Mechagodzilla: Shiryu

-9-

When the two of them entered the portal, it was a frightening experience unlike ever seen or felt before.

It was as if earth's entire gravity was crushing the enclosed space where Akane was, making her groan and hold on tight to her seat as Shiryu and Shiryu Kai fell down into the abyss. First it was complete darkness before all of a sudden flashes of light streaked from in front and past as everything shook and rattled. It was as if traveling through a true sci-fi portal, only that the experience was vastly different than imagined. Intense sounds from the outside made their way into the cockpit and deafened Akane's ears despite having her pilot helmet on. She could barely hear the alarms on the control panels and screens that were surely blaring like crazy. The speed that Akane felt herself and Shiryu traveling at was similar to that of being shot through a straw, only this time it was a bigger and more scarier straw with the pressure increasing with each second. Akane gave a yell and closed her eyes as she felt like she would eventually die by the pressure, before all of a sudden all the terrifying travel stopped and a large thump was heard.

Everything felt light and wide, the pressure disappearing almost instantly as Akane regained her senses slowly and opened her eyes. The light was still bright for her to see clearly before her eyes adjusted and spotted...that she was falling towards the ground fast. Not only that, there were also a whole cluster of rocks that were suspended in midair, similar to a whole meteor belt in space. This made Akane give a shout of fright and grab her controls once again to steer Shiryu in the right orientation. From afar, she now spotted Shiryu Kai in the same situation further up, or below, as Shiryu flew towards it. When Akane thought that she was about to reach Kai, the other mechagodzilla suddenly went past her like a boulder falling in reverse. Akane looked back at Kai that flew past her before turning her attention to the floating rocks. She moved Shiryu's arms in front to brace for the several impacts of both small and large objects. Though, all of a sudden she felt herself and Shiryu slow down and stop in mid air, only making contact with a few pieces of the cluster...before feeling gravity pull back. Then it became all too clear to Akane; in Hollow Earth, there was gravity all over the place.

So what came up from "above"...must come "down" in this place.

When Shiryu began to fall back down to the other side and pick up speed, Akane gave a small shout as she struggled to keep her unit straight once again. "Shiryu to command! Shiryu to command! This is Akane Yashiro! Arrival confirmed! I'm about to crash land into the ground! Requesting immediate response" Akane said on the radio, only to get a static and unintelligible response. Seeing that she was all alone and quickly running out of time, she tried to remember what else Shiryu had that could help her not break the machine, and most important of all, survive the fall. Her brain immediately recalled one of the thrusters located on the heels and some verniers at the base of Shiryu's sharp dorsal plates. They weren't used for flying but would break the fall and give Akane a good chance of landing unscathed. So, latching onto that, Akane grunted and she moved the controls to make Shiryu face the upwards position while the ground approached rapidly. The alarms continue to blare as Akane flicked some switches and calculated before activating the engines.

The heel thrusters screeched at high output as they began to slow down Shiryu, and the back verniers roared to propel the mechagodzilla forwards to aid in not falling downwards fully. The feel skidded across the stony ground and made the unit shake uncontrollably, upheaving and crunching over some rocks and boulders as Akane did her best to slow Shiryu down. However, one dent on the ground made the feet trip and sent the mechagodzilla flying arrow straight into a large pile of boulders. Shiryu's head crashed headfirst into it, making a loud clanging noise as Akane's head almost had her head slammed into the system panel.  Everything stopped as a ringing sound filled Akane's ears, before she groaned and shook her head to recover her senses. Making sure that nothing from herself or her surroundings was off, she began to move Shiryu once again into a standing position. Luckily, none of Shiryu's components or body parts were damaged, which was a relief. After running all the system checks to find out their functionality status, with the help of the AI, Akane gave an exhale and scanned her surroundings. The place that she has arrived with Shiryu was different than she expected. Instead of the whole inner world filled with mostly greenery like the outside world, this one was mixed with a more rigid landscape, sharp even, with some pointed edges jutting on some hills here and there. Further ahead was more forest, the land going up and around as the gravity from the inner world has shaped into a circular pocket path.