Earth, Sea, Space: Unholy Alliance

[Tyler E. Martin]

Behold!

DAICHI, UMI, OZORA:
AKUMA DOMEI
(Earth, Sea, Space:
Unholy Alliance)
A writing by Tyler E. Martin

*

"It's a big one." -Dr. Aoki, "Gamera vs. Gyaos"

*

Prologue

August 6, 1997
Antarctica, about 500 kilometers northwest of the South Pole
6:20 A.M. ...

The fierce Antarctic wind cut swiftly through the air as it usually did, dropping the temperature far lower than the inhospitable cold already present in the harsh atmosphere. This barren, frozen desert was not a place through which one should journey alone. Yet through the intense cold and strong winds there walked a single figure.
Standing a little less than six feet and clad in robes made of some kind of incredibly thick animal hide, the being trudged shakily through the snow. Suddenly, the figure stopped, and reached a gloved hand into one of the pockets on the side of the outermost covering. He pulled out a small device, about four inches across and shaped like a diamond. It was light gray in color and sported a single white button at its center. The lone man pressed the button and carefully placed it in the snow in front of him.
He then sat down and tilted his head back, gazing skyward through the protective goggles. Under his thick ski mask, the man smiled. Not much time would pass before a massive convoy of flying vehicles would arrive, their crews prepared to create a huge, complex base of operations here in the barren wasteland that supported such little life.
The second reign of Domitian was about to begin.

October 3, 20XX (Shortly after the events of "Bio-Kaiju no Daikessen")
The Diet Building, Tokyo, Japan
11:07 P.M. ...

The immense object had been lying still, leaning against the Diet Building, threatening to crush it under the mass of itself and the developing larva it supported, for about two weeks now. Its creation had been a hurried and unnatural one. The cocoon had been spun by the infant caterpillar Mothra, who created it as a barrier against the sludge monster Hedorah, who forced unconsciousness upon the dinosaur monster Angilas and threatened to do the same to her and possibly worse. Mothra was only able to save her own life by spinning this cocoon rather prematurely while the horrendous Virus X ravaged her body. By releasing some kind of mystical energy from within herself, she was able to tip the balance of the final struggle in Godzilla's favor, allowing him to put an end to Hedorah's existence. Since then, the larva had been changing abnormally within the cocoon.
Finally, after two weeks of stillness, the cocoon began to shake terrifically, crumbling the Diet Building underneath it. Brilliant flashes of red lit up the night sky, giving the entire area an eerie effect of twilight. With a deep, resounding rumble, the cocoon was torn open from the inside, and a tremendous insect crawled out, unraveling its wings as the red glow began to fade. As its features became more apparent under the moonlight, it was obvious that something had caused a wrong turn in the larva's transformation.
This creature, whatever it was, was most definitely not Mothra. Though similar in shape, it possessed many rather undesirable differences. Its head, body and legs were a dark grayish-green in color, and its entire body was lined with small, spiky red knobs. Three abbreviated yellow horns protruded from the top of its head, which featured almond-shaped, glowing red eyes and a hideous, spiked set of mandibles. Its tremendous, leathery wings, spanning 180 meters from tip to tip, were covered in intricate, weaving patterns of red, yellow and black. Its wings began to flap rather quickly, and it took to the skies, emitting a terrible, bellowing roar.
Aside from that sound, the city had no warning.
It began to wheel about in a massive circle above Tokyo, letting out its ear-shattering cry. The spikes and horns adorning the creature's body began to glow with blinding radiance. Then, twin purple beams of energy, surrounded by lashing blue whips of energy, burst from its eyes. The rays contacted many towering structures below, tearing through them with deadly explosive force. Its patterned wings began to flash in red and yellow, and tremendous shockwaves rained down upon the city, flattening most everything not blasted apart by the purple-and-blue rays from its eyes. The creature continued its beam assault, still circling above the unwary metropolis, blasting huge buildings into chunks of melted glass and steel that rained down to the streets below, crushing pavement and parked vehicles. After several minutes of mayhem, the barrage of deadly beams and shockwaves suddenly stopped, and the deadly creature disappeared into the night sky, leaving behind a burning, leveled mass of structures behind it.

[Tyler E. Martin]

Chapter I

October 4, 20XX
Japanese Self-Defense Headquarters
12:00 Noon ...

"No footage of the creature was obtained," said Admiral Jun Tazaki, obviously devastated by the destruction wrought by the bizarre, deadly new monster. "Its attack was over within minutes, but the damage it inflicted upon our city is definitely the worst since Godzilla's second attack in 1984.
"The few people who saw the creature and lived to tell about it reported that it emerged from Mothra's cocoon," the admiral continued. "But whatever this thing is, it cannot be Mothra. The difference in appearance is obvious, and this new beast's behavior is radically different from the peaceful creature we are now familiar with. Its origins are unknown, but we are certain it has something to do with Mothra." He paused. "Captain Akira Sakurai has done some quick research to see if the mythology of Mothra's native people makes mention of any such creature."
The attention in the room, crowded with military officials from all branches of the JSDF, turned to the young captain. "Thank you, admiral. According to eyewitness accounts, this creature bears an incredibly close resemblance to Battra, the evil insect monster that terrorized Infant Island many thousands of years ago. It was vanquished when Mothra appeared and made battle with it. After a long struggle, Battra's wrath was suppressed, seemingly forever. But now, it seems that Battra has reemerged...from the cocoon of Mothra."
A flurry of noise broke out among the military men, but one voice rose up above the rest. "Is there any explanation to account for this unexplained occurrence?"
The strange, inquisitive tone in the voice and the wording of the question raised many eyebrows. An uncomfortable silence fell upon the room.
The quiet was broken by the enraged voice of JSDF Air Force Commander Shoichi Hirose. "Who let a reporter into this place?!"
"Security!" Admiral Tazaki cried, alerting security officers to the source of the question, a youthful man standing amid a group of high-ranking JSDF officers.
The security men grabbed the notepad-and-pen-toting reporter and began to shove through the thick gathering of officers. "Wait!" the eager journalist shouted insistently. "What about Project Mechagodzilla? Will it be finished in time to counter the threat posed by this new monster? And what of Garuda? Has it really been scrapped?"
"Security, hold him there!" Admiral Tazaki ordered, approaching the reporter, an infuriated scowl covering his usually calm face. "How do you know of that project? All information regarding it is classified!"
The journalist felt pressured to tell the truth. "I've been tracking the progress of Project Mechagodzilla. It's a very interesting operation, if you don't mind me saying so..."
"What?! 'Tracking?' Have you been sneaking into our files? Or have you attended all of our meetings, you little fink?"
The youthful reporter nodded warily, letting out a weak nervous sound.
"Of all the lowlife scoundrels..." Tazaki muttered. "I must commend you for your incredible slyness, but your natural inquisitive nature has gotten the better of you. Security, hold this man until we can figure out what to do with him."
The security officers obediently took the man away, placing him in their temporary custody. Admiral Tazaki returned to his place in the meeting room, planning to continue the conference. But as it went on, the reporter's knowledge kept eating him at the back of his mind. He could not shake the thought of the potential breach in national security.

October 4, 20XX
A secret military installation in Kyushu
4:33 P.M. ...

Project Mechagodzilla had been underway for only two years, but already, it was nearing completion. The concept of a gigantic superweapon to counter the threat posed by Godzilla had been thought up during a meeting of the United Nations to discuss a way to repel Godzilla and other giant monsters. Now, scarcely two years later, that superweapon was about to be put to the test.
Mechagodzilla, a life-size robotic duplicate of the giant dinosaur monster, was very similar in shape to the beast, though Mechagodzilla was significantly sleeker and sported a vast arsenal of weapons. Its entire body was a uniform metallic silver. Extremely dense, resilient titanium steel armor covered the whole of its form, protecting the delicate electronics inside, and that armor was coated with an invisible "skin" made of NT-20 artificial diamond, which could, theoretically, absorb Godzilla's radioactive rays, gathering the energy and returning it through the Plasma Cannon, located near the robot's waist. If damaged, the diamond coating was limitedly able to regenerate through an advanced technology similar to microcopying, only with electronic and mechanical characteristics, making it comparable to Godzilla's ability to regenerate cells. Aside from the Plasma Cannon, it also possessed many other deadly weapons. Twin maser cannons were located in its mouth, allowing it to fire a devastating double-maser beam. Inside its eyes were two more maser cannons, allowing four masers to be fired at once. Located in the bottoms of its wrists were "shock anchors," arrow-shaped projectiles which, when embedded deep enough into a solid target, would turn into grappling hooks. The shock anchors were attached to steel cables over ten miles long each, rolled up inside Mechagodzilla's arms. These cables allowed tremendous jolts of electricity to be passed into the target. The top of each wrist was adorned with twin rocket launchers that resembled the deck guns on naval craft. There were larger rocket launchers located on its shoulders, extending out from a navy-blue colored jetpack, which allowed flight in short bursts. All of these weapons could be fired simultaneously, giving even the toughest of opponents little chance of survival.
The robot was controlled remotely by a crew of five of the most experienced military pilots the world's militaries had to offer, including a trained martial artist placed inside a virtual-reality chamber who took on full responsibility for Mechagodzilla's more complex physical actions should they be forced to resort to hand-to-hand combat with Godzilla. Should the control mechanism somehow fail, Mechagodzilla's artificial intelligence would take over, carrying out its main objective: to destroy Godzilla at all costs.
For long-distance flight, a flying machine called Garuda was used. It was originally designed to be the "superweapon," but its fighting capabilities were decided to be relatively ineffective against such threats as Godzilla, so the idea of using it as a fighting tool were scrapped. Still, it was a very useful means of transporting Mechagodzilla over long distances. Thought had been given of using the two together to make an even deadlier creation, but the Garuda's weight severely impaired Mechagodzilla's terrestrial maneuverability.
The militaries of the world had banded together to create this mighty machine. Only through the cooperation of the United Nations could it be completed in such a short time, and with such spectacular results.
Soon, it would be activated for the first time. For the entire two years of its creation, the project had been kept completely top-secret. But not much time would pass before its existence would be known.

October 4, 20XX
JSDF HQ Detainment Area
5:19 P.M. ...

The reporter sighed with exasperation as he was interviewed.
"Just how long have you been sneaking into our meetings?" asked Admiral Tazaki.
"I started attending your conferences about two years ago, shortly after the conception of what is now Project Mechagodzilla," the journalist said with utmost frustration. "Why are you keeping me in this cell like an animal?"
"I ask the questions here, you little twit," Tazaki fumed. "Now. Why haven't you published any of your findings?"
The reporter slumped and began to shake. "I...haven't found a newspaper that will accept the information," he said with more than a hint of nervousness.
"Is that so?"
"Yes, it is, admiral," the young man said, grinning suspiciously.
"I'll bet," Admiral Tazaki muttered. "What did you say your name was?"
"I am Kenji Manabe. I told you that already."
"That sounds oddly familiar. Do you have any identification with you?"
"No, sir."
"That's fine. What about your birthplace?"
"Sapporo, Hokkaido, sir."
"Age?"
"Twenty-five."
"How about your exact birthdate?"
"I have forgotten. I never considered my birthday to be a particularly special event."
"I see." The admiral turned to one of the other officers witnessing the interview. "I want a complete fact-check about all 25-year-old males named Kenji Manabe who were born in Sapporo. We'll see if this man is telling the truth or not."
"Yes, admiral," the man said, leaving the room.
An audible gulp was heard, and Tazaki faced Kenji once more. "Don't tell me you just fed me a shovel full of horse manure," the admiral said accusingly.
"No, not at all," Kenji said nervously.
"We'll find out soon enough."
There were nearly fifteen minutes of tense silence, then the officer sent to check on Kenji Manabe's records returned with several file folders in hand. "We found several men by that name, and one in particular fits in with this man rather well." He handed one of the folders to Admiral Tazaki.
As the admiral skimmed over the file, he cocked his head. "Hmm. It says here that...you disappeared about four years ago?"
"I...um, you must have the wrong person," the reporter said.
"But this photo," said the admiral, taking a sheet of paper with a copy of an identification card on it. "It looks exactly like you, does it not?"
Kenji took the paper in hand and examined it for several seconds. "The resemblance is striking, but it can't be me, unless someone has put that paper in the wrong file."
"Are you sure?" asked the admiral inquisitively. "It says here that you disappeared four years ago and you've been...yes! I remember now. It was making the news all over the country. If you're not in any trouble, why haven't you returned home?" Admiral Tazaki asked. "Or have you done something you shouldn't have?" he tacked on suspiciously.
"Not at all! Do I look like the kind of person..."
"Considering you've kept your cover for so long, you're sure not handling yourself very well right now. This is very odd. But what's done is done. We can't release you with the knowledge you have. We'll be holding you until tomorrow at the very least. The questioning will continue then."

[Tyler E. Martin]

Chapter II

October 5, 20XX
About 100 kilometers southeast of Ise Bay, aboard an unnamed vessel
1:37 A.M. ...

The small vessel, about twenty feet from bow to stern, bobbed rather precariously like a piece of cork on the rough waves of a violently stormy sea. Inside, its compliment of four men held on for dear life, trying to keep as calm as possible while still making sure that their precious smuggled goods were not being damaged. Several large crates were tied down in the ridiculously small cargo hold. Each of the crates contained various precious historical remains from all over Japan. They had been taken in Kyushu, and the boat was presently approaching Nagoya, where they would be distributed on the black market, if the weather proved favorable enough for them to do so.
As another great wave threatened to capsize the vessel, a blood-curdling scream of terror erupted from the cargo hold, breaking the monotonous sound of the crashing sea. The screaming continued for nearly a minute, after which it abruptly ceased. When one of the men gathered up his courage, he began to inch toward the cargo hold, finding a solid object to grab onto with every step. When he finally reached the hold, he noticed with incredible fear that the door was open. Peering inside, he managed to catch a glimpse of a man lying facedown, sprawled across the floor before a great force struck him down.
He struggled to get back up, but was pinned down. As he looked up to see what had attacked him, he was nearly sent into shock. The thing was a huge, deformed sea louse, nearly four feet long with blood covering its entire head. The man screamed in horror as the thing overpowered him and latched itself onto his neck, going straight for the jugular vein. As life hurriedly fled from him, he heard a seemingly distant cry of distress from one of his shipmates: "It's Godzilla!"

October 5, 20XX
Project Mechagodzilla Base, Kyushu
5:38 A.M. ...

The emergency alarm blared throughout the facility, accompanied by eerie red flashes of light. The crew immediately responded, jumping out of bed and throwing on their uniforms. They rushed to the briefing room, more awake and alert than ever before.
Once they arrived, they were briefed by Project Commander Takuya Sasaki on the situation. "Approximately two hours ago, Godzilla was sighted heading directly for Nagoya. His current position is about fifty kilometers from Ise Bay. Mechagodzilla's main power system is already online. It is ready for launch. You are to halt Godzilla's advance through Nagoya, before he reaches the nuclear power plant. Understood?"
"Hai!" the crew answered as one, saluting the commander. They then followed him through the complex, winding series of corridors in the base to the control center, where they took their places at the control consoles from which they would be piloting Mechagodzilla.
"I have the utmost confidence in the five of you," said Commander Sasaki. "Now, you will put all your training to good use. Good luck." With that, he left the room, the electronic door sliding shut behind him.
A large television monitor, closely resembling a window in the control center, allowed an excellent view of the magnificent machine, which was now standing, its yellow eyes aglow, prepared for launch. The engines on the rear of Garuda, attached to its back, hummed loudly as they were primed for takeoff. Mechagodzilla's glorious visage filled the monitor, and the crew gazed upon it, absorbing the beauty of its countenance. The trance was broken by Colonel Kunio Miyauchi, the ranking member of the crew.
"Switch view to head cam," he commanded.
Instantly, the image on the monitor changed to Mechagodzilla's point of view via a signal from a camera placed atop the robot's head. Light poured over the machine as the tremendous doors at the top of the structure opened.
"Systems check," Colonel Miyauchi said.
"All systems are go," said Saeko Mabuchi, the technical systems operator. "Mechagodzilla is ready to launch at your command."
Miyauchi inhaled a deep breath as Mechagodzilla was put into action for the very first time. "Mechagodzilla...takeoff!" He pushed forward two levers on the console before him, moving the robot upward.
Mechagodzilla slowly rose through the round portal above it, reaching a point nearly one hundred meters above the roof of the installation, which stood over two hundred meters. The glint of twilight highlighted the NT-20 coating on its titanium-steel hull, giving the robot a surreal, majestic look as it leaned forward in midair, taking off in a northeasterly direction toward Nagoya. When it reached its full speed, Mechagodzilla, with Garuda attached to its back, flew at Mach Two.
Flying at two times the speed of sound, the glorious creation streaked off to the confrontation for which it had been built.

