KILL ALL KAIJU

“Fresh from the Governor's office is a warning being issued to any and all citizens who were planning on camping or hiking this season, asking them to postpone their trips in the interest of safety. This is due in part to several disappearances these past few days among mountain goers and hikers. The cause of the disappearances has yet to be determined but popular theories are that they are due to attacks by wild animals though reports so far have yet to ascertain what kind of animal if any might be responsible for-”

Bzzt.

“-A lone semi truck left abandoned on the side of a major highway spattered with blood and human remains. Just thirty feet away from Molly’s Diner is now the site of an in depth investigation by local authorities. Here we have the terrified owner of the Diner giving her account of what she believes to be the driver’s final moments.”

“It was just horrible. I always stay late after we close to clean up the kitchen and I’m used to truckers using our lot to rest for the night. George was a regular, he was always such a good man. He visited us whenever he was driving between states. I heard him shouting. I thought some kids were messing with his truck again so I stayed inside. But then- Oh God. I... I heard his gun go off and he started screaming before-”

Bzzt.

“You’re story is very convincing Mr. Marshall and I’m glad to hear of your family’s safety. But what you’re describing just isn’t-”

“I know what I saw and I know what almost killed my daughter. These aren’t bears, or wolves, or mountain lions damnit! I can’t explain it any better than I already have! There are monsters out in those woods now. I don’t know how, or when, or even why but I’m telling you we have to be prepared to protect ourselves from these things.”

“And what of the largest one you spoke of? This Alpha you described. Why didn’t it attack you when it had the chance?”

“It was too busy slaughtering the other monsters? I can’t say. But that thing… You can talk about because you haven’t seen it. I saw its eyes. There was a hatred in those eyes. I’ll never forget it as long as I live.”

Bzzt.

Ryker frowned as he turned off his internal radio. It had taken some time but after finally getting the hang of mentally clicking through the various radio waves in the air Ryker had been constantly scouring every signal he could for information. He tried to put together a picture in his mind of what was happening in the world around him as he moved north. He was surprised and gladdened to hear the voice of the man whose family he’d saved so soon after awakening. Even if it stung a bit to hear he was still regarded as a monster. What he'd heard on the other radio channels though left his gut churning with unease and an almost palpable sense of guilt. Despite knowing full well that the feeling was misplaced.

You knew you wouldn’t be able to stop this. Ryker thought internally with a sense of foreboding. This was never going to be a threat that could be stopped outright. Only survived. People were going to die. People you had no hope of saving.

Ryker let out a long breath as he slowed, letting that thought weigh on him for a moment before pushing it down with the other regrets as he focused on moving through the expansive countryside. Despite his inhuman form the advantages of having a Kaiju’s body were something Ryker was starting to feel a tad grateful for. Much to his chagrin. He was large enough to clear fallen trees and large streams with ease, stepping over them like they weren’t obstacles that would force others to find ways around them. His stride, even without trying was multiple times the length of what a human could cover. Even the scales he’d felt so resentful of just a few days prior turned away thick branches and bushes like they were nothing. Letting Ryker make his own path through the forest as he headed north. Not to mention the natural night vision that let Ryker move without bumping into every tree in the forest.

Left alone with his thoughts. Ryker thought back to what it had been like to be human. He missed it of course, and always would probably. He’d be insane to not still long for it. But some things…

How did I move around without a tail? Ryker thought quizzically. As he reexamined his memories. Maybe it was the instincts his body had come preprogrammed with but moving his tail had only grown more intuitive as time wore on. To the point where imagining a time where he didn’t have the appendage swishing quietly behind him felt almost alien. It was like trying to imagine a time you didn’t have an appendage you'd always had.

Circling a thick pine, with his tail dodging between two branches as he passed. Ryker came before another sharp incline in the forest. Thirty feet of mud and dirt that Ryker started climbing as though it were just a small rise.

Can’t say I miss shoes much either. Ryker decided. His claws easily digging into the incline as he moved himself upwards. As weird as it was to say given his situation. It felt natural to feel the earth itself underneath him. The wet mud cooling his bare treads, the tiny prick of small twigs breaking, and leaves crunching before his clawed toes felt almost pleasant even. As Ryker reached up with one massive claw to grab a tree trunk like it was a branch he pulled himself up and looked down at the world from his new vantage.

