[scikaiju]

Episode 7


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OP – Mercy Drive – Burn in my Light
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For a high tech place Ken was silently complaining at how cold this particular room was. Shirtless and sitting on some sort of exam table he endured the “doctor’s” examination of the red welts on his shoulder. Of course this examination consisted more of poking at those welts more than anything else which sent a brand new wave of pain through his arm with each one. Something he should have seen coming when Jess told him who he was during his first “visit” here. Finally there was one poke too many and he snapped, “Don’t you have something to build?”

Williams took a step back and said, “Mr. Richardson wanted you examined after each battle.”

“Can’t he get a ‘doctor’ doctor to do this?”

“Outside of Richardson and his assistant I’m the only other person who knows about you and Ultraman, or Daxium as you call him. So please bear with me, I don’t like this any more than you do.”

“Just remember I’m not a lab rat.” He poked his shoulder again, “Is that all you can do?” Williams went to poke it more time and Ken slapped the finger away, “Quit it.”

“How does the damage he takes affect you?” he asked rubbing his finger. “I’ve seen footage of you after a couple of battles, you seem to be in pain.”

“It depends on the damage Dax takes,” he answered grabbing his shirt on put it on trying to protect his shoulder. “If he’s just hit I’m feeling it for an hour or so later. If it’s anything like the last time something pierced his skin I’m going to be feeling it for a couple of days.”

“Interesting,” Williams muttered. “And you say he’s somewhere inside you? We did a full scan on you when you were brought in, they didn’t show anything.”

“He’s really good at hiding,” he said annoyed that they did that while he was out cold. “Is that all I got things to do.” He wasn’t sure what exactly, but he knew it involved something far away from here as possible.

“Just one more thing,” Williams said, “more out of curiosity than anything else. Does this Daxium have any names for his weapons?”

“Oh come on I want to get out of here,” Ken whined.

“Just humor me please, then you can go.”

“Oh all right,” Ken sighed in disgust. Williams went to a computer, and after first pulling up a picture with a lamp shade on top of his head, from New Years apparently, he showed a video of Daxium finishing off a monster with his arms crossed at the wrist. Ken looked like he was elsewhere for a moment before saying, “Dimensional Strom Ray.” Getting a strange look on his face he turned his head and whispered, “Really?”

“How should I know?”, Williams said before he realized what he just witnessed. Getting really excited as it dawned on him he exclaimed, “You’re talking to him? That’s nucking futs!”

Too stunned to do anything but blink he eventually went, “Nucking futs, you… really just said that?”

“Never mind that let’s keep going,” he said going back to the computer.

He showed footage of Daxium doing the move that drained a lot of his energy, “The whip was the light flash mixed in with the Hyper speed run.” Next was when he wrapped the whip around the creature and created that surge, “Light Stream.” Then he showed him in his red form pulling back his fist, “He already told me that one, it’s called the Giga Wave.” After was an image of him pulling his hands to his side, “Flash bolt,” and one of that jagged ring he formed, “Hyper Saw.”

“Excellent, now if…”

Ken cut him off, “What did I say about being a lab rat?”

“How does your giant friend feel about going on?”

Ken got that far away look again before saying, “He says if you don’t let us out of here right now he will find a way to step on you.”

“No he didn’t,” Williams protested. Ken’s only response was to raise an eyebrow slightly. Suddenly feeling unsure of himself Williams backed up and conceded, “All right you can go.”

“Thanks doc, don’t say it hasn’t been fun, because it hasn’t.” Making sure the Spark Magnifier was still in his possession he left the room as fast as he could.

“I did not say that,” Daxium said in his head.

“He don’t know that.” Ken looked back as Williams left the room and headed in the other direction. “Anything?”

Daxium’s answer was a simple, “No.”

Frowning a bit he muttered, “Wasn’t him then.”

***
Dinner was more of the same as Ken silently watched from his table as everybody gave him more space then was necessary. Some people doubled up at some tables to avoid sitting with the “civilian”. Ryo was the only person who seemed to greet him, yet he still sat elsewhere. Looking at what was left on his tray and realizing he wasn’t that hungry any more he dumped it in the trash. Leaving the cafeteria he ignored the looks some of them were giving him. Man, this was more and more like high school before he started dating Jessica. Speaking of there she was coming around the corner. She saw him and quickly went in the other direction. What the hell? “Jessica wait up.”

