29 Journey to the Land Primeval -Part 2-

~~~~~~~~DAY ONE~~~~~~~~

Personal journal of Faith Wolff,

Tuesday, April 21, 2009

Today was our first day of coming together as a team. For myself and fellow team member/BAE John Tarbtano, classes were suspended, and coursework rescheduled for us to attend the training. I hope Professor Raj isn't just stacking up my assignments in a box somewhere. For Princess, I arranged for my next-door neighbor Teresa to drop in mid-day and make sure she has food and water, and I even sweet-talked her into changing the litter box with the promise of all the juicy information I could share. Dr. Darien told me that some of the training would be all day events, and I don't want to imagine what I might come back to if my cat isn't cared for.

I met up with John at the helipad located on the northeast corner of NS 10, the main island. We were scheduled to fly the short distance over to NS 14, where Dr. Darien's original facility still stands and where she operates from privately. Normally the area is off-limits to students, not just because of the inherent dangers of inter-island travel, but because she has wanted to keep her retirement activities to herself. Not to mention the presence of a few highly dangerous specimens kept in storage.

It might sound counter-productive to keep volatile Kaiju remains in the middle of a habitat of destructive monsters. But if you think about it, it's better than having them on the mainland where they could reach a major city. Plus, if they did get out of line, there's plenty of other kaiju around to keep them in check.

John is habitually early, I'm… not. I had enough time upon arrival at the helipad to give him a hug before our ride was coming through the early morning mists. We'd been told not to bring much for the first day, which I guess would be some kind of orientation process. Just a notebook, a video camera, a few pens and pencils, and some snacks in my satchel. John had a back-pack with him that looked like it had seen its fair share of the outdoors, made of weather-beaten grey denim.

As always, it was as humid as you'd expect a tropical island to be, and as such we were both wearing shorts and light t-shirts. When the helicopter came down and sent all the mist scattering, I could feel the ethereal touch of the vapor send a chill up my skin. I'm not sure, but I think those chills had more to do with the start of our adventure then the moisture.

We were climbing on board when we heard a voice call out, yelling for the pilot not to leave. Like a man who was embarrassingly unfamiliar with how to run properly, I saw a lean guy with messy brown hair rushing to the helipad. Unlike me and John who had some idea of what we'd need for a day of activity, this guy was dressed in light brown slacks, a button-up tan shirt, and holding on for dear life to a laptop bag that had a piece of paper stuck in the zipper.

He climbed into the chopper huffing and puffing and slumped into a seat. His hand was shaking when he reached into a breast pocket for a pair of glasses and slid them on despite his eyelids being shut tight.

"I hate flying." He told us in a British accent. "If it's all the same to you, I'll just sit here with my eyes closed until we land."

John was as bewildered as I was. "Umm… ok."

The ride was a short one, like, literally five minutes. We didn't see any major kaiju, just a few Green Kamacuras buzzing around. John said he thought he saw the spiky carapace of Kamoebas moving under shallow water, which would be cool, since he's only seen like twice a year.

Landing on NS 14, what rumor has it President Peter Darien calls 'Quinn-land', there was a feeling that we had arrived on a new continent instead of another island a few miles away from our dorms. Unlike the main island, this one had never been developed to the same extent. Whereas 10 had buildings sprouting up on it like mushrooms after a night rain, 14 was a redoubt nestled in the steamy green wild.

The helipad was on top of the facility itself, probably I thought, in case someone had to make a hasty retreat. The building was kinda shaped like a stubby finger, partitioned sections and a rounded top. When the landing skids hit the surface, our new friend opened his eyes as promised and gave us thankful glances intermixed with nervous twitches.

"I apologize for the… awkwardness."

Unbuckling my harness I felt like I had some weird obligation to accept his apology, common courtesy I guess.

"It's alright, some people just don't like flying."

"I'm Tyler York, by the way." He extended a hand in our direction and John took it without hesitation. "It seems the three of us are part of this… endeavor."

"John Tarbtano, glad to meet you." My boyfriend said genuinely, but with a subtle trace of uncertainty I was able to discern.

I was next to introduce myself. "Faith Wolff. I'm sorry, but nobody told us who else would be doing this."

The three of us exited the craft, and I admit I got momentarily distracted when I realized the magnitude of the jungle around us. The modern institute is designed for aesthetics and housing students. Darien's facility was built like a concrete storm bunker, heavily fortified and marked all over with scratches and digs. There were no huge glass windows either, nothing standing between us and everything that lived in the jungle. Some of the leaves on the trees were as big as me.

"My understanding thus far, is that this mission is deliberately being kept out of the limelight." Tyler threw the sling of his bag over his shoulder, shoulders that seemed to shrink when he too became aware of how close he was to nature.

Tarbtano adjusted his stance and stood a little closer to me. "Makes me wonder just how big this thing is going to get."

Our welcome party was quick to greet us. A sound of sliding metal drew our attention to the edge of the pad where a very well concealed hatch opened. The man sent to fetch us was about as imposing as anything I'd find lurking in the bushes. I could tell he was tall by the frame of his shoulders and length of his forearm. He had a long black ponytail held by a single band that reached down to his shoulder blades. A beard of equally dark tone covered his cheeks and jaw, with a few streaks of grey. He might have been as old as my father going by the creases around his eyes.

"Come on inside before something snatches ya." His accent placed him somewhere in the southern United States, and despite looking like a roadie for Black Sabbath, was fatherly sounding. He must have kids of his own.

We made our way inside, following the man downstairs. Him being tall was one thing, but this guy was a monster. He was built like a pro-wrestler and dressed all in black; black t-shirt filled with his muscles, black cargo pants, and black combat boots.

Along the way we passed through a hall, where I could tell a bunch of framed pictures used to hang, square and rectangular patches of lighter paint giving the secret away. He led us to a room with a long dark table, and a board on one side covered in plans, notes, and maps. Dr. Darien was there waiting for us, a bowl of grapes and a mess of files on the table in front of her."

