The Year of Chaos

In the following years since the death of King Ghidorah, the usage of the weapon known as the Oxygen Destroyer, and the sealing of Godzilla, as well as the exposure of the Utah Foundation's greatest secret, things were slowing down for Kiryuu Knight. For a few years, his stocks went down because people feared that he would put programs into their cybernetic implants and use that to control them. When they found out that was nothing more than a hoax, business returned to the Utah Foundation and people wanted cybernetics again for amputated limbs and failing organs. But now, regular people wanted cybernetic enhancements. Humans who wanted to run faster wanted new legs. Those who wanted to lift heavier things, wanted a reconstruction of their arms and back. Kiryuu recalled what Gordon Knight had stated on his bed that he did not want the company to turn into a distributor of cybernetics to anyone who wanted it—without a real need and he had to respect that. And so, the Utah Foundation refused to create syntech cybernetic enhancements for people to purchase if they did not truly need them. Kiryuu stated at a press conference that unless the insurance companies were going to cover the syntech, he would not be going into the enhancing business. And so, other companies sprang up that wanted to take over the spot that the Utah Foundation threw down. Kiryuu saw that there were many industrial companies that wanted to market enhancement cybernetics to anyone who had the money to buy them and he snorted at them. But the Utah Foundation remained the number one industrial medical company for constructing cybernetics for prosthesis and organ creation. No one, not even these new companies that offered cybernetic enhancements, could match the quality that biosyntech provided. And so, the Utah Foundation of Bio-Organic Research stayed strong above the other companies when it came to cybernetics. So, they started a corporate war with the Utah Foundation. The other cybernetic companies wanted to steal valuable secrets from the Utah Foundation to create their own syntech for their customers. But Kiryuu with his own league of corporate spies, also called Shadowrunners, combated them one by one and defended their secrets. Syntech creation was a Utah Foundation trade secret, and it remained that way. A few of the other spies even tried to get a hold of G-Cells from Kiryuu's laboratories where he was first constructed in the late 80s, and were terminated afterwards. Kiryuu, fearing that valuable G-Cell research could still be threatened by another attack, destroyed the documents and the cells inside the laboratory. Now, if anyone wanted to get a hold of G-Cells, they would have to get some off of his flesh to do so—or find out about Antarctica.

The Utah Foundation's base in Antarctica was heavily fortified. Kiryuu made sure that such files were not kept on disk that held the location of the base. He kept them locked up on hard copy in a safe at his desk. Not even the safe was electronic to make sure that no one could hack in and get the code from it. It was locked by an old fashioned combination lock and a padlock key. The lock itself was enormous and it took someone his size to unlock it. The dial on the lock was also just as enormous and it took his fingers to turn it, thus making it difficult for anyone else to get to the files.

Kiryuu finally received his device to monitor the rise and fall of Mana levels. From his understanding, when a spike happens, a change in the life forms that exist in this world will happen. Mutations caused by this energy will occur. And this began to worry Kiryuu. There were still people in the religious courts that cried out abomination when they heard Kiryuu's name, and for a few months, riots broke out because of his sentiency. He wondered what would happen when the world changed. He wondered would the world be thrown into chaos during the changes. And so, he kept silent about what he knew about the world changing.

Kiryuu's relationships with Katsura and Will and Maria continued. They stayed on long after Gordon Knight was dead. Kiryuu wanted to find out if there was a cure to help Katsura. He wanted to find out if he could separate his mind from hers and take out the implant safely. Unfortunately, there was no way. He feared what would happen to him if she died. And he feared her safety should he expire as well. Will still was Kiryuu's main programmer and he had a good many years left before he retires. Maria and Kiryuu continued on with the love they have for each other. Maria assisted Katsura in the maintenance to the syntech and remained at Kiryuu's side. Every year though, the two would return to Gordon's grave and talk about what they were doing to him. Kiryuu reassured Gordon's spirit that the company would not fall into what Gordon Knight feared Kiryuu might do with it. The Utah Foundation would still be a company that helped people in need of limbs and organs.

