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“Did you hear something?” A Japanese guard asked to his patrol mate as he looked down a long, dimly lit corridor with an endless amount of doors.
The partner sighed, “For the third and final time Kazuma… NO!”
“Are you sure Hiroshi because I thought I heard the sound of metal cracking?” the patrol officer inquired again. “The other guards have been really quiet as well.”
“Look Kazuya we are hundreds of feet under the city of Osaka,” Hiroshi explained. “The entire place has a steel wall so thick that a nuke could drop on top of us and we would not have to worry. So how would something get all the way down here, create a noise and not alert the other eighteen guards?”
Kazuya raised his hands in defeat. “I don’t know but there have been a lot of weird events this week. First the meteor in the country side, and then the weird mineral robberies. Maybe all of this could be connected.”
Hiroshi shook his head and wiped his hand over his face as he processed the information before he exclaimed, “I am just going to pretend I didn’t hear you just say that. I mean, first off what does any of that have to deal with this job. Second, is this from the same newspaper that spotted the flying blue man in Tokyo a few days ago?”
Kazuya scolded his partner before he ran off to investigate the sound down another hallway.
Hiroshi watched his companion disappear, pitying his slow to develop common sense and waited for him to return. As he grew impatient, the officer began to stroll down the hallway until Kazuya reappeared but in a full sprint.
“Now what’s your problem?” Hiroshi humorlessly questioned only then for a massive wave of black one-eyed human sized insects to advance from the hallway his partner had just come from.
“I WAS RIGHT!” Kazuya yelled as he bolted past his partner who pulled out his side arm.
Hiroshi unleashed his weapon on the bugs but it did nothing to stop their movement forcing the elderly patrol officer to follow Kazuya. Death flowed a dozen meters behind them, following the pair with every turn they made. The two men however halted as they reached an unwanted dead end.
“Were trapped!” Kazuya exclaimed only for Hiroshi to notice a door beside them.
“We have the…” Hiroshi remarked only to notice the wave of insects approaching them and quickly refocus on the lock. The guard rapidly entered their security code and opened the door allowing the duo to dash into the room. As Hiroshi locked the metal door behind them, a loud series of thuds immediately began sounding as the creatures pounded the door.
“That should hold them,” Kazuya assured as he panted from his long run only to watch as the insects thrusted their long legs through the door and the wall surrounding it.
“No… it won’t,” Hiroshi regrettably commented as he watched the barrier start to crumble.
The two officers turned around to look for a way out only to discover they were not alone.
A figure slowly turned to face the two patrol officers as he realized their presence. A grey and blue skin enveloped his form. A star like crest rested just above his eyes, the only insight to the man behind the alien armor. The strange wardrobe distracted the pair for a few moments until they glanced at the sparkling crystal in the intruder’s hands.
“Who the hell are you?” Hiroshi inquired as he drew his sidearm on the unknown individual.
“If you want to make it out of here then follow me!” The figure spun and punched through the left metal wall. Hiroshi stood in shock, lowering his weapon as the intruder gradually peeled the steel wall apart like tin paper until a large enough opening appeared. The figure after the act exhaustingly panted before he jumped into the next room. Hiroshi and Kazuya followed his lead as the door gave way. The insects flooded the room but the mysterious figure bent the metal back in the nick of time.
Kazuya watched the insects struggle against the broken wall before turning toward his savior. “Thank you but who are you?”
“Zone Fighter,” the hero commented as he searched the room to discover multiple lockers filled with weapons.
Hiroshi smirked as he lifted a rifle from the cache and looked it over. “We must be in the storage room for the old Mutant weapons. Damn things are out of date but that still pack a punch.”
Zone Fighter grabbed a weapon for himself simply for Hiroshi to aim his weapon at the alien hero. Kazuya immediately moved in front of his partner’s aim and declared, “Are you mad he just saved our lives and don’t you know who he is? It’s Zone Fighter! He is an old super hero of Japan like Ultraman. Don’t you remember?”
“How the hell do you? I was a kid when they were around. You weren’t even born!”
“My dad read stories about them to me when I was a kid,” Kazuya embarrassingly retorted. “He’s… a lot smaller then I remember though.”
