Gamera the Great: Balgon

Balgon:

Height: 1 - 75 Meters (On Hind Legs)

Length: 2 - 150 Meters

Weight: 40,000 Tons

Alignment: Chaotic Good

Abilities:

-Moisture Absorption: Though the means are unknown, exposure to water causes the monster Balgon to grow in extreme proportions. The more water it sheds through attack or exposure to heat, the smaller it becomes.

-Crystalline Cranium: Balgon's skull is embedded with a small crystal with an energy signature remarkably similar to the jewel in possession of Ken Stegall. As the monster grows, it spreads into a diadem with a powerful spike growing down the bridge of the snout. These spines are capable of piercing Gamera's shell and were met with extreme interest by both sides of the war machine.

-Refractor Ray: Balgon's signature attack. Utilizing rays of light gathered through his spines, the blue dragon fires a powerful ray of a composition still under study. Believed to be composed of hot water vapor, it resembles a rainbow, but can cause extreme damage to many types of targets, organic or otherwise. When emitted from the back spines, it can cause intense burns, but when emitted orally, it can freeze enemies.

Combat Records:

-JSDF Forces: 1 Win, 1 Loss, 0 Draws

-Gamera: 0 Wins, 1 Loss, 0 Draws

::To Be Updated As Events Warrant::

History: In the weeks following Gamera's battle with the red bat, Japan became the center of media attention the world over. Especially considering that Gamera, dormant in its shell, was still sitting in the middle of the Tokyo streets. Toru Onodera was eating up the newfound fame as the man that caught most of the battle on film, even though others had recorded it his media connections won out for him and he had turned into something of a celebrity. Intent on cashing it in, his station turned him into something of a mis-marketed celebrity, calling him a hero of the attack. This was not well met by young Ken Stegall, who had been in truth the one who called Gamera there with the jewel he found in China. At least, that's what it felt like.

Day after day the unlikely duo of journalist uncle and orphaned nephew went around the land of the rising sun via shinkansen train for one interview after another. These train rides were silent and awkward, Ken simmering at what he considered an injustice and Toru not saying a word about it. Any attempts at conversation were short and cut off quick.

Eventually, his fame ran its course. The interviews were drying up, and people were attending them less and less. Toru's news company arranged another interview, one last one, in Kyoto, in hopes of resurging it and keeping him alive, but they warned him that if he didn't do something different to bring in the crowds, the interviews would stop and he'd go back to warfront stories, something he did not want at all. On this train ride, he did something he would later regard as stupid. He told Ken his dilemma, and the boy was more than willing to give him a curt answer. "Maybe that's because you didn't actually DO anything." He said with enough mirth to fill the room. Toru winced for a split second, and then defended himself. "And what, you did?"

"Gamera came because I was in danger, you saw the jewel, you know that! We'd be buried under rubble if not for me!" Toru shook his head. "Oh, don't be so naive, kid. Your precious Gamera, if that's even its real name... Why would it come to protect one kid? It could just as easily been anything. It may have just been the fact that you're holding that shiny bead. If anyone else was it might have come for them instead." Ken's face turned red. "That is not true!" he blurted out, though deep down seeds of doubt were being planted. The intercom went off, announcing their arrival in Kyoto would be shortly.
Gathering his bags, Toru showed a note of panic on his face. "Great, I still don't have any ideas for how to bring the crowds. Dammit, if I don't its back to covering warzones!" He began mumbling extremely fast under his breath, and Ken couldn't help but smile.

Arriving at the station, the two stepped out of the train. A small crowd was waiting for them, mostly people from the local booking agency that were prepared to escort him. Ken looked up at his sweating uncle, and smiled snidely, "Looks like its war again for you, uncle." Toru looked down at him, with an expression Ken had never seen on him. "Then it's some orphanage for you." he said. "If I have to go out there again I am not dragging some kid into a warzone. The only reason you were in China is I was stuck there and my sister's will insisted you be taken to me. I was hoping this would keep us both alive and keep my sister from haunting my nightmares for dumping you into the system. But of course you're too selfish to see any of that." Ken got quiet, the din of people walking by seeming to not even happen. "You think people would believe that a kid with a little glass bead summoned that big thing? No, they wouldn't, whether it happened or not." The agency people started walking over to the pair, and Toru said, "Keep quiet, kid, I need to think this through."

