Author’s note: This entry in the “Gfantis vs” Series features the kaiju Chimera from the novel Chimera Scourge of the Gods: A Kaiju Tale. The novel is published by Severed Press Books, and it was written by me in response to the readers of G-FAN magazine. During the course of writing the “Gfantis vs Guest Monster” series, many readers emailed me suggesting that I take a shot at a kaiju novel of my own. So, with your encouragement, I wrote Chimera, and it has now been picked up by Severed Press and can be found both on their website and on amazon.com. I never would have thought that I could have written and published my own kaiju novel, but with your support, this is literally a dream come true for me. To the readers of G-FAN (and J.D.) I offer my sincerest thanks in helping me to reach this dream! I hope this story, and the novel, do G-fans proud!
Chimera Scourge of the Gods focuses on Chimera, a kaiju that is a sperm whale/gorilla/lion hybrid, created by the U.S. government to stop the ancient gods (Olympian, Asgardian, Mesopotamian) and the monsters of their mythologies from destroying mankind. The following story takes place at the conclusion of the novel.
Virginia
Luke Davis woke up and stared at his wife Melissa. After all they had been through over the past six months, nothing made him happier than to see her lying there next to him. He kissed her and she smiled. “That was a nice way to wake up, but go brush your teeth before you kiss me again. Your morning breath smells worse than Chimera.”
Luke laughed. “Okay then, maybe tomorrow I’ll have Chimera stick his head in the window and give you a kiss.”
Melissa smiled and threw her pillow at him. “Just get out of here and go train your monster, so he’s ready to save the world again if more gods decided to attack us.”
Luke tossed the pillow back to her, saluted, and then trotted out of the room. He quickly pulled on his jeans and t-shirt. He loved that he was able to dress in such an informal manner. Most Board Certified Behavior Analysts were stuck with the suit and tie wardrobe, but then again, most BCBAs were not using Applied Behavior Analysis techniques to train a giant monster to protect the world.
Luke jumped into his topless jeep, drove out of the military base where he and his family lived, and headed into the forest that surrounded the base and served as Chimera’s sanctuary. The area where Chimera rested was about half an hour’s drive. Once the day’s training had been completed, Luke would have the pleasure of rewarding Chimera’s hard work by taking him to the beach to enjoy a couple of hours in the ocean. After having led Chimera in the fight against the ancient gods and their monsters, most of the world saw Luke as a hero, but he still saw himself as a teacher, and any good teacher enjoyed rewarding his students for a job well done. For Chimera, there was nothing the kaiju enjoyed more than swimming in the ocean, and Luke wanted desperately to take him there. Hearing a roar echo across the forest, Luke knew that Chimera was awake and waiting for him. He pressed down on the gas and smiled. “Take it easy buddy. I’m coming for you.”
The research lab inside the base was alive with activity. Today was an important day, the day the research team was going to see if they could activate one of the artifacts they had scavenged from their war with the gods. The base commander, General Sam Parsons, was standing next to his mythology specialist Diana Cain. They stood on an observation deck, looking through a thick glass window at the laboratory below them. Parson’s eyes were fixed on the golden chariot that was sitting in the middle of the laboratory. He continued to stare at the chariot as he spoke to Diana. “So what exactly is this thing supposed to do again?”
Diana shrugged. “‘That thing’ is Apollo’s Chariot. Legend says that it contains the very power of the sun itself. It could be a huge step toward addressing the energy crisis.” Diana took a deep breath and collected her thoughts. “Chimera battled the Olympians at the top of Mount Olympus, so no one actually saw the battle. Given how the chariot was thrown to the side of the Olympians Courtyard, we assume that it was used during the struggle with Chimera, but we can’t say for sure what it can do. The Olympians obviously employed it as some kind of a weapon. Since recovering the chariot, we’ve prevented it from being exposed to any sunlight, and during that time, it’s been dormant. According to the mythology, Apollo accessed its power by flying it next to the sun. Our current operating hypothesis is that exposing it to sunlight will activate whatever powers the chariot has.”
