
Author: Harley Jameson | Banner: Andrew Sudomerski
[Branching off from Match 190]
“Lieutenant…Taniguchi,” began the doctor. Taniguchi looked up at the doctor, his eyes full of fire. “I won’t stop you,” Ogata quickly affirmed, but he slid a hand to the young man’s shoulder. “You’re a braver man than most Lieutenant. You’re the best pilot G-Force will likely ever see and…” He paused for a moment, eyes full of warmth. “You’re also my friend, Taniguchi. I’d better see you back in that pilot’s seat as soon as possible.”
Taniguchi smiled confidently, and Yano briefly hugged him as the commander slapped Taniguchi’s other shoulder. “You’ll only be down there for a short time, so Godzilla’s radiation won’t kill you. Make it back in one piece though son. Who knows what Bagan could do?” Silently, Taniguchi nodded as he exited the Super-X2, and went down to Godzilla.
The irony was not lost on him as he approached the dying Godzilla. He had dedicated the rest of his adult life to killing the monster for the safety of the human race. Now he was going to save Godzilla’s life in order to save the human race. Funny how life worked like that.
“Please…” he spoke to the King of Monsters. He was fairly sure Godzilla couldn’t hear, let alone understand, him as he walked closer to Godzilla’s jaw. “Save us, Godzilla. You are our last hope.” With that final plea, he threw the G-Energy container down Godzilla’s throat, and scrambled back to the Super-X2 and into the controls. As he flew away, his heart was hammering in his chest.
Now they had to wait.
Bagan waited impatiently as the Super-X2 flew away, staring intently down at Godzilla. He growled in irritation as the seconds ticked on. He was eager to fight this new foe. Light began to pour from Godzilla’s downed body. A tremendous shining orange that made the onlookers from the Super X-2 squint uncomfortably. The whole ship was rocked and a few minutes later a massive burst of noise, like a roaring thunder made everyone cover their ears in agony.
A great burst of orange, fire-like light erupted into the skies of the ruined city. A wave of heat like no other warped the air around Godzilla and Bagan, concrete and broken steel beginning to melt and from the smoldering ruins rose everyone’s worst nightmare brought to burning reality. Godzilla’s entire body was humming with unstoppable atomic power, and a roar of unending agony seemed to bubble out of Godzilla’s body when a massive inferno of atomic energy erupted from his back, forcing the Super X-2 to take emergency maneuvers.
Godzilla fired a super-heated spiral ray wildly at Bagan, who reared back in alarm before being blown clean off of his feet by Godzilla’s suddenly more powerful attacks, smoke curling from his form as he quickly rose back up and roared challengingly at his melting opponent. His maw crackled with electricity and he fired a white hot plasma breath that blew a hole straight through Godzilla’s side, and gave a surprised jerk when the wound healed almost instantaneously.
Taking one frail step closer, Godzilla fired another spiral ray at Bagan, the beam actually beginning to melt his toughened armor-like hide as Bagan was pushed back by the attack. Alarmed, Bagan began to move forward to engage the living hazard, only to immediately back away from the intense heat his opponent was giving off. He briefly covered his eyes as Godzilla seemed to glow brightly, before his screams of pain were drowned when he was suddenly thrown back by a sudden bright light, followed by a massive eruption of atomic power when a nuclear pulse ripped from Godzilla’s smoking body.
“No…” Ogata whispered fearfully, staring in absolute horror at the lightshow before him. “No it can’t be…”
The lieutenant grabbed the headset of the radio, broadcasting on all channels possibly available and screaming into the headset over the dim of noise. “This is a warning to everyone in the area, including invaders. Tokyo needs to be evacuated at once, Godzilla is melting down and we are unable to stop him! Japan is lost, I repeat. Godzilla is melting down and Japan is lost. Abandon the city at all costs!”
Ms. Yano snapped her gaze at Taniguchi, who was frantically scrambling back into his seat at the pilot’s chair and strapping himself in. “We’re leaving, just like that?!” She demanded incredulously.
“You’re damn right we are,” Taniguchi confirmed, tapping frantically at the buttons. The whole crew had to sit down as they felt the rumble of the Super X-2’s engines begin to kick in. “This was our last chance and it blew up, literally, in our faces.”
