Battle of Manazura Island

By Neil Riebe

Part 1

The afternoon sun set Yokohama ablaze and the air was so abominably muggy even the concrete seemed to sweat. Days like these made one remember winter as an old friend.

Japan's top secret service agent, Shindo Yamaguchi, and Satin, the underworld's most sought after gun-for-hire descended the court house steps. They were too busy generating their won heat to notice summer's pressure-cooker weather.

"Pity about your boss," Shindo linked his fingers with hers. "Thirty years maximum security is a long stretch. I guess you will be free for this evening. Dinner? Nightcap?"

Satin pulled her hand away to scratch the back of her head. "I may have to now that I'm out of a job, thanks to you."

Shindo started down the sidewalk with a chuckle. "You wouldn't have that problem if you didn't work for would be one-world dictators and despots." He sighed with mock resignation. "I suppose you could do worse. You could be working for my boss."

"What a thing to say!"

"About one-world dictators and despots?"

"No! Your boss, Yamashita-san."

"I'm only picking on him."

"Well, I like him."

"You?" Shindo glanced at her, incredulous. "You two are worlds apart."

Satin hooked her arm around his and sidled up to him. "He reminds me of another man I know. Stuffy and by the book."

Shindo gave her a dirty look. To be compared with that stocky, desk-bound troglodyte—he wasn't going to dignify her remark with a retort.

Satin laughed. She teased him with the skill of a surgeon. "You and Goro are more alike than either of you want to admit."

"Sorry I brought him up. Let's talk about us."

"Sure." Satin shrugged amiably.

"Why don't you cancel your trip to Amsterdam? A friend owes me a favor. I can get him to loan us his private jet. We can fly to Singapore. If we hurry we can get their in time to watch the sun set from the deck of the Marina Bay Sands Hotel."

Satin closed her eyes dreamily, took in a deep breath as though savoring the aromas of the fine dining they would enjoy, but declined. "I have business I must attend to otherwise you'll find yourself having to look for another girl."

Shindo was about to offer her his assistance when he noticed light flickering off the high rise windows.

Passers-by looked up. Above the rooftops, a whirlpool of purplish-red light rumbled and churned. Its vortex flashed. People gasped "Ooo!" and "Ah!"

The flashing within the vortex intensified until it exploded with a sonic boom. A winged mass burst from the whirlpool with a gleeful, high-pitched screech. Torrential winds followed in its wake, knocking Yokohamans off their feet. The updrafts overturned cars. People grabbed hold of anything that could anchor them. The winged beast bellowed over the city.

Shindo pulled Satin to the side of the court house. "It's Rodan!"

The wind dissipated as quickly as it struck.

Satin swept her luscious chocolate-brown hair from of her face. "Can't be! Rodan is dead!" G-Force's Mechagodzilla killed Rodan, at least the one she knew. She scrutinized the giant pterosaur as it ascended toward the clouds. "It's too big!"

"And it's coming back!" Shindo pulled Satin down, shielding her against the building.

Rodan shot straight above the clouds and stretched his wings. He let the momentum finish his lazy-loop maneuver, getting a dash of sun across his belly and then nose-dived full bore, enjoying the head-rushing sensation.

Shindo gripped Satin tight. The building vibrated. The disorientated citizens scrambled for cover. Rodan's sonic scream intensified. Light flickered above the streets. The whirlpool reappeared in Rodan's path and engulfed him in a flash of light. In a breath Rodan was gone. A wave of air flowed down into the streets swirling scraps of newspapers in the gutter, giving only a whisper of what was in store for the citizens of Yokohama if Rodan had completed his dive.

All was quiet.

Little by little people stirred from their hiding places. Sirens wailed.

Shindo became more concerned about getting Satin to safety than going on a date. "It's time I get you to the airport."

Shindo watched Satin's plane life off from the terminal window. A gray overcast shrouded the sun, which intensified the longing in his heart.

"I know how you feel," a man said, "losing your girl."

Shindo glanced at the stranger. "Excuse me?"

"I can tell by your expression." The man nodded toward the aircraft. "The woman you love is aboard that plane, isn't she."

"She is. Say, shouldn't I know you?" Shindo recalled a rare photo from a magazine. "Yes! You're Hiro Takashima!" He shook the man's hand. "I love your sci-fi novel about the aliens stealing the hero's girlfriend and turning her into a cyborg. You should writer more thrillers than textbooks on marine life."

Hiro broke a weak grin. "Thanks." He looked uncomfortable, avoiding eye contact. "I should be going."

"Sure."

Hiro Takashima earned the reputation as a recluse, an unhappy man harboring a dark secret. Rumors said it was a broken romance. But who did he love? No one knew.

Shindo turned back to the window. Satin's plane was gone. He sighed. He was about to leave when he noticed the same vortex light he had seen flashing in the sky flashing under the waves at the coastline. A giant monster materialized from the light and burst out of the waves. The creature appeared simian with a mop of black-green hair on its head and sea-green scales covering its body. Its eyes glinted like a demented child and its lips peeled back in a sneer. Shindo had never seen such a monster before, but in another place and another time it was known as Gaila, the Green Gargantua.