Parsons kept his eyes fixed on the chariot as various scientists connected wires and meters to it. One of the scientists looked up to Parsons and gestured toward the ceiling. Parsons gave the go ahead to the research team, indicating that they were clear to open up the skylight and expose the chariot to sunlight. The skylight opened, and as the first ray of sunlight reached the chariot, the room was immediately bathed in a blinding white light as Apollo’s Chariot began to emanate sunlight throughout the laboratory.
Deep within the Atlantic Ocean, off the coast of Virginia, a colossal saurian head stirred on the ocean floor. Gfantis’ eyes snapped open as his body sensed a massive surge of the solar energy that fed him pulsating nearby. The kaiju lifted his body off of the ocean floor and swam in the direction of the energy source. To Gfantis, the power source felt as if the sun itself had landed on Earth. He sensed that, whatever the energy source was, it was capable of sustaining him from now until the end of time.
The head of the Prince of the Monsters broke the surface of the water and he shifted his gaze in the direction of the power source; the emanations were originating on land. Gfantis knew that moving ashore meant dealing with humans. He growled. Gfantis was determined to take possession of the power source, and if the humans attempted to keep it from him, he would deal with them. He roared a challenge, and then began swimming toward the distant shore.
Luke had been driving for about fifteen minutes when he suddenly saw a “living mountain” rise up out the forest in front of him. No matter how many times he saw saw Chimera, Luke was still awed by the sight of the kaiju. It stood about 250 feet tall and measured nearly 300 hundred feet long. Chimera had the powerful torso and arms of gorilla with the agile explosive legs of a lion. He also possessed the razor sharp claws of a lion on both his hands and his feet. The long thick tail of the sperm whale extended out of his back and ended in a large fluke. The kaiju also had the elongated face of a sperm-whale, but accentuated by the feline eyes, canine teeth, and the majestic mane of a lion around his neck. The mane was the only hair on the kaiju; the rest of Chimera’s body was covered in the thick, rubbery, gray skin of a sperm whale.
Chimera was a walking juggernaut. To look at the monster was to understand how physically powerful he truly was. Luke was well aware, however, that Chimera’s raw strength was the least of his attributes. The monster was extremely intelligent. Luke had tested the kaiju and found that he was at least as intelligent as a two year old human. Luke could hear Diana quoting one of her monster movies with, “Chimera is a thinking monster. His skull is at least ten times that of a gorilla.” Diana always laughed to herself at that, but Luke never got the joke, especially since Chimera had the reinforced skull of sperm whale. The spermaceti inside Chimera’s head allowed it to act like a battering ram. Luke had seen Chimera uses his face to smash through the side of building as if it were paper.
Powerful as it was, Chimera’s battering ram head was not the most devastating weapon resulting from his sperm whale DNA. He also had the ability to fire a condensed sonar blast, powerful enough to temporarily disable an opponent’s central nervous system.
Chimera looked down toward Luke and uttered the friendly hoots of a happy gorilla. Luke reached into the back of his jeep and pulled out one of the 100 pound beef, bamboo, and squid cubes that he fed Chimera as a reward during their training sessions. Luke tossed Chimera a freebie cube and the monster happily scooped it up and swallowed it whole. Putting a megaphone to his lips, Luke called out, “Good morning Chimera! Are you ready to get to work?” Chimera nodded in reply, and Luke smiled. “Good. After we’re done working, we can go for a swi
m in the ocean today!” Chimera began to jump up and down in excitement as Luke thought to himself that this was going to be a good day.
Parsons and Diana were blinded by the intense sunlight emanating from Apollo’s Chariot. Eyes shut, Parsons reached out and felt around the control panel until he was able to locate the intercom. Pressing down on the switch, he yelled, “This is General Parsons. I am ordering that the skylight be closed immediately!”
