Will Decent Be Enough?

Lauren had never in all her life fainted before. She'd seen plenty of movies that claimed that a dramatic enough unveiling would cause a person to 'shut off' and fall to the ground in a heap, but she had always thought that was just Hollywood magic, not something that could actually happen. Now that she had experienced it, she still wasn't sure how it happened.

All she knew was that she'd been unconscious for a few minutes following Azusa's… proclamation, and that she had a set of bruises along her side from where she'd fallen. Which wasn't much fun, obviously. Craig had been the first thing she saw when she woke up, and he had looked torn between wanting to laugh, appearing worried over her, and being completely bamboozled at what Azusa was claiming.

But all that paled in comparison to actually hearing what the biologist had to say.

Lauren stared at the transparent table-top she was leaning against, tracing with her fingers the layers of circuits and projectors just below the surface that she guessed were used to form a table-wide hologram, if Scylla's random wanderings over everyone's heads were any indication. She'd noticed that the AI seemed distracted about something, but her own distractions were enough that she wasn't going to look into it.

Chancing a glance around the room, Lauren tried to guess how some of the others were responding to Azusa's tale, hoping to maybe figure out how she ought to feel about it. The Council were, as expected, pretty stable, with Serizawa and Ozaki looking like they wanted to ask questions but staying quiet as they sent glances her way. Lauren tried to ignore the looks, knowing what they meant. She wasn't ready to say anything yet.

Joanne appeared to be trying (and mildly failing) to restrain herself from giddily hopping up and down in her seat, while her son Sam was just standing there, practically indifferent to the proceedings. It was pretty clear who the fan in their family was. Tori herself seemed politely interested in hearing more about Equestria but was content to wait for others - namely, Lauren - to act first.

At the head of the table to Lauren's left Azusa sat staring at her. Of everyone there, Lauren was most hesitant to meet her gaze, and she wasn't entirely sure why. At least, she didn't think she was sure why. But she had a pretty good idea anyway.

Acknowledging Azusa meant acknowledging that what she said was real. That Equestria was real, because she had been there. Lauren had been hearing for a week that Equestria was a real place, had that fact hammered into her head time and again with how seriously the GDF's analysts grilled her over her magical land of horses, how much the sparse details available matched up with her formerly fictional show. But Azusa was the final line, the point of no return. If Azusa was right, then Equestria was real. There'd be no more denying it, in her head or otherwise.

And even with all the thought she had put into that potential reality, she didn't know what to think about it being real at last.

Grasping at whatever straws she could, she turned to Craig, begging him for an answer. Any answer. Her husband looked back at her, giving her a weak smile. "Is what it is, honey," he said. "We'll figure it out, one step at a time."

Lauren sat for a bit, thinking over Craig's words. She pinched her nose, let it go, took in a deep breath… and then let it out. "Okay… so... Equestria…"

"It is a very nice place," Azusa said, smiling gently. "I would love to visit it again someday, as would a great many other people I'm sure. Regardless of how much influence you may have had on it or vise-versa, Miss Faust, you should be proud of being so closely associated to a world as kind and peaceful as Equestria." Her smile faded slightly as she continued. "But for all its peace and calm, it is a world that has it's own conflicts just as dangerous as our own. I suppose, in that regard, I can be happy my son and his friends arrived there. They might have the chance to do some good, and find their own form of peace."

"And be safe from us," Pentecost muttered. The GDF leader drew some concerned glances from those who heard him, but did not speak further.

"That's neither here nor there," Sam interjected. "Fact is that they are there, and now that we have eyewitness confirmation of that fact, we can start potential discussions on how to bring them back."

Serizawa nodded but said, "That shall probably have to wait until such time as the war against the mutations winds down, as we don't have the resources to spare to begin repair to the DT on top of everything else we are doing."

"I think there's another question that we're forgetting to ask here," Craig said, prompting everyone to look his way. "We're all talking about about the kaiju returning as if it's a sure thing that we just can't do yet, but what if some of them don't want to come back? And what if we don't want some of them to come back either? That's something we're going to have to consider too."

The Council looked at each other in mild shock. Such a thought had not actually occurred to them, at least the part about the kaiju not wanting to return. Not bringing Xenilla or Destroyah back was already a given in their minds, regardless of what Azusa had said about Xenilla's supposed intentions. "I suppose that will be something we'll have to determine when the time comes," Ozaki finally answered. "Hopefully by then we will have had another chance to converse with the kaiju via a magic connection if needed."

Joanne brightened and put on a broad smile. "Actually, our magic team could probably form a connection with some of the experimental equipment we have for testing magic detection. If we could use Azusa's signature as an anchor point we might be able to locate the Equestrian dimension or universe, but it would take a LOT of searching to find. It'd be like trying to find a needle in a massive, unlit warehouse with only a single flashlight to see with, but it could be done. In theory. After that actually forging the connection would be, well, not easy, but at least doable with Tori's help."

"I would be more than happy to help establish contact with another world," Tori added on with a grin. "There's certainly a lot we can learn from each other, both magically and otherwise."

"Once we're done here, get that started," Serizawa ordered. "The sooner we can communicate with the kaiju, the sooner we can confirm our questions and maybe give them some answers."

Craig leaned next to Lauren and whispered to her, "Hey, maybe we can take a chance to talk to Twilight and Celestia. Wouldn't that be fun?"

Lauren's mind whirled with the implications and possibilities, but also with questions about what she could possibly say to them given her position. "Um… maybe we should hold off on that for a bit until I can… process this a bit more."

Her husband shrugged and patted her back, for which Lauren was grateful.

Joanne stood up from her chair, unable to contain herself anymore. "Azusa, we need to talk more about this stuff, but unless there's anything else everyone needs to hear, I think it's time we get on with the tour."

"That sounds fine," Azusa said, standing as well. "I've said my piece for the moment, though I do have something more I need to discuss with Stacker alone. You all go on ahead, we'll catch up."

The other Council members looked to the Marshall, who simply nodded to them and signaled for them to go. "You can inform me about anything I miss at a later time. Serizawa, remember to keep an open mind please. Joanne and her teams may not be conventional, but that doesn't mean they aren't capable."

The doctor stared inscrutably back at Stacker for a moment before sighing. "Of course sir. Alright Joanne, show us where to go."

"Right, great! This way then!" Joanne ran to the door and rushed outside, heading off to the left. She was out of view for a few moments before reappearing with a sheepish smile. "Um, it's actually that way, heh. My bad. Follow me everyone."

Lauren and Craig traded another look before following the diminutive woman out the door along with everyone else. Just before she exited the room Lauren spared one last glance to the Marshall, who was still staring listlessly at the wall. She turned to Azusa, who gave her a comforting smile, showing that she knew as well and would handle it. Lauren wished her luck and gave her a small wave before finally stepping out in the hall and hurrying after everyone else.

---

Azusa watched Lauren's goodbye with a warm feeling in her heart. Truly, there was little question as to how a show as kind-hearted and hopeful as Lauren's had come to be if her character was to be considered. She could only hope that Lauren's faith that she had this situation handled was not misplaced.

"What is it you had to tell me Doctor?" the Marshall asked, his voice as stony and stiff as ever. Yet Azusa was not fooled. She could hear the strain hiding beneath the steel.

"That can wait, Stacker. First, I have to ask… Are you alright?"

Stacker turned his back to her, his shoulders set like a statue, but she could see his hands trembling for a second before he held them steady together. "I will be fine. I have to be."

"I'm not talking about Marshall Pentecost, leader of the Global Defense Force. I'm talking to my friend Stacker. Are you going to be okay?"

For an instant, her words didn't seem to register, then his shoulders fell slack and his head dipped down. "I don't know the answer to that question," he said hoarsely.

Though she suspected the likely answer, she had to ask anyway. "What's bothering you?"

"The lie."

Azusa blinked. "What lie?"

"The lie my life has been for the past thirteen years. The lie of what I've been fighting for, and who I've been fighting."

"Stacker, Xenilla and the Mutants were still a threat," Azusa said. "We can't have just ignored them, we had to fight to surviv-"

Pentecost slammed both his fists down onto the table hard enough to crack the glass. Azusa lept back out of shock, and watched in horror as Stacker continued to punch the table with everything he had. "Stacker, what are you doing?! Stop that, you're hurting yourself!" She rushed forward to grab a hold of him but he waved his arm between them to keep her back.

"None of it mattered! Nothing we did EVER mattered! We weren't even a factor for him. Our whole race was expendable in his eyes, and we weren't considered a threat! Just another obstacle for him to sweep aside when we stopped being convenient."

"What does that matter?" Azusa shouted back. "Regardless of his reasons for fighting us, we still had to fight to defend ourselves. The end result was the same!"

"BUT IT DIDN'T HAVE TO BE!" Stacker roared. "For all these years I thought Xenilla was a heartless monster no different than Ghidorah, out only for his own power and to cause suffering because he felt like it. But he wasn't! He killed thousands of people and ruined the lives of millions just because he wanted to fulfill a plan. Because we meant nothing to him. All the people who have died to a Mutant attack, everyone who lost a home or loved ones in a kaiju raid, every cent of money that could have gone to welfare or medicine or education that went into the military. All of it was done because Xenilla made a decision to put ONE LIFE ABOVE BILLIONS!"

Azusa stood silent, staring at Pentecost and vainly searching for a response, but she had none.

"Everything that has happened in the Mutant wars could have been avoided if Xenilla had given us enough respect to treat us as living beings rather than numbers on a chart. Before, I could deal with the idea of an evil Xenilla, because it meant that as horrible as things were there had been no avoiding it. That there was no alternative path we could have taken to keep the world from suffering. But now… now I know there was a chance that peace could have existed, but it didn't. All because someone else made the choice for us."

Faintly, Stacker felt to the floor in a slump, leaning against the table he had so badly damaged only seconds before. Azusa followed him, resting a hand on his shoulder as tears rolled down her own cheeks.

"You claim that Xenilla isn't evil because he didn't hold any malice for us," Stacker whispered, his voice cracked from shouting so much. "But in my view, his evil was far worse. The evil of indifference. We have bled and suffered for years against a foe who never once gave a single shit about us. We died because he didn't care. You tell me how that can in any way be considered good."

Azusa stared at Stacker for some time, weighing his words with her own experience in hearing what was said by her son. Finally, she realized she'd have to go with the one point she never wanted to bring up, one that would hurt badly to hear but needed to be said.

"Is it good when we do it Stacker? You tell me, how are we any different from Xenilla in this way? Just in the last month we have the use of Dimension Tide on kaiju we knew were friendly to us just to get a chance at taking out the dangerous ones. How many times before that have we shot first and asked questions never when a kaiju blundered into human settlements?"

"We were doing it to defend ourselves," the Marshall said, repeating her own words from earlier.

"And Xenilla did what he did to protect his family. The only family he has. Family who had suffered at human hands in their own ways more than once. You ask if what Xenilla did could be considered good, and here is my response: is it any less 'good' than the hard choices humans make? Any less humane?"

"We make those choices out of necessity," Stacker defended, anger coloring his tone. "For years I've been trying to take a middle line when dealing with the kaiju, treating them with as much care and respect as I could to ensure relations did not deteriorate any further. Xenilla made his choice because he didn't think we were worth caring about."

"And how many generals didn't care about kaiju before you took command, Stacker? How many still don't with you in charge even now?"
She took a pause, her expression briefly fluctuating to reveal obvious pain as well as the same unbridled fury she had on the days after Dimension Tide's firing.
"How many could you name who voted to give the okay to shoot at those who've probably saved more lives than almost any in the GDF, thinking it would kill them? Including my son?"

Azusa's demeanor changed back to normal, brushing some bangs out of her face as she resigned herself to wait for an answer. Forgiveness was a moral she had to teach Godzilla Junior based off experience.

Stacker did not answer, because he knew he had no defense. Despite his best efforts, he knew plenty of people in the GDF who let their grievances with the monsters color their thoughts, many national governments and public groups asking why it was taking so long to kill off the kaiju so that people could be 'safe'. "I cannot control the thoughts and feelings of the people who follow me," he said. "I can only try to convince them otherwise through leading by example."

Azusa smiled weakly and laid her hand on Stacker's shoulder. She was glad that this was the man was in charge. A man of reason and honor, of morality who could inspire others. But she was not done with speaking her case. "And what example did Xenilla have of humanity when he first appeared? An estranged father who hated humans for the pain they caused him, the persecution he suffered from their constant attempts to end his life. A brother who, as he grew up, faced that same fear and suspicion even when he sacrificed his own health and safety to protect the species that had help to raise him. His own experience, where he was attacked with lethal intent, regardless of his actions at the time. Treated as the enemy from the first moment."

"So why not be that enemy," Stacker finished for her. He sighed, closing his eyes. "Humanity often does end up making their own worst foes, whether within itself or of outsiders."

