[ Contents | 15. Trouble on the Waterfront, Redux | 16. Mothra vs.... | 17. ... vs. Dark ]

Yamucha's Student

By Dragoness Eclectic

 

Chapter 16. Mothra vs....

"WHOA!" Yamucha dodged aside as Rodan's massive beak snapped at him. "You guys aren't listening, are you?"

Rodan's massive wings flapped up and down as the monster turned its head back toward its intended goal, ignoring Yamucha. Yamucha arced up and above the gigantic pterosaur and its huge passenger. From above, the scarred warrior could see the golden gleam of the control harnesses embedded in each monster's skull. He glanced back, toward the island base.

Gojira was easy to spot by the huge wake the semi-aquatic monster made as it surged through the water toward the mainland. Rodan, flying faster than most jets, had already crossed the strait and was over the mainland; it headed in a straight line toward the capital of the Northern People's Republic, carrying the monstrous sail-finned dinosaur Barugon.

"And I'll bet he's programmed to come back and pick up Gojira after he's dropped off his lizard friend," Yamucha said to himself. "That's no good; I'll just have to try harder to get Rodan's attention."

He darted ahead of the oncoming monster; energy gathered in Yamucha's hands. "Let's see how you respond to a real attack!"

"SPIRIT BALL ATTACK!" Yamucha flung a blazing white globe of energy straight at the onrushing pterosaur. It exploded about twenty feet from Rodan's nose; the monster screeched once, a high, distressed sound as it wobbled slightly, and then surged forward, through the smoke cloud.

"Damn! He didn't like that, but he's not turning, either. This doesn't look so good." Yamucha climbed above Rodan's flight path and talked into the radio he'd taken from the Dark Ribbon base. "Puar, can you hear me?"

"Yes! Yamucha, I can hear you!" the excited voice of Puar crackled in his ears.

"They're ignoring me completely," yelled Yamucha over the wind. "I can't stop them unless I kill them, and that's getting iffy--there's a lot of houses below Rodan and Barugon now. You and Saisei have to turn off the controller; then I can scare the monsters away!"

"Yamucha--" A blast of static cut across Puar's answer, and then continued to crackle noisily.

"Puar, what's happening?" Yamucha shouted.

Static crackled, but Yamucha could faintly make out a few words. "...Mothra... here.... Twins... songs.. control monsters... Lightning... can't hear you... Try to slow them down!"

*      *      *      *

"Mothra is here!" The twin goddesses called, and Puar looked up from her perch outside Dock Two. Her eyes widened at the sight of the great moth flying across ocean toward them.

Vast yellow-gold wings beat with preternatural slowness, driving the big fuzzy-bodied creature through the air at a speed that struck the amazed Puar as being far too fast for such slow wingbeats. Indeed, the great wings seemed to beat too slowly to even keep the giant insect in the air, let alone move it so quickly.

The two kami stood on the rocks above Puar and began to sing; in response, the great insect turned toward the open mouth of the bay, where two ships were slowly steaming in.

Others noticed the giant moth as well: across the bay, men boiled out of the vehicles lined up on the road to Dock One, pulling out guns and swivelling tank guns and rockets to face the oncoming monster.

"Oh my!" said Puar. "What is he going to do? I don't see the other monsters!"

"Mothra says that Rodan is flying to the northwest, carrying Barugon, and that Gojira is swimming in the same direction," chorused the twin kami. "He will chase them and try to stop them."

Puar looked at the gathered soldiers with worry. "But..." She pointed one fat paw at the soldiers and the oncoming ships. "What about them? They are going to attack, too. Ask Mothra to stop the ships!"

The two little goddesses looked at each other uncertainly. "We will ask him," they finally said, and began to sing.

About that time, Puar's radio crackled--it was Yamucha. She listened, nodded, and tried to answer---

KRAK-BOOM! Yellow lightning flashed from Mothra's antenna into one of the ships; smoke billowed up. More lightning flashed and boomed from Mothra's antenna, lashing the other ship--

"Oh, no! I can't hear Yamucha!" Puar exclaimed. "We have to go in and turn off the remote controller so Yamucha and maybe Mothra can stop the monsters, but I don't know--"

Again, Mothra's lightning crashed into one of the ships, now billowing smoke but still making headway. It vanished into a cloud of black smoke--

Something roared, and Mothra's lightning flashed down again. A huge dragon-like head on a long snaky body reared out of the smoke and water and roared again; it swung its head toward Mothra and spit a huge glob of vile green goo at the giant moth.