The doctor had put his glasses down on the console, hands covering his face in despair. “If only we had more time…” He moaned unhappily. “We knew the risks but we should’ve had more time…”
Yano gripped her seatbelt tightly, glancing out of the viewport at the battle happening below them. Godzilla had seemed to finally regain his footing, ignoring the plasma breaths that were literally cutting through his body as if they were melted butter and grabbing the demon, Bagan letting out a shriek of pain as his arm began sizzling and melting at Godzilla’s mere touch.
“What’s happening to him?” She asked quietly, wincing when another massive jet of atomic flames seared out of Godzilla’s melting and burst back. The dorsal plates were literally dripping together in some eerie facsimile of a candle slowly being melted by the wick.
“Meltdown,” Ogata said grimly. “It’s a state we theorized Godzilla would achieve if his body ever began shutting down.” He turned, and despite his shaking hands his voice was steady as he gave the impromptu lecture. “Godzilla’s internal organs work much like a nuclear reactor. When overloaded with atomic energy, or, G-Energy in this case, they begin to shut down. Much like a reactor in critical stages, Godzilla’s body is unable to process the excess energy. We had hoped that the G-Energy would stabilize Godzilla and allow his body to adapt but…” He trailed off, sighing. “The point is, now that it’s started, we can’t stop it. His body will eventually explode, or more likely melt completely. Leaving a molten pool of pure radiation that will contaminate the entire country.”
The radio hissed to life, and through the static broke a curious, but deep alien voice. “Attention crew of the Super X-2. This is Alien Miko, what do you mean by “abandon Japan?””
The crew all glanced at one another nervously, before Miss Yano reluctantly picked up the headset and leaned forward towards the microphone to explain what she had just learned. After a few moments of silence, Alien Miko’s voice broke out again. “Come to my mothership, I have a plan.” There was a small hiss again, then silence.
The doctor was the first to speak up. “Don’t,” He said simply. No one needed to press him any further, they knew why he wouldn’t agree to it.
Tanaguchi licked his lips, and looked outside at the warring monsters. The G-Energy mercifully seemed to be stabilizing Godzilla’s temperatures somewhat, even as steam and fire billowed into the skies with unapologetic fervor.
Bagan cradled his partially melted arm, snarling in anger before his horns began flashing a brilliant white. Immediately, the diamond storm began raining down against Godzilla’s dying form, smashing through him and sending lava-hot ribbons of flesh and blood spilling all across the smelting pavement below him.
Godzilla gave out an angry and distorted roar of pain and rage, spinning around and uncaring as his bones snapped from the movement and snapped again to quickly reheal the damage. His tail flung out, whipping Bagan across the chest and leaving burn scars along his chest before a great wave of atomic fire exploded painfully out of his back and engulfed the super monster. Bagan couldn’t even scream as the intense heat and atomic energy overtook his form completely, forcing him to desperately dive off to the side and lay there in a burning heap for a few agonizing moments.
He had never experienced such pain before in his long life. Bagan let out a grunt of effort as he pushed himself back to his full height, the scent of his own cooked flesh only spurned his insatiable anger, but also a new sensation that gripped his blackened heart: Fear.
Instinctively, Bagan knew that Godzilla was a threat beyond comparison now. A deep animalistic part of him wanted to flee to the wilds. The buzzing in the back of his aching mind reprimanded him and reminded him of his orders. Another part, long thought dead, urged him to stop Godzilla for the good of everything left in this forsaken country.
Conflicted, Bagan fearlessly charged forward with a trumpeting war cry. Claws crackling with energy, he slashed out with his hands and let two Slasher Claws embed themselves in Godzilla’s sizzling flesh. Two deep X-shaped scars quickly healed over as Godzilla flailed his head wildly and lashed out with his claws. Sparks flew from Bagan’s burnt chest, and Bagan instinctively lashed back only to seeth in agony when his hand literally sank into Godzilla’s tender and melted flesh.
Despite the pain coursing up his arm, Bagan began funneling his mighty power into his hand. The energy kept building up, electricity crackling beneath Godzilla’s melted skin until the super monster was thrown back by an explosion of flesh and blood, his hand reduced to a stump of flesh and melted bone. The world seemed to dim slightly before a ring of energy came out of Godzilla and Bagan braced himself for the atomic pulse that shoved him back. The heat, even from a safer distance, was almost overbearing to him. His armor had begun to melt much like his hand. Gritting his teeth, Bagan realized that he wasn’t going to win if this kept up.
