//------------------------------//
// Chapter 33: Dazzling Pipers 
// Story: The Arrogance of Man 
// by Johng117 
//------------------------------//

The scorching sun had risen once again over Saddle Arabia. It was a calm day, but Adagio was growing more anxious by the hour. She stood with Aria and Sonata alone just outside of the camp. She was hesitant to speak, but nonetheless she pressed on.
"You know we have to do this. There isn't much time." said Adagio in a low tone. Sonata wore a distressed expression.
"Dagi, we can't! These guys are our friends!" said Sonata.
"These guys aren't so bad. Isn't there anything else that we can do?" asked Aria in worry. Adagio sighed.
"We need the humans. He'll be expecting an offering and we don't have a lot of time." said Adagio.
"But...what about Angirasu and the others? Are we gonna let that monster eat them too?" asked Sonata. Aria gave Adagio a glare.
"Like how it ate our people? Like how it ate my father?!" demanded Aria. Adagio returned the glare.
"You think this is easy for me?! You think I don't care about them?!" demanded Adagio. Aria got into her face.
"You never liked humans in the first place! Why are they any different to you?"
"I don't know! Humans are so foolish and greedy! They have no respect for their lands or the other members of their kind!" said Adagio. She looked down angrily. "They taint the waters with their trash and oil. It's not even their home, it's ours. I thought they all despised our oceans and everything that lived in it."
"But then I heard Gojira talk about how beautiful our home was. He spoke of it kindly. He even said that he would live in it if he could!" said Adagio. She then looked up to them with a smile. "He showed me redeeming qualities in humans. I've learned that I've just been generalizing them all based on the actions a few. But we can't do anything else about our situation. The humans won't help us because they see us as monsters."
"So we're just going to feed him our friends?" asked Sonata with the beginnings of tears. Adagio gave her a hard stare.
"No, we are not. That's why I wanted you to meet me here. We're going to make sure that they don't become a part of this. We may have to sacrifice a lot for our own, but at least our friends will be safe." said Adagio. Aria sighed solemnly.
"What did you have in mind?" asked Aria.
"Here's what we're going to do." said Adagio as she brought her fellow Sirens close.




Later that afternoon...

The sun was setting over the land of Saddle Arabia. A small building sat alone in the village. It was abandoned and condemned. The stone walls were shattered on the outside, leaving small holes outside. Wood littered the area. A door was closed shut, made entirely out of wood. The inside was dark with tables turned over and shattered. A juke box was smashed into the ground. The door suddenly opened, allowing the orange light from the setting sun to seep. Inside stepped the Sirens and Transmutants. They walked inside of the abandoned building in silence. The Sirens grew nervous as they led the Transmutants inside.
"Man, what a dump!" said Rodan as he looked around the building. Mosura looked to the Sirens in confusion.
"Is this really where you want to practice?" asked Mosura.
"Yes. This place will do just fine." said Adagio. She turned to face the Transmutants with a forced smile.
"Say, why don't we practice individually? I'll sing to you and Gojira in the other room..." said Adagio as she pointed to Gojira and Mosura. She then pointed to Rodan and Angirasu. "Rodan can listen to Aria in the back, and Sonata can sing to Angirasu here."
"Umm...OK. But why not start with all three of you?" asked Rodan in confusion.
"Sorry, it's how we practice. We warm up separately and are critiqued individually before we practice together." explained Adagio. Mosura nodded.
"Hmm. That makes sense. Lead the way!" said Mosura. Adagio nodded as she lead Junior and Mosura out of the lobby. Adagio led them to a room and closed the door behind them, her expression turning serious.
Back in the lobby, Rodan was lead into the back by Aria. The Transmutant chuckled in amusement.
"Hopefully I'll be able to hear you sing for real this time." said Rodan in a joking manner. Aria laughed nervously as she led Rodan into the back as she closed the door. She leaned against the door with her eyes closed. Rodan noticed her action and saw how she visibly trembled.
"Hey, you alright?" asked Rodan. Aria looked to him with a solemn expression.
"I'm so sorry." said Aria as her eyes began to glow a hellish red.
Back in the lobby, Angirasu made his way over to one of the turned over chairs. He picked it up and set it back down, standing up. He then sat on the chair with an eager expression.
"I'm looking forward to hearing you sing." said Angirasu. Sonata rubbed her arm as she looked away. Angirasu looked to her in confusion.
"Sonata, what's wrong?" asked Angirasu. Sonata looked to him with tears running down her face. The Transmutant recoiled in surprise. Sonata rushed over to him and pulled him into a hug.
"Yo-yo-you're one of the b-best friends I could ever ha-ha-haaave!" cried Sonata in between sobs. Angirasu caressed her back in hopes to comfort the girl, but he could not figure out why Sonata is so terribly sad.
"Hey, why are you crying?" asked Angirasu. Sonata opened her eyes, revealing glowing red orbs.
"Because I will never be able to see you again after this." said Sonata. She then pushed herself off of Angirasu and raised her hands towards him. His eyes widened as he caught sight of her glowing eyes. Her hands gave off a red glow that suddenly gave forth a red mist of magic that quickly shot towards Angirasu. The mist wrapped around his body and solidified into red chains that restrained Angirasu's arms and body. He fell out of his chair and the chains were suddenly nailed into the wooden floor with large red nails. He struggled under the chains and looked to Sonata in disbelief.
"Those eyes..." said Angirasu as his mind raced. He remembered the hellish eyes that she had. They were the same kind of eyes of the murderous creatures that threatened the fishermen. "Sonata, why are you doing this?! What are you?!"
"I'm not like you." said Sonata. She turned as she heard the door opened from where Adagio had led Junior and Mosura. The two Transmutants that she had lead were levitated by an invisible force as the same red chains bounded them. They were struggling to free themselves.
"Adagio!!" shouted Junior angrily. Adagio wore a solemn expression as Junior and Mosura were lowered to the ground and their chains were nailed to the ground. Aria emerged from the back room with Rodan levitating in tow. He struggled erratically.
"Let me go, Aria!" demanded Rodan. He was lowered as well and nailed to ground like the others. They all struggled under the chains.
"Adagio, why are you girls doing this?!" demanded Mosura. Adagio faced her with a solemn expression as her glowing eyes remained.
"I'm sorry Mosura. We didn't want it to come down to this." apologized Adagio.
"Come down to what?" demanded Junior as he struggled.
"Gojira, what I told you about Sarila. It was only a twisted truth. We're not humans, we're Sirens." confessed Adagio. The Transmutants stared in shock. Junior's expression turned to outrage as his mind processed the information that was revealed to him and his fellow Transmutants.
"No...no that can't be!" said Rodan. He then looked to Aria, who avoided eye contact. "All of that stuff about you, your dad, was any of it true?!"
"Rodan, my dad wasn't a sailor. He was a Siren that hunted for fish to feed our clan. He died doing his job." said Aria. Rodan struggled under the chains.
"Your evil kind killed innocent men!" said Gojira. Adagio flinched as she heard the word, 'innocent' and 'evil'. She turned to face Gojira with a glare.
"They were hardly innocent! They killed innocent creatures that were our friends like the dolphins! They picked our sea for the fish, our food source!" said Adagio. Junior raised himself but the chains kept him on his knees as the links connected to the ground held him.
"So you killed the fishermen? Do you realize how hypocritical that is of you?!" demanded Junior.
"Gojira, we didn't kill them because of that! We did it because we had no other choice!" said Adagio with despair filling her eyes. She desperately wanted Junior to understand. "Our clan is threatened with death! We need the humans to feed a creature that's been threatening us for a decade! We chose the fishermen because they were the only ones closest to our territory and we felt no guilt about killing humans that made our situation worst!"
"We're not evil Gojira. We just want to live." muttered Adagio. Junior lowered his head as his rage began to build.
"What are you going to do?" asked Mosura. Sonata caught Angirasu staring at her with a frown. She looked away in shame.
"We're going to do what we came to the surface for." said Aria. She then turned and made her way to the exit of the building. She heard the chains rattling from Rodan.
"Aria, don't do this." pleaded Rodan. Aria stopped and clenched her fist. She continued on to the exit and left. Sonata turned to face Angirasu, her glowing eyes died down. She stared at him in despair.
"I liked you a lot. But you might not like me back when we're done." said Sonata as she turned and began to slowly walk away.
"Sonata..." called Angirasu weakly. Adagio sighed as she turned to join the other Sirens. She turned back to find Junior giving her a hateful glare. She turned back and began to make her way over to him. She removed the hood of her abaya and revealed her curly hair. She kneeled in front of him as he held his glare. She wrapped her arms around him and pulled him into an embrace. Junior's seethed to himself as she held him. His breathing was heavy.
"Gojira, I really do see you as a friend. This is why we led you here. So you can be safe from what's coming." whispered Adagio in a distraught voice.
"If that's true, than stop whatever you're about to do. Otherwise, take your goddamned hands off of me!" seethed Junior. His whispering tone was filled with anger and hate. He felt betrayed by this young woman who he had thought had grown to be his friend
"I'm...so sorry. There's no other way." said Adagio as she released Junior with her cheeks stained with tears. She turned and rushed over to the other Sirens and out of the abandoned building.
"Adagio!!" shouted Junior as he began to struggle under the chains. Mosura and the others attempted to free themselves as well. But it was futile to break the bonds of the Sirens' magical chains.
"I can't believe this! All this time they were one of them!" said Rodan as he tried to flex himself out of the chains. Angirasu groaned as he tried to force his arms through the chains.
"Sonata...why?" asked Angirasu. His heart ached at the thought of the sweet girl betraying him the way she had done.
"This is my fault. I put too much trust into them that I never considered to look through their memories. I'm sorry that I didn't believe you, Gojira." said Mosura solemnly. Junior grunted his he thrashed his body.
"Don't be! I was an idiot for not recognizing their scent as Sirens!" said Junior as he forced himself forward in attempt to free his chains from the ground. He growled in anger.
"That bitch played me!" yelled Gojira. He continued to move forward as the wood on the floor began to creak. The veins in his muscles began pop up and became exposed from under the skin of his neck, shoulders, arms and hands. He gave an angry yell as the chain links began to snap from his body. His abdomen began to burn from within. He strained as the heat and soreness pierced him, but his will to move on helped him to remain strong. Suddenly, the chain links that held him to the ground snapped, allowing him to stand. He roared as he flexed his muscles, causing the chains to spark as the magic that held him began to weaken and dissipate. Suddenly, the chains burst into sparks and disintegrated as they fell to the ground. Junior panted as he stood to his feet. He turned to find the other Transmutants to stare at him in awe.
"Don't stop, keep trying!" ordered Junior. The three began to return to struggling under the chains. Junior grabbed the chain links that stuck Mosura to the ground and crushed them into dust. He then grabbed the other chain links that restrained her body and caused them to shatter with his grip. It disintegrated as it scattered onto the ground. She sighed in relief as Junior helped her stand to her feet.  Angirasu managed to free himself from his chains and then helped Rodan free himself from his own. The Transmutants sighed in relief. Junior looked to the exit of the door.
"They'll pay for this." growled Junior. He then began to stomp towards the exit. He then slammed his body against the door, causing it to fly off of its hinges, and searched the area as he tried to figure where the Sirens had gone. He heard the sound of distant singing and found a distant glow miles away. Junior was about to charge over there, but was grabbed by his arm. He found Mosura holding him back.
"Wait! We don't even have a plan of attack!" said Mosura.
"To hell with that! They're up to something and I have a feeling it's going to be bad!" retorted Junior. Angirasu placed a hand on his shoulder with a serious expression.
"Gojira, she's right. If we go out there blindly, we'll fail. We need to make sure that we can resist their hypnotic voices." said Angirasu. Junior grunted in frustration. 
"Hey, I have an idea!" exclaimed Rodan. He then turned and ran over to one of the nearby buildings. The other Transmutants looked to each other in confusion but then shrugged as they followed Rodan into the building. As they made it inside, they found it to be empty.
"Where is everyone?" asked Mosura. Junior looked around, unable to find a customer or the owner of the establishment. Inside were cassette tapes, radios and headphones. He then noticed Rodan rushing back to them with headsets in his hand. He handed them to Angirasu and Mosura.
"These might block out their voices!" said Rodan as he handed them small cd players. "Just loop these songs and we should be good!"
"Hmm. As silly as it sounds, it might work." said Angirasu as he placed the headphones on. His ears covered by the large speakers. Mosura placed the earphones on as well with a determined smile.
"Since you're immune for whatever reason, you won't be needing any." said Rodan as he looked to Junior. He nodded in response.
"Then let's go get them." said Junior as he lead the Transmutants into battle.