He heard no response, which surprised him. One of the booking agents spoke, "Onodera-san, you have arrived. I heard there would be two of you." Toru looked at the woman like she was crazy, "What are you talking about, my nephew's right..." turning to point out Ken to the group, he was stunned to find that the youth had disappeared! Panicked, he began looking around the station, calling out for Ken. One of the other agents inquired if something was wrong, and the young journalist responded, "My nephew's disappeared, is what's wrong. He was right here! I can't go to any event until I find him or I'll never live it down." One of the group stepped aside to make a quick call on his cell, and the rest of them offered their services in helping to find him. Nodding, the small impromptu made their way through the train station, scouring it and finding nothing. Toru groaned, Ken must have gotten into the streets. This was going to be a very long day...

---

Ken knew nothing of the streets of Kyoto, but even if he had he still would have gotten lost. Half an hour of walking with his head to the ground tended to do that. His uncle's words had hit him in a way he didn't expect any could. He wasn't feeling guilt, though, or even sadness over his parent's deaths. In fact he wasn't sure WHAT he was feeling at all, but he knew he needed time to be alone and think. He didn't count on slipping into the older part of the city, though, and now was lost in a sea of unfamiliar olden styled buildings. He knew, in part, that his uncle was right. He had never really fit in anywhere, he never lived in one place long enough thanks to the war, and his uncle was the only real family he had left. Sure, the man had his flaws and had almost never even called him by his own name, but if what he said at the station was true then a lot of his recent behavior was an attempt to prolong their stay in safety. Of course he could only be referring to himself, but still, uncle Onodera's words hit Ken hard.

Pacing the streets absent-mindedly, Ken clutched at the glass jewel, hoping the same sense of closure would come over him from the battle. The jewel had become something of a security blanket for him, carrying it with him at all times. If his theory was true, Gamera would save him as long as he had it in his hands. Thoughts of Gamera flying in and carrying him away from the war, from his family problems, and everything, dominated his mind, and he sighed. He was old enough to know life didn't work that way.

Turning into an alleyway, he glanced up ahead, and saw a large black dog glaring at him, its intentions obvious. Going white in the face, Ken turned and ran, the sounds of paws hitting pavement and barking driving him like he was the devil's coach-horse. The dog gained on him slowly but surely, and his adrenaline would not last. Taking a risk, he scrambled his way up a wooden fence, the dog's jaws missing his shoe by inches. Slipping over the edge, he found himself in the middle of, for lack of a better term, a Japanese Garden. The iconic sounds of babbling water and deer scares settled Ken's racing pulse far faster than he'd have believed, and for a moment, the barking from the other side of the wall seemed like it wasn't even happening. The boy walked around the garden for a moment, taking care not to step on anything, but while he was relaxing, he felt something come to rest on the back of his neck. A strong voice broke the tense silence, though Ken only knew a little Japanese and he couldn't make much out, aside from the fact that it was obviously not peaceful.

He turned, speaking slowly and clearly in English as best he could despite his fear, hoping what his uncle said about English being taught in their schools was true, "I come in peace." was all he could muster. His aggressor, a wiry teenage boy that couldn't have been four years his elder, eyed him with an unusual expression, a wooden sword in hand. "I'm Ken, I was running..." he said, pantomiming his words to better convey the story. The display was obviously humorous. "...from this big dog, and I climbed the wall... to escape." The young man's expression had not changed. Ken tried to reach out to him, hoping the wooden swords weren't as painful as kung-fu movies made them look. "Do you understand me?" Again, his face was unmoving. "No?" Ken asked, not sure how to react. Finally unable to stand the silence, Ken decided to take his chances with the dog again, and muttering a half-explanation for leaving, he tried to step away. In one motion, the youth was upon him, immobilizing his arms and knocking him to the grass. Ken sputtered, the taste of earth in his mouth. He tried to struggle free, hoping he could get through to his attacker, but nothing worked, he was trapped. The Japanese youth picked him up by the collar, and then noticed the jewel laying in the grass, fallen from Ken's pocket. Then, he spoke English, which was an unusual moment for Ken. "What is that?"