October 5, 20XX
JSDF HQ
6:19 A.M. ...

"Mechagodzilla has just taken off," Commander Minoru Chiaki informed the admiral. "It is estimated to arrive at Nagoya in approximately twenty minutes."
"What is Godzilla's ETA?" Admiral Tazaki asked with urgency.
"He will enter Ise Bay at about the same time as Mechagodzilla lands at Nagoya, giving the crew several minutes to prepare for the battle."
"Good," the admiral said with anticipation. "We can finally see just what this machine is capable of doing."
The two walked over to the huge visual monitor programmed to show the image transmitted from a camera placed atop Nagoya Tower. It was from this vantagepoint that the top-ranking JSDF officers would watch the confrontation between Godzilla and Mechagodzilla. But to their surprise, it displayed the default image of the JSDF logo with a green background.
"What happened to the Nagoya image?" the admiral demanded.
One of the technicians approached him. "We're not sure, admiral. We've been trying all morning to get the signal, but we haven't been able to retrieve it. We're working on it, sir."
"Keep trying," Admiral Tazaki said.
Suddenly, a lieutenant burst into the room with a look of shock on his face. "The detainee has disappeared!" he shouted.
Admiral Tazaki turned and faced the man. "Disappeared? Weren't there three guards assigned to that cell?"
"Yes, sir," the lieutenant said. "They said he just vanished into thin air! He pulled some kind of device out of his pocket and, before the guards could respond, he disappeared."
"That's impossible!"
"It's what the guards said, sir. The surveillance tapes show the man pulling something out of his pocket, then the image becomes scrambled for a few seconds. After that, it returns to normal, but the man is gone."
"Do you think the guards could have helped him escape?"
"Not possible, sir. The time displayed on the cameras shows that the image returns to normal just three seconds after the distortion begins, and all three guards are in plain view of each of the cameras."
The admiral muttered a curse under his breath.
Now, they were devoid of a view of the battle at Nagoya, and the reporter was missing. The officers wondered what could go wrong next.

October 5, 20XX
Nagoya
6:32 A.M. ...

Mechagodzilla was brought to a soft landing near the edge of Ise Bay, only about twenty meters away from the water. Garuda was quickly detached and took off back to the base in Kyushu, leaving the robotic duplicate of Godzilla standing perfectly still, facing out toward the bay, looking very much like a gigantic statue.
It stood for some time, totally motionless, until the waves of Ise Bay were broken by the massive form of Godzilla. Slowly, the monster waded ashore, torrents of seawater running through rutted hide that covered his bulky body. His tail thrashed about behind him, causing tremendously large waves. The creature's irregularly shaped dorsal spines clattered together with every step with a terrific sound. As he approached, Godzilla looked at the strange metallic beast standing directly in his path with a curious gaze.
Mechagodzilla positioned itself in an attack stance and opened its jaws, emitting an electronic reproduction of Godzilla's unmistakable roar. Godzilla responded with a cry of his own, halting his advance in midstep just a short distance from the shoreline. He stared directly into the machine's gleaming yellow eyes and grunted curiously. Suddenly, yellow flashes began to run up and down the robot's back with an almost musical hum. Mechagodzilla opened its mouth and fired twin maser beams at Godzilla, striking him directly in the chest. Godzilla screeched in surprise and pain as he stumbled backwards, his feet and thrashing tail sending splashes of water flying in all directions. Now angered, he began to charge, but was stopped by another double-maser blast from the robot's mouth.
Godzilla cried out in frustration, and his bony spines began to glow with surges of atomic energy. After a few seconds of charging, he unleashed his ultimate weapon on Mechagodzilla, sending a streak of radioactive heat flying its way. The magnificent machine was shoved back a short distance by the sheer kinetic force of the blast, but it kept its balance, and the NT-20 artificial diamond coating absorbed the atomic energy, storing it in the Plasma Cannon. Mechagodzilla counterattacked with its mouth and eye masers, hitting Godzilla's body with great force, nearly knocking the monster down.
Then, Mechagodzilla lifted its arms to where they were perpendicular with its chest, then fired the shock anchors in the undersides of its wrists. The projectiles shot through the dazed monster's extremely tough hide like tissue paper, embedding themselves inside Godzilla's body. Godzilla, crying out in agony, fired off a quick blast of atomic heat, which was absorbed by the artificial diamond and stored in the Plasma Cannon. Mechagodzilla sent a horrifying amount of electricity through the steel cables attached to the shock anchors, giving its opponent a terrible jolt. Godzilla's limbs stiffened and his white eyes widened as he screamed in unfathomable pain. But Mechagodzilla's assault had yet to reach its maximum level.
The robot stayed in place as the rocket launchers on its wrists and shoulders opened fire on the helpless monstrosity. Simultaneously, its mouth and eye masers poured onto Godzilla's struggling form. In the midst of the barrage of masers, rockets, and voltage, a previously hidden weapon was unveiled near the machine's waist. The Plasma Cannon unleashed the deadly force of Godzilla's own radioactive heat rays upon him, finally forcing the King of the Monsters down. His body jerked and writhed in unholy agony as he was assaulted with the array of deadly weapons.

Project Mechagodzilla Base, Kyushu...

"We've got him!" Colonel Miyauchi shouted with pride. "Continuous fire!"
"The rockets have been exhausted," said Reuben Bercovitch, in charge of weapons. "In addition, the high voltage being sent through the shock anchor cables is getting dangerously high and the rapid maser fire is taking its toll on the energy banks. I recommend we stop the attack before the energy banks overheat!"
"Cease fire," the colonel ordered. "I'd say he's finished anyway."
After nearly five minutes of the relentless hail of weapons, Mechagodzilla stopped.
"Look at all that blood in the water," Miyauchi said. "And the smoke. There's no way he survived that."
"I wouldn't be so sure," said Benjamin Pierce, the tactical officer. "Godzilla's instantaneous cell regeneration could have repaired a good deal of the damage."
"That's what the shock anchors were made for," the colonel stated. "The electricity probably stopped most of his cell activity."
No matter what the situation, the crew was not prepared for the sudden blast of atomic energy that came streaking from the thick cloud of smoke. It struck the poorly protected head cam, incinerating it instantly.
"What the...?" Miyauchi mumbled.
"We've lost the head cam!" Saeko Mabuchi announced, her voice frantic.
"He took out the eye masers as well!" said Bercovitch.
Colonel Miyauchi regained his composure. "Switch to motion sensors."
"Switching to motion sensors," said Mabuchi.
The screen lit up once more with an image of almost identical quality as the one transmitted by the head cam, but with more of a computer-generated look. This was a last resort for the crew, as it was somewhat less reliable than the image transmitted by the head cam. The crew was now seeing exactly what Mechagodzilla was seeing: Godzilla, battered and beaten, pulling one of the shock anchors from his body with great effort. It was obvious that his cell regeneration had been slowed somewhat, as he was still covered in bloody, half-healed wounds.
"Fire the mouth masers!" Miyauchi commanded. "We can't let him get near us!"
"But, sir!" Bercovitch protested. "The energy banks--"
"Fire, I said! Kill that wretched son of a b----!"
Without another word, Bercovitch fired the mouth masers, but he had no time to aim. The double blast streaked over Godzilla's left shoulder, missing by mere inches. Immediately, a red light near the top of the weapons console began to blink rapidly, accompanied by an urgent message from the computer: "Energy bank overheating! Automatic system shut-down commencing."
Then, all the lights on the control consoles went dim, as well as the screen.
"We're sitting ducks," said Mabuchi. "There's nothing more we can do."

Nagoya...

Godzilla yanked the second shock anchor from his tortured form, grunting partly from pain and partly from anger. Then he howled with rage and charged the now-immobile Mechagodzilla, slamming his massive form into it. The robot was knocked down, its incredible mass crashing against the ground with a tremendous metallic thud.
Victorious, Godzilla bellowed again and continued his relentless approach to the nuclear power plant.

[Tyler E. Martin]

Chapter III

October 5, 20XX
United Nations Building, New York City, New York
9:47 A.M. ...

"The U.N.'s latest technological achievement has ultimately failed," the international message stated. "Just a few hours ago, Mechagodzilla, the newest anti-Godzilla weapon employed by the Japanese military, was launched from an undisclosed location and flew to Nagoya to stop Godzilla's approach to the nuclear power plant there. Due to an energy bank overheat, its attack failed. The monster proceeded to the power plant, where it absorbed a reactor core. Afterwards, it submerged in Ise Bay and has not been seen since. The Japanese naval forces are being mobilized as we speak. They will attempt to keep track of the monster's movements in order to prevent further destruction. Steps are being taken to retrieve, repair, and upgrade Mechagodzilla for a future confrontation. That is all."

October 7, 20XX
Domitian's Palace, Antarctica
10:05 A.M. ...

"The time is ideal, your lordship," said Agent 23. "Their greatest weapon is now debilitated, and the country of Japan is being threatened by Godzilla and Battra. That's one less power we have to deal with."
Domitian pulled an apple from the fruit plate next to his rococo throne and began to stroke it lovingly. "Perhaps the time is right, 23. I will send a servant to notify our affiliates that our conjoined empire is ready to begin its expansion." He took a large bite from the apple. "Servant!" he hollered with a mouthful of partially chewed fruit, his muffled voice resonating in the huge imperial chamber.
One of the servants lined next to the walls took several steps forward and bowed. "What is your wish, your lordship?"
"Fool!" Domitian grunted, spitting out the bite of apple. "You are out of order!"
"Your lordship?"
"Guards! Execute this man!"
Obediently, the two burly, armor-clad, axe-toting guards placed on either side of the chamber entrance began to approach the "out of order" servant. The whole act took nearly three minutes, as the chamber was a gigantic, overly elaborate square that stretched hundreds of feet on each side. Once they reached the servant, who was shivering out of pure terror, they each grabbed an arm and dragged him across the polished marble floor to a bloodstained spot in front of the emperor's throne. The man was made to kneel, facing Domitian, while the guards readied their axes.
The emperor stared coldly at the servant. "Do you know what you have done, peon?"
"I have done nothing wrong, your lordship," the frightened servant said with a touch of defiance. "Your judgment must be flawed," he added angrily. He would have never behaved this way had he known he was not about to be killed.
"Insolent fool! Guards...kill him."
The guards, positioned on either side of the man, brought their axes down upon him. One blade struck the base of his spine; the other sliced through the back of his neck. He was paralyzed and beheaded in the same instant. His limp body struck the floor with an unsavory slapping noise, blood pouring from his wounds, forming a puddle around his body and severed head.
Domitian snorted at the dead body. "Take him away. Dispose of him."
The guards obeyed, one clutching the feet and the other taking the head under one arm. They left the chamber and took the man's remains to the crematorium, where the corpses "insolent" workers were disposed of. The ashes were routinely spread outside the base, which was surrounded by an impenetrable forcefield of sorts which not only provided protection, but also a sort of cloak; it made the entire facility completely invisible, giving the impression that this particular patch of barren wasteland was just like the rest of the continent. Such technology had been achieved only through years of research and was only put into use in 1997, when Domitian's underlings began work on the base. Inside the forcefield was not only Domitian's Imperial Palace, but also overly decorated living quarters for his top minions, as well as a meeting house for his senate, which served no purpose but to instruct other members of the empire of the basic guidelines of living required by the emperor.
The history behind this empire was an interesting one. Its leader, Domitian, had been born to a politically powerful family in Rolisica. The family had passed down leadership of their city through generations, and he had inherited his power from his older brother, who was killed in an automobile accident. Soon, he became obsessed with the idea of power, and, through his powerful heritage, worked his way up the ranks until he was governor of his province. He made a run as supreme ruler of Rolisica, but his power-madness caused him to be expelled from the country. Soon, he began to work underground and developed a tremendous following as a revolutionary leader. That ultimately led to his status now as leader of his own empire, headquartered at this base in Antarctica, which he had founded by challenging himself to travel alone, on foot, to this place from the edge of the Antarctic continent, ensuring that he could survive even the toughest obstacles. His original family name has been lost to history, but he adopted the name of the Roman Emperor Domitian, as well as his title, Dominus et Deus--literally, Master and God--whose history was suspiciously familiar to his, shortly after forming his empire. He decided to base his empire on those of ancient Rome and carried things out much like his namesake, while still running it in his own way. Though his underlings did not appreciate the way he did things, they obeyed him for fear of their lives, convinced that their lives would be come easier once the expansion was underway.. He knew that soon, he would have to start expanding this empire. Now, with the help of two other powerful empires, he was about to put that plan to work.
Not far from Domitian's main chamber was his robotic research laboratory, which housed the most terrible weapon of war ever produced. Through their alliance with Nebula Space Hunter M, they had obtained the three-headed monster King Ghidorah, now deprived of his central head and ultimately debilitated. Using the information gathered by Agent 23 regarding Mechagodzilla's construction and operations, they had made an horrific cyborg, Mecha-King Ghidorah. Possessing a robotic head and neck in place of its missing one, huge solar panels in place of its shattered wings which aided flight during the daytime, a rebuilt torso which contained a variety of weapons, powerful jets placed in its back and in metallic knee joints and double-spiked metal barbs on the ends of its two tails, it was perhaps the ultimate tool of destruction. It was piloted by a single operator seated inside a small dome at the base of the cyborg's central head.
Nebula Space Hunter M had an interesting story behind it as well. To be brief, many years ago, the Nebulans, insectlike creatures from some unknown world in the deep reaches of space, established "Space Hunter" units all over the galaxy, ranging from A to Z by name, to expand their power. Nebula Space Hunter M soon developed far more terrible capabilities than the others, and took power over the entire Nebulan Empire, though they still carried the name "Space Hunter M" to make their power known. They had attempted to take over Earth by aiding the Seatopians several years ago in their quest to regain their control of the planet after thousands of years of dormancy. Now, they were prepared to use an upgraded version of their mightiest cyborg creation, Gigan, in addition to King Ghidorah, to play their part in the invasion of Earth.
The other empire affiliated with Domitian's was that of Mu, the undersea civilization which lost their control over the Earth many thousands of years ago to the Seatopians. Through much tense diplomatic action, they were able to ally with Nebula Space Hunter M, though Nebula Hunter had assisted Seatopia in an attempt to overtake the Earth. Now, they sought worldwide, if shared, power once more with the help of the Empire of Domitian and Nebula Space Hunter M. Their main contributions to the invasion were a fleet of potent undersea warships to wipe out any seaborne resistance and their giant serpent-god, Manda.
Together, these three empires had united in the hopes of world domination. Soon, very soon, their plans would be put into action.

October 7, 20XX
JSDF HQ
1:48 P.M. ...

Chaos still rocked the entire complex. Mechagodzilla's defeat had unnerved everyone who knew of the tremendous time and effort that had been put into the project. Now, Godzilla was at large again and the insect monster known as Battra had been sighted all over Honshu, wreaking unmentionable havoc on small towns and villages, unaffected by all forms of airborne resistance pitted against it. Their greatest fear was that of Godzilla coming ashore to do battle with Battra, since it had been figured that from the beginning, Godzilla's motivation to ever make landfall in Japan was to defend what he instinctively knew as his natural territory.
Then they received a bizarre and terrifying message from the United States:
"We have been presented with an ultimatum from a man calling himself 'Domitian,' apparently after the ancient Roman emperor. The man stated that if we did not surrender all power to him within the next 48 hours, he would be forced to resort to drastic measures. He claimed to be in league with the Mu Empire and Nebula Space Hunter M, whom he said would also take part in a worldwide invasion that would end with their supreme rule over the entire planet. We realize this sounds impossible, but he provided us with some rather disturbing footage to back his claims. That footage is being sent to you now via satellite. Russia and the United Kingdom have received the same message from this man, and you may be receiving it soon."
The footage mentioned in the message was played over the viewscreen. It showed a number of frightening images: first, an image of the familiar alien cyborg monster Gigan. Though closely resembling the first, this creature possessed more musculature, heavier armor, and, Domitian said, more destructive capabilities than its predecessor. Second, a huge fleet of odd-looking submarines docked inside what the "emperor" said was the Mu Empire's main complex. Then, there was an image of a huge, serpentlike creature crawling about a dark cavern on small, spindly legs. This was, supposedly, the Mu Empire's god, Manda. Finally, there was a tense, if overly melodramatic, traveling shot. The camera's view began with two massive, clawed, golden-hued feet. The image panned out as the camera slowly moved up to reveal the body of a gigantic winged cyborg, featuring gigantic solar panels in its wings and a heavily armored torso. Then, the creature's entire form was revealed. Three dragonlike heads sat atop the steel-plated body, each attached to long, serpentine necks. The central head and neck were robotic, but the two flanking it were those of King Ghidorah, the vicious space monster. This new "Mecha-King Ghidorah" was the ultimate tool of annihilation, said Domitian, and it, along with Manda and Gigan, would be loosed upon the major cities of the world until the conjoined empires were given complete and unconditional surrender.