The terminal, already hectic and pushy, whipped up into a scene of shrill screams and panic.

Shindo shook the gaping onlookers out of their shock. "Come on! Everyone, evacuate to the back exits! Move!"

Gaila looked about the airport and its flying machines in wonderment. He crossed the runways as easily as a man spans a sidewalk and peered into the terminal windows. The sight of his gnarled features frightened the scurrying humans into a frenzy.

"Emergency!" a woman's voice cried over the PA. "All flights have been suspended. Passengers and personnel are requested to evacuate the airport immediately! Evacuate the airport immediately!"

Luggage slipped from people's hands, becoming tripping hazards. Shindo helped an eldery man to his feet and swooped up a toddler from being trampled. He shoved the tot into his mother's arms. "Carry him!"

Bodies clogged an exit. Shindo pulled people out of the human logjam until the flow loosened. He squeezed through and rushed up the hall to the back offices. From behind a closed door he heard bricks being smashed and glass shattering. A scream followed.

Shindo kicked open the door. A secretary was cowering behind a desk. The gargantuan thrust its hand through the hole it had bashed into the wall, reaching for the woman. Shindo dove across the room, pulling her out of the gargantua's reach.

The monster's hand smashed through the floor. Chairs, cabinets, and desks tumbled through the hole and crashed onto the floor below.

Gaila tried to grab them again. Shindo kicked back, rolling himself and the woman out into the hall. The monster's hand whipped past them, its nails raked the walls.

The floor sagged under Shindo and the secretary. They slid over the edge alongside someone's abandoned suitcase. Shindo grabbed an exposed beam with one arm. His other pulled tight grasping the woman. The lost luggage cracked open on the floor below, spilling its contents. Shindo imagined something similar would've happened to their guts if he hadn't grabbed the beam.

Gaila glared at them through the hole in the building. With his prey dangling from the beam, it could no longer escape him.

"Grab my waist!"

The woman clung to Shindo's waist and buried her face into his back while he reached for his service pistol.

Then the cloud cover broke. Gaila reeled, shielding his eyes from the sun's radiance. Enraged, he screamed and charged back to the sea. The ground shuttered under his footfalls. Halfway to the coast the vortex light swirled around him and he vanished in a flash.

Shindo pulled himself to firmer ground. He helped the secretary to her feet. She thanked him over and over for her life. Then he noticed her beige blouse and skirt. She did not look old enough to have sixties fashions in her closet. He wondered...

"Madam, I know this sounds out of place, but may I ask how long you have been working here? It's important."

She looked at him strangely then at her surroundings. Her expression looked lost. Before she could utter a gasp, she disappeared.

Shindo returned at National Security Headquarters, Tokyo.

"You're late," Yamashita barked.

"Sorry, I was tied up at the airport," Shindo said. He took note of the girl seated in the office.

Yamashita nodded to the mayhem on his wall screen. "What do you make of that?"

"Hm..." Shindo intoned, appraising the girl. He hadn't taken his eye off her yet. "She's about twenty-one... smartly dressed. Very pretty eyes."

The girl pressed her fingers to her smile to keep from laughing.

"Oh, I apologize," Yamashita muttered gruffly. He cleared his throat. "Miki Saegusa, this is Shindo Yamaguchi, one of my top agents."

Miki bowed her head in greeting and extended her hand. Shindo took her soft palm and nodded back.

"Ms. Saegusa is a leading member of the United Nations Godzilla Counter-Measure Team," Yamashita added. "The UN sent her over here to help with this monster business. So far she hasn't been able to identify a one, such as this example seen at Osaka docks earlier today."

"Oh, yes." Shindo turned to the wall screen. Another creature he had never seen before climbed out of Osaka Bay. It resembled an ankylosaurus with a horn on its snout and frill of horns fanning out from the back of its head. Its entire back was covered with spikes. "Thorny devil," Shindo commented. A fifties-vintage MLRS launched a stream of rockets. The warheads flowered into fiery blossoms. Black smoke billowed. The monster pushed through the attack uttering a fearsome yet hauntingly mournful sounding wail. Of course, no one in the room had any idea this creature went by the name Anguirus.

"That launcher is an old piece of hardware," Shindo tapped the image of the rocket launcher on the wall screen. "I just had a similar encounter at the airport. An ape-like creature materialized, terrorized the place for a spell then vanished. I also met a woman dressed in 60s style clothes. She disappeared, too, shortly after the monster."

"Did she, now?" Shindo's chief said with interest. "Half of the sightings report a corresponding person or vehicle dating back thirty to forty years ago. It's like someone is plucking moments from the past and chucking them out into the streets. But it's not our past. It's someone else's, from a world which has many more monsters than ours." Yamashita switched off the screen with the remote. "Yomo got us a lead down at Mushita Electronics. They're conducting experiments on temporal physics. I want you and Miki to go down there and see if they have any explanation for what's going on."

Shindo and Miki drove to Mushita Electronics. After they presented their IDs, the receptionist gave them clearance to enter the research and development department on the fifth floor. They met Yomo, Shindo's partner and long time friend, in the corridor, right outside the elevator.