After much consideration of the map he’d read from the Rest Stop he’d opted for the safer option in the end. Taking the route nearer the Smoky mountains despite the extra time it would add to his journey. Knowing that attracting too much attention would be tantamount to suicide if the military started tracking him. The lack of buildings and towns along his route had done wonders to expedite Ryker’s journey since he didn’t have to weave his way around packed streets and housing complexes. The slowly brightening twilight starting to peek over the horizon glowed in Ryker’s night vision as he observed it. The mountains loomed high to his right. The land itself growing upwards into cliffs and valleys the further he moved north. Off to his left as the land fell away he could make out the street lights of a small suburb down below.

Will it always be like this? Ryker thought suddenly. Avoiding cities, towns, and people? Living in the wild for the rest of my life?

He’d known intrinsically that one he’d awoken in the body of a Kaiju that any notion of traditional human contact would go right out the window. Any rational person seeing Ryker would immediately start running the other way if they knew what was good for them. He’d seen that happen first hand with the family he’d saved so soon after waking up. What was his name? Marshall? The man had even gone on radio to talk about how terrifying Ryker was. That could only be expected of course. He couldn’t fault the man for seeing him that way. But adding his reaction to every other so far? From Kenny the waiter literally running away screaming to the cop who’d shot him. It left Ryker feeling isolated. Alone in a way he didn’t have a way to fix.

It would be nice to talk to someone at least. Not that I can actually talk in the first place but still… Ryker grimaced. Trying to think of something he could do.

There was that one lady. Ryker thought back to the woman and her friend he’d saved. But that could be chalked up to shock as much as anything. The only person who wasn’t terrified of me was that kid from the Rest Stop. And that can’t really be counted can it?

As he stewed in his thoughts Ryker’s eyes roved over the land, until he spotted something that caught his eye. Just another couple miles away he could make out a cleared section of forest that had been turned into a construction site for some kind of shopping center or office complex. Set against the rising mountainside so that it would overlook the valley.

Should be some wet concrete over there. Ryker thought suddenly. And I don’t see any construction work going on. Maybe I could…

For a good while now Ryker had been filled with indecision about one thing. Despite knowing that direct human contact was out of the realm of possibilities, he could have left warnings, messages, or something that could have given people time to prepare. Even if it risked catching too much attention from the military and resulted in him being hunted.

Ryker moved a step closer to the construction site with a conflicting sense of duty and worry. Leaving a message would be easy. Hell, he wouldn’t even need wet concrete to do it. He could carve whatever he wanted all over the half finished buildings if he’d had a mind to with claws as big as his. But he stopped himself as he stared at the exposed concrete of the construction site. The multitude of problems with that idea holding him back.

What would he even say?

Kill Storm Breaker? Kill all Kaiju? He was too early in the timeline for those messages to make sense. The naming system that Beck developed for Kaiju wouldn’t go into effect until the first Stage Twos starting appearing. Even the term “Kaiju” wouldn’t be used until it was clear how large the monsters were growing. Just leaving a message to kill the monsters would be redundant at best and useless at worst. They were going to pop up everywhere, not just in select areas or towns. Leaving a more detailed message that could be found by the construction workers might not reach anyone of importance till it was too late to make any difference. Plus spending time trying to track down important people he could try and communicate with might not even work. It would immediately paint a target on his back as a monster that needed to be captured and studied, if not killed. Spending time evading the military would only be giving Storm Breaker more time to grow in strength.

Then there’s the proverbial elephant in the room. Ryker thought with a reptilian grimace. His tail swishing in agitation as his train of thought continued.

For all intents and purposes, Ryker was a time traveler. A pretty shitty one since he had gone back into the body of a Kaiju but a time traveler none the less. He didn’t even know what rules he was supposed to be operating by. He was grateful to Beck for giving him this opportunity in the first place but he had sent him off without any kind of guidance on how he was supposed to be operating. He knew that his plan of killing Storm Breaker and the others was solid enough. But what if there were more critical information he was lacking that could lead to something worse?