October 7, 20XX
Project Mechagodzilla Base, Kyushu
2:26 P.M. ...

"This is terrible news," Commander Sasaki mumbled. "Now that our ultimate weapon is down, the world doesn't stand a chance." He leaned back, sighing, his office chair creaking, the sound echoing off the walls of the conference hall, which was nearly empty, save for himself and the Mechagodzilla crew.
"Commander, you mustn't worry," Miyauchi said calmly. "This whole thing has got to be a bluff."
"Silence, colonel!" the commander ordered. "It's enough that you overheat the energy banks without even trying to confront the monster in close combat. You should be glad you haven't been booted off the crew."
Colonel Miyauchi looked down at the table, averting his gaze. "You do realize that I had good reason to believe just a few more..."
"Silence, I said! Mechagodzilla's capabilities were not put to the ultimate test, and it's your fault for not allowing it. We put Sweeney through more than a year of virtual-reality training to give Mechagodzilla an edge in hand-to-hand fighting, and you didn't even allow that hard work to be put to good use. As a matter of fact, Miyauchi, I'd say you're not quite fit for the job."
Miyauchi glared at the commander. "You wouldn't!"
"Don't count on it. The U.N. scientists are at this moment working on ways to improve Mechagodzilla's fighting capabilities. Unfortunately, colonel, you won't be able to put those improvements to use. As Project Commander, I'm taking your place as commanding officer of Mechagodzilla."
Colonel Miyauchi looked at Sasaki, his mouth agape, uttering unintelligible noises of protest.
"Now that we have a slight change of crew, ladies and gentlemen, I believe Mechagodzilla can pull through this disaster. Along with my guidance and an upgraded tin can to fight with, the enemy doesn't stand a chance."
Shelley Sweeney, the martial artist trained to operate Mechagodzilla's more complex physical movements, spoke up. "I don't doubt you, sir, but will it be in time? Mechagodzilla's retrieval, repair, and systems upgrading will take far longer than the 48 hours Domitian and the others have given us."
"I don't mean to sound rude," interjected Miyauchi, "but how can we be certain that this isn't a bluff?"
"Listen to me, colonel," Commander Sasaki said with poorly hidden anger. "I have spent years in military action making vital decisions based on what is presented to me. That message and the footage that accompanied it was undoubtedly authentic. My experience has taught me to distinguish what is real and what is not. No more from you, Miyauchi. I'll have given orders for you to return to your previous unit by this time tomorrow. As for the rest of you, training will resume shortly. We will do what we can to be prepared to resist the challenge these conjoined empires have given us before it's too late for the world to be saved."

October 7, 20XX
JSDF HQ
3:01 P.M. ...

"I may be able to find a way to stop Battra," said Captain Sakurai after a long silence. "The answer could be found through simple research, but I won't be able to do it alone. I have thought of the possibilities, and I think our best bet would be to consult Hiroshi Wagura."
"Wagura?" murmured Commander Chiaki. "The name sounds familiar, but I'm afraid I can't place it."
"He's a renowned professor of mythology at Tokyo University," Sakurai clarified. "Before I joined the military, I studied there. He got me started on my hobby of researching the mythology of obscure cultures. If he can give me a few tips for my research, we may be able to find out just how Battra was defeated so that we can defend ourselves against it."
"That's a brilliant idea, Sakurai," Admiral Tazaki said. "You go and do that. But the rest of us have to worry about the ultimatum we've been given. What kind of..."
"We've got something on the viewscreen, sirs!" one of the viewscreen technicians announced.
The officers looked at the screen to see a familiar face.
"Manabe!" the admiral exclaimed. "Where are you? Where did you go?"
The young man smiled and nodded. "I knew you would have some questions for me. Don't bother asking, because I've already prepared answers. To start off, I am now officially known as Agent 23 in His Lordship's Secret Service."
"His Lordship's Secret Service?" Tazaki asked, puzzled. "Does your emperor have a kind of fascination with James Bond?"
"I don't appreciate sarcasm, Admiral," Agent 23 scowled. "I am speaking of His Lordship Emperor Domitian. I am inside His Lordship's palace at this moment. It was from here that I hacked into your systems and cut off your link to see the battle at Nagoya after being transported from there by way of technology you have no way of comprehending. You could say that was a bit childish and kind of pointless, but it was fun toying with you simpletons.
"And since I work for His Lordship, you may have already figured out that I stole the information from the Project Mechagodzilla Base in order to help in the creation of Mecha-King Ghidorah. While the technological abilities achieved through the research of His Lordship's followers are more than enough to put most of your piteous achievements to shame, advanced robotics are not our strong point. However, through my handiwork, we were able to create the ultimate weapon. And, there is one more thing." He paused and grinned eerily. "The invasion will begin shortly! Goodbye for now, puny fools!"
The image of Manabe's face was abruptly replaced with a totally blank picture.
"What's going on?" Tazaki asked to nobody in particular.
Then, a shout from across the room: "We've lost all communications!"

[Tyler E. Martin]

Chapter IV

October 7, 20XX
All over the world
3:12 P.M. ...

The entire civilized world experienced a total communications blackout. All manmade devices used for communication, save perhaps two aluminum cans connected by a length of string, were rendered totally inoperative. Human beings could no longer contact each other through the use of technology. There was no warning, and soon, mass panic broke out.
Despite the disastrous occurrence, the world's militaries still prepared as well as possible for the impending invasion from the conjoined empires of Domitian, Mu, and Nebula Space Hunter M. Action was scheduled to begin in two days and the attack would encompass the entirety of civilization unless an unconditional surrender was made. Surrender was impossible at this point, and if the communications breakdown lasted for another two days, the nations of the world could not possibly notify Domitian, or anyone, that they intended to do so.

October 7, 20XX
Nebula Space Hunter M Outpost 17, in orbit around Jupiter
Exact time unknown...

The space station, hidden by the same type of shield as Domitian's palace, was full of life, its insectlike inhabitants scurrying about in preparation for the invasion of Earth. Inside a tremendous hangar bay of sorts stood the mighty cyborg Gigan, ready to begin its flight to Earth at any given moment. Standing over one hundred meters in height, Gigan was truly an impressive, if terrifying, sight to behold. A single, scarlet-colored eye stretched across most of the monster's forehead. Directly above the eye was a tiny red bulge from which a deadly laser, capable of cutting through solid steel in a matter of milliseconds, could be fired. The cyborg possessed a huge beak, which featured curved, clawlike mandibles on each side. On the top of its head sat a long spine, which curved forward. Smaller but similar spines ran down its neck, joining the three bizarrely shaped "wings" protruding from its back that allowed precise navigation during flight, which was powered by jets in its legs and back. A long tail stretched out behind the creature, which acted as a sort of rudder, just as the wings, during flight, and also a powerful weapon in combat. A single row of knobby spikes ran down its top, and it ended in a demonic scythe, smaller than but somewhat similar to the huge claws which were placed where forearms would ordinarily be. Its feet ended in single, hooked claws not unlike those on its arms. Running down from its chest to its abdomen was a tremendous buzzsaw, capable of ripping through any known solid substance with ease. Gigan's belly was covered in overlapping golden scales, not unlike those of the three-headed demon King Ghidorah. Its skin was thick and leathery and colored a dark bluish-green. Plates of solid silver adorned the monster's joints, and its scaly belly was outlined with similar armor. Its musculature was significantly bulkier than before, enabling greater physical strength. The most major upgrade, however, was the ability to think and fight on its own without aid from the Nebulans. It was now able to judge independently, its fighting style decidedly ferocious and unrelenting.
The Nebulans, human-sized insectoids, which appeared to be quadrupdal cockroaches (their foremost set of legs taking on the function arms and their upper bodies sticking upright), had waited for the coming day. They would be in possession, if only in part, of the most beautiful and abundant planet in the galaxy.

October 7, 20XX
Base of the Mu Empire, deep beneath the surface of the Pacific Ocean
3:29 P.M. ...

The Mu Empire had been wallowing in defeat for thousands of years, carrying on their existence within the confines of this base, located near the center of the now-sunken continent of Mu. The population had been controlled by only allowing members of the imperial family and upper class citizens to reproduce. If this rule was broken, the offenders, along with any product that may have come from their union, were killed. It took a relatively short time for these lower-class workers to die out, but before long a new lower class was created from the least successful members of the higher class, and the cycle continued.
Before Seatopia rose to power and dominated the Earth, Mu had the entire planet under their control and lost their power only when a century-long war ended in their defeat. Now that the Seatopians were dead and gone, and they had the assistance of Domitian's empire and Nebula Space Hunter M, worldwide power, though shared, was within their grasp once more.
Inside a massive cavern underneath the base, their giant serpent-god Manda slithered about, ready to lead his worshippers to world domination once again, just as he had done in the millenia before Seatopia rose to power. Sporting antler-like horns on each side of his head, a kind of long, thin, writhing mustache common to most ancient oriental dragons, and a massive, scale-covered body that stretched nearly seven hundred feet, Manda was indeed an imposing sight, and he possessed the incredible strength to back up his appearaance. Not much time would pass before he would take part in the largest invasion of Earth since the dawn of history.

October 8, 20XX
Aboard the Japanese Navy vessel Tokusatsu-Maru, off the eastern coast of Honshu
5:44 P.M. ...

Despite the recent breakdown of communications, the Japanese naval forces were still on the lookout for Godzilla in case they somehow re-established contact with the rest of the world. Without any connection to outside world, they had no way of warning the people of Japan that Godzilla was about to come ashore, a fact which left Captain Yoshifumi Tajima very unnerved.
"It's a frightening thing," Captain Tajima said to his first mate, Katsumi Tezuka. "We can look for Godzilla, but we can't tell anyone if we've found him or not. But what scares me the most is that we can't find any sign of him. He may already be on his way to Osaka or Yokohama."
"But he may have also went into hibernation," Tezuka said, trying to comfort the captain. "That's a possibility we can't ignore."
"We also can't ignore the possibility that he may be heading for one of our major cities. The latest intelligence we received said that Battra was still on the loose and showed no signs of ending its campaign of destruction. Godzilla is probably on his way to wherever it is, and you know as well as I do that wherever Godzilla goes, he brings mass annihilation with him."
The two men stood silently on the bow of the Tokusatsu-Maru, looking at the open sea around them. Its choppy blue waves were beginning to look more harsh as some fairly strong winds picked up. They looked in the direction of the winds to see dark storm clouds off in the distance.
"It won't be too long before that storm reaches us," said Tezuka. "That will make our search far more difficult."
Captain Tajima muttered something unintelligible as he walked over to the "big eyes," one of many huge sets of binoculars mounted all over the ship. He peered into them and scanned the horizon, looking for any evidence of Godzilla's presence. Suddenly, he jerked back in astonishment.
"What is it, captain?" asked First Mate Tezuka.
"Take a look," Captain Tajima said, stepping back.
Tezuka looked through the big eyes and saw a strange, insectlike carcass floating on the ocean's surface. He gasped.
Captain Tajima quickly walked to the bridge and gave to order to make a turn of several degrees to port. Before long, the bizarre dead creature was floating only a few meters from the Tokusatsu-Maru's hull. A net connected to a long line was thrown down and the carcass was hauled aboard. It was taken to one of the lower decks for examination by the team of scientists aboard the vessel assigned to aid in the investigation should scientific evidence be found. It was hoped that the examination of this odd giant insect would help to shed some light on the search for Godzilla.

[Tyler E. Martin]

Chapter V

October 9, 20XX
Domitian's Palace
2:01 P.M. ...

"All preparations have been made, your lordship," Agent 23 said. "The hour has come. The invasion will begin on your command."
"Make it so," Domitian ordered. "Contact Mu and Nebula Hunter. Tell them that the invasion will begin in ten minutes."
And so it was. Ten minutes later, the three empires released their weapons. Manda left his cave, heading southwest for Australia. Mu's fleet of undersea warships was dispersed and sent to the waters surrounding Australia, Asia, Europe, Africa, and North and South America.. Gigan left Nebula Space Hunter M's outpost near Jupiter, heading for Earth, where he would begin his assault in western Europe. And here, at Domitian's Palace, Mecha-King Ghidorah was released and headed northwest, in the direction of the United States.

October 9, 20XX
Aboard the Tokusatsu-Maru
5:14 P.M. ...

A thorough scientific examination of the insect, a bloated, four-foot-long sea louse, showed that it had died of a radiation overdose. It was theorized that the creature was one of many mutant parasites that had been living on Godzilla, using him as a host. Several creatures of the same type had been reported killing the crews of small vessels in their desperate search for nourishment, apparently because Godzilla's lack of external radioactive properties had been severely drained in his recent battle with Hedorah. Reports of giant sea lice living off of Godzilla dated back to 1984, when the monster attacked Japan the second time. Now that Godzilla had absorbed a nuclear reactor core, his atomic energies had skyrocketed and this sea louse had apparently gorged itself on the abundance of radiation and apparently took in too much for its body to cope with. It was concluded that this creature had died fairly recently because Godzilla had only absorbed the reactor core just a few days prior to the discovery of the dead sea louse.
It was because of this observation that the crew decided there was a correlation between the multitudes of dead giant sea louse that had been reaching the surface of the ocean in the past few hours, all apparently in the same condition, and Godzilla's location. The monster had been evading sonar, but there was no doubt a connection between his location and the dead sea lice. If they could re-establish contact with the other ships on the hunt for Godzilla, they could notify them of their discovery and look for the latest patch of dead sea lice to surface in order to determine Godzilla's present location. But, for the time being, they could only pray that communication would be restored in time.

October 10, 20XX
JSDF HQ
8:01 A.M. ...

The whole complex had been going non-stop since the communications breakdown three days before. No soldier had slept or even eaten a proper meal since the occurence. Most were trying frantically to find a way to re-establish communication with the outside world, and others were pondering if the invasion had begun, and if it had, how long it would be before they would know.
Inside the conference room, Admiral Jun Tazaki strained to think of a plan to put an end to the terror that was undoubtedly going on all over the world. "Three monsters and a fleet of undersea craft," he said. "What can possibly stand up to such a force?"
"There is Mechagodzilla," said Commander Chiaki. "But it will take at least a week to repair the damage. Who knows what how much destruction Domitian and the others can bring in that time?"
"That's it!" Tazaki cried out in realization.
"What?"
"Mechagodzilla! If only we could tell Domitian to stop the chaos and give us enough time to repair Mechagodzilla!"
"But we can't, sir," said Colonel Kazue Shiba. "And this isn't Godzilla. It's Mecha-King Ghidorah, Gigan, and Manda. How would Mechagodzilla even stand a chance against those three? And what about the submarines?"
Tazaki bellowed in frustration. "There's nothing we can do! It's a hopeless situation. Domitian's plan for world domination is fool-proof!"
Chiaki tried his best to remain calm, but he soon burst into a fit of emotion as well. Nothing could be done about this international crisis.
"Feeling frustrated, simpletons?"
Admiral Tazaki looked around for the source of the question, dumbstruck. Chiaki did the same. The voice was one all of them could place in an instant: that of Kenji Manabe, or Agent 23 of His Lordship's Secret Service.
"Sirs!" one of the technicians shouted, bursting into the conference room. "It's the viewscreen! The viewscreen is working again!"
"What the...?" Tazaki muttered. He rose from his seat and left the room, heading for the heart of the base, where most of the communications devices, including the viewscreen, were located. He was followed by the other officers.
When they reached the room, all of them were greeted by Manabe's bone-chilling voice. "I'll bet you missed me."
"Don't try me, fool," Tazaki scowled, glaring at the agent. "I'm angry enough as it is."
"As you wish. But just so you know, I've tapped into your base only. The rest of the world is still without communication. This is just between you and me."
The officers all stared at the man angrily. "What do you want with us?" asked Colonel Shiba. "Or do you simply want to get on our nerves again?"
"Oh, no, sirs, not at all," the agent said, grinning. "I happened to overhear your plan, admiral. I think it would be a good idea."
Admiral Tazaki's eyes widened in bewilderment. "You can't be serious!"
"I am," Manabe said flatly. "His Lordship has already agreed with it. I can let you speak with him if you wish."
"Yes," said the admiral. "I want to give that lunatic a piece of my mind."
"Whatever you say, admiral, whatever you say." The picture then shifted to an image of Domitian, a man of indeterminate age sitting on an overly decorated throne and clad in a toga.
"So this is the great Domitian," Tazaki said. "I'm not impressed."
"Silence, infidel!" the emperor ordered.
"We're not under your control yet," said Commander Chiaki. "You don't have the right to give us orders."
"You will be soon enough," Domitian began. "I will show you what you will be challenging with this 'Mechagodzilla' of yours."
The image changed again to a low-resolution picture of a large city being carpeted with a massive series of explosions from an aerial view.
"This is from a camera placed on Mecha-King Ghidorah," the emperor informed the men. "As you can see, Rio de Janeiro did not stand a chance. These images were recorded yesterday. The cyborg is now flying over the United States and preparing to attack Washington, D.C. on my command."
The officers were taken aback by what they saw. "That's insane!" Shiba commented.
"Isn't it glorious?" Domitian asked vainly. "I must give you credit. Without your research on advanced robotics, we could not have achieved such a great weapon." He paused as the image shifted again, this time to a view from a moving object over three hundred feet in the air, with a sea of flames engulfing the familiar structures of London. "Gigan attacked London last night with full force. It is presently heading for Moscow." The image changed once more to a view of Sydney from the waters just off its shore. The famed Sydney Opera House was crushed, and other nearby structures were in ruins. "This footage was taken just this morning by one of Mu's submarines. Manda is currently destroying Sydney."
"You...you beast!" Chiaki protested. "You're more of a monster than any of those creatures wreaking havoc on the world!"
Admiral Tazaki gathered up his strength and looked the emperor straight in the face. "It is of my knowledge that you have heard my plan," he began. "All I request is that you put an end to this destruction for ten days and give us back our communications at once. That way Mechagodzilla can be repaired and we can coordinate a plan. We have yet to decide on a location--"
"Yokohama," the emperor said.
"Why Yokohama?" asked Tazaki. "We were hoping for an uncivilized area..."
"You can order an evacuation, right? I command that the battle take place in Yokohama. You should try and get used to taking orders from me."
"You son of a--" Colonel Shiba growled, struggling to bite back a curse.
"The battle will take place in Yokohama," Tazaki said. "At the very least, we can minimize civilian casualties by evacuating the place."
"Very well," said the emperor. "Yokohama it is. We hope to see you there."
The image on the viewscreen shifted back to Manabe. "So there you have it. Your challenge has been accepted. I promise that all communications will be restored within the hour." With that, the screen returned to its default image.
Almost immediately, Captain Akira Sakurai burst out after not speaking for nearly a day. "Please allow me to contact Professor Wagura! We have to find a way to stop Battra."
"Go," said Tazaki. "We will pray for your success."