A voice screamed back from one of the microphones on the laboratory floor. “The skylight is closed. It seems that the chariot is now generating its own energy. It’s giving off pure sunlight, and we don’t know how long it will take to power down!”
Diana was shielding her eyes as she called out to Parsons, “We should evacuate the building. We’re not sure what’s going to happen with that thing.”
Parsons punched the switch on the intercom once more. “Alright everyone, we are going to evacuate the building, but I want all possible systems working to collect data on what’s going on with the that chariot.” Closing the intercom, he and Diana made their way out of the building.
Five miles out to sea from the base, the USS Argos was engaging in its daily training run. The ship was the largest and most powerful vessel in the US Navy, a ship that had been specifically created to transport Chimera around the planet. Armed to the teeth, the Argos was capable of reaching speeds on the water far beyond that of a ship half of its size.
Sergeant Gardner was manning the sonar monitor when it suddenly registered a massive incoming object. Hurredly, Gardner called over to the ship’s captain. “Sir, I have a large unidentified object coming in fast. Is Chimera in the water at this time?”
The captain checked his watch. “Chimera is not scheduled to enter the ocean for two more hours. Are you sure we’re looking at something the size of Chimera?”
“Yes sir! Radar confirms that the object is over 55 meters long and closing fast toward our starboard side!”
The captain immediately put the ship on red alert and called all hands on deck. Outwardy calm, he feared what every other sailor aboard the Argos did. During the war with the gods, they had been attacked by several daikaiju, dispatched by the gods to destroy them. Had it not been for Chimera, the mighty Argos could have been sunk by either the Ophiotaurus or the shark god Asag.
The captain ran to the bridge of the ship and looked out toward its starboard side. He could see a huge dinosaur-like head with a crescent shaped horn atop it cutting through the water like a bizarre shark fin. Behind the head of the creature, the captain could see long jagged spikes sticking out the monster’s back. He whispered the word kaiju under his breath. Grabbing the intercom, the captain barked his orders across the ship. “All hands, this is the captain speaking. I want all our weapons systems and cameras targeting that kaiju. Let the cameras run for ten seconds, then send the feed directly to General Parsons back at base. After the ten second interval, open fire with everything we’ve got!”
The sailors of the Argos snapped into action. No sooner had the video been streamed, the deck of the Argos lit up as cannons, missiles, and torpedoes unloaded onto Gfantis.
The Prince of the Monsters swam through the hellish barrage, then dove under the surface and swam directly underneath the ship. The monster quickly emerged on the other side of the Argos and continued on toward his destination.
Turning to his communications officer, the captain demanded, “Did the video footage make it to General Parsons?” Receiving an affirmative reply, the captain nodded and took one more look at Gfantis as the kaiju swam ever closer to shore. “Good. He needs to know what’s coming.”
Parsons and Diana were standing outside the building that housed Apollo’s Chariot. Though power had been shut down to the entire building, blindingly bright light still cascaded out of every window. Parsons was staring quietly at the illuminated building when an alert flashed across his phone. He turned it on to see the footage from the Argos. Parsons tapped Diana on the shoulder and handed his phone over to her. “Do you have any idea what kind of mythological creature that is?”
Diana re-ran the footage three times. “I’ve seen that monster before, but I can’t recall what mythology it belongs too. We know that the Olympians, Mesopotamian gods, and the Asgardians no longer have access to Earth. Maybe the creature is from Egyptian mythology. I’ll get working on right away. Where is this footage from?”
Parsons sighed, “It’s then less five miles offshore from this location. The monster seems to be heading directly for the base. If this is another sect of gods planning to eradicate humans, this monster could be their version of a preemptive strike.” He took his phone back from Diana. “Find out what you can about this creature and get back to me A.S.A.P. In the meantime, I’ll call Luke. If this creature wants a fight with Chimera, then he’ll get his wish!”