What if I create a paradox? Or what if I already am the paradox? Is that possible? Ryker thought with a chill. Does Beck need to be able to create the time travel technology in this new time line as well? No, no I don’t think so. Before I was sent through the machine Beck told me that the past- or rather the previous timeline would cease to exist. That should mean that I’m not in a time loop at least. Thank God. But if I fail, could Beck build the time machine again? If he could have sent someone back more capable than me without getting stuck in a Kaiju body, we could go back as many times as we needed to stop these monsters.

Despite the thought of getting extra chances to save the world with Beck’s machine, Ryker shot the idea down immediately. It might have seemed possible on the surface but the Beck that had created the technology was light years away from the Beck that was currently alive in this timeline. Beck was still a genius, of that Ryker had no doubt. But it had taken decades of unending stress and soul crushing pressure to create the kind of circumstances necessary to push Beck to think up the machine in the first place. Even then, Beck had been flirting with the beginnings of true insanity when he’d made the machine. What if that was necessary for him to make it again? Ryker couldn’t bear to see his friend broken like that again. Not to mention that the Artificial Intelligence Processors he’d need to help create the machine wouldn’t exist for another decade at least.

What if something happens to the past version of him… or the past version of me? If the younger version of myself dies… will I die? Will I cease to exist if anything happens to them?

Ryker touched a claw to his head as if he could hold his own sense of self in place. An actual pang of worry and fear rippling through him at the thought. Would I disappear all at once or... would I fade? Recognize it's happening as I lose myself? Except, it would only be my own memories that ceased to exist if that were the case. This body already existed before I got shoved into it. What would happen to it if my mind wasn’t in control? It wouldn’t die. Not outright. What kind of damage could a Kaiju with my abilities do if it became unleashed?

Ryker clapped his claws to his head several times as he tried to get himself to stop thinking of the worst case scenario. Damnit! Stop getting worried over possibilities. You have no proof of anything your worried about even being a problem in the first place. Ryker berated himself.

But still, the fear of the unknown gnawed at Ryker. The truth of the matter was that he had no idea what kind of rules he might need to operate by as a time traveler. He was just making guesses at what he might need to be aware of. But it could also be true that there was nothing he needed to worry about in the first place. Shaking his head Ryker pulled his thoughts away from probabilities and possibilities. He just needed to focus on the threats he knew of and the threats to come.

Even if I wanted leave a message to warn people, there’s one solid reason I know of that won’t let me. Ryker grimaced. Nearly snarling at the thought.

The Children of Gaia.

As crazy as it was to believe, there were actually people who had protested the killing and hunting of Kaiju. Even as the monsters rampaged through the world, people would come together to decry the “inhumane” destruction of a “wonderous” new species on planet Earth. Stating that all living things were children of the earth. The animals, the plants, humans, and even these new monsters. Hence the name for the group. They were made up of people from all over society, environmental activists, scientists, religious figures, even a number of politicians hopping on the bleeding heart’s bandwagon. In the early years of the Kaiju threat they were a nuisance at best. One that could rightly be written off as people who had no idea what they were truly advocating for.

But as the years drew on and Kaiju became ever more powerful, the movement became more violent and extreme. The peaceful protests and cries for harmony with Kaiju became riots calling for immediate ceasefire and complete disarmament. Their arguments being that if we had no weapons of war there would be no reason for Kaiju to feel threatened and attack humans. In time the attacks escalated to armed conflicts with police to outright attacks on military bases, personnel, and supply lines.

In no time at all the Children of Gaia transformed from a group of activists to a pseudo religious movement. As the destruction at the hands of Kaiju grew worse it became proof to them that the Earth had finally retaliated against humanity after centuries of inaction. In their eyes Kaiju weren’t monsters but the purest form of judgement, a true sign of the planet’s displeasure with civilization as a whole. They were living gods taking their rightful place as inheritors of the Earth itself, gods that deserved to be appeased and worshipped by humanity.