When he caught up to her she stiffly said, “Can I help you civilian?”

“Don’t start with the civilian bullshit,” he said getting in front of her. “What is going on?”

She walked past him saying, “What makes you think something is going on?”

“How you’re acting for one,” he said following her. “I brought here against my will and you act like it’s the old days. But now that I’m here voluntarily,” more or less, mainly less, “you’re acting like I ran over your cat.”

“Just tell me one thing,” said facing him. “Just tell how much talking did you have to do to get Richardson to place you on Alpha Team?”

“Is that what this is about?”, he asked. “Look I don’t know what kind of pull you think I had in this situation but I’m a mechanic. I thought they were going to put me in the garage or the hanger or the motor pool or whatever the hell you call them around here. Never in my wildest dreams did I think they would put me in a field unit, much less this one.” Snorting he added, “And my dreams could get pretty wild.”

“I remember,” she said almost, almost, smiling but managed to keep a straight face. “So you didn’t weasel your way onto Alpha Team because I’m on it?” He stopped and stared at her “What?”

“Is you being this self centered a relatively new thing or did I just not notice when we were dating?”

“I haven’t seen you in years, suddenly we’re bringing you in then you’re a team member. What am I supposed to think?” Ken had a response but kept it to himself remember some arguments they had in the past, so he just shrugged his shoulders. They continued walking as she said, “Captain Hawk asked me about the reason you gave him for agreeing to join, you trying to help your mom and niece.”

“What did you tell him?”

She hesitated a bit before saying, “I said that sounded like you to a tee. He seemed a little surprised I backed up your story, but then again I know you.”

“At least somebody around here is on my side, somewhat. Oh speaking of my niece,” he pulled out and opened his wallet, “I said I’d show you a picture of her.”

“She’s a cutie,” Jess said taking the picture from him.

“Yeah, fortunately she looks more like Janet then Jeff,” he joked.

“Maybe she’ll be a genius like her uncle,” she said with a sly smile.

“You heard about that huh?”, Ken said taking back the picture.

“The Captain mentioned it off hand.”

“You should have seen the file.” He quoted what he read, “Genius level aptitude at anything mechanical. There had to be a mistake made somewhere,” he said. “That had to be for somebody else and it got into my file by accident.”

“Wait,” Jess stopped him, “you actually don’t think you’re that smart?”

His only answer was “It’s me, plain ol’ Ken Scott. There nothing special about me” Outside of the alien giant from another dimension.

“And that’s Jeff talking,” she told him. “Everybody else knew how smart you are. Why did you think my dad offered to help you pay for college?”

“I thought he was trying to get me as far away from you as possible.”

“Well probably that too,” she did smile that time. Looking around a bit she said, “I guess I should officially welcome you to the team.”

“That would be nice, you’re pretty much stuck with me until the higher ups in charge change their minds. Or until I kick Water’s ass. Whichever comes first.”

“I’ll make sure to look the other way. Friends?”, she extended a hand.

He took it, “Friends. But no privileges, I have a reputation to maintain.”

“You are not all that,” she told him.

“That’s not what you were saying back in high school.”

“I was taking pity on you.”

***
“Morning Harold,” Brooks said as he passed him in the garage. Richardson told Patricia to head on without him as he stopped. Still as his bodyguard she hovered near an entrance and watched them. “Lovely day isn’t it?”

“Yes it is,” he agreed. “Is that why you’re apparently calling it an early day Peter? It’s not even eight o’clock yet.”

“My Father’s secretary just called a few minutes ago,” the younger Brooks answered. “Apparently somebody is trying to force a merger behind his back. Since he’s still out of town I intend to stop it before it goes too far.”

“Yes, Stanley said something about it over the phone while I was on my way here. Well if you’re as much like your father like I think you are the poor bastards won’t know what hit them.”

“Thanks Harold,” he laughed, “hopefully I’ll live up to his reputation. While I have a few minutes how is your little experiment going? I heard he had quite the interesting first day on the job.”

