Prologue:
There is a small town in France, named Le Deux Riviere. There is a legend, known amongst all of the villagers who live there, of a great beast. A Viking named Thot stumbled upon the New World, along with many other Vikings, 1000 years before Christopher Columbus. Thot found the skull of a huge dead monster. Millennia later, these bones were identified as Tyrannosaurus, but Thot did not know that at the time. Thot just thought it was pretty, and took it home. En route, the Vikings were attacked by Roman soldiers, who took the skull. Twenty years later, the skull found its way to Le Deux Riviere through countless trading. The villagers considered it a blessing, and would not trade it with anyone. And then as legend has it, the skull was hit by lightning, and it transformed into a giant monster. The monster protected the village from the Roman Empire, who had their eyes on it. Then the monster walked into a huge cave and fell asleep, where he remains to this day.
But it was just a story. A silly, far fetched, story.
1813: Somewhere in Europe. Napoleon Bonaparte of France has been losing the Napoleonic Wars for some time now. Jacque Francis, a renowned general in the French military, believes he can turn the tide. His army has just battled a superior British force into a few dozen men, who are now hiding behind the ruins of a small fort.
Jacque laughed. He hated war and bloodshed, but after being on the run for weeks, he couldn’t help feeling happy at the sight. His men, clad in Napoleons regulation blue uniforms, poured musket balls into the British ranks, and more and more of them fell. They were hiding, and once in a while coming out behind the ruins to fire, but the musket was incredibly inaccurate, and they barely found their mark. Meanwhile, the now larger French force responded in their own way, standing in neat lines while firing. Behind them, their cannons and mortars boomed, and the shells exploded around and in the fort, sometimes killing groups of the British soldiers themselves, and sometimes crumbling pillars which fell on to them.
This is it, Jacque thought, we might not lose after all. He began humming La Marquis while shouting orders. He glanced at the small, decimated fort. British bodies lay everywhere, far outnumbering the casualties of the French. The British were also trapped, a huge hill to one side of the fort, and the French to the other. Still, he thought further; I cannot help but admire the fools for not surrendering. There must be less than two dozen of them left! But then he heard it.
It started small at first, but as it got closer got became louder, almost deafening. At first Jacque thought about the old Legend of the Monster he had learned as a child growing up in Les Deux Riviere. But it kept on getting closer, and he realized it was the sound of hundreds of feet moving in unison to the beat of war drums. He looked at the crest of the hill, and squinted. Then he gasped, and nearly fell off his horse. The defeated British cheered loudly.
At the top of the hill, moving too quickly for Jacque’s taste, was a long line of British troops, at least 900, their infamous red uniforms glaring angrily in the sun. Jacque ordered his artillery to fire on them. Some of them fell, but most continued bravely forward. Soon the force had reached the bottom, and they stooped, and took out their muskets and fired. The French fired back. For half an hour, a stereotypical 19th century musket battle ensued. Jacque was in a daze, but he soon realized that dozens of his men now lay dead, while the new British were left virtually unscathed. Knowing it was their only option, Jacque Francis ordered his men to fix bayonets, and pulled out his own silver sword. Then he ordered them to charge.
Feet and hooves pounding the war-torn mud, the French headed straight into the British first line, who all the while were pouring lead into the now moving French ranks. As soon as the French had gotten two close, Jacque heard a voice with an English accent order the redcoats to put on their own bayonets. Then it went hand to hand.
Jacque could not believe it. It was going to be a glorious day, a victorious day. Oh, during the hand-to-hand part, he had taken a fair few of them, but soon it had become apparent that the French were going to lose, and Jacque fled.
He was now back in Les Deux Riviere, discussing the battle with the village elder.
“More than anything, I just want to turn the tide. Not for Bonaparte, he’s a fool, but for France.” Jacque wept.
“There is one thing we could do,” the Elder replied. “We could wake up the monster to smite the British.” Despite his woe, Jacque burst out laughing.
“Elder, you know that’s just a story. To keep the children away from the cave.”
