Chapter 5, Act 4

Yes, I am still alive, and to prove it, here's another chapter.

I hope you enjoy it, and feel free to review.

Act 4 : Another Monster? Enter Lizzie!

Tomo rolled across the street with a nasty wound on her back and crashed into a convenience store. There she layed, growling pitifully and not moving anymore.

"Tomo!" the whole group shouted, and ran up to the towering mega cat that was once their friend.

She had left a trail of blood on the ground, and there was a deep, charred laceration beneath the left shoulder blade, which was bleeding profoundly.

"Oh, this looks bad...," said Sakaki.

"She's still breathing, but we have to do something!" Chiyo panicked.

Yomi turned around dazed and saw 3 tanks further down the street; the one in front with a smoking barrel.

"Wh-what are you doing?" she yelled hysterically.

"Ma'am, please get out of the way. It is too dangerous here," it sounded from the megaphone.

"No, please, don't hurt her, she's our friend!"

But the tanks just kept moving forward, obviously not hearing what Yomi was saying. Desperately, she stood in the middle of the street with her arms spread out, trying to block the mechanical monsters' path.

"You don't understand," she tried once again. "That monster is our friend, she remembers us!"

"Whoa, look out!" she heard Kagura shout behind her. Right after that, she saw an angry Tomo jumping over her like in that scene from Free Willy. She landed right in front of the the first tank and grabbed it by the barrel. With her strong arms, she swung it around and slammed it into the second. Their pieces flew through the air and the first one barrel rolled and landed upside down, completely thrashed. The second took serious damage, but was still operational. Tomo solved this by punching through the armor and literally tearing it in two! The third was aiming at her and was ready to fire, but she managed to jump on top of it in time. She roared, and ripped off the top. The soldiers inside tried to scurry outside, but most of them were eaten in no time. One of them made it out and legged it, but was grabbed by Tomo quickly. With a scream, the man was thrown far away; so far that he was out of sight.

Yomi fell to her knees; both relieved that Tomo was okay, and heartbroken that she still continued to kill. As Tomo roared victoriously, new tears started flowing down Yomi's face.

"T-Tomo! Stop it!" she screamed.

But Tomo turned her head and hissed loudly at her, several times. Every time she did, it was like a knife tearing through Yomi's heart. Tomo, whom she just managed to reach out to, was now hissing at her, signalling her to stay away.

"Tomo..., why are you...," she blubbered softly.

Tomo shared one last glance with Yomi, and then ran off on all fours as fast as she could.

"Tomo! Come back!" Yomi literally screamed.

But Tomo didn't listen anymore. Yomi could only stare as she quickly hopped from building to building until she was gone.

"Yomi, you okay?" Kagura said as she and the others ran up to her.

"We were...so close," she sobbed defeated.

"What were those army guys thinking? They almost got you killed!" Kagura snarled.

"What are we gonna do now? That was our best chance, an' it almost worked too," said Osaka.

"I don't know... I'm sure she understood me, but what she just did... I don't think she wants us to be around her."

"That's strange," Kagura mused. "There's obviously still a part of her inside there, but the real Tomo wouldn't do all this. Maybe she ran away because she's slowly turning into a mindless monster."

"I guess that's the only explanation.," Chiyo said. "But what are we gonna do? We can't just leave her like this."

Yomi got up and shook her head. "We have to do something. But, we need help. I want to know how something like that could've happened to her..."

"Hey, you there! What are you doing here? It's dangerous," a strong voice sounded. The girls turned around and saw a bunch of soldiers approaching them.

"We're going to have to ask you to leave," the same one said.

"W-well, actually, ehh," Kagura stammered. "That monster, she's our friend!"

The soldier raised his eyebrow and looked at his colleagues. "Your...friend?"

"What she's trying to say," Yomi continued, "is that that monster used to be our friend, but she turned into that after drinking something strange."

"Yeah, sure. If you want to give an explanation, you'll have to talk to the Colonel. He's by the tanks further down the street. Now, could you all please move out of the way and let us do our jobs?"

The gang appologised and followed the directions that were given to them. At the line of parked tanks was a middle aged man with an intimidating uniform and stance.

