The ferry was traveling from Shikoku to Kyushu and among the passengers was a beautiful young goth-loli girl; she stood alone looking out at the sea over the railing, she was 155cm tall, with a moderate athletic build, her skin was lightly tanned probably due to it being early in the summer months and some time doubtlessly spent on the beach, but her most striking features were her eyes, they were grey and stood out from her face as if on a raised platform. The goth-loli girl had a parasol to shield her from the bright, hot Sun. Her outfit was black with white trim and she was far, far too hot for a show this low budget, she must have owed someone a favor. The outfit was a black one-piece dress with two rows of black ruffles and a row of white ruffles at the bottom of the skirt, the short sleeves were puffy with white ruffles, she was wearing a pair of black satin gloves, around the low neckline was white lace, with two decorative rows of the same running down the front of the dress, she had knee-high black stockings with white lace at the top secured by black ribbon, she was carrying a black parasol with white trim around the edges. She had a black hairband holding her blonde hair which was done up in twin tails. As she watched some seabirds, a man walked up to her.
The man was Mamoru Ichinose, a field agent for Unicorn, a U.N. organization that investigates strange incidents that regular police agencies cannot handle. Currently operating under cover as a tourist, he was really there to investigate a number of ship sinking’s that had occurred in Southern Japan over the course of the last several weeks. So far all the ship losses had occurred in much deeper water, and Mamoru was really just on the ferry to travel to Kyushu where he would meet his contact and begin the operation in earnest. He was dressed in a smart business suit and looked entirely respectable in an unmemorable way secret agents tend to have, his short black hair and brown eyes looked exactly like any number of other average Japanese men, 10 seconds after meeting him he’d disappear into a crowd and you’d never be able to remember a single detail about him. The only notable thing about him was that his gaze seemed to linger too long on the girl’s posterior.
“Hi there, nice view huh? My name’s Mamoru.” He extended his hand to her in greeting.
“Yes, it is a nice view. I am kind of excited to see the sunset.” She accepted his hand and shook it, apparently not noticing his lusty gaze. She turned back to look out at the birds, which had now been joined by some other animals, dolphins maybe? “Hey doesn’t the water look strange?” she asked as she pointed at the spot.
“So, are you here all by yourse- what?”
The two looked out at the area she was pointing to. The water was churning and bubbling, like it was boiling and in the center was a blue glow. The boiling water began to move closer to the ship and by now the other passengers had begun to notice. The murmuring picked up in volume the bubbles reached the ship, surrounding it on all sides as everyone wondered what was happening.
Suddenly the ferry was wracked by an impact and the automatic collision alarm began wailing. As the voices turned from curious to frightened, giant tentacles rose from the water and entangled the vessel, people began screaming and it soon became apparent to all that the tentacles were pulling the ferry down!
“What’s going on?” Just as the goth-loli girl cried out the ferry wrenched violently and she and Mamoru were thrown overboard. Mamoru grabbed some floating debris, giving one piece to the girl and keeping the other for himself, just as the ship’s keel broke and its destruction was complete. The ship crumbled under the strength of the huge tentacles and helpless people fell into the uncaring ocean. It was only with Mamoru’s aid that the goth-loli girl managed to keep hold on the debris keeping her from drowning.
Hours later, well after dark, the pair remained floating helplessly when another boat approached. At first the goth-loli girl was overjoyed at the sight of impending rescue, but Mamoru did not seem nearly so enthusiastic. As the boat drew closer the reason for Mamoru’s apprehension was graphically illustrated as men bearing machineguns appeared at the railings and ordered the pair to surrender.
“You two! Surrender now!” A man with a truly impressive Victorian style mustache yelled. Shocked, the girl and Mamoru meekly complied. A ladder was lowered to the water. “Climb the ladder!!! Now!” The pair climbed the ladder and once at the top were handcuffed and taken in hand to be led below decks. “We can’t have any witnesses! You will be executed back at headquarters, but don’t worry, I’m a nice guy. You’ll each get a nice Last Supper! MWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!” he broke into maniacal laughter.
The man next to him whispered, “Oh come on Joe, will you stop with that tired maniacal laughing? It was played out 30 years ago and it ain’t getting any fresher.”
The first man looked saddened and turned to his comrade, “But I never get to be an evil henchman! The recruiting poster said we would get to do evil laughs!!!”