"You're early!" Quinn Darien exclaimed, rising from her seat and taking off her glasses. "Or perhaps I'm just getting forgetful." She joked.

"Don't let her fool you." The large guide warned the students as they filed in. "Woman's got a memory like a steel trap."

"Come on in and sit down, we've got a lot to go over." One by one Darien shook their hands, introduced herself to the boys, and gave Faith a familiar hug.

"Good to see you here Ms. Wolff. I hope you find some things to write about." She said with a wink.

When all were seated, Darien extended a hand towards the mountain of a man who had shown them in.

"By the way, this is my good friend, James Eikenboom. He's taking time out of his vacation and away from his family to help me with the training."

The big man simply leaned against the wall and nodded, folding his arms over his chest.

Dairen walked over to the assortment of maps on the corkboard and pulled down some of the miscellaneous items.

"I apologize for not being able to explain things better before, I'm afraid that certain parties with less than benevolent intentions have become very curious about our endeavor. For your safety and the integrity of your discoveries, we have to be careful."

"What exactly is our endeavor?" Faith asked. "What's all this about?"

The older woman glanced at her, "A new continent."

Eyebrows went up as Darien picked up a large rolled poster and threw it on the table. John reached over and unfurled it, revealing a large photocopy version of the map recovered in Okinawa.

"With all due respect Ms. Darien…" Tyler began. "We already know about Antarctica."

"As most do." She retorted. "But if John will be so kind as to point out the particular notation…"

Tarbtano put his hand on the map, placing the rough demarcation with the hand-scrawled notation between his thumb and pointy-finger.

"…You will see your future destination."

"You're sending us to Antarctica?" Faith asked somewhat incredulously. She wasn't one who minded the winter season too much, but the frozen continent was something else entirely.

"I'm not just sending you to there-" Darien said with conspiracy. "I'm sending you under it."

The three students made no effort to hide their confusion, looking back at her like she had just announced that they were going to the core of the moon.

"Let me tell you a little story." Quinn walked over to her pile of manila folders, and extracting one, spilled the contents out in front of them. Arrayed were a collection of pictures taken with various quality of an undersea temple and close-ups of some pictographic inscriptions. Interspersed in the contents were copies of pages from the Venusian Revelations. It began as a tale of King Ghidorah's first visit to our solar system, as told by the psychic entity of a Venusian possessing Princess Selina Maas Salno of Selgina. But even after the possession ended, the princess was still subject to episodes of automatic writing, revealing more and more of Earth's prehistoric past.

"As we know, long ago in our ancient past, King Ghidorah threatened every microbe of life in the galaxy. At first, the civilizations of Mars thought they could oppose him, but he wiped them out. The people of Venus, seeing what was coming devised a plan to use the life-energies of Earth to create a defense mechanism."

Quinn pushed some of the pictures aside and selected one of the Mu'an temple shots, this one showing a carving of a creature that looked like a butterfly soaring above crowds of people reaching out to it.

"The result of that effort, we're all aware. But it's their mechanism, that is our point of interest here. The way that they created the Gigamoth, was a type of energy science to them, as we might understand chemistry or nuclear power. But once this energy was harnessed, it wasn't something they could simply shut off, put back in the bottle. It kept producing these… beast-gods."

"Gods?" Tarbtano balked. "Like Zeus, and Thor, and Vishnu?"

"A matter of perspective" Darien made it sound like the issue was splitting hairs. "Taller, stronger, more intelligent than any dinosaur or normal animal, a new breed of creature ruling over territories like Shoguns. Godzilla, Anguirus, Rodan, Gorgo, the Six Dragons, all of them are products of this unleashed energy."

"For centuries the Earth thrived, the beast-gods ruling over territories on the land, and the Venusians creating the great ocean kingdoms. Lumeria, Atlantis, and Seatopia served as the beacons of civilization. Then, there was a cataclysm. Some details still elude me, but Atlantis created something called 'Ra-Zin' that resulted in massive world-wide ecological destruction. Atlantis was ruined, the city and whatever Ra-Zin was, sent to the depths."

"The Seatopia we are more familiar with today is the result of it becoming isolated and adopting a cult around Megalon as their city's protector. Lumeria as best we can understand, slipped into decay."

"On land however, despite all the devastation, the domains of the beast-gods continued, though they were fractured and dispersed. They became the islands and areas of the world that we regard as being the domain of Kaiju. Farou Island, Ryukyu islands, Nullius Ager, Lagos, and any of the legends of the ancients you can think of.

Tyler interrupted her tale. "And whatever this spot on Antarctica is, or so you suspect."

"I do." Quinn pulled a suitcase out from underneath the desk, and setting it on the table, opened it to show them a jagged-edged parchment enclosed between two glass panels. "Going over the material from Mu, I found two brief references to a place called, 'Urth', mentioned to be far to the south. Then I began to think there might have been another kingdom, one not sharing the glory of its siblings for some reason not defined.

Like I said, the Ryukyu islands are one of these vestiges of Lumerian culture, their royal family one of the few in the world that still carries the Venusian DNA, albeit highly diminished. As such, I had my suspicions that somewhere on the islands, would be some reference to other locations from either before or after the cataclysm.

So I reached out to some associates of mine to do some investigating on Okinawa. Standing there today is the ancient castle of the Azumi clan. In 1974 archeologists operating with permission uncovered the statuette of King Caesar, triggering the prophecy that foretold the coming of the original Mechagodzilla. My agent discovered that there was more to find in those ancient caverns."

Darien offered her palm in the direction of the encased parchment. "And there, far to the south…"