"Yomo!" Shindo vigorously shook his friend's hand. "How's it going?"

"Fine." Yomo nodded to Miki, "I see your dates are getting younger!"

"No." Shindo held up his hand to assure him. "Strictly business. This is Miki Saegusa."

As Yomo took Miki's hand Shindo noticed a woman in a lab coat giving instructions to a man making notations on a clipboard. Just the sight of her was enough to make him want to sigh in a low whistle. "Who's she?"

Yomo glanced. "Oh, you've yet to meet my wife, Sayoko."

Shindo grabbed his arm and whispered in his ear. "You devil!"

Yomo smiled sheepishly. He took Shindo and Miki down the hall to introduce them to his wife. "Sayoko, I want you to meet my friend, Shindo Yamaguchi. And this is his partner, Miki Saegusa."

Sayoko shook Shindo's hand then Miki's. "Yes, I've heard of you, Ms. Saegusa. You're the girl from the Mind Development Institute."

"That's right." Miki rubbed her hand from the woman's surprisingly strong grip.

"Mr. Yamaguchi," Sayoko said, "I'm to be your tour guide. Shall we get started?"

"Certainly."

Sayoko took them to a vault-like door. She slipped a card through the entry keypad's slot and punched in a series of numbers. The locks released with a hiss and the door hummed open. She led them to an expansive octagon-shaped room. To the left was a lift; center, a burnished cylinder with a glass top. Under the glass cover was a black device. It was about the size of a man's fist and dimpled with what looked like camera lenses.

"This is our latest experiment." Sayoko motioned everyone to gather around the cylindrical column in the center of the room. "Kenzo Mushita, our company's founder and president, has a keen interest in cosmological questions—faster than light travel, time travel, multiple universes and so forth. The black object under the glass cover is a sensor. Its function is to observe fluctuations in the temporal plane. Mushita is working under the theory that Time is a form of energy like light. With this," she indicated the sensor, "we hope to feel around for anomalies, anything that will help us isolate Time from the rest of the forces of the universe.

"Recently we've detected spikes in temporal emissions. We're not too sure what's causing them, but their occurrences coincide with the monster appearances across the country. I can show you the readings." Sayoko motioned toward the door.

"Do you think it might be the Futurians again?" Miki asked on their way out. "Good question," Sayoko answered. "Suffice it to say if they try to interfere with our history again, we'll…"

Three men in lab coats and a covered cart interrupted her in the corridor. They presented an instruction sheet and ID clearance. She read their orders, glanced at their IDs and permitted them access to the octagon room.

Shindo noted their tight expressions. They behaved as though they didn't want to be here, or rather, they didn't want to be seen. Miki tugged his arm. She looked worried, and being a telepath, she probably sensed something wrong about those three men. Shindo followed them.

Sayoko asked Yomo. "Where is Shindo going?"

Shindo quietly approached the three men. They had parked their cart beside the temporal sensor and were hunched at the base of the column working on something Shindo couldn't see. "Taken an interest in Sayoko's science project, have we?" he said.

They spun around. Shindo belted the nearest man across his goatee-chin. The second man lunged at him. Shindo used his judo on the man's throat and threw him aside. Now he had a clear view of what they were working on: a bomb!

The goatee-man wrapped his arms around Shindo, pinning his arms to his side and putting pressure on his chest.

The second flicked out a dagger and made a thrust for Shindo's stomach. A swift kick sent the knife spinning across the floor and rebounding off the wall. A second kick sent him falling onto the cart with an "Oof!" and an "Auk-hh!" when he rolled off the cart and crashed onto the floor with their equipment.

Goatee growled into Shindo's ear, squeezing tighter, constricting Shindo's breath in his chest. Shindo hammered his head back. Then again. Again. And connecting once more.

The man released him, staggering back, holding his nose. Shindo grabbed the back of his neck, bent him over, and kneed him in the ribs. A gun tumbled out from behind the man's lab coat.

The second pulled an Uzi from the cart. Shindo dropped to the floor, scooping up the pistol, and fired a clean shot to the man's chest. The bullet's impact knocked him off his feet. He lay sprawled on the floor dead.

The third man finished setting the detonator to the bomb and bolted for the lift. The timer clicked away at 3... 2...

Shindo scrambled for the bomb. He slid it across the floor, through the closing gap into the elevator just as the door dinged shut.

The explosion shook the floor with a jolt and clanged the metal door like a heavy church bell. Thick smoke poured through the broken seams. Shindo could barely hear over the ringing in his ears the debris crumbling down the shaft.

The goatee thug darted behind him for the door pushing through his friends. Senses still a bit in a daze, Shindo pursued. "Come on, Yomo!"

Sayoko waved away the smoke checking the damage.

Miki kneeled down by the corpse. The smoke thinned enough for her to watch the face seem to melt and reform into something black and wild with hair. The features were simian. Nothing at all like a man. "I knew it," she muttered under breath. "Aliens."

Shindo and Yomo skidded to a halt in the corridor as the goateed thug ducked into the elevator. The door pinged shut.

"Yomo, the stairs!"