“Apparently, Hawk said to me last night he was going to start training him properly today with the engineer final they came up with a few years ago.”

“Yes Hawk mentioned to me as well,” Peter said. “I believe he said Scott eyes lit up a bit when he heard about it last night. He wasn’t sure why though.”

“Who can tell with people now a days. Well give them hell Peter, I won’t feel sorry for them.” Shaking hands they headed in opposites directions.

***
One more time Ryo showed Ken where he had to go. Any other day he might have complained about the beds around here. Seriously, an HQ this advanced they could only get mattresses that felt like concrete? But not today, he was more than ready for what was coming. He almost knocked over Ryo when he pointed out the room he was going to. Inside he saw an man who looked less than pleased to be there. Wearing the same uniform as the others he had a tool belt around his waist. Next to him was some king of control panel with an access plate that was open. Ken started salivating a little as Ryo made sure he didn’t run toward it, “Give him a chance to start it man.”

“So this is the civilian,” he said looking Ken over, not hiding the fact he was unimpressed. “I’m Chief Marcus Albright, head of the engineering divisions. If you are going to work on the vehicles around here you’re going to have to go through me. Now Captain Hawk, for some reason, said he wants you to take the engineering final. Now here how it works, you’re going to get a set of tools…”

“And I got to try and fix it before it blows,” he said tucking his ponytail into this shirt. Grabbing the set of tools he got in position he said, “Start the thing already.” Albright activated the test and Ken slid deeper into the console.

“How much about this test did you tell him?” Albright asked Ken.

Ryo just looked at him, “You know he betaed this back in the academy right?”

“Betaed?”, Albright asked confused.

Before he could answer there was an electronic sizzle and a “Damn it,” coming from the opening.

Ryo looked at the hole before continuing, “Beta tested. They tried out the prototype back when we were in the academy. Ken was one of the people they picked for the trials. He must have took it at least thirty times in those two weeks. He swore he was close to beating it each time. I think he was still working it out in his head since then.”

“If he worked it that much then he should know by now that this test is designed to be unbeatable. It starts at about critical and we don’t give them all the proper tools to fix it. It’s like that Maru something or another on that old show, nobody beats it they’re just delaying it. It doesn’t take a genius to know that.” As he was talking Ryo noticed several of the red lights slowly start to go back to green. Before too long Albright noticed as well. “What the hell?”

Ryo couldn’t help but grin at the situation, “You never watched a lot of TV did you?”

Ken popped out of the hole not looking as satisfied as Ryo thought he would. “I kinda jury rigged something here and I don’t know how long it’s going to last.” Both of them knelt down to see an extendable wrench loosely connecting to cables together. “If I can get something that will actually fix this thing that would be great.” Red lights started flashing on the console again and an alarm went off. “Damn it,” he muttered. Looking around he noticed another wrench sticking out of Albright’s belt. “Are you using that?”, he asked before taking it and sliding back in.

***
Hawk had read Albright’s initial report that he had sent in after Scott completed the test. Scott was able to delay the “explosion” for longer than anticipated, in fact his time and score was comparable to some of the scientists they had under employ, even his methods were a tad unorthodox, Albrights words. He wasn’t sure what his recommendation was going to be according to this report. Still he wanted to see’s Scott’s reaction to the test. He found him in one of the break rooms with Scott saying, “I was close this time, let me take another shot at it.”

“You were only scheduled for one test.” Ryo reminded him.

“But I almost have it figured out,” he argued, “I just need another crack at it.”

“I never figured that your white whale would be a test,” Hawk said making his presence known. Ryo snapped to attention. Scott just looked at him. They were going to have to work on that. “Ryo, our new Wings need to be inspected. Bill’s already going over one, check out two since you have the spare time.”

“Yes sir,” he said leaving.

“Scott, walk with me.” Surprisingly he did so without a fuss. “Tell me the purpose of that test I had you take.”

“To delay a critical explosion for as long as possible so as many people as possible can get away safely,” he said without any enthusiasm. That changed with the next sentence, “But I can save a ton of people if I can fix the problem and keep it from happening.”

“Look Scott I appreciate your dedication to this particular problem,” he told him, “but it’s that type of tunnel vision gets people killed in real life. And you won’t have the luxury of a redo. I want you focused but not to a point that you’re a danger to yourself and others, is that understood?”