"And the only way to fix that is to stop treating everything as only an enemy, when other possibilities exist." Azusa grinned hopefully at Stacker as he looked back at her with tired eyes. "Why have enemies when you can make friends?"

Pentecost nodded slowly, then gained a wry smile. "If you want me to give Ghidorah a hug, Doctor, I must inform you that you've got another thing coming."

Azusa managed to contain her bout of giggles enough to help Stacker back to his feet. "Well, there have to be some exceptions that prove the rule, you know. Besides, I think Ghidorah has plenty enough friends in the form of him, himself, and his reflection." She glanced at Stacker's hands and winced. "We should probably get that looked at before you do anything else."

"I was a soldier for many years, Azusa, and a hard living young man before that. I assure you, I can handle a bit of pain from glass cuts." At the doctor's hard glare he smiled reassuringly and continued, "And I will make sure to get these bandaged before I go anywhere."

"You'd better," Azusa warned, poking the Marshall in the chest to get her point across. "Now… will you be okay mentally from here on?"

"So long as I do not hear that any other of our significant enemies are suddenly willing to send us flowers and tea I do believe I will be fine."

The two shared a laugh, the tension in Azusa's chest releasing now that she knew Stacker was stable. When she had returned from her brief jaunt to Equestria, she'd known that the information about Xenilla's true allegiance would be off putting, but she hadn't expected such a strong reaction from the Marshall. Perhaps she was being a bit too optimistic in hindsight, though the other members of the Council had seemed to take it more in stride.

"Marshall, I just thought of something. Who else should we inform about Xenilla?"

"I would prefer no one," was Stacker's immediate answer. "If this information ever made it out to the public, there would be an outcry such that the response to launching the Dimension Tide would look miniscule in comparison."

"And if Xen were to ever return?" Azusa asked.

Stacker closed his eyes and took a deep-seating breath. "We will cross that bridge when we come to it. If we come to it."

Azusa nodded. "And what about Aso? Would you like to tell him?"

Stacker gave Azusa a confused look. "I suppose he could be told, but why him exactly?"

"Because he has a secret of his own to share with you," Azusa said in a deliberately vague tone. "And I promise, you're much more likely to enjoy this one than you did mine."

"Any hints?" Stacker asked, deciding to just play along.

"It has to do with a local legend around his home, and bit of family he thinks it's time you be introduced to."

Azusa refused to say more as she led Pentecost out of the room, a helpful holographic arrow in the hallway pointing them to the nearest medical station. Back in the room itself, Scylla projected herself above the table and examined the broken glass left behind by the Marshall. "Gonna need to get a repair person up here to take a look at that. Man's got a mean punch when he wants to. Also, so saving that rage clip to troll somebody with at some point. Don't know who or how, but hey, why not? Now then, time to move the main part of the plot!"

And with that her hologram disappeared with a muted pop.

---

"So yeah, if we make it there in time you should get a good idea of why Salindra was selected to train Tytanna's combat abilities," Doctor Johnson continued, still walking at an accelerated pace down the halls, careful to keep a keen eye on the green directional line.

Lauren took a moment to study the hallway they were walking through as they went, marveling at the interesting aesthetic. The hall was in the shape of a long tube, with smoothly curving walls that melded into the floor seamlessly, the walls themselves made out of a silver metal and interlaced with long lines of neon strips of glass, which Lauren presumed were more hologram projectors since the directional line was hovering in front of them. In all, it almost felt like a mix of a submarine and the veins of a massive metal beast, which she reflected was actually pretty on the mark.

The line finally came to a stop just outside of a small room labeled 'Training Room Viewing Zone'. Inside were about fifteen chairs on a raised platform at one side, and on the other a large glass wall that looked to be several feet thick. "And here we are!" Joanne shouted, hopping into the center chair of the first row. "Hope somebody brought some popcorn, cause these fights are always fun to watch."

"It doesn't bother you to see your daughter fighting?" Ozaki asked.

Joanne shook her head and said, "Not really, no. She's always been plenty tough enough to take basically anything we can dish out, so she's never in any serious danger. Besides, the harder she works in here, the better prepared she will be for out there."

"Ain't that the truth," Gordon groused as he plopped down in his own seat, sticking his katana in between his legs. As Lauren took her seat, she looked past the thick clear glass to what was beyond. The glass revealed a large room layered in thick concrete on all six surfaces, and two figures were moving about inside at rapid speed.

"Oh hey, they've already started," Joanne quipped.

Sure enough, the clock above the window showed that only a minute had passed since the two warriors had begun and yet already there were multiple deep scratches and scorch marks in the room. Tytanna was clad in light segments of armor across her arms and legs and wore what Lauren would swear was an armored bikini right out of a fantasy game, wielding a massive broadsword easily as tall as herself in one hand, and a tower shield so huge it shielded her entire body in the other. Apparently she was left-handed, or it was just easier to hold the shield in her right hand.

The titanic kaiju-woman was a heavy hitter, to be sure, occasionally striking with her massive sword hard enough to tear up chunks of reinforced concrete from the ground, even lobbing the debris at her foe with her surprisingly dextrous tail. But for majority she seemed to be on the defensive, moving her weighty sword and shield to block blows coming from her sparring partner.

Said sparring partner, Salindra if Lauren remembered correctly, was clad in finely-shaped and molded armor made from pitch black metal, the material almost seemingly like a second skin that absorbed the light like a shadow. Sal was zipping around the room at speeds Lauren was absolutely certain a normal human couldn't achieve, and would probably be a challenge even for a hybrid to keep up with. The fact that she was somehow moving at that speed even while wearing stilettos made it all the more impossible.

Sal was using two swords, large but not the massive size of Tytanna's blade, but was swinging them with such immense speeds that the air around them was swishing from velocity alone. While Tytanna was acting as a rather agile stonewall, Salindra was a whirling dervish from hell, leaping into the air and swooping down with what looked like mechanical bat-like wings attached directly to her armor and attacking from seemingly impossible angles.

Lauren could barely follow most of the movements she was trying to watch, but a quick glance to her side showed that Craig was having much less trouble, if his mouth hanging agape was any indication. The Council were all watching the duelists with rapt attention, while Joanne was quietly cheering her daughter on and Sam was leaning against the wall examining something on a tablet, entirely unconcerned with the spectacle.

As the fight continued the pair broke apart, rushing to opposite walls and grabbing new weapons, large throwing daggers for Salindra, and dual pistols, more like hand-cannons, for Tytanna. Shots rang out from Tya's new armaments, bullets clanging against blades as Sal moved fast enough to throw her knifes into the path of the heavy bullets.

Jesus, this is like watching something out of the Matrix, only someone switched the time dilation from slow to insanely fast!

For a time it seemed that they were evenly matched, with Salindra letting blades fly out just as fast and forcefully as Tytanna could pull the trigger and sling hot lead down range at her sparring partner. Eventually they broke off of ranged weaponry and flung themselves at one another unarmed, first with punches and kicks that rocked the sparring chamber around like mad, and then full-on grappling moves that sent them both to the ground. Both struggled against the other for a few seconds, then Tya slapped the ground with her tail and shouted, "Okay, I give! I'm completely stuck."

"Time!" Scylla shouted from just over Lauren's head, waving her hand at the clock which showed the fight had only lasted about five minutes.

"So quick?" she asked. "Are they cutting it off early for some reason?"

"Nah, this is usually how long it lasts," Joanne said, looking back at Lauren by tilting her head back in her seat so that she was almost upside down. "Tya's never managed to pin Sal down and always gets pinned herself within six minutes, never any more."

"That's actually a long time for hybrid-level fights," Ozaki interjected. "Most of my spars last less than a minute. Though I'm betting Sal would prove to be an exception."

"She's really one of a kind," Joanne said with a secretive smile.

Further conversation was cut off by Tytanna rushing over and pressing her face against the glass while waving. "Hey Mom, did you like the fight? I swear I almost had her this time!"

Sal came to stand next to Tya with casual grace, as if she hadn't just been in a heavily exertive duel, her expression seeming to say that Tya was dreaming about impossible victories.

"That woman is almost scary," Craig muttered in Lauren's ear. "Nobody normal would be that confident fighting a kaiju in hand to hand."

"Around here, is there such a thing as 'normal' hun?" Lauren countered.

"So, Tya, Sal, care to join us?" Joanne said, tapping the intercom. With a happy bounce, Tytanna leapt to the side, dragging Salindra with her using her tail. In a mere handful of seconds the duo were in the room with the tour group.

Tya waved as she entered, setting Sal down none the worse for wear as she walked. "Hello Mom, so how's the tour go-" Tya's words cut out as her eyes fell upon Lauren, and suddenly the animation director felt a thrill of distinct terror.

Sam appeared at her shoulder without any warning and before she could even react said only one word. "Run."

Had Lauren possessed both more presence of mind and more time to react, she would have laughed at the irony of that statement being directed at her of all people in a situation like this, but sadly she did not have time or mind. She only had her legs, which she was using to do exactly as asked.

"Wait!" Tya called as she chased after the wily Lauren who had snuck by her. "I just want to get an autograph! And maybe a hug? Come back!"

The Council watched and alternatively sighed or rolled their eyes, Joanne was holding her face in her hands both in embarrassment and in tearful laughter, and Sam was pointedly ignoring Scylla's prodding about making a deliberate reference. Meanwhile Craig was left standing all on his lonesome, his shoulders slack as he said to himself, "Why is it always her who gets the super-fans chasing her? Why is it never me?"

Nobody answered him, but he was startled to feel someone patting him on the back, turning to find the taller Sal giving him an amused grin. She didn't say a word and yet Craig could tell exactly what her face was saying.

Be careful what you wish for.

---

Lauren ran as fast as she could down the endless tubeway, moving around the occasional crew and scientist she encountered as she went. Behind her were the sounds of long claws smacking on metal, followed by apologizes shouted along the way along with grunts and exclamations of people moving out of the path.

At some point Lauren saw a flashing green arrow point her to enter a room, and lacking any better ideas she followed its advice and dove through the door, scrambling to find a latch or some way to close it. Before she could find one though the door closed on its own, just as the marauding kaiju caught up with her and banged into the door in her haste.

"What?" The monster woman's voice carried through the metal easily, even with a tinny overtone. "Oh come on, seriously? This is not funny Scylla, just open the door."

"Sorry, Tya, but this chase just wouldn't be as fun without some unexpected turns!"

"You two do know I can hear you, right?" Lauren said.

"Oh… So, um, Miss Faust…"

"Call me Lauren, hon."

"Oh, okay. Lauren then, um… I promise I'm not going to hurt you at all. I know I kinda look terrifying as a monster, but I swear, I'm completely harmless. I just wanted to-"

"Oh no, I wasn't running from you out of fear, dear."

There was a moment of silence from the other side of the door. "Wait… you weren't?"

"No, of course not. I was just engaging in the required dance of 'famous celebrity creator running from her manic fans'. It's practically required of me at this point. A bit of an ingrained response you could say."

"Dafuk?" Tya mumbled, thudding her head against the door, repeating the bang of her face against reinforced steel.

"I'm sorry if gave you the wrong impression, Tya. Tell you what, you promise to not crush my ribs into powder when you hug me, and I'll ask Scylla to open the door."

"Sure thing," Tya said brightly. "I've only ever done that one time, and that was on purpose, but they totally deserved it I swear."

Lauren smiled weakly. "I'm sure they did. So, Scylla, you've had your fun, now let the poor girl through."

"Fair enough," the voice of the door answered. "But if you think the joke's over now, you are sorely mistaken…"

Lauren decided not to ask what she meant by that as the door hissed open and a giant wall of red and gold muscle pounced on her. Lauren braced herself, fearing the worst, but as she calmed down, she realized that the powerful arms holding her were being supremely gentle, just enough pressure to lift her up and not an ounce more. Looking up she came face to face with the almost human, yet clearly bestial face of her literal biggest fan, smiling gently with a sad, soft look in her blue eyes.

"You are… surprisingly warm," Lauren said.

"Not the first time someone said that." Tytanna grinned, reaching her head down and nuzzling against Lauren's nose. "So… you want me to let you down now?"

"If you're satisfied."

Tya nodded and slowly set Lauren back on her feet, even straightening her hair out with deft movements of her claws. "Thanks for trusting me like that. It… means a lot."

Lauren smiled and rubbed her hand along Tya's arm. "Anything for a fan." She noticed that Tya was starting to tear up and decided to move back in for her own hug this time, the larger creature smiling and warping her tail around Lauren.

"So is my wife hugging larger women just going to be a thing around here?" a voice suddenly said.

The pair turned to look out at the hall and saw that the rest of the tour group had caught up with them, Craig at the front. He grinned at Lauren's annoyed glare and Tytanna's playful grin.

"Well we've got a lot of large women on board, so she has quite a way to go!" Tya's mirth was practically tangible, though she secretly wondered who else had managed to hug the Fausticorn first.

Deciding that needling would be the best revenge in this case, Lauren shot her husband a silky smile and said, "Oh, what's wrong honey? You're not jealous are you?"