“Aye, but with your army in ruins, do you have any other option?”
“I’m going to regret this.” Normally, Jacque would not of agreed, but he was desperate to the point of insanity.
The two walked down to the cave, under cover of night, so that should they fail, no one would humiliate them for trying to bring back a make-believe-monster. “How exactly do you plan to do this?” Jacque asked.
“Don’t worry,” the Elder answered. “I have a perfect plan.”
“This is your ‘perfect plan, Elder?” Jacque guffawed as he watched the Elder chuck stones into the mouth of the cave.
“You got a better one?” The Elder retorted. So, Jacque picked up a rock and joined him. They were chucking rocks for two minutes before they heard a high-pitched shriek erupt from the cave. They backed away in surprise as a dark shape loomed towards them.
The beast was 200 ft. high, and had a grotesque quality to it. In relation to the original skull, the snout was much shorter, almost like a bear. The tail barely reached the ground, and the creature had a weird toad-like quality. It had bright red skin, which bitterly reminded Jacque of the British, and it was covered in slime. “Oh great beast!” The Elder wailed. “Help us in our time of need against the British Empire, and King George!”
The monster replied by killing Jacque and the Elder with his foot.
The beast than advance upon the village, knocking over houses, and creating large fires. It headed to the towns stone fort, where soldiers fired at it with their muskets and cannons. But, to no avail. The monster simply walked through the fort, crumbling it with his massive hide, and headed to one of the two large rivers that the town was named after. It waded into the water, where a fleet of sailing battleships, their tall masts making them almost as big as the beast itself, attacked it.
But again, to no avail. The giant snapped them all apart, and submerged, no to be seen again until the 21st century.
It is the 21st century, and due to wars and pollution, giant monsters have appeared all over the world, attacking the Earths major cities. One of the largest cities, Ukania, thought it was save. Ukania was a city on the west coast of Canada, in British Columbia. It had huge skyscrapers, the largest of which, the Ukania Tower, was 1200 ft. tall. Ukanians thought they were save, and that no monsters would come anywhere close. They got cocky.
Nick Strato cheerfully walked the busy Ukanian streets. He was a tall thin 24 yr. old, and in the Fire Bringer air force. The Fire Bringers were an international hi-tech peacekeeping force that currently focused on fighting the monsters. He walked past a television store that always had the news station on its window TV’s, and got surprised. The News Anchor was saying, “A giant Ant the Fire Bringers have dubbed ‘Onra’, has been spotted heading south towards Ukania.”
Nick Strato was scared. He was in the Fire Bringers, but only as a cadet. He’d never been in combat before, and he was close to the end of his training. What if he got chosen to fight Onra? The News Anchor went on. “The Fire Bringers have already dispatched jets to fight it. Nick breathed a sigh of relief.
Streaming overhead, and bearing the flaming Fire Bringer crest, hi-tech jets pounded Onra the giant Ant with an endless barrage of missiles, each hitting their target, each failing to harm the beast. Onra clicked his mandibles and swatted at the jets, which were out of his reach. The Beast clicked again, reared to his full 100ft. height, and continued to attack. If not for the citizens of Ukania who depended on this battle, it would of been completely pointless, as neither side managed to inflict any damage on the other. The battle soon carried the two warring parties to the ocean side.
Suddenly high-pitched roar was heard, almost deafening. Onra and the Pilots turned to look at the water. A huge, dinosaurian figure, twice as tall as Onra, reared his head out of the water. The new beast fired a large green acidic ball out of its mouth at Onra, who shrieked in pain, and fell silent. The pilots cheered, but stopped when they met the same fate.
A group of Ukanians stood crowded around the T.V. store that Nick Strato had been at earlier. They were all anxiously waiting for updates on the Onra crisis. Finally, the news anchor came back on. “Onra has been killed by a new monster, which suddenly appeared this afternoon. The new beast is heading to Ukania bay. The government has named it ‘Gaterdon’. When asked why he chose the name, Prime Minister Alfred Poole said,
“Because it sounded cool at the time”.
