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Last weekend I had a bit of an epiphany about Savage Destiny and my creations. It occurred to me after an exchange on Blake's Livestream that, after six years of drawing on DeviantART, almost none of my original kaiju are actually here. It really sank in on me how much time I've spent planning compared to what I've actually accomplished. It made me think about the series' foreseeable future, my place in this little niche of the fandom, and my goals and interests as an artist. It confirmed some things I'd been worried about for a while and made me realize, yeah, some things have got to change.

So. No more working in secrecy or big, overly ambitious plans to write / draw / animate some huge complicated epic. If I ever get the chance to realize Savage Destiny as a written story, comic, or animated thingamajig I'll absolutely do it (trust me, there's no shortage of passion), but I have to be realistic here. I'm just one guy and I'm not even out of college yet. I have classes, a social life, money to make, a career to decide on... it's probably going to be a busy next few years, and I lack the time, resources, and experience to do anything really noteworthy with my ideas right now. Savage Destiny as a story / "project" is going to the wayside.

The kaiju of Savage Destiny, however, are finally going to get the spotlight they deserve. With everything else on the sidelines I no longer have a reason to keep them under wraps, and it bothers me anyway that so many of them only exist in sketchbooks. So whenever I have time I'll start working on new profiles for all of the kaiju and, if I can muster it, the human cast too. Still not very good with people, but I'm working on it.

ANYWAY!

With that announced, here's the rough overview of what the first "episode" of Savage Destiny would be to go along with this unfinished sketch. It's more of an outline than an actual story, but I got waaaay too detailed with it and it kinda turned into a weird hybrid of outline and story...

I also use apostrophes wrong all the time, so I'm sorry about that. X_X

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SAVAGE DESTINY
Act 1, Episode 1: Big Changes

April 10th, downtown Allinos. The streets are empty and a huge thunderstorm is passing over the city. A young woman, stuck working the nightshift at a used goods shop that no one will ever stop at, looks out the front window and wonders if her life will always be this boring. She argues with her flighty, self-obsessed coworker about whose turn it is to lock up and then walks home with the world's leakiest umbrella. Soaked and discontent, she curls up with her pet Toku on her ratty living room couch and falls asleep worrying about next month's rent. She is Caitlyn Thorn, and for her this is a normal Wednesday night. What she doesn't realize is that it's the last “normal” anything she'll ever have.

Several hours later the storm is over and Caitlyn's next day is progressing as expected. After a particularly long and uneventful day at work, she is shocked to find the Sygulon Traveling Bazaar set up in town, five weeks earlier than its usual yearly visit. Rushing home, she realizes she hasn't enough money saved up to do her usual shopping this soon. She takes a small amount with her, probably not enough to afford anything, and immediately loses herself in the mystifying sights and smells of the foreign vendors' wares. Hours pass and many spectacular goods are seen but nothing is within her meager budget. She begins to head home, dejected, when a strange old man calls her over to his booth.

The elderly merchant tries very hard to make a sale, showing Caitlyn his entire inventory item-by-item. His wares are impressive, but she insists she can't afford them and turns down everything he offers. Growing desperate, the old man begs her not to leave and retrieves a shrouded, fist-sized object from his chest of “ancient treasures” (aka: worthless junk). Pretending to be wary, he sneaks her a glimpse of the secret object: a breathtaking red-orange jewel that glows like fire when touched. Swearing on it's rarity and value, he makes Caitlyn one final offer: just 50 credits for the gem. She doesn't go home empty handed.

Back in her room Caitlyn empties her bag, unfurling the gem and revealing an envelope that'd been hidden inside. It contains a very hokey, unconvincing message about fate, magic, and the owner of the stone being some sort of “chosen one”. Meanwhile the gem, previously beautiful, turns out to be chipped, cracked, dirty, and practically gray. Realizing the merchant has cheated her out of her savings for a dusty old piece of rock, she snaps and hurls it across the room, smashing it into pieces. Caitlyn throws away the letter and storms off with one of the gem-shards, but back at the Bazaar the old man is gone. Furious but defeated, she retreats to her apartment and laments the wasteful decision.

That night Caitlyn suffers from horrible nightmares, tormented by images of a towering mountain and monstrous skeletons in the dark. The next morning she wakes with a start and realizes that her hand, outstretched while she slept, was resting on the gem-shard from before. Unsettled, she puts it away and goes off to work as usual.

Caitlyn continues another fairly mundane day at work but notices news reports of a disaster on TV. Telecasters tell of a daikaijuu attack on the Southern city of Kalmar; a monster previously unknown to the region has been gradually heading North and, unfazed by military strikes, has cut a swath of destruction through the city. A monster advisory warning is given for a number of distant cities and Caitlyn goes back to her duties. This is hardly the first time a monster has ever attacked a city and she doesn't think much of it. The military will probably take care of it before it comes that far North, and even if it doesn't, the tripod mechs outside Allinos certainly will.

Caitlyn comes home and gets into bed. She looks at her drawer for a moment, wondering again about the gemstone, but leaves it in her drawer and goes to sleep with it out of sight. She has the nightmare again regardless and sees brief glimpses of bones, a mountain, and now an enormous, shadow-cloaked monster. The dream is even more convincing than before and she wakes up screaming, feeling as though she's really being watched by the creature in real life. Immediately jerking the drawer open, she sees the fragment glowing brightly like it did the day she bought it...

The next day Caitlyn gets up early and goes straight to town with the gem-shard. She takes it to every store, shop, and studio she can think of that might know what type of rock it is, but all the while she notices more and more news about the incoming giant monster. The mood in the city is strangely tense and she repeatedly overhears talk of the monster heading North and shrugging off proven anti-kaiju weapons... she can't help but ask herself if the monster they're talking about might be the same one from her dreams. She tries not to let it distract her, but no one in town can tell her what the gemstone really is. Finally, one store-owner points her in the direction of a junior scientist with a geology lab who might be able to help.

Caitlyn takes the shard to the geologist right away and tells her its story, careful to omit the parts about nightmare visions and impossibly-real monsters. He tries his best to identify the fragment but is similarly stumped: its composition is unlike anything he's ever seen and seems to be holding an unusually high amount of mana. He asks Caitlyn to give up the stone so he can study it more intensely, but she knows it's too important to give away and declines. She leaves the puzzled scientist behind and heads home not knowing what to think. Before she goes to bed she sees another broadcast about the monster: it's passed the last few towns outside the wasteland and is still heading North. At it's present course it will arrive at Allinos by noon the next day.

Realizing that a fight between the monster and her city's defenses is now inevitable, Caitlyn has a hard time getting to sleep. She knows the emergency forcefield is impenetrable and has seen the tripod mechs shred other kaiju before, but the rumors of this one surviving anti-kaiju weaponry worries her, as do her ominous dreams. She stays up thinking for a long time, afraid to fall asleep, but eventually drifts off anyway. The nightmare returns clearer than ever.