Craig looked back at her blankly, his mouth moving to speak and stopping halfway open. "I'm not sure if being honest or not would be the better option here."

Sam stepped past Craig and walked around his sister and Lauren, sparing Tya an amused but happy glance as he went. "In my experience, Mr. McCracken, it all depends on what the lady wants to hear. Now, perhaps we should get on with the tour?"

"Oh! The tour! OH, oh, can we go see Teddybear next?" Tya's giddy hopping was sending more than a few shakes through the large halls and scaring a fair handful of folks unfamiliar with her love of bouncing.

"As a matter of fact, I was planning on him being next," Joanne said. "Aaaaand as it happens this hallway leads to his workshop. So, onward!"

The tour group began the long walk down the hall, into the deepest bowels of the ship, passing by living quarters, extra laboratories, and an array of oddball rooms Joanne promised they'd get to 'sometime this century', though with the extent of the walk all found it doubtful.

As they finally caught sight of the door to Theodore Wylder's workshop in the distance, the entire hallway became deathly silent. The only thing they could hear was their own breathing and footsteps, not even a metallic echo permeated the air. The door, a massive and imposing blast door akin to a fallout shelter's vault door, was left mostly open, exposing a completely pitch black room beyond it.

"Am I the only one here getting horror movie vibes?" Ozaki asked. All he got was a low grunt from Gordon, who kept his hand firmly on his katana's hilt. The group stepped closer, with a twinge of panic running down Lauren's spine when she looked deeper into the black abyss. It almost seemed to be looking back, in the form of one glowing red eye. She stepped back, bumping against Tytanna's tummy and letting out a panicked 'eep' before steadying herself. Tya patted her shoulder comfortingly and gave her a calming smile, which settled Lauren's nerves a bit.

The group became even more unnerved as what sounded like rapid electric keyboard music and whirring machinery begin to emanate from the once-silent room beyond the door. Serizawa opted to step forward and get a bit closer when suddenly a young man in a tattered lab coat and black top hat leapt out, a manic grin on his scarred face, red cybernetic eye zipping wildly in its socket to catch everyone's faces as he began to… sing.

Welcome back, my friends

To the show that never ends!

We're so glad you could attend!

Come inside! Come inside!

The man leapt behind the group and ushered them forward with Tytanna's grinning help, ignoring the warriors of the group having jumped into battle stances.

There behind a glass

Stands a real blade of grass!

He pointed out a large claymore-like blade made of woven grass blades behind a protective glass shield. With a flick of his wrist he took his hat off of his head and flung it through a small opening, the hat being sliced cleanly in half when it hit the sword's edge.

Be careful as you pass.

Move along! Move along!

The group was ushered in further, Lauren looking back at Tya shoving them along with an impossibly huge smile.

Come inside, the show's about to start

The floor beneath them began to lift up, carrying the tour group into the air for a better view.

Guaranteed to blow your head apart

The mystery man mimed shooting himself in the head with twin finger-pistols, his smile not changing a wit.

Rest assured you'll get your money's worth

A spotlight began to shine down in the center of the darkened room, revealing the man standing on a steel grate floor as shapes began to be visible in the shadows.

The greatest show in Heaven, Hell, or Earth!

The man pointed up as the spotlight grew in power, down as bright red lights shone through the floor, and to the sides as the shapes, robots and machines of all kinds imaginable, began to flood the floor in a choreographed dance.

You've got to see the show, it's a dynamo.

You've got to see the show, it's rock and roll

A large humanoid serpent with wings swooped down and grabbed the man by the waist and lifted him up.

Right before your eyes,

We'll pull laughter from the skies

And he laughs until he cries,

Then he dies, then he dies

The pair flew around for a moment before the man tumbled down along her tail back to the ground.

Come inside, the show's about to start!

Guaranteed to blow your head apart!

Several smoke bombs & flashbangs rang throughout the room, shrouding the area in a dense golden mist. The man was blasted by large spotlights and he landed clean on his feet, making him seem far more immense and imposing with his arms thrust out wide. His shadow was joined by two others, what looked to be a humanoid squirrel and a woman with six arms.

You've got to see the show, it's a dynamo.

You've got to see the show, it's rock and roll

An instrumental piece began, heavy on keyboard and guitar, as the six-armed woman revealed herself, prancing along gantries and catwalks up above in a french maid outfit and twirling six swords with glowing white blades. She sashayed among the wires of the platforms, slicing through support lines and dropping them down towards the group below. However a bolt of blue lightning stopped them in their flight, breaking gravity like a toy at the hands of a child.

Looking back along the path of the bolt revealed the manic man stepping into golden armor resembling a cross between Tytanna, an ancient dragon, and a medieval knight. He hoisted up a large black orb, source of the gravity-warping energy. Letting go, it levitated into the air even as the field spread, shutting off the sense of weight for everything in the room. With a tap of an armored hand, the ball spun, revealing the squirrel-woman standing on the side of the ball, wielding a sword-guitar weapon-instrument and playing it with such flawless precision she not only managed to play the guitar, but also the keyboard sections all by herself.

As the instrumental music wound down, gravity reasserted itself and all the machines and objects hiding just within view retreated from sight, clearing the floor next to the armored titan. With a sudden clank of metal on metal a guillotine, primed and ready, dropped to the floor from above.

Soon the Gypsy Queen

In a glaze of Vaseline

A living skeleton made of metal stepped out of the dark with a feminine gait and waving feline tail, standing shining under the bright lights and clinging to the inside of the guillotine.

Will perform on guillotine

What a scene! What a scene!

The blade dropped, only to be stopped and easily dented by the robot woman's bony palm.

Next upon the stand

Will you please extend a hand

To Alexander's Ragtime Band

Dixieland, Dixieland

The armored man, six-armed maid, squirrel guitarist, termi-cat, and winged serpent stood together on the fallen stage, playing various musical instruments, complete with the termikitty using her own ribcage as a xylophone.

Roll up! Roll up! Roll up!

See the show!

Lauren felt the floor beneath them pull closer to the stage as the music blared for the finale.

Performing on a stool

A stool appeared in a puff of smoke.

We've a sight to make you drool

The man hid his snarling metal mouth from unknown viewers, giving a sly wink to the group. Swiftly he swept out of the armor and moved in front of the suit, his grin still etched upon his face.

Seven virgins and a mule

He leaped onto the stool, wearing a donkey mask pulled from behind his back. As soon as he landed the other members of the stage all leaped up to join him on the stool somehow.

Keep it cool. Keep it cool.

He removed the mask to give a playful wink to the crowd.

We would like it to be known

The exhibits that were shown

Were exclusively our own,

All our own. All our own.

The 'virgins' and the 'mule' dispersed and the hazy smoke began to clear, the man leaped back into the massive suit of armor.

Come and see the show!

Come and see the show!

Come and see the show!

The show came to a close, the lights turning on with the heavy dying drum beats, finally putting an end to the mayhem.

See the shoooowwwwwww!

The group sat in stunned silence for nearly a minute. Lauren noticed her mouth had fallen open but couldn't find the will to pick it back up. The man in armor, six-armed woman, and squirrel woman saw off their mechanical accomplices to the side before turning to face their stunned crowd. Finally, Gordon spoke.

"What the fuck did we just watch?"

The general looked rather dumbfounded, having expected more of the same 'rush in, get the details, a few gags, and be gone' pattern that they'd been following thus far, not a Broadway musical from some deranged engineer's fever dream.

"I'd say a Broadway musical from a deranged engineer's fever dream, honestly." The man said this as he stepped out of the armor, the latticed back stitching back into form as he moved around the stationary armor. Now that the light was clean and clear, his face seemed much less manic and mad, merely being weathered and lightly scarred, but with plenty of cheer and energy leaking out, his red mechanical eye not as bright as the silver eye that now sparkled in the lights. Smiling with a calmer but still broad smile, he reached out a hand out to the group for anyone to take. "My name's Wylder. Theodore Montague Wylder, but you can call me Theo." When no one took to shaking his hand, most still not having the presence of mind to even move, he instead introduced his compatriots. "And these are my sisters."

"I am Kumiko Murakumo Wylder." The six-armed woman spoke with a hearty and fluid french accent, giving a dainty curtsy and straightening her uniform. A closer look in the better light revealed her to have grey skin, white hair, and two red eyes… and six more black ones on her forehead.

"What are you, may I ask?" Serizawa said, leaning closer for a curious look at her face. Ozaki, however, was backing away, remembering what Tori had mentioned of one of her daughters.

"I..." Kumi gulped, then sighed and tried to steady herself. "I'm… a Jorogumo." She drew back, waiting for the screaming or the attacks to come. But nothing came but silence. She opened her eyes to see Serizawa more fascinated than afraid or angry, though Ozaki, one of the strongest non-kaiju on the planet, was hiding behind the comparatively more fragile Gordon, who was clearly not in the mood for this crap.

"Uuuhhh, Doc?" Theo said, tapping Serizawa gently. "She… doesn't like getting close to anyone she's not familiar with. Personal space, mate."

"Oh… Oh! Sorry!" The doctor stepped back and regained his composure, giving the young spider-youkai some safe distance. Kumiko responded with a silent 'thank you' and hid behind, not Theodore, but the far smaller squirrel woman, whom barely reached two feet tall, was clad in a leather leotard, and for her cartoonish physique, managed to have as much if not more of a stern 'not taking any bullshit' expression as Gordon.

"And who, or what, are you?" Lauren asked, kneeling down to pet the squirrel, who stood firm and ignored the messing of her hair.

"Haley Comet-Wylder, Survivor of the 1527 siege of Rome, warrior of the city of Faeholm from the age of twenty five, and the last Paladin-Bard." Her voice, while 'cute', was still far deeper and more adult than anyone had expected, with even Lauren having presumed that she would have had something high-pitched.

"Lemme guess," Gordon said in his typical gruff manner. "You're one of those magical critters, too?"

"Yep. Is there a problem with that, General?" She grinned, as if daring the significantly taller man to doubt her. Reaching behind her she stuck her hand into her poofy tail, and Lauren blinked in surprise as her hand dipped much further than it should have been able to. With a triumphant smirk she drew her hand back out, revealing a cruciform broadsword with a curved tip, the same she'd had during the musical number. She swept it over her head where it would not hit anyone, then dropped the tip just before Gordon. With a hearty kick and total ignorance of physics, she rode the blade as it stood itself upright, hanging onto the guard to look the general of the GDF's anti-kaiju forces right in the eye.

"What kind of freaky powers do you have?" He asked, unphased by her antics, but appreciative that she was willing to look him in the eye.

"Ever seen Bugs Bunny?" At his nod she continued. "Similar abilities, very different attitude. I'm a warrior who can blithely ignore physics when needed, warp reality with the power of music, teleport at will, and shapeshift between animal and human forms. My magic's limited right now because of how dead the life-stream of the planet is, but give me a boost in power and I can make entire armies run in terror." She smiled, not a cocky grin of overconfidence, nor a goofy grin of a liar. Calm, deadly, and honest, much like Gordon's own.

Lauren gazed at the squirrel lady in an indecisive mixture of bewilderment, terror, and mild curiosity. She'd watched closely as Haley moved in the open light and had already realized that Haley didn't move in a 'correct' way. Instead, it almost felt like…

Oh my god, she's a warrior Pinkie Pie.

As Craig had to move to catch his suddenly faint wife, General Gordon said, "Alright then, that's all I needed to know." Gordon stepped back, nearly stumbling over Ozaki, whom was promptly grabbed by Tya and pulled into a hug. Gordon smirked at Ozaki giving him a begging look and turned to Theo expectantly. "Now, let's get to what we actually came here for, the new gear."

"Ah, and now we're down to business," Theo said, stepping forward. "Ladies and gents, you may or may not have heard of the whole 'Ruby Dragon' fiasco, and to be honest you don't really need to. No hard feelings, Serizawa?"

The Monarch director stared hard back at Theo but remained steady. "For now? No, but I reserve judgement."

"Alrighty," Theodore continued while completely undaunted. "Let's just say it was a powered armor prototype gone wrong and leave it at that." He stepped back into the waiting armor and spread his arms, the armor spreading a pair of large mechanical dragon wings behind itself in imitation of his movements.

"This? This is what the Ruby Dragon DREAMED of being. A suit of powered armor tough enough to tank the main gun of a Xilian striker ship, fast enough to keep pace with an F-1 racer. Agile enough to pull off Matrix-style dodges, armed heavily enough to tear through the toughest mechs the Coalition can field, let alone troops or human-scale threats like terrorists and Category-1 kaiju, and stylish enough to wear to a formal ball to boot!"

He did a pirouette, showing off the draconic armor from every angle. From the red fluting plume atop the helmet to the sharp-toothed grin on the face, the golden metal plates and ringmail, ending in pawed feet tipped with sharp claws. It looked to be ostentatious, extra shiny, exuding style and artistry from every facet and edge, and probably very exhorbitantly priced if Lauren were to guess.