Later that night...

Hundreds of people walked along the road. Their eyes stared blankly as they walked at a slow pace into the night. The sound of three young women singing could be heard. Leading the crowd were Adagio, Sonata and Aria. They sang as their pendants began to glow brightly. As they continued walking, more citizens of Saddle Arabia left their homes to join the crowd. All were enchanted by the singers, becoming mindless zombies following sound. The Sirens lead the humans all the way out to the beach to be delivered as an offering to the creature that plagued the Sirens. Their voices continued into the night, their pendants glowed brightly.
'I'm sorry Gojira. Please forgive me.' thought Adagio in despair as she continued to sing. Suddenly the waves began to splash onto the shoreline, startling the Sirens. They turned and found something enormous approaching from the distance. 
"Adagio!" shouted a familiar voice. The Sirens turned back found the Transmutants approaching from the crowd. The Sirens gasped as their eyes widened in horror.
"Wh-what are you doing here?! How did you escape?!" asked Sonata as she began to tremble.
"Doesn't matter. Sonata. Please, don't do this!" pleaded Angirasu.
"You idiots! Why didn't you just stay where we left you?!" cried Aria. Rodan shot her a glare.
"And let you pull some piper shit on these people? We can't do that!" said Rodan. Adagio noticed the headphones that hung at their necks. All except for Junior.
"Wait...that's how you weren't able to be hypnotized by us." said Adagio in shock. She then looked to Junior. "But...how in the world is it possible for you to resist our spell?"
"You tell me." said Junior with a glare. He then got into a fighting stance as well did the others.
"Gojira, please get out of here! You and the others will die if you don't!" pleaded Adagio.
"No! If what you said about a creature is what is driving you to do this, than I have to stop you! These humans have nothing to do with your conflict!" said Junior in defiance. He then charged over to the Siren. Adagio raised her hand and fired a red mist of magic towards Junior. He was blown off of his feet and into the sand.
"Gojira, I don't want to fight! Please, this creature will kill you if you don't leave!" said Adagio. The Transmutant stood to his feet seething.
"Why can't you just use your magic against it and kill it?" asked Junior.
"We tried that! It resulted in most of the men in our clan being killed! Gojira, this is a sea dragon we are dealing with! Dragons are nearly immune to all forms of magic!" said Adagio. She pointed to the incoming object that was gaining speed.
"He promised to spare us if we fed him the humans! He'll kill us if we don't! This isn't like the mobster story that I told you!" shouted Adagio. Junior looked down in frustration. His eyes began to soften. The more that Adagio brought up the death of her people and the more the situation turned grim, the more sympathy he was beginning to feel for her.
"Adagio, if you ever needed help, I promised that I'd tag along and help." said Junior softly. He then looked to her sadly. Adagio backed away with wide eyes.
"Don't do this. Let me help you instead." said Junior. He then turned to face the other Transmutants. Mosura's eyes widened as she read through his thoughts. She looked to the other two male Transmutants and gave them a knowing nod. Junior began to lead the Transmutants over to the Sirens, who back away fearfully.
"Stop!" said Adagio. She then gasped as Junior walked past her. She found Junior and the others standing at the shoreline of the beach, facing the coming danger.
"Angirasu, what are you doing?!" cried Sonata. The Transmutant remained silent as he glared at the oncoming threat. Rodan's shoulder was tugged at by Aria.
"Rodan, just get out of here!" pleaded Aria.
"Can't do that." Rodan said as he gave Aria a grin. The Siren stared at him incredulously.
"You think this is funny?!" demanded Aria.
"Nope! I just think this is gonna be one hell of a fight!" said Rodan. The Sirens' eyes widened in horror.
"Mosura, you're smart! Don't do this!" said Adagio. Mosura gave her a small smile.
"I want to protect my friends. Right now, I need my friends to get these people to safety." said Mosura.
"You can't face a dragon! Humans are just as weak against them as we are!" said Adagio. Junior snorted in amusement.
"Good thing we aren't exactly human." said Junior. He then walked closer to the shoreline and began to strain. His body slowly grew and morphed. His skin turned to scales and his pants and shirt tore. His tail swayed and his back sprouted dorsal plates. Junior slammed his fist onto the ground and roared into the night sky. The Sirens backed away fearfully as they witnessed the inhuman appearance of Junior.
"Oh my god." muttered Adagio. Suddenly, the rest of the Transmutants began to strain. Their bodies increased in size and height and their bodies grew animalistic features. Angirasu's back sprouted his spikes and his spiked and clubbed tail slammed against the sand. Rodan spread his arms out, revealing the membrane that formed and connected to his reptilian scaled side. Mosura's wings sprouted as did her antennae. The Transmutants had fully transformed into their beastly forms, standing tall over the Sirens. Junior turned to face Adagio, who flinched under her gaze.
"Save them." said Junior as he pointed towards the humans, who stared blankly and mindlessly. Adagio turned to face them and hesitantly back to Junior. The dragon Transmutant stomped through the sand and dove into the water. His tail swayed as it propelled him through. Mosura and Rodan took off into the air, giving their animalistic cries as they soared over the sea. Angirasu dropped onto all fours and dashed into the water. He began to kick hind and fore legs in a doggy paddle style. He successfully managed to stay afloat above the surface as he attempted to catch up to Junior and the others. The Sirens stared in shock as the Transmutants continued on.
"They weren't human." said Adagio with wide eyes. She then turned and found the people still in their mindless state. She turned to her fellow Sirens.
"Come on. The least we can do is getting these people out of here." said Adagio. Aria and Sonata nodded in agreement. Their eyes suddenly glowed brightly and the eyes of the people began to refocus. They all shook themselves and found themselves in a dazed state. They all questioned why they were outside, unaware of what was happening. Suddenly, people noticed a thrashing creature in the sea. They all gave panicked cries and began to flee as they saw the monstrous creature and its size. 