“Yes sir,” he sighed.

“But if you keep your nose clean for the next few weeks I’ll try to arrange another go for you, but only if you keep your nose clean.”

“I can do that,” Ken said a little too eagerly.

“In the meantime though you’re going to study.”

“I been hitting those regulations they gave me since last night.”

“Good, but that’s not what I’m talking about.” Ken looked confused so he enlightened him. “As your commanding officer I’m going to help you live up to that new genius label of yours. I’ve already contacted the academy administrations to find out where you left off. We’ll go from there.”

Ken looked more confused now than he did before, “Why are you going that far for somebody who’s been forced on you?”

“For one very simple reason son,” he said, “I believe everybody under me should live up to their full potential, including you. And seeing how you didn’t discover how high your potential went we have a lot of catching up to do.”

“I’m just a grease jockey.”

“For now, if I have my way you’ll be a lot more by the time I’m done with you. Now head down to the hanger, I want you familiar with the Razor Wings operating parameters before our next assignment, is that understood?”

“Yes sir,” he said and headed on his way. Although Hawk overheard him mutter, “Why does everybody think there’s more to me than what there is?” Yeah this was going to be a challenge if he stayed in that mindset.

***
“This is taking too long!”, one of his masters cried decreed through the portal. Sometimes, like now, they would show their anger by having a strong bolt of dark energy emerge from the portal. The Avatar learned not to be impressed by the display as it hit various objects in the cavern. Still it was an impressive light show though. “Why is it taking so long to establish a beachhead in this dimension?”

“Humanity would not just lie down my masters,” he said trying not to sound board. “I told you this when you first recruited me. Of course we have the added problem of the light giant.”

“Yes,” his master said slowly, “he has been a bigger threat than anticipated. Have you discovered which human is hiding him yet?”

“No,” he lied, “he always disappears before I can get a pinpoint on the human’s location. Of course the monsters you are sending me are more than a tad noticeable so he is probably forewarned ahead of time.”

“Your observations would be correct,” his master said. Another shape came into view. As he watched it looked like it was saying something to the first one. “Yes that should be sufficient.” The other shape disappeared and his master moved what he assumed was a hand. Dark energy formed in front of him in the shape of a map. “Avatar, we will be sending a creature called Neronga here. It has a special ability that should keep the light giant in the dark. Get there at once.”

“Yes my masters,” he said with a slight bow. The portal closed and he started sneering. One of these days he would show them that they were nothing in this world without him. But that was for later. As it was he was slightly curious they meant about that special ability. And he was curious to see how Ken Scott and Ultraman were going to react to it.

***
Anything?”, Hawk asked as he walked into the war room. Ryo, Bill and Bridge were going over every report and call they had been getting for the past couple of week. Weeks of multiple monster sightings and hits from their detection system. And weeks of nothing when they or another unit got there. There were small signs of something large going through the area but no monster in sight. Right now he had Jess and Ken out in the field to investigate the last couple of sightings to see if they could find anything the first time.

“Still the same Captain,” Ryo answered.

“But we’re trying to map the sightings at the moment,” Bridge said. “Try to see if there’s some sort of pattern we can predict or a path to follow. I’m starting with the sightings here and connecting those with the hits we detected.”

“I still think somebody’s playing a joke on us,” Bill said. “Somebody had to have gotten into our system and set off the alarms.”

“And not with the system I’ve set up,” Bridge said and very getting annoyed with repeating. “There are layers on top of layers of security programming and protocols to get through to even get to the alarm system.”

“Maybe our resident genius had something to do with it,” Bill smirked.

“He’s not that type of genius Bill,” Hawk reminded him.

“And he’s not an actual team member either but he’s still here,” Bill shot back.

Ignoring that last comment Hawk turned toward Bridge, “How are we doing with that pattern?”

“We have a general idea of one.” Manipulating the image he made red dots appear marking the sightings so far. “The sightings seem to be focused in this area here,” he said pointing to the highlighted area.

“Is there anything in this area that sticks out?”

“Nothing that any of us are seeing,” Ryo said. “There’s that mountain range over here but it’s not close to any of the areas of activities.”

