Haley Thistle
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Ruin the Kaiju: Part One (rough draft)
🕑 Added 2022-10-15 20:00:03 +0000 UTCIt’s easy to complain about the state of things when you have some massive, overshadowing presence is always hovering above you. It’s become almost boring to hear everything wrong with the world being blamed on those asteroids that hit earth ages ago.
You were born into a world that had been hit by asteroids, for you and your friends growing up it was the most common thing. Giant asteroids hit earth? Okay. Giant super monsters called kaiju emerged from these asteroids and caused destruction often? Sure. You grew up accepting, adapting, and ignoring these things. Because what else was there to do?
Hobbies became big for your generation. Not that they weren’t before, but there was some sort of new culture that arose around it. Yeah, they were being used to distract from the very real forces of ‘not your nature’ just outside. Lots of people discovered themselves while diving deeply into these hobbies. You knew you did.
Your hobby began when you and your childhood friends snuck into the ‘abandoned properties’, a huge segment of your city ravaged by the kaiju that no one seemed to want to touch again. It became a dumping ground and was filled with wrecked cars, destroyed landmarks, and whatever else could be chucked in. You found what you called the ‘technology graveyard’ and your life changed from there.
“Oh, so you grew up in the king’s district?” Holly, your coworker, laughed after you told them about this.
“Yeah,” you replied with a shrug. “So?”
“Did you ever see his corpse anywhere?”
You gave her a long and disgruntled look. “His corpse? No! Why would you ask something so morbid?”
“Because King vanished.” She said this like you were out of the loop. “He's not been seen in ten years.”
“I’m well aware,” you grumbled. “But that happened while I was in college.” You both walked into our office, which was cluttered by computer equipment. You set your things down and noticed a manila folder on your desk.
“Uh oh?”
Holly had a car of suckers on her desk, which she was trying to choose through. “What’s that about?”
You held up the envelope. “Special assignment duty.”
Holly frowned, popping a bright red sucker into her mouth. “You get all the fun.”
“You could call it that,” you huffed. Inside the manila envelope was a new ID badge as well as a birthday card. “I’ll see you later I guess.” You picked your bag back up and walked out the door.
As you went down the hall you opened up the birthday card. It was a silly means of communication from the higher ups. They thought it would perfectly disguise secret information. Inside your card was a small brief about how you would be working on Project Walkie Talkie, something you’d been with since the ground floor.
You flashed your new ID badge at the elevator and took it down to the deepest basement level. The elevator never seemed to end, it just kept going down, down, down, down. This used to be a terrifying experience, but these days you have gotten used to it. Once downstairs you’re greeted by the project handler, a very disheveled looking tiefling who also looked as though he hadn’t left this basement in months. His skin was a faded, pale blue, almost like frayed denim. His hair was tied back in a ragged bun, but if any dared to hang in his face it was pinned back by colorful clips.
“What’s going on Meyers?” you asked.
“Project Walkie Talkie is entering the final stages. I just need your combined skills to pull it off.” His hands moved in grand gestures, like he was trying to make up for his quiet voice. Even his long tail added to the inflection.
You arched a brow at him. “That’s what you said last time.”
He swung his arms out then back in. “Well now I mean it.” He took you inside the room you usually worked in and you were shocked by what you found.
“What have you done?” You yelled out in distress. You rushed over to the wall of monitors and switchboards you had put together a few months ago. They were pulled from the wall, dismantled, and there were hollow sections where your expertise had shined.
Meyers removed his hands from over his pointed ears. “I can explain.”
You glared back at him and he jumped back.
“I thought it was working!” You snapped, but as gently as you possibly could. “Why is it tore apart.”
Meyer tilted his head to the side, motioning to the wide, dark window. “Ruin,” he whispered.
You stormed over to the window and banged on it. “Not cute!”
There was a churning, sloshing sound from within.
“That took me months!” You banged again and Meyer flinched.
“Will you stop that?” He huffed. “I’ve already fussed at Ruin for it.”
You growled under your breath and returned to what had once been your crowning achievement.
Meyer approached you from behind. “I’ve already found some replacement parts for you. I know it’ll be tedious to do, but you’re the only one I trust for this.”
“How did this happen?” You murmured. “How did Ruin get to it?”
“I’m not sure. One day it was fine, the next it caught fire.”
You furrowed your brow and glared back at him. “It caught fire?”
Meyer gave you a queasy look. “Yeah. Just-” His hands mimicked the blaze going up the wall.