Reptilicus had risen to battle.

*      *      *      *

The first crack of thunder sounded while Colonel Dark was showing Lunch his extensive files on the Cell Games participants and other individuals that he or Dr. Gero had considered dangerously powerful. He looked up in consternation at the interruption.

"Sir? I think you should see this," called one of the Command Center guards from the large window. Dark frowned and strode over to the window; this particular window was one of several large windows that ringed the Command Center and commanded a view of the harbor and everything in it.

"Bloody hell!" Colonel Dark cursed as the giant moth attacked his ships. Two long strides took him to the master console, where he flipped up a red cover, pressed the button beneath, and typed in a passcode. Dark then lifted a microphone and keyed it.

"Attention! This is your commander; Reptilicus and Ebirah are active; go to General Quarters. I repeat, Reptilicus and Ebirah are active; go to General Quarters. This is not a drill."

He looked over his shoulder at Lunch. "Take command of the ships at Dock Three; I want those ships and the troops on them to go directly across the strait, with the island between them and this... monster mash. Our big three are still on target and I will not lose all my troops to a giant moth!" Not waiting for her acknowledgement, Dark turned on his heel and left.

Lunch's eyes narrowed to glittering green slits. "Fat chance, buster!" she muttered to herself. Quickly she made copies of all the files before stuffing the disks in her vest and running for the stairs.

*      *      *      *

Mothra's lightning danced along Reptilicus's flank; the enraged giant reptile bellowed with pain and submerged, only to surface again and spit green mucus at Mothra. Mothra's slow wingbeats couldn't turn fast enough to entirely dodge Reptilicus's attack; the green goo clipped the trailing edge of Mothra's left wing, burning a hole through it. Mothra's wings already had three other such holes.

Fresh green scales showed where the lightning burns on Reptilicus's flanks had healed. Suddenly, the great lizard dove deep, beyond Mothra's sight and reach. Only the slow wingbeats of the huge insect echoed across the bay as Mothra laboriously climbed and turned. The sinking ships still burned near the mouth of the bay.

The ocean heaved as Mothra crossed back across the bay; Reptilicus surged from the depths, leaping high into the air, great jaws snapping at the monstrous moth. Mothra's wings beat frantically as Reptilicus's jaws grazed the huge insect's abdomen; yellow dust showered down on the dragon-like lizard. Yellow lightning flashed, and Reptilicus fell back down with nothing more than a few yellow hairs protruding from between his teeth.

*      *      *      *

Puar watched the fight wide-eyed, then looked at the entrance of Dock Two. Soldiers blocked the way, soldiers armed with rifles and grenades and other weapons, but they were watching something inside.

"Hey," Puar called the little goddesses, "we have to get in there and turn off the controller!"

The twins, who had been watching the fight between Mothra and Reptilicus with growing horror, turned as one to face Puar. "You are right," they said, "for then we may sing to all the monsters."

"After I change, get on my back," Puar said. There was a *poof* and a large blue and grey Triceratops stood where a cat had been once before.

The twin kami looked wide-eyed at the dinosaur for a moment, and then levitated up on to her back and perched just above and behind the armored neck frill. The powerful dinosaur snorted and pawed the ground.

A few soldiers finally noticed them, and started pointing at them and shouting. Too late; Puar the Triceratops charged!

Soldiers dove frantically out of the way, or were knocked flat as the truck-sized dinosaur charged into the enclosed Dock. Inside, more soldiers jumped up to stop the intruder, then jumped aside as they saw what the intruder was. Puar tossed her horned head, flinging slow-moving soldiers this way and that--

Light flickered and flashed as two forms moving too fast for Puar to follow collided, struck, blocked, dodged, rebounded. Saisei and Tao Pie Pie battled across the cavernous Dock, leaping high into the air, landing now and again on either wharf or just hanging in mid-air, exchanging blows so fast that their fall seemed to be a gentle drift downward like autumn leaves floating on a breeze. Soldiers cowered behind crates and machines, or simply stood gaping at the incredible battle.