“That range has been checked over more than once,” Hawk informed him. “From the ground and air.”

“That might leave the underground,” Bridge said thinking it over. Fingers flying over the keyboard the map changed to show known underground caverns in the mountain range.

“Don’t tell me it’s another electricity eating rock monster,” Bill complained.

“There hasn’t been any reports of power loss,” Ryo reminded him.

Getting an incoming call Hawk hit his communicator, “Hawk here.”

“Captain,” Jess replied, “we might have found something. Ken took a scan of it and he’s uploading it to you now.” After a minute or so of nothing she said, “Ah Ken, start with the transmitting.”

Over the line they heard him say, “I just remembered how to take an image with this thing give me a moment.”

“Give it here,” she said. There was a brief argument between them before they started getting the scan upload on their end.

“I almost had it,” Ken complained.

“Oh yeah, they dated” Ryo smirked. Bill got a chuckle out of it as well.

“We’re getting the image now Jess,” Hawk said. “What did you get?”

“I think pretty good proof people are seeing something.” Bridge brought the image up for all of them to see. Hawk leaned in as they all saw the gigantic footprint on the ground.

“So I’m guessing we didn’t get hacked then,” Bill said.

“If we did we’re dealing with somebody dedicated to the joke,” Ryo commented.

“Have you found any more?”, Hawk asked them.

“Just the one so far,” she answered. “Ken eyeballing the footprint at being just slightly larger than a Scan Track.”

“Scott, for future reference I usually don’t take guesstimates in an official report,” Hawk said.

“I’ll remember to bring my tape measure next time,” he said. Hawk just raised an eyebrow at the statement. “I just stepped in it deep didn’t I?”

Jess quickly said, “We’ll look for more of the prints and question some of the locals on if they saw anything, Wade out. Before the connection cut completely they heard, “Would you think…”

“Definitely dated,” Ryo smirked again.

Bill joined in, “Any bets on how long civilian is going to last?”

***
A couple of days after they discovered the footprints, and they found several, they were able to get a small idea on what they were dealing with. Based on how some of the prints were spaced and what few eyewitness accounts they could get they were dealing with something that walks on all fours. Bridge was able to get a rough length from how they were spaced as well, but that was about it. Each of the eyewitnesses seemed to describe a different four legged beast. Still they were able to narrow the search parameters now. Although right now Ken was hanging onto a railing trying to get his stomach to settle down after Ryo landed their Razor Wing at an air field near one of the sightings. “Hang out here for a minute,” Ryo told him. “The local police chief wanted to talk about our search.”

“And we couldn’t have taken a Scan Track for this why?”, Ken asked.

“Because we’re in the next round of air searches,” Ryo said. “I shouldn’t be long.” Not to mention Bill was part of the ground search on this one and the Captain thought two of them in one vehicle was a bad idea at this point.

“Take your time,” Ken said holding his stomach. Ryo winced a bit, trying not to think of the two of them up in the air.

The meeting with the police chief didn’t start out much better, “I really wish you people would leave. You’re stirring up people more than necessary and making my job harder as a result.”

“We’re trying o help ease the situation,” Ryo tried to assure him. “We have proof, that we showed you, that something is out there. Unfortunately this is the area the creature has been spotted the most.”

“A creature nobody has apparently seen,” the Chief shot back. “A couple of pranksters take advantage of some mass hysteria is enough to mobilize the army apparently. Why don’t you take on a real problem like that giant guy, he causes as much damage as those monsters.”

“We’re looking into the situation,” he said not wanting to have this discussion with somebody else since there was no easy way to explain Richardson’s order. The Chief started to say something else before a monstrous roar made both of them duck. Running outside he saw Ken looking in a particular direction, “Did you see anything?”

“I saw through something,” he said mysteriously while looking confused himself.

“You’re talking nonsense,” the Chief told him.

“There was something there,” he insisted, “but it was see through. Then it disappeared entirely.” Daxium was able to tell where it was going since they were this close to it. Unfortunately Ken had to make something up on how he knew, “It looked like it was heading in that direction.”

Ryo tapped his communicator, “Watanabe to Hawk, Ken might have spotted the creature. If he’s right it might be able to turn invisible.”