Rodan and Mosura soared ahead of Junior and Angirasu. Their eyes locked with the incoming creature. Its back appeared like a rocky grey shell drifting towards them. Rodan looked towards Mosura as he soared next to her.
"Hey, try that rainbow shit you shoot out of your head!" suggested Rodan. Mosura scoffed in response.
"It comes from my antennae, not my head!" retorted Mosura. Rodan rolled his eyes in response.
"Whatever! Just try it!" said Rodan. Mosura sighed. Her antennae began to glow brightly. Sparkling energy began to flow out of it and then shot forth a multi colored beam from her antennae. The beam lit up the night with its radiant colors and crashed onto the backside of the creature. The energy beam sparked, shocked and burned the back hide of the creature. Suddenly, the back of the creature convulsed and jerked under the water and revealed itself. A serpent like neck raised itself above the surface, revealing a heavily armored head of a dragon with a beak. Its small eyes were hidden and protected by armored cheeks and brows. The creature gave a thundering roar as it thrashed around. Its neck and belly were covered in softer scales. It flapped its limbs, revealing fins that flapped onto the surface of the water. Its armored tail was long and splashed against the surface of the water. It's small and sharp teeth were hidden behind its armored mouth, which could swallow a human whole. The creature was about as large as a blue whale.
"Man that's a big dragon!" exclaimed Rodan. He then flew down towards the thrashing dragon and opened his clawed feet. He then sent his claws into the face of the creature, but they were unable to penetrate the armor.
"Damn! It's too thick!" shouted Rodan. The dragon caught sight of him and snapped his jaws at the Transmutant.
"Oh crap!" exclaimed Rodan as he flapped his wings frantically. The dragon snapped at him again, missing Rodan as he flew in the air.
"Too slow, fish breath!" taunted Rodan. The dragon roared in anger, but the back of his head was suddenly struck by Mosura's energy beam. The dragon screeched in agony as he dove underneath. Mosura flapped her wings as she kept herself airborne in one spot.
"Shoot!" shouted Mosura as she searched the sea below. She began to fly higher in case the dragon decided to burst out of the water from beneath her and drag her under. She then noticed that the water where Junior and Angirasu were approaching was bubbling.
"Oh, no." said Mosura in dread. She flew over to their position as fast as she could. The dragon burst from the water where Junior and Angirasu were, failing to notice them.
"Oh, hell no!" shouted Junior as the dragon approached them. He and Angirasu were suddenly caught by the dragon's body. Angirasu grunted as he dug his claws into the dragon's armored hide and began to climb its back. Junior did the same and slowly crawled up the dragon's back.
"We have to stall this bastard!" said Junior as he climbed onto the dragons back. Angirasu panted as he finally made it onto the back of the dragon as well.
"What do you suggest?" asked Angirasu. Junior shrugged in response.
"Piss him off?" suggested Junior. Angirasu shrugged back.
"OK." said Angirasu nonchalantly. The two then looked down to the armored and jagged shell of the creature and began to slam their fists against it. Angirasu then began to swing his clubbed tail against the adjacent side of the rocky shell, small cracks beginning to form on the shell as his tail continued the attack. Junior clawed at the shell and left large scars, but they were merely scratches to the dragon. The dragon turned its head as it began to feel the irritating attacks and roared at Junior and Angirasu in anger.
"Well that pissed him off!" said Angirasu. The dragon then dove its head under water and took in gallons inside of its mouth. The creature raised its head out of the water. Steam flowed out of its nostrils as it flared them. Junior's eyes widened.
"Hey, Aang?" called Junior nervously.
"Yeah?" responded Angirasu.
"Remember when I said that my old man never saw a sea dragon spew fire and that they instead sprayed boiling hot water?" asked Junior.
"Yeah. Why do you- Oh shit." said Angirasu in realization. His shoulders slumped and he dropped onto all fours. The dragon opened its mouth as it turned to face the Transmutants. Junior nodded.
"Eeyup. We're fu-" Junior was about to finish his sentence, but the dragon had already sprayed a stream of boiling hot water towards the Transmutants. Angirasu immediately dove out of the way. Unfortunately, Junior was not quick enough and gallons of scorching hot water showered him, the jet stream forced him against the wall of the dragon's shell.
"SON OF A MOTHER FRACKING BITCH THAT'S HOT!!" shouted Junior. A normal human or creature may have perished from this projectile attack. Fortunately, Junior's scales were strong enough to keep him alive. He only slightly felt the burning heat on his scales, but his gills were unprotected. The dragon stopped spewing the boiling water and dove its entire body underneath while Junior sunk underneath limp. His eyes stared blankly as his gills weakly took in water. He suddenly jerked under water and swam up to the surface. His head breached the water and he inhaled deeply with his lungs. He coughed as the sudden switch and different intakes of oxygen messed with his breathing. He turned and found Angirasu floating next to him with a deadpanned stare.
"I'm beginning to think that maybe that wasn't such a good idea." said Angirasu. Junior scoffed in response and splashed at his friend’s face.
"At least you didn't get boiled alive!" retorted Junior. He hissed as he turned his neck. "Son of a bitch messed up my gills."
"Gojira, Angirasu!" cried Mosura. Junior and Angirasu turned and found their moth friend descend towards them. "Are you two alright?"
"Yeah. But Goji forgot that sea dragons can spray boiling hot water." said Angirasu. Junior sighed in annoyance.
"Hey, you forgot too since I told you! Besides, it was the heat of the moment that I haven't thought of it before it was too late!" said Junior defensively.
"Look! We need to focus boys! The dragon is getting closer to the shore!" said Mosura as she pointed ahead. Rodan suddenly whizzed past them at high speed.
"Move it, slowpokes!" shouted Rodan. Angirasu and Junior sighed as they both turned back towards the shore and began to swim after the dragon. Mosura flew ahead of them and slowly began to catch up to Rodan. The dragon was getting closer to the shore, where no humans were left.
"WHERE IS MY FOOD?!" shouted the sea dragon in a thundering and deep voice. He was suddenly struck by Mosura's beam. He turned and roared furiously at the moth. Rodan flew past him over his head.
"Not tonight, ugly! You can stand to miss a few meals, fatass!" taunted Rodan as he flew around the dragon. The beast roared as it snapped its jaws at Rodan while getting struck by Mosura's beam.
"Then I shall move onto land and feed!" shouted the dragon. He then turned away from the Transmutants and began to splash his way over to the shoreline. The dragon gave a mighty roar as it used its fins to flap along the sand. The fins forced the creature forward across the land.
"That's not good." said Rodan with dread. Mosura flew towards the dragon and continued to fire her beam down on the back of the neck of the dragon. The dragon screeched and turned to face the incoming moth. The dragon swung its tail and smacked Mosura. She cried out in pain as she was flung away and crashed into the sand. She moaned painfully as she attempted to stand, but she collapsed back onto the sand. Rodan landed beside her and shook her.
"Mosu! Mosu, are you alright?!" asked Rodan urgently. Mosura weakly turned to face Rodan.
"I can't stand. Rodan...I need you to stop that creature. I'll be fine." said Mosura softly. She lied her head down, her body ached.
"OK. Don't die on me, alright?" Rodan than turned and took off into the air. He began to chase after the dragon that slowly made his way to the village. Junior and Angirasu rushed over to Mosura as they made it to back onto shore.
"Mosu!" cried Junior.
"No, don't wait for me! Go help Rodan!" said Mosura.
"Mosu, we can't just leave you here!" said Angirasu.
"Go now, dammit!" yelled Mosura as she flared her wings. She groaned in pain and immediately folded them back.  She looked back to them with her expressionless insect eyes. "Please...save them."
"OK. Come on, Aang." said Junior as he turned and ran after the dragon. Angirasu turned to Mosura with a sad expression. But then he sighed in frustration and dropped to all fours and ran after Junior. Mosura sighed as she lied down.
"Please let them succeed." whimpered Mosura. She then heard footsteps approaching. She turned and found the Sirens staring at her worriedly. They all kneeled next to her; their hands glowed from their magic. Mosura began to slowly feel her pain beginning to fade.
"We're so sorry Mosura. We didn't want this to happen." apologized Adagio.