---

An hour later, Ken found himself in some of the nicest company he had ever known. The young man, who he found out was named Yohei Shichiroji, invited him inside his home after asking him about the jewel, where his grandfather and grandfather were waiting with lunch. The older couple had taken Yohei in as a baby when his parents died in a car accident, and raised him in their old estate in the old ways, where he was taught the proper old ways of Japanese society. Ken had slipped in during his morning kendo training, and as there had been thieves in the area recently it made their first meeting quite understandable. His grandparents, extremely eager to have another boy near their grandson's age in their home, were quite apologetic about the incident, and would never stop asking him questions about his past, which very quickly got uncomfortable for him. His father had enlisted in the NATO resistance as the war began and last he heard died in the battle for Prague, and his mother was buried under rubble in a bombing raid. Suddenly, he was reminded of his uncle, and guilt hit him hard. With haste, Ken tried to excuse himself, and Yohei agreed to escort him out.

As they walked across the estate, Yohei asked Ken about his uncle, and upon hearing the name Toru Onodera, he became very excited. His grandparents didn't have a television, but he still had seen the video of the kaiju battle through school, and he had to admit as dangerous as the battle was he still found it incredibly amazing. Ken, despite feeling pressure to get back to his uncle, couldn't resist the urge to share his special connection to the events. In an excited tone, he pulled out the jewel, "You want to know something even weirder?" Yohei seemed a little skeptical, but was curious. "The big turtle, his name is 'Gamera'. And he's out there because I woke him up."

Yohei didn't buy the story at all. "And... how did you manage to do that, Ken?" Holding up the jewel, Ken proudly stated, "With this. My uncle was leaving for China, covering the resistance to the Imperial troops, and because my mother's will INSISTED I be taken to him as soon as possible, I arrived as he was leaving. We didn't have time to arrange something else, I had no choice but to leave with him. We were in these caves with the soldiers, and I found this on this pedestal with a weird one-eyed statue. Gamera woke up right after that. He saved me, twice, since then, once from the troops, and then from the big bat monster." Yohei's face was pale, which surprised Ken, "It's not that big a deal..." he tried to say, but Yohei interrupted him, "It's my turn to show you something."

---

Yohei's grandparent's estate was much larger than Ken thought. It had gardens, it had a stream, multiple sister buildings, old servant's quarters, Yohei explained. Most notably, though, was an old shrine. The older boy explained that his family had, for generations, guarded a secret of Japan's history, one the public was not in the know about, but at one point had been a national treasure. His parents were supposed to guard the shrine after his grandparents passed away, but as they died, now only he was left to take up the mantle. He opened the old door, and the two stepped in. Raccoons had done some damage to the aged structure over the years, and little light or moving air came in at all, but in the center, sitting on a pedestal that had the exact same shape as the one in the cave, was the biggest opal Ken had ever seen, easily the size of a basketball. It was seamlessly round, and shone different colors depending on the angle. Ken couldn't believe his eyes. "This is... awesome. Your family guards this?" Yohei nodded. "Yup, for centuries now. No one knows exactly where it came from. Some theorize its one of the drops off of Izanagi's blade, but I don't really believe that." Ken stepped up directly in front of the stone, eyeing his own reflection. "Imagine what something like this could be worth."

"Hence why I was so rough when I spotted you in the garden. Thieves could retire off of this thing."