"Urth…" Faith stared at the enlarged image of the Okinawan map, comparing it to its smaller original version. Drawn by some skilled artist, who through no fault of his own distorted the shoreline of the 7th continent. But it was unmistakable, the feet of South America and Africa poking down from above, the outline of a charted course to the Ryukyu chain. And sitting a little ways in from the coastline, flanked by a pair of stylized creatures so familiar to archaic maps, was an dark blot notated with Japanese lettering she was not familiar with.

"Lumeria, Atlantis, Seatopia, and Urth."

"Call it a hunch." Darien said. "But there is something very different about Urth, a reason it's not like the others. If we can crack that reason, we might write a new chapter in the history of mankind."

"She talked to us a while longer about what she hoped we might find. Ruins of lost civilizations, more records of prehistory, and of course a whole slew of new kaiju to document. Given how things would eventually turn out, I sometimes think I should have grabbed John and dragged us both the hell out of that room.

For a while she answered our questions about the expedition. What kind of equipment we would need to bring, our training schedule, how we'd reach the opening. Basically we would become proficient in different aspects of hiking and survivalism, become familiar with our gear, all the stuff we'd need to go out into an uncharted wilderness and come back alive. It seemed like a lot, I'd never even imagined doing something like this before. But with months to prepare, Dr. Darien was making it sound very routine. What could go wrong? I remember asking myself.

We ate lunch there in the room, and it turned out to be our very first lesson. Dr. Darien gave us these packaged meals called 'MRE's', the things soldiers get when they don't have access to real food. John knew how to open it and prepare the food, his father had been in the Air Force and had brought a few home on occasion. He showed me how to slide the entrée packet into the heater bag and use water to activate the chemicals in the pouch. The other guy, Tyler, he seemed to stare at everything for a minute or two before doing anything with it, examining every little thing like he might discover some new genus of food.

After lunch, we got to go on a tour of the facility, which turned out to be what you'd expect from an off-limits kaiju research lab. She took us down into the holding bays, where they stored the subjects."

Quinn in front to guide them, Eikenboom in the rear to keep them from wandering off, the group made their way along a catwalk in a dark cavern. On either side of them were huge containment units, sealed chambers that housed massive forms obscured by the haze of preservent gasses and frost coating the inside. The pods were suspended from the unseen roof and secured in a support structure of steel beams and the tangle of cables and tubes that fed into them. They hung above the dark water below, creating an atmosphere out of a sci-fi/horror film.

"Here in the underground caverns, we can store the subjects in suspended animation. We actually bring them in from below, ferrying the pods through the water-filled tunnel system from where it opens to the ocean."

Darien put a finger to her lips, and looking about, selected one of the units. "Perhaps some of you will recognize this friendly face." Going up to the control panel, one of which was stationed at each container, she turned a dial to the left. The gases in the pod dissipated, revealing the strange face of the creature within.

"That's the creature they took down in Rome!" Tarbtano literally pointed out. "The alien from Venus."

Quinn nodded. "We call him, Ymir." The unconscious beast was resting with its eyes closed, its reptilian skin still stained with blood from the day it went down. "Exposure to our atmosphere caused it to grow exponentially larger. Its natural food, sulfur, couldn't give it nearly enough sustenance as it grew, ensuring that it was constantly starving, which drove it mad."

"I probably shouldn't have been so awed by the creature, we've known about alien life-forms for decades. But this was the first I had ever come so close to, seeing it with my own eyes."

"Poor guy." Faith lamented. "Comes 20 million miles to Earth only to get stuck in a freezer."

But Darien wasn't so glum. "I have a friend of mine looking onto some methods that might contain his growth, perhaps something like keeping him in an enclosed environment with atmospheric controls. Plenty enough sulfur can be harnessed from Adona to feed him. If Rodan doesn't mind, that is. Based on what we know of its early development, I suspect it naturally grows to about the size of an ostrich, and based on its configuration, lives in a rocky or likely volcanic region."

"I'm sorry…" Tyler waved a hand to interject himself into the conversation. "But even if you can find a way to build some, terrarium for this thing, he's still an extraterrestrial and can introduce unknown variables into the environment. Who knows what kind of factors are at play, things you don't even know to control for. The safest place for us and that, thing, is in that case."

"Things like what?" Darien asked him in return, in a way that suggested she might already know the answers. "The precise sulfuric composition for its diet? It's potential reaction to other compounds in the environment? What other sustenance it might need for survival? Biological contamination?"

York realized he might be wading into deeper waters than he anticipated and demurred his posture as he adjusted his glasses. "I imagine you would have to consider everything you'd need for any other animal in captivity, in addition to whatever elements you might attribute to its foreign nature."

Quinn smiled, knowing she had subdued the younger man's exuberant attempt to display his intelligence. "Ymir has been with us since 1990, after I talked the Italian government into letting go of him. They were pretty worried about him waking up during the transportation process, but once he was far enough away I suspect they stopped giving a damn."

She tucked her hands into her pockets, Darien's mind drifting back to those days years ago with a fond remembrance.

"We moved him in a repurposed oil-tanker we purchased from France, cutting a set of hatch doors into the deck and lowering him into the hold, plenty of space to house all the support equipment. The hardest part though was getting him out of the Mediterranean. The straits of Gibraltar were the more friendly exit, but it's in the opposite direction we needed to go, which left the Suez Canal as the first hurdle in a gauntlet of what promised to be a tense journey.

By the grace of whatever god you like best, we made it out to the Indian ocean, and it was mostly smooth-sailing from there. I say 'mostly' because we did have a brief encounter with some Somali pirates. Fortunately, I had a top-notch security team with me, isn't that right James?"

The students turned to see the towering man leaning against the railing, looking back at Dr. Quinn with a bemused smirk.