Lightning flashes and Caitlyn sees the mountain again, tall and sinister but now somehow familiar. The giant monster appears in the shadows again, crunching bones beneath its feet, but this time she can clearly see its two, glowing green eyes... not at all like the four purple ones on the monster from the news broadcasts. It lurches over her, huge and terrifying, but much to her shock does not attack. The dream ceases seamlessly, and Caitlyn suddenly realizes she is awake, sitting up in her bed and staring out her window at one of the mountains outside Allinos. Looking down, she sees the glowing gem-shard in one hand. The clock says it's still early Sunday morning.

Rushing out of bed and getting dressed, Caitlyn knows what she has to do. She grabs everything she'll need and slips out into the dark, leaving the city limits and heading for the Goronian Mountains. With one monster bearing down from the South she knows she can't afford to wait until daybreak... something out of the ordinary is definitely going on, and if she's going to figure out what or why she needs to reach the top of the mountain while she still can.

Miles away, chaos is breaking loose in the badlands. Military vehicles and armed infantry are swarming the armored, three-horned kaiju from the South, fighting desperately to turn it back before it can reach another populated area. Bullets and rockets of every caliber bounce off its shell, underbelly, and even its eyes. The monster continues on its direct course for Allinos, not even bothered enough to destroy its attackers.

Caitlyn is still hiking when dawns first light washes over the mountainside. The slopes are rocky and barren: barely any trees and no sign of animal life. Back down in the city, a crowd is gathering in the streets. A military blockade has formed around the front of the city to watch for the incoming monster: turrets, tanks, and tripods stand sentinel while soldiers and police keep the citizens behind a line of safety. Everyone's eyes are glued to the horizon.

Up on the mountain, Caitlyn is reaching some of the higher peaks and starting to see bones. The farther she goes, the more prevalent they are; eventually she is surrounded by the same huge, mangled skeletons from her dreams. Remembering biology textbooks she read as a child, she recognizes them as the legendary Vulgrithe that plagued the region decades prior. The books all claimed that the Vulgrithe migrated away from Allinos when they ran out of hikers and Greigyxes to eat, but the field of bones tells a different story.

Down in the city a man cries out and points at the horizon. Appearing in front of the rising sun is a huge, distant black object. The crowd comes to life as it gradually grows larger in their binoculars, soon just big enough to be seen without them. The police move the blockade line farther back as military machines slowly rise and advance. Soldiers with walkie-talkies give the command to ready the shield battery and the massive structure in the center of the city starts to glow green with mana. Technicians inside work fastidiously as giant engines and mechanical pieces the size of houses spin to life.

Back on the mountain, Caitlyn is looking at a Vulgrithe skull when the ground starts to shake. Seeing the gem-shard glow and a massive shadow sweep over her, she freezes. A huge, saber-toothed head lowers into view and Caitlyn turns around to find herself face to face with the daikaijuu from her dreams. Hardly two feet away from the end of its snout, she sees that even its teeth are larger than she is... powerless to do anything, she stands still as it sniffs her. Her eyes wander around the ridges and spikes of its enormous skull as it does so and she accidentally makes eye contact; the monster's eyes immediately lock on to hers and, petrified, she stares back. Time stops and the monster's gaze is incredibly harsh, but a moment later it still hasn't attacked. Instead it simply grunts and backs away. Caitlyn watches with astonishment as it lays down and casually crosses its front two legs. Then it speaks.

The monster's mouth stays closed but a deep, gravelly voice enters Caitlyn's mind. In a gruff but surprisingly civil tone he expresses his own confusion with what's been going on and says that his nightmares about “a tiny little monster in a claustrophobic cave” have been driving him mad. Dazed, Caitlyn sits down and awkwardly starts a conversation with a hundred foot monster. He introduces himself as Theraga and the two swap stories and share astonishment over their situation. Theraga comments on how enjoyable it is to finally have someone to talk to and explains that he's lived in the mountains by himself all his life; he was orphaned as a pup and spent his childhood constantly being mauled and brought to the brink of death by the bigger, more experienced Vulgrithe. When Caitlyn asks what happened to them, he simply responds “I got bigger”.

Down on the plains the standoff has begun. The three-horned giant monster stops momentarily to size up its opposition and the city ahead, then lurches forward. Weapons of every size open fire, instantly pelting it with armor-piercing rounds and missiles. Fireballs and smoke engulf the field and charred earth flies in every direction, but the monster walks through unharmed. Soldiers hurry the panicking crowd back to emergency shelters as the barrage intensifies; they exchange worried looks as their general curses his radio in the distance. Something isn't right.

Hearing explosions, Caitlyn snaps out of her moment of surrealism and remembers what's going on. Running to the edge of the peak, she sees the other monster for the first time and is horrified to see it marching toward the city limits, unharmed by heavy weapons and with no shield in its way. As she panics and points to the destruction Theraga seems apathetic at best. He expresses his own disdain for the “shiny land-scar” only to be chastised by Caitlyn; floored, she asks how he could possibly be so heartless and watch carelessly as her home falls into peril. Theraga seems equally shocked to realize that her home and Allinos are one in the same.

Striding through clouds of black smoke, the first wave of tripods position themselves between the city and its aggressor. The monster stomps forward and destroys the defenses in its way but is caught off guard by the mechs' firepower: their mammoth gatling guns hammer the monster's underside until it ruptures, tearing a hole in its chest and unleashing a geyser of blood. They aim for the wound and blast it with rockets, but as the smoke clears the monster is suddenly horizontal and charging at full speed. The tripods open fire again, but even their weapons can't pierce the beasts' thick plates; it gores the first of the mechs with its giant horns and then proceeds to decimate the whole group. The general frantically tries different means of reaching the generator station, but nothing is responding. He fires up his vehicle and starts to take off to start the shield himself, but just then the windows of the building blow out in a massive explosion. The column of light gathering in the city's center flickers and dies and emergency sirens blare; the panicking masses go crazy as the monster's foot passes the point where the shield barrier should've been and stomps inside the city.

On top of the mountain, Theraga wrestles with the concept that the land-scar is actually a dwelling place for humans. He explains to Caitlyn that he has always hated it, and even considered destroying it himself several times... one of his earliest memories was his parents trying to seek refuge there and being forced back to their death by its insidious curtain of light. The identity of his parents finally hits home and Caitlyn is starstruck: Theraga is the progeny of legends. Trying to recant the tale of Vangar and Aphila as accurately as she can, Caitlyn explains what the city is and why his parents tried to go there in the first place. Theraga's temper only rises when he learns that his parents' death was a betrayal, but she does her best to stress that it was neither intentional nor the will of most people. She pleads with Theraga not to judge the entirety of the human race on the actions of a few dead politicians and explains that if the city falls, millions of thinking, feeling beings like himself will be destroyed. Unconvinced, he looks the city over from afar and watches the explosions.

The long-horned monster rampages through the city, smashing through buildings and flattening cars. Soldiers storm into the generator building but find nothing but dead bodies and wreckage. The controls are far beyond repair and shrapnel from what appears to be a large bomb is strewn across the floor; the explosion was a deliberate sabotage, but the culprit is long gone. Outside, the Tripod mechs carefully strafe between buildings and ambush the monster, trying to drive it back with minimal damage by using precision lasers instead of rockets. A few beams hit their mark, but the monster quickly wises up and turns away from them, deflecting the rest with its shell and causing massive collateral damage. It destroys several more mechs and all the buildings between them, then sets its sights on something moving nearby.