They circled down the stairwell to the reception area. "The elevator is just opening!" Yomo puffed.

Shindo swung over the railing, his shoes clicking the floor. Goatee bolted across the reception area and pushed through the glass doors. Shindo bounded after him. Outside, the back doors to a parked van opened. Shindo was about to burst through the doors when he saw the van's rear suspension lurch under a heavy weight. A hooded figure, robed in black, stepped onto the sidewalk leveling both arms as though they were guns. Shindo spun around and caught Yomo just before they both went rushing outside. He pulled his partner to the floor. Machine gun fire spewed over them. Glass disintegrated and sprayed. People screamed. The stream of bullets ripped splinters out of the front desk and punched pockmarks into the walls.

The firing stopped and the van pulled away over the din's echo.

Panting gasped throughout the room. Shindo pulled his head up. Glass fragments slid off his shoulders and out of his hair. People were milling outside in shock and horror. "Anyone hurt?" Shindo asked. Thankfully everyone was just shocked. The receptionist poked her head up. "Yomo, how about you?"

Yomo looked about. "Yes, thanks."

The two Japanese secret service agents got up and brushed themselves off. Shindo pointed to the receptionist. "Call the police. Tell them everything you saw." He patted Yomo on the shoulder. "You better see how your wife is doing."

"Right." Yomo went to the lift. "Shindo, I just hope Miki is not right about the Futurians. Shindo?" He turned around. Shindo had already token off in pursuit of the van.

#

The late night hours ticked by painfully slow. Yamashita supported his head with his elbow at his desk. Even though he didn't say anything, everyone could tell by the look on his face he was inwardly grumbling about Shindo not reporting in.

Miki sat at the end of her chair with her hands folded on her lap, trying to appear relaxed, but was terribly tense on what happened to her dashing partner.

Yomo paced the room.

Sayoko was nearly asleep in the other chair. She seemed to be the only one confident in Shindo's ability to take care of himself. She raised a tired brow toward her pacing husband. "Oh, take a rest, honey."

The phone cut the silence. Yamashita pounced on it. "Yes? Shindo!" All eyes were on him. "Where are you…? Manazura Island? Shindo, listen, do not under any circumstances pursue these people on your own...Shindo? Shindo!" Yamashita slammed the receiver. "Gone!"

"Well, Chief," Yomo asked, "what's up?"

"Shindo tailed the opposition to Manazura Island. There's an old abandoned estate in the woods. That would be the best place to HQ, so he says. Yomo, check it out."

Miki stood up to join him. Yomo looked at her in surprise.

"I am his partner," she reminded him.

"Right," Yomo nodded. "Let's go."

They headed for the door. Then Yomo noticed his wife following them. "Sayoko, dear?"

"I might as well come along. You're not going to be home anymore tonight."

#

After reporting in to his chief, Shindo explored the grounds. He realized he shouldn't investigate without backup, but he didn't want to wait, especially when the trail was warm.

Out of personal amusement, Shindo tried the front door. To his surprise, it opened. He scanned the interior with his flashlight. The beam shimmered in a small empty foyer. He stepped inside, into a short hall. He swung his light up the stairs and around the area. This place was a corpse, as buildings go. Abandoned, cool, and smelling of mold. He knelt down and shinned the flashlight beam close to the floor.

"Yes," Shindo whispered. "They're here."

Shindo tracked the telltale signs of footprints in the dust to a metal door. He switched off his light and felt for his service pistol. He waited for noise.

Nothing.

Shindo opened the door. It whispered in a metallic squeak. He paused again for a reaction.

Still nothing.

He switched on his light, finding a staircase enshrouded in cobwebs. On his left was a junction box. He scanned it for use.

None. The box was crusted over by a blanket of dust. Spiders ducked and insects wriggled away from the light.

The steps descended to a mirror.

Why would a staircase lead to a mirror?

Shindo went down to check it out. When he approached the mirror, it slid aside, revealing a second set of steps descending around a corner to an area pulsating with purple light. Shindo switched off his flashlight and went down to see what was generating the light.

His eyes widened at what he found. Before him was a basement stocked with control banks, monitors, instruments. All were functioning. At the far end stood the cloaked figure. It was operating one of the control panels. Shindo aimed his weapon. "Who are you?"

"Why don't you step a little closer and find out?" a resonant voice said.

He looked around for the voice's source and found none. He paused at the steps.

"Forward! Sate your curiosity. If I was going to harm you I would've done so before you even set foot into this house."

Shindo kept his gun ready, anyway, and approached the figure. It continued pressing keys. Shindo reached for the hood. It was not distracted. He yanked it off. Shindo jumped back. A metallic, skeletal head turned with a whir. The lenses in its eyes focused on him.

The voice boomed into laughter. "That's not me!"

Shindo was getting put off.

"Aw, don't be upset. Stand still and you'll see me."

Shindo clicked back the hammer on his gun.

The silvery vortex light swirled around him. His flesh prickled with pins-and-needles. In a flash everything turned black, and then the blackness took on substance in the form of a towering silo. A bric-a-brac collection of scaffolding and machinery lined the walls. Shindo ran his eyes across the conduits hanging from the machines to a gigantic, metal monster. Its silvery features were familiar yet different. He was not sure but his lips ventured, "Mechagodzilla?"