[Tyler E. Martin]

Chapter VI

October 10, 20XX
Aboard the Tokusatsu-Maru
8:41 A.M. ...

Communications were finally restored all over the globe, putting an end to the sudden madness which had erupted days before. After the mystery had been cleared up courtesy of information from the Japanese Self-Defense Force, military plans started to formulate immediately. Word was finally gotten out from the Tokusatsu-Maru that Godzilla could be tracked by locating the latest dead parasite to surface. This proved to be an efficient tracking method, as Godzilla was located by the sonar a number of times after it was put into use. For now, the creature seemed to be swimming up and down the waters to the east of Honshu, with no apparent objective. This was a relief to those who had been worrying if the monster was preparing to land. If he decided to do so at some point, it would be known almost immediately.

October 10, 20XX
Chiba, Japan
4:13 P.M. ...

Hearing a knock on the door, Professor Hiroshi Wagura rose from his seat in his living room, which was filled with various sculptures and other artifacts relating to ancient mythology. He had spent the last thirty-five years teaching a mythology course at the now-annihilated Tokyo University. The prestigious university had been destroyed by the mysterious monster Battra, named after the creature of South Pacific legend to which it bore an extraordinary resemblance. It was the origin and motivation of Battra that would be discussed today with a JSDF officer and former student of his, Akira Sakurai. As he opened the door, he was greeted with a handshake from Captain Sakurai. The officer followed Wagura back into his living room, where they both took a seat.
"You're really surrounded by your profession, aren't you, professor?" Sakurai asked, looking around at the mythological artifacts. His attention was drawn to one small statue in particular of a lionlike creature. "What's that?"
"That's the newest addition to my little collection," Wagura replied. "It was found just a few days ago aboard a vessel transporting illegally obtained historical artifacts from all over Japan. I was able to get hold of that little jewel. The others were sold to museums."
"Interesting. Do you know anything about it?"
"Yes, actually. It's a precious statue from Okinawa of the guardian monster King Seesar. He was a prominent figure in ancient Japanese mythology. According to legend, he protected civilizations all around the Pacific Rim from danger. Supposedly, when it is placed before one of the monster's ancient foes, Seesar is released to do battle with it."
"Ancient foes?"
"Their names and likenesses have been lost to history. Seesar was alleged to have done battle with many beasts in order to protect its homeland of Japan. There were only a few that escaped to see another day."
"Sounds like an interesting legend," Sakurai said, "but we've got the safety of the country and possibly the world to discuss. What about Battra? Do you know anything about it other than what I've already learned?"
"It took a few hours of research, but I did discover quite a clue," Professor Wagura said, his face taking a serious yet relaxed look, an expression Sakurai had grown familiar with. "It turns out that Battra's wrath could not be suppressed by Mothra in a fair fight. Both of them were at equal strength, and the battle would have gone on until both were dead had Mothra not resorted to drastic measures."
"Drastic measures?"
"According to the record kept by the Infant Islanders, the last few moments of the struggle were not beheld by human eyes. When Mothra emerged triumphant, Battra was nowhere to be found. That was because, according to the legend, Mothra...absorbed Battra into her entity."
"So you're saying that for all that time, Battra has been a part of Mothra?"
"Precisely. Through all the generations of the creature's life cycle, Battra's essence was being suppressed by Mothra's virtuous, more determined spirit. What we still don't know is why Battra has suddenly reemerged now."
"It may have something to do with the last battle she was in," Sakurai said, preparing to state a newly born, and only partially complete, theory. "Hedorah attacked Mothra with globs of sludge laden with Virus X. They weakened her significantly, so she spun a cocoon in the hope that her adult form would stand more of a chance. While she was in her cocoon, she released the energy that stopped the rain and allowed Godzilla to defeat Hedorah. With Virus X attacking her body and weakening her physical state, she was also exhausted spiritually by releasing the mystical energy from within her body, and--"
"Her soul was weakened as well as her body!" Wagura cut in, completing the captain's theory. "That allowed Battra to reemerge from within her!"
The two sat in stunned silence for a time. They had always thought along the same lines, but this seemed ridiculous.
Sakurai regained his senses. "But we still don't know how to stop it."
"If only Battra's physical and spiritual state could be weakened," said Wagura. "But there's no way to do that. Mothra was the only being capable of doing such a thing, and she is locked away inside Battra, struggling vainly to get out. There's no way to do it."
Captain Sakurai glanced at his watch and sighed defeatedly. "I'm afraid I've got to get back to HQ. If you find out anything more, let me know."

October 11, 20XX
Project Mechagodzilla Base
10:08 A.M. ...

Ever since the restoration of communications the previous day, the crew of Mechagodzilla had been working feverishly inside the control center in simulated combat with the variety of monsters worked into the training program. The scientists and technicians had also been going full throttle, and at their current pace, the repairs would be complete in seven days, giving plenty of time to get the robot's various systems back online. The scheduled upgrades would have to wait, however, as they were still in their planning stages and had been put on hold until the current crisis ended--if it came to a successful conclusion.
Under Sasaki's command, the crew seemed to be making remarkable progress already. Sweeney was able to use her fighting techniques to their fullest extent and ended up proving that Mechagodzilla could be just as potent in close combat as it was with beams and projectiles, a point that Miyauchi had ignored completely and failed to put to the test.
With a crew that had been slightly changed for the better and repairs well underway, only one question now remained: Would it be enough?

October 11, 20XX
Base of the Mu Empire
9:20 P.M. ...

"The fleet is beginning to regroup," the emperor's advisor told his leader. "Without further obstruction, they should all be gathered around Japan's coastal waters by the time the battle starts."
"Good," the Mu Emperor said with a chuckle. "We shall see how the U.N.'s Mechagodzilla will stand against our mighty triad of monsters. If any aid comes by sea, they will be wiped out! And airborne resistance can be taken out as well!" He grinned and began to cackle as he recalled the long-range beam weapons on the submarines' outer hulls.
The emperor and his advisor shared a laugh. It had been many years since anyone in the Mu Empire had felt this confident. With their mighty god Manda aiding Gigan and Mecha-King Ghidorah in the battle against Mechagodzilla, nothing could go wrong. There had been much controversy about allowing the one they worshipped to be controlled by Domitian's forces, but through the great advances they had made over the years, they were in the end convinced that Manda was not a god, but a tool. Religion was, they had decided, a thing for only the superstitious fools of lower-class society.
The emperor settled down from his fit of laughter. "Together, we are unstoppable."

[Tyler E. Martin]

Chapter VII

October 20, 20XX
Minatono-Mieruoka (Harbor View) Park, Yokohama, Japan
9:28 A.M. ...

The evacuation had gone just as planned, and there was not a single civilian soul left in the entire city, save for journalists who had express permission from the military to document the impending battle. The only people remaining were the aforementioned journalists and military personnel who were to observe the event and call for emergency backup if the need arose. Among the soldiers stood Professor Hiroshi Wagura, who had been granted special permission to observe the battle. As Domitian had promised, Mu's fleet of undersea warships had been gathered around Japan's coastal waters. The bulk of them had been concentrated in and around Tokyo Bay, on which Yokohama was located. They were to eliminate any kind of interference from any forces or individuals coming to help in the JSDF's resistance effort.
The beautiful park, full of gorgeous vegetation of nearly every kind, had been chosen for its location. It was, as its name suggested, next to the harbor, providing a splendid view of Tokyo Bay, and an easy way for Manda to enter the area while causing only minimal destruction. The vast beauty of the park would no doubt be ruined in the coming battle.
American reporter Raymond Burr of United World News commented on the disturbing calm of the surrounding area. "It's like time is standing still. Aside from military officials and my fellow journalists, there is no human activity anywhere throughout the park, or, indeed, the entire city. We can be assured, however, that the silence will soon be broken by the roars of giant beasts engaging in a mighty struggle that will determine the fate of the civilized world."
Shortly after Burr's commentary ended, the sound of jets was heard off in the distance. There was a small object approaching from the southern sky at a rapid pace. As it got closer, its identity was soon revealed.
"Mechagodzilla is arriving on the battlefield," Burr said. "It is the first of the four combatants to appear, and the only representative of the United Nations who have put forth their greatest efforts to defend civilization as we know it."
Mechagodzilla gradually came to a halt above Harbor View Park and began to descend, its roaring jets bringing an abrupt end to the silence. As it landed, there was only the slightest sound of contact with the ground. Garuda was detached from Mechagodzilla's back and streaked off loudly, flying back in the direction from whence it had come. The eerie silence resumed as the robot's jets cooled down.
Not much time passed before the next participant of the battle arrived. Approaching from the west was Gigan, now under the control of Domitian's forces. The risk of its capability of independent thought was too high to allow it to go into combat by itself, though it would be freed from control once the battle commenced. It landed near the western edge of the park.
Burr began commenting once more. "Gigan has appeared. The two mighty titans standing in complete stillness is an awesome sight. It will not be long before the other two are here and the battle can commence."

October 20, 20XX
JSDF HQ
9:54 A.M. ...

"We have a visitor, sirs," a lieutenant announced. "Professor Hiroshi Wagura is here and requests to see Captain Sakurai at once."
"Send him in," said Admiral Tazaki.
The professor walked in shortly after, with the statue of King Seesar under his arm.
"Welcome, professor," said Sakurai. "What's with the statue?"
"Call it a hunch," Professor Wagura explained, "but I think we should have put more faith into the legend behind this statue."
He immediately drew the attention of everyone present.
"What's that?" Commander Chiaki questioned.
"As you know, captain, Japanese mythology is closely tied with that of a few South Pacific cultures, and shares several particular elements with that of Infant Island. I have reason to believe that King Seesar may be what we need to stop Battra."
"Are you sure?" asked the captain. "It would be terrible to endanger your life for a hunch, and not a totally reliable one at that."
"I'm afraid you don't understand," the professor said. "I have found specific clues that link the legend of King Seesar to that of Mothra and Battra. Long before Battra ever appeared, King Seesar appeared to the Infant Islanders and protected their island from outside invasion, from threats possibly greater than Battra. He was worshipped as the God of Peace until a mystic being of some kind sealed him within this tiny statue that somehow ended up in Okinawa many years later."
"How could you find something like that out?" Sakurai asked. "You couldn't have discovered such a thing in only ten days."
"That's where you're wrong," Professor Wagura said. "When I was working at the university, I was too busy with other studies required of me by the head authorities there, not to mention the teaching. But now that I can study of my own free will, at least for the time being, it's a wonder I didn't uncover the information sooner."
Those listening were puzzled, but took the professor's statements very seriously.
Admiral Tazaki inhaled deeply. "If that's the case, then we must find out where Battra is and..."
"Put the statue directly in his path of destruction," Professor Wagura cut in. "I wish to place it there myself. It's the only way to put my theory to the test."
"I wish to the heavens that there were some other way," said Sakurai, "but if that's the only thing we can do, then we must do it, for the sake of the world."
"You're a stubborn old man, Professor Wagura," said Commander Chiaki, "but the admiral isn't going to waste time trying to get you to hand over the statue to one of our men. While he is a good man, his country comes before strangers."
Wagura shrugged slightly. "Good. Then it's not as hard as I thought it would be."
"First, we must find out where Battra is," Admiral Tazaki told the congregation. "According to our latest report, he was somewhere between Osaka and Yokohama. There have been no updates as of yet. It would be wise to look in that area first."
Wagura gulped silently and bit his lower lip. "Very well. Could you--"
"We've just gotten two reports!" a call came from somewhere on the other side of the room, interrupting the professor. "Angilas and Battra are both heading directly for Yokohama!"
"No!" cried Commander Chiaki. "The battle..."
"Contact the Project Mechagodzilla Base," the admiral ordered. "Tell them to engage Battra with Garuda and keep him out of the city at all costs. Mu's submarines should be able to take care of Angilas."

October 20, 20XX
Harbor View Park, Yokohama
10:19 A.M. ...

"Manda has just arrived, and reports are coming in that Mecha-King Ghidorah is heading in this direction now," Raymond Burr reported. "Not much time will pass before the conflict will be underway. We've also just gotten word that the monsters Battra and Angilas are heading directly for this area. We can only hope that they can be held back. Any interference with the coming battle could result in total chaos."
The three titans stood motionless like gigantic statues erected in honor of ancient gods worshipped by some bizarre culture; the sheer sight of them was enough to force respect out of even the most stubborn of people. The four minutes that passed seemed like an eternity to those waiting for the arrival of the fourth combatant, Mecha-King Ghidorah, who appeared in the skies to the north and made his presence known by a series of cackles and roars that echoed through the empty streets of Yokohama. The cyborg finally landed nearly half a kilometer in front of Mechagodzilla.
Shortly after all additional preparations had been made by each side of the conflict, the call was given to commence the battle.

[Tyler E. Martin]

Chapter VIII

October 20, 20XX
Harbor View Park, Yokohama
10:32 A.M. ...

Mechagodzilla quickly moved into an attack stance, aiming its left arm at Gigan and its right at Manda while still facing forward at Mecha-King Ghidorah.
It was Mecha-King Ghidorah who made the first move, firing off a yellow, lightninglike bolt of energy from each of its two biological heads which were focused on Mechagodzilla. The damage was minimal, and the robotic likeness of Godzilla counterattacked with a double-maser blast from its mouth.
Manda hissed loudly and began crawling rather rapidly in Mechagodzilla's direction. The rocket launchers on the robot's right arm came to life, shooting forth dozens of powerful rocket rounds in a second's time. All of them were carefully aimed and struck Manda on its scaly back. The serpent jerked back in recoil but soon continued its advance.
Gigan, now under the control of its own mind, jumped into the air and started to fly rapidly at Mechagodzilla, firing its deadly laser. Mechagodzilla's rockets missed, and it suffered a fair amount of damage to its NT-1 coating. Gigan collided with the robot, sending both of them to the ground with an unbelievable crash that sent many nearby observers sprawling onto the ground.
Mecha-King Ghidorah seized the advantage and began flying toward Mechagodzilla's fallen form, firing off yellow energy bolts from its left and right heads while spewing forth two intertwining green-and-purple blasts from its central robotic head. Gigan pounded the fallen Mechagodzilla with its hooked arms while Manda began wrapping himself around the machine in an effort to put sufficient pressure onto its armor to shatter it.
Mechagodzilla let out an electronic cry as its jets came to life. It streaked away, forcing Manda to let go. If it was any closer to the ground, a tremendous rut would have been left behind. When it reached a safe position, it turned about and righted itself while landing. Facing all three of its opponents, who were now gathered conveniently in one spot, its mouth and eye masers and the rockets on its shoulders were fired, engulfing the three monsters in a cloud of smoke and dust.

Project Mechagodzilla Base...