"Are you the Colonel?" Yomi asked nervously.

"Yes, I am," he said plainly.

"I need to talk to you, if that's possible..."

"Could you keep it short, please? We're rather busy right now."

"It's about that monster...," she started.

"That Scumlabs monster?" he asked, raising his eyebrows. "Don't tell me it used to be someone you know."

"Scumlabs monster? What do you mean?" Yomi asked puzzled.

Suddenly, Kagura tapped her on the shoulder and whispered something in her ear. "Scumlabs. Scum Soda. Makes sense, right?"

"Ah!" Yomi exclaimed. "Could it have something to do with a drink called Scum Soda?"

"Scum Soda...," he mumbled. "Sounds familiar to me. Sounds like something they would come up with. That monster, is she your friend?"

"Yes. She used to be."

"Very well. Wait here."

The Colonel turned around and walked up to some other guy that looked important. They discussed something shortly, before he came back.

"You can go with the Lieutenant. He'll take you to headquarters. They'll explain everything there."

"Thank you," Yomi said, taking a bow.

"Excuse me now."

"Are you guys coming?" she asked the rest.

"Actually," Nyamo announced, "I think we should be going back to the school. They probably need us there."

"We? Ah, come on! I wanna hear the story too!" Yukari protested.

But Nyamo grabbed Yukari by the arm and dragged her away. "Sorry, but the whole place is in ruins. We have to help. We have a responsibility, you know?"

"No fair! I wanna go to the army guys' hideout!" she screamed. "Dammit! Fill me in, okay?"

So then they were reduced to five. A few awkward transitions later, they were now at the headquarters, at the General's desk. And there they sat, wiggling uncomfortably in their chairs, feeling completely out of place.

"So," he began, "you claim to have information about the monster that's laying waste to our city," to which Yomi nodded. "Care to explain what happened?"

"Well, it all started this morning. My friend, Takino Tomo, and I, found a strange can of soda next to the street. I told her to throw it away, but she kept it. And, after some things happened, and she drank it. About a half an hour later, she started getting sick, and then she turned into that giant cat monster. She destroyed the school, and then moved on to the city."

The General softly nodded, his arms remaining crossed. "And you think it's because of this soda you found? It didn't happen to be called Scum Soda, did it?"

"Yes, actually."

"I thought so," he sighed.

"Ehm, excuse me," Sakaki spoke up. "We heard the name Scumlabs before, and they called Tomo a Scumlabs monster. Are they the ones behind all of this?"

"Scumlabs monster... That's what we started calling it. Excuse me, her. We thought it had something to do with them," he said. "And now, it seems we were right."

"So, Scum Soda was created by Scumlabs," Yomi concluded. "But why did a simple soda cause such a mutation?"

"Because it was contaminated with a toxin. This information leaked out only yesterday. Something went wrong during the manufacturing in America. Do you know about Scumlabs?"

"I've...heard the name, but that's pretty much it," Yomi shrugged.

"I see. Scumlabs is a company that appeared in the eighties, and was rumoured to be creating biological weapons. There were some lawsuits filed against them by environmentalists because the waste they produced was supposedly toxic and volatile. And then, one day, something went terribly wrong. We refer to it as the Scumlabs incident."

"So, what happened?" Kagura inquired.

"It was about 20 years ago. Three Scumlabs employees were in an accident at the facility in Peoria, Illinois, in the United States. The facility was completely destroyed, and I'll let you guess what happened to those three people."

"Ehm, they turned into monsters?" Chiyo guessed.

"That's right. All three turned into gigantic monsters, much like what happened to your friend. In less then a year; they managed to lay waste to many cities in the world, but it quickly became obvious to us that they had an objective."

"And that was...?" Yomi asked.

"To destroy every single Scumlabs facility in the world. It's strange, but that objective seems to be in the subconscious of those monsters. We fear that Takino-san now has the same objective."

"So you're saying that Tomo is out to destroy Scumlabs?"

"Yes, that's what we're expecting. Right now, we've evacuated the Tokyo facility and raised security to the highest point, but, we're not sure if it will be enough."

"What do you mean?" Chiyo asked.

