Kaiju Attack!

Air Sergeant Michael Wynters had been tracking a pair of kaiju fliers for almost an hour. The creatures, commonly called ‘Blastcrows,’ were one of the weakest types of these monsters, crow-like creatures about the size of a large bus, capable of hurling electrical blasts from an odd silvery appendage on the top of their heads, the only part of their massive forms, aside from glowing red eyes, that was not a glossy black in color. He knew from experience that getting close to them was dangerous, not only for the lightning but also for the fact that their wings had extra “fingers” and could be used like hands. That, and these creatures were often used as scouts ahead of the more dangerous kaiju. His stealth fighter shadowed them for some time, when they suddenly veered off to the southwest of their former position and picked up speed. “Computer, are there any civilian targets in the area they are heading to?”

A warm, female voice replied: “Yes Sergeant. Obama High School from San Francisco has an artifact hunt going on at the abandoned automobile factory…”

He interrupted the voice: “Scramble available fighter craft - we have to protect those kids! Warn them now!”

The female voice replied: “Warning has been sent. Preparing craft for high-speed maneuvers before shifting to full combat mode.”

The pilot gritted his teeth and hoped backup would not arrive too late - he could handle one Blastcrow alone but two might be too much for him, and if they were leading one of the other types…

That thought was too horrible to contemplate as the scenery below became a blur and the black dots that he had been tailing grew larger and larger at his approach.

“Those are some ugly birds,” he commented. One of the Blastcrows spun around in the air to face him. Other than the size and the strange appendage on top of its head, it had one other difference to a terrestrial crow - a second, smaller set of eyes set in the front of its head. Those eyes now regarded him with a predatory gleam.

“Computer, emergency shift to combat mode NOW!” the pilot cried out.

****

On the ground, just barely beyond his range of vision, lay the factory that had drawn the monster’s attention. Several figures were seen rushing from the badly damaged building to the four heavily armored transport vehicles waiting outside. The armored vehicles were all painted yellow with the name of the school they came from followed by a four-digit number on each side. Each had a turret mounted on the top that held communications devices and a heavy machine gun.

At one of the entrances to the factory, two figures appeared to be having a heated conversation.

“But sir, I think Nicholas Sato may still be inside,” the red-haired girl argued with one of the teachers, a gray-haired man with golden skin named Emilio Suarez.

Teacher Suarez shook his head. “We sent the notice out; all students are to report to the transports. We are about to face a kaiju attack. He can’t still be inside…”

“But we found a door leading…”

“This place is fully mapped out. Any doors lead to the administrative offices or the file rooms. We have people sweeping those to find any stragglers, but everyone should have heard the announcement. Get in your bus and wait, or risk a failing grade - or worse, if you wait too long,” the teacher ordered. “Get moving!”

Sandra Cummings sighed. She wanted to go back in, to make sure Nick was safe, but she knew the teacher was right - all she had was a bio monitor and a tool kit, nothing useful in a fight. The two teachers searching, at least, had armored suits which boosted strength and provided a short term force fields for protection. They also had the teaching array - a set of sensors and communication devices that let them instantly communicate with any other teacher in the area, and with the nearest military base.

“You’re right, sir. Maybe he slipped out ahead of me and is safely one of the transports, even,” she replied, not believing a word she said, but knowing there was no point in arguing further. With a heavy heart, she boarded bus thirty-four-twenty-seven and, after scanning the faces present to verify that Nicholas was not among them, sighed again and took a seat near the middle of the vehicle.

As she did so, one of the students in the front yelled: “Fliers! I see one!”

Another, looking through a pair of binoculars, said: “There are at least two of them - and the other is engaging a Skylance!”

Most of the students tried to move toward the front of the bus for a better view, but the driver called out: “Resume your seats! I’ll drop the monitors!”

Large flat screens descended from the ceiling of the bus and immediately came to life, showing the surroundings. Quickly, cameras mounted on the front of the bus and in the turret all shifted position to focus on the creature flying very fast towards them.

The large black beast almost blocked the view of the battle occurring behind it. As it came into focus, the front bus began to move, and its machineguns began firing at the approaching monster.