"Cease fire," Commander Sasaki ordered. "We don't want another overheat."
Romanov obediently stopped the barrage, allowing the weapons systems to cool down.
"If we can corner one of them, there's a good chance we might be able to take it out hand-to-hand," said Pierce. "The problem is separating one of them from the others."
"That sounds like a good plan," said the commander. "We'll take out Mecha-King Ghidorah first, since he's obviously the strongest."
The image displayed on the screen was from another, more advanced head cam that was significantly better-protected than the previous one. The thick cloud of smoke and dust had yet to disappear, and the tension of the stillness felt by all the crew was incredible. No shapes were visible through the opaque mass, so targeting a specific object through it was out of the question.
There was a great deal of surprise when Mecha-King Ghidorah came barreling out of the dust at full speed, its three necks writhing about and its torso unleashing unheard-of amounts of abusive firepower ranging from thin but concentrated maser blasts to missiles with tips only a few molecules thick. Upon contact with Mechagodzilla's hull, the missiles exploded, leaving the NT-20 diamond coating severely damaged. The other weapons jarred the robot, but the damage was minimal.
"NT-20 regeneration initiating," said Mabuchi. "Try to keep it from using the beams and projectiles until the automatic reparations are complete."
"Sweeney!" Commander Sasaki alerted the officer inside the VR chamber. "Get ready to engage Mecha-King Ghidorah on my command."

At the same time, in the skies just south of Yokohama...

Inside the cockpit of Garuda, Masahiro Takashima, its lone operator, struggled to keep the craft in the air. The battle with Battra was a desperate one, and he knew it wouldn't be long before he would be forced to land the craft.
Battra had been blasting away with his eye beams almost constantly, not allowing Garuda to fight back since the initial blast that had started the fight just minutes before. Fortunately for Takashima, the monster had not employed the shockwaves from its wings.
Until now.
The winged creature suddenly soared above Garuda's altitude and sent a powerful wave of energy down from its wings, quickly knocking the airship out of the sky. It crashed, leaving a huge mark in the ground. Luckily, it did not explode, though it was completely disabled.
Satisfied, Battra continued its flight into Yokohama, leaving behind a trail of smoldering destruction.

Harbor View Park...

Mechagodzilla leapt into the air, performing an extraordinarily graceful somersault. Mecha-King Ghidorah suffered a powerful strike from the robot's long, whiplike tail, sending it falling to the ground on its back. Mechagodzilla's landing was softened by the jets, and its feet met the damaged soil with barely a sound.
The magnificent machine turned and faced the approaching Gigan, but was too late to block its advance. Gigan swung one of its hooked arms at Mechagodzilla's head, providing the moment of distraction it needed to activate its buzzsaw. Wrapping its arms around its opponent, it pressed its own torso against the robot's, forcing the rapidly spinning saw into its body. Mechagodzilla quicky retaliated, shoving the cyborg away and pummeling it with a brief salvo of rockets. It sustained severe damage to the NT-20 coating as well as a sizeable gash in its metallic armor.
Seizing the advantage of Mechagodzilla's distraction, Manda launched himself forward with incredible force, sending the machine to the ground with a great thud.
At the same time, Mecha-King Ghidorah righted itself and leapt into the air, bringing its feet down onto Mechagodzilla's body after Manda had slithered away. Sparks flew as the cyborg repeated the attack several times, finally stepping off of the fallen robot's form, lashing it with the spiked tips of its tails.
In the middle of the confusion, an explosion was heard coming from the bay. Mu's submarines had failed to stop the advance of the monster Angilas, and the dinosaur was now preparing to make landfall and enter the battle.
A bellowing cry sounded from the skies above, accompanied by the sound of flapping wings. Battra had arrived as well.

JSDF HQ...

"It's settled," said Professor Wagura. "Take me to the park in Yokohama. Battra will likely be held back by the distraction of the other monsters."
"Are you suggesting we let you go into that battlefield unprotected?" asked Admiral Tazaki incredulously.
"I have to place it directly in front of Battra," the professor replied. "It's already been proven that nothing at your disposal can be used to harm him, so it is necessary that I be put into direct danger. Though I cannot order you to do so, I would appreciate it if you honored an old man's wishes."
"I'm not going to let you get yourself killed over an unproven hunch," said Captain Sakurai. "The second this little idea of yours fails, we're going to get you out of there as quickly as possible."
"Do as you wish," said Professor Wagura. "But I've got a feeling in my gut that says my idea is going to work."
"Very well," said the admiral. "I'll have you transported there in an armored vehicle. You will be protected until you get to the battlefield, then it's up to you. Sakurai, you go with him."
The arrangements were made in a matter of minutes, and the professor was sent on his way with Captain Sakurai and several other soldiers.
Shortly after their departure, an upsetting message was received at Headquarters. It was from one of their ships just outside Tokyo Bay. There was much noise and static, and the message was almost completely unintelligible. The only thing that could be determined was that it was a message of extreme urgency.

Harbor View Park, Yokohama...

"This is terrible!" Raymond Burr shouted into the microphone. "I can only hope that you can hear me over the tremendous noise of the horror unfolding before us! As you can plainly see, two new creatures have entered the battle. Since their arrival, the confrontation has degenerated into pure and utter chaos."
The air was filled with the battle cries of no less than a half-dozen giant beasts. Since its arrival, Battra had been totally confused and was randomly raining energy beams down on the other monsters in an attempt to silence them. Mecha-King Ghidorah and Gigan had made efforts to stop the flying beast, but as soon as they had leapt into the air, Mechagodzilla had taken the advantage of their distraction and opened fire on them, forcing them back to the ground to counterattack. Only Manda and Angilas had decided fully on who they would fight: each other. Until now, their struggle had consisted of little more than threatening growls and hisses.
Angilas, tired of threats, charged Manda with full force, slamming his lowered head into the serpent's thick body. The Mu god was thrown back a good distance, but quickly recovered and made a remarkably agile move at its opponent, turning itself onto its back and shoving its body underneath that of Angilas, attempting to coil itself around the huge dinosaur. But once its relatively soft, horizontally positioned belly scales made contact with its enemy's spiny carapace, it was forced to let go.
Battra became frustrated when he discovered that his attempts to stop the other monsters were not working. He angrily swooped down over Mechagodzilla's head and dropped two searing waves of energy from his wings, leaving the robot temporarily disoriented. He then turned in midair and rushed Mecha-King Ghidorah, who began blasting away with beams from all three of its heads. Battra was slowed down by the attack, but was not stopped. He collided with the three-headed demon, causing it to stumble backward. The gigantic insect finished its attack on the monster with a quick burst of its energy bolts. He then made yet another turn and headed straight for Gigan, who was intelligent and agile enough to duck in time to avoid a collision. Once Battra had passed over him, he rose once more, turned and fired its forehead laser, nicking the flying creature's left wing as it prepared to turn. Now infuriated, Battra made another run for the cyborg, relentlessly pummeling it with an almost constant stream of energy beams.
The battle continued this way for nearly an hour, until an armored military vehicle pulled up near the corner of the park where the journalists and military personnel were located. Before it even came to a halt, Professor Hiroshi Wagura jumped out and, the statue of King Seesar held firmly under his arm, ran through the tight gathering of news crews, tore through the caution tape, and ran onto the battlefield, shouting at the top of his lungs.
"Something's going on," Burr reported. "An elderly Japanese man holding a statuette of some kind has just burst onto the battlefield. As you can see, he is running directly for the monsters. Who could this man be? Is he insane?"
"You might just be right," Captain Akira Sakurai said in almost perfect English. He had just burst out of the vehicle and begun chasing the professor, but had been forced to stay behind the security line for his own safety. "He thinks that little statue is going to save everyone's lives."
"Do you know the man?"
"Yes. He is Professor Hiroshi Wagura of Tokyo University. You've probably heard of his extensive research and discoveries in the field of mythology."
"Indeed I have," said the reporter. "What is your connection to him?"
The solider was suddenly being asked a multitude of questions from all the reporters around him.
"Listen!" the captain hollered frustratedly. "I hate to be rude, but you should really pay attention to what's going on out there." He pointed to the battlefield, where Professor Wagura had stopped and lifted the statue above his head.
The crowd gawked in absolute amazement as the statuette began to glow brilliantly. Professor Wagura suddenly dropped the object, jerking his hands about in an attempt to shake off the intense pain from the heat created by the statue. He quickly turned and ran back to the gathering of journalists.
He was suddenly bombarded with an insane amount of questions from the reporters. Angrily, he shoved them all away. Then, with all the effort he could put forth, he shouted, "Just wait and see what happens now!"
The congregation watched on in awe as the glow from the statue began to intensify. Soon, it began to flicker, much like a strobe light. Before anything more could be perceived, the glowing faded rather quickly. The cameras were the first to see the spectacle that stood before them, for all those observing the phenomenon were temporarily blinded.
There, standing in the statue's place, was a giant creature that could only be accurately described as a kind of mammoth, bipedal animal possessing characteristics of both a lion and a dog. It had large, red-tinted, mammalian eyes that exhibited a kind of intelligence. In the center of its forehead was a green diamond-shaped object which gleamed in the midday sun. The animal had a slavering mouth full of large, serrated teeth. It featured a long, shaggy, yellowish-brown mane which covered most of its head and ran down past its shoulders. Patches of the same kind of fur adorned several other points on its body, including a large tuft on the end of its tail. The skin not covered in fur was brown and scaly. The monster had large claws adorning its hands and feet.
"See?" Professor Wagura asked somewhat awkwardly to the group of non-believing reporters after they had all taken in the spectacle. "King Seesar has appeared. He will vanquish the threats before us!"
King Seesar's large, doglike ears flared and stiffened when he sensed the approaching Battra, and he let out a long, rumbling bellow of challenge. Battra roared and issued forth energy blasts from his red eyes. Seesar grunted as he moved his head into a strange kind of cockeyed position. Then, a most incredible thing happened.
The beams Battra had fired were absorbed into King Seesar's left eye and fired back instantly through his right, catching the giant insect monster off-guard and sending him whirling clumsily through the air. The giant lion creature then squatted and sprung into the air much like a giant frog, grabbing Battra by the wings and dragging him back down to the ground, where Seesar landed gracefully on his padded feet. King Seesar then proceeded to rip at the insect's wings with the claws on his hands. Battra desperately sent a shockwave of energy flying from his wings, forcing the newcomer back.
Suddenly, a series of booming explosions silenced the warring monsters. The explosions were followed by a most familiar, and bone-chillingly frightening sound.
Amid the sounds of distress from the gathering of reporters, one cry sounded above them all: "It's Godzilla!"

[Tyler E. Martin]

Chapter IX

October 20, 20XX
Harbor View Park, Yokohama
12:19 P.M. ...

As the sounds of the battle faded, Godzilla's bell-like roar sounded again. The many news cameras all turned and faced toward the bay, where the great behemoth was wading ashore. Several of Mu's submarines fired the beam weapons mounted on their conning towers, with no effect. The monster's long, segmented tail rose out of the water and thrashed about, crushing one the ships with great efficiency and almost no effort even as Godzilla continued his approach, bellowing again and again at the multitude of gigantic creatures who had come into his territory and decided to wage this conflict.
Godzilla continued to march toward the shore, finally stopping at the water's edge. He stared contemptibly at the other beasts with his white eyes, growling deeply.
There was a long silence as each side stared the other sides down: Godzilla at the grouping of giant monsters, the monsters at Godzilla, and the reporters and soldiers at both.
The silence was broken by a triple-cry from Mecha-King Ghidorah, who leapt forward at the huge dinosaur monster, landing less than one hundred meters in front of him. Godzilla roared a challenge, and the mech was glad to accept. Four compartments opened in its chest, releasing dozens of tiny paralyzing missiles. Shaped like darts, they could penetrate any known substance and embed themselves inside it, releasing a powerful, fast-acting chemical that, in essence, temporarily paralyzed all cells it came into contact with. Godzilla screeched in pain and confusion as the chemicals within the projectiles went to work. He was immediately sent into a state of paralysis. The monster began to topple backward, but his fall was stopped by the gripping claws on Mecha-King Ghidorah's feet. The cyborg had lunged forward and grabbed onto the monster by the shoulders. With a cackle, Mecha-King Ghidorah flapped his wings and lifted Godzilla from the ground, carrying him several hundred feet forward and dropping him into Tokyo Bay with a terrific splash. The half-robotic creature then turned in the sky and flew back in the direction of the battlefield, blasting Mechagodzilla with energy bolts from all three of its dragonlike heads.
Mechagodzilla emitted an electronic cry and responded in kind with a double-maser blast from its mouth, slowing the cyborg's speed. Mecha-King Ghidorah landed and the two engaged in brutal up-close combat. The triple-headed dragon bashed his opponent with its robotic central head. Sparks flew, but Mechagodzilla quickly recovered and delivered a swift kick to Mecha-King Ghidorah's armor-plated abdomen.
Angilas honked in frustration as Manda evaded another headlong charge. Grunting, the serpentine creature quickly slid underneath the dinosaur's form, wrapping himself around his enemy's entire body. The thick, armorlike scales on its back and sides were not affected by Angilas's spikes. Manda let out a hiss and began to squeeze. Angilas gurgled sickly as the breath was forced out of his body. Desperate, the dinosaur rose to his hind legs and fell backwards, forcing the spikes on his bone carapace through Manda's armored scales. The dragon shrieked in pain and surprise as he rapidly uncoiled, once again reducing the two creatures' violent struggle to a series of threatening cries.
King Seesar prepared for another of Battra's strafing runs. It was evident that the hideous insect creature had not yet figured out Seesar's ability to reflect beams. His ignorance was becoming apparent through the rather severe scars covering his armored body. Battra fired two purple beams from his eyes, but aimed directly at the shaggy behemoth's feet, knocking him to the ground. The insect then stopped precisely over King Seesar, who was struggling to get back up, and rained several powerful shockwaves down onto the fallen beast.

Project Mechagodzilla Base...

"That's it, Sweeney!" Commander Sasaki cheered. "Keep going! Show him no mercy!"
The crew watched tensely as Mecha-King Ghidorah was pummeled by a series of quick and unrelenting punches and kicks. Finally, the cyborg was knocked onto its back.
Sasaki tapped a small green button on the control console before him. In response, Mechagodzilla leapt into the air via a short burst of power from the jet pack mounted on its back, landing on top of the three-headed cyborg. The robot's feet were now placed firmly on the opposing creature's wings, pinning it down.
"Bercovitch! Fire the wrist rockets!" the commander ordered.
Without a word, the weapons operator aimed the rocket launchers on Mechagodzilla's wrists downward and opened fire. Mecha-King Ghidorah was pummeled with multitudinous projectiles. The attack lasted for several seconds before the order was given to cease fire. When the smoke cleared shortly after, the severity of the attack became apparent. The solar panels in the wings had been damaged quite harshly. In some areas, the constant stream of rockets had blasted all the way through the wing, leaving relatively small but obviously damaging holes in the solar panel plating.
But suddenly, Mecha-King Ghidorah's jets came to life, carrying the cyborg horizontally across the ground and causing Mechagodzilla to slip and fall with a violent crash. The opposing monster then righted itself and loosed a deadly barrage of weapons. The lightninglike energy bolts seared from its two living heads, and the intertwining laser blasts issued from its central head. The concentrated maser blasts and deadly missiles were fired from its torso.
"Evasive action!" Commander Sasaki yelled, violently shoving the two levers on the control panel forward. Mechagodzilla was propelled out of harm's way, but not without significant damage to its NT-20 coating.
"Automatic regneration initiating," Saeko Mabuchi announced.
"Remind me never to do that again," Commander Sasaki said jokingly. "Now. Pierce, I need some suggestions. We haven't been able to take this thing out yet."
"I've got something of an idea, but it would be extraordinarily difficult," Pierce said with some concern. "If we could hit the biological necks with the shock anchors, we might be able to do some damage. It would also hold it still long enough for us to inflict a serious beating with the beams and projectiles."
"That sounds like as good a plan as any," said the commander. "Bercovitch, fire a short eye maser blast to distract it and prepare to fire the shock anchors on my command."
Reuben Bercovitch aimed the eye masers just above the cyborg's central head and fired. As expected, it was distracted by the blast and looked straight up with all three heads, leaving its necks totally unguarded.
"Aim..." Sasaki said patiently. "And...fire!"
With all the effort he could muster, the Russian weapons operator aimed and fired both shock anchors. The long cables followed the deadly projectiles through the air as they streaked for their targets. Both of the anchors pierced the scales on the undersides of the three-headed demon's two living necks. Blood spurted from the penetrated areas, and the tips of the weapons released their hooks, embedding themselves inside the creature.
"Commence discharge!" Sasaki ordered without hesitation.
Insantly, millions of volts were pumped into the cyborg, threatening to sizzle the delicate electronics within it. The attack appeared to be a success.
But suddenly, a tremendous force slammed into the robot from behind.
"What in the name of..." the commander stammered. "What was that?"
"Gigan has launched a sneak attack!" Mabuchi informed the rest of the crew.
"Counterattack!" Commander Sasaki ordered. "Withdraw the shock anchors and about face!"
The hooks extending from the shock anchors embedded in Mecha-Ghidorah's flesh were retracted and the weapons were dragged back into Mechagodzilla's wrists along the titanium-steel cables. The robot then turned to face the attacker, leaving the three-headed best in a state of temporary paralysis.