Meanwhile, Theraga has laid down again and Caitlyn is desperately trying to reason with him. He acknowledges that the destruction of her home would be tragic, but still doesn't care about the humans: the fatal betrayal of his parents is too much for him to forgive, and the years of nonstop suffering he endured were a direct result of their decision. Caitlyn makes a case for her people again, explaining the deep regret and loss that came from the loss of his parents and how few of those who approved it are still around. The people dying in the city right now, she asserts, are innocent, sentient beings feeling the same fear and pain that he did as a pup... and if they were still alive, Vangar and Aphila would be helping.

A moment later Theraga is thundering down the mountainside, galloping full speed with Caitlyn riding on his back. She shouts with glee as he races down the path, clearing the distance that'd taken her all morning in only a few minutes. Caitlyn reassures him that he's doing the right thing and hugs his mane as he tears across the plains toward Allinos. She tries to brief him on what it will be like inside the city and how to move around without hurting people, but it is interrupted by Theraga asking what the “three-legged monsters” are up ahead. Her heart sinks as a pair of tripods march onto the plain and stop, weapons aimed directly at them; unable to detect her tiny form from far away, all they see is a toothy monster charging toward their city.

Caitlyn stretches up as far as she can, shouting and waving her arms, but it's no use: the mechs hunker down and the rocket-launchers on their sides splay out. Caitlyn screams and throws herself against Theraga's back, begging him to turn back and find another way, but he rushes forward anyway. Explosions go off all around and dirt rains down on them as Theraga bounds and leaps to evade the rockets, but as he closes the gap the mechs switch to their giant gatling guns. Knowing he can't possibly outrun bullets, Caitlyn pleads with him frantically but has to hide in his mane when the fire begins. A barrage of automatic rounds tears into Theraga's shoulder and side and Caitlyn screams for him to do something. Swinging his head to the side, Theraga hurls a curveball of seething black energy that zooms by just above the ground and detonates beneath the closest tripod, blowing it to smithereens. The second continues to shoot, but Theraga lowers his head and deflects the bullets with his knobby, reinforced skull. He warns Caitlyn to hang on tight as he closes in, headbutting the second mech and punching its body clear off its legs.

Theraga passes the city border and races down main street, taken off guard by Caitlyn's warning that cars could have people in them: he comically stumbles and hops to avoid them before getting the hang of it and chasing after the trail of destruction. Inside the city, the tripod mechs divide their forces and several move to intercept Theraga. He outruns the first few before they can fire and rams another out of his way, but more ambush him from the side and blast him with lasers. He stops to shred one with his claws, then backs off to resume the chase. As he does, one of the tripods detects Caitlyn on his back and stops firing; it sends the information to the defense force and the rest of the tripods, who cease fire temporarily and trail him.

Leaving the bulky robots behind, Theraga eventually slows down at the site of a trashed intersection. The two hear the other monster moving up ahead and take a quick moment to collect themselves. Amid the wreckage Theraga spots a limp, dead hand just like Caitlyn's and the impact of what's happening fully dawns on him. Not noticing, she asks if he's okay and tries to steady his nerves for the big confrontation. He says he's fine, but lowers his front half and tells her she needs to get off and find somewhere safe. Frazzled from gunfire and explosions, she gladly obliges but stops to ask if he thinks he can reason with the other monster like she did with him. Grinning, he walks off saying “you don't know a whole lot about giant monsters, do ya, Kate?”

Further in, a group of civilians being transported to the other side of the city scream as the other monster's face fills the view of their monorail's windows. They all scramble to the opposite side as it draws near and roars, blowing out the windows; one of its horns bursts through the floor, impaling the vehicle and lifting it off the track. The monster shakes the monorail violently before scraping it along the ground and sending it sliding off it's horn upside-down. The vehicle wobbles to a halt amidst sparks and steam and the monster slowly stomps toward it. The people inside, injured and disoriented, scream wildly as its feet slam down outside. The monster towers over the monorail to finish it off, but halts at the sound of giant footsteps.

People hiding in shops and offices peer out in awe as Theraga passes by and moves into the clearing; most are just shocked to see a second monster, but some pick up on the resemblance to Vangar and Aphila. Caitlyn clambers over wreckage and watches from a distance as Theraga steps forward to challenge the other monster. It turns around, clearly the larger of the two, and absent-mindedly pushes the monorail aside with it's tail. The name Cerabos flashes in Caitlyn's mind and she realizes that somehow the monsters are communicating or exchanging information. Whatever's being said doesn't seem to be good and the atmosphere becomes tense; Theraga lifts his head and gives a long, bellowing roar, but Cerabos only lowers his horn with a sinister look in his eyes.

The two monsters suddenly charge each other, slamming together in a collision that shakes the whole area. Theraga rapidly slides back under the weight of the larger monster but digs in with his claws and stops him cold through sheer muscle-power. The monsters struggle back and forth with Cerabos using his height advantage to claw and bite as well, but Theraga's power catches him off guard and the three-horned monster gets shoved stumbling back. Before he can recover Theraga rushes again, headbutting him hard in the stomach and driving him back while Caitlyn cheers. Losing ground fast, Cerabos bites down on Theraga's shoulder and knees him in the chest until he lets up, then body checks him away. Theraga slides backward, his claws raking through pavement, and immediately dashes back with a snarl.

Cerabos starts to charge and the two meet halfway with Theraga twisting to avoid the horn and slamming his skull into Cerabos'; cars jump off the street from the impact and the monsters shove back and forth in another clinch. As Theraga paws away at the street to hold his ground, Caitlyn spots movement behind him and is shocked to realize that the downed monorail is actually full of people. Bouncing back and forth with indecision, she shakes her head, takes a deep breath, and takes off sprinting.

Theraga is in mid-grapple when Caitlyn's voice enters his mind, telling him of the nearby civilians and instructing him to keep Cerabos away as best he can. Happy to oblige, he turns his head and chomps down on Cerabos' horn, using it to jerk him sideways and spin the monster away in another direction. Caitlyn races to the monorail on foot as they roar and fight in the near distance and gets the people's attention, telling them it's safe to make a run for it and to follow her. She hurries as many of them out as she can and points them to safety, then starts to help the trapped and injured. A small group of able-bodied survivors stay back to aid her and together they pull back seats and cargo to release pinned people; Caitlyn uses her knife to cut through stuck seatbelts and tear off bits of clothes to make bandages. She tries to do everything she can to help, but Theraga warns her he can't keep Cerabos back much longer. Seeing the monsters' feet coming closer through the windows, she and the others drag the injured out of the vehicle and head for cover as fast as they can.