Although Prime Minister of Canada, Alfred Poole was currently on the Fire Bringer council, due to the fact that the ‘Onra Crisis’, which was now the ‘Gaterdon Crisis’, was happening in Canada. Many Fire Bringer chiefs had brought up nuclear arms, but Alfred had said no almost immediately, and the council continued to brainstorm ways to stop Gaterdon from the capital, Ottawa.
“How about we fire missiles into his mouth” one chief suggested.
“Or we could bomb him” said another.
General Gregory Ross retorted “We might as well chuck paperclips at him. None of these things will take effect.”
“We could use the Alphaship.” Alfred calmly said. Everyone in the room froze, and started eying each other nervously. The Alphaship. Next to an atomic or Hydrogen bomb, the Alphaship was the most destructive thing on the planet. And that was why it was a problem. Armed with all kinds of top of the line missiles, machine guns and shells, the Alphaship was a 50 ft. long golden arrow shaped vessel, piloted by five Fire Bringers in the small cockpit. But during a battle with a giant Rat, it overloaded and exploded, destroying the Rat, but also the ship, crew, and the city the Rat was attacking.
“It is too risky,” the first chief said. “The Alphaship hasn’t even finished repairs.”
“But it is operational now,” Ross argued. “And it’s parked in Edmonton. That’s only one province away.”
“I am very well aware of Canadian geography ‘Mr. Ross’ but the Alphaship is too unstable, and we will not ever use it until it is finished its repairs!”
“May I remind you that as leader of an entire nation, namely the one this whole damn thing is happening in, I have a much more power than any of you, and I say we use the Alphaship” Alfred concluded. The council glared at him, but it didn’t matter. The case was closed, and Alfred had fallen asleep.
The Alphaship took off, and headed towards Ukania, it’s golden skin shimmering. On board, five new pilots nervously pressed buttons. Among them, Nick Strato sat. Despite his age, he had been graciously promoted to second in command, due to lack of experienced hands, and the fact that Nick was top in his class.
Do the worst in your class, and you stay nice and safe, Nick thought glumly. Do the best, and your rewarded with a deadly battle a month before graduation.
The Alphaship was now over Ukania, and it reached the docks by Ukania Bay. It set down and waited.
Finally, Gaterdon’s head appeared out of the water. The beast roared loudly and touched down on the Ukania docks. It curiously approached the
Alphaship. At the Alphaships captains order, it opened fire, the shells and bullets crashing upon Gaterdon, with tremendous intensity. Gaterdon screamed, and returned fire with a mighty acid ball from his mouth. The acid ball scorched the side of the Alphaship, and the crew inside jolted around from the impact. The ship lifted off, and soared until it was level with Gaterdon’s ugly face, and fired a machine gun at his eye.
Blood spurted out and engulfed the street below. Roaring in agony, Gaterdon shook his now one-eyed face, and stomped on a building, his massive two-toed foot crushing the structure with ease. The Alphaship sailed past and pelted Gaterdon’s hide with cannons on the side. It rose higher, and flew closer. As it came overhead, the Alphaship dropped a bomb on top of Gaterdon’s head. It swooped down again, but this time Gaterdon was ready. He swiped at the ship, and caught it in his swing. The ship barely managed to get away and stay in the air.
Nick looked at the energy meter. It was overloading, just like before. There was no option. They had to use their last resort. It was installed recently in the new ship, should it overload again.
After alerting the crew, and getting the OK from the captain, Nick pressed a big red button. Instantly, the Alphaships interior, including the cockpit, began to fill with poisonous flammable gasses. Then the ship was turned towards Gaterdon, and headed straight for him, in ramming position. Everyone pressed the eject button, and went flying out, as the Alphaship, so soon after it was rebuilt, went crashing into Gaterdon’s enormous bulk and disappeared in a deafening explosion, destroying both ship and beast. The now landing pilots watched in grim satisfaction as Gaterdon’s corpse fell into Ukania bay, along with the wreckage of the Alphaship.