“Okay then. If he is who he says he is why did he steal the crystal? I sure don’t know what the hell it is but for all we know it’s why those things want us dead!”
The sound of the insects pounding their legs against the dividing wall reinforced Hiroshi as he kept his aim on the thief.
Zone Fighter exhaled, appearing as if he was fighting off a migraine, and explained, “No I need the crystal to… help… someone.”
“See he’s on our side. Are you also here to stop the Symbiotic Legion?”
“The what?” Hiroshi inquired.
“The things outside which reminds me,” Kazuya noted as he dropped his radio as well as his cell phone on the ground. “Don’t you read anything Hiroshi?”
Veins appeared on Hiroshi’s head but his irritation did little to stop his reasoning as he lowered his weapon.
“Okay, so what’s the plan hero?” Hiroshi inquired while he looked at the bent wall which had the insect’s legs creaking through. The thought of the creatures then reminded him to follow Kazuya’s action and drop his radio.
Zone Fighter handed a rifle to Kazuya before he walked to the exit. “How fast can you run?”
The alien hero kicked the door open and unleashed his weapon on the Legion that were outside the broken door as Hiroshi and Kazuya ran the other direction. The officers unleashed their respective rounds on any bug they noticed in front of them, shredding them with ammo that was designed to pierce giant monster’s flesh. Hiroshi accurately fired while Kazuya sprayed and prayed until the pair reached the door. Hiroshi quickly pressed the elevator button simply for nothing to happen.
“I think the lockdown activated and the doors locked!” Kazuya remarked as he stared at the elevator door while Hiroshi kept watch down the hall.
“Shoot some bugs then!”
Kazuya readied to retort however the sound of footsteps drew both guards attention. Both aimed their weapons down the hallway they had come from merely to find Zone Fighter jogging toward them.
A smile appeared on Kazuya’s face but it faded as dozens of Symbiotic Legions appeared behind his approaching ally.
Hiroshi let out a sigh and raised his rifle. “Dammit not again!”
Hiroshi unleashed a constant stream of laser fire allowing Hikaru to safely reach their position. The screeches of the Symbiotic legion behind him created an almost deafening sound as they were slaughtered, but the creatures continued to press toward the trio.
“Where is the elevator?” Hikaru inquired.
Kazuya glanced at the door. “Either here or half way to the Atlantic.”
“It better be here soon!” Hiroshi shouted as he picked off the advancing creatures with more semi-automatic laser fire. “These things are damn persistent!”
“Well Hiroshi you want us to shoot the door open then? Risk us getting…”
Hikaru pushed Kazuya out of the way, grabbed the two panels of the door and pulled. The metal doors creaked, the frame bending from the alien’s strength. Gradually a large enough opening appeared revealing the elevator before Hikaru stumbled back. The hero took multiple deep breaths and almost fell to the floor merely for Kazuya to assist him. As the two entered the elevator with Hiroshi covering them a sad revelation overcame Hikaru. His incredible strength, like his self-control had faded in thanks to Cameron.
The elevator began to rise and Hikaru continued to delve into his current misery until Hiroshi interrupted his train of thought. “So how did you get in here anyway?”
Hikaru smiled as a more comical thought entered his fracturing mind. “The television set in your employee lounge.”
Hiroshi starred at Hikaru, waiting for the sarcastic remark to follow which never did. “Well how about the doors? No let me guess the employee microwave?”
“Actually, the toaster for the doors. The codes on the whiteboard also helped.”
Hiroshi let out another irritated sigh. “Another reason I hate the people I work with.”
The damaged doors opened and the trio rushed out merely to discover an eerily empty Japanese Self Defense Force lobby. With no one in sight the trio rushed out onto the streets merely to discover a large orange plant like structure growing out of the adjacent building and people running in all directions.
“I think I want to go back in the bunker,” Kazuya moaned as he scanned the plant in horror. “You said it could survive a nuke right Hiroshi?
Hikaru turned to Kazuya. “Why? What is going to happen?”
Kazuya opened his mouth to reply merely for Hiroshi to step in between the two.
“Since Gamera’s dead, that plants going to turn the city to rubble and blow everyone else to hell with it. That is unless you are actually Zone Fighter. Then you can stop it.”