The Super X-2 docked inside Alien Miko’s mothership. The alien-like hangerbay was completely devoid of all of the other UFOs. Stepping cautiously out of the ship, the crew of four looked around for any sign of trouble. The Commander held his hands at his side, hovering over the pistol nestled in its holster. “It looks clear.”
Taniguchi nodded, glancing over at the Doctor. Looking extremely unhappy, he pushed past the two soldiers and began briskly walking towards the nearest doorway. “Come on, I’ll show you to him.” He paused for a moment, glancing back at his crew. “I can’t promise you’ll like what you see though.”
Deeper into the bowels of the mothership, and everyone got a strange pulsating sensation. A deep, low thrum echoing around the ship. The floor was sticky with some sort of fluid that made Taniguchi sick to his stomach when he thought about what it might be. What seemed to be organic tendril-like things lined the walls and ceiling. As the crew ventured deeper, towards the heart of the ship, Taniguchi wondered how literal that metaphor would turn out to be.
Stepping into a large antechamber, they all stopped and stared in awe at the creature before them. Doctor Ogata was the only one unimpressed, and waved his arm. “Lieutenant, Commander, Miss Yano… meet Alien Miko.”
Alien Miko seemed to be fused to the wall and machinery surrounding it. A huge brain-like organ pulsed and occasionally gave a flash of light, and the computer banks underneath bleeped and warbled in response. The creature opened its eyes, blood red and startlingly bright in the darkness. It glanced around, the whole body heaving with a breath none could hear. When it spoke, they could see no indication of movement. “Good, you all arrived.”
The commander was the first to regain his composure, jutting his chin out towards the alien. “You said you had a plan? Presumably, about Godzilla.”
“An apt deduction Commander, you would be correct. I do have an idea regarding how to stop Godzilla. We simply need to make more of the G-Energy-”
“Impossible!” Ogata interrupted hotly, glaring up at the alien towering above him. Its eyes swiveled to meet his defiant yet terrified gaze. “The G-Energy wouldn’t have any effect on Godzilla at this point, his body temperature is too great. It would dissolve into nothingness before it even reached him.”
“Correct,” Miko agreed, taking all of them off guard. “What I propose is we give it to Bagan.” A stunned silence came across the humans, and the alien continued. “The logic is simple: Bagan is the only creature capable of killing Godzilla before he reaches critical temperatures. If we can infuse Bagan with sufficient power, he can kill Godzilla before that point. As it stands, I still require Doctor Ogata’s help with making more G-Energy. With my ship’s capabilities however, we can make it in time. Just.”
They all looked at one another in silent confusion. No one seemed to be willing to speak up until Taniguchi stepped forward. He glanced briefly at the Commander, who nodded his approval. “We shall accept on one condition: You leave the Earth in peace.”
Miko’s eyes locked on Taniguchi. The human felt like an insect underneath the powerful alien’s gaze, as if he were an abandoned toy recently rediscovered by a teenager cleaning their room. “I’m not sure you’re in any position to bargain, Lieutenant.”
“Neither are you.” He fired back, his voice full of confidence he didn’t feel. “If Godzilla goes critical, you lose your main invasion weapon: Bagan. Without him, we can drive back your invasion. This is the only way you’ll leave this planet alive, Miko. Besides, if he really could have left by now, he would have.”
Ogata couldn’t hold himself back anymore. “Absolutely not!” He exploded, taking everyone but Miko by surprise. “I… I refuse to work with that thing again. Do you know what he did to me?” He grit his teeth angrily, glaring up at the alien. “He invaded my mind, he tried to rip my most precious memories from me. It was as if… as if he tried to tear away at my very soul. You can’t honestly expect me to agree to this plan. We don’t even know if he’ll agree!”
Taniguchi’s voice was low and cold, stepping closer towards the doctor with a determined glint in his eye. “We don’t have a choice, Doctor. Every second we waste, Godzilla is coming closer to going critical. I’m not willing to give up Japan that easily. Are you?”