The machine monster chuckled. "I am. Welcome, Shindo Yamaguchi!"

"Have we met before?"

"In a manner of speaking." Mechagodzilla looked down at Shindo's reaction with amusement. "Confused? Then I'll explain. You are in a parallel universe. Your world and mine have a lot in common. For instance, yours has, or rather had a mechagodzilla while this world has me." He clanged his hand against his chest. The massive power cables plugged into his arms swished and banged together. "Incidentally, I consider myself the genuine article."

Shindo couldn't help grinning at the machine creature's pride in itself. "Another thing we have in common is Godzilla. Regrettably for you yours is destructive. But I have good news. I shall replace him and in his guise be the hero of your world."

"I don't understand. Why would you want to be our hero?"

"Because in my world Godzilla is a hero. Humans love him for the protection he gives them and allow him to live autonomously. I wish the same for myself for the sake of my survival."

Shindo scratched the back of his neck and looked around. "I can't believe this is real. First of all 'our' Godzilla is twice as big as you. People will know you are not him."

"True. But since matter needs to be atomically broken down anyway all we have to do is reconstruct an object to a larger size when we re-materialize it in your world."

"I have a feeling I am already too late to stop what you're doing."

"You are."

"And that means I am about to die."

"What for?" Mechagodzilla boomed jovially. "Like you said, you're too late to stop me. You shall be my prisoner." A door hummed open.

"Am I expected to just walk into my cell?"

"Walk anywhere you like. Your friends can't help you. You are in another place, in another dimension. Enjoy your stay!"

For the moment Shindo resigned to play along and entered the cubicle.

The door slid shut and after another electro-static shock the door reopened to the control room. The walls and floor were clean. The robed figure was not there. No one was. He ascended the steps. The mirror-door slid out of his way. He continued up the last of the steps. The cobwebs were gone and the junction box now had a glowing red light.

Shindo started to believe he indeed had been transported to a parallel world. The house was exactly the same as before, but fully furnished. The mold was out of the air. Now he smelled a hint of linseed oil from the hardwood floor and the aroma of a recently cooked meal from the kitchen. There was no way someone could breathe life into this place within the short while he spoke to the machine creature.

The only thing he found sinister was the lack of light.

A shadow passed down the side of the wall around the corner.

Shindo raised his pistol at the ready and followed, back pressed against the wall, stopping at a half-open bedroom door. Even though the room was silent instinct said someone was there. Shindo kicked the door open, gun leveled.

A woman in a loose silken blouse and long red patterned dress stood before a free standing lamp. Her hair flowed and curled along the soft oval line of her expressionless face and came to a light rest over her trim shoulders. Shindo awkwardly tucked his weapon away feeling caught with his zipper open. Her eyes watched the gun be put away then fixed back on him.

"Sorry if I may have upset you." Shindo found it hard to stay focused. She was stunningly beautiful. Yet, the young woman seemed like an apparition the way she stood so silent, vacant of feeling, but cunningly attentive. He nodded a smart bow. "I am Shindo Yamaguchi. May I ask who you are?"

She spoke softly and matter-of-factly. "Strangers are not welcomed here." Then she blasted him with a flash of light from her eyes.

#

"Who used to own this old house?" Sayoko asked as she flashed her light from the three-story tower on her right to the archway-covered front door on her left.

"Shinzo Mafune." Yomo scanned his flashlight in the opposite direction. "A marine biologist. Yamashita told us about him. During his field agent days he was assigned to watch Mafune's activities. Mafune was experimenting in cerebral control of sea life. The word was out the Soviets were taking an interest in utilizing his ideas on humans. Nothing came of it. Mafune died. No children, no surviving relatives."

Miki searched with her telepathy. "I don't sense Shindo's presence. Or anybody's for that matter."

"His car is down the road. Either way we better check it out." Yomo led the way to the front door. Twilight brightened to dawn. They doused their flashlights. Inside they searched for clues.

#

Goras ordered his seven Spacemen to stand at attention. His lieutenant Mogga, who had a short while ago returned from his raid on Mushita Electronics in the parallel Earth, stood by Goras's side. "Our temporal teleporter," Gorasa said, "can summon nothing larger than animals like Rodan, Gaila, and Anguirus. If we had access to better technology we would be able to construct a teleporter powerful enough to rescue our planet from being sucked into the black hole."

"But we are not beaten! We will refocus our efforts on teleporting to the parallel Earth which we have been using as a testing site for our temporal experiments. There we will seek out a duplicate of our home world, make contact with our parallel brothers, and build a temporal teleporter powerful enough to rescue our home. Trust me, we are far from finished!"

The young woman strode into the control room. "Shindo is taken care of."

"Excellent, Katsura." Goras smiled.

"Look!" Mogga pointed to one of the monitors suspended from the ceiling. "His allies have entered the Mafune house in the parallel Earth! We can't risk them accessing the basement!"

"Just let Mechagodzilla lure them down here, too," Katsura suggested.

"Not necessary." Goras stepped to the controls and activated the drone.

