The not-dinosaur's massive head smashed into the soft dirt, sending a shockwave that knocked Sevii and Laik, along with several villagers, off their feet. The monster's giant maw clapped shut over the portal—along with a villager or two.
Muffled screams poured from the monster's mouth, fading with distance as the monster reared back.
"Go, now!" Laik yelled, climbing to his feet while Sevii helped others to their own. Together, the wolf and fox ushered the stun locked people to safety, tossing them into the rift, one after the other.
People screamed in terror at the sight of the giant's eye, exposed as the creature tilted its head sideways like a bird, drawn once again by the aura from Laik's teleportal. A snake-like hiss escaped its maw as it worked out the scenario below as a large glob of saliva escaping the corner of its mouth.
It struck the ground nearby, splashing its sickly fluids onto an escaping villager; a young woman beastfolk; a triceratops herself, long since separated from her originating species by millions of years.
The woman screamed in bloody terror, swiping madly at her arm where the fluid had touched her scaly skin. She threw herself away from the portal to safety; smacking against the ground as she tried helplessly to wipe the fluid away, but to no avail.
Laik funneled the last of the villagers into the rift and had been stepping through himself as the woman cried out in agony.
"Go, I'll get her!" Sevii shouted. Laik, in an unusual state of hesitancy, looked at the fox as she rushed toward the woman crying out in agony on the meadow floor, then up at not-dinosaur.
Right as it was bringing its massive foot down on him.
Sevii had seen. Her eyes moving from the triceratops at the very last second, the monster moving its leg in slow motion, lifting its foot into the night sky, leveling it with the portal—with Laik.
And she moved in a burst of speed that only a beastfolk could muster. She shoved the wolf into the portal with an open palm, feeling the sharp displacement of air around the rift as the monster's foot came down! She bounded away, clearing the foot at the very last second, feeling the tips of her sneakers scrape the creature's scaly underfoot.
Fox and triceratops tumbled through the air like dust motes caught in a hurricane gust; powerless against the shockwave as they tumbled away from one another, the woman screaming in agony while Sevii attempted to right herself amidst the fray—but it was too late. The not-dinosaur opened its giant mouth and bent forward!
The blue fox saw a light. An impossibly bright blue glow that all encompassed her sense of sight! It really had been the end, and she felt in what she assumed were the last seconds of her life that she was at least happy that her family had escaped alongside Laik and—
KABOOM!
~
He watched from the darkness. His massive size hidden by the shadows as the Tyrannosaurus Rex, or some bizarre mutation of one, tore through the unnatural settlement. He who had watched over the planet Nostal for centuries, rising from the depths of the deepest ocean trenches only when the planet needed his help.
The threat before him, as devastating as it was toward the planet's smaller natives, was hardly a world-ending threat. Strange as it was, appearing to be a dinosaur from Nostal's ancient past, but as tall as he was, with more awkward proportions.
As the planet's self-appointed guardian, it was time he stepped forward.
~
A blue, fiery beam struck the not-dinosaur in its gut, causing a series of explosions that ripped away flesh with each burst of fiery energy. The monster roared in agony as its entire body went rigid before falling backward onto what little remained of the NDF encampment.
Sevii braced herself for the impact as the titanic beast fell, quaking the ground beneath her feet and causing what few buildings remained to topple over.
"What… the heck…?!"
Her eyes traced where the ray of light had come from, following to…
The fox's silvery eyes went wide at the sight of yet another monster, lumbering about the in darkness, barely illuminated by the flames as it brought down its own massive foot mere yards away.
The screaming woman momentarily forgotten, her eyes followed the monster's four-toed foot skyward, its legs covered in thick green scales mottled with black splotches. Its legs were much wider than those of the other monster, with more defined muscles at its haunches.
Too dark to make out any other features beyond the odd glowing blue light coming from the creature's back, Sevii snapped herself out of her stunned reverie—literally slapping herself—as she refocused.