***

In the sky overhead, Sergeant Wynters felt the airship shift from its normal reconnaissance and stealth mode to its slower moving but more versatile combat mode - the wings separated into two sections, with the front half reconfiguring into mechanical arms; the body of the ship also had two leg-like appendages emerge, each with their own small jets to keep the ship aloft. The cockpit bent forward about forty-five degrees and gained a narrow range of motion.

On the right side of the craft, the arm removed a long, slender item from the fuselage - the item that gave this type of craft its popular name - Skylance.

The other arm tapped three objects on its side of the craft, then settled on one, a minigun, and pulled it off of the ship's hull. The transformation and arming sequence took four precious seconds; enough time that Sergeant Wynters was barely able to move the ship fast enough to dodge the crow-thing’s lightning blast. He toggled a timer - if this was a standard Blastcrow, it would take thirty-seven seconds for the lightning blast to recharge, and he wanted to be ready for it.

He opened fire with the minigun, which battered the kaiju around in the air but did little or no actual harm to it. With the other arm, he slid the lance into a mount just beneath the cockpit, and energy began to crackle along its length. Taking careful aim, while the automated systems reloaded the minigun, he charged the airborne monster with his lance.

Unlike the bullets, the lance actually penetrated the monster’s hide, causing dark, almost purple, blood to drip out of its side. It let out a cry that had such volume and force, it rattled the sergeant’s Skylance and took him a moment to get his bearings. He fired the minigun again, and then realized the computer was saying something and took his attention off the fight for a second.

“Sir, additional planes are about three minutes out but there is another object incoming, below the ground.”

He cursed under his breath. “Do we have a profile - wait, let me make one more charge at this thing before showing it!”

He matched action to deed, and once more rushed the flying kaiju, his crackling lance extended. This time he hit the creature in the neck, and the lance pushed through.

He could see the life leave the creature’s eyes - but the relief of that moment was short-lived, as he realized that the monster was now wedged onto his lance; he would have to discard his most effective weapon!

Then he saw the profile of the creature approaching from underground and realized a damaged lance was suddenly the least of his worries.

“Dear God, is that a Drillgar?” he said.

“Cannot confirm until it surfaces, but the profiles match,” his computerized co-pilot replied.

On the ground below, the machine guns on the first bus proved slightly less effective on the approaching Blastcrow than the miniguns of the Skylance had - but when the second and third bus joined in, they managed to convince the creature to seek less active prey. The last teacher emerged from the ruin, two teenagers in tow, saw the monster and triggered his suit’s forcefield, which she extended to cover the two kids and moved quickly towards the one bus with its doors still open. The evil bird thing saw them, and dove down. The forcefield kept it at bay - but it grabbed the field in its talons and lifted it up off the ground. The teacher realized this would endanger the students and shut off her defense system; the bird lost its balance for a moment, spiraling away from the ground, but regained control quickly and focused its odd crest on the teacher. A bolt of lightning emerged, reducing the woman to a smoldering skeleton!

The two students she had been trying to save managed to reach the bus as she died, so her sacrifice was not in vain. As the doors shut behind them, the turret roared to life, adding its machine guns to the other two.

The bullets buffeted the creature around and it retreated slightly, just far enough that the automatic sensors stopped firing at it. There it waited for its blast to recharge, while the second bus began moving forward.

The driver of the second bus saw it first, even before Sergeant Wynter - a rippling in the ground, and then suddenly something emerged. It was long and slender, about the length of all four armored buses, end to end, but only a little wider. Four sets of small arms, two immediately below its oversized head, two about a quarter of the way down its body, emerged from its sides, and it had two short, thick, powerful legs near the base of the creature’s short tail. The head was covered in a massive bony ridge and ended in what looked like an enormous drill bit right above its mouth. Until it stood on its rear legs, the creature bore a strong resemblance to a fish called a gar, but it “swam” through the earth using the drill on its head, giving it the name ‘Drillgar.’ It let out a bizarre, high-pitched roar as it surveyed the area. The first bus opened fire on it, and the creature seemed completely immune to the weapons. It took a step forward, and then turned. As it turned, its relatively short tail struck part of the factory building and collapsed it into rubble.

Meanwhile, the passengers of the four armored transport vehicles were able to see the end of the fight between the Skylance and one of the Fliers - the Skylance had killed the creature but sacrificed its best weapon to do so!