It was complete lunacy, the kind deserving of straight jackets and padded rooms but even so the attacks by the Children of Gaia had crippled an already weakened America. Sabotaging the war effort of a number of countries across the globe with high profile kidnappings and assassinations. Had it not been for them and the pipe bombs they were so fond of planting, a good number of Ryker’s pilot friends would have lived to see their families and aid in the fight against the Kaiju.

Even scientists like Beck weren’t safe when the Children of Gaia held them responsible for aiding the war effort against Kaiju with their research and development of weapons for the military. In fact, there were a number of occasions where Beck had to be evacuated for his own safety due to possible threats to his and his coworkers lives. And then there was-

San Antonio. Ryker remembered vividly.

When Storm Breaker had grown powerful enough, the storm it blanketed itself in covered a massive chunk of North America and Canada. The radiation from that storm had quickly made a number of states too irradiated to live in safely. Resulting in a mass exodus of people fleeing south to the southern states. Ryker had been awaiting repairs and resupply for his mech in a heavily defended San Antonio. Moving through the crowds of people being moved to hastily constructed camps and tents for the displaced families to sleep for the night.

He hadn’t had a good reason to be out that day. He should have been in the docking bays waiting for his mech to come off the line and run the normal checks and diagnostics. But he’d wanted to go out and be away from that for a moment. Morale had been dipping drastically as the fight against the Kaiju worsened. The techs and pilots he’d spent years working with had grown evermore morose and hopeless. As much as he’d understood their feelings, he knew he couldn’t let himself be dragged down by them.

Walking amongst the crowds of refugees he made it a point to talk to the people there. The families who had left everything they’d owned for safety and the children staring wide eyed at everything around them. He put on a face as he talked to them, faking the confidence he didn’t feel. But he’d felt a need to give these people hope for the future. The way people had looked at him, as someone who’d fought on the front lines, was a bit uncomfortable but it was a sacrifice he had been willing to make.

Then the bomb had went off.

The building retrofitted to house all of the scientists and their projects, exploded in a ball of fire. The wave of force enough to knock people to the ground as it crashed into Ryker and reverberated through his bones. As people began screaming and running from the explosion Ryker ran towards it without hesitation. Shoving people aside as he sprinted across to the building itself. The smoke clouding the air had been eyewatering as Ryker entered the building, but he knew what floor the bomb must have been planted on. Knew exactly who and what could have been the target of an attack of this magnitude.

Beck had survived the explosion, thankfully. He’d been in an adjacent room to where the bomb had been planted. But he’d still had to spend weeks recovering from the burns and bits of shrapnel that had hit him. If he hadn’t been behind a wall of computer servers taking the brunt of the damage. Beck would have died with his assistants in the other room. Without his genius, the development of anti-Kaiju weapons would be utterly crippled. The Archangel program and H.A.L.O. system that had given humanity a fighting chance would be nothing more than a pipe dream.

It had merely been a matter of chance that had saved Beck’s life then. But what if the Children of Gaia formed sooner in this timeline? Due directly or indirectly to Ryker’s own actions? I can’t take that risk. Ryker fumed. Feeling a spike of hatred at the people responsible. If it means endangering Beck’s life I absolutely can’t take that risk. Whatever the cost.

If Ryker wrote anything that could be traced back to him even if it was to warn humanity as a whole, the news that a Kaiju intelligent enough to communicate with humans existed would spread faster than light itself. Ryker couldn’t see the future but he could easily imagine that news like that reaching the soon to be forming Children of Gaia would be like pouring rocket fuel on a wildfire. It had taken years for their operations to ramp up into overt terrorist acts but if they had legitimate proof that the Kaiju they loved could be intelligent…

Ryker shook his head at the thought. I’m already acting out of the ordinary by saving lives. If I leave any kind of warning or give anyone the idea I’m more than just a monster those freaks would lose their minds trying to stop the world from killing Kaiju. They might even convince normal people there’s a possibility of peace with Kaiju, as stupid as that is to believe. Society as a whole had taken over a decade to fully collapse, but if the Children of Gaia began acting more quickly in this timeline because of my actions whose to say it wouldn’t collapse sooner?