"Hah..."

The pair stared in silence at the stone for a moment longer, until Yohei asked, "That figure on the pedestal, does it resemble the one you saw." Ken nodded. "That is unusual..." The older boy said. "Now that I think about it, there's something my grandpa told me about the stone. Two things, actually. One is to keep it somewhere warm and dry. The second... is not to get it wet." Ken eyed Yohei skeptically. "Weird, I know. You wouldn't believe it's been dry for centuries as clean as it is."

Ken whistled. "It's amazing."

"Yeah... Now, I'm not exactly allowed to show this to people, moreso people I just met, so we should be going. You need to get back to your uncle, don't you?" Ken sighed. "Yeah, but I don't even know where he could be." Yohei thought about it for a moment, and then said, "Well, if he's family, then he's definitely out looking for you." Ken laughed a little under his breath. He had trouble believing that after their last conversation.

---

Ken had trouble reading the map Yohei's grandmother had given him, but it wasn't impossible to figure out. He figured he would first head back to the train station, and if that didn't work, he'd check in at a police station and see if his uncle was looking for him. He didn't make it far, though, before something happened. As he rounded a block, he was knocked to his feet by a man in dark clothes running full speed across the street despite the oncoming traffic. Righting himself, he heard a familiar voice shouting in Japanese. It was Yohei, and judging from the urgency of his tone he had a good guess that he wasn't coming because he forgot something.

The teen ran up to the edge of the street, out of breath and teeth clenched. He noticed Ken, and looked surprised. "Did you see a man in dark clothes run down this way?" he asked between gasps. Ken nodded. "Yeah, he plowed right into me and ran across the street. Did he...?" Yohei nodded, cutting him off. Ken turned. "He was pretty hellbent on getting away, ran into oncoming traffic. But he couldn't have gotten far."
"Then we cut him off, you run around that curb and I'll try to catch up to him. Will you help?" With a nod of assent, Ken ran as fast as he could around the curb. He hoped he hadn't in any way helped the thief make off with the stone. His eyes darted around the street, hoping for some telltale sign, but he didn't have to wait long before he spotted the same man running directly towards him, with Yohei not too far behind. Ken first wondered how Yohei could run so fast, but then his focus returned to stopping the perpetrator. The two boys yelled out for the man to stop, and realizing he was being flanked, he tried to turn down an alleyway. Without warning, though, he slipped, and the stone fell out of his hands. All three gasped and tried to make a claim for it, but it had started rolling downhill. Straight into a sewer drain entrance. Ken and Yohei both felt like they'd been stabbed in their respective guts. The thief looked for a nearby manhole, still determined to claim the prize. But before he could go anywhere, something unusual happened. The ground started to shake. Yohei, his first instinct telling him it was an earthquake, tried to mantain balance, but when the asphalt started cracking under his feet, he and Ken fled as fast as they could. The street seemed alive for a moment as it rose and then exploded into all directions, pieces of asphalt and concrete flying into houses. From the dust rose a massive blue creature, at least 50 feet high. The two boys couldn't be more surprised. "Wh..what IS that?" Yohei yelled out. Ken, for some reason, was composed, "No time to find out."

The two bolted down the city streets, constantly looking behind them to see if the creature had moved. For the most part, it was absolutely still, watching things move around it with curious eyes. A car driving down a neighboring street caught its attention, though, and it started, rather clumsily, to lumber after the vehicle. The driver, noticing the monster, hit the gas and tried to get away, but the blue beast only started moving faster in kind. Eventually, it shot out its tongue, a long, blue thing ending with spines, and snatched the car right off the road, landing square in its mouth. Upon tasting it, though, it spat out the metal contraption. It looked around, trying to survey its surroundings, when it noticed a few vehicles with bright flashing lights, followed by bigger ones with long tubes sticking out of them. Mesmerized by the lights, it walked towards them, its own back curiously lighting up all colors of the spectrum. The line of tanks fired at the beast, eager to get a piece of the action after not being needed in the battle with the bat, exploding into its side. The blue dragon painfully roared, and then turned to run, JSDF forces hot on its heels.