"I had just left the Rangers and some service buddies of mine had recommended getting into private security, said that was where the good money was at."

"His voice had a deep resonance to it, I could feel it vibrating through the air. I couldn't place his southern accent at the time, but some weeks later he let slip that he lived in Georgia when he kept bragging about how perfect his lawn was."

"So I hooked-up with this outfit out of Texas, full of prior service guys like me." Eikenboom continued. "We got sent a few places, some pretty, some nasty, all hot as a pig's ass. Finally, after a few months I thought I lucked out when my group got put on an escort mission, real easy they said. Just link-up with the client in France, hop on a boat, go on a little Mediterranean cruise, getting' paid to go on vacation.

Then I find out our client is some kin'a conservationist for monsters, gonna pick up a space-critter and bring it home. But that was all the easy part. You know that part in fairy-tales, where the little child is lost in the woods and comes to a fork in the road? One path is all sunshine and birdsong, the other side is dark and spooky? Guess which path we took."

"You wouldn't think it by looking at him, the way he stands around all stoic. But once you get James Eikenboom going on some story or talking about his family or his faith in God, you can't shut the guy up. He was great to have around, I can still picture the way he would get into a story by re-enacting his part in it. He was the 'fun uncle' of our little group, and I still miss him sometimes."

Fixing them with a wry grin, James left the railing and gestured with a wide sweep of his arm.

"There we were, just got past the Bab al Mandeb strait, with the Arabian Peninsula shrinkin' in the horizon. All of a sudden, a bunch'ah those little speed boats come flying in from outta nowhere, look like the whole damn East African Navy. They were all carrying discount Russian weapons, mounted PKs, RPGs, AK-47s, machetes, hell I think I saw one guy with a damn whaling harpoon.

My guys are armed with standard stuff, M4s, pistols, some smoke grenades, so there's no way we're going to hold them off from boarding. I have my team take all the nonessential personnel down into the cargo hold, where they can defend a single entrance. I take my ass up to the upper deck where I can get a good vantage.

Now, I can hit a fly from 300 meters, so I start with the guys carrying RPGs. They get about-"

"His account of taking on the pirates by himself went on for the next few minutes in great detail. Every now and then when I thought I detected an embellishment or half-truth, I glanced over to Darien to see if she had any tells. But the whole time she just had the same admiring expression, as if James' story was a pleasant trip down memory lane.

John, bless his heart, got really into things. He'd ask a question about how James disarmed a hatchet-wielding pirate, or how far you can bend a man's back over the bar of a handrail before it snaps. John usually wasn't given to the stereotypes about guys enjoying violence, but he did have his moments.

Tyler I just felt sorry for. He tried to keep a straight face as our action-hero bard explained with articulate gesture how you can literally beat a man to death with his own arm. I could actually see his skin going paler the longer he listened."

"-So then I took the guy's weapon, and shoved the barrel right down his-"

"Hey." With a nudge of her elbow, Quinn broke Faith's attention away from the gripping account, the younger woman surprised by how quietly she had managed to sneak up on her.

"Come check this out."

Leaving the men to their own entertainment, Faith followed as Darien led her over to a different containment unit.

"Since you're so interested in getting to know the kaiju, I think you'll enjoy this one."

"She brushed some dust off a control panel that evidently did not get too much attention and flipped a switch to activate the chamber's light. Instead of some huge monster, there was only what looked like a dragon claw at the end of a forearm stump with long brown hair growing out of it. It seemed familiar, but I just couldn't place it."

Crossing her arms, Quinn gave her a few moments to try and figure out what she was looking at.

"Think back to Denmark, early '60's."

Faith pointed a finger at the frozen appendage floating in the cryogenic fluid. "It that what I think it is? An arm from that weird dragon-thing?"

"Reptilicus. I always thought it was a catchy name." The doctor put her hands behind her back, standing beside Faith as they both marveled at the severed claw.

"If some Kaijuologist theories are to be believed, the ancient creature this belongs to is the progenitor of the race of large serpents known in their native Nordic myths as lindworms. They were a common feature in medieval folklore and art, a snake-like being, between five and fifteen feet long, possessing two stubby legs, some even sported a pair of wings as well."

"How old do you think he is?" Faith asked, leaning her hands on the railing to look closer.

"Hell if I know." Darien huffed. "Based on what we know about the Venusians tampering with the Earth, he could be millions of years old. In fact, I have another associate of mine working on a little pet theory we put together. In the Lumerian ruins, one of the murals depicts a wheel of six dragons. The images have lost a lot of detail over time, but I think we already know who three of the six are; Manda, Quetzalcoatl, and Reptilicus."

"I didn't know it at the time, but she was knocking on the door of a monumental discovery. Though I suspect she had a crude notion that the six of them shared some bond, otherwise, why would the Lumerians have them all in the same depiction?"

"Personally, I have been tossing around a few other ideas, very loose and they'll probably never be able to be substantiated."

Faith, sensing that Quinn was daring her to inquire, gave her a playfully curious raised eyebrow. "Like what?"

"Well…" Darien began with the subtle excitement befitting a woman her age. "It's kind of a two-parter and involves some very notable historical figures."

"She stepped up to the railing next to me, lowering her voice like she was about to dish on some juicy gossip."

"One of the core myths of England, is St. George slaying the dragon. I think the creature he slayed, was a lindworm that had strayed far south and wound-up in Britain. The other one, is even more fantastical.

According to Norse mythology, there was a massive serpent called Jormundgandr, it was so long that it could wrap around the earth. This same serpent is destined to die in battle with Thor during Ragnarok, but not before poisoning the storm god with his deadly venom.

I think the legend of the Midgard Serpent is based on Reptilicus. Granted, that presumption is based on the regional connection, the ability of the monster to regenerate and grow to unknown sizes, and that he spits that radioactive goop."

"All we need is a Thor." Faith chirped. "And we'll know for sure."