"So strange question, but kinda important… why does it have tits?" Ozaki asked, having managed to dig his way out of Tytanna's grasp.

"Ah, yes," Theo began, sounding oddly proud as he gestured to the carefully sculpted frontal armor of the suit. "The 'breastplate' was designed such because it's equipped with two Magnetic Radio-photonic plasma generators built into the armor, allowing the wearer to harness the power of lightning!"

"Allow me stop you there for a moment, Mister Wylder," Serizawa said, smoothly but firmly. "Firstly, how? The cores of the Maser weapons platforms are humongous due to the massive power draw and flow they require to operate. How in the world did you shrink them small enough to work on such a small platform? My teams have been trying that for decades and have not succeeded in any meaningful way. Also, why 'disguise' them as a pair of pseudo-breasts for your armor and, more importantly, as I believe Commander Ozaki was asking, why on the chest? I may not have as much combat experience as Ozaki or Gordon, but that sounds like it's just asking for an impact to crush those highly radioactive plasma generators into your chest, which points towards the enemy I might add, and cause critical, likely lethal injury to yourself and anyone nearby, whether by plasma flying wildly, radiation, or simply getting your chest crushed in."

"Yeah, what Serizawa said," Ozaki stated. "I gotta know, kid, have you tested this armor yet? Because that seems like one hell of an obvious design flaw. And how is an armor this big supposed to be able to dodge bullets?"

"I…" Theo's grand stature seemed to deflate along with his expression, and Lauren realized just how young his face actually was. "Well I actually have used it, but I tended to rely more on mobility over taking hits thrown at me." He rubbed the back of his head, his eyes tracking back and forth minutely as if running through numbers in his mind. "I'll admit, I'm honestly more of an artist that uses engineering instead of paint. I work with machines to make something that works as intended and looks beautiful doing it. Working on military-grade tech has always been a major challenge, getting things just right without having to compromise my artistic vision. But you do have a point. Survival is more important than style, so... KayCee!"

The terminator-kitty, 'KayCee' returned, holding a quill pen and scroll.

Theo smiled at her as he said, "Thankee, Kay. Could you take notes for me please?" He coughed lightly and began listing the changes to be made, the robot dutifully copying down his words with dizzying moments of her metallic hand.

"Firstly, shrink the Maser Cores down further - don't worry Doc, I'll explain how I did it in a moment. Secondly, reposition them somewhere less-likely to be hit, possibly hips or tail. We can add an extra armor 'skirt' or something to cover them if need be. Thirdly, alter the front plate and smooth it out into a proper chestplate, and fill the remaining empty cavity with extra layers of Gilt-ST-2 armor plating and shear-thickening gel. Fourth, re-work the auto-dodging capacity to better handle the issues of dealing with civilians and unarmored allies in mass combat."

"Wait, auto-dodging?" Gordon asked, ears perking up.

Theo perked up instantly at someone showing interest in his design again. "Yes, we call it 'Flash Boosting', and it's actually a shrunken down version of what Aschendaele had during the Battle of Brisbane. I compacted the tech and reimagined it for the Dragonslayer armor."

"I KNEW I RECOGNIZED IT!" Craig suddenly shouted, startling Lauren fiercely. "Dragonslayer Ornstein from Dark Souls!"

"Got it in one there Craig!" Theo grinned, the armor imitating his expression. Theo moved his arms to the side and, as the armor's back popped open, he stepped out. "Well gentlemen, this is why we've been wanting to do this. To make sure what we're building and designing and growing and creating is actually useful for the GDF and the world as a whole."

"Now for the ultimate question." Serizawa stared Theo down deeply and sternly as he asked, "How much does it cost?"

Theo smiled and started to pontificate. "Can you put a price on a man's li-"

Serizawa didn't let him get far. "HOW much does it cost, Mister Wylder?"

"... Three million. For the base armor." At Serizawa's face palm Theodore spoke up again, rapidly trying to explain. "The heavy exosuits are half as effective at protection and lack any form of built-in weaponry, AND aren't air-tight sealed against toxins, fluids, gasses, or the void of space, can't fly, and actively slow down their wearers if the battery runs out! Which can easily happen!"

"Yes, but those suits are only two hundred thousand per unit, Theo, meaning we could actually outfit enough troops to make a difference." Serizawa sighed as he removed his hand from his face. "For the price you listed we could outfit most of a platoon with both exo suits and advanced small arms, and they would likely have the same if not more effectiveness."

"Serizawa," Gordon said, drawing the doctor's attention. "I know you don't like adding more expenses but, honestly? The kid has a point. If he actually managed to put a Maser cannon in that thing, and at this point I'm not doubting any claims somebody in this place makes, then that could be as much power as a tank in the hands of a far more mobile mech suit. That's got a lot of potential, and I'd say it's worth the cost if it works."

Serizawa sighed and nodded to Gordon. "I know, I know General. I understand what you are saying. I'm just… I'm wondering why it's not as high as I feared because… well, just look at it!" He gestured his hands at the armor as if fed up. "It's a golden mini mecha! Something like that can't go as low as 3 million can it?"

Theo coughed into his hand to draw attention. "There's, uh, some extenuating circumstances explaining that. See, the mech suit is made from Gilt ST-2, which is actually mithril alloy blended in with copper, not actual gold or gold-plating."

"And how durable is the metal on the armor?" Serizawa asked.

Theo simply looked to his skeletal assistant and grinned. "You'll get a good example soon enough." He stepped back into the armor for a moment. "Anyone up for a demonstration?"

At the council's nods, he reached behind his back and withdrew a wide four foot pole and pressed a button on its side, causing the device to rapidly expand outward and unfold into a much larger weapon. The resulting armament was a large cruciform lance with a sharp ending blade, the whole thing easily as tall if not taller than the already gigantic twelve foot tall armor. "You see, with this lance I can channel the raw power of both cores into the tip and do this."

He turned and took aim at a holographic target hanging in front of an empty section of wall. After a half second of charging, a powerful lightning bolt rang out from the lance's blade tip and shattered the target. A slew of more targets formed behind it and were immediately shattered as well by the continuing stream, the bolt splitting multiple ways to strike every bullseye. Finally the lightning stopped spraying out as the last of the targets disappeared, a full twelve seconds later.

"This thing will shear through damn near anything short of an M1A4 Abrams Main Battle Tank's front plate of armor, and it will still scorch the hell out of even that. More than enough to kill most Category 1 kaiju with a concentrated hit, it'll definitely mow through the Coalition's lighter fighters and gunships, and would eviscerate any human or alien ground troops in the way."

Since when was something like this even an idea on the chalkboard, Lauren thought to herself in sheer shock. I know we've have anti-monster weapons for decades, but those all had to be huge to work. This… This is crazy…

"Pretty impressive there, kid," Gordon praised, smirking as he eyed the large lance hungrily. "But I'm willing to bet that this much power ain't gonna run cheap, especially if you're using mini-maser guns as the energy source."

Theo merely smiled in response. "General Gordon, everyone, please step over here." He walked in the armor towards a rather large device locked behind thick glass. It looked like some kind of giant battery, though through the long jagged cracks there seemed to be some kind of… flowers? Curious, Lauren looked closer, showing the beautiful plants to be made from crystals, though they seemed to react to the approaching people, many of them visibly turning to face the group.

"What the hell is that?" Gordon asked, tilting his head in confusion.

"That, my dear General, is the experimental Magicite generator left over from the Battle of Brisbane. All of Aschendaele's nuclear generators were ruined, with one outright going critical. But the Magicite generator? While was it badly cracked, it didn't go critical or fizzle out. Instead, the magicite crystal GREW, sealing up the cracks and winding up providing more power. The unique nature of magicite prevented an even worse calamity than being caught in a nuclear battery mid-meltdown, and it saved me and Sara's skins back there."

He nodded sagely before turning around and, with another snap, spread out the armors massive wings. Sections of armor underneath the wings slid away, revealing four more, far smaller magicite batteries attached into the armor's spine, connected to the main power system by some kind of glowing golden liquid.

"Wait," Ozaki said, tilting his head. "Are you trying to imply that these super generators are… alive in some way?"

Theo shook his head and said, "Not quite to the level silicon-based life forms but it's a similar concept. They don't have any active thinking process like a complete life form does, but they do seem to have a kind of… will that they can impose. Seems to be a common thread in a lot of the really old magic artifacts we found. Luckily they've all been pretty benign so far."

"How do you know they're benign?" Lauren asked, staring deeply at the swirling forms of the tiny flowers. The plants looked so fragile and delicate, and yet she could not deny the feeling she had that they were far more resilient than their appearance let on.

"Actually that's from some of the research we have found on the Ancient Civ," Samuel stated. He slid his glasses further up his nose and his voice took on a lecturer's tone. "Almost all of our data suggests that Magicite is the solid, crystalline form of 'Mana', which is, essentially, life-force. They're normally a plasma that's invisible to the eye but can coalesce into liquid, solid, and gaseous forms like normal matter. Colors tend to vary based on perceptive emotions, basically how a person or thing behaved in life, with white, which we originally opted to use simply because it seemed the most balanced, being closely tied to 'heroic' people, the ultimate 'goody two-shoes nice guy fighting evil' types. Others like red or green or purple tended to swing between 'good and evil', usually being a mix of both traits, and what little we've theorized on black is… rather unpleasant."

"Black is evil, basically," Theo said. "But we haven't actually found even a hint of black in our global searches, so we only think it exists, unlike the rest which we know for a fact are real."

"So that suit is powered by the energy of those magic flowers there?" Gordon asked. "How do we make more of them and start putting them in larger stuff?"

Haley grinned and said, "How does one grow a flower? You plant it, and you feed it. Ya pluck a chunk of magicite, ya stick it in the ground, and you let living things wander around it. It feeds on the life energy given off by aging and it grows on its own."

"As my dear elder sister said, magicite is self-replicating so long as it has 'food', and living beings being nearby is enough to feed it. That's also why it's such a good choice for power sources, as drawing out that energy will stunt its growth, but not its energy draw, essentially making a positive feedback loop of power generation. A battery that never runs dry."

"And THAT is why it is magic," Ozaki joked.

Theo shrugged in his armor and said, "Well, he's not wrong."

"Now, why does it have multiple generators?" Serizawa asked, genuinely curious.

"I'm glad you asked that, Doc," Theo replied with a smile. "You see, much like an radiothermal generator, 'infinite power' does not necessarily mean a LOT of power. Smaller crystals means smaller power draws, and the amount of energy that six photon engines, two magnetic dynamos, and over a ton of electroactive-polymers not to mention the life support, comfort control, shock absorbers, targeting system, coffee maker and wifi port all require results in a MASSIVE power draw. And while, for their size, they have a gigantic output, it's still inefficient. We're talking about crystals of magicite only slightly thicker than an eyelash."

"I think I understand," Craig added in. "You use multiple tiny generators to compensate so you don't need a bigger, potentially riskier generator?"

"You are absolutely correctamundo, Mister McCracken! That, and space considerations. Only so much room to fit stuff into a 12 foot power armor, ya know. Now then, on to the second piece of tech I wanted to show you all!" He dramatically threw his arm into the air as he spoke, then froze in place for a second. "Um… I meant to exit the armor right there, but it seems that the back plate is stuck… Uh, just… give me a second to fix that. KayCee, little help?"

"Quite the graceful demonstration there Theo," Sam said while stifling a laugh.

Joanne rolled her eyes at her son and said, "Oh be nice, Sam. You can't expect him to get everything perfect on the first try."

"Only most things," Theo said as the robot pried the back open, Theo jumping out. "Plus, this is just the combat-ready prototype. There's still kinks to work out, the 'breastplate' merely being the biggest of them." Just as he finished, the armor tilted over and crashed to the floor with a loud bang, leaving Theo smiling nervously at his observers. "I'm sure it's fine. It's built to take way worse than that. Just a moment!"

While Theo, Tya, and his robot assistant moved to help him move the mech upright again and the Council traded amused glances, Craig felt a presence move up behind him.

"If you wanted to say hi, you could just speak up you know," Craig said lightly before turning around, revealing a highly flustered looking Kumi looking up at him. The spider girl looked, to be frank, less like some dangerous monster and more like a six-armed Fluttershy, considering how nervous she was being.

"I'm sorry, mister McCracken..." She blushed, leaning down and looking rather bashful, though Craig could tell she would have been as tall as him if she stood upright. "I just… can I get your autograph?" She held out a picture that clearly had seen a lot of love over the years. It was one he'd drawn years ago at a convention of all of his classic cartoons. Fat and skinny from 2 Stupid Dogs, Dexter and Deedee, Blossom, Bubbles, and Buttercup, Mac and Bloo, even Wander and Sylvia were in the picture.