Ken and Toru watched from a safe distance, trying to make sense of the creature. Ken had a pretty solid idea behind it. "The pedestal I saw had something to do with Gamera. This blue guy has to at least be related to him. That stone must have been his egg or something."

"An egg that's been alive for hundreds of years? I have trouble believing that." But after a moment, he conceded, "But it at least makes more sense than any explanation I can think of." He turned to Ken, "More importantly, now that it's awake, what should we do?" Ken thought for a moment, "It doesn't seem to be trying to hurt anyone, but it is big and it is wrecking up the streets..." Then a thought hit him, "Back to the original subject. You said you weren't supposed to get the egg wet, right?" Yohei nodded. "Maybe water is the source of its power or something. It is awfully big to have come from such a tiny egg, relatively speaking, the sewer water must have been absorbed by him."

As they spoke, the blue monster ran full speed down a busy freeway, by now having attracted a lot of attention. So much attention that Toru, describing Ken at a police station, spotted it in a TV screen, and noticed a small pair of figures running after it to the side. One of them, he immediately knew, was Ken. "Dammit, I swear he's a magnet for this stuff..." he said, and he asked an officer to take him to where the monster was.

---

Ken and Yohei had no idea what they were doing as they followed the dragon on foot, they were trying to formulate plans as best they could. Ideas came and went, until at one point they realized perhaps if Ken put himself in danger Gamera would come and stop the beast. Ken was skeptical, he didn't want to kill this creature and Gamera showed the exact opposite of mercy to the bat monster, so he decided it was best not to unless they could think of nothing better.
The two then had to stop, they had come to the edge of the Katsura river and almost ran headlong into the guardrail. Yohei blanched at the sight of it. "Water makes it bigger, right? If a sewer made it pretty big, then a river..." They didn't have time to finish the thought, for at that moment the massive creature, not 100 feet away from them, barreled through the air into the river, the splash so large it hit the two boys, soaking them to the bone and nearly knocking them off their feet. The Defense Force troops pulled up along the bank, spotting the two boys and trying to move them to safety while still their guns remained locked on the river. It had gone in there to hide, but it had to come up to breathe eventually.

Without warning, the waters began to surge, and the reptilian creature rose up out of the water, now even bigger than Gamera! Realizing its newfound size, it roared down at the JSDF forces, and swept its tail across the bank, collapsing the street and destroying several tanks. The two boys, along with the few remaining soldiers, ran for cover, but the beast was angry and wanted the things that hurt it gone. Without warning, its back began to light up all colors of the spectrum, and a beam of energy shot out like a rainbow of death, freezing much of the street solid. It roared and then turned its gaze to the city, its eyes glazed with power. Then it spotted the boys, and Ken felt the same panic he felt when the bat was flying over Tokyo. He hoped and prayed that like before he would be saved but the feeling of peace from the jewel wasn't coming. Yohei yelled to Ken, trying to get him to run, but he heard nothing, all he could do was stand there, eyes locked on the blue monster as it got closer. And just when its foot loomed over his head, two things happened. One was his uncle running in behind him, grabbing him under the arms, dragging him away, and the second was the arrival of Gamera to the scene.

As the massive blue foot fell, the creature was sent reeling backwards into the street, landing on its side with a resounding shake. Looking up, the familiar green and black silhouette stood before it, its posture one of combat. The dragon reared back up, roaring at the challenger, and charged. But Gamera was ready. With little warning, the titanic turtle snatched the dragon under the neck and used its weight against it, throwing it into a nearby building with little effort despite it being bigger than him. The dragon righted itself, snarling in defiance, and charged, only for the same result to occur.