#

Yomo signaled everyone to stop. "Did any of you hear that?"

Sayoko shrugged. "No."

Miki did, and she heard it again. "Footsteps," she said, "coming from downstairs."

Yomo frowned. "You're right. It's coming from downstairs. Everyone split up!" As soon as the women were out of sight, he quietly made his way toward the footsteps then stopped. Hinges squeaked. Footfalls thudded on the hardwood floor. Yomo slipped out his service pistol and peeked around the corner.

Nothing. Just an open metal door. But something had come up out of the basement, he was certain of it.

In another room, Miki scrunched into a corner with her eyes on the door. A glump... glump... glump.. pumf... pumf... closed in as the footsteps went from wood to the old carpet out in the hall. She drew in her breath and listened over the beating of her heart. A creak of wood echoed far away. Pumf... pumf... glump. The stepping faded into other parts of the house

Sayoko was halfway up to the second floor when she heard the footsteps draw closer.

Glump... glump... GLUMP!

The black-robed figure arrived at the bottom of the steps. Sayoko locked eyes with the robot's targeting lenses from under the black hood. It raised its steel fists. The sleeves slid back from the barrels mounted in its forearms.

Sayoko pinched her eyes tight, expecting to be shot to pieces. Instead she heard a shoe ding off its head. The robed drone spun around blazing both machine guns. Miki dived into an open room. Hot metal slugs pierced the wall. She wrapped her arms over her head. Her skin stung and prickled from the spray of wood splinters and plaster.

Sayoko dashed up the steps. The drone spun back toward her and opened fire. The railing and wall disintegrated all around her as she bolted out of line of sight.

Yomo descended into the basement and found the bright, blinking control room. He spun back toward the steps upon hearing the machine guns' wicked chatter.

The firing stopped. Sayoko dropped to the floor exasperated. The heavy steps moved away. Miki peered through the bullet holes in the wall, seeing no sign of the killing machine. She made her way to the hall. Sayoko came back down from upstairs, holding her panting chest. Miki grabbed her shoe and chased after the drone.

Yomo ran up from the basement then stopped short. His mouth dropped in horror. He aimed his pistol.

Miki heard the crack of a pistol, then the staccato blazing of machine gun fire. A body thumped down the stairs in between bursts. Miki spotted the robe figure descend to the basement.

Miki slipped into her stocking feet to reduce the sound of her approach and ran up to the doorway. It did not hear her. With no weapons but her own body she grabbed the railings and kicked both feet into its back with all her weight.

The drone toppled down the concrete steps, clattering like scrap. Miki leapt from the steps just as it regained its footing and tried to knock it down with a flying tackle. She succeeded in knocking it over but she failed to secure her grip and hit the cement. The impact snapped crippling pain through her arms and body.

Miki yelped and crumpled up on the floor.

"Miki!" Sayoko ran down the stairs to check on the young psychic. She spotted the drone lying in the control room. Each finger flexed then a lens focused. The other lens sparked. The drone was performing a systems check. Now was the time to destroy it!

Sayoko looked for something, anything! She grabbed a power conduit running from a suspended monitor. A massive shadow rose over her. She yanked the line. The drone grabbed her around the neck and squeezed. Her vision turned red. Sayoko yanked harder, her grip slipping from sweat. She became lightheaded. The servos in the knuckles whined as the steel talons tightened.

Finally the conduit broke loose in a shower of sparks. Sayoko stabbed the hot wires into its shattered lens.

Sayoko dropped to the floor under a shower of electric sizzle. Air gasped into her inflamed lungs. She kept her hand over her neck frightened of the worse. Nothing was wrong.

"Sayoko-ahh!" Miki tried to right herself. "Sayoko, Yomo is down here somewhere. I heard him fall from the gunfire."

"Yomo!" Yomoko looked to and fro. "Yomo! YOMO?"

"What?" Yomo popped up from behind a control bank.

Sayoko turned around. Her husband was completely unscathed.

"Were you hiding here all this time?"

"No," he rubbed his sore cranium. "Just came to actually. What happened?"

Sayoko slapped Yomo upside the head. "Ow! That's where I hit the steps!"

Miki gingerly checked her sore body for fractures.

#

Goras banged the control panel with his fist. "They destroyed the drone."

"We must act before those humans fetch soldiers." Mogga shook his finger at Shindo's friends who were up on the monitor.

Goras concurred. "We will execute our contingency plan now. To your stations. Katsura, tell Mechagodzilla to stand by for teleportation."

The Spacemen took their posts in the control room.

#

Miki unsteadily got back on her feet. Luckily she was only badly bruised. Her brow furrowed. "Biollante."

"What?" Her companions were bewildered.

"I can hear Biollante calling right from this room." Then she sensed a familiar presence. She headed upstairs and out of the house. Birds took to the air in fright. They too could sense what was coming.

Miki ran to the tower, forced the door open, and ascended the spiral staircase to the top. From this vantage point she could see over the forest, down the hill, and into the bay. A black mass stirred the waters. Miki caught her breath. Even though she had encountered Godzilla many times she became chilled, like the chill one gets when a powerful storm rolls over the horizon.