"If Takino-san is the same as the original monsters, she's virtually unstoppable. They gain energy and become stronger by simply eating, and they have extraordinary healing capabilities. Any wound we inflicted on them was healed in mere minutes. I'm afraid it's the same for Takino-san."

"So that's why she was constantly eating people..." Yomi concluded. "But wait, if those monsters are unstoppable, what happened to the original three?"

"They are still alive. A Scumlabs employee by the name of Dr. Betty Veronica tried to destroy the monsters with a special ray gun, but it only ended up shrinking them."

"Pardon?" Yomi said, raising an eyebrow.

"Yes, she momentarily shrunk the monsters, and that's how the American military managed to capture them. They made sure to secure them before they returned to their original size again, and kept them hidden ever since."

"So, where are they now?" Sakaki asked suspiciously.

"Well... That's another one of our worries. You see, after being captured, the monsters were shipped to seperate cities in the world. George the giant ape was hidden in New York, Ralph the wolf was taken to London, and Lizzie the dinosaur, well...," he paused and cleared his troath for a moment.

"Wait, don't tell me...," Yomi gasped.

"I'm afraid so... Lizzie is here, in Tokyo. In fact, she's almost literally right here," he said in a serious tone.

"Ehh... H-here?" Yomi stuttered. "In this building?"

The General nodded. "In the basement. She's currently guarded well, and the security system isn't deactivated easily. If Tomo the cat manages to find Lizzie and free her, we'll have two monsters on our hands. Evidentally, we can't let that happen. We hope Tomo doesn't pick up Lizzie's scent, which would lead her here. We believe that these monsters can track eachother down with their enhanced sense of smell, since Lizzie has been acting restless ever since the events started. She too is sensing that something is going on."

"But there has to be some way to stop them! Haven't you been looking for a way to bring them back to normal in the meantime?" Yomi asked.

"We tried, believe me. We tried various ways to kill them, but it didn't work. We tried exposing them to various sorts of radiation, but it had no effect. Scumlabs was also working on something to convert them back to their human form, but we haven't heard from that for a long time."

Yomi sunk back into her chair ad thought about it deeply. "Maybe we should pay Scumlabs a visit then. Is there another Japanese Scumlabs facility besides the one in Tokyo?"

"Yes, the main facility is in Osaka, and there's a smaller one in Kobe, but I doubt you could get anything out of them. I don't think regular people are allowed in the facility even."

"It's worth a shot. I want to save my friend. Is there any way you could bring us to Osaka?"

But he shook his head. "No, we have our hands full right now. I'm sorry, but if you want to go to Osaka, you'll have to get there on your own."

"I see. Thanks anyway. We'll take our leave now."

The girls got up and took a bow. After that, they were guided out of the military headquarters. Once out, they discussed what they were going to do next.

"Are you serious about going to Osaka?" Kagura asked skeptically.

"Yes I am. I don't know, but I don't thrust Scumlabs at all. If they're really as corrupt as people say they are, they might have something ready, but refuse to tell anyone about it."

"Why would they do that?" Chiyo asked.

"If they make stuff that turns people into monsters, I wouldn't be surprised about anything. And if it's somewhere, it's probably in Osaka. Besides, if Tomo wants to destroy all Scumlabs facilities, she'll come to Osaka too. This is the only chance we have to save her."

"Fair enough," said Kagura. "But how are we supposed to go to Osaka? I don't think there's any trains running right now."

"I'm not sure...," she said doubtfully.

"Oh, ah know!" Osaka spoke up. "We could ask Nyamo! If we explain her, she might take us there with the car!"

"That's an idea, but Osaka's not by the door. If Nyamo can't do it now that the school's in ruins, it's still not an option. We should go home for now, I'll give her a call and I'll let you all know."

After they agreed, they caught a ride back home in the jeep, the same way they got there.