The dragon was getting near the village. Rodan flew circles around the creature. The dragon roared and then sprayed forth boiling hot water towards the Transmutant into the air. Rodan yelped as he dodged the stream of water that nearly hit him.
"Hey, you should probably get that checked out!" said Rodan. He then dove towards the dragon's neck and latched himself onto it. Rodan than thrust his head towards the eye of the dragon and pecked at it, causing the dragon to thrash and screech in agony. Rodan then bit into the eye and yanked it, flying away with his teeth still latched onto the eye and ripping it out from its socket. Rodan immediately spat out the eye in disgust.
"Gross! Sorry man, but that's pay back for what you did to my sister!" shouted Rodan. He then spotted Angirasu and Junior approaching from below. He flew down to them and landed.
"Just in time! He's blind in one eye!" said Rodan.
"Let's hope that'll make it easier." said Junior as he saw the dragon face them. Rodan turned and sighed.
"I would rather be fighting other Transmutants right now." moaned Rodan.
"Well, let's get back to the fight." said Angirasu as he pawed at the dirt. He then charged towards the dragon as it began to approach them with its bleeding eye socket. Junior followed him into battle as did Rodan. The bird-dragon Transmutant soared in the air and flew past the dragon and began to hop along his back. The sea dragon turned his head in attempt to snap at Rodan but was immediately struck in his exposed neck. He roared in pain as Angirasu pulled his spiked clubbed tail out of the soft scales, drenched in blood. The dragon slammed its neck down over Angirasu, who lunged away as he tucked his upper body into his lower half and brought his tail close to his body and rolled away from danger. The dragon missed Angirasu by just a spike. The dragon groaned in pain as it slowly raised itself. Angirasu came out of his ball state and then jumped backwards towards the dragon. His sharp spikes stabbed the exposed neck of the dragon.
"Gah! Damn you!!" cursed the dragon as he swung his neck, tossing Angirasu several feet away. The Transmutant slowly stood back onto all fours and shook his body to rid himself of disorientation. Junior roared as he jumped towards the dragon's still lowered head. He jumped eight feet into the air and brought his fists down on the snout of the dragon. The dragon was forced back down onto the sand. He then opened his mouth a sprayed more of his bodily reserves of boiling hot water. Junior was forced away from the dragon as the water burned his gills again. He screeched in pain as he convulsed on the ground on his back. His dorsal plates dug into the sand.
"Gojira, look out!" cried Angirasu. Junior turned and found the dragon with his mouth wide open. He then caught Junior with his jaws and began to bite down on his body. Junior cried out in pain as the teeth managed to puncture his armored scales. He then grabbed the jaws of the dragon and attempted to pry them back open. The dragon raised its head up and began to force its jaws down. Junior grunted as he tried to use his own strength against the dragon's large and mighty jaws. Suddenly the dragon forced its head back and clamped its jaws shut. Angirasu and Rodan stared in horror as they saw a small lump appear from the dragon's neck. The lump began to descend further down until it had disappeared. The dragon sighed in relief.
"That son of a bitch just swallowed him!" exclaimed Rodan. He then flew towards the dragon as he gave a thundering roar. The dragon turned to face the incoming bird-dragon and swiped him with his tail. Rodan cried out as he crashed close to the village. He skidded across the Earth and slammed against the wall of a building, causing the wall to crack. Rodan slumped down into the dirt in pain.
"Damn it!" Angirasu growled as he glared at the sea dragon. The creature chuckled darkly.
"I don't think I should eat you. If your friend wasn't easy going down, I doubt I'd fair well with a spiky prick like you." said the dragon. Angirasu flared his nostrils as he pawed at the sand.
"I won't back down that easily. I'll take you down, reach into your gut, and fish my friend out!" shouted Angirasu. He roared as he charged towards the dragon. As they two were about to clash, the sea dragon screeched in agony. He began to convulse and dropped to the ground.
"The pain! The pain!" cried the dragon. His stomach felt like it was being torn open. He then began to feel a foreign heat in his belly. He looked down to his gut and spotted an eerie glow coming from his stomach.
"What the-" Angirasu was about to finish but the dragon roared in agony. He began to convulse uncontrollably as his belly grew brighter. Suddenly, a large hole was created by a bright neon blue, flame-like substance that tore the stomach open. The stream of the substance began to burn the dragon's stomach. The dragon's remaining eye rolled back as he slumped back into the sand. The fire-like substance died down, becoming a blue mist that dissipated into the air. Angirasu stared at the hole with wide eyes as he spotted something emerging from the stomach. Junior stomped out of the stomach, covered in bile and blood. He spat onto the ground with a smile.
"Holy crap did you see that?! I think I just blew fire!" exclaimed Junior. Angirasu raised a brow at the sudden giddiness that came from his friend immediately after being ingested by a dragon that was the size of a whale.
"Are you alright?" asked Angirasu.
"I'm great! In fact, my abdomen stopped hurting! I think they were like physical pains on developing this ability because I could never spew fire before!" said Junior.
"I don't think that was fire." said Angirasu as he tilted his head. "It looked like a concentrated jet of hot gas or something."
"Well whatever it was, it was pretty damn cool!" said Junior. He then looked around the area in confusion. "Where's Rodan?"
"Oh crap, that's right!" exclaimed Angirasu. He turned and began to dash to where he had last seen Rodan land. He stopped and found Rodan struggling to remain standing. He dropped down to the ground in a dazed state. He spotted Angirasu and Junior with a blurry vision.
"Are...are we dead?" asked Rodan weakly. Angirasu gave him a smile.
"Far from it, bro." said Angirasu. Rodan turned to Junior. As his vision began to regain focus, he recoiled in disgust.
"Gross! You need a bath!" said Rodan.
"You should see the other guy." said Junior as he pointed to the dragon. Rodan craned his head and found the sea dragon lying in the sand motionless.
"So...we won?" asked Rodan.
"That's right. We won." said Junior with a smile.




Later that night...

The night grew calm after the appearance of Transmutants and a sea dragon. The monster's carcass remained close to the town, bleeding out onto the sand. Back at the Transmutant camp, Junior, Rodan, Angirasu all stood before the Sirens in their human forms. Junior's arms were crossed as he stared at the Sirens with a neutral expression. The Sirens sat on their knees and looked down in shame. Mosura sat down next to a tent with a worried expression on her face.
"We're sorry. What we did was terrible. We were afraid to face the creature because it was too powerful. We were even willing to sacrifice the lives of innocent people. We don't blame you for hating us and for not forgiving us." said Adagio. She clenched her fists as she gritted her teeth. "Just know that we're terribly sorry for everything."
"So, all of this was about trying to appease a dragon that threatened your clan? That's why you killed the fishermen in the first place?" asked Junior.
"That's correct." answered Adagio. Junior sighed as he rubbed his head.
"I'm not happy about what you girls were trying to do. In fact, I'm pretty pissed off." said Junior. The Sirens shrunk back in shame. "But to be fair, your clan was doing whatever it took to survive after exploring so many alternatives. You girls were doing this with the best intentions."
"Protecting your people. That's admirable." said Angirasu.
"Since no one was killed throughout all of this and the dragon was a bigger threat than we realized, I suppose we could let this go." said Junior with a sigh.
"Re-really?" asked Adagio with wide eyes. Junior nodded to her with a small smile.
"I did promise to back you up. Plus, we were keeping secrets from you too." said Junior.
"Yeah, you're the dragon that hurt some of our members." said Sonata with a frown. Junior rubbed the back of his head.
"Yeeeaaah. Sorry about that. I had to make sure your clan members didn't kill Rodan or Angirasu when they were out fishing." said Junior.
"What are you guys?" asked Aria.
"We're Transmutants. We're a race of humans that have the ability to transform into a specific kind of semi anthropomorphic creature. For instance, I can transform into a moth. Gojira changes into a sea dragon, Rodan a bird-like dragon, and Angirasu changes into a dragon that's like an armadillo." explained Mosura.
"Transmutants? Never heard of those." said Adagio. Junior's eyes widened in surprise.
"Hey...that's exactly what that young Siren said when I threatened her." said Junior. Adagio looked to him in disapproval.
"I don't appreciate you doing that by the way." said Adagio.
"Come on! Don't try to turn this on me!" said Junior in annoyance. "I didn't hurt her."
"No, but you scared her to death!" retorted Sonata.
"Like I said, couldn't let you Sirens kill Aang and Ro." said Junior.
"So wait, why haven't we heard of you guys before?" asked Aria in confusion. The Transmutants went silent.
"Because...we're a new race. We weren't always like this before. We were humans that were experimented on by scientists when we were young." said Mosura. She then gestured to Junior. "Gojira was one of the first out of all of us."
"That's...that's awful!" said Adagio. Junior sighed.
"It's worse than that. Because of our mutation, the humans rejected us. That's why we fled Ponyville. Our true selves were revealed and they turned on us. Even the friends that we had made there." said Junior. Adagio frowned as she heard this. 
"Well, MONARCH might be showing up by the time word gets out about a sea dragon fighting Transmutants." sighed Rodan. Sonata cocked her head in confusion.
"MONARCH?"
"Our enemies. These guys want to take us out." said Angirasu. Sonata stared at him worriedly.
"Thank you for helping us rid ourselves of that dragon. I'm sorry for what's happened to you. I wish we could do something to help." said Adagio. Junior placed a hand on her shoulder and looked to her with a smile.
"That won't be necessary. Just live peacefully, try to cut the fishermen a break." said Junior. Adagio nodded with a small smile.
"Well, we'll be off then." said Adagio as she and the other Sirens turned and began to walk away.
"Wait!" called Mosura. The Sirens turned to find Mosura reaching out to them. "Please, stay one more night. After all, what sort of friends would we be if we were to send you off late into the night?"
"You mean it?!" asked Sonata.
"You bet!" said Rodan.
"Come on, you need to rest." said Angirasu with a smile.
"We still have time for dinner." said Junior. The Sirens gave the Transmutants smiles.
"Sure." said Aria.
"Thank you." said Adagio. Her heart felt warm from the welcoming invite that the Transmutants had given them. Things had miraculously worked out in the end. This was a time in her life that she would cherish for all time.