"Hey, are you okay? She asked, kneeling beside the woman, whose features now less resembled a triceratops and like… like… "Oh god." The fox took several steps away; whatever had happened to Mr. Beshear had happened to this poor woman, her limbs… even the horns on her head, they've…
SKREEEEOOOONNNKK! The new monster roared, forcing Sevii to cover her ears in pain. The downed not-dinosaur replied with a pained roar of its own as it clumsily climbed back up to its feet.
Sevii fled. The sight of the woman's empty eyes, the roars of the monsters, and the heat from the fire had become too much; knowing she'd regret leaving the woman behind later, her feet propelled her forward anyway, from the two monsters as they clashed.
"I'm sorry… I'm so, so sorry…" Sevii screamed internally as she ran.
~
The green-scaled monster shouldered the not-dinosaur as the two collided. Ribs cracked as the titans collided. Pain filled the air as the not-dinosaur roared in wheezing agony.
Lung punctured by a broken rib did little to slow the return attack as the not-dinosaur opened its massive mouth and bit down on the new monster, digging its teeth deep into its shoulder.
Anchoring itself with one leg and balancing with the other, the big-headed tyrannosaurus-like monster violently—and quickly—jerked its head back. The expectation surely being a large swath of flesh and gore was to follow, but instead, it's found its foe to be unflinching, and more staggeringly so, undamaged.
The green and black-scaled monster, for whom the not-dinosaur now found its teeth stuck within, gripped its foe and attempted to bite the predator's neck using its five-fingered claw—and squeezed!
Panic set in as the not-dinosaur began to thrash its head in a desperate attempt to free itself, pulling teeth from its gums in a bloody spray across its foe's shoulder. The newer, stronger monster clutching the not-dinosaur's windpipe, digging its claws through scale and flesh.
Feeling eternal nothingness creeping and sparking the survival instinct into a blaze, the not-dinosaur thrust itself forward, colliding with its much stronger foe's body, sending the two titans tumbling over one another, destroying what remained of the camp and scattering the ashes of the rest.
~
"Laik, look." Athena said, the wolf barely cresting the top of the hill as she shouted. The land flooded with an inky darkness that enveloped the whole Lakeside town area. Where the headlights of cars going in and out of town once dotted the highway, now barely an outline hides in the shadows.
"They're killing each other." Laik said, noting the clash of the titans to the north; their massive figures mere shadowy outlines—until one of them began to glow.
~
Sevii, like most beastfolk Nostalians, was speedy; with most being able to match the animal kingdom's cheetah land speed. The ran and ran until she was completely clear of the ravaged military camp. Those who staffed it previously had long since departed, or met a grim fate…
The sounds behind her propelled her forward, as if an earthquake had collided with a thunderstorm and were tumbling about across the landscape. Not even the worst storms in Lakeside's history sounded remotely like the chaos playing out in her blind-spot.
Monster roars mingled with earth being torn asunder, as metal piping used for makeshift framework, fabric and tarps were decimated.
And that poor woman.
The fox was unsure if it was the memory of the woman's mangled, mutilated body in her mind's eye or the increasingly harsh blue light that stopped her in her tracks.
But she stopped, for one reason or another.
From out of the darkness, the tip of a massive tail came crashing down beside her, knocking the stun-locked vixen to the ground. Her eyes grew wide with the glowing blue light emanating from the bone-like plates jutting out of the tail; their size increasing as she followed the trailing blue light with her eyes.
All along the new monster's back were dorsal fins, bone-like. Three separate sets running down the creature's back with a large, prominent crown-like plate where she imagined the creature's spinal cord started.
Blue light steadily filled the plates, like liquid into a container, pouring out of somewhere deep within the monster's body!
This close, the light was blindingly bright. She could see the opposing monster, the one that had attacked the camp, climbing to its unsteady feet; an expression of uncertainty across its reptilian face, mirroring that on her own.