Harbor View Park...

Mecha-King Ghidorah swayed helplessly, ready to topple over at the slightest hint of wind. Its pilot struggled to regain control, but could not. Thus, he was not prepared for the searing blast of atomic energy that struck the mech's armored back, knocking it forward.
Godzilla, howling, exited Tokyo Bay and marched furiously in the direction of the heated battle, tearing through all that stood in his path.

Domitian's Palace, Antarctica...

"Mecha-King Ghidorah!" the emperor cried with much indignation. "There must be some way to counterattack that despicable animal..." He thought for a moment. "Agent 23!"
"Your lordship!" the agent called out.
"You are my technical advisor. What do you suggest?"
"I might suggest an all-out barrage with the cyborg's weapons, but it seems that is not an option at the moment."
"Silence, fool! If you were any other man, I would unsheathe my sword and kill you where you stand for your behavior."
Agent 23 bowed his head. "I apologize, your lordship. I was behaving poorly. You have every right to..."
"Enough of that," Domitian interrupted. "I need a plan to take out that hideous monstrosity before it makes fools out of all of us."
The agent leaned over and whispered something unintelligible into the emperor's ear. Domitian smiled and nodded and mumbled something back.
After a few seconds, Agent 23 left the main chamber and proceeded to send an important message to the pilot of Mecha-King Ghidorah.

JSDF HQ...

The crowd of military men watched on with some confidence as the conflict unfolded before them on the viewscreen.
"It looks like Mecha-Ghidorah's been disabled," Colonel Shiba commented. "With Godzilla that angry, I don't think he'll last very long."
"You may be right at that, colonel," said Commander Chiaki. "But what of King Seesar? It seems Battra has gained the upper hand in that confrontation."
They observed the battle between the god-monster Seesar and the insectlike Battra. It did appear that the mammalian creature had been pinned and was being hammered by its opponent's deadly shockwaves. Suddenly, King Seesar overcame the powerful attack and leapt back to his clawed feet.
"The tide of that battle may very well turn," said Admiral Tazaki. "Angilas and Manda appear to be evenly matched, but Mechagodzilla seems to be taking care of Gigan fairly well."
The conflict seemed to be taking a turn for the better when all of a sudden, the image on the screen froze, then changed back to the default image.

Harbor View Park...

The plan suggested by Agent 23 of His Lordship's Secret Service had been to wipe out all communications within a 500-kilometer radius of Yokohama, save for the closed channel between Mecha-King Ghidorah and Domitian's Palace. Now, the reports being given by the journalists had ceased, and the military personnel had no way of calling their headquarters. All that one could do was watch and see how this disastrous event affected the tide of the multiple struggles going on before them.
Mechagodzilla, now under the control of its own advanced artifical intelligence, abruptly stopped its assault on Gigan and turned to face the enraged Godzilla, who was now beating the fallen Mecha-King Ghidorah senseless with harsh kicks and tail swipes. Mechagodzilla cried out a challenge that was ignored by the infuriated monster. The robot then proceeded to take several thudding steps toward Godzilla and firing a brief blast of maser fire from its eyes. The mutated dinosaur looked up to find the source of the unpleasant burst of pain he had just received. Angered, he charged the attacker, allowing Mecha-Ghidorah to right itself and regain stability.
The two dueling reptiles' exchange of growls and lunges was brought to a sudden end when Manda stopped his aggressive behavior and began to observe his surroundings. An unexpected side effect of the communications breakdown was the loss of the link between Mu's serpent-god and Domitian's Palace. Whether through accident or intention, Agent 23 had shut off the control waves connecting the two. Seizing the advantage, Angilas started a headlong rush, crashing into the unprepared Manda. The serpent was sent rolling back a considerable distance. With a grunt, Angilas pounced on the hapless creature, his slavering jaws wide open. He latched onto Manda's neck and sank his sharp teeth through its scales, finally tearing out a sizeable chunk of flesh from the back of its neck. With a screech of pain, Manda thrashed his body with all the strength he could summon from within himself, striking Angilas with a sound not unlike the crack of a whip. The dinosaur fell onto his back, roaring in surprise and pain. With extreme determination, Manda crawled back in the direction of Tokyo Bay. Angilas followed for a short distance, but decided to leave the retreating monster alone.
King Seesar roared furiously at Battra as the flying monster wheeled about in the sky above him, seeking another plan of attack. Tired of waiting, the hairy beast jumped toward his opponent, missing only slightly. He fell to the ground with a tremendous thud, landing on his padded feet. Seesar growled in frustration, shaking to recover from the jarring fall he had just experienced. Once he had regained his senses, the mystical guardian looked up, but could not see his enemy. He turned about just in time to see Battra coming to a stop barely ten meters in front of him, his wings aglow with red energy. Not sure what the creature was up to, King Seesar roared and tackled Battra. Both of them fell to the ground with a terrific sound, but neither was injured. The insect monster took the advantage of Seesar's position, enveloping the mammalian beast in his still-glowing wings. King Seesar struggled to escape from this unusual prison, but he was held firm by a powerful unseen force.
"What's happening?" Captain Sakurai asked, as if the professor could give him an honest answer.
"I don't know," replied Wagura. "I honestly don't know."

Domitian's Palace...

"You imbecile!" the emperor scowled. "Fool. Why did you release Manda?"
He received no answer.
"Answer me!"
Agent 23 stood, facing the viewscreen which had been lowered from the ceiling, his back to the emperor. Domitian observed the man for a moment and noticed that he was shaking uncontrollably.
"Quivering infidel."
The agent took a deep breath and exhaled loudly, shaking not with fear, but with hatred and contempt. "I can no longer stand what I have become."
"What's that?" Domitian inquired. "Just what have you become that you hate so much?"
"I have become a faithful follower of a madman. You have made me what I am."
"But you chose to follow me, did you not? It seems you are forgetting that."
"I was foolish enough to believe that you could give me real power. I thought you were truly a great revolutionary leader. But I was wrong. You truly are a fool."
The emperor growled. "How dare you insult your master and god! Agent 23, I command you to cease this outburst and..."
"I am Kenji Manabe!" the man cried, turning around and reaching into his toga. "And you...you are not my master, and you most certainly are not a god!"
"Silence! Guards, execute this fool!"
Manabe pulled a silver dagger out of his toga and glared at Domitian. "Gods are immortal. You, however, can be brought down by a single stab of this weapon. Where has your sanity gone? Or did it ever even exist?" Without another word, he rushed the man sitting on the throne.
Domitian grinned as the Japanese man's charge was stopped by two large, burly guards. "Did you really think you could get away with this, Manabe?"
"You should be questioning your ability to get away with the stunt you're trying to pull off," Kenji Manabe said defiantly. "You are a master of foolishness, a god of lowlifes!" He dove between one of the guards' legs, easily crawling through to meet the emperor face-to-face.
"Guards!" Domitian cried, obviously in distress. "Kill this man!"
The guards were already turned around and prepared to raise their axes to bring down on the dagger-wielding man. More out of reflex than voluntary thought, Manabe grabbed the emperor, pulled him from his throne, and held him firmly in the way of the guards' weapons. He quickly brought his dagger up to Domitian's throat. "One move and your immortal master and god will be brought down for all eternity." With that, he carefully inched his way back toward the throne. Freeing one hand to open a hidden control panel on the right arm of the glorified chair, he began to speak softly. "Order the guards to return to their posts or this dagger will slice your throat and spill your blood. Imagine...the blood of a god being shed by a mere mortal like myself. Then, all you have worked for will be destroyed once I program the self-destruct sequence. Remember, if that happens, even if your forces do win this battle, your empire will no longer be a factor in this grand design."
Domitian hesitated. "I promise...I promise you will have power over this world once I pass on. I promise, 23!"
Manabe brought the blade's edge even closer to the emperor's throat. "I am not a number, you coward. Now order them, before you are humilitated in front of your loyal followers!"
Seeing no alternative, Domitian gulped and gave the order for the guards to return to the chamber entrance.
"Good," Kenji Manabe said, maintaining his threatening hold on the mad emperor. "Now we shall see just what will happen to this fragile little world we live on." Still holding Domitian tightly, the Japanese man sat down on the throne.

Harbor View Park...

Godzilla roared angrily as two of Mecha-King Ghidorah's yellow energy bolts struck him in the back. He turned about to face the cyborg, giving Mechagodzilla an opportunity to leap forward and perform a swift flying kick to the base of his tail. A reflex action caused his tail to thrash, striking the robot down before it even landed. Godzilla began to grapple with Mecha-Ghidorah, pounding its armored torso with his fists. Mecha-Ghidorah cackled and snapped at the saurian behemoth with his left head. Godzilla growled as the dragon's teeth sank into the flesh of his left shoulder. He drew his body back and jerked his left arm, forcing the head's grip to loosen, and bent slightly forward. He brought his upper body back up with massive strength, slamming his head into Mecha-Ghidorah's chest, forcing it to stumble backwards. He started toward the cyborg, but was caught by surprise by a sneak attack from Mechagodzilla. The metallic beast grabbed Godzilla's tail and held it firmly as it swung around in a half-circle and let go. The centrifugal force created by this move sent Godzilla flying through the air, landing a fair distance away with a booming crash. He was then pummeled by a salvo of rockets and masers from all available outlets on Mechagodzilla's body.
Angered by this violence against a creature that he considered an ally, the now-free Angilas began to charge Mechagodzilla. He came to a halt when Gigan dropped from the skies above him, determined to put an end to the dinosaur's life. With a screeching cry, he activated the buzzsaw in the front of his torso and took several steps toward Angilas. The creature warily backed off, remembering from previous encounters with this monster the deadly power of the whirring serrated blade that was spinning rapidly in its abdomen. Angilas grunted and charged, aiming for the cyborg's right leg. As his spiked head slammed into Gigan's leg, Angilas's spiked carapace took the blow from the deadly weapon. Sparks flew and a fairly small chunk of the tough, bonelike shell was knocked off, but the dinosaur remained unharmed.
Battra continued to hold his victim inside his wings, using every ounce of power within him to form an impenetrable energy shield around King Seesar. The bright red glow emanating from him was now greater than ever, casting a crimson tint upon the surrounding area. With a bellow, the insect finally gained enough spiritual strength to absorb the guardian beast into his being. Seesar was transformed into a mass of green energy and quickly drawn into the hideous creature's body. The insect cried out victoriously and rose to the sky once more, ready to bring more death and destruction to the world. He began flying away from the struggle, but was stopped abruptly by some kind of unseen force.
Off in one corner of the park, among the journalists who were now writing the details of the conflict down on small notepads, Captain Sakurai and Professor Wagura watched on in puzzlement.
"What's happening to Battra?" Sakurai asked. "It appears to be a seizure of some sort. Do you think he's being negatively affected by King Seesar's spirit?"
Before the professor could answer, the reporters all turned to the captain and began bombarding him with questions.
"Do you know what happened to the lion monster?"
"Who is King Seesar?"
"Is Battra dying?"
Wagura cried out in frustration and grabbed Captain Sakurai by the shoulder, dragging him out of the group of raving journalists. "You fools don't deserve to know what's going on! Attacking us with questions that would never have been asked had you bothered to listen to me at all. I can't believe what the press has degenerated into. You're nothing but a bunch of blithering ingrates!"
Obviously taken aback by this insult, the reporters returned to documenting the events of the struggle on paper.
"Now," Professor Wagura said quietly, recovering from his outburst. "I have an idea of what might be going on." He looked carefully at the crowd of reporters, making sure none were looking in his direction. "I want to be able to announce this to the world myself..."

Domitian's Palace...

"See, Manabe?" the emperor said arrogantly. "Even without Manda, the resistance against those two lumbering beasts is going smoothly. Mechagodzilla has proven to be a worthy ally because of its preset AI. Perhaps now would be a good time to congratulate the scientists of the United Nations for a job very well done."
Kenji Manabe held the dagger firmly to the man's throat. "You will not prevail. As a born researcher, I can tell by the events unfolding on that screen that no matter what happens, you will end up in failure. I guarantee that you will die a miserable man."
"That's a lie!" Domitian cried. "I don't know what you're trying to do to my mind, but it's not going to work. As a matter of fact..." Then, with no warning whatsoever, the emperor grabbed his captor's wrist with a hand that had been left free and forced the dagger from his grasp. Domitian broke free of Manabe's hold and drew the sword sheathed at his side. "It is you who will be dying miserably."
Desperate, Manabe dove for the dagger lying on the floor before him. Domitian chuckled and brought his booted foot down onto the weapon and kicked it away.
"You wouldn't!" Kenji Manabe protested. He then rose back to his feet. "I can't believe even you would stoop so low as to refuse a challenge like the one I have presented you with."
"Oh, not at all," the emperor said smugly. He walked over to the dagger and picked it up off the floor and rose the sword in one hand. "Catch!" With that, the man tossed the heavy weapon in Manabe's direction.
The Japanese man stared in disbelief as the sword clanged to the floor just a few inches in front of him. "As you wish," he said lowly as he bent over to pick up the weapon.
"Now you will see why I was able to create such a vast empire!" Domitian cried, striking an odd pose and holding the dagger as if it were a sword. "Consider your 'challenge' accepted, Manabe!"

Harbor View Park...

Godzilla finally regained his senses and rose to his feet in the middle of the barrage of beams and projectiles from his two mechanized opponents. Howling in rage, he charged Mechagodzilla even as its deadly attacks pummeled his body. He collided with the fighting machine and both of them fell to the ground. Mechagodzilla quickly activated its jets and quickly left its place underneath Godzilla. Now enraged, Godzilla growled as atomic energy began to surge through the bony plates adorning his back. He struggled to his feet once more and opened his gaping maw. He was facing directly at Mechagodzilla, who had yet to prepare for another attack. Grunting in satsifaction, Godzilla spewed a fiery blast of energy at the artificial monster. The robot was caught off-guard and was knocked onto its back. Before the glow faded from his back, the beast turned to face Mecha-King Ghidorah and fired another, though shorter and less concentrated, atomic beam in the cyborg's direction. The three-headed monster stumbled backward a short distance. With a menacing triple-cry, it jumped into the air and began flying low to the ground in Godzilla's direction. The dinosaur braced for impact as Mecha-Ghidorah's body slammed into his own. Refusing to be knocked to the ground, Godzilla gripped the cyborg's legs with his mighty clawed hands and was carried nearly one hundred meters before the flying beast shook him loose and sent him crashing to the ground.
Gigan screeched as he backed away from the enraged Angilas, who had taken considerable damage but still showed no sign of giving up. If anything, his will to tear the cyborg to pieces had increased. The dinosaur snorted and prepared for another charge, but was caught unprepared by a piercing blast from Gigan's forehead laser. The beam struck him in the forehead and lasted several seconds. Blood began to leak from the wound, but Angilas paid the injury no mind. He lowered his body and pounced at the deadly creature, aiming for the base of its neck. He found his target and latched his jaws onto the spot as he struck Gigan, but the monster was not moved. The cyborg angrily shoved Angilas away, knocking him onto his back and exposing his soft, unprotected belly. Gigan seized the advantage and fired another laser beam, easily tearing the vulnerable flesh of the dinosaur's underbelly. He continued the attack with a pummeling from his hooked forearms. Angilas cried out in pain but determinedly fought on. His thrashing tail struck Gigan's legs, causing him to fall forward. The cyborg fell belly-first onto his enemy, trapping the creature. Seeing an obvious advantage, Gigan brought his buzzsaw to life.
Battra cried out in frustration as his body thrashed about. He could not regain control of his actions and had begun to grow weary from his efforts. With a bellow, he ended his resistance to the unseen forces that were fighting their way from within him. Almost immediately, his body began to flash intermittently in yellow and green. An odd rumbling sound issued from the insect, and he screeched in grim realization as his tortured form began to split in two. A blinding red light emanated from the creature's thorax, casting a crimson blanket over the park.

Base of the Mu Empire...

"What's going on?" the Mu Emperor demanded. "Where is Manda?"
"The tracking device we placed on him is still operative," his advisor informed him. "Its transmission says that Manda is currently heading directly for this base at nearly sixty knots. He is presently located near the Phillipines."
"Why would he be returning here?"
"It is possible that this is his instinctive home. He wanted to escape the battle, and this is the only place he knows to go where he will be safe."
"But that's strange," the emperor said in a perplexed tone. "When this empire took control over the planet, Manda led the invasion. Why wouldn't he do the same now?"
The two pondered for a moment, then exchanged horrified glances as they realized the terrible mistake they had made.
"Release the submarines!" the emperor ordered. "We cannot let him infiltrate the base!"

