Mechagodzilla: Shiryu

-11-

After the battle, the team made preparations to head out towards the unexplored Hollow Earth region.

Shiryu was placed down to parking mode near the outpost, in order to be repaired by drones and to recharge. Shiryu Kai was also parked down next to the other unit in order to charge. Meanwhile, Akane waited in one of the outpost's rooms to wait until the next order arrived. A good thing that a few personnel were in the outpost, Akane realized with a surprise, who were in charge of monitoring the area around the base. If they weren't there in the first place, Akane would have surely started freaking out because of isolation. Afterwards, later when she was done resting, she went to the communications office where most of the personnel were. There, Akane sat down and decided to contact the Monarch team, Chen, Rick, Sam, and Simon, as well as the Shiryu team. However, she was a bit doubtful about seeing their faces again after what she did to Anguirus with Shiryu. Nevertheless she decided to give it a go and try to explain her regret for what she has done. ["Akane. A surprise. How do you feel after the intense battle?"] Rick said as he appeared on the screen, followed by the others. "To be honest...a bit guilty for nearly beating the life out of the titan. It's more, I was actually going to stab it with the mazer blade to stun him. Though...something happened that made me stop..." she explained, rubbing her head in a bit of shame. ["What would that be?"] Rick asked, Akane trying to explain what that strange feeling was back then. She was about to explain it in the best of her ability when Chen spoke.

["You felt something call to you, right? As if a voice spoke for you to do the right thing."] Chen said.

That...wasn't far off, Akane thought to herself. The voice part was irrelevant as she would have admitted if such was felt by her. The other part was true; it was perhaps her conscience that told her to spare the titan. Anguirus needed to be convinced that she and Shiryu weren't a threat to him or the other titans. Sparing him was a very good example to show that it was not her nature to fight and kill titans. She and Shiryu would definitely fight for self-defense if needed. Also, Akane remembered, that it was Monarch's mission to study and protect the titans. "Yes. I remembered what we stood for at the right moment. Anguirus isn't a threat. He's an ally. I just...didn't want to be a burden and a failure to the mission's objective" Akane said, bowing her head down apologetically. ["There is no need for you to feel ashamed. It's more, I believe that you are slowly growing into maturity. If he were still here, he would have been proud of how you handled the situation. However...the whole slamming technique was uncalled."] Chen said to Akane, who looked away in some embarrassment. ["Yeah. The old man would have been happy to see you keep up with his ideals. And besides, the Shiryu team here was actually rooting for you, believe it or not"] Rick said with a happy grin.

On the other screen, she saw the team that worked on Shiryu start bombarding Akane with compliments of how awesome she was in the fight. To which...Akane felt both shy and bashful as she wasn't used to receiving this much praise at a time. "I...really didn't do much..." she said to them, almost in a quiet manner as she didn't know how to give that much thanks to them. ["That was amazing!/Where did you get those wrestling moves?/Those titans will now have a new challenger, and I'm up to it!"] and so on and so forth went those that were part of the maintenance team. After a while while of Akane interacting, or at least her trying to, with those that were at the command center, a notification told her that the repairs and the charging of the Shiryu units was complete. So Akane disconnected temporarily in order to step out from the outpost and return to Shiryu's cockpit.

["Command center to Shiryu and Shiryu Kai. We have been notified that Godzilla and Kong have been spotted appearing at Brazil, and are battling two new titans."] the command center said on the radio as Akane activated Shiryu once again to get prepared. "This is Shiryu, Lieutenant Akane. I acknowledge. Awaiting further orders." Akane said in response to this. ["We have calculated that there is another path that would lead you straight to the portal that goes to Brazil. While you two are making your way there, you will trace out the unregistered terrain using your unit's equipment. Once through, you both will provide support for Godzilla and Kong."] Colonel Togashi said on the radio. "Understood" Akane said, Rick also acknowledging as he got to his control seat and made Shiryu Kai activate.