"Wait… you're a fan of the classics?" He felt, frankly, just a bit confused, if still pleased. So many people were obsessed with My Little Pony these days that they had forgotten or outright never knew most the old cartoons he'd worked on so many years in the past. He still got recognition for Powerpuff Girls and Foster's Home, but the rest had faded into near obscurity. He gave Kumi a nod and took the picture in hand. "Sure, little miss, I'll sign for you. Now… do you have a pen with you by chance?"

"Oui!" She flicked one of her wrists and reached down into her dress, into a rather… interesting pocket in the center of her chest, pulling a pen out from within. "I always make sure to have anything useful on hand." She handed the pen, an old-school quill pen of all things, to Craig and eagerly set to watch him work, and his reaction.

"I'm… guessing you have that same pocket spell that Tori did in your dress right?" Craig asked, almost afraid of the answer.

"Oh, most certainly, Mr. McCracken. I have multiple pockets stitched in many parts of my dress, each filled with different types of items I might need at a moment's notice." She smiled almost slyly, her blush exploding further along her face as she continued. "If you like, I could show you some of the things I have hidden…"

Craig froze as his hapless male brain immediately assigned a naughty meaning to the questionably innocent suggestion, and a chill along his spine showed that he wasn't the only one who had heard.

"Well, dear," Lauren breathed into his ear, causing him to shudder in response, "do you want to take a peak? I'm sure she has plenty of interesting things to show you."

Craig closed his eyes for a second, praying to any god who might be listening to be merciful, knowing they would not be. "Laur, I swear I am going to get you back for all of this later, mark my words."

Lauren giggled and patted him on the shoulder. "Consider them marked dearie. Now, Kumi, I actually am curious. How much stuff can you fit in those pockets?"

"That depends, Mademoiselle. Do you mean my 'normal' pockets?" She opened up half a dozen pockets hidden into the sides her dress. "Or my 'special' pocket?" She shook her bosom seductively, unabashedly pouting her lips, which Lauren and Craig only just noticed were already rather pouty and covered in glossy black lipstick.

"Uuuhhh..." Lauren was suddenly at a loss for words, and a glance to Craig for help only to reveal that his brain had shut down out of equal panic. Well hey, what's the worst that can happen right?

"...Special?"

Kumiko giggled and proceeded reach down between her breasts, her hand moving down impossibly far into her dress and pulling out a frankly bizarre selection of items. From bolts of cloth to belts of ammunition, party favors, grenades, toys, a video game console, a bazooka that looked like a candy cane, a large bag of doggie treats, a set of lingerie several sizes too small for Kumiko - but just the right size for Lauren, she noticed- and even a set of sleeping bags.

"Good GRAVY girl, what else is in there!?" Lauren asked, eyes as wide as saucers. "What's next, a Fainting Couch?"

"Yes, actually," Kumi replied immediately. "Do you need to use it?"

"Uh... Not yet but I think Craig does."

Kumiko did, indeed, pull a full sized couch out of her bra and proceeded to set it down gently and help Craig onto said couch. A quick peek from her and Lauren showed that the council still hadn't noticed the massive pile of stuff she had left behind, oddly. They were apparently too engrossed in the spectacle of a 12 foot tall lizard-woman lifting her mechanical body-double and trying to get it to stay upright instead of smashing her boyfriend into the ground. It clearly wasn't going well.

Lauren looked back and forth between the pile and Kumi, who was standing there with a shy grin. "So do you just grab anything you think you might need, no matter what the situation, and hold on to it just in case?"

"Oui, Madam Lauren. And I don't see why I should not, given the space offered by the spell is quite extensive and accessible at any time."

Craig seemed to recover from his mild daze with a sudden look of sharpness on his face. "Wait, I have a question. What happens to all this stuff when you take off the dress?" Before Kumi's face could do more than bloom like a rose he quickly amended, "And not in that way."

"Oh, well..." She breathed and calmed herself before saying, "Well for one thing I would have done if you wished," (Lauren and Craig both took a moment to blink in surprise at her), "but for another, simply removing my dress wouldn't have done anything save leave me in my lingerie. The spell, you see, allows the cleft between a woman's bosom to become an entrance to a personalised pocket dimension, where anything or anyone placed within can be hidden and kept safe and on-hand, anything that you put in there you retrieve by thinking about it as you reach in. If I removed my bra, like so..."

She proceeded to fiddle with her back for a moment before reaching down and removing her bra, without so much as leaving a single wrinkle on her dress. "Then all it does is shut off the entrance, leaving anything locked within inaccessible until it is put back on." She then ninja'd her bra back into just as easily as she removed it and began stuffing her pile of stuff back inside.

Craig and Lauren shared a look, both incredibly bemused and unsure of what to say anymore. "That's… very interesting," Lauren managed to say. "I'd bet if you started selling those on the open market you'd make a fortune."

"Yeah, but wouldn't that be easy to exploit?" Craig asked as he got up from the couch at Kumi's suggestion, trying to ignore the sight of her somehow shoving the piece of furniture larger than she was back down her dress. "I mean, if you can have literally anything you want down there, then that opens to door to hiding illegal stuff like weapons or drugs or even worse things, and if the bra is removed none of it is even accessible by anyone."

Kumi gained a thoughtful look on her face as her three pairs of arms moved to her hips. "Hmm… I will admit I had not thought of that, Mr. McCracken. I supposed we shall have to grant some consideration to addition of limitations upon the spell before it is used by the general public. Thank you for pointing out this potential hazard, I'm sure it will be very helpful to us in the future."

"You're welcome," Craig said genuinely, glad that something positive had come out of this bizarre experience.

"AND STAY PUT THIS TIME!" An angry shout announced, causing all their heads to turn back to the group they had been ignoring. Theo and Tya had just, finally, gotten the Dragonslayer to stand upright after it had repeatedly fallen. On him. Several times. The bruises on his face and arms were proof positive of that. Tori's shuffled worrying next to him and repeated attempts to lay her hands on him to heal his bruises were gently rebuffed as Theo stood and glared hard at the stationary armor, as if daring it to fall over again.

"NOW THEN!" He shouted, turning back to the group with a slight limp. "Where were we?" He perked up and looked to the Terminator-esque robot to his right, nodding towards the group. The tour group backed off slightly as it approached.

"Ladies and gentlemen, I introduce the original Prototype Praetorian Guard. Or, as Tya likes to call her..."

"The Portable Snugglebot!" Tya giggled, grabbing the formerly dangerous-looking robot and pulling it into a hug. KayCee even let out a helpless mewl not unlike an annoyed cat being hauled up into a hug.

Theo ignored the fact that his demonstration piece was being held up in the air helplessly by his girlfriend and started with his speech. "Now, normally Kaycee would have a 'shell' of artificial flesh that serves to cover and protect her inner workings, but an unintended live-fire test caused that to be damaged. While we have numerous alternate 'skins' available..." He waved an arm towards the far wall, on which hung what looked like feline humanoid pelts clad in various costumes ranging from the practical to the strange. "She's partial to her original 'skin' which is currently undergoing some minor repairs. Now, before the inevitable demonstration of how awesome she is, are there any questions? I wanna get the obvious tedious questions out of the way first."

"Does she say 'I'll be back' when leaving the room?" Craig asked with a grin.

"And does she say 'I need a vacation' when taking a break?" Lauren added, sporting her own grin.

"Only if she's been watching too many Arnold Schwarzenegger films..." Theo replied, leveling a grin at the completely unashamed felinoid robot.

"I even shout 'Put that cookie down!' when the boss is trying to break his diet." The robot purred with self-satisfaction at the pair's resulting giggles.

Theo grumbled and folded his arms over his chest."Yes, and you know how much I 'love' when you do that. Now, any actual questions?"

"Let's get the most obvious question out, then." Serizawa began, "How big did you make this thing's breasts?"

"Ha! Trick question Serizawa," Theo crowed. "Kaycee doesn't have a set size, it's entirely variable. NEXT question!"

"Racks aside," Gordon said, seemingly amused at being able to say such, "why so many different costumes?"

"Each of the 'skins' is built with specialised sets of myomer bundles, mechanical muscles basically, as well as specialised tactical programming for each purpose. Such as the Gunslinger design having magnified vision and pre-built targeting with the revolvers, or the Ninja having both a smaller physique and slimmer higher-strength bundles for lighter weight and faster reflexes as well as a silent communication module and darkvision tracking system."

"Any chance we can see her in one of them?" Lauren interjected, ignoring Craig's panicked flailing.

"Sure." Theo turned to the robot, whom was still clutched in Tya's arms. "KayCee? Gunslinger mode!"

The 'bot leapt from Tya's grasp - Tya whined a bit about losing her cuddle buddy - and walked over to the pod containing that skin and got to work getting into it.

"OK," Ozaki chimed in. "You're saying that this bot is meant to have different forms exclusively for combat, so exactly how practical is she in a battle scenario? What's her baseline physical potential?"

"Her base skin has no special upgrades or alteration, wears no armor and carries no internal weapons aside from her claws," Theo said. "And yet she was capable of utterly eviscerating a relatively small Gun Runner cell just a few weeks ago. Alone and unarmed besides her teeth and claws. There were no survivors and the only damage she sustained was some gunshots that didn't breach through her skin. That's why it's being repaired."

Craig perked up and asked, "Wait, aren't the Gun Runners those small-timed armed nutters that Chau keeps having trouble with?"

"How do you know that?" Lauren asked.

"Internet."

"Yep," Theo said. "They're not as big a threat as the Red Dawn but still a thorn in a lot of people's sides."

"Especially mine," Gordon groused. "So what happened?"

Theo shrugged, "Long story short: She killed several dozen heavily-armed nutcases with no armor and no ranged weaponry through skill and tenacity alone."

Gordon raised his hand and said, "Now I have another question… can I have one?"

Theo smiled. "If the Praetorian Guard project is approved for activation then yes, you and the Council would be top of the list of first adopters. I've been working for a long time to make KayCee's overall design something that can be mass produced for a reasonable price. Not 'cheap' but more affordable than a human life put through training enough to match what she can do."

"And how much, pray tell, is that?" Serizawa asked.

"That's two questions, Ishiro." Theo raised a brow before answering anyway. "About a million and a half if she's stripped to only her base necessities. One and three quarters if she's built to my standards. Two if we let Gordon give the design a full-force upgrade, which I know he wants to do."

"Call it an even 3 and you'd be able to fit my expectations," Gordon said, to which Theo nodded.

Serizawa looked like he wanted to complain about the price Theo listed, but eventually relaxed as he decided that a combat-capable robot piloted by an AI was probably worth the expense.

"Alright, one last question." Lauren spoke up. "What about non-combat uses?"

"And there is the fun part," Theo said, bowing to Lauren. "Kaycee's name comes from the acronym 'KC', or 'Kitty Cat'. Yes, I know how cheesy that sounds. Long before she was a military combat prototype, she was my pet, companion, and teaching aid when I worked for CalTech as the engineering professor. She's been taught by me how to teach and create, taught by my mother how to tend wounds and cook, taught by Kumiko how to sew and clean, and taught by Haley how to fight and protect. She's the ultimate 'Jack of all Trades' and can be taught whatever her owner needs. Her base skin is also her oldest, designed to be both alluring and cuddleable far more than any kind of combat purpose. She's, essentially, the world's smartest plush toy… or the world's most advanced love doll if your mind goes in that direction." He leveled a look and grin at Craig, who looked distinctly unamused, pointing with one finger to his wife standing right next to him.

"So she's a lover, a fighter, a mother, a guardian, a pet, and a soldier all at once?" Lauren asked, brow raised.

Just in time KayCee returned, dressed in a long grey duster and cowboy hat. Her feet had leather wraps resembling cowboy boots on them, complete with spurs, a pair of long revolvers rested at her hips, and a revolver-rifle hung across her back. The robot's chest was restrained by an overbust corset that looked to be made of hardened ceramic plates and she wore a collar with a sheriff's badge hanging from it. The terminator looking endoskeleton was gone, replaced by something that walked right out of the wild wastelands of a post-apocalyptic western.

"Well... I have to admit, that looks rather interesting," Serizawa said, not expecting something so tame from Theo.

"I do have interests outside the erotic you know, Mordred," Theo said while giving the Monarch director a flat look.

Joanne laughed. "Admit it Theo, a lot of what you do is sexual in some way. Even the things that wouldn't normally go with that."

"She is very right about that Theo," Sam added.

"Okay, yes, I will admit sex is on my brain a lot," Theo said rather heatedly. "That doesn't stop me from doing my job of making the best tech around so what does it matter?"

"It matters because it makes other people who are less focused on sex feel extremely awkward," Serizawa said. "Most people are not able to have parallel trains of thought dealing with both sex and whatever topic they were focusing on before sex came up. They become focused on the former at the expense of the latter and waste time trying to refocus on what's important while battling against their natural instincts telling them to focus on the former. It makes everything a confused mess of distraction that really isn't helpful much of the time."

Craig leaned over to his wife and whispered, "How did we end up on this topic exactly?"

"I have no idea," Lauren told him.