Cerabos hurls Theraga away with his horns and he lands straight on the monorail, crushing it into scrap. A wave of dust and debris washes over Caitlyn and her group but she urges them to keep moving; Theraga lunges at the approaching monster but can't reach from where he is and gets tossed again. He slams into the pavement even closer to the group and the shockwaves sends them flying off their feet. Theraga's tail swings over their heads as he gets back up and rears up to slam into Cerabos on two legs. Caitlyn shouts at her group to hurry up and manages to drag them away from the street and toward a shop where the other survivors and policemen are shouting and waving. She's cut off by a giant robotic foot and watches as more tripods march toward the battling monsters.

Caitlyn warns Theraga but his hands are too full with Cerabos; a tripod opens fire with gatling guns and bullets pummel his back. Bellowing in pain, Theraga twists and thrashes but can't turn to retaliate. He nails Cerabos in the face with a brutal claw-swipe and jumps back just in time to avoid an uppercut of horns. More tripods open fire on Theraga but he quickly plows into them, taking their legs out from underneath them and ending most of the barrage. Cerabos lumbers after while the rest of the tripods turn to focus on him. Caitlyn and her people dash to safety as he collides with them, raining down pieces of mangled metal and pulverizing the street.

Spinning around to face him, Theraga roars and charges head-on at Cerabos. The horned monster lowers his head for another clash, but Theraga swings his head sideways instead and hammers the side of Cerabos' face, shattering teeth and hurling him off course. He trips and crashes into the ground head-first, staying down for a moment as Theraga paces and glances at the blood trickling down his sides. Rising up in a cloud of dust, Cerabos wails furiously and spins around to meet Theraga mid-pounce, batting him out of the air with his horns and sending him flying into the side of a skyscraper. He drops to the ground in a pile of rubble as Cerabos barrels toward him, goring his chest with both shoulder horns. Cerabos lifts him up, scraping him against the side of the building and then throwing him off his horns and into the buildings across the street.

Debris tumbles down into the cloud of smoke and Caitlyn, cursing her inability to help, urging her fallen comrade to get back up and get away if he can. The smoke and dust clear, but to her surprise Theraga is already on his feet; crushing a hunk of rubble in his jaws and spitting it out, he tells her he's just getting started. Cerabos roars angrily and lurches forward with his horns, but Theraga immediately tags him in the chest with a swipe of his claws. Blood splatters and he rears up on two legs, repeatedly tearing into his foe's soft underbelly with his powerful forelegs. Cerabos cuts to the chase and plunges his central horn straight into Theraga's chest, easily lifting him off his back feet. Theraga tries to roar but only spurts up blood; Caitlyn screams, but Theraga plants his back feet on the monster's face and kicks himself off. He lands on his back with a painful grunt, bleeding profusely, but flips himself over right away and weakly steps forward. Caitlyn begs him to stop, but the battered kaiju refuses.

Cerabos advances to attack again, but Theraga lifts his head and shoots another blast of dark energy straight into the open wound on his chest. An explosion of gore rocks the armored monster's body and he falls backwards into the building he'd beat Theraga into. Aching all over, he hisses and starts to get back up but takes a vicious uppercut from Theraga's spiky snout. Cerabos groans and falls back, blacked out.

Awed and relieved, Caitlyn rushes out into the street and cheers enthusiastically. The group of survivors in the shop slowly pour out and, though confused at first, eventually do the same. People gradually peek out form their hiding spots all over the area and join in, especially those who noticed the family resemblance. Caitlyn starts to chant his name and, picking up on it, so does the crowd. Bloody and bewildered, Theraga looks around as the humans cheer, clap, and call his name. He's never seen so many things that didn't want to kill him before... it feels nice.

Riled by the commotion, Cerabos comes to. The crowd's cheers turn into screams as he stands up and roars, swinging his horns and throwing the rubble that'd covered him. People everywhere duck back to cover as projectiles strike the ground and nearby buildings, but for Caitlyn, the police, and the survivors in the middle of the street there's nowhere to run as a huge chunk of building hurtles their way. Theraga quickly steps in front of them, taking the blow and saving their lives. Caitlyn's group is stunned by the act, but she quickly snaps them out of it and she and the policemen hurry everyone back to the shop. With the street now clear of people, Theraga steps back and snarls.

Cerabos rushes forward one last time and the monsters meet in a final struggle; Theraga clamps down on one of the giant shoulder horns and pulls Cerabos down, stopping him dead in his tracks. The armored monster tries to shove forward with his bulk, but even with all the blood he's lost Theraga still holds his own. Muscles bulging, he refuses to back down and holds tighter and tighter; cracks begin to appear in the horn, and a moment later it shatters under Theraga's behemoth bite pressure. His hold lost, Cerabos clumsily crashes into Theraga and gets shoved back; now with only two horns, he stares in disbelief at his lost appendage. Theraga motions down to it with his eyes, then up to Cerabos' head, then crunches the shards of horn in his mouth into powder. Cerabos swallows loudly and practically trips over himself trying to get away; the hiding citizens poke back out to cheer and throw things as he flees. Theraga asserts his dominance with a bellowing roar and the crowd goes absolutely wild. Caitlyn looks up at him, proud, but scared... she asks if he's going to make it, but Theraga just turns and shows her that some of the wounds on his back are already healing.

A little while later, Caitlyn is in a private room speaking to the mayor, police, military officers, scientists, and Allinos' representative on the Ternary Council. Having finished her story, the various members of the group speak up: most are grateful for her acts of bravery, both in bringing help and with the wounded civilians, but not everyone is convinced that Theraga is safe to have around or that Caitlyn can really communicate with him. Others in the group speak to her defense, including one of the officers Theraga saved and several scientists who emphasize the importance of his heritage. Even a few members of the defense force, who're mostly leery and sore about the destruction of their tripods, admit that Theraga performed admirably. One of the mayor's advisors, snippy and unconvinced, asks if she can prove her link with the monster. Caitlyn simply lifts the stone and a moment later Theraga appears outside the window behind him, giving a snort and blowing off his toupee.

The conversation continues with a debate over what would be the best way to utilize the city's new assets and it's eventually agreed that, after some proper military training, Caitlyn and Theraga will become official guardians of the people. Acting as an elite anti-kaiju unite separate from the defense force, they'll need a new base of operations and equipment to do their duties... realizing that her days of poverty and working under stuck-up Barbie girls are over, Caitlyn is overcome with joy. Hearing everything through the stone, Theraga perks up outside: kicking ass and getting loved for it sounds infinitely better than sitting around on top of a dusty old mountain. Arrangements are made and the group disbands; the mayor and a few military men go off to another meeting whispering about some of the shrapnel found in the generator room. Caitlyn catches a glimpse of a twisted piece of metal with a faded “S” painted onto it, but gets pulled aside by a representative from Kymaera Industries who wants to tell her about “an exciting new firearm technology I think you might like”.

That night, Caitlyn is back in her apartment sitting at her desk. Her toku is sleeping beneath her and most of her things are packed, but her desk is covered with objects: the un-crumpled “prophecy”, all the fragments of the shattered gemstone, a yearbook, and a very long list of mostly checked off names. Tapping her fingers and smiling, Caitlyn pulls two of the gem-shards closer and circles a pair of names: Marcus Holloway and Isabelle Warner.

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Wow that was too long. Oops.

Story and artwork © Chris Eye, 2013.