Zebrabwe, two days later...

Sunset Shimmer and Erika sat together in the mess hall of the base that they were stationed at. The morning sun shone outside, the heat slowly began to build up. The two chatted amongst themselves. Both of their trays were filled with eggs, toast and orange juice for their breakfast. Erika however had a few slices of bacon on her tray as well.
"I can't believe how fast you move! Those guys could hardly hit you!" said Sunset as she took a bite out of her toast.
"It took me a while to get use to my physical feats since they were multiplied by a dozen. But I think I've gotten the hang of it." said Erika after she had finished taking a drink of her orange juice. She then scratched the side of her head as she looked away. "Maybe not entirely. I think I hit that guy so hard yesterday that I broke his ribs."
"Damn." shuttered Sunset. She then looked to Erika with a smile. "Well, at least you're getting better. Trial and error, right?"
"Right." smiled Erika. The two continued eating as the other soldiers conversed amongst themselves. Suddenly, their wrist watches began to beep. A few soldiers looked to their own, finding that theirs were not flashing as they beeped. They then turned and found Erika and Sunset looking to their own wrist watches.
"Shoot. So much for enjoying breakfast." complained Erika. She then began to quickly finish her bacon along with Sunset scarfing down her eggs. After swallowing their food, they went to chug down their orange juice. With a sigh, they placed their cups down and wiped their lips with napkins. They then quickly took their trays and cup over to a stand that was meant for staff to leave their trays and cups to be collected. The two soldiers rushed out of the mess hall with a few soldiers watching them.
"They do realize that they didn't have to go until after breakfast hours right?" asked an Earthbound soldier as he pointed to his wrist watch that was lit up. Text was displayed on the screen that informed him to report to the mission debriefing center after breakfast hours. A soldier next to him looked to him in surprise.
"Wow. They're deploying you too?" asked the soldier. The Earthbound nodded in confirmation.
"Yep." replied the Earthbound.




Later...

Sunset and Erika waited silently in a large room. One by one, soldiers were gathering inside and took their seats. Soon, the room was filled with dozens of soldiers that were called in for debriefing. Erika sighed in embarrassment.
"The debriefing hasn't even started yet. We could have taken the time to enjoy our breakfast." muttered Erika.
"Heh. Yeah." said Sunset in agreement. After another minute of waiting, all of the soldiers called in had arrived.
"Officer on deck!" shouted a soldier among the crowd. Soon, all of the soldiers all stood at attention, stiff as boards. A Valkyrie woman with greying hair and black uniform made her way inside of the room in silence. She made her way into the front the room.
"At ease, soldiers. Take your seats." said the commanding officer. The soldiers all relaxed and returned to their seats. The woman cleared her throat.
"You have all been called here to be deployed for a mission in Saddle Arabia." said the commanding officer. "Word is that the Sultan has requested our presence due to a recent incident. The citizens were threatened by a sea dragon that made it onto land and nearly wreaked havoc into the village."
"Fortunately, the creature perished due to a parasitic infection before it could reach the village. MONARCH has learned from the Saddle Arabians that smaller dragon-like creatures were sighted." said the commanding officer. The screen behind her lit up and displayed three young Neighponese men and a Neighponese woman. A charcoal grey haired man codenamed, Lucky Dragon. A crimson haired young man was codenamed, Thunderbird, and a spiky grayish-brown haired man codenamed, Club Tail.  Lastly, a white-haired woman codenamed Angel.  Erika's and Sunset's eyes widened in shock.
'It's him!' thought Sunset. She stared at the angry expression of Junior as his yellow eyes held a glare. Sunset hardened her eyes as she stared into his.
"With the descriptions of the creatures from the citizens, we managed to link them to the closest Transmutants that we believe to have been spotted." informed the commanding officer. Then, images of their beastly forms were displayed largely. The images of the Transmutants in their human forms were shrunk and moved next to the image of the beast that they transformed into. "You will all be deployed to hunt these Transmutants down. Whether you kill or apprehend Thunderbird, Angel and Club Tail is up to you. But the Director wants Lucky Dragon dead."
"Is everyone clear on that?" asked the commanding officer.
"Yes, Ma'am!" said the soldiers in unison. The commanding officer smiled in response.
"Good. You'll be deployed within the hour. Gather your things since you may be living on one of our warships for a while." said the commanding officer. An armored figure stepped out from behind the door frame that lead into the debriefing room. The commanding officer's eyes widened in surprise.
"Oh! Agent Ghidorah. We weren't expecting you." said the commanding officer in attempt to keep her voice calm. The soldiers all turned to the door way and spotted the figure. He stood to be seven foot five in height. His golden armor covered him from head to toe. The helmet was like a samurai's but with horn-like protrusions sticking out from the back of the helmet. The visor was a crimson red that glowed in the dark room. The chest piece depicted the MONARCH insignia. The shoulder pieces resembled traditional shoulder armor pieces but were made of stronger and lighter metal. This soldier stood in silence as he looked towards the screen that depicted the images of the Transmutants.
"No way. That's Ghidorah!" whispered Sunset. Erika looked to her in confusion.
"Who?" asked Erika.
"He's one of the elite soldiers that were given the privilege to wear the same kind of advanced armor that Hayato Yoshi wears! He's the strongest out of all of the Slayer class soldiers!" Sunset whispered back. She then looked to the soldier in awe at how his armor glistened in the darkness as his hellish visor glowed. He appeared as the very bane of all Transmutants that crossed paths with him.
"He's huge." muttered Erika, imitated by the soldier's larger build and greater height.
"Are these the targets?" asked Ghidorah in low and slightly rasped voice.
"Yes. Lucky Dragon is to be eliminated and the other three are to be apprehended or destroyed." informed the soldier. Ghidorah hummed to himself. The very presence of the armored man made her uneasy. "Will you be...joining us on this mission?"
"Yes. I do hope that you won't mind. The dear Director insisted that I joined the fight." said Ghidorah with a bow.
"Well, the more the merrier then!" said the commanding officer. Ghidorah grinned wickedly beneath his helmet.
"Indeed."




Meanwhile back in Saddle Arabia...

