#mykitas

Drawing commissioned by MastetrofNintendo

starter for @valiant-chojuhunter-ace

Japan, Iwate Prefecture, Takizawa, 01:34 Hours...

Its body had laid silent under the ground, waiting, biding its time, and in the process, growing, feeding, changing. White mushrooms now glowed a vibrant red, its body retaining a sickly greenish coloration, and its dim white eyes now glowed just as vibrant as the red mushrooms, eerie, white, blank eyes staring endlessly. Finally, the time had come, and with groaning cries, it had emerged, its body now reaching an impressive one hundred meters in height, its weight a hefty 100,000 tons.

Nothing, in the few towns adjacent towards each other survived. Man and beast alike was snapped up as if mere morsels to satisfy an endless hunger, one that sought to both consume and infect. Spores filled the air around it, allowing it a fine perception of the world, to discover any hiding survivors. Finally, it had finished with this time, and began to move on, its weight only hindering its movement somewhat. It did not move quick, but it did not matter, for it would never tire, never cease in its efforts, until it succeeded... Or was destroyed.

MFS-3 Machine Dragon, "Kiryu" Currently Engaging: Mykitas Chronometer: 131 seconds Pilot Seat: -vacant- 1st Engineering Seat: -vacant- 2nd Engineering Seat: -vacant- Additional Crew: -none- Power Remaining: 53.43% Thruster Fuel: 96.1% RCS Propellant: 99.94% Damage Taken: Abdominal armor breech under repair; damage to Neural Power Systems has been repaired. Special Conditions: -Control automatically re-routed through DNA Computer systems; Control regained Mood: Focused; Enraged

"Heavy-Arms Modified-3 Kiryu" Equipment: Arm Mounts: Laser Blasts Fired: 20 / 200 Laser Blasts Remaining: 180 / 200 Damage Taken: -none- Port Nacelle: Forward Missiles Remaining: 19 / 24 Guided Missiles Remaining: 27 / 32 Damage Taken: -none- Starboard Nacelle: Forward Missiles Remaining: 19 / 24 Guided Missiles Remaining: 27 / 32 Damage Taken: -none-

White Heron KSSA-2, "Niryu": 1st Pilot: Captain Faelan 2nd Pilot: Ensign Akiba Kyosuke Engineering Seat: Captain Yashiro Akane Additional Crew: -none- Altitude: 578 meters Damage Taken: -none-

White Heron KSSA-3, "Sanryu": 1st Pilot: Lieutenant Togashi Koh 2nd Pilot: Ensign Shugerman Tyler Engineering Seat: Amakuni Chireru Additional Crew: -none- Altitude: 839 meters Damage Taken: -none-

MFS-3 Machine Dragon, "Kiryu" Currently Engaging: Mykitas Chronometer: 102 seconds Pilot Seat: -vacant- 1st Engineering Seat: -vacant- 2nd Engineering Seat: -vacant- Additional Crew: -none- Power Remaining: 57.43% Thruster Fuel: 96.4% RCS Propellant: 99.94% Damage Taken: Abdominal armor breech; damage to Neural Power Systems Special Conditions: -Control automatically re-routed through DNA Computer systems; Control compromised Mood: Enraged

"Heavy-Arms Modified-3 Kiryu" Equipment: Arm Mounts: Laser Blasts Fired: 20 / 200 Laser Blasts Remaining: 180 / 200 Damage Taken: -none- Port Nacelle: Forward Missiles Remaining: 19 / 24 Guided Missiles Remaining: 27 / 32 Damage Taken: -none- Starboard Nacelle: Forward Missiles Remaining: 19 / 24 Guided Missiles Remaining: 27 / 32 Damage Taken: -none-

White Heron KSSA-2, "Niryu": 1st Pilot: Captain Faelan 2nd Pilot: Ensign Akiba Kyosuke Engineering Seat: Captain Yashiro Akane Additional Crew: -none- Altitude: 573 meters Damage Taken: -none-

White Heron KSSA-3, "Sanryu": 1st Pilot: Lieutenant Togashi Koh 2nd Pilot: Ensign Shugerman Tyler Engineering Seat: Amakuni Chireru Additional Crew: -none- Altitude: 895 meters Damage Taken: -none-

Here are the current statistics on the battle with Mykitas at Lake Ashi in Hanoke.