“Look, Joe, I am just saying, now is not the time.”
“Then when Robert? When is it ever going to be time? This is just like with you meeting my parents! ‘It’s just not the right time!’” Joe seemed teary eyed.
“Oh come on! ONE TIME! ONE TIME! I said I couldn’t get off work! I tried! I really did!” As the two men became more attentive to their own argument a third exasperated and embarrassed solider walked to the stairs to take charge of the new prisoners and led them away somewhat embarrassed, “Uhm, sorry about that, those two are kind of in a rough place right now.” The man seemed disinterested while the girl still seemed to be in shock.
“I lost my parasol, and my dress is ruined.” The girl muttered.
Mamoru looked at her with concern, or maybe he was trying to get a better look at her chest, but ultimately said nothing.
As they were led to the ship’s brig, Mamoru heard a distant conversation: “No, no Sir, there are no more survivors besides these two. Looks like everyone else was sucked down with the ferry or taken by Gezora. Also Sir, uh it’s about Robert and Joe, maybe they need a few days apart, I mean we all know that workplace relationships are allowed under the human resources guidelines, but they have just been fighting and fighting for days now…”
“Everyone was taken by steamed dumplings?” Mamoru asked himself. “Surely I misheard him.”
Eventually the ship arrived at a dock and the two prisoners were led from it to a tropical island at gunpoint. They were taken to what was clearly a clandestine military facility – or maybe an old abandoned prison, there were guard towers with machineguns, searchlights, electrified barbed wired fences. They were placed in separate, adjoining cells, and as the guard walked away he said, “Your last meal will be at 0900. I’ll be back at 0700 to take your requests. And don’t try to escape, even though there will be absolutely no one guarding you or even this entire hallway. If you try to escape we’ll have to execute you.”
“But you are already going to execute us,” Mamoru replied. “What are you going to do execute us twice?”
The guard whirled around on him, giving him The Stink Eye, “We might! You don’t know anything about us! We might have science far advanced beyond anything on Earth! We might be magic! You don’t know!”
Mamoru feigned a look of cowed fear, “Oh you are right, you guys could be like, Space Nazis or The Spanish Inquisition or an extremely militant home owners association!”
The guard thrust his index finger angrily at Mamoru then back at himself, then back at Mamoru, clearly implying that a confrontation was in the offing, but Mamoru seemingly backed down. Satisfied he had won the confrontation, the guard stalked off.
As soon as the guard was gone Mamoru went into action. He immediately removed a device from his shoe. It was seemingly a radio, but had been damaged by the water. “Agent Seven to Headquarters, Agent Seven to Headquarters. Can anyone hear me?” After several fruitless attempts he gave up. “Must’ve been ruined by the salt water.” Replacing the device he rummaged through his clothing eventually producing a set of lock picks. “Don’t worry Kid,” he said to the goth-loli girl, “I’ll have us out of here long before he comes back.” Setting to work he picked the lock to his cell within minutes and then went to work on hers. Once she was free he took her hand, “Say, what’s your name?”
The girl looked at him mystified, “Oh, right. It’s Koko. Koko Sokko. Everything happened so fast, I’m sorry for my rudeness.”
Mamoru looked at her with a slightly questioning look, “Wow you sound so mature! How old are you anyway? 15?”
Koko just returned an incredulous look, “Do we have time for this? I thought we were getting out of here.”
“Hmmn,” Mamoru began, “Someone seems to have fully recovered from being a shipwreck survivor.”
“I’m tougher than I look,” Koko replied.
“Obviously.” And with that Mamoru led her down the hall to search for a way out of their mutual prison.
The pair snuck through various hallways, ducking down corridors, and even into closets to avoid approaching guards, successfully evading all and eventually entering a large open space. As they walked through it, Mamoru whispered somewhat in awe, “This, this is a hangar! But it’s so huge! What could possibly need one this size?” As he led Koko through the space, he missed what was clearly an immense pair of armored legs and feet. “That looks like some kind of control room; maybe we can find a way out from there!” He led Koko up the stairs into the small room. An alarm sounded, obviously the fact that the two of them had escaped their cels had been discovered.
By now Koko was looking much more aware and seemed to have completely recovered from her experiences. As she walked around the space she began to look more and more awed and interested in her surroundings. “Say, is it just me, or does this look like a Giant Underground Mecha Doom Fortress?”