~
Light poured into the dorsal of the new monster; like liquid, the light filled the plates from their tips, spilling out from somewhere deep within. The dorsal plates glowed brighter and brighter with each passing of energy.
The green-scaled monster turned its alligator-like yellow eyes to the stumbling dinosaur, and he almost felt a sense of pity for the creature, whatever it was, for what was about to happen.
But order had to be kept.
And so, the energy his own body created and that he instinctively knew how to use, burst forth from his mouth! The membranous flesh between his upper and lower jaw burned, sizzled and popped against the beam of blue energy—the only semblance of pain from this act.
A blue beam of energy, dense and laser-like, struck the ground at his foe's feet first, ripping it apart as explosions were born as a result. The big-headed dinosaur paused, leaving himself open.
He let loose another blast, this time aimed directly at the monster's body. Small arms and an elongated, upright torso meant zero defenses as the sharp beam struck flesh! Dancing across the monster, explosions caused in its wake rendered flesh and muscle as its body rapidly caught fire under the blast.
Within seconds, the monster was engulfed in flames as a pained, melancholy growl escaped its throat.
The bigger, meaner monster threw its head back and let loose with a triumphant roar that would be heard for miles across the land!
~
"My gosh…" Athena said with a muffled voice, her hands covering her mouth. The sight of the smaller monster falling to the ground and exploding in a fiery show of death at the center of the darkened landscape. "I think I'm going to throw up."
The roar of the victorious monster had finally made its way across the land, to Lakeside's borders, and to the Nostalian's ears who watched the fight from a distance.
"Then you sit back," Laik said, as a new rift opened behind them, lighting up the hilly roadside. A wavy image of Sevii, fur ruffled, collapsed to her knees appeared. "I'm going to bring Sevii back."
Days later...
A dark cloud descended over the valley of Lakeside following that eventful night. None other than the region's rainy season, but aptly timed following the death and destruction that occurred there.
Thanks to the heroic exploits of Laik and Sevii, the overwhelming majority of the captive Lakeside citizens had been rescued from the military camp before the monster's destructive conflict unfolded.
That night…
As the fight between the colossal animals played out north of town, the military guard unit from the NDF — The Nostalian Defense Force — approached Laik as he hurried the refugees into the abandoned motel.
"You had these people locked up like—" the wolf had barked, but cut himself short. Most Lakeside's population was composed of beastfolk, and while his kind all shared similarities to the animal kingdom, both extinct and mythical alike, referring to them as 'animals' never sat well with him.
The square-cut commander took Laik aside as Athena scurried up the dark road; eager to see what she could make of the town and camp.
"I see you rescued the townsfolk; you have my gratitude, Mr. Drahcir. What I did in abandoning them was… disgraceful. However." The man said, his head turning to the mutilated, crumpled existence of the elderly human Sevii's family had rescued.
"As you can see, I had valid reasoning for keeping everyone quarantined. That man had come in contact with the saliva of one of those mutant insects; causing his body's genetic makeup to rewrite itself. We barely had the time to look into the effects, and were mostly concerned that whatever it was could have been contagious."
Laik eyed the six-foot-two decorated officer down with eyes ablaze, the reds of his pupils illuminated by the headlights of nearby military vehicles. More and more were showing up with every passing minute.
"Now that we've isolated the cause of transmission, the quarantine is over."
"A little late for that, don't you think?" Laik replied angrily. "And what about him?"
"The medical team will be arriving shortly with via helicopter; we'll airlift him to the nearest hospital and—"
"Laik!" Athena shouted from the hilltop. "Laik you have got to see this! That other monster wrecking the entire scene!"
The second monster had asserted its dominance over the equally large, but weaker foe. More intent on ending its destruction rather than adding to it, much to everyone's relief that night.
Laik, using his mysterious teleportal ability, had returned to the military camp — or what remained of it, at least — to retrieve Sevii. Pained him as it had to leave her, the citizens of Lakeside needed to be sorted out first.
