Godzilla Lives!
A Godzilla fanfiction by Travis J. DeSantis
Chapter Six
"Hey, have you seen this?" Yashiro asked, waving at Maj. Kuroki with his copy of the newspaper. "There's an editorial in here saying that Godzilla is back. What a joke! I think WE would know about it before the press."
Sho pulled his head out of his locker, in which his lucky rabbit's foot was hiding. He wasn't a particularly superstitious man, but it was a memento of his late father, so Sho wasn't about to lose it now.
"We've been seeing those claims for years," he replied. "But I'm surprised The Japan Times would print it. Such 'reports' are usually exclusive to the tabloids. Who wrote it?"
"Something-or-other Maki," answered Yashiro absent-mindedly, flipping through the papers and settling on the comic strips. "Ha ha, that crazy Noodles."
Now Sho turned around fully. "Maki? Goro Maki?"
"Uh, I guess so. Why?"
Sho returned to the locker to look for his charm again, but his searching was distracted. "Goro Maki was one of the men responsible for defeating Godzilla in 1984. He helped Professor Hayashida create the sonic transmitter that lured Godzilla into Mount Mihara. They saved Japan, maybe the whole world. But both of them went missing after that."
Yashiro ran a hand through his long mop of chocolate brown hair. "If it is the same guy, it looks like he turned into some kind of conspiracy nut."
"I wonder if he's still in contact with the professor? Hayashida spent his life studying Godzilla. The information he's gathered might be vital to--"
Their conversation was interrupted when Sergeant Amane Higa entered the locker room. He faced Sho and saluted crisply. "Major Kuroki, the Super-X2 is prepped and ready. We're just waiting for you," he added, a hint of contempt seasoning his voice.
Before joining G-Force, Sgt. Higa was in the JASDF and specialized in test-piloting experimental aircraft. An Okinawa boy, he was nicknamed 'Matchstick' because of his deep tan and inversely bright red head of hair, which he vehemently maintained was natural. Amane was one of those hot shot pilots that liked to prove himself and Sho suspected he was feeling a professional rivalry, having been bumped back to lowly co-pilot.
"Just a moment, Sergeant," Sho replied evenly, trying not to let his own annoyance show. He finally found his rabbit's foot and grabbed it out from under a dirty towel. "I'll be right behind you."
At that Higa left, rudely leaving the door open. Sho jammed a new cap on his head, this one emblazoned with the Roman numeral 'II' on top of a winged 'X'. He closed his locker, then clapped Yashiro on the shoulder and they both left. The two were several paces behind Higa and the teenager leaned towards his elder.
"I don't think he much likes you," Yashiro whispered. Then he noticed the fuzzy brown object in the major's hand. "A rabbit's foot?"
"Brings me luck," Sho chuckled.
"Wasn't very lucky for the rabbit. And he had four."
Sho chose not to comment.
Today was the first test flight of the DAG-MBS-SX2, so tensions were high. Kuroki and Higa were the pilots as planned, but young Honda was the only member of the Super-X2 project that could quickly fix a system error if anything went drastically wrong. Sho felt uneasy trusting such a dangerous mechanism to a civilian, but he understood the necessity.
As they entered the enormous underground hanger, Sho looked up at the strange craft and prayed to the gods that it didn't handle as unwieldy as it looked.
Ten minutes later, all systems were checked and operational, and they got the green signal from project command. Sho fired up the engines, but heard little more than a dull hum. He was certain the six turbofans made for a deafening roar outside the craft, but the cabin seemed to have a sound dampener so as not to distract the crew. In fact, the cabin itself--set up in a triangular pattern with the pilot in front--was so quiet that they really didn't need headsets to communicate.
Sho slowly pulled back on the flight yoke and the Super-X2 lifted gently off the hanger floor.
"Everything looks good," the major said. "Let's take her for a spin."
He engaged the forward thrusters and ship jolted forward so suddenly that Sho had to throttle back completely just to avoid crashing right through one of the hanger's support columns. The major could feel his co-pilot's disapproving glare boring into the back of his head.
"Yashiro, try to do something about the sensitivity," Sho said with a grimace.
"Heh, my bad. I'm used to twitchy controls when I'm gaming," came the reply over the headset. Yashiro went to work, reprogramming the Super-X2's systems on the fly. After a moment: "There try it now."
Taking a deep breath, Sho carefully re-engaged the thrusters and was pleased to find a much smoother response. The Super-X2 handled surprisingly like a helicopter, strafing and circling easily despite its size.
Feeling his reputation was on the line after the previous blunder, Sho decided he'd have to earn Sgt. Higa's respect and proceeded to take the expensive, experimental craft on a whirlwind course around the hanger. Ignoring the frantic shouting from project command, the Super-X2 streaked through the hanger like a bat out of hell. It spun and pitched, taking tight corners around support columns, nearly skimming the walls. In the cabin, Yashiro had his hands in the hair and whooped like he was on a roller coaster, enjoying the ride. Sho couldn't hear anything out of Higa, but assumed the man's lack of protests was a good sign.
Finally, Sho set the craft back down in its place as if nothing had happened. He turned in his seat and looked back at his crew to see their reactions. Yashiro flashed a thumbs-up, grinning broadly. For him, this was a video game come alive. Amane was still, but had a strange smile on his face.
"You gotta let me try that," he said at last, without a trace of his earlier contempt.
Sho climbed out of the pilot's seat and cheerily lead his crew outside, preparing to get chewed out by the undoubtedly furious technicians at project command.