The possibility was frightening. He’d seen the kind of damage the Gaians had caused in his past life. The idea that he might inadvertently be the impetus for the threat of those whack jobs was terrible enough in its own right. That they would be doing it in a misguided attempt to protect him made Ryker feel sick.

As a man he remembered seeing how the cultists had revered Kaiju. Remembered how revolted he’d been at their prostrate forms on the ground as they praised humanity’s destroyers. That he himself might become an object of… worship to them? Now that was just beyond the pale.

No. Ryker thought furiously as he slashed his arm in front of him. Shearing through branches with ease. Nope. No way in fucking hell am I letting those cooks get a chance to do their freaky cult shit within a square mile of me! Not a chance!

Once they went off the deep end, the Gaians had been overly fond of getting as close to their beloved Kaiju as possible, despite the obvious danger. They would do weird rituals, try to offer up things the Kaiju might want to eat, even trying to present themselves as a sacrifice to their giant monster gods. It had resulted in many a cultist getting stepped on naturally, but the idea that Ryker himself might be the monster they were making their crazy cult offerings to was just a bridge too far.

Ryker shuddered and rubbed his claws over his arms as he suppressed an involuntary shiver of revulsion. He could almost picture it. Growing large enough to take the fight to Storm Breaker one on one and trying to carefully move through a city but getting thwarted constantly by the hounding of Children of Gaia fanatics. His form wobbling dangerously on one leg as he tried to take a step that wouldn’t crush any tiny fanatics racing up to touch him. Or even taking a bite of dead Kaiju and finding that hiding inside it were Gaians trying to get Ryker to-

Ryker gagged, the sound coming out of his throat sounding more like it came out of a dying animal instead of a living one. Just the idea of accidently swallowing a cultist left Ryker weak in the knees. Leaving the man turned Kaiju heaving and hacking as he leaned against a tree that groaned in protest as he tried to get the imagined taste out of his mouth.

Ryker had been able to deal with a lot. Losing the Earth to Kaiju, getting sent back in time, being forced to live as one of the very monsters he hated so utterly. Even knowing that the country he’d spent his life serving would be trying to hunt him down and kill him he took in stride. But just thinking about how he might end up being the target of the Children of Gaia’s fetishistic affections crossed way too many lines for Ryker’s liking.

I swear to God. If a single Children of Gaia whack job actually jumps down my throat, I’m done. DONE! I'll hunt down every cultist I can find and... well I really don't wanna kill anyone. Maybe I'll crush all their cars and jack up their insurance rates? Yeah hehe, that'll do.

Even though Ryker knew it wouldn’t do any good, it made him feel better to make some kind of threat against the cult. Even if they didn’t exist yet.

Damnit all. Even leaving a message to warn about the Children of Gaia might just cause them to form faster under a different name. That always happens in time travel movies. Ryker thought as he grew more frustrated. If the timeline is altered too much, by leaving a message or otherwise, I might alter events enough that my foreknowledge of future events becomes useless.

Running his claws down his face Ryker groaned and sighed all at once as he grappled with his situation. Am I going to have to pretend I’m just another Kaiju to keep the timeline from altering too heavily? Roleplay being a monster with above average intelligence? Jesus Beck, Why couldn’t you have sent someone back smarter than I am? I’m a damn pilot. I can’t be trusted to think about the consequences of my actions.

Ryker glowered for a moment and started stomping forward again after stopping to think. Whatever. I’ll cross that bridge when I get there and figure things out later. Ryker decided. If there came a golden opportunity to leave a message for someone he’d take it. It wasn’t out of the realm of possibility. But he’d definitely have to give it some thought first.

Idly, Ryker gave the large construction site a cursory glance. Probably nothing there for me to eat. Although… Maybe there’s some food trucks nearby for the workers in the morning? Ryker paused. Hind claws digging into the roots of the nearby trees as he turned to regard the place more closely.

Hmm… I shouldn’t. Ryker thought with a shake of his head. I’ll find another supermarket or warehouse. That should-

Ryker froze as he took in the scent in the air. It was distant and faint even to his enhanced senses, so much so he’d nearly missed it but there was definitely something there.