The sun was rising higher in the sky, making way for the afternoon. Junior waited on the shoreline to the Great Inland Sea along with the Mosura, Angirasu and Rodan. They stood in silence as they watched the waves splashed onto the shore. Suddenly, three figures emerged from the waters. Adagio, Sonata and Aria swam to shore with their fish tails instead of their human limbs. Adagio gave them a smile as she and the other Sirens crawled onto land. Junior, Rodan and Angirasu rushed over to them with towels in their grip and helped the Sirens away from shore. As they sat them down on the sand, they wrapped the towels around their bodies.
"They're right behind us." informed Adagio as she pointed to sea. Junior watched as two heads emerged from the waters. A middle aged woman stared warily at the Transmutants from the waters as did the younger girl that hid behind her.
"It's alright! These are the people that we were talking about!" said Adagio reassuringly. The two began to swim onto shore and began to crawl onto land. Mosura made her way over to the young girl that timidly crawled onto land. She handed her a towel.
"You may need this." said Mosura. The girl stared at the towel with an odd glance.
"Wh-what for?" asked the girl in a timid voice.
"Because when you dry off and lose that fish tail, you'll need to be covered up." answered Aria as she began to feel a tingling sensation on her lower half of her body. The three Sirens that had originally made it to land began to glow brightly, causing everyone to shield their eyes. After the light died down, the three male Transmutants turned away from the Sirens with light blushes on their faces. The Sirens had regained their human legs and slowly began to stand as they wrapped their towels around their waists. Mosura handed them dry t-shirts to cover their upper bodies. The girl stared in shock.
"What happened to your fish tails?!" exclaimed the young Siren.
"Be calm, Lynn. This is a natural ability that our people possess." informed the middle aged Siren as her lower half of her body began to glow. She wrapped her towel around herself as her fish tail had transformed into a pair of human legs. Lynn looked down to her own fish tail and began to feel the tingling change that was about to take place. Her eyes clenched shut as her tail began to glow brightly and change into a pair of human legs. Lynn began to hyperventilate as she felt the foreign limbs.
"Lynn, chill out! You'll live." said Aria with an amused smile. The young Siren attempted to calm herself as the middle-aged Siren began to reach over to her lap as she took the towel from the girl.
"Let's wrap you up dearie." said the Siren.
"Sarila, I...I don't understand the purpose of covering ourselves up! Unless it's to help me ignore these freaky limbs than fine!" said Lynn in a panicked voice.
"It's to cover your nudity, cousin. It is indecent for human men and women to be without clothes in public." said Sarila. She then slowly began to stand to her feet. Her legs felt weak and wobbly. "Oh my. It's been quite a long time since I've had these."
"Wait, you've been to the surface before?" asked Sonata in a surprised tone.
"I have. But that's a story for another time." said Sarila with a smile. She then slowly began to walk in attempt to get back into the groove of walking. Mosura made her way over to Lynn and helped her to stand. The Transmutant began teach Lynn on how to walk as she held her hands and slowly walked backwards with the Siren in tow. The Siren struggled and kept stumbling.
"So, you are the ones who watched over our dear clan members?" asked Sarila curiously as she tapped Junior on the shoulder.
"Are you covered? Because I'm not turning until you are." said Junior stiffly. Sarila lightly chuckled.
"Of course." said Sarila. The male Transmutants turned to face the Siren. She stood to be six feet tall, just two inches below Junior's height. "Now about my question."
"Yep. that's us." said Junior nonchalantly. He then sighed in annoyance. "That wasn't the only thing that we did."
"What do you mean?" asked Sarila. Junior turned and pointed behind himself as he stepped to the side away from the Siren's sight. Her eyes widened in shock as she spotted a large carcass lying in the distance. She slowly walked past him and stared at the dead beast in the distance.
"It can't be. How? You couldn't have been the ones that-" Sarila turned to face the Transmutants in shock.
"It wasn't easy. But I'm sure that Adagio and the others told you about four creatures taking this thing on." said Junior.
"Yes, they did. They mentioned humans sheltering them as well and I assumed those humans to be you. But how could you possibly have anything to do with either the four creatures or the death of this dragon?!" exclaimed Sarila. Lynn turned her head and her eyes widened as she spotted the carcass of the dragon.
"Because we were those creatures. We're not humans. We're Transmutants." answered Junior. Lynn turned to face Junior with her eyes widening even further.
"Did...did you just say 'Transmutants'?" asked Lynn. Junior turned to face her with a small smile.
"I did. Remember me? You bothered me, kid." said Junior in a humored tone. Lynn cocked her head in confusion. But as her mind processed Junior's last sentence and began to recognize the shade of yellow in his eyes, it came to her. She gasped loudly and hid behind Mosura.
"It's you!" exclaimed Lynn. Junior chuckled to himself as he raised his left hand. It was suddenly covered in charcoal grey scales as black claws sprouted from his fingertips.
"In the scales." said Junior. Lynn shrunk back even further as she began to whimper. Mosura gave him a look of disapproval.
"Goji, knock it off! You're scaring the poor girl!" scolded Mosura. Junior chuckled again as he placed his hand back to his side.
"Sorry, couldn't resist." said Junior. "Sorry about that day, kiddo. I was only looking out for my friends."
"I kinda find it hard to forgive you." muttered Lynn. Junior shrugged.
"I can't blame you." said Junior. He then turned to face Sarila who stared at his hands with wide eyes. He cleared his throat as he reverted his scales and claws back into mammalian skin and nails.
"I don't mind if you find us freaky. It's perfectly understandable since we aren't exactly natural beings." said Junior. Sarila slowly walked closer to him with wide eyes. She took his hand and began to stare at it. Junior felt himself growing uncomfortable as she began to run her palm on his hand.
"May I....feel the scales?" asked Sarila nervously.
"Um...sure." said Junior. The flesh on his hand slowly began to revert back into the crocodile-like reptilian scales. Sarila began to slowly turn his hand and began to look it over.  She began to run her hand over the scales.
"Amazing. They feel rough, yet they feel smooth." said Sarila. She looked to Junior in wonder. "Can you feel my hand?"
"Umm...yeah. They're soft." answered Junior in embarrassment.
"Bow Chicka Bow Wow~" sang Rodan with a grin. Junior sent him a glare.
"Shut up, Rodan!" said Junior with a blush on his face. Sarila looked to him in confusion. Then after she realized the cause of Junior's embarrassment, she laughed in amusement.
"I apologize for this. I was just so curious to feel the scales of a dragon. But they don't seem very strong." said Sarila.
"I'll have you know that steel blades and the teeth of saw fish have no effect on them." said Junior. Sarila smiled. She then bowed her head.
"I wish to apologize to you and your friends for our clan's actions. We only wished to-" Sarila was about to finish but Junior sighed in response.
"Come on. We've been over apologies for the actions of you clan and what you were going to do two days ago with Adagio and the others. All is forgiven and life goes on." said Junior. Sarila looked to him in surprise.
"But...I'm the Matriarch of our clan! I should apologize on behalf of my clan for this!" said Sarila.
"Well, we consider these girls as representatives of your clan." said Junior as he gestured to the Sirens. They looked to Junior with a smile. "So based on their apologies and explanation, we chose to forgive them. Meaning we have also forgiven the rest of the clan including the Matriarch herself."
"I...I don't know what to say." said Sarila softly.
"A thank you for killing that jerk for you guys would be nice." suggested Rodan. Sarila smiled to herself.
"Hmm. Well, I sincerely thank you for ridding us of that creature. So many lives had been claimed from both humans and Sirens that we had lost hope. But you four have saved us all. I thank you all." said Sarila. She then made her way closer to Junior and gave him a kiss on his forehead. Junior recoiled back with a bright blush forming on his cheek as he began to babble. Sarila made her way over to Rodan and planted a cheek on his forehead as well and made her way over to Angirasu and did the same to him.
"Hehe. So awesome." said Rodan to himself with a grin. Angirasu lowered his head as his blush brightened. Sonata crossed her arms as she puffed her cheek out in jealously. Mosura looked to Sarila in surprise at the form of gratitude that the males had received.
"Oh, you boys received a kiss from the Matriarch. That's a great honor in our clan." said Adagio teasingly. Junior's brow twitched in annoyance. Sarila looked to Mosura curiously as she noticed her staring.
"Would care for a peck on the forehead as well?" asked Sarila. Mosura waved her hands furiously with a nervous smile.
"Uh no! No, I'm good! Your gratitude is enough for me." said Mosura. Sarila turned to face the dead dragon that lied dead. Humans began to gather around it as they poked at it.
"Well, the worst is behind us. Come along Lynn, we must return home to tell our clan of the good news." said Sarila. Lynn nodded with an eager expression. She followed Sarila back into the sea but turned back to face Junior.
"Um...thanks for saving our home." said Lynn as she avoided eye contact with Junior. He smiled.
"No problem, kid." said Junior. After Lynn and Sarila departed into the sea, their bodies lit up. They had regained their fish tails and proceeded to swim away. Adagio turned to face Junior in worry.
"Gojira, you said that the humans that wanted you dead would be looking for you. What are you guys going to do?" asked Adagio. Junior looked to her with a smile.
"We do what we have to do to avoid capture. We run until we can find a place to live peacefully." said Junior. Adagio rubbed her arm as she looked away sadly.
"Will we...see you each other again?" asked Adagio. Junior nodded to her.
"I'm sure we will. Fate has a funny way at making those familiar with each other to cross paths again." said Junior in amusement. He then turned and pointed north of the Great Inland Sea. "I think we'll return to Equestria. Neighpon is no longer our home, but we might be able to find refuge from MONARCH in Equestrian territory. If you ever want to visit, just drop on by to Canterlot and tell the guards that you're friends of Gojira Takeshi the 2nd." said Junior. Adagio felt her eyes water as her mind kept replaying the thought of her friends leaving. She immediately wrapped Junior into a tight embrace and began to sob into his shoulder. Junior sighed as he held her.
"Come on. Why are you crying?" asked Junior. He couldn't stand it when girls cried, especially when he forged a bond with them.
"It's just...I can't stand the thought my friends being forced to look over their shoulders every day! We've been forced to live like that for years and now we're free from that! Now you four are forced to continue with what we no longer have to face!" sobbed Adagio. Sonata felt her eyes beginning to water as well. She hugged Angirasu tightly as she buried her face into his chest. Aria looked down sadly at the thought of her friends still threatened with death. Rodan placed a comforting hand on her shoulder and gave her a reassuring smile.
"That's true, but MONARCH is restricted from setting foot in Equestria. We'll be safer there then in any place in the world. I promise you that." said Junior. Adagio sniffed as she held onto Junior.
"Listen, MONARCH might not even get here until later. Why don't we hang out one last time before we leave?" suggested Mosura. Adagio nodded to her.
"I'd...I'd like that." said Adagio as she began to calm herself.
"We could sing to you tonight!" said Sonata with glee.
"But...wouldn't that just hypnotize us?" asked Rodan.
"Sirens can sing without their magic affecting humans. It's just that our kind is known for using magic in our voices for things like...you know." answered Aria.
"Wow. Learn something new every week!" said Rodan with a smile. Mosura looked to Junior with a smile.
"Goji, do you mind?" asked Mosura. Junior shrugged in response.
"Eh. Sure, why not?" said Junior with a light smile. "I kinda miss hearing people sing."




Later that night...