~~~~~~~~DAY TWO~~~~~~~~

"On the next day, we met another member of our team. Like the day before, we gathered in the conference room, this time there was a few bowls of fruit and a coffee maker handy. John and I had already had a quick breakfast in the cafeteria where Teresa joined us, and we told her a few things about what we did. Leaving out of course all the stuff about lost continents.

Tyler York came in and sat on the opposite side of the table from us, he still looked a little out of it from yesterday. He plopped down in his seat, took out a notebook and pen, placed them on the table, spaced them evenly and parallel, and munched on a few pieces of melon.

Dr. Darien herself had yet to arrive."

"Think she's gonna show us any live kaiju today?" John Tarbtano whispered into Faith's ear before popping another grape in his mouth. "I hear they got a few running around this place."

"I don't know if Tyler could take it." She nodded in the direction of their third wheel. "Unless she's got some really tiny ones in a terrarium he can look at."

"She's had a long time to work on this facility since the school moved out. Darien could have all sorts of things hidden here. She might even have a Godzuki."

"oh, that thing's not real." She scolded.

"We heard the sound of laughter as Darien entered the room. With her, was of course Mr. Eikenboom, and a new guy, who was like, the total opposite of him."

The students all rose to greet Quinn, and the two men who trailed after her.

"Sit down." Sounding annoyed by the show of deference, Darien took her seat at the head of the table while gesturing for them all to do the same. James rounded the far side and eased himself into his own seat, kicking his legs up to put his feet on another.

Shane Redmond, the last to enter the room, was dressed in khaki shorts and a red and white striped polo shirt.

"Morning everybody." The Canadian said with a polite wave. "I'm Shane, and I'll be a part of this little adventure."

Going around the table, Shane shook hands with John and Faith, who introduced themselves in turn. Going around to take a seat next to Tyler, he extended his hand and shook it briefly.

"Tyler, nice to see you again. I ran into Professor Challenger the other day, he gave me an earful about your work."

"I had to stifle a chuckle, because Tyler visibly winced at the thought of what his mentor might have been saying about him, considering how coarse the Professor was reputed to be sometimes. Plus, I had also noticed the surprisingly strong grip Shane had. He didn't press too hard with me, but I could tell he didn't take any such gentlemanly consideration with another guy. John later admitted to me that he had gotten enough of a squeeze to warrant an under-the-table flexing of the fingers afterwards."

"Shane here is one of our unsung heroes." Quinn touted, pointing with an open hand to the man. "He's gone on many expeditions for the institute, including the dig in Egypt where he found the evidence of Varan having visited there."

"That's the one everybody likes to talk about." Redmond dismissed. "Personally, my favorite stuff was looking into the cults in Central America, and recently I've been doing some good stuff in Korea concerning an ancient legend about something called the 'Artox Army'. And there was the few months I spent in western Canada, investigating wendigo myths."

Tarbtano straightened in his chair. "Really? You're looking into the shapeshifters?" A smile bled through his attempt to hide his eagerness. "My dream project is lycanthropes."

Hearing the Latin name of the more commonly titled, 'werewolf', Shane sucked a breath through his nostrils, staring at John like a hungry dog at piece of unattended steak.

"You and I are gonna be friends."

'That's good." Quinn said coyly. "Because the other two members of the team are coming in tomorrow. I hope you get along with them just as easily."

"As for the rest of the day, we actually left the facility and went on a little practice expedition with Shane as our guide and James as our protective chaperone. Though, judging by the way James let Shane lead us where he wanted, I got the feeling that he didn't fear for our safety too much.

Supplied with a few camelback kits, we filled them with water from the facility's purification tank. We exited the building from a side entrance, which once through, I realized was hidden into the cleft of a waterfall so perfectly, I hadn't gone more than a few steps out before I lost the ability to discern where it was."

