Gillas vs. The Aquatic Monsters
By: Ben Steinmeier
Jim sat in his desk in Seattle, doing the usual paperwork that came with the new job. Jim still remembered the friendly staff back in Tokyo, but the MDF had moved to Seattle because Gillas had been moving along the pacific coast of The United States. The new building wasn’t bad, and he wasn’t as packed as he had been in such a large city as Tokyo. Life was good. Jim still remembered getting the job, and was taking the time to relax from the paperwork. Then there was a knock on the door, and when Jim responded, Catherine Ridley came in. She was originally from Australia, but she had a much more Canadian accent. Jim said “Hey Cathy,” as he got up from his stretch and said “nice to finally see you out of the chopper.” Catherine flew in a chopper after Gillas for a job, since she was the only person Gillas wouldn’t harm.
Catherine gave an exhausted sigh and said “I think this is the first one in months, actually.”
Jim couldn’t understand. Catherine was almost never home; she was running a 24/7 goose chase that usually meant she didn’t eat enough-imagine landing a chopper at Wal-Mart- and barely got any sleep. “You can’t push yourself so hard” Jim argued.
Catherine laughed and said “ya well, I’ve got an important job to do, and I can’t slack on it.”
“But at the expense of your life, Catherine” Jim argued.
Catherine said “Jim, this is my life. Ever since Gillas was released from Antarctica, Gillas has been my life. I spent years on Gillas Island because that was my life. I only became the head of the MDF because I was the only one qualified and because I could trust you. Not to mention that as head of MDF I could protect Gillas. And with The Plain Warriors still running around the world, I can’t be too careful.”
Jim just shook his head and said “I just think that you do too much for the government. That ask you to become more and more separated from society and your family and friends, because they think you can stop his attacks. And Gillas has died down; he’s no friend to humanity, but he’s not a threat like Komodogater.”
“But you don’t get it” said Catherine. “I don’t do this for the government. They can get airlifts out of trouble, but the civilians can’t. I ordered Arcadias to kill Gillas; I gave the order to kill a monster that has saved me several times from death. I also do it for Gillas. He is not a bloodthirsty killer like everyone makes him out as. I’ve gotta protect him from the governments and The Plain Warriors.” Catherine got up and said “I’ll be nice Jim; I’ll find a hotel and stay there for the night, but then I have to go back to tracking him.”
Jim waved her goodbye and said “just think about what I said.”
Down in the watery depths of the pacific a strange being swam. He looked human, sort-of, but he had a lot of differences. To start off with, he had gills on the side of his neck with pink flesh underneath. His skin was scaly like a fish, shining an eerie green in the water. His toes were extra long and webbed, and his hands were webbed too. Finally a dorsal fin sprouted from his back, the thin membrane connected by spines coming out.
The amphibious being swam over a ridge, and under him was a great underwater city. The tall structures were made of stone, but so intricately carved, with the patterns like a seashell. The buildings radiated with light that lit up the depths and what looked like skidoos and motorboats zoomed in between the buildings. People who looked just like him walked along the streets. He swam through the bustling streets until he finally came to the city hall. He walked through a space, and inside there was no water, for the door as a shield that kept out water. The aquatic walked to the desk and asked the secretary “Mr. Dachio is expecting me. Where can I find him?” The secretary pointed down the hall and the aquaman walked through the door.
Inside was a man that looked like mostly everyone, but he had whiskers like a carp. Mr. Dachio saw his visitor and said “glad you could come, Gamerich. Would you care for a drink?”
Gamerich declined and said “no, I just came by for business.”
Gamerich sat down as Dachio said “first off, I would like to say that your creations have done well. With the tests done on the sperm whales, Cyger and Sharkron have passed expectations. But we have other plans for them.”
Gamerich jumped out of his seat and said “we agreed that they would only be used to protect the city from threats like giant squid and whales: nothing more!”
Dachio chuckled and said “well the government has other plans. You see, the emperor has my feelings, and we’ve come up with a different idea.”
Gamerich said “and what are these other plans that His Majesty wants done with my creations?”