Fifteen minutes later, Luke was flooring his jeep in order to stay ahead of Chimera as they headed toward the sea. Chimera was walking at a slow pace, but the stride length of a 250 foot kaiju had him moving at about 70 mph. Parsons had informed Luke that a new kaiju had appeared, and that it seemed to be heading straight for the base where Luke’s family lived. Though the base was being evacuated of non-essential personnel, which meant that his wife and kids were being moved away from the danger, Luke knew full well that they would never reach a safe distance before the kaiju made landfall.
Diana had been unable to identify the monster or to attribute it to any particular sect of gods, but Luke didn’t care who the beast was or where it came from. If the recent war had taught him anything it was that, outside of Chimera, all kaiju were creatures determined to kill as many humans as possible, and there was no way that he was going to let that thing come anywhere near his family.
Luke took a sharp right turn toward the beach when Chimera came to an abrupt stop behind him. Luke slowed down and turned around to see Chimera sniffing the air. Shaking his massive head from side to side, Chimera growled as he looked out over the ocean. Luke realized that Chimera could smell the incoming monster. Luke picked up his megaphone and screamed, “Chimera, follow me!” He then stepped on the gas and continued for the beach. He quickly glanced up into his rearview at that massive form of Chimera and said, “It’s alright buddy. You’ll get your shot at whatever that thing is soon enough.”
A minute later, Luke drove his jeep onto the beach and pulled the vehicle to a stop. Chimera lumbered up behind him, and the two of them stood staring across the ocean as a huge swell of water, with a crescent shaped horn jutting out of it, rushed toward the beach. The swell continued forward as Gfantis stood still on all four legs and glared at Chimera. Water poured off of Gfantis’s body as the monster stood up on his hind legs, reared back, and then roared at the creature who was standing between him and the new source of sunlight that his body craved.
Chimera glanced at Luke as he raised his megaphone to his mouth and screamed, “Chimera, attack!” The monster beat his chest and roared. Placing his front hands on the ground, he charged at Gfantis like an enraged bull gorilla.
The base was alive with activity. Soldiers were arming themselves in preparation for a battle against the incoming kaiju should the creature defeat Chimera. Thousands of civilians were being taken away in trucks and buses. The building that held Apollo’s Chariot was giving off a light so bright that it was literally shining through the walls of the structure. Parsons was doing his best to coordinate all the operations taking place, as Diana had run into a nearby building where she continued to shift through her tablet, looking for a description of any creature in mythology that matched the kaiju who was currently battling Chimera. She searched through Native American, Chinese, Japanese, and African mythology, but she was unable to locate anything that matched the description of the creature. Diana cursed and ran her fingers over the tablet’s screen in frustration, causing her search results to scroll down.
Diana saw a link at the bottom of the screen that caught her eye, a link to the website
of tabloid reporter Sly Lyson. Diana clicked on the link and found an article with a description for a monster called Gfantis. From the description of the creature, Diana was sure that Gfantis was the kaiju currently heading to a confrontation with Chimera. Her eyes grew wide when she came to the section of the article that suggested Gfantis’ origin. Diana ran to the base’s command center in search of General Parson’s. If the report was true, then she might have found a way to solve the problem of Gfantis and Apollo’s Chariot at the same time.
She found Parsons in the command center. He was watching the video feed of Gfantis wading ashore and preparing to engage Chimera. Diana ran up to Parsons. “The monster’s name is Gfantis! His exploits have been covered by a tabloid magazine, and up until now I had just figured that he was a creation of the tabloid.” She handed her tablet to Parsons so that he could look at the information she had found.
As Parsons reviewed the article, Diana described her plan. “The article suggests that the creature is solar powered. If so, that would explain why he headed for the base at the same time we activated the chariot. The sunlight the chariot is giving off is like the sign at an all-you-can-eat buffet to Gfantis. I think if we give Gfantis the chariot, he’d be able to siphon off the extra energy it’s producing. And by bringing the chariot to him, we’ll avoid the destruction he’ll cause trying to get to the base.”