“fF all the nonsense…” the Chief started to say.

“Get in the air now,” Hawk ordered, and see if you can track it. I’ll have Bridge get a lock on your Razor Wing and we’ll try to figure out a way to cut it off.”

“That damn fool believed that story?”, the Chief spat.

Not even bothering hiding his annoyance Ryo looked him right in the eyes, “That damn fool as you called him has seen more strange creatures up close than you can possibly imagine. Come on Ken, let’s see if we can follow the trail.” He just held on to his stomach.

Once they were in the air Ryo was able to spot the trial it was making easy enough. Feeding what they were seeing to the ground teams and Castle. Bridge was able to determine it was heading toward a nearby city. “We’re going to try to head it off on the outskirts as best we can,” Hawk said. “It’s traveling too fast for us to set up anything further away.”

Not taking his eyes off the control panel Ken offered, “Maybe we can distract it with a couple of missiles.”

“It’s a good idea Captain,” Ryo said, “we might be able to slow it down to give you more time if nothing else.”

“We don’t know what type of damage it can take,” Hawk told them. “And if you make it mad enough it could come after you and you wouldn’t know it. Keep tracking it while we set up things on our side, Hawk out.”

“Don’t say I never tried,” Ken said. They followed it for a few miles as the city came into view as well as the force that was waiting for a target.

“Looks like the party is almost ready to start,” Ryo commented.

“I’ll take your word for it,” he replied clutching the white bag.

Back at Castle Bridge announced, “I think I narrowed down it’s location based on Razor Wing 2’s sensor.”

“Send it,” Hawk ordered. “Scan Tracks twenty to twenty-four and Razor Wings ten through twelve fire off a round at those coordinates. Let’s see if we can make it show itself.” Several missiles fired off as cannons fired from the ground and zeroed in on the programmed coordinates. Some hit the ground, some exploded in midair as they hit something. A roar of pain was followed y the creature showing itself. With a brown hide and ridges on it’s back, a giant horn on it’s nose seemed to have a slight glow to it. “There it is, all units fire!” Ryo got their Razor Wing out of the way as the other units unleashed their firepower. The monster’s horn started to glow as it’s ears moved toward it and a wild arc of electricity shot out. “Shit that thing shoots electricity too,” Hawk curded

“Ken hold it down!” Ryo shouted as he tried to make sure they weren’t hit by the arcs. It wasn’t good enough as his controls sparked and exploded around him, “Argh!”

“Ryo, Ken get out of there!,” Hawk shouted seeing the damage from his vantage point. Ken went for his ejector seat when he noticed Ryo wasn’t moving.

“Ryo?”, Ken reached over and shook him as best as he could. “Ryo! I think Ryo’s out!” he said over the line. Survival instincts kicked in as he vaguely recalled how to switch flight control over to him as Hawk ordered him to get out. Getting control of the stick he tried to steady their decent and head toward the city. Forgetting exactly where he was he pulled up on the stick and got the nose up for a few yards before they hit the ground. Then they crashed.

Leaving Jamira in command for a moment Hawk, Bill and Jess took their Scan Track to the crash site. They found the mangled jet and Ken with a bleeding cut on his forehead under Ryo’s arm as he helped him away from the wreckage. “Watanabe, Scott are you alright?”, Hawk asked as Bill went to help Ken with Ryo.

“Still here Captain,” Ryo said trying to stand on his own. “Thanks to Ken.”

“Ken good job,” Hawk told him. “You didn’t bail out on your partner in a dangerous situation. I’m proud of you.” Ken, who started to look a little green, gave him a weak thumbs up as he started rocking back and forth. Pointing to his right he said, “There’s a trash can over there.” Ken’s hand went to his mouth as his cheeks puffed out as he ran for it. “Ryo you can sit the rest of this one out.”

“I’m good to go Captain,” he insisted. “Just point me at that thing while we can still see it.

“Alright then,” he nodded. “Ryo get in the Scan Track with Jess, Bill and myself…”

“Blegh!” cut him off as Ken threw up in the trash can. They all winced a little from the sound. Jess started to go to him but Hawk stopped her.

“He’ll be fine. Scott stay here, we’ll meet up with you later. The rest of you get in the Scan Track. We got to stop that thing before it breaks the line.”