A while later, the monster form of Tomo stood in the midst of the smoking ruins of an ex-building. All around her were smashed tanks, helicopters and other military vehicles. There were barely any survivors in the vicinity. Shattered letters were littered all over the street, which once spelled out : Scumlabs. The Tokyo facility was wiped off the map, and Tomo was satisfied that it all went so easy. Within growls, she picked something up. A strangely familiar smell. Like her instincts told her to, she ran off in the direction her nose pointed to. Sprinting on all fours, hopping on buildings and leaping off again, causing mayhem and chaos in the streets down below. But no matter where she went, she was always hunted. Another swarm of helicopters flew in from the distance. Tomo readied herself for the counter attack.

What followed was another symphony of mayhem and destruction.

"Really? You will? Thank you, Kurosawa-sensei. I'm in your debt. So, where do we meet? Uhuh..."

In a relieved tone, Yomi was talking into the phone. Nyamo was excused from the school the next day, so she could pick up the kids with the mini van and drive them to the city of Osaka.

"Okay, we'll see you there. I'll let the others know. Yeah, goodnight."

While she was making the phonecalls, Yomi had the tv on to keep in touch with what was going on in the city. She lived in the suburbs, so she figured she'd be alright there. At least, that's what she hoped.

"Hey, Kagura. We're good. Nyamo will take us to Osaka tomorrow. Yeah, all of us. Oh my... Kagura, do you have the tv on? Then turn it on, you have to see this!"

"In a new development, the Scumlabs monster that is on the loose in Tokyo has just destroyed the Tokyo Scumlabs facility. The military claimed that the factory was under heavy surveillance, but that the monster, quote, tore through the defense with ease and leveled the building in mere seconds. This confirms that the previously speculated goal of the monster to destroy every Scumlabs facility in the world, is indeed a fact. So far, the monster has made thousands of victims, and caused billions worth of damage."

"Shit! Tomo is after Scumlabs! The General was right!" Yomi said. "We don't have time to lose. We leave tomorrow morning. Nyamo wil come to pick us all up at 7, so be ready... Yes, I know it's nuts, but we don't have a choice. Okay, bye."

Yomi hung up the phone and immediately started dialing another number.

"Hey, Osaka! Yomi here. Nyamo will take us to Osaka... No, not you, the city! I know it's going to be confusing, but go with it."

After about 15 minutes, Yomi was done calling everyone and plumped down into the couch, continuing to watch the news. After another nailbiting 30 minutes, another bulletin rolled in, and it didn't bring good news at all.

"Oh no, this can't be real..."

"We are live at the Tokyo military headquarters, where the Scumlabs monster has opened up another attack! We are not sure why, but after destroying the Scumlabs facility, the monster rushed over here. The forces are doing everything they can to stop it, but it doesn't seem to be working. It's like a warzone out here!"

The footage was shot from a helicopter, showing Tomo down below plowing through the tanks and vehicles, and causing extreme damage to the building. After a while, she suddenly disappeared, like she went down into the basement.

"Oh boy...," Yomi said to herself, just when the phone rang. She hurried to answer it. It was Kagura again.

"Yeah, I know. This doesn't look good. Tomo must have tracked down Lizzie."

"Yeah... So we're finally going to see the famed monster Lizzie..."

"Kagura!"

"What? I mean, I can relate! If I was kept in a cage for twenty years, I'd be pretty pissed too."

"Probably, but it would've been better if it just stayed there."

"Hey, maybe it's not like that. Maybe Tomo is just sick of the tanks and choppers coming after her, and she want to teach them a lesson at their source. Hell, if I were a giant mutant monster, I'd probably do the same thing. Maybe she's just going to walk away after she's do- Oh, no wait, there she is..."

Yomi stared at the tv screen with wide eyes as the reporter went berserk.

"Oh no... Oh my God, this can't be happening! This is the end, the end! If you're just joining us, a second monster has just risen from the rubble of the military base! It...it appeared to have been kept in the basement, and the cat monster has just freed it. Holy Mother of God, what is that thing? It looks like some kind of dinosaur! This development could end up being a worldwide catastrophe! Everyone should evacuate the city as quickly as possible! A second monster is on the loose! I repeat, a second monster is on the loose!"

"Yomi? Hey Yomi, you still there? Are you seeing this?" Kagura said through the phone.

Yomi moved the horn away from her face and stared at the screen in total awe.

"Oh... Fuc-"