Parsons picked up his radio. “This is Parsons. I need a helicopter with a tow cable and an extraction team over to the laboratory right now.” Parsons turned to Diana. “Let’s just pray that Chimera can hold Gfantis at the beach until we can get the chariot to them.”
Gfantis was standing in the surf as Chimera pounded toward him. The speed of the hybrid caught Gfantis off guard. Chimera drove his spermaceti-reinforced head into Gfantis’s chest with the force of an aircraft carrier moving at full speed. The blow sent Gfantis tumbling backward into the water. No sooner had Gfantis hit the water than Chimera jumped onto the reptilian kaiju’s chest. Chimera roared, and then brought one fist after the other crashing down into Gfantis face. Chimera landed five blows in quick succession before Gfantis was able to clamp his jaws around Chimera’s right forearm. Chimera roared in pain as Gfantis regained his footing. The golden dragon shook his head from side to side, using his teeth like a saw to cut deep into Chimera’s arm, while simultaneously using his claws to slash across the hybrid’s face.
Blood poured from Chimera’s forearm and face as Gfantis wrapped his arms around Chimera’s torso. With his grip secure, Gfantis tossed Chimera hard into the shallow water of the shoreline. Chimera attempted to stand, only to have Gfantis deliver a vicious kick to his midsection. The blow rocked Chimera’s body and caused him to roll onto his back. The hybrid looked up to see the terrifying jaws of Gfantis reaching down for his throat.
In desperation, Chimera unleashed a narrowly focused sonar blast. The attack immediately disrupted Gfantis’s sensory organs. Gfantis felt as if the entire world was spinning around him. The monster was disoriented as blood oozed out of his eyes, ears, and nostrils. The attack had momentarily robbed Gfantis of all sensory input, and as a result, the Prince of the Monsters had no idea where he was in relation to his opponent.
Gfantis staggered backward as Chimera spun around and used his club like tail to smash into Gfantis’ ribcage. The saurian beast spun and fell face first into the surf. A wave rolled over Gfantis’s face as Chimera reached out and grabbed the kaiju’s tail. Chimera pulled with all his strength, using Gfantis’ own tail to whip him from the surf and onto the beach.
Luke shifted his jeep into reverse as the gargantuan form of Gfantis was soaring through sky directly at him. Luke didn’t even bother using his review mirror as he backed up at full speed. Gfantis was sliding across the beach directly at him, and the danger of being crushed by the kaiju was greater than the danger of running over anything that was behind him. Luke gasped as the colossal form of Gfantis finally came to a stop, but though he had outdistanced the monster, the wave of displaced sand caused by the creature’s impact was still coming toward him. Luke watched helplessly through his windshield as the wave of sand covered both him and his jeep.
Gfantis snorted, clearing the sand and blood from his nostrils. He then turned to the ocean and saw Chimera wading out of the surf and coming toward him. The crescent horn at the top of Gfantis’s head began to glow bright yellow as he slowly rose. Gfantis swung his head in the direction of Chimera and unleashed the full power of the sun on Chimera in the form of his crescent beam. The beam scorched Chimera across his chest, causing the hybrid to roar in pain. Gfantis moved toward Chimera, firing a second blast that seared the skin on Chimera’s knee and thigh.
When Gfantis reached Chimera, he struck the god-slayer with a series of blows to his elongated face. Chimera absorbed the punishment and responded with an uppercut to Gfantis’s lower jaw, causing the kaiju’s teeth to snap shut. Chimera then once more drove his powerful head into Gfantis’s chest, causing Gfantis to stagger backwards. Gfantis regained his footing, roared at Chimera in defiance, and renewed his attack.