With an flick of thought Ryker’s mind shifted. Pulling each of his senses towards each other as they wove together into a single whole. The self induced Synesthesia his Neural Amplification modifier granted him instantly painting the world in a myriad of multicolored hues as his mind altered his perceptions. The faint scent he’d felt in the air wasn’t amplified exactly. But the texture of it was picked up by all of his senses. The scent of it hummed in his ears and its taste left a familiar tang in the back of his throat. Telling Ryker exactly what he’d feared to find.

Kaiju.

Not far. Ryker immediately deduced. The pupils of his eyes narrowing to slits. The construction site.

He didn’t waste a moment trying to understand why. Ryker was off like a shot, tearing splinters out of the roots he was standing on a mere moment ago as he ran. The scent trail in the air was as clear in Ryker’s senses as a beacon as he chased it. He was still miles out from the origin of the scent, likely carried to him on the breeze but he moved with a grace a beast of his size should have been incapable of. The upgraded muscle fibers rippling under his scales as he charged, tearing through the green like a bull and weaving between trees like a snake.

It took less than ten minutes of hard running through the miles of forest but Ryker reached the construction site. His claws clacking on unblemished concrete and asphalt as he stopped and stared. There were ten of them in total. Three that were equal to Ryker in stature, the others ranging in size but smaller than Ryker. Their bodies practically blazing in his Synesthesia as he took them in. Them and the putrid bite of human blood choking the air.

No. Ryker thought mutely as he surveyed the devastation around the construction site. There must have been a small night crew on the job when the Kaiju appeared. There was barely anything left of them. There were two pickup trucks, one on its side with the wheels in the air and another that had crashed into a building and had its roof torn off like a can opener. Red splatters painting the interior and dented white frame in the vanishing moonlight. A dismembered leg was lying on the ground in blue jeans next to a crushed yellow hard hat by one of the Kaiju's clawed feet.

I didn't know they were here... I didn’t hear anything… Ryker thought numbly. The loss leaving an ache in his chest as his jaw worked soundlessly. None of them had a chance to call for help or get to a radio. Oh God, if I’d just gotten here thirty minutes sooner I could have…

Death had always been a constant in Ryker’s previous life. For his friends, his squad, but more than any other for the innocent people who’s only crime was being in the wrong place at the wrong time. He’d seen so many other pilots grow numb to it all. Regarding the countless dead as just a number to be tallied at the end of a mission. He understood why they did that of course, it was a survival mechanism. You couldn’t be an effective soldier if you broke at every single loss of life.

Ryker couldn’t do that. Couldn’t force himself to see the lives of men and women torn away from from their families as a number to be disregarded. How could he? Lessening their deaths would lessen the deaths of his own family and friends. Every single human being that died in the war against Kaiju would still be alive if it weren’t for these monsters. They were the cause of so much suffering and pain it couldn’t be described with words. In the early days of the conflict, people had talked about the deaths caused by Kaiju as if they were the result of a natural disaster. Losses to be mourned and grieved for and nothing more.

As if the monsters who killed them weren’t deserving of hate. As if killing humans were just an unfortunate part of their nature.

An unintended consequence.

People treated Ryker like he was crazy for the way he talked about Kaiju and the way he fought them. And he had to admit at times he did feel crazy, how could others not despise them the way he did? Not wish with every fiber of their beings to wipe these vermin from the earth?

As he watched one of the smaller Kaiju noticed him and made a warbling call towards him as it bent and nosed the leg towards him. Rolling the leg over the ground like it was a blood covered log. The Kaiju licking red from its snout as it rifled though torn clothes on the ground.

If there had been anyone left alive to save Ryker would have fell on the creatures immediately. Even as outnumbered as he was, he never wasted time when lives were at stake. But knowing he was too late to save anyone changed that. Slowly, dreadfully slowly, Ryker stepped over the leg. Leaving it behind on the concrete as he ambled forward. The burning heat that normally filled him during a fight freezing solid in his chest as he stalked towards the Kaiju that had pushed the leg over to him. The ice churning in his veins so cold it ate at his bones. Ryker had always hated Kaiju, but when the people he'd been sent to save lay dead or his friends' mangled corpses were torn from their cockpits...