“It’s not about that.” The doctor seethed angrily. Ogata glared at the soldier, hands shaking. “But we don’t know if the thing can even be trusted, and on top of that you’re just willing to let it go after it caused so much death and destruction? It needs to be held accountable for its actions!”
The lieutenant raised his gun, pointing it at the doctor. Ogata stared at the gun in disbelief, before Taniguchi spoke. “This isn’t a request, Doctor Ogata. I’m ordering you to assist us. My duty is to protect Japan and the world at all costs. If that means having to let the alien go unpunished to keep everyone alive?” He glanced back at the Commander, who was technically in charge of this impromptu operation. He had his hand on the hilt of his gun, but he nodded at Taniguchi. He would support his subordinate’s decision.
It seemed like neither would give until Ogata tore his gaze away, looking even more frustrated than before. “Fine, I’ll do it. But I want a guarantee that the thing will behave itself! I’m not working with it until we do! And yes Lieutenant, you will have to shoot me in that case.”
“I am willing to accept both of those terms.” Miko stated calmly. “Lieutenant Taniguchi, move your gun away from the professor and at myself. I believe…” The alien’s forehead throbbed. “My temple will suffice. While one bullet shan’t kill me, multiple will.” Taniguchi gaped at the alien in disbelief, before doing as instructed. With the soft click, the safety was turned off and he pressed the barrel against the alien’s thick, bulging temple. “Doctor Ogata, you are familiar with the route to the lab. Let Miss Yano and the Commander assist you however you need. And hurry, we don’t have much time.” Without another word, Ogata led the others into another part of the ship. In tense silence, both Miko and Taniguchi watched the battle unfold in Japan.
“Why did you do this?” Taniguchi asked quietly. His arm was hurting from holding up his pistol but he kept it level at the alien’s temple. Down below, on the viewscreen, they could see Bagan circling slowly around an immobile Godzilla.
Although the sound was muted, both could hear Bagan’s roar of anger followed by another plasma breath. The white hot beam completely blew off a giant portion of Godzilla’s back that quickly regrew. Jagged dorsal plates began spurting and melting into his flesh, dripping like candle wax. Godzilla attempted to take a step forward but his leg completely snapped off from his body due to the temperature. A new one quickly replaced where the old one had been left, and he fired another wild spiral ray with a great woosh of steam being vented from his body.
Alien Miko was silent for a moment. He glanced over at Taniguchi before finally speaking. “Why does anyone attempt to invade and conquer another power? Materials, wealth, a new home. Perhaps I heard all of the stories from my contemporary and thought I could succeed where they failed. None of it matters now though. At what temperature will Godzilla go critical?”
“1200 degrees,” Taniguchi answered back flatly, seeing the numbers steadily climbing on the screen before him. “We’re running out of time, we won’t make it to Bagan before Godzilla explodes.”
Alien Miko hummed in agreement, once again glancing down at the human. “Haven’t your species come up with a contingency plan for this sort of thing?”
Taniguchi swallowed hard, finally lowering his arm. “We have,” He confirmed unhappily. “But it won’t work now, Godzilla’s body temperature is too high. All it will do is…” He trailed off, his eyes widening with horror. “Will buy us time.” He finished softly.
“Time we need.” Alien Miko said gently. “I shall send my own forces to assist you when you give the order. But first…” Static hissed all around them, and Alien Miko’s voice rose to a conversational tone. “How are things in the laboratory professor?”
“Nearly done now. We just need another minute or two to transfer it into the canister.” Ogata confirmed. “How are things out there?”
Alien Miko looked at Taniguchi expectantly, silently asking him what he was going to do. Pale and shaking, Taniguchi cleared his throat and spoke up. “Things are.. Are going fine. I’ll meet you at the Super X2 to help bring on the payload. We don’t have much time left though.”
The comm system shut down, and Taniguchi glared at Alien Miko. Hoping that he could somehow blame the alien for the decision he was about to make. He wondered if this was what the Commander often had to deal with.
No, it was no time to think about that now. “Put me through to our forces,” Taniguchi said. Once he heard the familiar hiss of static, he cleared his throat and spoke in a sharper tone. “Everyone, this is Lieutenant Taniguchi of the Super X2. I realize the situation may seem hopeless but… but we do have a plan. A one in a million shot to stop Godzilla before he blows us all to kingdom come. I need every available fighter jet to load up with freezer missiles and start hammering on Godzilla as much as possible to buy us some time. I understand what I’m asking of you, I won’t force any of you to participate in a mission like this. Am I understood?”