[Tyler E. Martin]

Chapter X

Harbor View Park...

Silence fell over the crowd of onlookers and even the battling monsters as the scarlet glow continued for several minutes. Even as the light faded, an eerie red mist began to rise from the ground around its source, the fallen form of Battra, now split with surgical precision down the middle of its body. Suddenly, a bizarre whirring sound was heard emanating from the same area as the corpse of Battra.
As the observers tried to make out what was hidden behind the thick red curtain, a loud, strange, but undeniably familiar sound was suddenly heard. The mist finally began to dissipate, revealing the source of the piercing cry. Emitting a screech of challenge, Mothra began to fly hastily in the direction of Mecha-King Ghidorah.
This creature, which was actually a combined form of Mothra and King Seesar, much more closely resembled Mothra than the mammalian Seesar. It possessed the same shape and intricate wing patterns as Mothra, but some of the lion-god's features were clearly visible. Much of the normally pale yellow fur coating the insect's body was now the same shade of brown as Seesar's, and between its huge, blue, multifaceted eyes was a green diamond shape.
Bright yellow bolts of energy issued from Mothra's antennae, striking Mecha-Ghidorah's armor-plated torso and knocking him onto his back. With a stunned triple-cry, the mech rose back to its feet and fired lightninglike blasts from its two lateral heads. They were followed shortly by a double-laser blast from its central head. All three beams struck Mothra's left wing, causing her to buck slightly. But instead of veering into a violent spin, the insect goddess maintained her balance in midair and returned the energy from all three blasts from her right wing. Again caught off-guard, Mecha-King Ghidorah fell to the ground. He roared angrily as he fired a brief salvo of missiles from his torso. These all struck Mothra and caused her to screech harshly, though more out of surprise than pain. A minimal amount of damage was sustained, and Mothra furiously rained more blasts of energy from her antennae down onto the fallen monster. Finally, her wings began to glow as a fine, shimmering powder began to pour from them. This temporarily disabled all functions within the cyborg, biological and mechanical, subduing the beast momentarily.
Gigan emitted a mechanical cry and turned to one side as Angilas, who was suffering from a rather severe wound to the belly, made yet another desperate charge. The merciless creature swung its thick, powerful tail in the dinosaur's direction, connecting with his head and sending the creature onto its side, reeling in pain and frustration as blood ran profusely from the gash in his belly. Gigan, seeing that his foe was now vulnerable to attack, prepared for another brutal assault. He took a slow step forward, savoring the moment all merciless killers enjoy, right before their helpless victim is about to be slaughtered. A series of short, deep grunts escaped his throat. The cyborg's menacing laughter came as a warning to Angilas, who, with strenuous effort, suddenly returned to his feet and prepared for what was sure to be a last stand. Then, seemingly out of nowhere, two fine beams of yellow light struck Gigan in the side, knocking him over with a violent crash. Mothra chirped and fired another double energy blast. Angilas turned his reptilian head to the sky and looked at the mighty savior as he let out a long bellow of gratitude. He began to join Mothra in her attack, but was distracted by an ear-shattering roar. Without warning, Mecha-King Ghidorah slammed into Mothra with tremendous impact. Mothra fell down, on top of Gigan, while Mecha-Ghidorah rose up to the skies once more. The Goddess of Peace then cried out fitfully and rushed up to meet her attacker.

Domitian's Palace...

Domitian and Manabe circled one another, their weapons locked firmly in attack position. Once every few moments, one of them would glance over at the viewscreen which displayed the image being transmitted from a camera placed on Mecha-King Ghidorah.
"If you've gathered enough from those quick glances we've been taking," the insane emperor said, "you will have noticed that not even Mothra, in her new form, is able to stand up to the mighty creation which you helped to develop."
"The outcome of that struggle will be inconsequential if I strike you down with this sword," Manabe said matter-of-factly.
"I wouldn't count on it, infidel." Domitian suddenly stepped toward his opponent, pointing the dagger directly at the Japanese man's face. Manabe swung his sword in the direction of the madman's head, but the blow was evaded with much agility by the crazed Rolisican. As Domitian leapt away from Manabe, he managed to nick the man in the arm with the very tip of the blade he was holding. The injury was not serious, but proved the emperor's fierce fighting skill.
"That was a lucky shot," Manabe said. "I guarantee it won't happen again."
"Denial isn't going to get you anywhere!" Domitian lunged at his enemy, but pulled back at the last possible moment, catching a glimpse of the other man's frightful jump backward. "See? You're scared out of your wits. You might as well admit it."
Beads of sweat began to form on Manabe's nervous face as he realized that he had severely underestimated this mentally unstable warlord. A thousand thoughts rushed through his head as he tried to think up a plan to overcome his adversary, but he mentally dismissed them all in a matter of milliseconds. Then, an idea came to him that caused his eyes to widen and his lips to turn upward at the ends.
"What are you grinning at, fool?"
Without another word, Kenji Manabe began to walk backwards toward Domitian's overly decorated throne while keeping his weapon firmly trained on the madman. Once he stood beside it, he reached down to the chair's right arm and began to press a sequence of buttons on the now-exposed control panel. A confused silence followed, but it was soon broken by an electronically generated voice message which echoed through the emperor's main chamber: "Automatic destruct sequence activated. The suggested means of dealing with this situation, should you choose to accept it, is to evacuate the base through the nearest escape route. This base will explode in thirty minutes."

Just outside the Base of the Mu Empire...

The outraged serpent-god Manda rushed the base, hidden inside an enormous underwater mountain. He tore away at the mountain's surface with his claws and thrashing body. The submarines dispatched to repel the monster fired uselessly upon him. The torpedoes exploded on his tough hide with no effect whatsoever. Not even the powerful beam weapons, which were nearly as deadly as Gigan's forehead laser, harmed the infuriated beast. If anything, the submarines were unintentionally helping Manda to tear through the mountain.
Manda considered stopping his assault on the mountain to destroy the vessels, but decided quickly that no matter how easy the task may be of crushing the submarines, nothing would deter him from his objective. These people had, for thousands of years, faithfully worshipped him as a god. Then, without warning, they had abandoned their religious beliefs in favor of supreme world power, a thing which he knew they could not achieve without losing their grasp to a greater force. To help with their conquest, they had disgraced him by allowing their partners to fit him with a device which controlled his actions. Once he was freed from this horrible prison, he set out to destroy this undesirable group of weaklings once and for all.
After much work, Manda finally reached the mountain's core, where the base was located. He then rushed headlong into the outer wall of the structure, crashing through it and allowing tons upon tons of water to pour into it. Unable to cope with the extreme water pressure, the base exploded. As a result, all things electronically connected with it were terminated. The submarines sent out to attack Manda were automatically destroyed, as were the various scout ships placed strategically all over the globe. Also terminated was the massive fleet now surrounding Japan.

Harbor View Park...

The horrendous explosions and gigantic fountains of spray emanating from Tokyo Bay were all but ignored by the clashing titans.
Godzilla turned about and slammed his long, muscular tail into Mechagodzilla's body. The robot was knocked onto its side as it cried out in distress. Godzilla faced his mechanical counterpart once more and fired a quick blast of radioactive heat which was absorbed by the NT-1 artificial diamond "skin." Mechagodzilla quickly returned to its feet and leapt backward with a brief burst of power from its jet pack. It then aimed the shock anchors and fired at Godzilla, who was still contemplating an effective way of taking his enemy down. He was caught by surprise when the deadly projectiles pierced the tough skin of his abdomen. The monster howled in dreadful agony as electricity was poured into his body billions of volts at a time. Mechagodzilla continued the shock anchor attack while pulling back the steel cables, dragging the massive saurian in its direction. Once Godzilla was within a few hundred feet of Mechagodzilla, the robot jumped up and leaned back in midair. A burst of reverse power issued from the top of the jet pack mounted on its back, and Mechagodzilla brought its immense weight down onto its opponent feet-first. Godzilla desperately thrashed about as he was knocked to the ground under the mechanical duplicate of himself. The voltage from the shock anchors suddenly stopped in order to avoid an overheat, and the dinosaur quickly jerked the hooked objects from his body. The wounds inflicted by the weapons were instantly healed by the monster's cell regeneration, but Godzilla still reeled in pain as more pressure was applied to his body from the robotic beast standing on top of him. He thrashed about helplessly, unable to upset Mechagodzilla's balance.
Angilas pounced on his fallen enemy and latched his jaws onto the creature's neck. Gigan screamed horrifically, trying desperately to shove the infuriated dinosaur away. His buzzsaw would do no good because Angilas was attacking from the side, and his claws had no effect on the monster's spiked shell. They clanged uselessly against the tough carapace as the beast tightened his grasp on Gigan's throat. Thick blood began to squirt as the saurian's jaws severed the cyborg's jugular vein, a thing which its Nebulan creators now realized should have been substituted with circuitry. As life fled him, Gigan began to think rather critically about the situtation he was in. He was about to die at the hands of an Earth monster, and for what? He had been sent to eradicate all threats on this planet and was now dying because of a flaw in the plans of his creators. The power-hungry Nebulans were merely using him as a tool for world domination, much as they had done in the past, only this time, they allowed him to think freely in combat, using his own highly advanced mind to judge and perform tasks. The plan, at least on their part, had failed, and Gigan now realized this. With that realization, the cyborg made a totally independent and unexpected decision. Using all the energy he had left in him, Gigan took to the skies, forcing Angilas to lose his grip and plummet to the ground below with a huge chunk of flesh in his mouth. The cyborg quickly summoned all the mechanical power within himself to fly skyward at a speed of Mach 7, surpassing the speed of sound seven times and resulting in a thundering series of sonic booms. As he reached higher altitudes, his speed began to increase and he was soon gone from sight.
The battle between Mothra and Mecha-King Ghidorah raged on in the sky as the two grappled violently and the sun began to set. Fortunately, Mothra had adopted much of King Seesar's physical endurance, enabling her to give and receive deadly physical blows with much less damage than she would have sustained in her normal form. However, Mecha-Ghidorah had the obvious upper hand with greater mass and a deadly amount of missiles still left in the launchers placed inside his armor-plated body. He employed these to his advantage, enduring powerful blows from Mothra and counterattacking with a burst of missile fire and attacks with his massive form.

Domitian's Palace...

"Now you see that while you may be more skilled with a blade, I still outclass you when it comes to smarts," Manabe gloated.
"Ha!" Domitian laughed. "Do you really think that means you've won? In case you haven't forgotten, I am god and master to all inhabitants of this installment, and even some in the outside world."
"That may be true, but it still doesn't change the fact that this installment of yours is about to be blasted to nothingness."
"You still don't understand, do you? I never would have thought that such a clever fellow as you would have such trouble figuring this out."
"I don't have time to fool with such idiocy." Manabe turned away from the emperor and began walking toward the communications chamber.
"Where do you think you're going?"
"To restore the communications in the Tokyo-Yokohama area. I'll make sure that this battle turns completely against you."
"And how do you plan to do that?"
"It's simple. Just sit down in your chair like a good little boy and watch TV."
The Rolisican shrugged off Manabe's disrespectful order and turned to watch the battle on the viewscreen.

Harbor View Park...

Angilas bellowed mournfully as the cell regeneration process began to take full effect. He had obtained this ability when he had been mutated by the Saradian bomb tests on Lagos Island. Godzilla had been affected in much the same way and possessed the same type of regeneration, only his was much faster due to the more significant level of mutation. But with the terrible wound now no more than an unsightly discolored stripe of skin, the dinosaur prepared to attack Mecha-King Ghidorah, who possessed a firm advantage in the duel between himself and Mothra. With a grunt, Angilas sprung into the air with great strength. He curled himself up into a massive spiny ball and hurled through the air toward the cyborg, finally colliding with him. Sparks flew as the two beasts plummeted to the ground.
Roaring angrily, Godzilla finally managed to knock Mechagodzilla from his standing position. The robot stumbled backward and fired off a quick eye maser shot to keep Godzilla down while its computer banks devised a new method of attack. The fallen monster desperately charged enough energy for a small blast of radioactive fire and aimed the ray at Mechagodzilla's feet. But the blast flew between the metallic beast's legs and streaked past its thrashing tail, striking a small building near the edge of the park.
"It's getting too dangerous!" Division Commander Yoshio Tsuchiya announced to the crowd of onlookers. "I must order all civilian personnel to evacuate the area immediately."
The news crews and observers all groaned in protest, but followed Tsuchiya's orders and began packing up their supplies.
"Does this mean the professor has to leave as well?" Captain Sakurai asked.
"I believe we can make an exception for him," the commander replied. "Besides, if not for Professor Wagura, we'd all probably be--"
"Commander!" a young corporal interrupted. "Communications have been restored!"
"What's that?" Commander Tsuchiya stepped over to the area of the tent reserved for communications. "If that's so, call headquarters! We need reinforcements to keep the battle from expanding to outside the park. Judging by the way they're moving around right now, I'd say it could move all the way up to Tokyo in a matter of hours." He turned around and headed back toward the other side of the tent, where the crowd of journalists had gathered and were all staring at him expectantly. Knowing what they were all hoping for, Tsuchiya scowled and motioned in the direction of the main road used for evacuation.
"But, commander!" a voice cried from within the crowd. "Won't you at least allow us to leave cameras behind to obtain more footage of the battle?"
"Quit your whining," the commander said dryly. "We have our own cameras placed all over the outer edge of the park. They're all sending live feeds to the main military installations of the United Nations. The footage will later be given to the major news networks." He paused and looked the crowd over. "I hope you're satisfied. Now move."

Somewhere in the Asteroid Belt, between Mars and Jupiter...

Gigan quickly negotiated the Asteroid Belt, heading straight for Nebula Space Hunter M Outpost 17. He knew that his remaining life was little and that he had only one chance to take out the outpost. Had he thought that he would be able to reach the main base of operations, which was located near Alpha Centauri. But with all the strength left in him, he could not make the trip, thus leaving Nebula Hunter M a threat to the galaxy. However, by taking out this single outpost, he would undoubtedly slow their progress until something else could be done to deal with them.
The space station was soon in sight, and Gigan flew straight for it. He quickly accelerated his speed and let out a silent screech of triumph as the buzzsaw in his torso began to rotate. The cyborg then flew headfirst into the opening through which he had left and crashed into the structure. He continued to plow through it with the help of the spinning blade in his belly until he finally reached the center of it, where the power source was located. By severing the power source, Gigan successfully annihilated the space station. With his last moment of life, the monster gazed with satisfaction as explosions erupted all around him, tearing the outpost apart.
Now that all power was gone from the space station, the shield was deactivated. Huge waves of energy stretched out from the structure, which was now nothing more than a glaring ball of fire. After all the explosive activity ceased, it was quite clear that Nebula Space Hunter M Outpost 17 was no more.

[Tyler E. Martin]

Chapter XI

Project Mechagodzilla Base...

"We've re-established contact with Mechagodzilla!" Sueko Mabuchi announced. "The main control OS should be booted back up within the next few seconds."
"Finally!" said Commander Sasaki, looking at the screen. "Hopefully, we'll be able to help Angilas and Mothra take out Mecha-King Ghidorah."
"What about Godzilla?" asked Pierce. "It's not likely that he'll just let us take this thing on over to Mecha-Ghidorah and not try to take us out. The picture on the screen makes it quite obvious that Mechagodzilla has been using its pre-programmed AI to attack Godzilla. We all know that Godzilla's not exactly the forgiving type."
"Then we'll have to knock him out of the way," the commander said. "Bercovitch! Are the weapons systems online yet?"
"They're ready to go, sir," the weapons operator informed his commander.
"And the control system?"
"We now have complete control over the robot," said Mabuchi.
"Good!" Commander Sasaki exclaimed. "Ready to fire all weapons on my mark..."
Suddenly, the image on the screen was filled with a great dark blur.
"We've sustained damage to the head!" Mabuchi yelled. "And we're falling!"
"What the...?" Commander Sasaki groaned.
The view was now one from the ground, looking up at Godzilla, who was facing away from Mechagodzilla and bringing his tail down on the robot's head.
Sasaki cursed loudly. "That'll disrupt the main control bank! Bercovitch, fire the mouth masers and I'll get this tin can upright."
"Firing mouth masers," Bercovitch said as he activated the weapons. The blasts struck Godzilla's feet, causing him to stumble forward and allowing Sasaki to right the machine.
"Sweeney!" the commander alerted the woman in the VR chamber. "Prepare for a physical assault after Bercovitch fires off a few shots. Now, fire all weapons!"
The weapons operator aimed and activated all of Mechagodzilla's weapons, except for the shock anchors. He feared that use of them with the other weapons would result in an energy bank overheat. The energy collected through the diamond coating was returned through the Plasma Cannon, the mouth and eye masers were fired, and the rockets were nearly unloaded in a single burst. Despite this murderous barrage, Godzilla stood his ground and began to charge.
"Cease fire!" Commander Sasaki ordered. "Sweeney, now!"
"Commander!" Bercovitch hollered. "The weapons are still firing! It says on the control console that they are shut down, but--"
"The energy banks are overheating!" cried Mabuchi. "Proceeding with shut-down..."
"My God!" the commander exclaimed. "What's going on?!"
"It's not responding to anything!" Mabuchi said. "The control banks have apparently been knocked out!"
With a final grunt of desperation, Commander Sasaki activated the jet pack in order to make a final run at Mecha-King Ghidorah.
Pierce spoke up. "Commander, if you activate the jets, you'll--"
"Aah!" the commander shouted, realizing his mistake. "Wait...the weapons have stopped!"
"The control system is back online!" Mabuchi announced with renewed hope. "Proceeding with..."
She was interrupted by Pierce. "Too late."
Godzilla, bellowing madly, tackled Mechagodzilla. Both monsters were sent to the ground, and the overheat combined with the pressure applied by Godzilla's tremendous weight was simply too much for the mighty Mechagodzilla to handle.