Ken, Toru and Yohei, having made some distance, turned and watched the ensuing battle. Toru turned to the boys, thoroughly out of breath. "You two are okay?" They nodded, and Ken started to apologize for everything, but his uncle interrupted, "It can wait. Right now I have a career move to make." He pulled out his camera phone, and moved to a better vantage point, ready to make more magic before others showed up. Yohei turned to Ken, "Is he always like this?" he said. Ken nodded, a half-smile on his face, but he knew that there was a good reason behind it.

Gamera and the blue beast circled one another, sizing each other up and waiting for the other to move. The younger monster struck out first, lashing out its tongue, striking Gamera across the shoulder and leaving a thin film of frost across it. Gamera was unfazed by this, taking a step back and entering a defensive position. He was much, much older than this whelp, and that, not size, would be what decided this bout. He needed only to wait for the creature to make the first move, but it seemed taking two tumbles had wizened it up considerably. Even now it had its limbs jutting out in front of it, thinking the terrorpin was just going to hurt him again if he attacked. The titanic turtle lowered his body, and in an attempt to surprise the creature, loosed a blast of green fire. The blue dragon reeled backwards, the heat of the attack putting him on edge, and roared in pain as his flesh seared from the flames. The flames then cleared, and the three guys noticed something. The blue monster was noticeably smaller than before!

Smaller, but not beaten.

In a flash of rainbow light, a beam shot up out of his back, all colors visible, striking Gamera on the torso and knocking him back into a building, flesh seared in kind. The blue monster, now roughly Gamera's size, lunged at the turtle, standing on top of his overturned shell. With a savage screech, it rained blow after blow of claw, tooth and tail on Gamera, hoping to repay him for the pain inflicted on him. But Gamera was ready. Without warning, he retracted into his shell, and jets of flame shot out of his leg shell sockets, sending him sliding across the city streets at high speed, barreling through at least 5 buildings before stopping. The blue reptile was thrown across the cityscape, landing hundreds of meters away, totally exhausted. For the boys and Toru, this wasn't good, the battle wasn't in their line of sight anymore. With a will, they ran in the direction of the earth shaking blows and roars, these two weren't done yet.

Meanwhile, the two monsters were going at it full power in the middle of Yohei's neighborhood. His grandparents, seeing the blue beast, reacted quite strongly, running for the cellar of the shrine. Digging under the floorboards, they extracted an old glass jewel, which was shining quite brightly, and held it aloft, speaking words in old samurai-dialect Japanese. But nothing happened from it, and the two grew confused. Speaking quickly in their native tongue, they quickly came to a conclusion and ran into the streets, trying to find Yohei.

---

The trio of kaiju watchers arrived at the epicenter of the battle a few minutes later, eyeing the destruction the two had caused collaterally. Toru sighed, "It's amazing what sells these days. There's millions of yen in damages here and people get excited about these battles." He wasn't answered by the two boys, who had spotted Gamera and the blue beast and had begun moving towards them. They were suddenly beset by Yohei's grandparents, who were speaking quickly. His grandmother handed him the jewel, only stating "Calm Balgon. Only you can." Yohei and Ken stared at the jewel, both of them seeing the similarity to the one Ken possessed. Yohei's grandfather explained. "Do you know the myth of the four great beasts?" Yohei and Toru nodded, only Ken had nothing to say. "Well, it is a myth of four beasts that guarded the sacred city in ancient times." He gestured his arm backwards, showing the two monsters. "You are seeing two of them. Genbu the black tortoise and Seiryuu the blue dragon. Seiryuu died in ancient times, now Balgon her son lives, but he is young and wild and must be contained, it has been our family purpose for ages. Only when pacified will Genbu pass his threshold on to the East." Ken nodded, "And Yohei can do that?"

His grandmother nodded in kind, "Only Yohei can. We are too old now." Yohei looked up at Balgon as it took a hammer blow from Gamera, and nodded, "I don't know how, but... I'll try." His grandfather smiled, his wrinkles abundant, "Don't worry, we'll teach you."