KayCee looked back and forth between both sides of the escalating shouting argument, glanced at her pistol, shrugged, drew the weapon, complete with a short, western-esque jingle, and pointed it at the ceiling and fired, the deafening KRACKOW of the gunshot ringing out throughout the room. Once the booming noise had drawn everyone's startled attention at her she said, "So… can I demonstrate my capabilities now?"

"Please do," Ozaki said. He stepped forward, using telekinesis to draw over a table and several chairs and planting it between them. "First up, a strength test. Armwrestle style."

Kaycee nodded with a smirk, the feline woman re-holstering her pistol with another three-note tune. She took a seat across from Ozaki and rested her elbow against the table, gloved hand open to grasp. "Do you care if we wreck the table during this Theo?"

"Um… kinda? I mean, I only have so many tables in here…" He looked again and amended, "Oh wait, that one I don't care about. I found it at a junkyard a year ago."

Theo winced as a small piece of stone bounced off his arm. He bent down to pick it up and noticed its surface was heavily carved. He looked up to where the stone had come from and saw Sam staring at him. "Just use that on it when it's broke and have Tori power it. Should fix it right up."

"Repair rune?" Theo asked.

"Repair rune," Sam answered. "Bit limited at the moment, only able to fix damage dealt to an object within the last five minutes, and it can only put together separated parts, not replace destroyed material, but give me a few weeks and I can make a larger version useable on vehicles and such. You'd need a hefty energy source to power them though."

The robot and the hybrid locked arms with each other, each staring into the other's eyes as they gave preparatory flexes. Ozaki's jocular demeanor washed away as he readied himself, intent on taking this seriously. KayCee, however, gave him a sly wink and blew a kiss his way, fully intent on enjoying this as much as possible.

"On the count of three we'll start," Tori said, standing next to the table with a discerning look. "3… 2… 1… Begin!"

The table quickly began to creak under the pressure, their clasped hands twitching back and forth with no clear progression, Ozaki's 'serious face' clashing against KayCee's confident grin, sparks almost literally flying between the two as it continued for what felt like ages.

"How strong is Ozaki?" Lauren asked Gordon, who grunted and grimaced as he watched the bout.

"Strong enough that I wouldn't put it past him to lift a car off the ground if he got a good grasp on it. And yet he's not making any headway here. Either he's not trying as hard as he should or…"

"Are you doubting my bot there, Gordon?" Theo said, a highly smug smile on his face. "Just you wait, this is gonna get waaaaay better."

And better it did in fact get. KayCee used her free hand to mimic a dismissive yawn, winking at Ozaki as if she didn't have a care in the world. Rather than make him falter though, KayCee's taunting only drove Ozaki harder, pushing with even more force than before. Visible sparks were arcing between their clasped hands, blue electricity from KayCee's grip, and sparks of golden lightning from Ozaki's. The immense forces were also tearing the table asunder, old chipped wood being burned from the stray sparks and cracking under the pressure.

"It's gonna BLOW!" Lauren shouted, ducking behind Tya, who opted to shield the group. With a resounding 'thud', shards of burning wood flying about. KayCee and Ozaki were on the ground, with KayCee's fist embedded an inch into the tempered steel floor, with Ozaki's own on top of it.

"Ok…" Ozaki said, looking very flustered. "That was fun..."

"What just happened?" Craig asked, still hiding behind Tya's body and only poking his head out.

"Unstoppable force meets immovable object," Sam suggested, studying the shattered remains of the table scattered all around the room.

"And the unstoppable force won… barely," Theo continued. He glanced Sam's way with a smirk and asked, "So, you think that repair rune will still work?" to which Sam rolled his eyes.

Okazi stood up, brushing some the dust from his uniform as he turned to Theo.

"Hey, kid? I want one." He helped the robot to her feet after she'd pulled her arm out of the floor, her outfit looking none the worse for wear, barring some jostled clothes that were quickly fixed. Ozaki let the machine woman walk off, sparing a hidden glance to his hand, feeling the flush of shocking energy sparking just under the surface.

Never pushed that far before, he thought to himself. And it felt like I could go even further if I tried… Just how strong can I get, and why am I the only one like this?

"So," KayCee said as she turned to the rest of the council with a smirk. "Any other questions?"

"Are you as fast as you are strong?" Serizawa asked. "Also, how do you achieve such strength?"

KayCee smiled before taking a step, then with brown blur was clear across the distance between them and face to face with Serizawa. "Yes. Yes I am." She stepped back, adding, "And my strength and speed come from the myomer bundles, cables of electroactive polymers the boss designed that allow for the optimum efficiency in terms of power input and output. The more energy I can use, the faster and stronger I can get. And each inch-thick bundle is made using ST-2, making them stronger pound for pound than an equal thickness of steel."

"Wait, ST-2?" Lauren and Craig asked simultaneously.

"A specially modified variant of Titan Alloy, also called Space Titanium," Theo said. "It's a chemical compound of Titanium, Iridium, Yttrium, and Silver. While ST-2 is the general name for the research reports, being a refinement of the Titan Alloy, otherwise called 'Space Titanium', we tend to call it 'Mythril' because it's, functionally at least, so similar to Tolkein's fictional super metal, though ours was made in a lab, not carved from the mines of Moria."

He stepped to a nearby counter and pulled out a long slim bar of a sparkling white metal. "Here's a sample if anyone wants to check. This is what KayCee's bones and muscles, the myomer bundles, and the underarmor weave of her skins are all made of. Same as the armor and structure and myomer bundles of the dragonslayer armor, the Wingly flight units, and the Behemoth war mechs, not to mention most parts of Aschendaele's body."

He handed it around to everyone. The large bar was several feet long, half a foot wide and nearly an inch thick but was so impossibly light several mistook it for styrofoam, at least until they tried to break it, with even Ozaki unable get the material to so much as bend with all his inhuman might.

"Once tempered, it's borderline unbreakable, with only standard Titan Alloy outshining it in durability by a fair bit for more weight. But before tempering it's easier to shape than even gold is." He nodded to a another, duller bar of the same metal. "The 'sparkling' is caused by microscopic cracks in the patina caused by forge-tempering, hence why the soft and pliable untempered stuff looks dull while the other one has sparkles like a diamond."

"Incredible," Craig said as he twirled the metal around in his hands, throwing off a beautiful sheen of cascading light.

"And very pretty," Lauren added. "So what other stuff could be made out of this?"

Theo smiled and started rattling off. "All of the five hundred and eighty six different weapons KayCee uses - which can also be used by any heavy exo suit user - the armor plating on the DragonSlayer armor, Tytanna's armor (both full and bikini versions), and the body of my bike, so far. Anything that needs to be strong, light, and doesn't need a paint job? ST-2. Titan alloy is amazing for things that don't need to worry about weight issues but for anything else, ST-2, while a pain to make, has cheaper ingredients and just as many uses. Including these." Theo pulled up his left pant leg and his right jacket arm, revealing a pair of high-tech-looking cybernetics made from the same sparkling metal.

"I'm guessing those weren't exactly voluntary replacements?" Ozaki asked with a concerned glance.

"Nope," Theo answered casually. "These were from my 'second pet', I guess you could call her. Though it may be more appropriate. Long story but we'll meet her and her cellmates soon enough."

"Cellmates?" Serizawa asked, looking a tad concerned and leaning back to get some breathing room. "Cellmates in what?"

Joanne started to look a bit nervous, saying, "Yeah… I should mention that research and development isn't all that Langoud has been up to for the past few years. See, when we went around the world trying to gather artifacts from the Ancient Civ, we also ran into a lot of supernatural elements and entities along the way. And… not all of them were as nice as Tori and her adopted daughters are. So we had to start… actively protecting ourselves let's say, and from there it expanded a bit. Or a lot, if I'm honest."

Sam folded his arms and said bluntly, "In short, we turned ourselves into a paranormal hunters group. Which is a big part of why we have so much experience with magic and how to use it without poisoning ourselves."

"And where I got most of my fighting experience from," Tya piped up. "When you gotta fight super beasts and demons, what better person to do it than a kaiju right?"

Craig planted his hands on his hips and asked, "So what, you guys suddenly started acting like the BPRD?"

"Does that make me Hellboy?" Tya asked, wondering how she'd look shirtless and in a duster.

"Maybe?" Craig replied, trying to not imagine her in nothing but a duster.

"Either way," Theo interjected, "technically it's our field research operations that handle such things. Sal's the head, and she, Tya, me, KayCee and Haley serve as the muscle, so on and so forth, yada yada."

"That much firepower?" Ozaki asked. "Kind of excessive, don't you think?"

"Not against the shit they've been seeing, I assure you," Sam said.

"Look, when Count Dracula is the LEAST dangerous thing we've fought, I think that justifies a bit of overkill..."

"And he was just being nice enough to not put up much of a fuss," Joanne clarified.

"Dracula!?" Serizawa asked, blatantly freaking out. "Fucking Dracula!?"

"TECHNICALLY it's Vlad Tepes III, or 'Vlad Dracula'," Theo corrected, then shrugged. "But… yeah, pretty much. Apparently getting your head chopped off isn't exactly permanent when you're a demonically-empowered, angel-blessed Vampire King. And he's far from the only 'movie monster' we've had the misfortune to run into. The furthest back part of the ship acts as a customized prison to hold all the one's we've captured, the whole place designed to be ejected into the ocean if we think any part of it is compromised."

"I think we ought to see this prison for ourselves," Gordon said, suddenly getting a worried look on his face and a firmer grip on his Katana.

Okay, we just crossed over from 'fun' insane to terrifying insane.

"Um… is there any way I could get some armor maybe?" Lauren asked, feeling a sudden chill in the room. Or maybe that was just her own shuddering spine.

Theo merely nodded over to KayCee, who pulled down a fancy looking set of metal plates and presented them to Lauren.

"Um… what are these?" she asked.

"Expandable armor," KayCee answered. She held it up, letting it drop down to show lingerie similar to what Lauren had seen in Kumiko's possession earlier. A closer look revealed it to have metal plates incorporated into it.

"... Seriously?" both husband and wife asked at the same moment, equally flat looks on their faces.

"Yep," Theo said, stepping over. "This is based on the magical armors that Haley and my mom wear in combat. The lingerie is worn under your normal clothes and, when in a fight, the actual armor manifests from the built in VSC, covering you from top to bottom in inch-thick ST-2 armor plates."

KayCee handed the lingerie to Lauren and Tori, standing behind her, snapped her fingers with an unnaturally loud snap, causing Lauren to jump. The lingerie was gone from her hands and Lauren was grasping herself, feeling it having been teleported beneath her clothes.

"Wha… wait… How?" she asked, flustered.

Tori smiled gently at her. "Did you expect us to make you undress in front of everyone?"

"... Maybe?" Lauren blushed. "That was a lot more convenient though."

"Well, how about a test?" KayCee said, lashing out with blinding speed. Before Lauren realised what was happening, a burst of stardust formed and the robot's sharp claws were stopped dead by thick yet form-fitting and ornate blackened armor.

"Cool," Lauren said, looking down at herself and admiring the look. The metal barely seemed to wear her down at all, yet she could feel how stiff and strong it obviously was. She tapped an armored hand against the plate, creating a curious ting sound that resembled a struck chime. "Very cool."

"Is there a guy's version?" Ozaki asked curiously.

"Kinda," Theo said, "Although it's a tad less convenient than the gal's version."

Sam smirked and added, "Mostly due to where the 'pocket' has to go. Functional, but not really all that polite, if you know what I mean."

Craig quickly figured out what they meant and laughed even as Lauren rolled her eyes next to him. "If you have any available I'd like to try one out too."

"Here you go," Haley said as she tossed a pair of normal looking boxers at Craig. "Ya'll gotta put them on yourself though. Warping stuff onto another person's private parts is kinda rude if a lady's doin' it to a dude."

Craig merely nodded and held onto the boxers in his hand. "I'll find a moment to change out on the way there I guess."

"Well then," Joanne said, her voice grave. "I guess it's on to the next part of the tour." She gulped and shook her head, willing the shudders away. "The Demon Cells."

---

(Page Bre- Sure is ominous ain't it? Hope nothing bad happens while they're down there… -ak)

… What just happened? Er… let's just move on with the chapter…

---

After pausing at a public restroom to let Craig change - and let everyone relieve themselves, the tour had been going on for quite a while - the group made their way towards the back of the ship. With each step it seemed like the unnatural cold was growing stronger and stronger, and Lauren noticed that the lights were dimming the further they went. They had long ago stopped seeing people wandering the halls around them, She wrapped her arms tight around herself, feeling the deactivated armor under her clothes to assure she was protected.

"So, these beings… Are they literally demons?" Serizawa asked, unable to ignore the chill in the air.

"Not literally," Haley said. "Well, except one. Most of them are either fae tainted by demonic energies, or humans who defied death in some unholy manner." She adjusted her tail to cover herself and kept one hand resting on her waist, looking ready for a fight.