"What about the island's fauna?" York asked as they gathered on the other side of a small pond at the base of the waterfall. "The Green Kamacuras aren't exactly tagged for easy locating."

"No they aren't, but that sounds like an enterprising idea, man." Shane said as he patted a backhand on Tyler's chest. "Surprised nobody's ever thought of that before."

"Well the hard part would be getting close enough to plant a transmitter." Falling in step behind Redmond, York worked out the logistics of such a project as he kept his head down to avoid any distractions to his thought process. "We can't just shoot them with tranquilizer darts like wolves or attach them like sharks. Their exoskeleton would shatter conventional needles, and they would remove any external devices in the course of their grooming."

"So you'd need something to get under their shell, without having to compromise their armor with a bunch of puncture points."

"Possibly. One also might consider an oral delivery by hiding something in prepared food. But I fear the device would get destroyed in the process."

"Yeah, you ever see one of those things while they're eating?" Shane clasped his hands over his mouth, wriggling his fingers together in imitation of the monstrous mantid's mandibles. "And that's if he didn't just shit it out the next day."

"Shane's tactic did its job, distracting Tyler from his worries and onto a specific technical problem to be solved. I began to realize that there was a lot more to this guy than he let on. Under the casual clothes of a college junior, he moved with a sharpness, and his eyes were never at rest. He kept Tyler talking about work projects even as we scaled an incline up the spine of a ridge, walls of vegetation on either side of us."

A grumbling roar sent shivers through the jungle, as if the titan Chronos had opened his mouth for a sleepy yawn. Redmond immediately lowered himself to one knee and raised his left hand in a fist, alert for any further sign of danger.

"Some animal instinct of mine, the kind they say are buried deep in the older parts of the brain kicked in and I dropped too, John putting his hand on my shoulder. I suppose 'protecting your mate' is another one of those instincts for men. Glancing back, only to see that James had disappeared without a sound, I wondered how a guy that big and heavy could move so quietly."

"-A few theories on how the Ymir could be con…tained…" York came to a cautious stop when he realized that Redmond was kneeling in front of him. He stood there for a moment, his brain trying to catch up to what he was seeing.

Shane lashed out with a back hand and swatted him in the right knee, a universal signal to get down. Clutching his notebook against his chest, Tyler hastily cowered behind the guide, eyes stark wide in search of a threat. "What was that?" He whispered.

"Leopard seal." Shane muttered.

"Really?"

"No."

Turning his head to show Tyler the side of his face, Redmond put a finger to his lips, then transitioned it to tap his ear.

Again, the long bellow sounded, this time clearer and more distinct.

"There" Shane pointed to the side, crouch-walking into the bush. Faith and John followed suit, albeit their ability to move as low not quite as smooth. Tyler held back, watching the pair go off and leaving him behind. When he looked for the large southerner who was supposed to be trailing them, and found that he was alone, there was a newfound urgency to the young Englishman's step to rejoin the others.

Blundering somewhat through the heavy leaves for a few meters, York nearly stumbled over the crouched shape of Tarbtano when at last the foliage broke. A steadying hand from Faith halted him in time to take a knee as they did.

Shane, Faith, and John were all perched on the edge of a deep slope that overlooked the westerly facing waters. The angled cliff ended with a thin beach at the base, stretching in a U-shape to form a snug little cove. There down on the strip of sand, curled-up along the bow like a cat, was the head of Titanosaurus stretching out of the water, sound asleep and soaking in the sunlight. The kaiju opened his maw and uttered another of the long grumbling yawns.

"I had never seen a kaiju this size before, not in real life anyways. Looking down at Titanosaurus, it made my morning routine with Frank the Kamacuras seem like the barking dog in the neighborhood. Next to me John went on all fours so he could lean farther to get a better look. He had always been a fan of the reclusive ocean goer, so it must have been a bucket-list moment for him.

A lot of what people see of the monsters is them tearing down buildings, roaring furiously under hails of firepower, or fighting each other. Rarely would the world get to see these incredible creatures in their more vulnerable moments. I took the little camera out of my cargo pocket and snapped a few pictures. Getting some other angles for the shots would have been nice, but I wasn't going to complain."

Tyler York gawked, rising from his crouch so he could see over the others. "That… that's Titanosaurus. He's sleeping on land. I would have thought he slept underwater."

"According to Dr. Darien, he does sleep on the seabed usually, but he does like to sun himself from time to time." Redmond sat back on his rump and hung his arms around his knees. "He knows that she has a place here, so he comes around like a stray dog that befriended a human. This cove is a nice spot for a nap, to shallow for the true aquatic kaiju. Plus, even a kaiju would need some serious stones to try and take on a powerhouse like Titanosaurus."

The massive tail of the monster curled up, the end splaying to expose the paddle. It rose up so high, it was eye level with the group of humans, before falling back down and splashing in the water with a thunderclap. A spray of saltwater came flying though the air and rained over the team like the first row in a Seaworld show. Faith yelped in surprise and the boys chuckled, even Tyler's apprehension was defeated by the spirit of the moment.

Titanosaurus resumed his peaceful slumber, gently rubbing a few claws over his belly.

John wiped the water from his brow and flicked it aside. "He's incredible, it's hard to take in just how big he is." He said to Faith.

"I know." She said, brushing aside the hair that had been plastered to the sides of her face. "To think he went toe-to-toe with Godzilla and held his own."