There was nothing over the radio. Taniguchi felt sweat begin to roll down the back of his neck and the doubts swirling in his mind like a maelstrom threatened to overtake him. What if he had overstepped his boundaries? Would they really fight for this slim chance to save Japan?
The radio hissed to life. “Understood Super X2, all available forces being sent your way. We’ll stop him no matter what, over.”
He slumped down in relief and guilt. Taniguchi didn’t want to think about how many people would die due to this insane plan that he had agreed to do. “Go, Lieutenant. Your people need you,” Alien Miko urged quietly. Standing to his feet, he nodded mutely at the alien and ran back towards his ship.
By the time the others had arrived, Taniguchi had gotten the Super X2’s engines running and quickly ran outside to help load the second batch of G-Energy into the torpedo bay. “How are we going to get close enough to Godzilla?” Miss Yano asked, her face red with exhaustion.
Saying nothing, Taniguchi made sure everyone was strapped in before he lifted the Super X2 off and took off at full speed out of the mothership’s hanger.
The noise was deafening as Godzilla’s back erupted with another wave of atomic fire. The screams of jets and the buzzing of UFOs made a cacophony of noise as the combined alien and human forces made their final stand against the King of the Monsters. The alien ships jerked around, firing their laser weapons to distract Godzilla while the jets boomed overhead, unloading a payload of freezer missiles that embedded themselves in Godzilla before exploding in a huge burst of steam.
“Hold on!” Taniguchi yelled, swinging the Super X2 around and starting up the Gatling Guns. The whole ship vibrated as he held the button down and the high impact bullets shredded through Godzilla like wet paper. Molten blood and flesh were thrown everywhere as a UFO suddenly slammed into the Super X2, sending the ship wildly off course until an atomic breath engulfed the UFO in a fiery explosion.
A squadron of jets unleashed another payload of freezer missiles onto Godzilla, unfaltering as atomic steam vented into the air and blew a few of them high into the air and out of control thanks to the updraft they caused. Opening the Fire Mirror as a precaution, the Super X2 swirled around in the air and made a beeline for Bagan.
An atomic breath slammed into the fire mirror, and the Super X2’s main weapon shattered like brittle glass as the beam was reflected back towards Godzilla and Bagan. The two super monsters were engulfed in a massive explosion of atomic power. The Super X2 was thrown completely through a ruined skyscraper, smashing through glass and concrete until Taniguchi finally regained control and straightened it out. He breathed out slowly, before pushing the Super X2 back towards the brawl.
Despite the chaos exploding around him, Bagan gave a defiant scream of anger and tried again to get in close to Godzilla. He sank his claws into melting flesh, ignoring the unbelievable pain before it was cut off when his nerve endings melted off. Channeling his power, electricity pulsed from the stumps of Bagan’s hands and began to overtake Godzilla’s melting form. Flesh and foam bubbled across the dying king’s electrified hide, and Godzilla let out a massive shriek of pure agony before firing point blank at Bagan’s chest.
The beam pierced through Bagan completely, throwing the super monster across the ground in a bloodied and twitching heap. He reached up to where he knew he should feel his heartbeat, only to remember what had happened to his hands. Bagan wheezed, feeling himself curl up and his vision begin to go black.
“This is our only chance, man the torpedo with the payload!” Taniguchi yelled, gunning as hard as he could towards the downed Bagan. Everyone was running around behind him as he flew towards the dying super monster. Blood was pooling underneath Bagan as his chest wound continued to pump blood across his burnt and melted body.
Taniguchi held his finger over the button to fire. He stared at the creature, once a being full of hatred and rage. A demon made flesh, curled up and dying. How many had died thanks to Bagan and his masters’ rampage?
How many more would die if Taniguchi didn’t press the button?
The torpedo fired and launched itself from its porthole. It dropped like a stone, breaking apart and spreading the G-Energy across Bagan’s broken body. It washed over him, bathing him in a surprisingly beautiful blue glow as the Super X2 hovered over him. Skin began to heal over. Muscles and bones began to knit back together with loud cracking and jerking. Claws burst from Bagan’s hands. His blackened gray hide had turned a brimming bronze coloration. The Super X2 eased away slowly as Bagan continued glowing a bright translucent blue.