Toru smiled ambitiously, his camera phone poised. "If I get footage like this I could cover whatever the hell I wanted." Ken looked up at him, and half-smiled, a knowing look in his eyes.
As the two monsters continued to beat the tar out of each other, the group noticed they were dangerously close to Yohei's home, and with the Self-Defense Force closing in for round two things were about to get dicey. Yohei held the jewel aloft, uttering what his Grandparents had minutes before at their instruction, and it began to shine brightly. As though a switch went off in his mind, Balgon calmed down, breathing controlled and rage subsided. For a moment that seemed to go on far longer than it should have, the blue dragon turned to face the boy with the jewel, their eyes meeting. Then Gamera struck, hammering him across the jaw with a powerful fist. The force of the blow launched the now smaller monster right into Yohei's home, causing an eruption of wood into the air. The group was horrified as Gamera marched over, planted a foot on Balgon's chest hard enough to cause the beast to cough up blood, and stood over him menacingly. Ken was mortified, he didn't want Balgon to die after learning that the monster was connected to Yohei, and in a moment of sheer will shouted for Gamera to stop.

The terrorpin stood over his downed opponent, still as death, and in one movement he bathed the blue beast in a sea of green flame. Ken tried to run towards Gamera, but Toru grabbed him and held him back, the heat pushing them all to their feet shortly after. The fires vanished in a moments time, and it appeared as though Gamera was alone. With a dignified snort, he took two steps, standing directly over the crater formerly known as Yohei's home, and plopped down, retracting into his shell. The battle was over. But the victory was not as it seemed.

The five people were suddenly greeted by a rumbling underneath a broken board. Suddenly, Balgon, now a bit bigger than an iguana, emerged from underneath, and ran towards Yohei at full speed. The group sighed collectively. Toru spoke, "Gamera shrank him with the fire. Wow, just when you thought you understood things..." As Balgon approached Yohei, it leapt into his arms, appearing quite rattled but at peace. It was oddly cute considering what had happened just minutes before.

Ken eyed the family, and asked, "What will you guys do now that your home is gone?" Yohei's grandfather spoke out, a sly smile on his face, "We have property near Lake Biwa we've been meaning to go to. It's very private, won't be seeing much anyone out there. Perfect place to raise a kaiju." Yohei smiled at Ken, saying, "We'll be just fine. And hey, who knows, in time he might grow that big without water, and when it happens Gamera could use an ally his size. After all this, I doubt there aren't more monsters out there."

"Indeed." Toru said. "And I think they may just be what I'm looking for..."

---------

Here we are with one last thing before I go home today. This is the next chapter of Gamera the Great, the famous, or to some infamous, Barugon. This one went through a lot of trial and error to find a happy medium. Barugon is mostly known for his Showa incarnation, a monster that I have to say more than subtly resembles Godzilla that shot a rainbow beam from his back and an ice attack from his tongue. He was bizzare, and the rainbow beam has earned him some haters, but overall he's one of the more interesting kaiju of the Showa era. But, not everyone knows there was a Heisei design of him as well, in fact Barugon was going to be Gamera's first enemy in the trilogy instead of Gyaos until they decided the second had better recurring possibilities in sequels. The Heisei design had a lot of influence on this look, namely the blue skin, red eyes and conical spines alongside the prism spikes on his back. I worked from several angles on how to blur the designs together into one and still make it look distinct yet recognizable, and before I knew it I came to this guy. I also chose to name him Balgon, the anglification used in the Heisei version, mostly to better separate him from Baragon, something many fans have trouble with.

The story is one I'm iffy on all things considered, the direction is mostly human driven and I can't say I'm too fond of that all the time, but it was a necessary bit of world building and I dare say it accomplished what it needed to. But don't think its all you will hear on where the monsters came from, no sir, there are many chapters to come. Gamera won't alway win so easily either.

Enjoy. Thoughts, compliments, criticisms, complaints, bring em forward. Crim out.

Next: Garasharp