Description
Last weekend I had a bit of an epiphany about Savage Destiny and my creations. It occurred to me after an exchange on Blake's Livestream that, after six years of drawing on DeviantART, almost none of my original kaiju are actually here. It really sank in on me how much time I've spent planning compared to what I've actually accomplished. It made me think about the series' foreseeable future, my place in this little niche of the fandom, and my goals and interests as an artist. It confirmed some things I'd been worried about for a while and made me realize, yeah, some things have got to change.

So. No more working in secrecy or big, overly ambitious plans to write / draw / animate some huge complicated epic. If I ever get the chance to realize Savage Destiny as a written story, comic, or animated thingamajig I'll absolutely do it (trust me, there's no shortage of passion), but I have to be realistic here. I'm just one guy and I'm not even out of college yet. I have classes, a social life, money to make, a career to decide on... it's probably going to be a busy next few years, and I lack the time, resources, and experience to do anything really noteworthy with my ideas right now. Savage Destiny as a story / "project" is going to the wayside.

The kaiju of Savage Destiny, however, are finally going to get the spotlight they deserve. With everything else on the sidelines I no longer have a reason to keep them under wraps, and it bothers me anyway that so many of them only exist in sketchbooks. So whenever I have time I'll start working on new profiles for all of the kaiju and, if I can muster it, the human cast too. Still not very good with people, but I'm working on it.

ANYWAY!

With that announced, here's the rough overview of what the first "episode" of Savage Destiny would be to go along with this unfinished sketch. It's more of an outline than an actual story, but I got waaaay too detailed with it and it kinda turned into a weird hybrid of outline and story...

I also use apostrophes wrong all the time, so I'm sorry about that. X_X

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SAVAGE DESTINY
Act 1, Episode 1: Big Changes

April 10th, downtown Allinos. The streets are empty and a huge thunderstorm is passing over the city. A young woman, stuck working the nightshift at a used goods shop that no one will ever stop at, looks out the front window and wonders if her life will always be this boring. She argues with her flighty, self-obsessed coworker about whose turn it is to lock up and then walks home with the world's leakiest umbrella. Soaked and discontent, she curls up with her pet Toku on her ratty living room couch and falls asleep worrying about next month's rent. She is Caitlyn Thorn, and for her this is a normal Wednesday night. What she doesn't realize is that it's the last “normal” anything she'll ever have.

Several hours later the storm is over and Caitlyn's next day is progressing as expected. After a particularly long and uneventful day at work, she is shocked to find the Sygulon Traveling Bazaar set up in town, five weeks earlier than its usual yearly visit. Rushing home, she realizes she hasn't enough money saved up to do her usual shopping this soon. She takes a small amount with her, probably not enough to afford anything, and immediately loses herself in the mystifying sights and smells of the foreign vendors' wares. Hours pass and many spectacular goods are seen but nothing is within her meager budget. She begins to head home, dejected, when a strange old man calls her over to his booth.

The elderly merchant tries very hard to make a sale, showing Caitlyn his entire inventory item-by-item. His wares are impressive, but she insists she can't afford them and turns down everything he offers. Growing desperate, the old man begs her not to leave and retrieves a shrouded, fist-sized object from his chest of “ancient treasures” (aka: worthless junk). Pretending to be wary, he sneaks her a glimpse of the secret object: a breathtaking red-orange jewel that glows like fire when touched. Swearing on it's rarity and value, he makes Caitlyn one final offer: just 50 credits for the gem. She doesn't go home empty handed.

Back in her room Caitlyn empties her bag, unfurling the gem and revealing an envelope that'd been hidden inside. It contains a very hokey, unconvincing message about fate, magic, and the owner of the stone being some sort of “chosen one”. Meanwhile the gem, previously beautiful, turns out to be chipped, cracked, dirty, and practically gray. Realizing the merchant has cheated her out of her savings for a dusty old piece of rock, she snaps and hurls it across the room, smashing it into pieces. Caitlyn throws away the letter and storms off with one of the gem-shards, but back at the Bazaar the old man is gone. Furious but defeated, she retreats to her apartment and laments the wasteful decision.

That night Caitlyn suffers from horrible nightmares, tormented by images of a towering mountain and monstrous skeletons in the dark. The next morning she wakes with a start and realizes that her hand, outstretched while she slept, was resting on the gem-shard from before. Unsettled, she puts it away and goes off to work as usual.

Caitlyn continues another fairly mundane day at work but notices news reports of a disaster on TV. Telecasters tell of a daikaijuu attack on the Southern city of Kalmar; a monster previously unknown to the region has been gradually heading North and, unfazed by military strikes, has cut a swath of destruction through the city. A monster advisory warning is given for a number of distant cities and Caitlyn goes back to her duties. This is hardly the first time a monster has ever attacked a city and she doesn't think much of it. The military will probably take care of it before it comes that far North, and even if it doesn't, the tripod mechs outside Allinos certainly will.

Caitlyn comes home and gets into bed. She looks at her drawer for a moment, wondering again about the gemstone, but leaves it in her drawer and goes to sleep with it out of sight. She has the nightmare again regardless and sees brief glimpses of bones, a mountain, and now an enormous, shadow-cloaked monster. The dream is even more convincing than before and she wakes up screaming, feeling as though she's really being watched by the creature in real life. Immediately jerking the drawer open, she sees the fragment glowing brightly like it did the day she bought it...

The next day Caitlyn gets up early and goes straight to town with the gem-shard. She takes it to every store, shop, and studio she can think of that might know what type of rock it is, but all the while she notices more and more news about the incoming giant monster. The mood in the city is strangely tense and she repeatedly overhears talk of the monster heading North and shrugging off proven anti-kaiju weapons... she can't help but ask herself if the monster they're talking about might be the same one from her dreams. She tries not to let it distract her, but no one in town can tell her what the gemstone really is. Finally, one store-owner points her in the direction of a junior scientist with a geology lab who might be able to help.

Caitlyn takes the shard to the geologist right away and tells her its story, careful to omit the parts about nightmare visions and impossibly-real monsters. He tries his best to identify the fragment but is similarly stumped: its composition is unlike anything he's ever seen and seems to be holding an unusually high amount of mana. He asks Caitlyn to give up the stone so he can study it more intensely, but she knows it's too important to give away and declines. She leaves the puzzled scientist behind and heads home not knowing what to think. Before she goes to bed she sees another broadcast about the monster: it's passed the last few towns outside the wasteland and is still heading North. At it's present course it will arrive at Allinos by noon the next day.

Realizing that a fight between the monster and her city's defenses is now inevitable, Caitlyn has a hard time getting to sleep. She knows the emergency forcefield is impenetrable and has seen the tripod mechs shred other kaiju before, but the rumors of this one surviving anti-kaiju weaponry worries her, as do her ominous dreams. She stays up thinking for a long time, afraid to fall asleep, but eventually drifts off anyway. The nightmare returns clearer than ever.