You shook your head. “That shouldn’t have happened. That’s…too weird.” You sat down at the table before the wall and tried going over everything in your head you could remember.
“I’m not sure if it was Ruin or not, but maybe we should do more testing on them before we try to continue with Walkie Talkie.”
You glanced over to the window and let out a heavy sigh.
Ruin was the first kaiju you had ever seen up close and in person. Most you had seen at a distance, or at least on television. But you had stood before Ruin several times. They were different compared to the others and had been held in captivity the longest. Ruin, who before was known as The Blob, was captured to be studied; but doing so proved to be difficult.
Project Walkie Talkie was created in hopes of being able to communicate with Ruin. Meyer had discovered a basic form of it using electric Christmas lights, which ultimately brought you in, hoping to your your expertise in coding and tech to find a better and more permanent way to communicate with Ruin and discover the kaiju’s purpose on earth.
You began working on repairs and saving what you can. It’s quiet, so you have on a pair of wireless headphones, listening to music. As you’re carefully cutting out some wire, you hear a hum through the headphones. You adjust them, taking your hands off the wires, and the humming stops.
“Huh.” you murmur. You reach back for the wires and the humming comes back, this time louder and drowning out the music. You stand still for a moment, just listening when you hear something very strange.
“If you build it, they will come.”
You quickly take off your headphones and hear music playing through them once again. “What the absolute fuck,” you whispered under your breath. You put the headphones back on and the music is still playing.
“Weird.” You only brushed it off because you were working in the subterranean basement of a secret government project. Strange things were bound to happen.
You cut the wires and went on with your work, but as you were attempting to take out a monitor the hum came back.
“If you build it, they will come.”
“Someone’s watching Netflix,” you grumbled to yourself.
The monitor turned on, even though it was barely hooked up to power, or even a working system. A small, pixelated image walked into the center of the screen. It looked like a mix of a pink bunny and a dragon. It waved.
Text scrolled across the bottom of the screen. “Don’t let go of that monitor.”
Your jawed dropped.
The text vanished and more appeared. “Hi! My name is Ruin!”
You felt like you could shit baby ducks at that moment.
“Don’t be alarmed.”
“Easy for you to say,” you breathed.
The pixel dragon rabbit on the screen bounced around, waggling its butt then flapping its little wings. “I’ve been watching you.”
‘Nope, nope, nope, nope, nope’ was the only thing running through your mind at that moment.
“I trust you and Dr. Meyers.” The little bunny dragon smiled.
You swallowed a hard lump in your throat.
“Will you help me?” They asked.
You furrowed your brow as you watched the screen then turned and looked towards the window at the other side of the room. Behind it, Ruin tapped on the dark glass.
“Pretty please?” The text on the monitor typed out.
“How are you doing this?” You whispered.
“It’s easier than all of you are making it. You never even tried using wireless methods,” Ruin replied. Their bunny dragon avatar scampered across the screen.
“No, but seriously!” You snapped. “Right now there’s probably only static from my shirt powering this monitor, how are you doing this?”
“I’ll tell you if you help me.”
You frowned and exhaled loudly. “Help you with what?”
The little bunny dragon started shaking and frowning. “I’m scared and I’m cold.” The screen grew dark and only the little pixel avatar remained. “They only give me fake UV, but I like your sun.”
You weren’t sure how to respond. There was so much here to take in all at once. “You want to escape?”
“Dr. Meyers said he would help. But we needed you.”
You glared at the screen. “So it wasn’t a fire that caused this?”
“Please don’t get mad,” Ruin said.
You sat down on the ground, not letting go of the monitor. You let it rest in your lap, and Ruin’s avatar bounced around the screen. “You say you can trust Meyers and I, but how can I be so sure I can trust you?”
The bunny dragon came to a stop and stood still. “I suppose that’s a fair question,” Ruin replied. “Did my sad story not move you?”
You crossed your arms against your chest. “You’re a giant monster from outer space, why should I do anything to help you?”
Their pink color turned red and the text flashed as it appeared. “So sorry your planet is so tiny and small and we can’t move through it like you small tiny people do.”
You frowned, their logic was pretty sound.
Ruin’s avatar turned pink again. “We’re not all bad. Only a couple of us are. The rest of us are just as scared as you are.”
“Still, how can I trust that?” You asked. “And why only start talking to us now? Have you been able to do this the whole time?”
“No, not exactly,” Ruin replied. “Nor did I want to. I didn’t like anyone here. But I like you and Dr. Meyers now.”