Suddenly the figures sprang apart and dropped down onto opposite wharves, facing each other. Both panted for breath. Tao Pie Pie's fine coat was tattered and blood-stained; Saisei's bare chest showed half a dozen bleeding slashes. Saisei grinned at his enemy.

Tao Pie Pie scowled at that and he curled his hands together.

"DODON-PA!" White energy flashed toward Saisei, who crouched and swung his arm at the blast, flicking it away with a gesture oddly like that of a batter hitting a ball. Saisei's grin widened; he had the measure of his opponent, and Tao Pie Pie was the weaker man.

Tao Pie Pie turned his head then, noticing the dinosaur battering its way across the base of the wharves--

Saisei's eyes narrowed. "SPIRIT BALL!"

He leaped high, tossing a blazing white sphere of energy at Tao Pie Pie. His inattentive enemy glanced back as well-honed senses warned him of the danger; Tao Pie Pie jumped to one side, trying to dodge--

WHOOOM! The ball exploded, flinging dust and smoke and water everywhere. Saisei dove into the heart of the smoke cloud--

Puar the Triceratops bellowed and charged down the central wharf; she'd finally spotted Doctor Soliere and the machine he was using.

"Noooo!" screamed Soliere; he grabbed a rifle away from the stunned soldier beside him. Pointing the gun at the charging Triceratops, he jerked back on the trigger--

BANG! Puar the Triceratops flinched slightly but didn't stop; a small hole appeared in her armored frill, low and on the left.

The mundane sound of gunshots seemed to wake the soldiers from their incredulous stupor; several Dark Ribbon troopers unslung rifles and started to raise them to their soldiers.

BANG! Soliere fired again as Puar ran him down; he stumbled as he dodged to one side. Puar staggered; blood poured out of her left shoulder. As Soliere scrambled to his feet, Puar tossed her head and bellowed in pain--and her long horns caught Soliere across the chest and flung him into the slip.

Soliere hit the water with a tremendous splash and flailed about wildly. "HELP ME! I CAN'T SWIM!"

Puar collapsed, changing as she crumpled; a small, plump blue and grey cat huddled, bleeding on the wet concrete. The two kami looked at each other, and for the first time, separated. One leaped onto the controller and began to pull and stand on various levers; the other knelt beside Puar, holding the wounded cat's head and singing to her gently.

"HIII-YAAA!" Tao Pie Pie's limp body careened across the Dock, only to be met by Saisei's follow-up blow. The hammer blow across the assassin's back sent him smashing into the hard concrete of the center wharf. He did not get up.

The advancing soldiers stopped in shock as Saisei landed lightly beside the fallen assassin. He was panting hard, but a wicked grin adorned his face.

"Who's next?" Saisei asked, smirking.

The soldiers ran.

"Saisei, can you help us?" chorused the little goddessess. "Puar is hurt, and we do not know how to turn off the machine."

Saisei's eyes widened, then narrowed at the sight of the wounded cat. "Puar! Bastards!" he hissed. "I know how to turn off the cursed machine. Stand aside!"

The twins looked at each other; the kami standing on the controller floated down beside her sister.

Energy gathered in Saisei's hand; he drew his arm back and pitched a seething ball of energy like a fastball straight across the plate. Strike!

WHOOM! The controller exploded, sending parts flying like shrapnel everywhere.

WHAAM! A second explosion echoed, this one from outside.

The little goddesses screamed. "Mothra is dead! Mothra is dead!"

"What the--?" Saisei looked up--

Something rushed in like a grey thunderbolt to smash into Saisei. A powerful blow flung him across the entire Dock to crash into the unyielding concrete wall. Only Yamucha hits so hard, thought Saisei as he strugged to hang on to consciousness.

He was wrong.

Colonel Jerome Sebastien Dark hovered in mid-air above the central wharf, blue-white energy glowing in his right hand, his dark grey coat fluttering slightly in the hot wind from outside. His blue eyes glittered and his fine mouth was drawn tight with anger.

"You should not have done that!" he said.

*      *      *      *

CONTINUED IN CHAPTER 17. ... vs. Dark


[ Contents | 15. Trouble on the Waterfront, Redux | 16. Mothra vs.... | 17. ... vs. Dark ]

Disclaimer: See Credits.

Copyright 2001 by Dragoness Eclectic