Lightning flashes and Caitlyn sees the mountain again, tall and sinister but now somehow familiar. The giant monster appears in the shadows again, crunching bones beneath its feet, but this time she can clearly see its two, glowing green eyes... not at all like the four purple ones on the monster from the news broadcasts. It lurches over her, huge and terrifying, but much to her shock does not attack. The dream ceases seamlessly, and Caitlyn suddenly realizes she is awake, sitting up in her bed and staring out her window at one of the mountains outside Allinos. Looking down, she sees the glowing gem-shard in one hand. The clock says it's still early Sunday morning.

Rushing out of bed and getting dressed, Caitlyn knows what she has to do. She grabs everything she'll need and slips out into the dark, leaving the city limits and heading for the Goronian Mountains. With one monster bearing down from the South she knows she can't afford to wait until daybreak... something out of the ordinary is definitely going on, and if she's going to figure out what or why she needs to reach the top of the mountain while she still can.

Miles away, chaos is breaking loose in the badlands. Military vehicles and armed infantry are swarming the armored, three-horned kaiju from the South, fighting desperately to turn it back before it can reach another populated area. Bullets and rockets of every caliber bounce off its shell, underbelly, and even its eyes. The monster continues on its direct course for Allinos, not even bothered enough to destroy its attackers.

Caitlyn is still hiking when dawns first light washes over the mountainside. The slopes are rocky and barren: barely any trees and no sign of animal life. Back down in the city, a crowd is gathering in the streets. A military blockade has formed around the front of the city to watch for the incoming monster: turrets, tanks, and tripods stand sentinel while soldiers and police keep the citizens behind a line of safety. Everyone's eyes are glued to the horizon.

Up on the mountain, Caitlyn is reaching some of the higher peaks and starting to see bones. The farther she goes, the more prevalent they are; eventually she is surrounded by the same huge, mangled skeletons from her dreams. Remembering biology textbooks she read as a child, she recognizes them as the legendary Vulgrithe that plagued the region decades prior. The books all claimed that the Vulgrithe migrated away from Allinos when they ran out of hikers and Greigyxes to eat, but the field of bones tells a different story.

Down in the city a man cries out and points at the horizon. Appearing in front of the rising sun is a huge, distant black object. The crowd comes to life as it gradually grows larger in their binoculars, soon just big enough to be seen without them. The police move the blockade line farther back as military machines slowly rise and advance. Soldiers with walkie-talkies give the command to ready the shield battery and the massive structure in the center of the city starts to glow green with mana. Technicians inside work fastidiously as giant engines and mechanical pieces the size of houses spin to life.

Back on the mountain, Caitlyn is looking at a Vulgrithe skull when the ground starts to shake. Seeing the gem-shard glow and a massive shadow sweep over her, she freezes. A huge, saber-toothed head lowers into view and Caitlyn turns around to find herself face to face with the daikaijuu from her dreams. Hardly two feet away from the end of its snout, she sees that even its teeth are larger than she is... powerless to do anything, she stands still as it sniffs her. Her eyes wander around the ridges and spikes of its enormous skull as it does so and she accidentally makes eye contact; the monster's eyes immediately lock on to hers and, petrified, she stares back. Time stops and the monster's gaze is incredibly harsh, but a moment later it still hasn't attacked. Instead it simply grunts and backs away. Caitlyn watches with astonishment as it lays down and casually crosses its front two legs. Then it speaks.

The monster's mouth stays closed but a deep, gravelly voice enters Caitlyn's mind. In a gruff but surprisingly civil tone he expresses his own confusion with what's been going on and says that his nightmares about “a tiny little monster in a claustrophobic cave” have been driving him mad. Dazed, Caitlyn sits down and awkwardly starts a conversation with a hundred foot monster. He introduces himself as Theraga and the two swap stories and share astonishment over their situation. Theraga comments on how enjoyable it is to finally have someone to talk to and explains that he's lived in the mountains by himself all his life; he was orphaned as a pup and spent his childhood constantly being mauled and brought to the brink of death by the bigger, more experienced Vulgrithe. When Caitlyn asks what happened to them, he simply responds “I got bigger”.

Down on the plains the standoff has begun. The three-horned giant monster stops momentarily to size up its opposition and the city ahead, then lurches forward. Weapons of every size open fire, instantly pelting it with armor-piercing rounds and missiles. Fireballs and smoke engulf the field and charred earth flies in every direction, but the monster walks through unharmed. Soldiers hurry the panicking crowd back to emergency shelters as the barrage intensifies; they exchange worried looks as their general curses his radio in the distance. Something isn't right.

Hearing explosions, Caitlyn snaps out of her moment of surrealism and remembers what's going on. Running to the edge of the peak, she sees the other monster for the first time and is horrified to see it marching toward the city limits, unharmed by heavy weapons and with no shield in its way. As she panics and points to the destruction Theraga seems apathetic at best. He expresses his own disdain for the “shiny land-scar” only to be chastised by Caitlyn; floored, she asks how he could possibly be so heartless and watch carelessly as her home falls into peril. Theraga seems equally shocked to realize that her home and Allinos are one in the same.

Striding through clouds of black smoke, the first wave of tripods position themselves between the city and its aggressor. The monster stomps forward and destroys the defenses in its way but is caught off guard by the mechs' firepower: their mammoth gatling guns hammer the monster's underside until it ruptures, tearing a hole in its chest and unleashing a geyser of blood. They aim for the wound and blast it with rockets, but as the smoke clears the monster is suddenly horizontal and charging at full speed. The tripods open fire again, but even their weapons can't pierce the beasts' thick plates; it gores the first of the mechs with its giant horns and then proceeds to decimate the whole group. The general frantically tries different means of reaching the generator station, but nothing is responding. He fires up his vehicle and starts to take off to start the shield himself, but just then the windows of the building blow out in a massive explosion. The column of light gathering in the city's center flickers and dies and emergency sirens blare; the panicking masses go crazy as the monster's foot passes the point where the shield barrier should've been and stomps inside the city.

On top of the mountain, Theraga wrestles with the concept that the land-scar is actually a dwelling place for humans. He explains to Caitlyn that he has always hated it, and even considered destroying it himself several times... one of his earliest memories was his parents trying to seek refuge there and being forced back to their death by its insidious curtain of light. The identity of his parents finally hits home and Caitlyn is starstruck: Theraga is the progeny of legends. Trying to recant the tale of Vangar and Aphila as accurately as she can, Caitlyn explains what the city is and why his parents tried to go there in the first place. Theraga's temper only rises when he learns that his parents' death was a betrayal, but she does her best to stress that it was neither intentional nor the will of most people. She pleads with Theraga not to judge the entirety of the human race on the actions of a few dead politicians and explains that if the city falls, millions of thinking, feeling beings like himself will be destroyed. Unconvinced, he looks the city over from afar and watches the explosions.

The long-horned monster rampages through the city, smashing through buildings and flattening cars. Soldiers storm into the generator building but find nothing but dead bodies and wreckage. The controls are far beyond repair and shrapnel from what appears to be a large bomb is strewn across the floor; the explosion was a deliberate sabotage, but the culprit is long gone. Outside, the Tripod mechs carefully strafe between buildings and ambush the monster, trying to drive it back with minimal damage by using precision lasers instead of rockets. A few beams hit their mark, but the monster quickly wises up and turns away from them, deflecting the rest with its shell and causing massive collateral damage. It destroys several more mechs and all the buildings between them, then sets its sights on something moving nearby.