“Yes sir,” they shouted. Ken got his stomach under control after they left and pulled out the Spark Magnifier.

***
Appearing from a column of light Daxium took a fighting stance, “Shiah!” Neronga roared in challenge at the new threat as the giant ran toward him, stopping so he was right between the creature and the city. “What is the giant doing?”, Jamira asked over the line.

“I think Ultraman is trying to help us defend the line,” Hawk said. The four legged monster tried to get around him but Daxium kept getting in his way. Seeing the horn glow again Daxium spread his arms and formed the energy shield in front of him to deflect the electrical attack. Dropping the field the giant ran in, Neronga reared up on his hind legs to meet him. Grappling for a bit Daxium forced the creature down to the ground. Getting on top of the creature he started pounding on it with his fist. Picking it up he pushed it further away from the line. Neronga tried to use it’s tail to knock him down as he got up. Daxium easily jumped over it but was caught off balance as Neronga jumped up as he landed.

Grunting as he crashed to the ground he couldn’t react in time as Neronga jumped right on top of him. Swiping his clawed feet at his head a couple of times he walked over the fallen giant and continued on toward the city. “Damn it,” Hawk cursed as he hit the side of the Scan Track. “All units open fire!” Neronga roared again and fired the electric beam that took out several Scan Tracks and Razor Wings. Daxium slowly got up to his feet, crossed his arms and flung them down as he went into Hyper Mode. Holding out his right hand he extended the Light Flash from his fingertips. Swinging it above his head a couple of times he wrapped it around the creature’s neck and pulled. The monster choked out a protest as it struggled to go forward.

Daxium started to draw in energy for the Light Stream to finish this quickly when Neronga suddenly jumped backwards crashing into him. In Hyper Mode the creature as able to easily batter him around. He was able to get enough room to flip backwards himself and kick the monster under the chin in the process. Two extended fingers quickly drew a circle in the air forming the Hyper Saw as the jewel started flashing red.

The Saw sliced through the creature’s tail cutting half of it off. As it thrashed on the ground in pain Daxium switched over to Power Mode and went at Neronga. Grabbing him by the neck he picked him up and slammed him down head first on the ground. Picking him up again he held him over his head and threw him away from the city. Hawk saw him put a fist by that jewel. “Of shit he’s using it again. Any unit in the target zone get the hell out of there now!” As the giant reared the fist back Neronga tried to surprise him again by jumping at him. Daxium threw the punch and caught Neronga mid jump in the chest. The unfocused energy of the Giga Wave obliterated him on contact. Watching for a moment as the particles that was left of Neronga floated away and burned out he flew off into the sky, “Shiah!”

***
With a fresh bandage and wrap on his forehead Ken laid on the bed in is room. He was feeling weaker than usual after Dax returned him. Daxium said he was feeling it and put it down to the fact their bodies weren’t used to multiple form changes in a battle yet. Of course that crash landing didn’t do him any favors either. A chime at his door that he probably spent too much time deciding to ignore or not got him up. When the door opened he was shocked to see Hawk standing on the other side. “Oh crap I missed a meeting or something didn’t I? I’m sorry I had to lie down for…”

“Easy Ken,” He said. “I postponed it for later. Ryo need to rest up some too. So how are you doing son?”

“I’ve been better,” Ken answered honestly.

“I figured as much,” Hawk chuckled. “Ken, you acted like a real member of the team out there today. So let me to officially welcome you to Monster Squad.” He reached for something in the hallway and showed him a UNDF uniform jacket. It took a Ken a moment to realize the tag held the name Scott. “You officially can’t wear a full uniform but I pulled a few strings and got you this. We all agreed that you deserved at least this much.”

Ken took it not sure what to say or do, “I… thank you…” He tried it on and looked himself over in the mirror. After he was disqualified from the academy he positive he was never going to wear one of these. Despite at how he was forced to join now he started to smile.

“Looks like a perfect fit,” Hawk commented. “Do us proud son.”

“Yes sir,” Ken saluted him. Hawk returned it and left the room. He was a step closer but he was going to make Ken a full part of this team yet if it killed him.


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ED – Shinedown – Fly from the Inside
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