During this time, Kiryuu regularly made visits to Lexington, Kentucky, where the headquarters of Omak-Argon Industries was located. There he continued his training to control the new powers that Biollante had given him. Biollante had left a dark scar inside of Kiryuu that he felt that he could never get rid of. Though she had sacrificed herself for him, there was the pain that she left behind. Malcho worked long to help him with that pain, but not even his magic could make it go away. Kiryuu asked about the spell Mass Displacement to Malcho, who stated that it would be many a year before the cyborg was ready to perform it. There was a solemn look upon the Dragon's brow when he looked at Kiryuu and saw him use the spell. He saw Kiryuu using it, and using it for a purpose for himself. Malcho seemed hesitant at times at teaching Kiryuu fully the powers of Technomancy, but then gave in when he could not fill Kiryuu's insatiable need to learn. And so, the schooling continued.

The year was 2011 when the spikes started to happen. Kiryuu monitored the changes in Mana levels and a spike occurred. It was then later on within that week he saw the spike the news began to tell about strange births. Kiryuu listened intently about the babies that were born following the week of the spike. Some babies were born with pointed ears, other babies were born smaller than normal. They were normal, healthy babies. The ones that were born smaller, the doctors thought, were having a case of dwarfism, but that was not so. Kiryuu knew that statistically it was impossible for just about every baby born during that week to have the famous dwarfism syndrome. As for the babies that were born with pointed ears, he found it to be a rather mild mutation. But sure enough it counted as a mutation.

"It has started," he said as he watched these events happening. He called up Malcho to report what he found and Malcho advised him that this was the beginning. Malcho informed Kiryuu that the babies born with pointed ears were Elves. The babies that were born shorter than normal babies were Dwarves. Elves and Dwarves. Malcho called the mutation an Awakening. Kiryuu watched as the event unfolded before him. He watched how the world was taking it and it was not very well. In the Vatican, the current Pope declared the newborns with their odd features to be abominations and a sin. And this caused the world to be thrown into chaos. Riots happened over the mutations of new babies born. Not every baby had this mutation; there were some that were born normal humans. People feared that the mutations were some sort of birth defect that would kill off the population. The children born that year would not be the thing that could kill off the population, but a new disease would. Later on that year a new disease appeared, and it killed billions. The Virally-Induced Toxic Allergy Syndrome, or VITAS hit Earth like the Black Plague. During that year, a third of the pupulation of Africa was killed off by the disease. Without treatment, a viction was dead in 12 hours from suffercation due to over active mucus production in the lungs acused by allergic reaction. Kiryuu found, through studies that those with syntech had a better chance at surviving than those without syntech. He discovered through his tests that the nanosites inside the syntech helped fight the infection. People with syntech, no matter where the syntech was, were much healthier than those without syntech. And so, this changed his mind on who got syntech and who did not. With this new information, he opened the doors to anyone who wanted syntech, with or without a doctor's note. Though, if the individual did not need syntech at first, their insurance company would not pay for the syntech and the operation. So, syntech was expensive to have without insurance. Drugs that had antihisthemines as an ingredient were also useful in helping to fight the disease, but still it was not enough to save the third of the population that were killed off. And these deaths caused anger and rioting in the streets.

Kiryuu noticed a pattern with the change in the world. With each change, the population would become upset and rioting would happen. He feared what another Mana spike could mean. On Christmas Eve night, Kiryuu was up late, collecting data and filing a report in his office. His TV was turned on to the various news reports. He sat back in his seat, reading up on the weekly report on how his company was doing financial wise and what funds needed to be distributed to what branch. It was then the report came out on the news that a dragon was spotted flying over Mt. Fuji in Japan. This report of the dragon was captured by passengers on a bullet train heading for Tokyo. And that was when he got a call from Malcho.