Six energy tendrils made of glimmering light sprout from Bagan’s back. They spread apart until they were at equal distance from each other. Electricity hummed and sparked between the tendrils, creating wing-like membranes. Bagan rose slowly into the air, power coursing through his body and washing him with electrical might. The bronze super monster looked down at the dying Godzilla and gave an echoing howl of might before swooping down, his claws extending and coated in his power.
Two gigantic electric X’s appeared on Godzilla’s body, branding his skin with the scars even as his regeneration frantically tried to heal the damage. Bringing his Slasher Claws back to bear, Bagan easily shot past Godzilla with blinding speed, dodging the hyper spiral ray that was fired in a vain attempt to stop him.
In his wake, Bagan left a trail of diamond storm meteors hurtling towards the fallen king. The diamond storm crashed into Godzilla’s body, wedging itself into the burning body before exploding all around him in a massive show of power and electricity.
The dying monster king wheezed painfully as Bagan dropped down in front of him. The two monsters glared at one another, and Godzilla felt a surge of agony wash over him. He was so close to death, and both of them knew it. Letting out a defiant roar, Godzilla fired his most powerful spiral ray of his life. It flew directly towards Bagan, who curled his wings of light in front of him, then promptly generated his force field.
Dust and steam billowed into the air. Godzilla felt his eyes begin melting from the heat of his body. Even as his vision swam and dissolved before his eyes, he could see Bagan completely unharmed before him. Godzilla could feel the electricity and power washing from his opponent as he could only brace for the inevitable…
For the first time in his tyrannical existence, Bagan felt his power channel in such a way he thought impossible. His power, his might, completely at his control. The demon beast felt violent sparks explode from his tri-horned head, collecting and funneling the energy between his horns. Although such a feat usually signaled the forthcoming of the Diamond Storm, this time something different was going to emerge.
The protruding nasal horn gathered the surging energies, focusing his wrath into one final attack.
Closing his eyes, Godzilla stood there and waited as Bagan fired his supercharged horn beam. The destructive laser ripped through Godzilla’s chest and completely destroyed his heart. He couldn’t even scream, instead holding his head up with his mouth open as everything faded away to nothingness.
Bagan breathed in deeply, feeling the G-Energy leaving his body as Godzilla’s corpse collapsed on itself into a pile of festering atomic sludge. He stared at his opponent’s remains, and let out a hollow cry of victory.
Taniguchi collapsed in the pilot’s chair. “It’s over. We’ve won.” He breathed out in relief.
“Only if Miko keeps his bargain.” Ogata murmured darkly. “What’s keeping him from asserting control over Bagan once again?”
“An astute question, Professor.”
The whole crew jumped in alarm when Miko’s voice rang out from their comms system. They all crowded Taniguchi at the viewstation and watched as the mothership hovered some distance before them. Bagan was watching both ships with intense, curious eyes. “After the infusion of G-Energy, whatever hold I had over Bagan broke completely.” Miko explained. “And I sincerely doubt you or him would allow me to try to control him again.”
“So,” the Alien concluded. “I’ll leave him with you. He’s your problem now, in essence. I’ll uphold my end of the bargain and leave.” Without saying another word, the mothership lifted off into the air, and flew off towards the horizon.
Alone, the crew turned their attention towards Bagan. He had remained absolutely motionless ever since he had killed Godzilla. Taniguchi half expected him to begin rampaging, but instead there was an uneasy quiet that had fallen.
A small chirp broke everyone out of their stupor. Bagan jerked, looking up as Mothra descended from the heavens above. She gave another chirp at Bagan, who let out a low throaty noise. No one could understand what she was talking to him about, but after a few moments, Bagan let out a heaving sigh and slowly turned to leave. He ignored Mothra and the humans, and instead walked into the sea and out of sight. Towards an unknown future.
Taniguchi steered the Super X2 away from Mothra. Whatever she intended to do, he had no reason to stop her. “Come on, let’s finally go home,” he sighed, and gently urged the battered war machine back towards her hanger. “We have a lot of work to do.”
Winner: Bagan