Godzilla swam until the water became too shallow and stood up in the middle of the bay. The fishermen along the coast gaped in horror. Godzilla scattered them with a bellow. His sloshing toward the shore stirred up turbulent waves which pitched and tossed the fishing boats. A cool breeze sent a tingling sensation through his wet hide. A throaty purr of satisfaction rumbled in his throat. To him, he sounded satisfied, but to the humans he sounded all the more menacing. He turned his gaze up the slope, toward the abandoned estate.

Miki caught her breath. He seemed to be glaring at her. In truth, he was on the look out for Biollante.

She became frightened. The transmission of Biollante's cry sounded like a lure, and if she was right, someone was about to spring a trap on a 100-meter-tall mountain of muscle and thick scales. What frightened her was that she was standing on the site where the trap was to be sprung. She couldn't say who would be in more danger, Godzilla or she and her companions.

#

"Teleportation field open." Katsura enabled the stabilizing control.

Goras and his cohorts punched a hole between the parallel universes. The vortex light swirled outside the Mafune house. Anyone stepped into the light would instantly find themselves on the grounds of the Mafune house on the parallel Earth.

Mechagodzilla watched their progress from an overhead monitor. "Unleash Hammer and Anvil now!"

"Patience," Goras said to the towering cyborg. "Let the parallel Godzilla get a little closer…now!" He signaled Mogga.

The basement suddenly shook. Alarms sounded.

"Resuscitation circuits damaged!" Mogga cried out in panic. "We can't bring Hammer and Anvil out of suspended animation."

One of the other Spacemen drew Goras's attention to a bank of monitors observing the grounds outside. "Commander, look! He's here!"

"Not him!" Goras growled. "Not now!"

The control room shook again. Dust trickled from the ceiling. Sparks spat from the control panels.

"He's now heading for the vortex," Goras said with his eye still on the outside cameras. "Close the teleportation field!"

"Closing transference field." Katsura quickly re-flipped switches.

Mogga shouted, "We're too late! He's going through!"

#

Godzilla scaled the slope, wading through the trees. He could see a human dwelling, but no sign of Biollante. He sensed something odd about this cry. He didn't hear it with his ears. Somehow he sensed it in his head. He had no idea if the plant monster had evolved a new attack technique or what, but Biollante was too dangerous a foe to be ignored.

Yomo, Sayoko, and Miki ran to his car. Tree trunks snapped and popped in the forest. The ground shook under their feet from Godzilla's footfalls. By the time they reached the vehicle they were too late. Godzilla loomed overhead.

He roared in challenge. When no one responded, Godzilla drew in his breath. His triple row of fins crackled with energy. From the way he spread his gaze across the Mafune estate he seemed intent on setting the entire grounds ablaze.

Then a blue flame slammed Godzilla in the chest like a fist. It spewed at him continuously and then let up. Godzilla tottered on his heels. Smoke rolled off his chest. His eyes glazed over. He dropped flat on his back. The concussion knocked the three humans off their feet. Godzilla slid down the slope, grinding timber to pulp.

"That beam came from that swirling light." Yomo pointed to the vortex.

The vortex flashed viciously. A second titan forced his way out of it. He grimaced with a look of bold determination. He banged his knuckles together and roared.

Miki probed its mind. "Godzilla?" She probed deeper. "It is! It's Godzilla!"

"But..." Yomo pointed toward the Godzilla they knew who had slid down the hill. The angry beast rose up. Broken trees slipped from his fins.

"They both are," Miki said. "Except this new one is on our side!"

The friendly Godzilla acknowledged the psychic with a nod. He thumped forward putting himself squarely between the three lives and his doppelganger at the bottom of the hill.

The Godzilla of this world ground his four-toed feet into the dirt, bracing himself for a second blast. He was determined not to be knocked off balance again.

"Godzilla versus Godzilla," Sayoko mused. "Who would ever thought it could happen?"

The Godzilla at the bottom of the hill thumped his tail, infuriated. This was his territory! His triple row of fins flared as he fired up the slope and struck his opponent's shoulder, spinning him off his feet.

Godzilla summoned more of his strength and traced a second beam from tail to head. Trees wilted into flames. Godzilla marched up the slope launching a third blistering barrage.

The friendly Godzilla squealed in agony. This must had been how Kong felt, he thought, recalling his fight with the giant ape. Therefore, the friendly Godzilla opted to use a Kong maneuver. He uprooted several trees and sprung to his feet between barrages. He grabbed the other Godzilla by the throat and stopped up his mouth with the roots.

The bestial Godzilla's eyes bugged. His arms swung wildly as he choked on dirt and tree trunks. Instinct kicked in and he bit down on the trees. Chunks of wood shot out from between his teeth. He spat out the chomped trees and bit the heroic Godzilla in the arm out of revenge.

They tugged back and forth with arm in jaws, snarling and growling. Dust kicked up around them, obscuring them in a brown cloud. To free his arm, the heroic Godzilla knee the other Godzilla in the stomach. A gasp burst from his adversary's throat. The arm was free.

