"Minna, we really don't have time to speak about something like that," Sakaki then warned, she currently accompanied by Kamineko (perched on her shoulder) and flocked by a whole stream of animals, including Chiyo's dog, Tadakichi-san.
Everyone stared at her. "What do you mean, Sakaki-chan?" Ayumu wondered.
Sakaki sighed before she explained, "A wandering magpie just told me that something very bad's coming from the direction of Daikaijuu-jima."
Gasps echoed from the people around them as the meat that message sank in. "Great Monster Island?!" Yomi exclaimed. "Who is it?!"
Dramatic pause.
"It's Gojira-san."
Silence.
"GOJIRA?!" everyone else shrieked out . . .
Somewhere off the coast of Sado-shima, on the Nihon-kai (Sea of Japan) side of the Home Islands . . .
Water exploded as the most dreaded sound heard in Japan since the dark days of the Greater East Asian War echoed over the waves. Out of that explosion of liquid, a dark green, scaly head looking somewhat like that of the famed Tyrannosaurus Rex -- albeit at well over fifteen times the actual scale! -- emerged, that followed by a body that stood nearly erect for something shaped like the great theropod hunters that had roamed the Earth seventy million years before. On its back, huge leaf-shaped dorsal fins began to glow as the King of Monsters began to draw in on the ambient ki energy flowing through the air from the various Ley and Dragon Lines that helped make all life on Earth possible.
With another bellow to announce his impending return to the realm of Man, Gojira began to slowly surge his way towards the distant shore . . .
"GOJIRA?!" Yomi shrieked. "What the hell's that damned thing doing leaving his island?! I thought he liked it there, now that he's got that kid of his . . .!"
"His child has been kidnapped," Sakaki declared.
More silence.
"'KIDNAPPED?!'" everyone else shrieked.
"Someone kidnapped Gojira-san's baby?!" Ayumu wondered before a disapproving look crossed her face. "That's rude!"
"Whoever did that just committed suicide!" Yukari snarled.
"I don't think Gojira really cares about going after one specific person, Yukari-sensei!" one of the boys in Class 3-3 said.
"NO!" the English teacher-turned-metahuman wild driving maniac -- which she actually had pretty much been even before she became Wild Rider! -- snapped back before she pointed at Yomi. "You can use the telepathy Chiyosuke gave you! You can probe any mind you want to find out who kidnapped that Minira-chan . . .!"
"Actually, Sensei, that won't be necessary."
Eyes locked on Sakaki. "Eh?! What'cha mean?!" Tomo demanded.
"The bird who informed me of Gojira-san's coming had set up his nest on Daikaijuu-jima," the taller woman explained. "He saw what happened when Minira-chan was kidnapped. He was more than sure that the kidnappers themselves were aliens. Not of Earth."
"Sakaki-san, were there any specific features they could see on these aliens?" Chiyo then asked.
Sakaki hummed for a moment, and then she perked as a magpie then fluttered down from the sky to land on her free shoulder (not the one currently occupied by Kamineko). She then canted her head as the magpie chirped at her, and then she turned to gaze at the bird as she asked, "Are you sure?" Another series of chirps later made her nod. "Thank you very much. Please ask all your friends to go somewhere where you all can watch Gojira-san, but don't do anything to put yourselves into danger."
A final series of chirps later, the magpie flew off, he soaring to the northwest towards the expected place where the King of Monsters would soon make landfall. "What did he say, Sakaki-chan?" Ayumu asked.
"He got some gossip from other magpies and other birds who had been staying on Daikaijuu-jima when Gojira-san's son was kidnapped," Sakaki replied. "According to what they all saw, the kidnappers were humanoid -- save for pointed ears."
"Vulcans?!" Tomo asked.
"Not exactly," Chiyo mused before a contemplative hum escaped her.
"You think you know who they are, Chiyosuke?" Yomi inquired.
"I think so, Yomi-san," the diminutive Yizibajohei-born genius replied. "There are a whole slew of humanoid norm and same races with that sort of physical feature." To Sakaki. "Sakaki-san, what sort of clothes were they wearing? Anything distinctive?"
Sakaki took a moment to consider what she had overheard from the magpie, and then she shook her head. "No. To be honest, they were dressed like normal people from Japan . . .!" Her voice then trailed off as something came to her. "Wait a minute! I just realized! They were all dressed as high school students!"