Hikaru glanced at the plant yet as he thought about helping a sharp pain entered his mind while thoughts of returning to Cameron flooded it. Every fiber in his being edged him to leave so the crystal would be safe but the sliver of control Hikaru still possessed resisted with all it could muster.
“You two get out of the area as fast as you can!” Hikaru ordered as he gritted his teeth against the mental pain. “I will… protect the crystal!”
The alien figure then sprinted to the middle of the street and yelled, “Zone Double Fight!”
The hero instantly grew to enormous size revealing to the city the presence of a long missed champion. With the power to destroy the alien abomination, Zone Fighter focused on the monstrous alien plant while the intense mental pain continued. Energy coursed down his arms before Zone Fighter discharged a series of red arrow beams at the Legion Flower’s roots. The energy weapons sliced through the plant’s anatomy with ease causing a sickly liquid to flow from the cut roots.
Satisfied the plant was detached from the ground, Zone Fighter dashed toward the flower and then began to lift it. At first Hikaru found the same resistance as the metal door but as massive amounts of adrenaline flowed into his veins, the flower finally gave way. The remaining roots snapped under the immense strain while tearing the structure they were attached to apart. The flower of Legion rose off the ground and rested above the Meteor Man’s head for everyone in the city to witness. Using the enhanced strength, Zone Fighter tossed the Legion plant high into the air and shouted, “Meteor Proton Beam!”
The alien hero unleashed his strongest weapon on the flower causing it to explode in a colossal fireball. The fire illuminated the city in a glistening display of destruction. Fiery plant debris rained from the sky after the detonation ending the Legion’s hopes of launching a seed yet the act infuriated the new colony. Thousands of Symbiotic Legion crawled out of the ground and flew into the sky, surrounding Zone Fighter in a gigantic cloud of death. The legions of alien insects flew threateningly around the hero until they received the order to attack from their queen. The massive cloud, like a noose around someone’s neck, immediately closed in on Zone Fighter.
“Plasma Capsule!” shouted the mighty hero as he unleashed energy waves all over his body. Normally able to stun a monstrous enemy, the small insects flew helplessly backward at high speeds peppering the cityscape with their dead corpses.
With the swarm gone and the flower destroyed, the Meteor Man took a deep breath of relief. The city was safe again. As he regained his composure the ground violently uplifted beneath him as a long black appendage smacked across his form. The hero rolled across the ground but quickly recovered to witness an entire city block collapse creating a massive haze. As the dust cleared, the gigantic form of the colonies’ queen appeared before Legion screeched to the destroyer of her flower and children. In a show of true power, the queen’s horn charged with sapphire destructive energy.
The menacing sight would be a threatening display to any challenger but for Hikaru, it was a welcome sight. The pain in his mind faded with the Queen’s display of power as the crystal was assuredly in danger. He needed to protect the crystal. He needed to kill Legion. Nothing restrained the power within him now.
Zone Fighter took a defensive stance before Legion unleashed its charged power. Two concussion blasts discharged from Legion’s horn and impacted the general vicinity of the Meteor Man turning it into a pyro. The small five story structures surrounding the hero vaporized as the force of the blasts tore them to shreds, blanketing the area in a screen of dust. As the fire and smoke diminished from the impact area, Legion discovered Zone Fighter injury free behind a large rectangular shield. Furious, the queen unleashed two more blasts on the Zone-Barrier with the fourth finally shattering it into sparks.
From the cloud of the energy detonation, Zone Fighter charged toward the alien insect and sent a volley of jabs at its massive head merely for the alien’s strong exoskeleton to withstand the mighty barrage intact. Using the confusion to her advantage, Legion swiped Zone Fighter with its horn into an adjacent structure. Zone Fighter, lying in the rubble of the structure he fell on, refocused on his foe to discover her horn was open and about to unleash a point blank concussion ray.
“Meteor Proton Beam!” Zone Fighter shouted as Legion discharged her ray. The two energy weapons impacted each other creating an earth shattering shockwave. Zone Fighter flew backward across the city from the concussive force until he slammed into the base of a nearby thirty story structure.