As the initial rampaging monster's body exploded in an intense flame, the second, stronger monster quietly left the scene… as quietly as a giant monster could, at least.
Under the cover of darkness, it headed toward Lakeside, where Laik would later learn the creature had submerged itself in the central lake.
The wolf had been to the camp and returned with Sevii in less than a minute, thankful to get away from the smell of burning dinosaur flesh…
The following morning…
As consciousness flooded back amid the morning birdsong, a sharp jolt of agony replaced the peace one often felt upon first waking up.
She just couldn't remember why she felt this way now.
The fox barely opened her eyelids as she was assaulted by the harsh sunlight beaming in through her east-facing hospital room. She'd never seen the inside of a hospital before, let alone one of their rooms; beastfolk just weren't as prone to major sickness or injury as their human counterparts.
Yet here she was.
As her eyes adjusted to the light, her other senses played catch-up as the sensation of the rigid-feeling hospital bedsheets came into contact with her paw pads. The gentle humming of the air conditioning and the beeping of her IV drip mingled with the songbirds outside.
An old sitcom was playing on the flatscreen TV mounted on the wall before her bed, and her clothes — complete with her track jacket and sports bra — were neatly folded on the chair in the corner.
She gasped, then threw the bedsheet off her, revealing her body draped in a similar-feeling hospital gown.
"No wonder humans hate hospitals; they use the most uncomfortable fabrics…"
"Well it's good to see you back with us, Ms. Kizune."
Sevii's head snapped toward the door and the human man's head that poked itself inside. Middle-aged, brown, short-cut hair. Stocky build, probably never works out, she thought as the man entered the room holding a clipboard.
"You know, more than half our staff are beastfolk, but it's maybe once or twice a year we actually have one as a patient. Tell me, Ms. Sevii: How are you feeling?"
The fox narrowed her eyes at the man as she watched him read her diagnostics. "Where am I? What happened to—"
"You're in Memoria Community Hospital. Your friends brought you in an almost comatose state three days ago" A solemn look suddenly overtook the man's face as he turned to look the vixen in the eyes. Sevii could see some of his ID badge now, which read "Laverty".
"I was told by your father that you were brought here from ground zero in Lakeside—"
Suddenly, all of Sevii's senses kicked back in at the mention of her family, bringing with it memories of that night: the military, monsters. Quarantined villagers and…
The woman lunged from her bed faster than the human man could react, grabbing him by his coat and pulling him down with her until he was eye to eye! Most humans were weak compared to beastfolk; they lacked the control over gravity, durability, and speed that their fellow nostalians possessed—and they knew it.
"Where are my family?" she growled, pressing her nose against his.
"I—I mean they're fine. They went home with your friends about a half an hour ago to refresh themselves. They haven't left your side since the night they brought you in, I swear."
"Where's my phone? I want to call them." She said.
"I don't know, miss, I really don't. Your clothes—which we cleaned for you—was all that was brought in that night. I can have the nurse contact them if you'd like." The human was crumbling under the piercing glare of a barely four-foot being—for good reason, she thought.
"Please," she released his coat, then unsteadily climbed back into her bed, either unaware or uncaring that her bare backside was exposed to the human as she did so. "Was there… was there another woman brought in with me? A triceratops…?" Her question stopped the doctor, who had hastily turned around, in his tracks.
"Not that I am aware of. A beastfolk patient is a pretty big deal. I would think a second one would have garnered some sort of media attention." He chuckled, but Sevii didn't laugh, just focused on her ungloved paws.
"Thank you."
Mere moments passed between the doctor's departure and the appearance of Sevii's friends and family. Her mother and father poured into the room first, embracing their daughter in a tear-filled reunion.
"Mom, dad! I'm so glad you're both all right!" Sevii said, an arm around each parent as she buried her muzzle.