Meanwhile, Theraga has laid down again and Caitlyn is desperately trying to reason with him. He acknowledges that the destruction of her home would be tragic, but still doesn't care about the humans: the fatal betrayal of his parents is too much for him to forgive, and the years of nonstop suffering he endured were a direct result of their decision. Caitlyn makes a case for her people again, explaining the deep regret and loss that came from the loss of his parents and how few of those who approved it are still around. The people dying in the city right now, she asserts, are innocent, sentient beings feeling the same fear and pain that he did as a pup... and if they were still alive, Vangar and Aphila would be helping.

A moment later Theraga is thundering down the mountainside, galloping full speed with Caitlyn riding on his back. She shouts with glee as he races down the path, clearing the distance that'd taken her all morning in only a few minutes. Caitlyn reassures him that he's doing the right thing and hugs his mane as he tears across the plains toward Allinos. She tries to brief him on what it will be like inside the city and how to move around without hurting people, but it is interrupted by Theraga asking what the “three-legged monsters” are up ahead. Her heart sinks as a pair of tripods march onto the plain and stop, weapons aimed directly at them; unable to detect her tiny form from far away, all they see is a toothy monster charging toward their city.

Caitlyn stretches up as far as she can, shouting and waving her arms, but it's no use: the mechs hunker down and the rocket-launchers on their sides splay out. Caitlyn screams and throws herself against Theraga's back, begging him to turn back and find another way, but he rushes forward anyway. Explosions go off all around and dirt rains down on them as Theraga bounds and leaps to evade the rockets, but as he closes the gap the mechs switch to their giant gatling guns. Knowing he can't possibly outrun bullets, Caitlyn pleads with him frantically but has to hide in his mane when the fire begins. A barrage of automatic rounds tears into Theraga's shoulder and side and Caitlyn screams for him to do something. Swinging his head to the side, Theraga hurls a curveball of seething black energy that zooms by just above the ground and detonates beneath the closest tripod, blowing it to smithereens. The second continues to shoot, but Theraga lowers his head and deflects the bullets with his knobby, reinforced skull. He warns Caitlyn to hang on tight as he closes in, headbutting the second mech and punching its body clear off its legs.

Theraga passes the city border and races down main street, taken off guard by Caitlyn's warning that cars could have people in them: he comically stumbles and hops to avoid them before getting the hang of it and chasing after the trail of destruction. Inside the city, the tripod mechs divide their forces and several move to intercept Theraga. He outruns the first few before they can fire and rams another out of his way, but more ambush him from the side and blast him with lasers. He stops to shred one with his claws, then backs off to resume the chase. As he does, one of the tripods detects Caitlyn on his back and stops firing; it sends the information to the defense force and the rest of the tripods, who cease fire temporarily and trail him.

Leaving the bulky robots behind, Theraga eventually slows down at the site of a trashed intersection. The two hear the other monster moving up ahead and take a quick moment to collect themselves. Amid the wreckage Theraga spots a limp, dead hand just like Caitlyn's and the impact of what's happening fully dawns on him. Not noticing, she asks if he's okay and tries to steady his nerves for the big confrontation. He says he's fine, but lowers his front half and tells her she needs to get off and find somewhere safe. Frazzled from gunfire and explosions, she gladly obliges but stops to ask if he thinks he can reason with the other monster like she did with him. Grinning, he walks off saying “you don't know a whole lot about giant monsters, do ya, Kate?”

Further in, a group of civilians being transported to the other side of the city scream as the other monster's face fills the view of their monorail's windows. They all scramble to the opposite side as it draws near and roars, blowing out the windows; one of its horns bursts through the floor, impaling the vehicle and lifting it off the track. The monster shakes the monorail violently before scraping it along the ground and sending it sliding off it's horn upside-down. The vehicle wobbles to a halt amidst sparks and steam and the monster slowly stomps toward it. The people inside, injured and disoriented, scream wildly as its feet slam down outside. The monster towers over the monorail to finish it off, but halts at the sound of giant footsteps.

People hiding in shops and offices peer out in awe as Theraga passes by and moves into the clearing; most are just shocked to see a second monster, but some pick up on the resemblance to Vangar and Aphila. Caitlyn clambers over wreckage and watches from a distance as Theraga steps forward to challenge the other monster. It turns around, clearly the larger of the two, and absent-mindedly pushes the monorail aside with it's tail. The name Cerabos flashes in Caitlyn's mind and she realizes that somehow the monsters are communicating or exchanging information. Whatever's being said doesn't seem to be good and the atmosphere becomes tense; Theraga lifts his head and gives a long, bellowing roar, but Cerabos only lowers his horn with a sinister look in his eyes.

The two monsters suddenly charge each other, slamming together in a collision that shakes the whole area. Theraga rapidly slides back under the weight of the larger monster but digs in with his claws and stops him cold through sheer muscle-power. The monsters struggle back and forth with Cerabos using his height advantage to claw and bite as well, but Theraga's power catches him off guard and the three-horned monster gets shoved stumbling back. Before he can recover Theraga rushes again, headbutting him hard in the stomach and driving him back while Caitlyn cheers. Losing ground fast, Cerabos bites down on Theraga's shoulder and knees him in the chest until he lets up, then body checks him away. Theraga slides backward, his claws raking through pavement, and immediately dashes back with a snarl.

Cerabos starts to charge and the two meet halfway with Theraga twisting to avoid the horn and slamming his skull into Cerabos'; cars jump off the street from the impact and the monsters shove back and forth in another clinch. As Theraga paws away at the street to hold his ground, Caitlyn spots movement behind him and is shocked to realize that the downed monorail is actually full of people. Bouncing back and forth with indecision, she shakes her head, takes a deep breath, and takes off sprinting.

Theraga is in mid-grapple when Caitlyn's voice enters his mind, telling him of the nearby civilians and instructing him to keep Cerabos away as best he can. Happy to oblige, he turns his head and chomps down on Cerabos' horn, using it to jerk him sideways and spin the monster away in another direction. Caitlyn races to the monorail on foot as they roar and fight in the near distance and gets the people's attention, telling them it's safe to make a run for it and to follow her. She hurries as many of them out as she can and points them to safety, then starts to help the trapped and injured. A small group of able-bodied survivors stay back to aid her and together they pull back seats and cargo to release pinned people; Caitlyn uses her knife to cut through stuck seatbelts and tear off bits of clothes to make bandages. She tries to do everything she can to help, but Theraga warns her he can't keep Cerabos back much longer. Seeing the monsters' feet coming closer through the windows, she and the others drag the injured out of the vehicle and head for cover as fast as they can.