"Reminds me of my dog." The resonant voice jolted John, Faith, and Tyler out of their admiration. They turned and saw James Eikenboom standing behind them, gazing down at the unconscious monster from behind sunglasses. "Likes to curl-up the same way when he gets in my recliner."

"Where the hell'd you go?" Tarbtano asked.

"To make sure the noise wasn't stirring up anything else. You never know what you're gonna run into on these islands.". The man glanced at them in earnest, noticing the dampness of their appearance.

"Splashed you, didn't he?"

~~~~~~~~DAY THREE~~~~~~~~

"It was the third day, and we were beginning our training in earnest."

"Come on! Get those noodle legs moving!"

The top of the hill overlooked the bay between Adona and Ogasawara island, the normally think green foliage thinning out where the footrail bisected the crest. Professor George Challenger, walking staff in hand and dressed for a hike in summer mountains was the first to reach the apex nonetheless worse for wear. He came to a stop and took in the pristine wild vista, sucking a deep breath in through flaring nostrils.

"Ah! Nothing like the kiss of morning air! The scent of the salt water on the breeze. Those knock-kneed dandies at Oxford and Harvard wouldn't have half the testosterone or manly bearing to undertake the adventure before us."

Faith Wolff was the next head to rise above the curve of the hill, her cheeks flush with exertion. She huffed with every step, hands gripping the straps of her brown rucksack, back bent forward as she marched up the trail.

"Present company excluded, of course." Challenger amended stoically.

Behind her came John Tarbtano, faring better but still visibly taxed by the morning's effort.

"We don't usually get to see much of the islands." Pausing to admire the blue and green island vista, John took a moment for a few breaths and wipe his brow. "Too many things that'll try to eat us."

"Not enough prey species here to support a breeding population of Kamacuras. Though some do wander over from the other islands from time to time."

Challenger gestured for the pair to take a seat as he himself eased down onto a patch of grass. Faith and John found a large stone to sit back against, dropping their packs on either side.

"Tyler was right behind us." Faith said, tilting forward to look back down the path. "I could hear him straining."

Indeed, making his own way up the incline, Tyler York grabbed hold of an angled branch to steady himself, bracing his other hand on a thigh. Sweat stains darkened his shoulders and down the back of his pastel blue button-up shirt. A set of scrawny, pale calves stretched out from ostensibly over-sized shorts.

Tones of whistling approached, sounding as merry as a Sunday stroll through the park. James Eikenboom, the brawny Georgian came carrying not just his own rucksack, but also a waist pack with a medical cross on it, and a high-tech looking rifle slung across his chest. In his left hand he held Tyler's pack by the straps, swinging it like a bagged lunch.

"Gonna need to put some meat on those hocks, kid." He thundered, not a trace of physical exertion in his voice. "Hell, all we're doing is walking."

York raised an eyebrow, glancing over as his companion caught-up. "Fair point Mr. Eikenboom. But I might point out that your soldierly perspective might be a bit skewed." He held up a palm in a defensive show. "No disrespect, but my work doesn't lend much time or energy towards turning my body into a machine like yours."

James smirked, tossing the extra bag to the side. "Yeah, maybe." He said with mirth. "I seen a lot of faces like yours, ya know." Pointing to Tyler, he wagged a finger. "Exhausted, out of your element, full of doubt. But as sure as the good Lord put the heavens in motion, I seen them same faces transform into something more; strong, confident, determined.

Every step you takin' right now, is a step towards a new, more powerful version of yourself."

"Yes, well, 'journey of a thousand miles' I suppose." Tyler stood up to straighten his back, as he did so, he felt something grab onto his left shoulder. His head snapped down to see a long green claw draped over his clavicle. In an instant his face drained of color.

"Aw hell…" James moved, but before he could reach York, the younger man was yanked off his feet and pulled into the greenery.

Screaming as he was dragged on his back, York flailed for something to grab, anything just to give him a moment to analyze the situation. "Ahhh! Ahhh! Help!". Pain in his shoulder lanced like venom from the barbs clamping down and holding him tight. He looked up, and among the flashes of green, he saw the football-shaped head of the Kamacuras above him, staring back down with its unblinking multifaceted eyes.

The size of a small horse, the kaiju arthropod was racing backwards through the jungle, wings beating in a blur as it tried to separate its human prey from its companion. Normally the verdant variety of the mantid hunted in packs, using their natural camouflage to approach their target from stealth, pounce, and rend their flesh into consumable shreds.

This one however was hunting alone and needed to isolate its prey from its own kind before being able to incapacitate it enough to begin the feeding process. Having the advantage of a greater scope of vision, the Kamacuras saw the break in the leaves where a small clearing lay just on the other side.

"No! No! Get off!"

Bursting into the patch of branchless tall grass, Tyler was thrown onto the ground, the Kamacuras pinning him into the blades as he kicked and squirmed. He screamed as the salivating mandibles gnashed overhead, eager to feast on such a tender and juicy meal.

Eikenboom entered the clear like a panther, pouncing from the bush to strike his foe. His heavy shoulder collided into the Kamacuras like a freight train, knocking the ravenous bug away from Tyler. The creature reeled, fluttering to keep from tumbling to the ground.

"Head for the top of the hill." Putting a hand on York's chest, he gripped a handful of his shirt and pulled the young man bodily onto his feet with the ease of lifting a gallon of milk.

"But… you.."