Her brothers filed in next, trailed by Laik, Athena, and Root. Standing by the wall, they watched, each silently thankful for the return of their friend.
Their visit, however, was not all joyful and business was attended to as soon as medical staff were clear.
"So what happened in Lakeside? I don't remember anything after that second monster showed up." Sevii said, leaning back into her bed after taking a sip from a pouch of tropical punch.
Her mother took a deep breath, signaling to the rest that she would speak first. Causing everyone to hold their tongue as the Kizune matriarch began. "Well, the NDF have officially quarantined all of Lakeside until further notice. The villagers, at least those of us who hadn't come into contact with the monsters, were given the go-ahead to return to daily life, however…"
"We've all been forced to take up residence elsewhere until the situation in Lakeside is cleaned up," her father added, "Thankfully, the mayor of Memoria had gracefully offered his town as a place of refuge for the villagers."
"Yeah, and that bodacious rabbit friend of yours offered to let us stay in her apartment building!" Her youngest brother said. A red fox with black and grey patterns covering his eyes and ears.
"Bodacious is undermining her, man! EclairDessert has a killer body, and her streams are crazy fun to watch." Said her second brother. A fox covered in lavender-colored fur with black highlights.
"I find her to be obnoxious and immature to be fair, but I definitely can't say no to such a large pair of—" Sevii shot up a hand, silencing her oldest brother, who most closely resembled their father with an all orange coat of fur.
"What happened to Mr. Beshear, Laik?" Sevii asked, prompting the wolf to step forward.
"The army took him. There's a lot I have to go over with you about that, but the last I heard he was alive and stable." The wolf had been a prominent figure in the supposed events that had occurred this past year, or rather the memories of which had suddenly plagued the planet of Nostal, though how and why he was unsure.
Now, with the advent of the giant monsters, it was just another layer of mystery on top of everything else.
"Athena! Tell Sevii what we learned, would'ja?!" Root shrieked, taking to the air and startling everyone. The boy was dressed in a horizontally striped blue/green shirt and bright green shorts. "Tell her about the dinosaur!"
The otter, covered in dull grey fur. Curly bangs draped the sides of her face as she finally approached Sevii's hospital bed; close to where Root had perched, snatching a cold tater tot from her lunch plate.
Athena reached for the remote connected to the television, changing it to a news network currently covering the Lakeside events.
Sevii's eyes went wide at the aerial shot displaying the lake itself, her hometown looking tiny in comparison. But it was the protrusion of large, bone-like spikes jutting from below the water's surface that took her most by surprise.
"Local legends refer to him as 'Gojira', I'm sure you've all heard of him at some point in your lives, right?" Athena said, scanning the room that—save for her and Root—was occupied by nothing but Lakeside locals.
Laik shrugged. "I honestly spent so much time running around, fishing and doing other stuff that I couldn't say."
Sevii's brothers all nodded in unison.
"My grandmother used to tell me stories of a giant that lived in the mountains around Lakeside, but she never mentioned it by name." Sevii's mother added.
"I have; it was always used as means to scare children from playing in the lake alone, or from swimming too far out." Her father chimed in. "I specifically remember my uncle telling me about the dreaded 'Gojira that lived deep in the mud below the lake's surface that would come up from the depths and swallow disobedient children whole!'"
"Yeah, yeah! Stuff like that! But Athena and I did a lot of digging through the local archives and found a lot of cool stuff about it." Root said excitedly, splattering chewed potato across the bed.
Athena nodded. "We did, and as the world is more than aware right now, 'Gojira' is more than just local folklore. In my—our—research, we found that there were cave paintings dating back thousands of years ago that were discovered during the founding of Lakeside—all depicting Gojira in various situations."
"But that's not even the strangest part! Go on, tell them, 'thena!"
"I'm getting to it, bug! Stop butting in, gosh."
"All right, all right, chill."