That sand in which Luke was buried was both crushing him and suffocating him at the same time. He knew that panicking would only make things worse, so despite the fear he felt, he tried to remain calm. He knew that the sand around him was loose, and trying to dig through it would cause him to become buried deeper. His only hope was to find the front windshield of the jeep, the highest point on the vehicle. From there, he would pull on the windshield and maybe by standing on top of it, he would be able to get his head and arms clear of the mound of sand. Luke forced his arms forward through the sand as it worked its way into his ears and nose. After what seemed like an eternity, he touched the windshield. Grabbing hold of the top, he pulled as hard as he could, pushing his feet against the floor of the jeep. He could his feel his body slowly lifting out of the sand and, much to his relief a moment later, his head broke the surface and he was finally able to breath. Using the windshield for support, he wriggled the rest of his body out, and then rolled off the newly formed dune and back onto the flat beach below it. He checked to make sure that his megaphone and radio were still hooked to his belt. Both items were covered in sand, but he was pretty sure they were still functional.
Luke shook his head and cleared the sand out of his ears to hear the brutal sounds of the battle between Chimera and Gfantis. The two kaiju were grappling with each other, looking as if they were engaged in some bizarre sumo wrestling match, with each monster attempting to throw the other to the ground. Luke watched in amazement as Gfantis overpowered Chimera, lifted the hybrid off his feet, and tossed him several hundred feet into the ocean. The crescent horn on top of Gfantis’ head began to glow as he prepared to fire his beam at Chimera the moment he resurfaced, but abruptly the Solar Monster turned and looked inland. The anger seemed to seep out of the kaiju, and his crescent horn slowly began to lose its glow.
Luke turned around to see a helicopter with a blinding light, as bright as the sun, suspended below it. Gfantis began slowly walking toward the helicopter when Luke’s radio came to life. “Luke, this is Diana. Gfantis is after Apollo’s Chariot. We are going to drop it onto the beach. We need you to direct Chimera to grab the chariot and swim out to sea with it. Once he is far enough away from land, have him release the chariot. We think Gfantis will absorb the energy it’s giving off, and then return to the bottom of the ocean.”
Chimera exploded out of the water and roared at Gfantis as Luke grabbed his radio. “How far out do you need Chimera to take the chariot?”
“A couple of miles should do the trick,” replied Diana. As she finished her thought, the helicopter dropped the chariot onto the beach.
Gfantis slowly approached the chariot. He was transfixed by the object as he stood over it, staring at the source of pure sunlight. A roar from behind him snapped Gfantis’ attention away from the chariot. Swinging around, he could see Chimera rising out of the water.
Chimera took a step forwar
d and fired a narrowly focused sonar blast at Gfantis. Once more, the kaiju’s central nervous system was disrupted and Gfantis fell to the ground, his body shuddering with convulsions. Chimera was about to attack again when Luke ran up to him with his megaphone. “Chimera, pick up.” Luke pointed at the glowing chariot. He pointed to the ocean as he gave his next command. “Swim until it’s dark, and then let go!” Chimera nodded at Luke, then walked over to the chariot, picked it up, and headed out to sea.
Gfantis’s body was still shaking from the sonar attack; he watched helplessly as Chimera picked up the object of his desire and then headed out to sea with it. A moment later, Gfantis was able to regain his senses. The enraged kaiju stood up and roared at the departing Chimera. The crescent horn on top of Gfantis’s head glowed, and he fired a blast at Chimera that streaked over the hybrid’s head as it disappeared beneath the water. Gfantis fell to all fours and pursued Chimera back into the ocean, determined to the regain the source of energy from the monster that had stolen it.
In a cloud of sand, Diana’s helicopter landed on the beach, and Parsons and Diana leapt out. Diana ran over to Luke and embraced her friend. “Well, the first part of the plan is complete. Now we just need to hope that Chimera can lead Gfantis far enough out to sea that he is no longer an immediate danger.”