The heroic Godzilla stepped back grasping his wounded arm. He whipped his tail for his opponent's ankles, but the bestial Godzilla proved to be surprisingly swift. He grabbed the heroic Godzilla's tail in mid swing.

The bestial Godzilla drew in a snarl and yanked the tail up like a carpet from under one's feet. His parallel-world opponent smacked head first into the hard dirt, teeth snapping together. Godzilla swung him up into the air and let him drop. The driveway jolted, spilling the three humans onto the ground again. Godzilla picked him up by the tail again and slammed him down hard and then blasted him with his atomic heat ray.

The heroic Godzilla wailed in agony. He should've known better, after all he was facing himself! He kicked the bestial Godzilla in the baggy knee cap, then wrapped his tail around the bruised joint and squeezed. The bestial Godzilla bellowed. He tried to pull free only to topple onto the ground. His bulkier body threw up a larger dust cloud when he struck the ground. Bits of dirt rained down all over the forest and pattered on the driveway.

With his opponent down, the heroic Godzilla got back up and grunted for his namesake to rise.

The bestial Godzilla fired at him from the ground.

The heroic Godzilla counter-fired. Their beams struck and exploded into a bright blue nova! The heroic Godzilla grunted at the bestial one to rise.

The bestial Godzilla was stubborn. He fired again only to have his beam countered. All this aggression was getting him no where. He complied, standing up, but he kept up his guard.

The two Godzillas sized each other up. Miki read their minds and founf they were going to cease fighting for the moment. She returned to the tower to get a clear view of what was going to happen next.

The heroic Godzilla did not come into this world to make enemies. He grunted, making a swiping motion with his hand.

The second cocked his head, trying to understand what that gesture meant.

The heroic Godzilla stepped back and relaxed his poise.

Yomo and his wife joined Miki in the tower. "Miki, what is going on out there?"

"This new Godzilla is trying to make peace with our Godzilla." She telepathically listened to their thoughts. "I think he is making progress... He is! Look!"

Now that calmed down, Godzilla sensed something familiar about this new creature. Obviously they were of the same species, but it was more personal than that. He had seen his reflection on the waters many times and this creature did not look like those reflections. Yet this animal seemed to be...seemed to be…Godzilla reeled his head back in shock. This creature that stepped out of the swirling light seemed to be him!

Being a stranger in a strange land, the heroic Godzilla needed an ally. He did not have the time to teach this Godzilla the communication skills he and all the other monsters on Monster Island learned. Someone would have to mediate. He turned for the tower.

"He's coming right for us!" Sayoko yelled. "Let's get out of here!"

Miki grabbed her arm. "It's all right."

The heroic Godzilla bent down to see in the tower. Now that he was twice as big, individual humans were twice as hard to spot. He called to the psychic inside.

Miki slid aside the window and leaned over the sill. He wanted her to read his mind. She did so eagerly, curious of what she would find. He was surprisingly intelligent. In fact, he seemed to be as intelligent as a human being.

Yomo and Sayoko watched Miki close her eyes in concentration. They felt nervous being stared at by this new monster. No matter what the psychic said, they didn't trust this "friendly" Godzilla. He was bigger than them and had sharp teeth.

Miki nodded and said, "I understand."

"What's going on?" Sayoko demanded.

The psychic girl opened her eyes with a bright smile. "This is so incredible. This friendly Godzilla wants me to use my ESP to help him to talk to our Godzilla!"

#

Leaves and broken branches littered the driveway. Katsura strode across the pavement to the yard where the heroic Godzilla—the Godzilla of her world—had stomped his foot. She stepped down into his footprint. There was a hole in the ground where the heel landed.

Mogga helped Goras climb out of the hole.

"Quite a bit of the chamber collapsed onto the resuscitation unit and the generator. It's like Godzilla knew right where to hit. At least our two specimens are safe." Goras brushed himself off. "What's your report, Katsura?"

"The Godzillas have stopped fighting and Sayoko has started disassembling the control banks in the control room in the parallel Earth."

"She won't learn much." Goras led the way back to the house. "We need to get things operating here. Katsura, get me a full damage assessment. Mogga, fetch spare parts. Act fast. Mechagodzilla can't replace the parallel-Earth Godzilla now that Superzilla is over there. Knowing our Godzilla, he will try to make a hero out of the other one. Then we will have two Godzillas opposing us! Both Godzillas must be destroyed."

To be continued...

The next chapter features a lot of Toho characters. In case their names are unfamiliar, their film appearances are listed below. Some of them you already met in this chapter!

Showa Series

Professor Miyajima—Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla (1974)

Akira Ichinose—Terror of Mechagodzilla (1975)

Jiro Murakoshi—Terror of Mechagodzilla (1975)

Katsura Mafune—Terror of Mechagodzilla (1975)

Dr. Shinzo Mafune—Terror of Mechagodzilla (1975)

Commander Mugal—Terror of Mechagodzilla (1975)

The Spacemen—Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla (1974) & Terror of Mechagodzilla (1975)

Heisei Series

Miki Saegusa—Godzilla vs. Biollante through Destroyah (1989-1995)

General Aso—Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla (2) through Destroyah (1993-1995)