Even as a pilot, that hate turned terribly dark at times. But right now, it was downright wrathful.

You… Did you play with your food? Ryker asked coldly. The words his body couldn’t say aloud turning into a guttural growl in his throat as he gnashed his teeth.

Not understanding of the threat prowling towards it. The first Kaiju only tilted its head quizzically at Ryker as he approached it. The other nine Kaiju regarding Ryker only giving him a cursory glance before turning back to the human remains they were cleaning off the concrete.

You did didn’t you. Ryker decided as he stood right next to the Kaiju, his yellow eyes staring unblinkingly at the monster lapping blood from its maw. Pulled them apart like toys while you were playing with them?

The Kaiju took a confused step back as Ryker approached it. But it didn’t step back fast enough. Ryker had at least two feet on the smaller Kaiju and his longer reach and heightened reflexes let him easily grab the smaller Kaiju’s arm quick as a striking cobra. Years of training on the mat with his squad and in the field guided his movements as he moved in close, moving a leg behind the Kaiju’s own to sweep its weight bearing backfoot and bring it crashing to the ground. Still holding onto the arm, Ryker pulled the arm back and behind in an armbar as he stomped on the Kaiju. His own fangs grinning savagely as his claws pierced and pressed down into the Kaiju beneath him as it struggled against his superior weight and leverage.

Let me play too! Ryker roared as he bent the arm he was holding. Hard. The joint of the Kaiju’s arm hyperextending backward until even the reinforced bone of the Kaiju’s elbow joint audibly snapped as the arm dislocated. Immediately the Kaiju underneath Ryker wailed in pain as it’s claws scrabbled against the concrete for purchase and its tail lashed like mad. The other Kaiju around Ryker cried out in alarm as they saw one of their number get taken down by its own kin. But none of them moved fast enough to save one of their own.

With his claws piercing the scales of the Kaiju’s arm as he gripped it Ryker wasn’t satisfied with breaking the arm. He wanted to pay the monster back for what it had done to the workers here. He might have not been able to save the workers, but he damn well could avenge them.

Ryker crouched slightly and pulled on the arm, planting his hind claws into the wailing Kaiju’s shoulder blade for better leverage as he did so. As a pilot, Ryker had to constantly be aware of what limits his machine was capable of and how much it could take. Never pushing beyond what it had been designed to handle as much as he’d wanted to. But as a Kaiju, Ryker was strong. Monstrously so.

The sound of muscles and sinew tearing cut through the air like a knife as Ryker ruthlessly pulled on the arm. The popping sound of the arm dislocating almost lost to Ryker as he pulled. Stretching the appendage beyond its limits as its owner fruitlessly tried to free itself. Ryker’s hind claws cut into the tearing joint at the shoulder as Ryker roared in rage until all at once, with a spray of vivid crimson, he tore the arm from the Kaiju’s body like it had torn the limbs off the humans it had just eaten.

Still in the cold heat of his fury Ryker brought down the torn arm upon the Kaiju like it was a flailing club. Even as blood gushed from the monster’s open wound Ryker mercilessly beat the Kaiju with its own arm until he hopped off the profusely bleeding beast and punted it’s weakly groaning body fifteen feet over the red streaked asphalt and into its kin. Staring after the others with murder in his eyes as they roared challenges at him, all of them preparing to fight.

What’s wrong? Ryker chuckled darkly. The sound of it like a rumble in the earth before a storm. Don’t wanna play anymore? That’s fine.

Bringing the bleeding edge of the severed arm to his mouth Ryker bit a chunk of the exposed flesh there before casting the arm aside. Both to mock the other monsters. And to sate his own desire to match the monster’s cruelty with cruelty of his own.

It might have been wrong. But Ryker didn’t care. If it made him a monster just as much as the ones he’d spent his life fighting so be it. They deserved it. That and so, so much more.

Besides. Ryker thought with a wicked red spattered smile.

I’m starting to like the taste.