Luke looked out over the ocean with concern on his face. He had seen Chimera defeat monsters the likes of the Scylla and Fafnir. Even the thunder gods Zeus and Thor had fallen before Chimera, but Gfantis was by far the most powerful enemy that Chimera had faced so far. Chimera was more than just a monster to Luke; he was a friend. Luke was concerned that Chimera might finally have met a challenge that even he would be unable to overcome.
Gfantis could see Chimera ahead of him as the monster continued to swim away with the source of energy. Gfantis was keeping pace with the hybrid, but he seemed unable to gain any ground on Chimera. In an attempt to slow him down, Gfantis fired a crescent beam at the fleeing hybrid. The beam struck Chimera across the back, causing his body to shudder in pain. The attack succeed in momentarily halting Chimera’s progress, allowing Gfantis to close the gap between the two of them.
Chimera shook off the effects of the blast, then continued to swim farther out to sea. All of his instincts urged Chimera to turn around and meet Gfantis head on, but he had been conditioned to follow Luke’s commands. The hybrid continued to obey the last command that Luke had given him by swimming farther out to sea. The sun had set, and with each passing minute the twilight gathered. Chimera neared his goal of swimming until it was dark.
The pursuit continued with Gfantis slowly gaining on Chimera, each Crescent Blast distracting and slowing the hybrid beast. Gfantis had gained on Chimera to the point that the hybrid was only a few hundred feet in front of him, a distance just beyond his reach. One more blast across Chimera’s legs caused him to slow down for the brief second that it took Gfantis to reach out and dig his claws into Chimera’s thick tail. Gfantis pulled Chimera toward him and sank his fangs into the hybrid’s leg. Chimera unsheathed the lion claws from within his hands and he raked Gfantis across the face. The two monsters were in a frenzy as they bit and clawed at each other in the dark depths of the ocean.
During the heat of the battle, Chimera dropped the glowing chariot and it began to fall into the dark depths of the ocean. When Gfantis saw the chariot falling, he immediately dove after the glowing object and followed it the bottom of the ocean. Chimera watched his foe disappear into the darkness, then headed to the surface for a much needed breath of air. Once Chimera had reached the surface, he took a deep breath and then began swimming back toward Luke.
In the inky darkness of the ocean depths, Gfantis reached out and grabbed the glowing chariot. His entire body lit up as he absorbed the sunlight that the chariot was giving off. Within seconds, he had drained the chariot of all of its energy. With his power renewed, Gfantis dropped the chariot and turned to search for his foe. He roared at the darkness, daring Chimera to challenge him at the peak of his power. With no reply forthcoming, Gfantis was satisfied that his opponent had retreated. Satisfied, he swam off into the ocean.
Luke, Diana, and Parsons had waited on the beach for several hours to see if Chimera would return from his mission. The three of them were staring out over the ocean when they saw a huge swell of water coming directly at them. They stood up in anticipation of seeing which monster was about to make landfall. When Chimera surfaced, he roared and beat his chest in triumph. The three friends cheered. Luke quickly ran back to his buried jeep. He was determined to dig out one of Chimera’s food cubes to toss to him for a job well done.
Diana turned her attention to Parsons. “What about the chariot and Gfantis?”
Parsons scanned the ocean. “Most of the equipment that we attached to the chariot is still intact. The research team reports that the chariot stopped giving off energy a little over an hour ago. They also report that it is stationary on the bottom of the ocean. I think we can assume that Gfantis siphoned the energy from it, and then left it on the bottom. We should be able to have the Argos retrieve the chariot after nightfall, so that it won’t power up again until we’ve had a chance to better understand how it works.”
Parsons took a deep breath. “As for Gfantis, my gut tells me that he and Chimera will cross paths again in the future, and heaven helps us when that day comes.”
The End
Gfantis vs Legendary Beast Werewolf: In the Shadow of the ROCS
Story by Matthew Dennion
Art by Dave Coleman