"The one demon among them is, technically, 'dead'," Tya added. She was standing taller and moving more deliberately now, some hint of the powerful animal within her leaking out. Lauren decided that the stance was more comforting than not, knowing Tya was on her side. "Haley made sure of that. The rest we're able to keep contained with some clever trickery or, in the case of the Count, asking nicely."

"What kind of security do you have here?" Ozaki asked. Lauren noticed that he seemed tense as well, walking with a slower, more deliberate stride, his hands flexing every so often with unshed strength.

"Each one has specialised security measures meant to work on their greatest weaknesses," Theo answered. "For example, the Grue is contained in a pitch black room with hollow walls. Said walls are lined with high-power light-emitting diodes that ensure absolutely no shadows, not even to a molecular level, existing between said room and the outside world. The room itself has ultraviolet 'black lights' at exactly ninteen candles of power lining the area, keeping her mostly visible and, thus, fully tangible. Lights over twenty candles in strength cause her extreme physical pain, but render her invisible and intangible. But blacklights render her physically tangible, essentially unable to escape a room that won't harm her. Thus, keeping her locked up and away from harm, be it hers or ours."

"Isn't the Grue that other pet you mentioned?" Craig asked.

"Yep. She's an undetermined breed of Fae from the Toba Catastrophe age, possibly long before then if the radio-carbon dating on the bloodstains on her fur is any indication."

"Um… what are the oldest readings you've gotten?" Serizawa interrupted.

"About two hundred and fifty million years." At Serizawa's shocked silence, Theo merely nodded at him and continued. "She's primordial, essentially. Something ancient and powerful, but surprisingly tame compared to most of the others. She runs on instinct more than higher thoughts, almost like a really smart dog, or more accurately a wolf. The Grue is, essentially, the reason why humans are afraid of the dark. She's the living embodiment of that primal fear."

Lauren gulped, recalling some of her old memories from a long ago childhood, long nights spent staring into the closet wondering what was within. "So your 'pet'... she's literally 'The Fear of the Dark'?"

"Pretty much. We captured her in the subways under New York, she'd been preying on homeless people who tried to hide under there, using them as her personal playthings and food. It was a pretty intense brawl but we managed to catch and contain her. Killing her wasn't happening though, the only things that could caused her to vanish before being hit and she'd just escape again, and physical weapons did little more than annoy her since she'd undo the damage the moment she hit some dark shadows."

Theo sighed, his still living arm rubbing at his mechanical one. "We've been trying to understand her abilities and how her mind works, see if it's possible to make her not as much of a threat. Based on what we've experienced, it seems like she's only programmed with two instincts: feed and breed. And she does both with a shark-toothed smile. Taming her is… slow-going and rather painful. I'm the only one she's willing to obey and that's only because I'm not scared of her. If she smells fear, then you're either food, or a new toy. And she's had more than enough of both." He looked at his mechanical hand, twisting the appendage over in his sight. "Not that it hasn't left me with a few scars. She likes to play rough. Very rough."

"And you said this is the tamest one?" Gordon asked.

"Second tamest," Sam countered. "Dracula has behaved himself flawlessly. Even though nothing's been able to permanently contain him he's not hurt anyone or gone snooping where he doesn't belong, and Scylla is constantly watching him to make sure. The rest are…" He shrugged. "Well, monsters to be frank."

"Shub Niggurath is fun to watch," Tya commented slyly. "But she's… not so fun to experience up close." Her blush made the implications a tad too clear for anyone's liking.

Joanne patted her daughter's arm comfortingly. "Yeah, she's a real piece of work, that's for sure. And that's not even getting into Krueger, Voorhees, or Chucky." Joanne shook her head in both disgust and mild fear. "Those three… Good god. Krueger never shuts up, and neither does Chucky, but Voorhees… He's just disturbing."

Haley snarled under her breath as she said, "And that leaves the Creeper. The only 'real' Demon among them, and probably the worst of the lot. Immortal, sadistic, inhumanly strong, and only truly injured by extreme heat or holy magic."

"Capturing him was pretty intense, honestly," Theo said. "Me, Sal, and Haley went to a convention a few years back while on vacation and had the misfortune to run into him. Anyone here remember 'Burnycon'?"

"Oh god how could I forget!?" Lauren added. She'd been horrified at the time to hear what had happened, and glad beyond words that no one had been hurt.

"Yeah, he attacked us a few hours after it was over. We were heading back home to the ship when he tried to chop my head off as we were driving." Theo smiled and wave a hand over at Haley, who was looking a mix of angry and proud. "My little-big sis decided she wasn't having none of that shit and decided to beat the snot out of him. At Mach one. About a hundred feet in the air."

"Did I forget to mention I can fly?" Haley quipped, leaning against Sal's head, whose shoulder she suddenly appeared on.

"I do believe you did not," Serizawa said, torn between feeling amused and annoyed. "So you have been capturing these entities for the past several years now… and felt no need to inform us about it?"

"Actually we did," Joanne said, twiddling her thumbs. "But, uh, we kinda hide some of the more… unusual details in our official reports. And we had a reason!" she quickly said, noticing the questioning looks of the council. "We were basically the best informed people in the world about this stuff already, and we barely knew anything more than what Tori could tell us, so what would the rest of the GDF have been able to do differently? Plus, as a top secret organization, us holding onto them would mean there was no easy way for knowledge of these guys to get out, whereas if even one person in the SD or Monarch knew, it vastly increased the chances of the info leaking to the public. And I'm willing to bet my ludicrous salary that none of you would want that right?"

She grinned as Serizawa went silent and began looking at his fellow councilmen, who leveled similarly tight looks at him as well.

"I suppose… that your logic is sound," Serizawa admitted. "Still, now that we are aware that these beings exist, I would suggest you give us some further information on how to deal with them if we encounter others that you might have missed."

Joanne nodded and pointed to Sal. "If you have any questions, direct them to Sal here. She's been in charge of the whole paranormal hunting effort and has been keeping detailed records. Not to mention she's one of the most experienced people out there at actually fighting such monsters."

"Monsters like me you mean, darling?"

The whole group jumped at the sudden voice, turning to the wall to see where it had come from.

"SWEET MONKEY JEHOSHAPHAT!" Joanne shouted, "Vlad, don't SCARE me like that, please oh LORDY-loo!"

As the doctor finally calmed down the group got a good look at where the voice actually came from, a male figure sitting casually in dim candle light at an elegantly adorned table, a glass full of a deep red wine clutched in his hand. The 'man' was clad in a stylish black overcoat, complete with a lace-made inner collar, and a long black and red opera cape styled to look like a set of wings. The long white hair and pale yet perfectly trimmed goatee and blood red lennon-esque sunglasses made it clear that this was, in fact, the one and only Count Dracula, The No-Life King, Lord of the Living Dead himself.

Lauren froze, looking at the man-thing's wizened, handsome face and striking blood red eyes. His eyes flicked her way and he fixed her with a dignified and sultry grin, adding in a wink when he knew he had her attention. Lauren's face bloomed and she laughed nervously, turning away and hiding her face with her hand until she heard a knowing cough behind her. Lauren's immediate instinct was to look back at Craig and yep, there it was, that creeping 'vengeance is mine' grin of his plastered on his face. She opted to play it safe and slinked behind Kumi and Sal, subtly nudging them forward, accidentally causing Kumi to jump right next to Serizawa.

Serizawa in turn practically leapt to the ceiling in startled shock, jostling Ozaki next to him and setting them both on edge as they turned to the diminutive spider woman with mild fear on their faces.

"Oh, um… sorry about that," Kumi said with a respectful bow. "I did not mean to scare you."

"It's…" Serizawa coughed and nodded to her, climbing down from Ozaki's panicked grasp. "It's fine."

The man in the cell laughed, a deep, boisterous affair that sent Lauren's heart fluttering just as it put her nerves on edge. "Already you are jumping at shadows and harmless little insects. One wonders how you all could possibly be prepared for what comes later if you start so poorly."

Gordon huffed and stepped up to the glass, locking eyes with the sitting Lord without a hint of intimidation. "Even you would be surprised at some of things we've seen, County."

"Oh, I highly doubt that," Dracula said in a carefree tone. "I have lived for much longer than many of you here could ever dream, seen and experienced things that would make your darkest nightmares appear as bright and pleasant sunlight. There is little in this world that can surprise me anymore." He set his glass down with one final sip and placed his hands in his lap, leaning ever so slightly to the side in his incredibly ornate chair. "But still… I hold out hope that you and your 'side' can achieve such feats as to shock even me. For if you can't, then I fear your likelihood of survival dwindles nearly to nothing…"

Ozaki moved to stand next to Gordon, his eyes hard as stone. "Sounds like you know something we don't. Care to share with us mere mortals?"

The Count laughed softly as he eyed the hybrid with an affluent grin. "I am no less mortal than you my good man. Indeed, no being in the universe may escape the welcoming embrace of death forever, no matter how far or hard they flee from it. There are those out there that have forgotten this fundamental truth, and in time, you shall be forced to remind them. One way or another."

"Delightfully cryptic isn't he?" Craig muttered to Lauren, who nodded her head in agreement. She had no idea what he was talking about, but the way he spoke… it had her suddenly nervous.

"Speaking clearly would only confuse rather than clarify," Dracula said smoothly, smiling as he watched Craig jump at being addressed. "That said, perhaps I should provide some plainer wording for you."

Joanne frowned. "Drac… do you know something?"

The pale man's lips parted to reveal sharp fangs with his latest smile. "Oh, I could say that I know a lot of things that you don't, dear doctor. The real question is which of them you are most interested in hearing? My history of greatness and darkness? Which wine goes best with a strong helping of blood? How willing I'd be to fulfill those fantasies you pretend that I don't know about…"

Joanne squeaked and turned completely around, planting her hands firmly at her sides as she stood stock still. Lauren's heart went out to the poor doctor, especially when she caught Dracula's eyes tracking suspiciously low down Joanne's labcoat.

"Maybe we should stick to the topics that don't cause my mother's face to catch on fire?" Sam said drolly. "And might I remind you, Count, that despite our inability to hold you here we do control your internet access…"

The Lord pouted sadly at the young man. "Oh, such wanton disrespect as to descend to threats at mere teasing. Truly it is difficult to find people who can understand my brilliance and humor, but alas, such is my plight."

"Laying it on really thick there," Tori whispered, causing Haley to laugh and Sal to grin.

"I know," Theo added. "I have to deal with it every time I talk to this guy. You'd think he was my mother, y'know, if I didn't already have one." He reached out and prodded his mom's hip, getting a light 'baa' out of the glaistig.

Serizawa coughed loudly, bringing all eyes his way. "I hate to interrupt this… pleasant atmosphere, but perhaps I could convince you to actually divulge whatever information you have that we seem to be in the dark about?"

"In other words, quit wasting time talking and start talking, Drac," Gordon said with far less politeness.

"Very well," the Count responded, all mirth gone from his voice as his eyes turned glassy behind his shades. "I do not have any 'solid' information for you such that you could act upon clearly and quickly. Rather, I have a set of… hunches, let's call them, about the tide of coming events, and will have to leave the interpretation of such to you when clarity arrives."

"So, what, you can SMELL evil or something?" Theo asked, having not guessed this.

"Rather well for that matter, Mister Wylder, with scents as broad and alluring as the finest wines. Now, may I begin?" At the group's curious and cautious nods, he did so.

"Now then." He coughed lightly, taking a swift sip of his wine before setting himself in his seat. "I have sensed some things, ancient and powerful. The Evil Machine and The Mad God united in a common goal. A man with an eye of gold and a gun that does the impossible. Three geniuses with hearts of cold stone. And a woman with an iron claw. Beware the golden-eyed gunman, fear the stone-hearted geniuses, and dread the woman with the iron claw. To trust them, to overlook them, is doom for us all."

Craig and Lauren traded a look as the chill of the corridor somehow got deeper.

"That sounds a lot like a prophesy would…" Ozaki said, disturbed.

"It shares many sources with them," Dracula admitted. "The art of divining is long lost by most and forgotten by many more, but there are some yet alive that still know its secrets, myself among that treasured few."

"As am I," Tori said. "Now that we have some clues, I can scry further into this, see if we can get more on these mysterious threats..."

"See that you do," the Count ordered with stern nobility. "More rides on this than you realize, and to falter at any step on this path may mean the ultimate doom for us all."

Lauren looked at the man curiously for a moment, then gathered up her courage and asked, "Is that why you are helping us? Because you want to protect yourself as well?"

The Count stared back at Lauren deeply, his face a blank mask as his gaze bore into her, Lauren almost feeling as though her mind was being studied and taken apart. "I have many reasons for what I do," he finally said. "Most are either beyond your ability to understand or outside the realm of you caring, but I do share one thing in common with you humans."