"Hola, amigo," Malcho began. "Did you see the news?"

"What are you doing up this late?" Kiryuu asked.

"I would ask the same of you," Malcho chuckled. "Well, did you get it?"

"I did," he replied. "A dragon? Relative of yours?"

"No," Malcho replied. "Not one of my niños. He is Ryumyo."

"Who?"

"He's an Eastern Dragon," said Malcho. "A Great Dragon."

"Like you're a Great Dragon," Kiryuu said.

"Sí," Malcho nodded. "He fell asleep like all the others when the Scourge came, lazy lizards."

"And you didn't," said Kiryuu.

"I remained awake," he said. "Dragons require a certain level of magic to remail active. Without it, we fall asleep."

"How did you survive then?" Kiryuu asked.

"I used my medallion to hide my magic," Malcho replied. "With it, I was able to remain awake."

"I'm sure Japan would want me to go over there and try to destroy him," Kiryuu began.

"No," Malcho said. "I wouldn't. For now don't worry about him."

Kiryuu thought about the changes that were happening all over the world. Manda had returned once to visit him and to let him know that everything will be taken care of. He still was a cop in Miami and he had much to do there with the chaos happening. But before he left, he gave Kiryuu a present. They were his green sunglasses. And with that, that was the last time Kiryuu would see the blue and green Eastern Dragon for a long while. It was not until a few weeks later that another spike had happened. It was January, 2012 when another Dragon was reported and Kiryuu was notified. This time he decided to go and check it out. The siting was in Denver, Colorado—Cherry Creek to be exact. It was the report that when the Dragon flew over Denver, it landed and started to ask questions, especially about what all has been going on for the last 5 thousand years. Many of the humans there were too afraid to even approach it to answer its questions, but it did not become infuriated. Police and fire officials were called on the scene to make sure no one would try to mob the Dragon or the Dragon would not cause a city fire.

Kiryuu arrived on the scene as soon as he could and he was obviously in time to see the Dragon—for he was still in the same spot he landed in, starind down at a 1967, canary yellow, Ford Mustang. The owner of the vehicle was paralyzed with fear, but the Dragon kept plaguing him questions about his car. And though the owner was scared, he had enough strength to answer some of them. The Dragon himself was a Western Dragon. He was silver with blue markings running down his back, and a blue mane of hair on his head. His body was built like a large panther, with the neck of a swan and four crushing, bird-like claws. On the Dragon's back was a pair of enormous bat wings. A long, thick tail coiled up around his legs. The Dragon sat on his haunches like a great tiger, staring down at the Mustang with curious, golden eyes. Kiryuu decided not to pick a fight with this Dragon, since it was not really destroying anything or killing anyone.

The Dragon turned around and his eyes locked onto Kiryuu's. His eyes widened when he saw the cybernetic dinosaur and he soon lost interest in the Mustang. He rose up onto all fours and just stared at Kiryuu with wonderment on his face. Kiryuu shifted his stance and crossed his arms.

"I am not going to attack you," Kiryuu began. "But I do need you to clear out of here."

"Of course, I understand," the Western Dragon replied. "I must be disturbing these nice people's daily lives. It's just that I'm so fascintated by all that is around me. This world has changed so much sinec I last saw it."

"It's changing still," Kiryuu said. "More than ever before. And it's causing quite an upset."

"I'm sure you would like to know why," the Dragon began. "I'd be willing to share with you that knoweldge. I'd be willing to explain to everyone why all of this is happening. This is your world as much as it is mine. You have the right to know."

"They do have the right to know," Kiryuu agreed. "What is your name, Dragon?"

"My name is Dunkelzahn," the Dragon replied. "And who and what are you?"

"I am Kiryuu Knight," Kiryuu replied. "And I am called a cyborg. A mixture of machine and flesh."