Cerabos hurls Theraga away with his horns and he lands straight on the monorail, crushing it into scrap. A wave of dust and debris washes over Caitlyn and her group but she urges them to keep moving; Theraga lunges at the approaching monster but can't reach from where he is and gets tossed again. He slams into the pavement even closer to the group and the shockwaves sends them flying off their feet. Theraga's tail swings over their heads as he gets back up and rears up to slam into Cerabos on two legs. Caitlyn shouts at her group to hurry up and manages to drag them away from the street and toward a shop where the other survivors and policemen are shouting and waving. She's cut off by a giant robotic foot and watches as more tripods march toward the battling monsters.

Caitlyn warns Theraga but his hands are too full with Cerabos; a tripod opens fire with gatling guns and bullets pummel his back. Bellowing in pain, Theraga twists and thrashes but can't turn to retaliate. He nails Cerabos in the face with a brutal claw-swipe and jumps back just in time to avoid an uppercut of horns. More tripods open fire on Theraga but he quickly plows into them, taking their legs out from underneath them and ending most of the barrage. Cerabos lumbers after while the rest of the tripods turn to focus on him. Caitlyn and her people dash to safety as he collides with them, raining down pieces of mangled metal and pulverizing the street.

Spinning around to face him, Theraga roars and charges head-on at Cerabos. The horned monster lowers his head for another clash, but Theraga swings his head sideways instead and hammers the side of Cerabos' face, shattering teeth and hurling him off course. He trips and crashes into the ground head-first, staying down for a moment as Theraga paces and glances at the blood trickling down his sides. Rising up in a cloud of dust, Cerabos wails furiously and spins around to meet Theraga mid-pounce, batting him out of the air with his horns and sending him flying into the side of a skyscraper. He drops to the ground in a pile of rubble as Cerabos barrels toward him, goring his chest with both shoulder horns. Cerabos lifts him up, scraping him against the side of the building and then throwing him off his horns and into the buildings across the street.

Debris tumbles down into the cloud of smoke and Caitlyn, cursing her inability to help, urging her fallen comrade to get back up and get away if he can. The smoke and dust clear, but to her surprise Theraga is already on his feet; crushing a hunk of rubble in his jaws and spitting it out, he tells her he's just getting started. Cerabos roars angrily and lurches forward with his horns, but Theraga immediately tags him in the chest with a swipe of his claws. Blood splatters and he rears up on two legs, repeatedly tearing into his foe's soft underbelly with his powerful forelegs. Cerabos cuts to the chase and plunges his central horn straight into Theraga's chest, easily lifting him off his back feet. Theraga tries to roar but only spurts up blood; Caitlyn screams, but Theraga plants his back feet on the monster's face and kicks himself off. He lands on his back with a painful grunt, bleeding profusely, but flips himself over right away and weakly steps forward. Caitlyn begs him to stop, but the battered kaiju refuses.

Cerabos advances to attack again, but Theraga lifts his head and shoots another blast of dark energy straight into the open wound on his chest. An explosion of gore rocks the armored monster's body and he falls backwards into the building he'd beat Theraga into. Aching all over, he hisses and starts to get back up but takes a vicious uppercut from Theraga's spiky snout. Cerabos groans and falls back, blacked out.

Awed and relieved, Caitlyn rushes out into the street and cheers enthusiastically. The group of survivors in the shop slowly pour out and, though confused at first, eventually do the same. People gradually peek out form their hiding spots all over the area and join in, especially those who noticed the family resemblance. Caitlyn starts to chant his name and, picking up on it, so does the crowd. Bloody and bewildered, Theraga looks around as the humans cheer, clap, and call his name. He's never seen so many things that didn't want to kill him before... it feels nice.

Riled by the commotion, Cerabos comes to. The crowd's cheers turn into screams as he stands up and roars, swinging his horns and throwing the rubble that'd covered him. People everywhere duck back to cover as projectiles strike the ground and nearby buildings, but for Caitlyn, the police, and the survivors in the middle of the street there's nowhere to run as a huge chunk of building hurtles their way. Theraga quickly steps in front of them, taking the blow and saving their lives. Caitlyn's group is stunned by the act, but she quickly snaps them out of it and she and the policemen hurry everyone back to the shop. With the street now clear of people, Theraga steps back and snarls.

Cerabos rushes forward one last time and the monsters meet in a final struggle; Theraga clamps down on one of the giant shoulder horns and pulls Cerabos down, stopping him dead in his tracks. The armored monster tries to shove forward with his bulk, but even with all the blood he's lost Theraga still holds his own. Muscles bulging, he refuses to back down and holds tighter and tighter; cracks begin to appear in the horn, and a moment later it shatters under Theraga's behemoth bite pressure. His hold lost, Cerabos clumsily crashes into Theraga and gets shoved back; now with only two horns, he stares in disbelief at his lost appendage. Theraga motions down to it with his eyes, then up to Cerabos' head, then crunches the shards of horn in his mouth into powder. Cerabos swallows loudly and practically trips over himself trying to get away; the hiding citizens poke back out to cheer and throw things as he flees. Theraga asserts his dominance with a bellowing roar and the crowd goes absolutely wild. Caitlyn looks up at him, proud, but scared... she asks if he's going to make it, but Theraga just turns and shows her that some of the wounds on his back are already healing.

A little while later, Caitlyn is in a private room speaking to the mayor, police, military officers, scientists, and Allinos' representative on the Ternary Council. Having finished her story, the various members of the group speak up: most are grateful for her acts of bravery, both in bringing help and with the wounded civilians, but not everyone is convinced that Theraga is safe to have around or that Caitlyn can really communicate with him. Others in the group speak to her defense, including one of the officers Theraga saved and several scientists who emphasize the importance of his heritage. Even a few members of the defense force, who're mostly leery and sore about the destruction of their tripods, admit that Theraga performed admirably. One of the mayor's advisors, snippy and unconvinced, asks if she can prove her link with the monster. Caitlyn simply lifts the stone and a moment later Theraga appears outside the window behind him, giving a snort and blowing off his toupee.

The conversation continues with a debate over what would be the best way to utilize the city's new assets and it's eventually agreed that, after some proper military training, Caitlyn and Theraga will become official guardians of the people. Acting as an elite anti-kaiju unite separate from the defense force, they'll need a new base of operations and equipment to do their duties... realizing that her days of poverty and working under stuck-up Barbie girls are over, Caitlyn is overcome with joy. Hearing everything through the stone, Theraga perks up outside: kicking ass and getting loved for it sounds infinitely better than sitting around on top of a dusty old mountain. Arrangements are made and the group disbands; the mayor and a few military men go off to another meeting whispering about some of the shrapnel found in the generator room. Caitlyn catches a glimpse of a twisted piece of metal with a faded “S” painted onto it, but gets pulled aside by a representative from Kymaera Industries who wants to tell her about “an exciting new firearm technology I think you might like”.

That night, Caitlyn is back in her apartment sitting at her desk. Her toku is sleeping beneath her and most of her things are packed, but her desk is covered with objects: the un-crumpled “prophecy”, all the fragments of the shattered gemstone, a yearbook, and a very long list of mostly checked off names. Tapping her fingers and smiling, Caitlyn pulls two of the gem-shards closer and circles a pair of names: Marcus Holloway and Isabelle Warner.

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Wow that was too long. Oops.

Story and artwork © Chris Eye, 2013.