Slowly, he removed his glasses, allowing his eyes to be clearly seen for the first time. Lauren saw many things swirling in those red orbs: strength, control, desire, rage, hatred, and pain, a pain deep and sharp. Most of all though, Lauren saw age; long, winding, endless years full of emptiness and sorrow.

"I, too, desire to continue to live, and though I accept that death will catch up with me one way or another, I do not wish to follow it into the dark just yet…"

He returned the shades to their proper place, taking up his glass again and swallowing the remaining liquid in a single swig. "Now, does that answer your questions?"

"About as well as can be, why?" Gordon replied.

"Because I, myself, have one for miss Faust." He grinned, beckoning her closer to the window. She gulped, and stepped forward, legitimately scared at whatever horrifying, depraved demands the Count must have for her.

"Miss Faust," He began imperiously. "I'm fairly certain you hear this often enough but..." His hesitance had her fearing the worst. "You already can guess I am rather wealthy, quite heavily so since I am one of the Langoud team's non-GDF funding sources but..." He reached for a small manilla folder and Lauren's blood ran cold.

Here it was, the one thing she feared. Lauren clenched in terror as reality sought to confirm her predictions.

"I promise you'd be paid handsomely if you were willing to tackle this one request." He pulled out… a picture. A picture of a flamboyantly-dressed, over-endowed vampire alicorn, humanized of course. "Would you please draw my OC?"

"NNNNNNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" She screamed, dropping to her knees in a dramatic wail of horror.

The rest of the group watched on in utter confusion and bewilderment, save for Craig, who merely nodded sadly and moved to pat her on the back understandingly. Drac meanwhile glanced down at the collapsed woman with a disappointed expression.

"Goodness, madam, it was just a question."

From up above in the camera system, Scylla shook her head at Dracula's poor naivety. Oh Dracky… It is far more than just a question. It is the question, and you asked it at waaaay the wrong time. Maybe one day you will get your OC drawn, but that day is not today.

---

(Pa- Sayonara for now folks. Be seeing you really soon... -ge Break)

Okay, what the heck is going on? Do I need to check my computer for viruses?

Just keep going man, you can check for bugs later.

If you think so... Something weird is going on...

---

Gamera sat in silence as he watched the sunset from a cliff high above the waves. He always enjoyed watching Terra's star moving through the sky, tracking the golden orb as it flew across the curving horizon. It reminded him that, despite everything, the world still spun. Life still went on. No matter how hard each day may get, another one was coming in its own time. Seeing the sun move through the sky gave him hope.

And watching it now, sinking out of sight to herald the coming of night, he felt that hope being tested.

Gamera, are you okay?

The turtle guardian sighed, turning to see Baragon standing on the rock shelf below him, a concerned look on his face.

Well enough, I suppose. Are the others here?

Baragon nodded. Yup. Yon and Varan are waiting. Manda's a bit busy helping Goro move some rocks around to block up one of the entrances to the main valley, but she should be here pretty soon.

Alright. Time is ripe for us to begin then. Gamera stood and followed Baragon down from the cliff, treading along a path pounded into the rock by the passing of massive feet. Down below in a dip between the mountain peaks waited two other giant creatures watching them come.

One was tall, with a strong, muscular build straining against the thick scales armoring its skin. His face was pointed and angular, with a sharp horn capping his snout and a trio of spikes forming a crown atop his head. He stood vertically on two broad legs, his tail swishing slowly while his two arms lay slack at his sides, clawed fingers tacking in sequence against his armored thigh.

The other was smaller, sitting hunched over while resting her head on one hand. Her features were much more mammalian, but still had some lizard-like parts. She was compact in size, barely coming up to the other's torso in height, but her form was sleek and aerodynamic. A thin line of skin trailed down from her arms down to her legs, revealing her wing-like membranes. Dark but attentive eyes were flicking from place to place at rapid speed, focusing on each spot for only a brief moment to see all that it could offer before moving on.

They're anxious, Baragon said. So am I, really. The way things have been going lately…

We all have reason to be anxious, Gamera agreed. I am no different from them or you in that regard.

Baragon snorted and poked Gamera in the shell. Yeah well you are particularly good at hiding any nerves there, Gammy. Got a nice thick shell to stick them in.

Gamera smiled and shrugged at him. I suppose I am more 'unshakable' than most. But just because my feelings are veiled does not mean I am not influenced by them.

That's the thing about feelings. Sometimes they suck, sometimes they rock, and you can't really control which is which most of the time.

Such is life Baragon, Gamera said as he came to a stop at his place in the circle across from the two awaiting guardians. Our only choice is to live in it.

Who said life is so great? Varan complained, sitting up and folding her arms. Now, to business. What's the word on Raiga, Gamera?

Gamera sighed, that hopeful part of him becoming strained again. There is no sign of her anywhere. The last known reports of her state that she had engaged and killed Agon in combat, and then disappeared once he was dead. No one has any clues where she went or how she vanished. She is simply… gone.

Yon growled and stomped, sending up a poof of dust. Damnit. That's another one of us just gone for no reason. We don't even know if she's alive or not!

Caesar is missing too, Baragon said, his dog-like ears drooping. He threw off Dagahra and went back to sleep, and then he was gone. Nobody knows what happened, his cave was just empty.

Mothra, Anguirus, Rodan, Caesar, and now Raiga, Varan listed off, her voice dead and flat. How many more of us are gonna disappear? And that's not even mentioning Godzilla. He's stronger than any one of us, fought harder than anybody, and then just POOF! Gone! All cause the humans just couldn't resist the opportunity to waste Xen and Des. As if our lives didn't matter at all.

Varan, you know it was not that simple for them, Gamera defended. The action was forced upon them by circumstances within their culture.

Oh, and that makes it sooo much better doesn't it! Varan snarled, scratching her claws through the rock in a fit of anger. Just because they had a 'reason' doesn't justify a Tanaka damn thing!

You are right. It does not. But you must remember the intent behind their action. They did not intend for Godzilla and the others to be hit. They meant to try and end the fighting by striking at the mutant leaders, as well as show their people that some of us were on their side.

And all the times we've fought to protect their city's hasn't proven that? Yon asked sardonically. Look, I respect the good in humans and I gladly followed Godzilla in his defense of them. But still, you have to admit that they made a mistake by attacking like that, Gamera.

Gamera nodded. I do admit, they made a serious error, and even knowing the reasons for it does not erase the guilt it carries. But still, we cannot let one mistake dissuade us from doing the right thing by working together. There were and are humans that want us all dead, that much is true, but many more of them are willing to give cooperation a chance. We should give them the same trust, because trust is something that must be shared by both parties.

You can trust them if you want Gamera, Varan said. As for me, I won't let them off that easily. I'll work with them if I have to, but don't ever expect me to like or respect them. I've seen just how much they care about things that aren't important to them, and I will never forget it.

Gamera sighed but accepted her words. Of all of the Guardians, Varan had the most reason to dislike humanity, and he could not discount the her reasons were good. Waking up to a wasteland of pollution and decay would have soured most of them on the virtues of humans, but it hit especially hard for the Guardian of Life and Growth.

Baragon shook his head and said, Honestly, I don't care if we work with the humans or not. If their mechs and ships are what we need to wipe out the mutants once and for all, I'll fight with them as much as I have to. That's not what worries me though. Baragon motioned to the empty parts of the circle, then at each of them in turn. What worries me is that there are only four of us left. Four, out of eight original defenders. Battra's loss was balanced out by him melding into the Mothra line, but the rest… The rest are irreplaceable. And now even one of the honorary guardians is gone…

There's not enough of us Gamera. Yon stared at the turtle guardian sternly, his look a mix of concern and calculation. Four guardians isn't enough, not even close.

We do not need to worry about that yet, Yonggary, Gamera said slowly. Our task is not due to commence for many millennia yet. We still have time.

Do we though Gamera? Baragon pressed. Even just last week I would have said things were fine, but with Caesar and Raiga disappearing without a single hint as to how… It's just so unlikely. Can it really be coincidence? Or is something behind all these events?

Gamera went silent. Hope waged a war with realism in his mind as he recalled all the suspicious facts he'd gathered over the past weeks. The kaiju struck by Dimension Tide here on Solgell all appearing in the same place, a world familiar to humans through regular entertainment. The other black hole strikes, uncountenanced by humanity, caused by an unknown entity with impossible ability. The magic used by the Anteverser's Creation, dark yet recognizably Terran…

It's weird is what I'm saying.

No one is arguing against that, Baragon, Yon said. But the cage was built to contain… built to last for more than 100,000 years. I can understand it failing a few thousand years early, maybe even ten, but twenty-three? The protections can't have failed that badly.

Who says they can't? Varan argued. In case you haven't noticed our production didn't exactly go to plan.

There were outside circumstances with us, Yon countered. The island the prison is on remains completely uninhabited, has been so since before the dawning of modern human civilization. There is nothing to disturb the cage.

Are we certain of that?

The other three fell quiet at Gamera's question.

Yon is right, it is unlikely that the protections could have failed this early, but Baragon is also right that these events are far too suspicious to be merely coincidence. We have to be sure of our situation… One way or another.

Varan stood, spreading her arms. I'll go and che-

No, Gamera interrupted. All of us are needed for the fight against the mutants. I will ask Belvera to go and check for us. She is small enough to go unnoticed in case He is free.

And if he is? Yon asked. I said it before, Gamera, there's not enough of us left to take Him on, even if He is extremely weakened from being locked away.

You are right. Just us four would not be enough. But we have other allies we can call upon. Gamera waved his hand down to the rest of the island below them. The rest of the Defenders. His other hand moved out to the open sea. The humans with their war machines. All of us working together… we might stand a chance.

Varan snorted and turned away, while Bargaon and Yon traded a look.

That's a Daiei of a gamble, Gamera, Yon said. Are you sure it will work?

Am I certain? No, not at all. But…

Gamera smiled as he caught sight of the moon peeking up over the horizon, bringing light to the starless night.

I do have hope. And hope is just as important.

Varan laughed and said, Geez, Gamera, you can be a real sap sometimes, you know that?

Gamera pouted back at her, an odd face to see on a turtle. I was being sincere Varan…

Yeah I know. She threw him a grin and gave a carefree shrug. That's why I'm just laughing and not rolling my eyes.

He has a point you know, Baragon said. All of us working together might actually work. But how are we supposed to do that with all the mutants running around still?

Yon shook his head. We can't. There no way we can do both tasks with the forces at our disposal.

So we will not. We will do them in sequence. Gamera lifted one hand. First, we will secure the planet alongside the Global Defense Force, taking out the mutants who cannot be pacified and caging the rest where they cannot cause harm. Then we will rest and rebuild our strength together. And finally… He slammed his hand down into his other fist, producing a resounding slap that echoed off the rocky peaks. We will gather everything we have to face Him when the time is right.

Varan smiled, revealing her pointy teeth. Now that sounds like a plan. Well… more a goal than a plan, but still, it's better than nothing.

Even if it means working closely with humans Var? Baragon asked knowingly.

Hey, if humans manage to help us bring Him down, I will gladly forgive all the other crap they've gotten up to, even if they only do it to save their own hides. I suppose I'll give them another chance… for now.

That is all I can ask, Gamera said. For tonight, we should rest and prepare, for tomorrow…

Gamera turned to where the sun had disappeared, his tusks seeming to grow sharper as they were framed by his grin.

Tomorrow this war begins in earnest.

---

Coauthor's Notes: Hiya folks, Corona Blaze/Knightmare, BlazingPhoenix's co-author, and we'd like to apologize heavily for both how long this chapter took to get out and as well for how OC-focused it is. The following chapters, now that some issues in the chain of command have been dealt with, will be both far faster to get out to you guys to read and, more importantly, more focused back on the canon characters and the actual plot than on introducing even more OCs and tech, something we know annoys you all somewhat. Hopefully we can keep pace with this instead of slacking off or getting distracted...again.

A/N: So... hi folks. Phoenix here... Um... I'm not sure what I can say other than sorry this took so long. There was a mix of things that have been either distracting or discouraging me from continuing with this story. I was going to school for a while, I had a car accident and had to deal with a long rigmarole of insurance BS, was caught up in an amazing idea for a novel and that consumed me for a while, and just general lack of motivation coming from lack of easy ways to continue and very good games coming out that demanded my attention (if you haven't played Nier: Automata, go fix that. Right now).

But, now I'm back, and I'm not planning on going anywhere. I am going to be sitting down and creating a more solid timeline and plot structure for me to follow so I don't keep getting wandering thoughts and can focus on how to write the scenes I want to see. As Gamera said, next time the war really begins, and with it this story is going to start accelerating and things are going to move forward. Expect more kaiju fights, more canon characters, more good/evil plot lines and so on. As always, if you have any thoughts, comments, critiques or other stuff, feel free to review or send me a PM. I'll try to be more responsive in the future. Thank you all for reading, and I hope that this double length chapter makes up somewhat for the long silence. Have fun reading! Phoenix out.

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Heheheheh... Happy April 82nd everyone... heheheheheheh...