At the very center of the Great Inland Sea was a great warship. It was anchored to the sea floor as it remained in position. The ship gave off smoke from its engines. Soldiers gathered into smaller boats that were lowered onto the sea. The boats began to mobilize through the sea as it carried the soldiers. Turrets were built at the front and sides of the large boats that held up to six soldiers. They began to run to the shore that was near the tall mountains that divided Zebrabwe and Saddle Arabia. The soldiers came across a great nuclear power plant that sat at the edge of the shore.
"You think they might be hiding there?" asked one of the soldiers.
"Don't know. Only one way to find out." said another soldier. He turned to face the pilot that hung at the wheel behind. "Starboard to the shores! We're going to investigate." ordered the soldier.
Back onto the warship stood Ghidorah, Sunset Shimmer and Erika Shiragami. All three of them wore their armor and were armed with their weapons. The two women stood silently next to the armored man as he glared at the shoreline.
"So, MONARCH has kept you two paired up because you were compatible?" questioned Ghidorah.
"Um...Yes sir! We were originally meant to eliminate Lucky Dragon ourselves in Equestria. Unfortunately, MONARCH was restricted as you may have heard." Sunset answered nervously.
"Yes. The commanding officer chose not to be discrete with killing him, resulting in the loss of a valuable asset. I would have had that fool court martialed myself if I were in charge." said Ghidorah. Erika and Sunset gulped nervously. Ghidorah chuckled to himself. "I'm kidding. Try not to be too uptight young soldiers."
"Right. Very funny, sir." Erika laughed nervously. Ghidorah looked towards the shore ahead to the West.
"Since you two and a few others will be paired with me, I suggest we check the east." said Ghidorah. He then led the soldiers across the deck of the ship where a boat on an elevator awaited them. The three boarded the boat where three other soldiers were. The soldiers went stiff in the presence of Ghidorah.
"Agent Ghidorah! The transport is ready sir!" said an Earthbound soldier.
"Excellent. We're headed east. Get this boat moving." ordered Ghidorah as he, Erika and Sunset took a seat.
"Yes sir! And might I say how shiny your armor is looking today!" said the soldier. A female Valkyrie scoffed in disgust.
"Kissass." muttered the Valkyrie. Ghidorah did not respond the compliment. Instead, his mind was focus on the mission.
'Kill Lucky Dragon. Make him suffer and crush Destoroyah.' thought Ghidorah. The boat was lowered onto the sea. The engine revved up and the boat was propelled west in search of the fugitive Transmutants. Sunset looked to Erika with a smile.
"We do this for people. Not for glory and fame." said Sunset. Erika nodded to her in approval.



The Transmutant Four listened to the Dazzlings as they sang harmoniously into the night. Their voices filled Junior with a calm feeling in his soul and mind. It was the same feeling that he felt when he first heard the Sirens sing. This time however, it felt more peaceful.
"Aaaaah~ Aaaaaah~" the Sirens vocalized to the Transmutants. Angirasu listened with a small smile on his face. Mosura leaned against Junior's shoulder as she heard the beautiful melody. Rodan closed his eyes as he listened to the tones of the Sirens. It felt as though the world was at harmony with itself. This was a peace that Junior yearned for. More than the other Transmutants, he felt himself liking their singing the most. He felt a connection to them as they sang, which was stronger than the annoying random musical numbers that the Equestrians occasionally sang.  
'These tones, these melodies. Why do they feel so familiar?' thought Junior. He knew that he had rarely heard Sirens sing. But he felt like he had heard a melody like theirs before, as the Dazzlings ended their song. Their tones died down and the night returned to silence. The Transmutants applauded them for their performance.
"That was beautiful!" said Mosura. Junior nodded in agreement.
"It was." said Junior.
"You girls were awesome! I'd pay to see you at a concert!" said Rodan with a grin.
"Great work." said Angirasu with a smile. Sonata blushed at his praise as she twiddled her thumbs.
"We were happy to perform for our friends." said Adagio. She then sighed in disappointment. "I guess this is goodbye."
"Yeah. But I know we'll see each other again." said Junior. Adagio felt herself reassured by his words and smiled back. The Transmutants stood up to their feet and picked up their bags. Junior picked up his sheathed sword and held at his side. Suddenly, his ears picked up a sound, causing him to turn and search for the sound. He turned back to the sea and found an object approaching. He focused his eyes in attempt to see the distant object. Unexpectedly, a projectile was shot from it and was hurled towards them.
"Oh, shit!" exclaimed Junior. He ran over to the Sirens and pushed them out of the way. He was suddenly struck by a blue bolt of magic that forced him onto his back. Sonata cried out in fear as she saw his chest beginning to sizzle.
"Gojira!!" exclaimed the Sirens and Transmutants. Junior immediately stood back to his feet and spotted the boat approaching much closer.
"We got company!" shouted Junior. Mosura turned and spotted the boat. Her eyes widened as she spotted the insignia that was painted on the front of the rectangular boat.
"It's MONARCH!" exclaimed Mosura.
"Oh no." said Angirasu with wide eyes. Rodan turned to face the Sirens with a distressed expression.
"You three need to get the hell out of here now!" said Rodan. Suddenly, two flashes of light came from the boat and appeared in between the Transmutants and Sirens. From the flashes came Erika, Sunset and Ghidorah. Erika tackled Angirasu to the ground and began to furiously punch him. Sonata cried out to him as she watched him mercilessly assaulted. Sunset engaged Mosura in hand to hand combat. She began to fire quick magic bolts at the Transmutant, which were dodged every time.
"Missed me?" asked Sunset with a smile. Mosura sent her a glare as she got into a fighting stance.
"Hardly." retorted Mosura. The two charged towards each other and sent quick punches and kicks. Rodan kicked Erika off of Angirasu, sending her a few feet away. Rodan helped Angirasu stand to his feet and sent Erika a glare.
"Don't make it harder than it has to be." pleaded Erika.
"Sorry. I ain't going to the Vault." said Rodan defiantly. Angirasu nodded in agreement. Erika sighed.
"I must fulfill my duty." said Erika. She then charged towards the two while giving a war cry. The three engaged in combat. Erika slid under Angirasu and sent a strong kick into his back, knocking him forward. She then rolled away from a punch that was sent by Rodan and swept his leg. Rodan fell down onto the sand with a grunt. As Erika was about to stomp onto his chest, Angirasu rammed his body into her and drove her to the ground.
"Gah!" cried Junior as Ghidorah sent a powerful punch towards him. He flew several feet away and crashed into the sand. He spat sand out of his mouth and glared at the armored figure.
"Who are you?" demanded Junior.
"I am Ghidorah. The top agent of MONARCH." answered Ghidorah.
"Heh. I bet. I didn't think MONARCH would give anyone that kind of fancy looking armor." said Junior with a bitter smile as he stood to his feet. He then noticed how the man had over a foot of height over him.
"Oh there is more to my armor than looks, Gojira Takeshi the 2nd." said Ghidorah with a dark chuckle. Junior's eyes widened.
"Don't be surprised. MONARCH knows who you are." said Ghidorah. He then charged towards Junior and sent a jab towards him. The Transmutant side stepped away to the right and then side stepped to the left as Ghidorah sent a second punch. Junior then sent a round house kick against Ghidorah, causing him to stagger away. The soldier chuckled.
"Very good, boy." said Ghidorah as he pulled out a jagged katana. Junior growled as he unsheathed the Changeling sword that he wore on his back.
"Oh I can do sword fights too, asshole." said Junior. The two stared each other down as they began to circle each other. Both focused on each other and not the battles going on around them. The fighters stopped as the wind blew against them. Suddenly, both charged towards each other and clashed blades. Sparks flew as they struggled to overpower each other. Ghidorah stared Junior down from behind his helmet.
"Then show me what you can do, young Takeshi!" said Ghidorah in exhilaration. The two backed away from each other and repeatedly clashed blades. Sparks lit the small space around them as the sound of steel grazing against steel filled the air. Junior was forced back by Ghidorah as he continuously began to swing his sword against him. Junior stumbled back as the attacks grew more furious. The armored man sent a kick against Junior's chest, forcing him off of his feet and to roll backwards, stopping at his belly after two seconds of rolling. Junior groaned as he stood up to his feet. His eyes widened as Ghidorah approached him with high speeds. His backside was lit from his thruster pack that carried him. Ghidorah held his katana in a stabbing position. Junior immediately stood to his feet and then leapt over the oncoming soldier. Junior then grabbed the helmet covered head of the solider as he was airborne over him. Ghidorah grunted as his head was yanked on by the strength of the young Transmutant. His body was forced backwards and his vision of the world was turned upside down. Junior performed a somersault as he held Ghidorah and landed onto the sand with Ghidorah's head in his grip. He then gave a yell as his muscles worked against the thruster pack's jets and slammed Ghidorah onto the ground in front of himself with all of his might. The force of the impact caused a plume of sand to fly into the air. Ghidorah's thruster pack had shut down as he lied limp in the sand that dropped back down to bury most of his body. Only his helmet was exposed.
"I showed you what I can do. Did you see?" asked Junior as he tapped Ghidorah's helmet with a chuckle. He then noticed his friends having trouble with the remaining soldiers that were attacking his friends. Junior picked up his sword and dashed towards them.
"Hehe. Such a clever boy." Ghidorah chuckled to himself. He slowly began to raise himself out of the sand and watched the Transmutants fend off the soldiers.
"Shimmer!" shouted Junior. Sunset turned around from Mosura as the Transmutant stood by with a tense stance. Sunset's eyes widened as she spotted Junior dropping down towards her with a sword in his grip.
"Take this!" said Junior as he descended closer to Sunset. The Elf immediately rolled out of the way, the blade missed her by a hair as it chopped down onto the sand. Junior cursed as he realized that he missed. He turned and found three other soldiers disembarking the boat that they had arrived from. The soldiers began to fire their weapons at Junior. The magic bolts collided against his skin and shirt. His flesh suffered from burns that sizzled. A few bolts even managed to pierce through him. Junior growled in anger. Suddenly, the soldiers were caught in a red mist. Junior's eyes widened as he spotted Adagio with her eyes glowing red as she gritted her teeth. Her hands were engulfed in the sparkling red mist of her magic.
"Leave them alone!!" shouted Adagio. She then forced her hand forward and slammed the soldiers against the boat. Sunset cursed as she sent her hand in the Siren's direction. Her hand was engulfed in a magic aura that faintly glowed.
"No!" shouted Junior as he charged towards the Elf. Sunset immediately turned back to Junior and fired the bolt at him instead. Junior staggered a bit from the strike but proceeded with his charge.
'Damn! I still had that spell on stun!' thought Sunset in anger. Junior yelled as he brought the sword down onto the Elf. Sunset immediately raised her hands in front of herself and projected a half-dome shield in front of herself. The sword collided with the shield, causing it to ripple like a pebble in a pond. Junior growled angrily as he repeatedly began to slam his sword against the dome. His eyes burned with rage at how this woman had threatened to harm his friends. The shield suddenly sprung a small crack after several attempts to take it down. Junior growled angrily as he was about to bring the sword down again, but Sunset's hands abruptly glowed brightly. The half dome shield flashed as it drove towards Junior, forcing him onto his back.
"Freaking magic!" said Junior in annoyance. He stood to his feet and found Sunset charging towards him with both of her hands engulfed in her magic aura. Sunset teleported out of his sight and then reappeared behind him. She swept his leg with her a kick and then slammed both of her fists down on his chest. Junior groaned in pain as he felt the magical force impact him. A plume of sand was blown from all around them from the magic force. Sunset then levitated Junior into the air with her magic with a glare.
"You've been running long enough." said Sunset. Junior growled as he struggled to escape from the magical grasp. Suddenly, Sunset was pushed by an invisible force. She cried out at the unexpected force as she crashed along the sand. Junior dropped to his knees panting as he felt his throbbing chest. Mosura rushed to his side with a worried expression.
"How are you?" asked Mosura.
"I'm good." said Junior. They then noticed Erika fighting Angirasu and Rodan with ease. Her movements were too quick as she ducked and side stepped all of their attacks. She sent multiple jabs into Angirasu's chest and kicked her leg back towards Rodan into his gut as he attempted to attack her from behind. The crimson haired Transmutant fell onto his back as the wind was knocked out of him. Erika then sent a roundhouse kick towards Angirasu as he stood in a dazed state.
"Angirasu!" cried Sonata.
"That's it, I'm not sticking around anymore!" said Aria in anger. The two Sirens both raised their hands and began to restrain Erika before she could attack a barely standing Rodan. Erika gasped in surprise as she realized that her muscles were immobilized. Sonata turned as she noticed Sunset charging towards them. The Siren raised her other hand and stopped Sunset in her tracks. The Elf cursed as she attempted to unleash her magical attack. Adagio continued to hold the other three soldiers that were shooting at Junior. She turned to face Junior and Mosura.
"Get out of here while you still can!" said Adagio.
"What?! Adagio, we can't leave you! You three should be the ones that leave!" said Junior.
"They'll kill you if you don't escape while you still can! Please, get out of here!" begged Sonata.
"No! We...we can beat these guys." panted Angirasu as he stood to his feet.
"Yeah! This is our fight, not yours!" said Rodan. Aria looked to him with a glare.
"If anyone messes with our friends, it's as much as our fight as it is yours!" retorted Aria. She grunted as Erika began to struggle much further.
"Helping...Ergh! Transmutants is insane!" said one of the soldiers that were restrained by Adagio's magic. She gritted her teeth as she slammed that particular soldier against the boat.
"Shut up!" shouted Adagio. Junior made her way over to her and placed a hand on her shoulder.
"Adagio, don't risk your lives for us." said Junior sadly. Adagio looked to him with a small smile.
"Think of it as our way of showing our gratitude for what you did for us." said Adagio. She then looked to Mosura.
"Adagio..." said Mosura with a breaking tone.
"We owe you." said Adagio. She then looked to Junior with a grin. "Stay tough, Goji."
"Lucky Dragon! Don't you dare pull out of this fight!" said Sunset with a glare. Junior looked to Sunset with a glare of his own. He then looked back to Adagio.
"As soon as we're gone, get the hell out of here." whispered Junior. She nodded to him. Junior then looked back to his friends.
"Let's move guys!" said Junior as he broke off into a sprint. Mosura looked to Adagio sadly and then followed Junior. Rodan looked Aria who gave him a reassuring smile. He felt his eyes begin to water but he immediately shut his eyes.
"Good luck." said Rodan as he turned and began to follow Junior and Mosura. Angirasu looked to Sonata and back to his Transmutant friends hesitantly. Sonata gave him a nod.
"It's OK. We'll see each other again." said Sonata.
"But..." Angirasu wanted an excuse to stay. He couldn't allow the Sirens to sacrifice themselves against this threat. Sonata walked over to him and planted a kiss on his cheek. A blush formed on his face as Sonata gave him a sad smile.
"It's time that I played the hero. Or heroine in this case." laughed Sonata. Angirasu's frowned deepened.
"I won't forget you. Any of you. Thank you and please be safe." said Angirasu as he turned to join his friends. Sonata's head lowered in sadness as he departed. Sunset turned her head as she glared at Junior's back.
"Lucky Dragon! You coward!!" shouted Sunset. Junior's ears picked up Sunset's voice. His heart stung painfully at the word, 'coward'. That was how he felt for abandoning his new friends. He gritted his teeth as he and his fellow Transmutants disappeared into the village. The three Sirens stepped closely together as they kept their magical hold on the soldiers. They eyed them with glares, feeling anxious. They wanted to release and hop back into the sea and swim far away, but they remained still to prevent the soldiers from going after the Transmutants. Aria gasped as she spotted Ghidorah rising out of the sand. He slowly began to walk toward the Sirens in silence. He stopped as he looked to the soldiers that were trapped in their magic.
"I am disappointed in all of you." said Ghidorah as he shook his head. He sighed. "Rather unfortunate that the Transmutants escaped."
'Was he just lying there?!' thought Erika in annoyance. She hated how spoke to them. As if he were superior to them when he could have been helping them apprehend the Transmutants instead of watching from the sand.
"We’ll get them. But first, we need to deal with these pests." said Ghidorah darkly as he clapped his hands together. The sound of crackling energy pierced the air. The armored man began to slowly separate his hands from each other as streams of sparking energy began to crackle from his palms. He slowly shifted his hands as the energy shot from his palms and back into each other. The man darkly chuckled as he stared down the Sirens, who stared at him fearfully. They stepped back and away as he slowly approached them.