Harbor View Park...

The explosion rocked the entire city of Yokohama. The sound was deafening; in fact, several military observers suffered significant hearing loss. At the very least, it caused an unpleasant ringing sensation in the ears.
Even Godzilla, weighing in at over 60,000 tons, was thrown nearly half a kilometer by the horrendous force of the explosion. A huge black pillar of smoke reached into the afternoon sky, contrasting wildly with the unusually pure white clouds.
Stunned by the blast, Angilas and Mothra looked on it complete shock and awe as the smoke climbed to the sky. This gave the pilot of Mecha-King Ghidorah, who was now used to seeing such catastrophic explosions, a perfect chance for a sneak attack. The triple-domed cyborg unleashed three beams, each from one its heads, on Angilas. All three made full contact with the awestruck dinosaur, who was knocked back. He then turned toward Mothra, who was hovering near him, and lunged for her. Though she was now completely aware of his intentions, the insect goddess had no time to prepare for the attack. Mecha-Ghidorah latched the slavering jaws of its living heads down onto Mothra, each on one wing, and dragged her out of the sky. Once she was low enough to the ground, the cyborg craned its central neck and fired a deadly intertwining double-laser blast from its mechanized head which struck the Mothra's fur-covered back. The insect wailed in pain and fired energy blasts from her antennae, knocking the monster down. Unfortunately, he held a firm grip and took the deity down with him. Mothra screeched and began to beat her wings furiously as sparkling yellow powder was released from them. Mecha-Ghidorah quickly released her and jetted back against the ground. He quickly took to the skies once more and fired yet another salvo of missiles. Mothra evaded the burst of fire with ease and swiftly flew into him. Both monsters spun about in midair.
As the fight raged on, the smoke began to clear and the tremendous crater left by the explosion was revealed. It was hundreds of meters deep and about a quarter of a kilometer wide. Mechagodzilla had been totally annihilated. Tiny bits of shimmering metal and NT-20 artificial diamond scattered in various locations around the park were the only sign that Mechagodzilla had ever existed. Lying a fair distance from the crater was Godzilla, now totally motionless and displaying more than a bit of injury. Not even the insane rate of cell regeneration could cope with the explosion's power. The blast had blown away a great deal of flesh and had damaged some of his vital organs, including his heart and liver, which took a good deal longer to regrow than skin cells. The regeneration process was taking effect, but at a much slower rate. For the first time, Godzilla lay helpless before the eyes of a startled military.

JSDF HQ...

"Ah!" Commander Chiaki exclaimed as he watched Mecha-Ghidorah strike Mothra down yet again under his feet. "This is horrible...I almost wish communications hadn't been restored."
"Even with Gigan and Manda both gone, the situation is hopeless," said Admiral Tazaki. "Angilas and Mothra can't take much more of this abuse. Where is the maser battery now?"
"En route to Yokohama," a lieutenant reported. "They should arrive at the battle site in approximately twenty minutes."
The admiral let out a desperate sigh. "I'm afraid this may be a battle we just can't win. If something isn't--"
"Sirs!" a technician announced. "We are receiving a message from Kenji Manabe!"
"Put it on the viewscreen!" Admiral Tazaki ordered.
The image on the screen changed to a close facial shot of Manabe. His expression was one of firm confidence, yet at the same time displayed a marked amount of worriedness. "Good day, gentlemen."
"What do you want now?" the admiral asked, glaring angrily.
"I only need to tell you that I have activated the self-destruct sequence of this installment and it will be completely annihilated in approximately fifteen minutes. Mu has been completely destroyed already, and Nebula Hunter M is no longer involved."
The congregation of officers all muttered remarks of disbelief.
"I finally discovered that Domitian is nothing but a power-hungry lunatic," Manabe said. "He still claims to be a god, but he knows that I am the only person who sees through him. He has brainwashed the rest of his followers into believing him. So now, he wants to kill me." The man chuckled lightly and grinned. "Isn't it kind of ironic?"
"How can we believe you?" asked Commander Chiaki. "For all we know, this could just be some bizarre scheme to get our hopes up."
"Not quite," Manabe said. "But all I have to say is that I respect and admire your ability to keep your sanity through such a horrible crisis. I must say that--" He suddenly groaned horribly. He fell sideways, revealing Domitian, wielding a bloody dagger.
"What's going on?!" Chiaki demanded. "What is the meaning of this?"
"Greetings, gentlemen," Domitian said, smirking. "I hope you weren't too frightened by that last little bit. It is quite true that this rebellious infidel has activated an irreversible self-destruct sequence which will destroy this installment and everyone and everything in it. In case you're wondering why I'm here and not trying to escape...let's just say I'll be seeing you again soon enough." He then burst into a fit of maniacal laughter.
"I'm afraid he truly is insane," said Admiral Tazaki. "And to think he almost had absolute world power."
"Just wait and see. You will fall at my hands. You may not realize it even after your deaths, but I will strike every last one of you down." He began to laugh once more.
"Get this fool off the screen," the admiral ordered. "We need to see the fight. Domitian's empire may be about to collapse, but Mecha-King Ghidorah will still be there and he may remain a threat."

Harbor View Park...

Mecha-King Ghidorah cackled as he battered Mothra, who was now trapped to the ground underneath the cyborg, with his spike-tipped tails. The insect screeched horribly and tried to escape, to no avail. Angilas finally regained his senses and pounced on the deadly half-machine, tackling him from behind and clawing away at his armor-plated back. Mothra quickly rose back into the air and began to release another downpour of the paralyzing powder. Angilas quickly moved out of the way, but Mecha-Ghidorah had trouble regaining his footing and remained down. When the glittering molecules finally settled, the mech lay helpless. Both opposing monsters seized the advantage. Mothra blasted away with her antennae beams, focusing on Mecha-Ghidorah's wings, while Angilas began to work away at the base of the mechanical neck with his teeth. However, the cyborg suddenly reawakened from its stasis and returned to its feet. Angilas rolled back, onto Mecha-Ghidorah's tails. He quickly latched his claws onto his enemy's legs in an attempt to keep him grounded. The cyborg's jets were not yet at full power, and his wings had been badly damaged by Mothra's beams, keeping him firmly on the ground. All three heads were aimed at Mothra's lower abdomen. The insect, still frantically lashing out with antennae beams, was struck in the midsection by all three beams that issued from Mecha-King Ghidorah's mouths. She was sent reeling backwards, and the cyborg finally exhausted his missiles on the hapless deity. Mothra painfully regained her balance in midair and prepared for a strafing run, but was stopped by a quick blast of lightning from Mecha-Ghidorah's right head. It struck her directly in the head, and she spun about in midair and began to descend rapidly. She finally crashed into the ground as the cyborg freed itself from the dinosaur's grip. He eagerly rained lightning and lasers down onto the fallen goddess as she lay totally helpless on the ground. Angilas made a charge for Mecha-King Ghidorah, who was now rising into the sky. However, he was too late. The cyborg continued its attack from there.
Not far from the battle, Godzilla stirred. Ungodly amounts of his viscera were still clearly visible, but he had regained consciousness and was already eager to settle matters with the other monster who had attacked him. With an enraged howl, he rose to his feet and faced Mecha-King Ghidorah, who was still mercilessly pouring his wrath down onto the two grounded monsters. Godzilla bellowed again, grasping the cyborg's attention. Though they were several hundred meters apart from one another, the two locked eyes. All six of the three-headed demon's cold, ruthless orbs stared evilly into the milky white eyes of Godzilla. Growling, the dinosaur monster struck his mangled, still-healing body in a firm, defensive posture as a radiant blue glow began to dance along the series of spines running down his back.

[Tyler E. Martin]

Chapter XII

JSDF HQ...

"It's sure taking a long time for him to charge that beam," Admiral Tazaki commented. "It usually takes a few seconds, but he's been going for nearly a minute."
"I'd say he's making sure this one is going to count," said Commander Chiaki. "If Mecha-Ghidorah attacks him in that condition, it just might kill him. It seems the pilot of the cyborg has been put into some kind of trance, just like the monster itself."
"We can only hope that this will work," the admiral said. "We've already lost Mechagodzilla, and Angilas and Mothra are down for the count. The only combatant not about to die at this point is Mecha-King Ghidorah." He paused briefly in a moment of thought. "Where in God's name is that maser battery?"


Harbor View Park...

Mecha-King Ghidorah finally snapped out of its trance and roared furiously. Its heads were cast back as energy began to surge up through each of its necks.
Suddenly, fifteen highly concentrated beams of blue energy arced through the air and struck Mecha-Ghidorah in the side. The creature quickly turned in the direction of the blasts, his energy bolts flying off into the sky. The maser battery opened fire once more on the mech. Sparks flew and the monster stumbled back out of surprise. He fired a few carefully aimed blasts, easily incinerating several of the tanks. The grouping of weapons began to move back, still blasting feverishly at the dragon.
"Move out!" Division Commander Tsuchiya ordered the military men. "Colonel Shiba's maser battery has arrived. They will hold off the monster long enough for us to make an escape."
The unit quickly dispersed into the vehicles in which they had arrived. Captain Sakurai and Professor Wagura could not help but look back at Godzilla for a moment. Though he was standing a considerable distance away, the atomic heat radiating from his back had raised the temperature of the immediate area to almost intolerable heights.
The maser tanks were picked off one-by-one by Mecha-King Ghidorah's powerful blasts. Despite being totally outmatched, the few remaining continued to fire away.
With a cackle, the cyborg destroyed the last of the opposing weapons. He then turned back to Godzilla and prepared to attack.
But suddenly, a whirring sound was heard. Mothra, using every last ounce of strength in her tortured body, was rising into the air behind the deadly beast. She was quickly sent reeling backwards from a quick strike with both tails. He quickly fired a powerful bolt from each of his three mouths at the dinosaur monster standing before him.
Godzilla quickly opened his tooth-lined maw and unleashed the single deadliest energy blast ever recorded. The searing mass of nuclear power lit up the dim evening sky and streaked directly in Mecha-King Ghidorah's direction. But the cyborg's energy blasts, being much less intense and therefore much faster, met Godzilla's unprotected body with full force. Godzilla was forced to abruptly end the blast and keel over in agony as chunks of flesh and blood were blown out of his body. Mecha-Ghidorah quickly ducked.
And Godzilla's atomic blast missed.
The fallen dinosaur screamed in horror and anguish as he lay defenseless before his mighty foe. He had summoned up the greatest part of the nuclear energy residing within his body to form that tremendous beam, only for it to miss its target completely. Now he was totally helpless. He was at the cyborg's mercy. Mecha-Ghidorah could now easily tear him to pieces with a few more blasts of energy.
Cackling loudly, the three-headed dragon stared at his downed enemy. With another sadistic series of cackles, it took aim.
But its attack was interrupted by the most unexpected of things.
A joyous chirp sounded from above. Mothra hovered only a few hundred feet over the cyborg's heads, her left wing ablaze with an insane amount of energy. Mecha-King Ghidorah could only look on in horrified shock as the power was transferred to Mothra's left wing and subsequently rained down onto its rightful target.
Mecha-King Ghidorah screamed hideously as it was ripped apart by the force of the blast. By the time the cyborg's functions ceased completely, its remains were at the bottom of a crater thousands of meters deep.
Mothra's round head shook as she cried out in triumph and glided over to Godzilla, who was struggling to hold on to his life. She landed very gently next to him and stared into his pale white eyes. She sensed that he could survive, but only if enough time was allowed for a decent recovery. His energy had been almost entirely depleted, making the regeneration process much slower than normal. A previous life had been sacrificed trying to protect Japan from this menace, but the Goddess of Peace now saw his true motivation and was able to understand his predicament. Godzilla was a monster who had been transformed from a peaceful, unobtrusive creature to a hideously mutated freak, all because of the arrogance of human beings. His feelings of hatred toward the human race were totally justified.
In an act of belatedly realized mercy, Mothra cast a protective wing over Godzilla's body as they both slipped into unconsciousness.

Domitian's Palace...

"Automatic destruct sequence will take place in one minute and counting," the computerized voice announced. "If you have not evacuated the palace, it is suggested that you do so now through the nearest escape route. Now counting down..."
As the computer began to count down to the moment of the base's destruction, Domitian stared at the viewscreen, which was now blank. "You have no idea, you dumb brute."
"Thirty seconds...twenty-nine...twenty-eight..."
"You think that you have undone all that I have strived to create with a single blast of radioactive fire. I will let it be known to the entire world that Domitian's wrath can never be suppressed." His words were drowned out by the computer's voice, and the base had been almost completely evacuated, save the emperor himself. But that did not matter to him. It has never been an uncommon thing for a crazed man to utter bizarre words to themselves.
"Fifteen seconds..."
"To think I was worried. That would truly prove me to be a madman."
"Ten seconds...nine...eight...seven..."
"Do not worry, my good fellow..."
"Four...three..."
"We shall meet again."
"One."
Then, with an explosion hundreds of times as violent as the one brought about by Mechagodzilla's energy bank overheat, Domitian's Palace was completely annihilated. Even those who had escaped and were making good progress outside in the cold, harsh Antarctic environment were incinerated by the blast. Everything for nearly thirty miles was destroyed. A gigantic mushroom cloud climbed high into the sky and could be seen from hundreds of miles away. The tremendous crater left by the blast was many miles wide and was so deep that an individual standing at its edge would be unable to see its bottom.
And so ended the existence of one of the most terrible empires on Earth.

[Tyler E. Martin]

Epilogue

October 21, 20XX
Harbor View Park
6:51 A.M. ...

The sun began to climb into the sky, casting a surreal tint over the devastated park. The once-beautiful landscape had been pounded and blasted into a scarred wasteland. Two tremendous black craters had been blown into the Earth's surface, and the gorgeous floral arrangements which abounded throughout the park, were mostly destroyed.
In the middle of the slaughtered park lay Godzilla and Mothra, still unconscious after the battle from which they had received numerous near-fatal scars. Angilas, now in fair condition, had left during the night to return to Oshima Island.
As the sun rose higher, a convoy of military vehicles arrived. Cleanup crews burst from their doors to pick up after the atrocious conflict, while other men assigned to security duties began to carry out their assignments, making sure that no outsiders entered the park. From the middle of the horde of men emerged Admiral Jun Tazaki, followed by Commander Minoru Chiaki, Captain Akira Sakurai, and Professor Hiroshi Wagura. The three stared the battlefield down and focused their attention on the two mighty monsters which lay peacefully on the scarred ground.
Mothra, her left wing spread over Godzilla's body, began to stir. Slowly, she began to flap her wings, accompanied by the same familiar whirring sound. As she rose into the sky, Godzilla's form was fully revealed, now showing no sign at all of ever being damaged. Mothra turned about in midair and faced down toward the scurrying humans. She hovered for some time, staring at the flurry of activity. Finally, she flew off over the shimmering bay, destined for Infant Island.
"It was a costly victory," said Tazaki. "But it was a victory nonetheless. I must thank you, Professor Wagura, for your invaluable contribution."
"You are most welcome, admiral," the professor said. "I'm sure most of the world is totally confused as to how it worked. I plan to do a little explaining at the memorial service for the soldiers lost in this battle."
The men fell silent as Colonel Shiba was carried before them on a gurney to a waiting ambulance. They were informed that he was the only survivor found so far. In a stunned hush, the four once more fixed their gaze upon Godzilla. Even in this nearly comatose state, he exhibited a kind of twisted dignity and grace.
As the sun reached its peak on a new day, it was clear that, with the three empires no longer a threat, the world could wake up and live again.

*