"Just get!" James barked. Tyler stumbled into the green as the Georgian squared off with the kaiju.

"Alright mush mouth. Come get you something to eat."

The Kamacuras lunged, and James put a kick into its chest, thrusting it back several feet against a tree. Disoriented by the impact of the rapid combination of the strike and the slam, the arthropod hardly took notice of the boot-shaped crater in its exoskeleton.

James fingered the strap of his weapon but shrugged the notion away. He walked over to where the Kamacuras was writhing in pain, raised his palm into a striking position, and drove it through the creature's head with a momentary sound of chitin cracking and organs squishing.

"Tyler caught up to us at the hilltop looking like scrambled crap. He was dirty, disheveled, and panting like he had just run an obstacle course. Pointing back down the trail, he gibbered frantically about being attacked and James being left behind. John and I started to get up to find out what he was talking about, but Professor Challenger barred our path with his walking stick. 'Mr. Eikenboom is in no need of your assistance.' He assured us.

Sure enough, James came up a minute later, quite literally whistling Dixie. He walked past a speechless Tyler and tossed something into his chest. It was the arm of a green Kamacuras."

The dock in the northeast corner of NS 14 was seldom used these days. Long after the new facility had become the focus of the institute, only the Calico still found a usual home here. Fitting since it had been the first. The pier stuck out in the middle of an open cove, small waves gently lapping against the posts.

"You sure about these guys, doc?" Shane Redmond asked. He stood side-by-side with Quinn Darien, the pair of them staring down the length of the pier. On one side the Calico was moored, the faithful ship still looking well with the previous year's paint job. On the other side was the open berth where they awaited their new guests.

"Trust me, kid." She said, arms folded. "Men like these eat, breath, and sleep dedication, discipline, and honor."

"They sound like real headcases."

Darien mulled the thought. "Yeah, sometimes."

The boat arrived in short order, after a curious series of ripples had come moving through the water. The boat itself was inconspicuous; varnished wood, a simple room atop a platform serving as both wheelhouse and lodging. The prow and stern ended in upturned points, giving the vessel a modest aesthetic. Lanterns hung from lines strung from the roof to the ends. No flame illuminated the oriental style lamps from within, but cut out of the sides was a symbol, reminiscent of a crown with three spikes.

A bronze man exited the room, grasping the rope from the deck and casting it on the mooring post where the loop caught around. The man was lean, southern Chinese by the look of him, and upon seeing Dr. Darien awaiting him, greeted them with a polite smile and nod. He was bare-chested from the waist up but wore loose-fitting black pants like one might find in an oriental temple.

Quinn returned the hello. "The Kaiju seem to have a harder time detecting wooden ships." She explained. "No radar or radio signals either."

"Smart." Shane had to agree.

Chao Gang tossed a black duffle bag overboard and hopped the railing himself, landing light as a cat on the planks. Shane saw that on his feet were tabi socks, designed for swift and silent movement.

"Good to see you again, Dr. Dairen." Chao said in paced English, slinging his bag over a shoulder. "Thank you for inviting us."

"Happy to have you." Quinn extended a hand for him to shake, only for Gang to hesitate a moment when he saw it before returning the gesture.

He chuckled apologetically. "Sorry, western customs still confuse me sometimes."

"I am Shane." Instead of reaching out, Redmond put his right fist into his left palm, arms out and elbows bent horizontally in the traditional wushu bow, tilting his head sharply.

Chao's expression opened in pleasant surprise, and he did likewise with crisp, practiced precision. "I am Chao."

"Suǒyǐ jiǎodù rènwéi tā xiànzài hěn kù?" A voice said from the boat. Leaning over the rail, Tozawa did not look very amused by the Canadian's attempt to honor his new acquaintance. Like his companion, he was shirtless, the toned muscles of his chest, stomach and arms glistening with tropical sweat.

"Shénme pále nǐ de pìgu?" Chao scolded. Tozawa shouldered his own black duffle and vaulted the rail. He walked up to the trio, offered Darien a wushu salute combined with a bow at the waist, and continued past without any consideration towards Shane.

Gang shook his head. "I apologize for my brother. He has been rather terse lately."

Redmond dismissed it with a wave. "No worry. We all go that black sheep in the family, eh?"

Tozawa disappeared up the trial, heading to the facility. "Come on." The doctor casually turned in the same direction. "I'll get you guys settled in. Tomorrow you'll meet the rest of the team."

"It will be good to become familiar with the others." Chao said. "We will need to rely on one another if we are to survive this journey."

"Does the Brotherhood know anything about Urth?" Shane asked.

"No. We've only learned of it from Dr. Darien. But we are concerned that the Red Bamboo may be attempting to establish an Antarctic base. If they discover the entrance to Urth before we do, we may never be able to vanquish them for good. Not to mention what they might discover there; resources, artifacts-"

"The point is to find whatever's there to be found before those Commie pricks do." They could hear the anger in Quinn's voice. Hardly any decent person would hesitate to loath the international Communist clique, their bloodstained hands deep into every vice known to man; arms, narcotics, espionage, civil instability, human trafficking.

But Dr. Quinn Darien found a particular reason to hate them. Since the sixties they had made several attempts to enslave Kaiju, walking weapons of mass destruction at their disposal. For a woman who had spent her life studying the creatures, she took it very personally.

"But we're not there yet. We've got a lot of work to do."

29