The alien hero stumbled to his feet and glanced at his light timer which shinned red. With little time left, the Meteor Man looked back at his foe that now stood in a large rubble free crater.
Smoke trailed off the queen’s slightly cracked armor but Legion screeched at her foe with agitation. She was far from finished with Zone Fighter.
Wanting to finish the fight as quickly as possible, Zone Fighter yelled into the air, “Meteor Missile Might!”
The hero’s two infamous gauntlets suddenly appeared before the Meteor Man unloaded one of his duel gauntlets on Legion. Quick to react, Legion formed an electromagnetic shield and deflected every missile into the city setting the surrounding structures ablaze. Zone Fighter with his attack failing ended his assault with a few missiles left in his used gauntlet, merely for the insect queen to deactivate its shield and screech insultingly at her foe.
Needing to get around the shield, Zone Fighter knelt to the ground and began to channel energy throughout his tensing body. His form began to radiate a blue aura while Legion’s horn did the same. Finally, blue sparks cascaded across his form and his fists clenched. It was time for Legion to pay.
“JET SPEED!” Zone Fighter blitzed forward, sending the structure behind him crashing down from the shockwave while Legion unleashed her own power.
The path to Legion immediately sparked into an inferno as a concussive ray ignited a gas line underneath the city. Nothing but ash existed in Legion’s gaze. A fact even Zone Fighter noted as he flew mid-air above Legion, upside down and with both gauntlets aimed at the queen’s backside.“Meteor Missile Might!”
Legion screeched in agony as its wings burned and exoskeleton cracked from Zone Fighter’s barrage. Oxygen flowed from her exoskeleton’s cracks creating more fuel for the missiles as Zone Fighter unleashed everything he had. With both clips emptied, the hero regained his composure and landed a distance away from his opponent.
Defying her anguish, Legion turned toward her brood’s killer and dashed forward with her horn acting as a spear. City blocks exploded as her form rapidly moved across the city to impale Zone Fighter.
Hikaru couldn’t believe the speed Legion could move but still grabbed ahold of the horn as she arrived. The hero skidded across the ground as he tried to stop the alien’s movements but his strength could not halt Legion’s rage. The two continued pushing through the city until a nearby skyscraper finally halted the pair. Zone Fighter, with slight bits of rubble falling down on him, looked up from his downed state to see Legion aiming a point blank blast of her concussion ray.
Too close to fire an energy weapon like he had done earlier, Zone Fighter deployed a small hyper barrier as Legion unleashed her concentrated ray. The main force of the blast impacted, reflected and broke the shield causing a massive explosion of devastating force. Ripples and fractures cascaded up the skyscraper before it finally collapsed from strain raining rubble, cement as well as other debris over the pair. As the shockwave ended its destruction, Zone Fighter and Legion found themselves buried under rubble.
A full minute of silence passed by in the decimated landscape that was once Osaka until a slight tremor turned into a rupture of the destroyed sky scraper. Legion sprung from her hastily built tomb with a grave new wound in her chest that she could not ignore like her other injuries. A large gaping hole now took the place of her egg sack from the redirected concussion ray.
With her flower gone, her brood destroyed, severely impaired and with all local silicon deposits depleted; Legion turned away from the city with sights on a new nest. The queen screeched into the air before burrowing under the earth and away from Osaka.
As Legion burrowed away a hand burst through the rubble at the other end of the downed structure. Gradually Zone Fighter lifted himself up and out of the debris with his light buckle counting down the few precious seconds he had left. He could sense Legion retreating and as much as he wanted to give chase, he could feel the pain in his mind return. The crystal was safe, and he could not fight the two small electronic devices attached to his head any longer. Zone Fighter regrettably flew into the sky toward Cameron’s remote facility.
“Wow now that is impressive,” Cameron Winter mumbled as he studied the data from the neural transmitters on Zone Fighter from his main office’s desk. “He actually manipulated the stimulator’s effects on him. His mind is stronger than I thought.”
As Cameron continued to look over the data Zone Fighter, in his human powered form, entered into Cameron’s room with the crystal in his hand.
“I have what you wanted,” Hikaru stated before he tossed the crystal at Cameron.
