had reached their target. What they found was indeed a nest, and it had to belong to Rodan. The nest was mostly made up of hundreds of trees that had been completely uprooted from the soil. Akira wasted no time. He instructed his dive-bombers to immediately carry out the strike. The Vals dove down and unleashed ten thousand tons worth of bombs on the nest, while Akira's fighters covered them from above. The bundle of trees, along with everything around them, was obliterated in a series of explosions. The Vals turned around, and then circled to observe the damage they had inflicted. The pilots saw that nothing remained of the nest aside from burning debris. Satisfied with the results, Akira signaled for his planes to return to the armada.
Back at the fleet, the situation was growing more dire. The radar contact was just a few miles out now and was about to reveal itself. Admiral Asakura ordered what remained of his fighter pickets to intercept whatever was approaching, but the planes hadn't gotten far before the intruder was right on top of them.
To the horror of the Admiral, as well as all of the other officers on the Akagi's bridge, a second Rodan burst out from the clouds and flew through a dozen aircraft as it made its way towards the original Rodan sitting on the water. The newly arrived monster came in low and capsized yet another destroyer. Then she used her talons to rip the turret off of one of the heavy cruisers closing in on the original Rodan and dropped it on one of the other warships along the way.
The momentum of the battle had shifted drastically as the heavy cruiser's assault faltered. The second Rodan came back around and beat her wings towards the nearby warships, covering the retreat of the first Rodan. The distraction of the second Rodan lasted long enough for the first to flap his wings and regain flight. Once the first Rodan had made it a safe distance away from the fleet, the second one joined him. From there, they began to withdraw.
Moments later, it became clear where the monsters were going. The fighter-director came over the radio once again. He warned Akira's flight-group that the pair of Rodans were headed in their direction. Akira was puzzled, and he asked that the fighter-director repeat the message. He needed him to confirm that he in fact meant 'Rodans' and not 'Rodan'. The fighter-director confirmed the transmission was correct, and that he indeed meant it to be in the plural form.
Cold sweat formed on Akira's forehead as he looked up to see that there were in fact two Rodans pressing in on his flight-group's position. Though at that point, they were just dark spots on the horizon, the monsters were already within visual range of the fighters. The two Rodans were so much faster than his planes. It would not be long before they arrived.
Akira knew that their weapons were no good against the monsters, and they had no chance of getting away, so he decided to do the only thing he could. He put himself on a collision course to ram right into the closest Rodan. If he could hit one in the face, maybe it would distract both of them long enough for the other pilots to get back to the fleet. Akira knew there was no room for error this time. To ensure his plane struck home, he would have to remain at the controls to guide it in.
"For the good of the homeland…" Akira said to himself, almost like a prayer. He corrected his fighter's course to line up directly into the monster's flightpath as they pushed in closer. He mentally prepared himself, trying to stay calm, and fully commit to his lethal course of action.
Then something happened that shook Akira. As the Rodans closed to a thousand yards, they both suddenly veered off to the right and began to retreat Northward. Akira almost felt cheated as he saw the monsters leaving the battle area. 'Where are they going? Don't they want vengeance?' He thought puzzled.
…
In the aftermath of the battle, a close investigation revealed that there had been no eggs present in the Rodan's nest. It was concluded that the monsters had most likely retreated because there was no longer a reason to fight. As the location of their nest had been uncovered, it would simply be easier for them to go somewhere else and build a new one.
The Japanese managed to drive the Rodans out of their territory, but the victory had bought them very little. The original monster was still at large, and worse, they had discovered that there were in fact two of them now. The cost in men and equipment had been very high. The Imperial Japanese Navy had lost over a quarter of their combat aircraft and nearly an eighth of their warships, including six capital ships and a handful of heavy cruisers. All said, nearly five thousand Japanese servicemen had died in the operation.
The debacle was a disaster for the Japanese government. They had to explain to their angry citizens why so many of their soldiers had died for so very little.