Meanwhile at the nuclear power plant...

Six MONARCH soldiers treaded slowly through the facility in silence. Their rifles were raised as they walked close to the walls and rounded the corners. They wore armor and helmets that protected them from the hazard radiation that may potentially leak out. They had yet to find any staff members of the plant, which worried them. The soldiers breathed softly into their helmets and behind the glass that allowed them their sight. Oxygen tanks filled them with clean air as they continued walking. Their hearts raced.
"Where in the hell are the staff?" whispered one of the soldiers as he looked behind himself. The two had later found a large blast door that was shut. They lowered their rifles as they stared at the door. It was slightly open, dim lights glowing from behind it. The soldiers slowly made their way over to the blast door and began to pull on it. The heavy door began to slowly slide to the left and into a slot in between the door frame. What lied behind the door made their eyes widen in horror. Corpses of men and women littered the control room, which were crushed, twisted, and mutilated. If the soldiers were not wearing their environmental protective gear, the stench of the dead would have reached their noses.
"What happened?" asked one of the soldiers in shock.
"Same thing that's about to happen to you." said a male voice from behind. The soldiers all turned and pointed their rifles at the owner of the voice. Suddenly, they attacked by three figures at once. One of them jammed a katana into a soldier's body, the other snapped the neck of a soldier and then slammed the nearest soldier's head against the pavement with astounding force. The soldiers were killed mercilessly by these figures, much like the staff inside of the control room. After the last soldier was killed, the figures stopped and remained still. Red eyes glared at the corpses on the ground. From the shadows and from the halls came Megaguirus, who stared in shock.
"Oh my god! Battra, are those MONARCH soldiers?!" exclaimed Megaguirus.
"They were." said Battra as he popped his knuckles. He then looked to the dead corpses and then sent Shinomura a glare.
"I told you that we should have stayed hidden. But no! You had to go and kill most of the staff that worked here!" said Battra.
"First of all, that's our job! To eliminate of all of these humans! Second of all, I had to stop them before they could sound the alarm!" retorted Shinomura.
"Yeah but obviously that must have failed since we have six dead soldiers at our feet." said Battra with a glare.
"Wait! Something doesn't seem right with this." said Mukade in thought.
"What do you mean?" asked Megaguirus in confusion.
"MONARCH wasn't occupying Saddle Arabia at the time before we got here. I think I saw a ship approaching miles away outside when we first arrived an hour ago. They couldn't have anticipated us coming!" said Mukade. The Transmutants stared at him and then began to process what they were told.
"If this is all a coincidence, then...why are they here?" asked Battra. He then shook his head. "Look, doesn't matter! We need to hide these bodies and get back to work. MONARCH will be looking for these soldiers when they don't answer their coms."
"Right. We still need to help Destoroyah and the others gather the radiation." said Megaguirus with a nod.