"The weirdest aspects of all this were the additional drawings on the cave wall around Lakeside were the presence of, what I and Root both immediately assumed, portals. Rifts. Whatever you want to call them." The otter's gaze turned to Laik. "Just like the ones you can make, wolf."
"So… what, you think I'm connected to Godzilla or something?" The wolf asked, one ear drooping to the side.
"Not you specifically, but if the giant blue blobs are supposed to be teleportals, as you call them, then there's something going on here—"
"Yeah, like explaining how such a giant monster could go completely undiscovered all this time!" Root said, taking to the air again. "He—Hold up, Laik, what did you call him?"
"Gojira, why?" Laik replied.
"Nuh-uh, that's not what you said, wolf." Sevii said, finally piping up again after following the conversation. "You called him Godzilla."
"No I didn't—" Laik started to say, but was promptly cut off by Sevii's brothers!
"You so did."
"Lil sis' called you on that one, Laik."
"Sevii's hardly ever wrong, man." Said the youngest of Sevii's brothers.
"…Laik." Athena said, her voice glazed with wistfulness.
"Yeah, yeah, I mispronounced its name. You all got me, happy?"
"No, man, I… Can I take credit for that? Like, can I say I named it 'Godzilla'?" Athena replied, surprising everyone in the room. The light chuckling ceasing; Athena appeared an airhead, but anyone having spent enough time around the bubbly otter knew that she had a sharp tongue and crazy intellect.
Laik threw his hands up in defeat. "You said it, not me."
"C'mon, Root, we have an article to finish writing! Sevii, glad you're feeling better, but I gotta go! See you at Eclair's later?"
Sevii nodded, then laughed as Athena snatched Root mid-air and disappeared through the doorway.
The Kizune family matriarch turned back to face her daughter, with whom she shared similarly colored fur, and smiled. "Well, dear, we don't want to tire you out too much, so I think we'll head out for a bit while you finish your stay. We still have plenty to talk about, but with everything we just heard, I think it would be best to hold off on any further talks, yeah?"
Sevii smiled warmly. "Sure, mom."
Her father patted her on the shoulder and said, "The doctor said they'd only keep you for a day after you came to, assuming you didn't show any signs of distress. If you ace their exam, I imagine you'll be out by the end of the day tomorrow."
"Yeah, sis," her youngest brother stepped forward. "We're gonna be staying in Memoria for a bit, and I think you should be the one to show around… maybe introduce us to some girls."
"Sure, whatever. Weirdo." She smiled again, then fell silent for a second. "Thank you all for coming, I'm glad you're all safe, but there's one more thing I've got to—"
Sevii's mother shushed her loudly, wagging her finger in tandem with her swishing tail. "No more of that now, young lady. I said we'll talk later and that's what we'll do. Now, everyone: Out!" the older woman rushed the rest of her family out the door and into the hallway, leaving only Laik and Sevii behind.
"Laik…" Sevii said solemnly.
"Hey, just get some rest. We'll talk about all this when we regroup at HQ later, okay?"
The fox didn't reply, only nodded her head and settled in. To her surprise, Laik appeared over her, fluffing her pillow, then proffered something from his pocket.
"My phone!"
"I found it after I went back to the camp, before the army could regroup. Cleaned it up and charged it for you. They confiscated everything else that day." The wolf said, handing the device to his fellow canine.
She clutched it to her chest and smiled warmly at Laik. "Thank you, wolf."
"Don't mention. See you later, Sevii." said the wolf before departing.
The room quieted again, save for the hum of the air conditioner. Sevii popped the case off her phone, revealing a photo held between the rubber membrane that served as protection for the device.
A photo of Sevii, held aloft by a tall, black-furred wolf, fell out onto her bedsheet. Her left arm wrapped around the massive canine's thick neck, the two smiling with glee.
Who was he, and why didn't she have any memories of him?
More importantly, why did it matter so much that she got this photo back…?
To be continued in CrossActs #1!
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