“Your monsters, you mean” said Dachio. “His Majesty has contained complete control of the mind-control device and Cyger and Sharkron are under his complete control. Isn’t that a wonderful word, control? Anyways, the monsters will be the weapon for the campaign against the surface.”
“Bu-but they’re my monsters!” yelled Gamerich. “I created them and they belong to me!”
Dachio just chuckled coldly and said “they were your monsters, Gamerich, but we don’t need you anyways.” Dachio reached into his jacket and pulled out a strange pistol. He pointed it at Gamerich and fired a red laser, killing the Aquarian, and laughed.
Waves tumbled on the beaches of Stanley Park in Vancouver. The city on the seaside was bustling in rush hour. The regular sounds of the city echoed just like an ordinary day. But this was not going to be an ordinary day.
Captain Terrace of the oil rig Chorus came into the harbor. He had just come back from a trip to a pacific oil rig and was now unloading all the oil. Even Gillas’ awakening had not got the world to cut back on fossil fuels. The captain entered the harbor when in the distance he saw something break from the water. It was tall- 15 meters- and slim. It was moving fast and coming to the harbor. The captain took out his binoculars to get a better look at it. The captain dropped them when he saw it was a giant shark fin. The fin was coming fast, and then the full body broke out of the water. It looked like a giant great white shark, but it had longs arms and legs with webbed hands and feet; black talons and enormous teeth. Sharkron jumped high and landed on the oil ship, crushing the ship and splitting it in half with a great explosion.
The people on the harbor ran and screamed as Sharkron climbed onto land. The great white turned its head and looked at Canada Place. The shark opened its mouth and let out a mighty roar. Canada Place was shredded to pieces by the sonic roar and blew into a thousand pieces. Sharkron continued its attack as it walked through downtown, toppling buildings. Sharkron walked by Science World, seemingly sparing the building. But then it began to shake its tail, creating powerful winds. Science world was blown away like dust in the wind. Civilians screamed and ran, but Sharkron fired a sonic roar flinging the people below around like leaves in a hurricane. Then Sharkron set its eyes on BC Place. The giant shark walked over to destroy the building as people flooded out like running water. Then the giant shark saw one small boy lose his parents in the crowd and run off in the other direction. Sharkron reached to grab the squealing child. But he never did.
There was a flash of light and Sharkron was sent toppling into GM Place with its side sizzling. Then Gillas emerged from the harbor and roared. The reptile opened its arms and let out another roar, trying to intimidate Sharkron. But Sharkron jumped into the air and toppled Gillas on its landing. As Gillas tried to get up, Sharkron hit Gillas in the face and dropped him. Sharkron surged forward and tried to bite on Gillas’ shoulder, but Gillas caught Sharkron’s chest with his legs and kicked, sending Sharkron through a warehouse.
Jim was watching from MDF headquarters. He head already called The Fire Bringers, who were en route, and watched the two monsters fight. This was strange. He had never seen anything like Sharkron before. True, he was a giant monster, but there was nothing in nature like him. Sharks never could go on land, yet Sharkron was fighting on land just fine. There was something strange, but Jim just wasn’t sure.
Gillas and Sharkron got up and charged. The two masses colliding shook the earth as the two wrestled, never stopping or breaking apart. Skarkron had the advantage of size and pushed Gillas back. Just as Gillas was being pushed towards BC Place, Sharkron let out a sonic roar. Gillas toppled into BC Place and got the wind knocked out of him. Sharkron was about to roar again when it stopped midway. It just stood there, hunched; its eyes blank of thought. Then Sharkron turned around and headed into the bay, leaving just like that.
Gillas got up, and almost toppled over. The giant monitor looked at the water where Sharkron had left, and then turned away. Gillas walked through the city until he hit the Fraser River. Gillas slipped in to the river and began to swim upriver. Gillas barely fit and wrecked some of the lower bridges, and totally destroyed The Pitt Meadows Bridge. He continued to swim up river until the river was deep enough to totally hide him.
The meeting was held in the city of Chilliwack. At the meeting were Jim, The Canadian Prime Minister, and Alfred Poole, the head of The Fire Bringers, and other government officials. When the talking stopped, the Canadian Prime Minister said “The destruction of Vancouver is a great loss. Luckily, the main destruction was done in the downtown section and the civilians killed were not as many as it could have been.”