MFS-3 Machine Dragon, "Kiryu" Currently Engaging: Mykitas Chronometer: 0 seconds Pilot Seat: -vacant- 1st Engineering Seat: -vacant- 2nd Engineering Seat: -vacant- Additional Crew: -none- Power Remaining: 100% Thruster Fuel: 100% RCS Propellant: 100% Damage Taken: -none- Special Conditions: -none- Mood: Focused

"Heavy-Arms Modified-3 Kiryu" Equipment: Arm Mounts: Laser Blasts Fired: 0 / 200 Laser Blasts Remaining: 0 / 200 Damage Taken: -none- Port Nacelle: Forward Missiles Remaining: 0 / 12 Guided Missiles Remaining: 0 / 16 Damage Taken: -none- Starboard Nacelle: Forward Missiles Remaining: 0 / 12 Guided Missiles Remaining: 0 / 16 Damage Taken: -none-

White Heron KSSA-2, "Niryu": 1st Pilot: Captain Faelan 2nd Pilot: Ensign Akiba Kyosuke Engineering Seat: Captain Yashiro Akane Additional Crew: -none- Altitude: 578 meters Damage Taken: -none-

White Heron KSSA-3, "Sanryu": 1st Pilot: Lieutenant Togashi Koh 2nd Pilot: Ensign Shugerman Tyler Engineering Seat: Amakuni Chireru Additional Crew: -none- Altitude: 892 meters Damage Taken: -none-

"Your majesty". I like the sound of that!

She was back because of Mykitas.

Mykitas. Objectively abhorrent. A cowardly wretch, despite his boasts and his power. Dishonorable. Disgusting.

He wouldn't fight her.

The memory looped through her processors, breaking down and reassembling so that she could extract with full certainty the structure, meaning, and reasoning behind every minute action of the battle. And the results were: he was a coward. A dirty, dishonorable coward. His power was enough that he could have put up a fight, and it would have been a decent one. He could have damaged her. He could have provided a challenge. He could have been a memorable foe. He could have been looked to with respect and awe. But he chose instead to slip away, and destroy everything, boasting of his strength even as he turned away from a true fight. He didn't even deserve to be called a "kaiju." "Kaiju" implies divinity, mystery, and a connection to the natural world; a devotion to the balance of life. Mykitas had none of these things. He was simply a monster. An abomination.

Now, Mykitas was dead. But the mechanical dragon's hatred lived on. Was it irrational? No, it couldn't be. Something tangible had to be the source of her anger. A new word emerged within her neural processor systems, steadily becoming clearer as more simulations were run. It was a new name that she could call the wretched fungus. "Thief." He had stolen a battle from her. A battle that she needed. The motion of the fight, the power, the pain, the stakes, the feeling of a goal drawing nearer, the sensation of her carbon nanotube actuators driving her limbs along in intricate motions to to land a solid, bone-breaking strike to her foe; it was soothing to her. She knew she had a soul because each battle she fought was food for it. Each victory reminded her of the purpose for which she was built. And Mykitas, by choosing to fight helpless humans and lifeless inanimate buildings, had taken all of that away from her.

He had also taken Akane away from her. Taken all the pilots away. The new group would not be ready for some time yet, and there were still not enough to make a full battle compliment if she had to launch. Many humans had built her but only one truly understood how she worked. Only one could tell what she thought and what she felt -she couldn't even do that herself. Only one human existed whose very heartbeat was shared between them, for she had no heart of her own. Akane was closer than a friend, closer than a lover. All that silliness had been bypassed and replaced with something that didn't require anything tangible. It required only potential to make them practically one and the same. Akane lived inside of her head, and thought her thoughts as she did.

And now, because of Mykitas, she was in a hospital, and no longer had the potential to jump into the cockpit at any moment and fly away with her. Mykitas had taken Akane away from Kiryu, and hadn't even given her the satisfaction of a proper vengeance. Just a short, rushed killing that sucked the very life out of her, and left nothing but cold behind.

Akane was somewhere far away, and with her gone, Kiryu was heartless.

She began to hope that there was an afterlife, simply so that she could have the satisfaction of knowing that when she got there, she would see Mykitas being burned. And maybe she could even receive a temporary pardon from her own torture to go over and contribute to his.