"So very interesting," Dunkelzahn breathed, scanning up and down Kiryuu's body. "You look very draconic, but you lack wings. But I didn't hear your foot steps, so it is assumed that you flew here. How are you able to fly without wings?"

"Technology," he said. "This world is filled with it."

"Technology," Dunkelzahn allowed that word to sink deep into his mind. "I wish to know more about technology. It seems we can learn form each other."

"It seems we can," Kiryuu nodded. He glanced down at the at the news reporters who were trying to capture this moment. "I'm afraid you will not be able to capture his voice on film. It's telepathic, recording devices won't hear it."

"How do you know of such things?" Dunkelzahn asked.

"I have a friend who is a Dragon," Kiryuu replied. "Perhaps you know him. His name is Malcho."

"Malcho?" Dunkelzahn asked. "I know him. He's a close friend of mine. You mean to tell me Malcho survived?"

"He's the only Dragon that remained awake," he said.

"Oh—thank heavens…" Dunkelzahn breathed. "I feared the worst for him. That's good that he's still alive. And you must be a good friend of his."

"He is a good friend of mine," Kiryuu said as he knelt down to the Dragon. Dunkelzahn was smaller than him, but from what he could see, it appeared if Dunkelzah were to rear up onto his hind legs and stand, he would come up to Kiryuu's neck. The Western Dragon was much bigger than Malcho. Dunkelzahn rumbled slightly and glanced around.

"Then, I'll need someone to speak for me as I tell the story," he said. "I wish to tell everyone what all is going on before I leave back to my lair."

"You are welcomed to do that," Kiryuu said. He glanced around and pointed to a reporter. "You, what is your name?"

"Sally Brightman," she replied. "Mr. Knight."

"How would you like to get the scoop on this Dragon and what he has to say?" he asked her.

"I would like that," she replied. "The world does need to know."

"Is she some sort of messenger?" Dunkelzahn asked.

"She's a reporter," said Kiryuu. "In a way, yes, she's a messenger—but she tells her message to all the people through her device that she carries. And the people will know."

"I shall take your word on it," Dunkelzahn said. "But right now I don't understand it."

Kiryuu chuckled as he settled down on the street. He elected himself as the translator of this Dragon for he also wanted to know what all is going on. There were things that Malcho has been hiding him and he had a feeling that Dunkelzahn would be the one who could tell him the whole truth. And so, he sat there, with the camera on him and the Western Dragon, saying everything—word for word what the Dragon had to say. It was a 12 hour interview with Sally and once it was over, Dunkelzahn kept his word and left promptly. But Kiryuu ahd a feel it would not be the last time he would see that Western Dragon—especially on TV. Dunkelzahn agreed to be called upon again to answer more questions when needed and he left a calling card to Kiryuu as well. Kiryuu gave a short interview himself to Sally after Dunkelzahn left to give his own point of view of the changes that were about to come.

"This world is always in constant flux," Kiryuu began as the camera was focused on him. "Sometimes it is just better to go with the flow than to fight against it. Granted, I am just as scared as any of you about the changes that are to come—not the changes themselves—but what they will soon bring to the people. The last thing I want is war started because of them. This is as Dunkelzahn has called the Awakened World. We are in a new age now—and we must learn how to live in this new age. I hope that mankind—all of mankind, not just humans, will learn from the changes and their mistakes. When the time comes, we will all face a tragety greater than that of King Ghidorah. Mankind must learn to work together to face it. If it doesn't, then may God have mercy on all of us."

The End…?

The Mechagodzilla X Series by C. W. Graham

Mechagodzilla X: AI Written 2002

Mechagodzilla XI: Doppleganger Written 2003

MechagodzillaXII: Desert Siege Written 2004

Mechagodzilla XIII: Into the Abyss Written 2004

Mechagodzilla XIV: Past, Present, Future Written 2006

The Music of Mechagodzilla X

Evenescence: Whisper, Bring Me to Life, Going Under, Weight of the World

Lynard Synyrd: Free Bird