Then Jim piped up “thanks to the actions of Gillas, I note.” There was a rising of voices and Jim even heard “he destroyed some of the city too.”
However, the Prime Minister was able to make the meeting quiet. “We can talk about that later,” said the Prime Minister, “but right now, we need to cover this new monster. It appears that it’s not just trying to destroy a few buildings; it was attacking people. What is your opinion, Mr. Smith?”
Jim got up and said “for one thing, I don’t believe this monster is a regular, accidentally-made, monster that you just get. There is nothing in nature that is like that. This means that this monster was bio-engineered and not by accident. The real question is: who made him?”
Then something dropped through the roof. It looked like a giant metal plate but with a circle in the middle. Then suddenly a form appeared in the middle. He had a head like an eel and scaly skin with a tail, but he had a human body. He wore purple robes and a crown upon his head. The eel-man said “you are correct, doctor. It was I who made and sent him. I am Quazee, Emperor of The Aquarians. The monster is called Sharkron, and he is not the only monster we’ve made. You surface dwellers have polluted the oceans which my people live in, and you must pay for what you have done. We have another monster, Cyger, and along with Sharkron, we will destroy you.”
One politician stood up and said “but we didn’t know that you even existed. We didn’t know that we were hurting your pe-“
But Emperor Quazee shrieked “silence! You polluting the ocean is still a crime against nature, and we cannot allow it. You cannot slither your fleshy hides out of this. Nothing you do can help you. Accept your fates and perish.
“I’m sorry,” said Alfred while standing up, “but we will not just die as you wish. You may believe that you can win, but your monsters still have to go through Gillas and we will not just ‘perish’. So go ahead and send your monsters. We’ll be ready. If you pick a fight with one of us, you fight all of us.” And then Alfred pulled out his gun and shot the plate.
Catherine arrived at the Abbotsford airport I her chopper. Reports said that Gillas was resting by a small city called Mission. Abbotsford wasn’t far and it took her only 15 minutes to reach Mission. As she crossed the bridge, she saw Gillas. The monitor was lying in the logging camp, resting from his fight. She got off the bridge and pulled in. As the police tried to stop her, she showed her ID and walked through.
She stood by Gillas’ muzzle. Gillas’ giant eye looked at Catherine, instantly recognizing her. He raised his head and looked at the crowd. Catherine still didn’t understand why he hadn’t attacked. She guessed he didn’t feel they were any threat. Gillas snorted and put his head back down to rest. Then Catherine’s cell phone began to ring and she answered. It was Jim.
“Catherine, have you found Gillas yet?”
“Ya,” she said, “He’s by a town up river from Vancouver resting right now. I’m by him right now.”
Jim said “Catherine you gotta listen to me. The monster that attacked Vancouver was bio-engineered by a race called the Aquarians. There going to attack.”
“But why are they attacking us” Catherine asked.
They’re waging war because of the pollution of the oceans” Jim replied. “But you’ve gotta evacuate that town. The Aquarians are going to attack soon, and I bet Gillas is going to be what they attack.”
“But Gillas is in no condition to fight” Catherine argued. “He’s still trying to recuperate from his fight in Vancouver. He’s got no chance.”
“I’m sorry Catherine,” said Jim, “but we can’t move Gillas, and we can’t stop the monsters. Gillas will have to look after himself.”
An old aboriginal man began his ascent up the mountain. He wasn’t far from Mission, and he had just started. The old man had heard the declaration of war and walked up the mountain. He knew what had to do, and he needed to hurry. After an hour hike, he finally reached it.
The cave was a bit taller then him standing up, and he took out his flashlight. The cave dripped from rainwater that seeped through the cracks in the rock. After 10 minutes of walking, he came to a room. He took a lighter and lit all four torches, bathing the room in light. At the center of the room was a wooden statue of what looked like a Golden Eagle. He kneeled and said “O spirit of thunder, please come to us in our time of need. The land and the people are being threatened, and we need your protection. Please answer our pleas.” The cave began to shake, yet he did not run. He knew that the only way to access the power of the spirit of thunder was a willing sacrifice. Then the cave collapsed.