The mogul caught the object with the tip of his fingers before he signaled Hikaru to follow him on his way out of the room.
“I must say I am impressed with your accomplishment,” Cameron commented as he and Hikaru walked down the halls of his personal installation. “You grabbed the crystal with no trouble except for your unlucky run in with Legion.”
As the duo walked into an open room which housed a twenty meter tall and fifty meter wide glass cylinder in the center, Cameron handed the crystal to a few workers in his presence. “Begin the fusion process immediately.”
The workers nodded before they disappeared allowing Cameron to refocus on his pawn.
“Which brings me to the topic I wish to discuss with you.”
A smile appeared on Cameron’s face before he stealthily activated the stimulators on his minion. Hikaru’s mind immediately raged with an intense agony causing him to fall to his knees. Hikaru tried to think, but the pain was incredibly intense.
“STOP!” Hikaru yelled as he clutched his head.
“You could have avoided Legion. You could have just ignored it but… you had to play hero. Can’t have you altering your commands like that so your free thought will have to go. This may make you weaker as shown with your strength already but it should ensure you won’t disobey me again.”
Cameron took his eyes off of Hikaru who struggled on the ground then turned to face the massive container. “You’re lucky in fact, I will show mercy on you today considering what you helped me accomplish. In that enormous container,” Cameron remarked merely to glance back at Hikaru who still knelt on the floor in utter pain.
The mogul sighed at the sight and grabbed his controller. With a few commands, Cameron forced his minion to stand and look at his achievement.
“As I was saying, in that container was a dormant bio specimen that I abandoned after my failure with the Chameleon project. Its usefulness became clear after I set my plan into action so I will be fusing it with the crystal’s molecular structure.”
At that moment the container shined an eerie purple revealing the skinny creature. The proto-monster gradually began to change as the machine spliced its body with the structure of the crystal. Its claws grew, its tail formed spikes and its back developed rows of crystal spikes like a porcupine.
An arrogant smile formed on Cameron’s face. “I would like to introduce you to my newest pawn, Krystalak!”
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Sitting at his desk in his main office in the heart of Tokyo, Prime Minster Hayato Igarashi rubbed his temples as he looked over reports from Osaka. The leader of Japan took a keen eye to the estimated damage reports of Osaka that totaled two hundred billion yen.
“Worse than what I would have guessed but it’s better than Sendai,” Igarashi noted before he heard a knock on his door.
“May I come in?” General Aso asked before Hayato waved him in. The Prime Minster always liked the general and many thought he and Aso looked alike. Hayato could never see the resemblance though.
“Good to see you Aso but do you have the reports for me specifically on the facility?” the Prime Minster inquired. “Seems to be the only one I am missing.”
“Unfortunately,” the officer countered as he handed him the file. “Reports from two surviving officers indicate Zone Fighter took a small crystal from the facility during the attack.”
“What is its significance?” Hayato questioned only for Aso to reply, “It’s the only remaining crystal from SpaceGodzilla’s attack in 1994. All other fragments were destroyed except the fragment taken.”
“Any indication as to why he stole it? Legion’s arrival perhaps?”
“Negative, and the problem with that theory is the facility was thoroughly shielded. With your approval, I would like to have the JSDF prepare against them both. I hear Colonel Watarase is especially eager to settle a score with Legion.”
Hayato nodded as he turned to gaze out of his office’s window to gaze upon Tokyo. “How close are we to our newest project’s completion? We will need it to combat them and I need something positive for the public to ease tension.”
“After the setback of acquiring our desired programmer and Tokumitsu’s recent formal resignation, we finally found two new candidates to finalize their duties.”
Hayato returned his attention on the general. “Please, go on.”
“The first is Dr. Ifakube. She volunteered for the project in exchange for partial funding of her own side project. She will finalize Tokumitsu’s work while the other new member of the project is a Dr. Craven.”
The Prime Minister’s brow immediately rose with curiosity over the second name. “The member of H.E.A.T.?”
“Yes he…was the only other qualified individual we could find. Both started working on their tasks yesterday so Mechagodzilla should be finished within the next week.”
Igarashi let out a sigh then glanced back at the file from Osaka. “Then let us hope it will be soon enough.”
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