Mamoru turned to her looking like she just declared she was taking orders from her neighbor’s dog, when looking over her shoulder he saw out the main view window. As his jaw dropped, he became speechless, “Oh come on, don’t be silly there’s no way this is a --.”
“What is it,” Koko asked as she turned as well, coming face to face with an enormous robot head! “Oh my GOD!!! IS THAT WHAT I THINK IT IS??” She asked unbelieving.
Mamoru could only nod dumbly. “Yes, if you think it is a giant fucking robot.”
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Standing there was a huge humanoid robot in all its Angry Egyptian Pharaoh looking glory. It stood tall, strong, and with an aura of menace, it looked so new it probably smelled of fresh paint.
“If I die right now my life will have had meaning,” Koko exclaimed solemnly.
Mamoru turned to her with a “Are you shitting me?” look on his face and just then the rear door to the control room opened.
In walked a shrunken, bald, old man in a lab coat. His bearing just screamed “mad scientist” and he noticed the two. “Ah, you two must be the new prisoners yes? Oh don’t worry; you see I am a prisoner too. My name is Wallenstien, Dr. Wallenstien. Once my work on him,” he nodded to the Stargazer, “is done I will be put to death as well, the organization that brought us all here, Big Fire, really hates witnesses. Shame really. Imagine if I had a few years to refine this initial design. It is already the most powerful war machine on the planet, but just think what it might be capable of after five or six years of upgrades!” He looked with great pride on his creation. “I have an excellent idea!” Reaching into his pocket he removed what looked like a smartphone and handed it to Koko. “Here take this, press the red “activate” button, and speak into the device when the countdown is complete.”
Somewhat bewildered, Koko indeed took the phone, pressed the red button and waited for the two minute countdown.
“Now, you’ll need some time, which I think I shall get for you.” The old man moved over to a locker on the wall, breaking the seal, setting off yet another alarm, and removing from it a machinegun, which he immediately handed to Mamoru. He then removed a second machinegun, keeping it for himself.
“What is this old man?” Mamoru asked.
“Ah, here they are already!” the old man said excitedly. “I had no great love of the idea of waiting for them to decide when and how to kill me.” He used the stock of the rifle to break the glass and yelled at the men below, “Here I am, I have a present for you!!” the old man began firing down at the people below, hitting one with his first burst and scattering the others. After a few seconds they began to return fire. Soon the control room was filled with flying shards of glass and splinters of plastic and metal.
As the man’s gun ran out of bullets, he was struck in the chest and hurled violently back and to the ground. Clearly dying he tried to speak to Koko, but she couldn’t hear him over the sounds of the bullets and gun shots.
“Well, it’s not like we could have used an explanation or anything old man, thanks a lot,” Koko said annoyed.
Then the timer hit 0. Koko, spoke into the smartphone, “Uhm,” she looked at Mamoru who shrugged back at her, also not knowing what exactly to say, “Giant Robot, ACTIVATE!”
Outside the soldiers didn’t notice at first that the robot was functioning until its foot moved into the air to take its first step. As the huge metal appendage dropped down, it caught two of the three surviving members of the fire team under its bulk, crushing them into goo.
“YEARGH!!!!” the final man screamed for his life and fled!
In the control room, a dumbfounded Mamoru and an absolutely ecstatic Koko witness the birth of Stargazer. “I will never need another Christmas Gift in my life!!! This must be what it feels like to be Harrison Ford!” Koko said as a grin spread across her face. “I know how we can get out of here.”
A pair of huge armored hangar doors began to creak and bulge. Finally one gave way as a mechanical gauntlet broke through it. Gripping one edge of the weakened blast door, the huge hand was soon joined by a second and together they pried the mighty barrier from its hinges and dropped it to the ground, as useless as the dead weight it had been reduced to. With the way open, the robot returned to the control room and extended one hand to it, crashing through a control console and the thin sheet metal wall. Koko and Mamoru climbed out onto the hand and the robot turned back to its escape route and casually walked through.
Just as the robot emerged fully into the morning sunlight a horde of bullets and rocket propelled grenades begin to pepper its armored hide. As one bullet ricocheted uncomfortably close Koko spoke into the control device again, “Giant Robot, shield us from the bullets!” The huge construct’s other hand came up interposing an impenetrable barrier between the soft, meaty, humans and the flying lead. The robot paid the rest of the gunfire no heed, continuing to walk on without registering the attempts to oppose it.
