Godzilla Lives!
A Godzilla fanfiction by Travis J. DeSantis
Chapter Eighteen
Several floors down, the mood was decidedly less positive. Three days had passed since Godzilla fought the mysterious new kaiju and there was neither hide nor hair of the monsters. It was too much to hope they had destroyed each other. In that time, the Super-X2 had been under enough repairs that it could fly normally. But most of the weapon systems were still inoperable. And there was another problem.
"The battery is cracked," Tanaka explained. The briefing room's projector now showed photos of the mechanical damage. "The atomic charge you got from Godzilla's thermonuclear breath has left enough ambient radiation in the containment unit that it must be isolated while repairs are made. It could take up to a month. The Fire Mirror is useless without it."
Sgt. Higa groaned and buried his head in his hands. "Terrific! If Godzilla comes back, we're practically defenseless."
"Don't worry, we still have the missiles," Yashiro noted. "The Hellfires definitely did something."
"Even with the cadmium warheads, Hellfires don't do enough in one shot," replied Maj. Kuroki. Removing his cap, he ran his fingers through his hair. "But that's a moot point, since Godzilla can apparently counter them. We need something bigger. Something he's never seen before that can take him down in one shot."
"I don't imagine the Americans would loan us a Bunker Buster..." Amane mumbled.
Tanaka leaned back in his seat and sneered. "The Americans are too conceited. They say they want to help the world, then ignore the UN when international cooperation doesn't suit their agenda. We barely convinced them to go along with the GCC. What makes you think they'd give us one of their precious weapons? Some of their left-wing nuts are already up in arms about us breaking the San Francisco Treaty. They think they're a world power! Ha! They haven't seen real power. We should lead Godzilla to the round-eyes and let them deal with it."
Suddenly, the young Honda's face lit up and his head snapped around. "What did you say!?"
The old man raised his hands in mock defense. "Excuse me for having out-of-date prejudices, son. But I've seen too much crap come out of America and not enough aid--"
"No!" the teen interrupted, cutting off Tomoyuki's patented Old Man Rant. "What you said after that, about leading Godzilla to them?"
"What are you thinking, Yashiro?" Sho asked, an eyebrow raised.
"That reminded me of something just now." The former game programmer started to talk faster, a sure sign that he was getting excited. "Professor Hayashida discovered that Godzilla is attracted to the call of sea birds. But when he disappeared, he didn't leave any plans for the sonic transmitter he created. The old one doesn't work and we couldn't build a new one."
"Wasn't it just a glorified speaker?" Amane interjected.
"No, it was more than that. Godzilla seems to spend most of his time in the ocean and on the coasts, so he must hear birds all the time. It seems there was a particular signal in the bird calls that means 'follow me' to Big G. That's what the sonic transmitter was designed to do."
"And what does that have to do with anything, pray tell?" Tanaka demanded.
"A while back, one of the techs found an old analog tape with a strange noise. We didn't know what it was, so we just stuck it in the hard file archives. That must have been the hidden signal!"
Now Sho was following along. "If we have that, building a new sonic transmitter should be easy. Even if we can't kill Godzilla right away, we can stick it on the Super-X2 and lead him away."
"All right!" Higa grinned, slapping his hand down on the table. "We've got a plan!"
Tanaka cleared his throat. "Hold it, Matchstick. Godzilla we can handle, as strange as that sounds. But what about this other mysterious monster, DK-II?"
"Well, what do we know about it?" Yashiro asked.
"There are no survivors from JMSDF," said Sho. "But reports during the battle described something very long and agile with enormous jaws."
All of a sudden, Amane slapped his forehead. "I'm so stupid!"
"I could have told you that," Tomoyuki replied with a crooked grin.
The redhead glared at him. "When I was a kid, my family once went to Australia for vacation. Rich blood," he added with an embarrassed eye-roll. "So, what's long and toothy that comes from Australia?"
The was silence in the briefing room.
"A crocodile," Yashiro answered at last.
"And maybe our new friend," said Kuroki. "The attacks began off Australian waters and followed the sea lanes north. Cruise ships and oil tankers don't pose an immediate threat, as opposed to a warship, so the attacks were probably intentionally over-aggressive." The major leaned back in his seat, eyes focused on some faraway point. "The Jodie Ley was a garbage barge. Most animals will learn given time and incentive. What if they were dumping something they shouldn't have? What if DK-II is some kind of mutant crocodile that developed a grudge against ships?"
Sho didn't realize how close he was to the truth. But no matter, because a plan was set. Conventional weapons of the proper yield should be effective on the crocodile monster, who showed no signs of Godzilla's nigh-invulnerability. As for the saurian menace himself, Godzilla was--at the very least--easily distracted. With hope in their hearts, the four men left their briefing room and set to work.