The two monsters broke from the sea. The familiar shape of Sharkron went up river, yet the other was different. It looked like a giant flying squid, with green and two long tentacles with six shorter ones, but each tentacle was tipped like a spear. Then it opened all three eyes. Two were where they should be, but the third was on top between the two side ones. As Cyger flew, red lasers fired from his side eyes, destroying buildings as he flew behind Sharkron, going up the river to fight Gillas.
Mission had been evacuated when Gillas sensed there coming. The great monitor got up and prepared to fight. He knew where Catherine was, on the hill by the hospital, where he hoped she’d be safe. First Cyger came, since his flight speed was faster then Sharkron, and Gillas fired a blast of Solar Flame. Cyger dodged and opened its six short tentacles as it slammed into Gillas. As Gillas dropped, Cyger’s tentacles wrapped around Gillas, tightening and squeezing Gillas. When Gillas was on the ground, Cyger attacked with his beak hidden by the tentacles, biting Gillas in the stomach while he stabbed Gillas with his two longer tentacles. Cyger fired a laser from his center eye at Gillas chest, but none of his attacks pierced Gillas’ hide. Gillas fired his Solar Flame once again and Cyger took the point blank shot and flew off. Cyger hit the ground with its tentacles flailing as Gillas got up. Cyger dug the spear tips of his tentacles into the ground and stood upright with its center eye. Cyger charged and began stabbing at Gillas, while Gillas flailed his arms and knocked Cyger over.
Then Sharkron burst out of the river and tackled Gillas. As Gillas tried to get up, Sharkron fired a sonic roar and knocked Gillas into a building. Meanwhile, Cyger fired a laser at Gillas’ chest where he had speared him and cut open Gillas’ chest. Gillas screeched from his wound but was grabbed by Sharkron. Sharkron lifted Gillas over his head and threw him at Cyger who caught Gillas by impaling his shoulder and thigh. Gillas tried to escape but Cyger slammed Gillas on the ground continuously.
But Gillas was dropped when Cyger was blasted from behind. As Cyger fell over, Gillas looked at his savior. The monster looked like a giant Golden Eagle, but she had a long tail and golden feathers.
Catherine watched the arrival of the new monster when she heard a voice in her head. At first she didn’t know what it was, and then she realized: it was the new monster. The voice echoed through her head as it said: “Do not be worried. I am Thundara, the spirit of thunder. I was summoned to help Gillas fight against Sharkron and Cyger. Do not worry human; I am a trusted friend who will always help mankind.” Then the voice was gone, yet inside, Catherine suddenly felt just ‘better’.
Thundara screeched and blasted Sharkron with a blast of lightning, giving Gillas time to get up. Cyger got up and took off and Thundara followed. Cyger fire all the lasers that it could at Thundara, but Thundara was agile and dodged all the rays. Thundara then dived at Cyger and dug her claws into the squid. From her claws she began to shock Cyger, but Cyger stabbed her in the back with one of its long tentacles. Thundara let go, but Cyger threw her down. Thundara barely recovered, but Cyger dived with its tentacles open showing its beak. But Thundara fired into the tentacles and into the beak, and Cyger exploded in a rain of flesh and fluids.
Meanwhile, Gillas charged at Sharkron as the shark got up. But Sharkron braced itself as Gillas collided and the two tried to shove each other. Sharkron used a sonic roar and toppled Gillas over. Gillas tried to get up, but Sharkron used its tail to create hurricane winds and Gillas rolled. Then Sharkron jumped and bit onto Gillas’ shoulder, piercing Gillas’ hide. Gillas tried to push him off, but to no avail. Blood loss was getting to Gillas, and in one final act, Gillas fired a blast of Solar Flame at Sharkron’s side. The flame hit Sharkron’s gills and blew a hole in Sharkron’s side, killing the monster. Gillas got up and used the Solar Flame to incinerate Sharkron’s body, then submerged into the river while Thundara flew off into the horizon.