Meanwhile, back in the heart of the complex, “WHAT DO YOU MEAN THEY HAVE ESCAPED?!?!”
The man on the video screen was clearly shitting his pants. “Your Excellency, the prisoners were seemingly conspiring with Doctor Wainright! He gave the robot’s control device to the girl and she activated it! They must have been planning this since they got here!”
“NONSENSE!!!! THOSE TWO ONLY GOT THERE HALF AN HOUR AGO!!!” Emperor Guillotine stood on the other end of the communication; he had a blue, squid-like face atop a blue-furred body. He was carrying a staff with a wicked looking blade on the end and garbed in some kind of robe, it actually looked like he was in his pajamas. “WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO RECAPTURE THEM??”
“Sir, we have deployed all the troops on hand, but our anti-personnel weapons cannot damage the robot!”
Emperor Guillotine’s face tilted back in frustration, “Of course they can’t. What was I thinking?!?! Very well commander, your resources are inadequate to this task. However, that does not relieve you of responsibility for allowing the prisoners to escape their cells in the first place! You are demoted two steps in rank effective immediately! Turn over your command to your immediate subordinate without delay. The next time you fail me the punishment will be somewhat more severe!”
Clearly frightened, the man gulped audibly and then replies, “Yes Sir, thank you Sir for this second chance!” He then ended the transmission.
Emperor Guillotine then pressed a series of buttons on the communication console, “Gezora!!! Gezora respond!!” Within seconds a murky, obscure image appeared on the monitor, clearly the image was coming from underwater. A high pitched series of squealing calls came through, Gezora’s responding call.
“Gezora, the Stargazer has been stolen!! Go and get it back, kill anyone who opposes you! If necessary, destroy the robot rather than allow it to be stolen!” More high pitched squeals came over the monitor before the signal was cut.
Guillotine turned to a man with a huge, bushy beard standing next to him, “Inform Spider I need to speak with him immediately!”
“SIR!” the man replied before turning with military precision and marching out of the room.
Miles away, the giant robot was still carrying the two escapees in its hands as it walked through shin-deep water.
“Doesn’t this thing fly? I saw some jet engines on its back,” Mamoru asked as Koko fiddled with the control device.
“Yeah I saw those too, but I can’t seem to find the flight controls. This interface is amazingly complex!” she replied with glee.
The robot continued to trundle along kicking up huge sprays of water in the process. Suddenly, there was an impact which threw Mamoru and Koko forward against the robot’s fingers. Looking over the edge of the hand, the two saw gargantuan tentacles rising from the sea and entangling the robot’s legs!
“It’s back!” Koko cried excitedly. “Now I can get some payback for the outfit it ruined!” She began fiddling with the control again, “Uhm what kind of weapons does this thing have anyway?” she asked Mamoru.
He looked at her worriedly, “How should I know!?!?”
By now, the giant robot was having difficulty retaining its balance as the tentacles constricted its legs and tried to drag it under water.
“We don’t know its weapons, and it can’t use its fists while it’s holding us!” Koko exclaimed! While looking around in exasperation for something to change the situation, she accidentally hit the red button again. “If only there was some safe place the robot could put us in while it fights the monster!”
A happy, positive sounding “BWEEP!” came from the control device. As Koko and Mamoru considered what to do, a hatch opened in the robot’s chest and the hand holding them pressed up against the opening. Realizing at once what they were supposed to do, Koko and Mamoru quickly crawled into the closet-sized space and once inside, the armored access panel closed behind them.
Now safely inside, Koko again hit the Red Button, “Giant Robot! Beat the shit out of that thing!” Once again, the happy, positive sounding “BWEEP!” came from the device, and the pair were soon thrown about the room, no matter how well they try to brace themselves, as the robot battled the monster. Fortunately, it was a neat and clean room, free of oddly pointed objects or sharp jutting corners. Mamoru grabbed onto Koko from behind, wrapping his larger body around hers and absorbing most of the worst impacts, it was all Very Heroic Looking, and it seemed like he was an amazingly selfless guy, until Koko realized his hands are FIRMLY clasped to her breasts. Once she realized this, Koko begins to look very, very angry.