Chiyo acked, her pigtails nearly standing on end as her eyes went very wide on hearing that. "THEM?!" she screamed out before a disgusted moan escaped her. "Oh, by the Crystal of Power, no!" Around her, everyone just gaped on hearing Mihama Chiyo of all people make such an oath. "Not them! Anything but them!"
"Who're 'them,' Mihama-sempai?!" a freshman girl asked.
Chiyo breathed out, "The Niphentaxians."
"The who?!" everyone else chorused.
"Niphentaxians," Chiyo repeated before she explained, "They're close allies of the Onis, Lum's race of sames. They're practically norms by my people's standards, but they all have this ability to copy any sort of technology or culture they come across that gains their interest." She then rolled her eyes. "What's worse, they all coach this ability of theirs into pseudo-religions that'd make some of the more fanatic sects in all of Earth's main faiths look tame in comparison . . . "
"Ah! Game-winning home run!"
Eyes locked on Ayumu. "What're you thinking of, Osaka?!" Tomo asked.
"Last night, Tomo-chan! Don'tcha all remember? When Destructo-sensei chased off Lum-san after Ataru-san died," Ayumu replied. "I bet those Niphentaxians saw that happened and they decided to 'punish' us to try to get back at Sensei about it . . . "
"That makes a lot of sense," Nyamo -- she having joined the crowd with Kagura not a couple minutes before -- mused with a grim nod of her head.
"Even worse, Nyamo-sensei," Chiyo added. "These days, those dorkhead sames on Phentax Two actually worship Lum as a living goddess!"
Still more silence.
"A LIVING GODDESS?!" everyone else shrilled.
"Hai," Chiyo drawled. "And all those idiot people in Tomobiki as her 'holy company' and 'holy apostles' and everything else you could imagine!"
"They probably made Moroboshi their devil-figure, no doubt," Yukari mused.
"They did."
Everyone exchanged looks, and then they hummed. "Right," Yukari drawled before she squared her shoulders. "Okay, we'll worry about that later! Right now, Objective One is stopping Gojira from making hash outta everything he walks on!"
"Hey! You can do that, Osaka!" Kagura spun on her classmate.
"Me?" Ayumu yelped, she pointing at herself.
"Sure!" Kagura urged. "You can use your powers to levitate Gojira over ground! Hell, even take him back to his island!"
"Worry about taking Gojira back to Daikaijuu-jima until after we find Minira-chan so he can be reunited with his father," Nyamo cut in. "We should try to do this all at once. To do that, we need to find the child as soon as possible." She turned to Yomi. "That's where you and Kaorin come in, Yomi."
"Telepathic and empathic probing of people's minds," Yomi muttered before she reached up to feel her forehead. "I haven't done that before."
"Hey, I can help!" Tomo volunteered.
"WHAT?!" Yomi shrieked as she spun on her oldest friend. "YOU?! WE'RE DEALING WITH GOJIRA, YOU IDIOT! YOU'D JUST END UP MAKING IT DAMN WORSE, TOMO!"
"Actually, Tomo-chan can help," Chiyo cut in.
"EH?!" everyone else gasped.
"Sure! Even have Kagura-san go with her!" Chiyo urged.
"Me?!" Kagura yelped as she pointed to herself, and then she hummed as she considered the point. "I'll need some weapons . . . "
"I know the perfect place to get them, then!" Yukari said. "Since it's pretty damned obvious that those dipwits in Tomobiki are the root cause of this mess, they can help in solving it!"
"That sounds like a plan!" Ayumu cheered.
Everyone else whooped in anticipation . . .
Minutes later, the transformed Yukari-mobile raced off for Tomobiki. Along with Wild Rider, Warwind, Caltrop, Soul Searcher and Heart Player came along for the ride. Yomi spent the whole trip incessantly yelling at her homeroom teacher for her insane driving, while Kaorin hugged Kagura, wishing that she had gone with Sakaki-san to fight Gojira, Kagura herself remained as calm as could be and Tomo thoroughly enjoyed herself (like she normally did when riding with Yukari-sensei).
At the same time, Prodigy, Infinity, Lady Lofting and Amphibian -- "I think I definitely need a new name!" Nyamo had commented to herself flew off to the northwest to intercept Gojira.
So we now . . .
(Posted Fri, 15 Sep 2006 17:12)
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らんま1/2 © Rumiko Takahashi
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