Meanwhile, outside, the robot reached down and grasped the two biggest tentacles, tugging and yanking them free of its legs. His efforts forced Gezora to the surface; the monster was a mutated squid nearly as big as the robot, and probably longer if its tentacles were stretched out. It wrapped a tentacle around the robot’s face and used two more to latch onto the robot’s body, leaving the rest to hold itself upright and entangle the robot’s arms. For a short while it seemed a stalemate had been reached, but then the robot acted, its right knee came up hard and fast, striking Gezora directly below its face, an area which appeared analogous to the groin of a humanoid. Gezora squealed at an even higher pitch and doubled over, its tentacles dropping from the robot in order to protect its injured area.
The enormous took advantage, grabbing its mantle and driving it down, even as the right knee came up again! A sickening “Squelch” sound was heard and the monster squeaked again as the actual location of its gonads was struck. Stumbling back, the monster appeared dazed and the robot moved in again, it grabbed the monster’s siphon and head and wrenched them in different directions. The fleshy siphon couldn’t handle the titanic force applied to it and ripped free, the squid-like creature’s ink spilled forth in a torrent. The two tentacles came up again, weakly trying to fend off the robot, but the mechanical warrior grabbed them, stomping down on one of Gezora’s arms and yanking again, ripping the appendage from the creature’s body.
Gravely wounded, the stunned cephalopod could only stand immobile for a few crucial seconds as the robot rammed both of its huge battle fists into the monster’s eyes! One burst like an overripe tomato and the other was gouged from its housing, the robot’s hand then ripping it completely free! Overcome with shock and pain, Gezora collapsed to the sea and in seconds was dead.
The giant robot, covered in ink and blood, stood victorious!
As the waters calmed in the aftermath of the battle, the access hatch in the robot’s chest opened, allowing Koko and Mamoru to exit into the light. Koko seemed more-or-less unscathed, while Mamoru had a very black eye. As he stuck his head through the hatch a glob of inky squid blood plopped down on him from the robot’s shoulder.
Koko and Mamoru then stood witness to the aftermath of the giant robot’s battle; the titanic corpse floating on the water ample evidence the robot was indeed a powerful machine. Mamoru looked on in awe, and even a little fear. As he did so, Koko again raised the control device, pressing the red button she spoke into it, “Giant Robot, recover one of the arms, I want grilled calamari for dinner!” Mamoru’s face turned slowly to her, a look of revulsion and horror on it. As he caught sight of her whole face he saw glee, rapture, and a sense of utmost pleasure.
“I’ll show the whole world what happens to anyone who messes with me,” she promised. The robot then dutifully grabbed the most succulent looking arm and ripped it from the corpse before turning away and trundling up the beach to a picnic area.
Later, a group of people had gathered at the beach around a group of barbeque pits. The tentacle had been sliced into thousands of smaller pieces and everyone was cooking and eating in the shadow of the robot, as Koko chewed up her latest slice with relish, Mamoru spoke up: “So, uh, Koko what are you going to do with him? It’s not like you can park him in the driveway in front of your house.”
“Mmmmhhhhmm?” Koko responded while attacking another chunk of Gezora.
“Well, just saying, I represent and organization that can provide you some place to keep him. Assuming you are interested.”
“Yeah, I guess it would be a hell of a parking ticket. Okay, I’ll meet your friends.”
Emperor Guillotine sat in his office chair; in front of him was a man in a military style uniform. He had the kind of facial hair that would have given quite an impressive military baring if this was still the nineteenth century. “Spider, the robot has been stolen and Gezora is dead.”
“Yes Sir, I was briefed on my way in,” Spider replied.
“Do we continue with the plans as before, or do you think it prudent to change at this stage,” the Emperor asked.
Spider seemed to ponder for a moment before speaking, “I think, for now, we can continue according to the plan for the most part, we do after all have a back-up for Gezora. However, I do think we should modify one aspect, we should accelerate construction on the new base and shift our main operations there as soon as possible.”
“Hmmn, I was thinking the same thing. Very well Spider, see to it at once,” Guillotine ordered.
“Yes Sir! GLORY TO BIG FIRE!!!” Spider offered a weird military salute before turning to leave.
After he was gone Guillotine turned to look out the window, the dark sea was illuminated by beads of light from the city outside. “I cannot allow myself to fail! My entire species depends on it!!”