You weren’t sure how to feel about all of this. “Okay, I guess I can get on board with that. But, why us?”
“Dr. Meyers stands up for me. A lot of times I’m not treated as if I have thoughts or feelings just because they think I can’t communicate. He talks to me, he lets me watch TV too so I don’t get bored.”
You smiled a bit. “Okay. But why me?”
“I liked hearing you sing.”
There was an anxious skip of the heart that made you blush. “Really?”
The bunny dragon bounced up and down happily. “You have a very nice voice! And Dr. Meyers says you're the best in the business! So of course I’d like you on my side.”
You smiled again. “That still doesn’t mean I trust you.”
“That’s fair,” Ruin replied. “How can I get you to trust me?”
“What do you want?” You asked. “I mean, aside from Dr. Meyers and I helping you to escape. What is it you want in this world?”
“Would it be weird if I said love?” Ruin asked.
You stared in disbelief.
“I know it sounds weird, maybe even completely silly to you, but after watching so many movies, it’s my favorite part about them.” The bunny dragon had hearst raining down over it as it danced.
“It is weird,” you replied. “So you want to escape, just so you can find romance?”
“Yes please!” Ruin did a little flip on the screen.
You sighed heavily. “I’ll have to talk to Meyers about this. I’m not sure how to take all this in.”
“I understand,” Ruin replied. “I just don’t want to be in this weird smelling basement anymore. I know what I am, but even I don’t deserve this.”
“Okay,” you murmured. “I’ll try and help. But if I suspect even a lick of foul play, I will…do something.”
Ruin’s avatar danced around. “Oh yay!”
You waved your hand over the TV screen. “So tell me, how are you doing this? You said wireless was the way.”
“The bluetooth in your headphones is a sort of key. I can fix myself to it then use you to go through the TV.”
You tilted your head to the side. “Why not just communicate through the headphones? Wasn’t that you doing the Field of Dreams shtick?”
“I thought it would be less haunted-house if I did it this way. You freaked out when I tried the headphones.”
You couldn’t argue with that. “But you could communicate all this time?”
“Sort of. All the right pieces had to be in place. That’s why Dr. Meyers and I destroyed the-”
“I knew it wasn’t fire!” You snapped. “I knew it! I make sure that all my work-”
Through your headphones came a loud beeping noise. “Calm down!” the computer screen flashed.
“So Meyers wrecked all my hard work? Why not just, I dunno, lie and say there was a glitch or something?” You said with a pout.
“We needed a reason to keep you around for a few days while we worked out logistically how this would work,” they replied.
You thought for a brief moment. This was a risk to take, and you had no idea if this was even worth it. After all, Ruin was a kaiju and no one was certain on what they were here for, or even what they were.
Each kaiju seemed to be different, Ruin especially. Their body was gelatinous and amorphous, bright pink, and was capable of picking up large buildings and objects, then moving them elsewhere. Ruin could also catapult said objects up into the air like a canon. A video of them doing this with cars had become a meme on the internet as of late. There were times Ruin was shown to take on more physical and concrete appearances when in the presence of other kaiju, including one that looked similar to the bunny dragon avatar they were using. Ruin was classified as one of the more worrisome kaiju, as their powers and strength was hard to pinpoint.
Helping Ruin escape could go in many different directions. It could also ruin your reputation. Rumor has it there was a scientist that, years ago, became a kaiju sympathizer and she had to go into hiding.
“You’ve been quiet for a while,” Ruin replied.
You sighed. “Can you tell me what you and Meyer’s have planned?” You asked.
“We’ll show you,” Ruin said and the monitor fizzled and went out.
There was a tapping at the window and a soft whispering that came through the bluetooth headphones. It was fain,t but you could kind of make out a voice.
A second later, Meyers came back into the room and waved for you to follow him. You walked along beside him as he fanned his fingers out in the air over and over.
“This was not how I was expecting this day to go at all,” you huffed.
“Trust me, I never expected to be walking down this pathway myself. But life tends to be aggravating that way,” he sighed.
“How long have you known about Ruin?” You asked.
Meyers shrugged. “Ever since you first set up the coding for the main lab. I had my earphones set up one day and was playing my old game boy when they first appeared. I thought Ruin was a shiny pokemon.”
You thought for a long moment, piecing together everything you knew about Ruin now. “So we act as a conduit for Ruin. A sort of connector between their ‘wireless methods’ and our physical devicesfrom the wireless to the physical.”
“Something like that, I think. It’s fascinating, like the mental psychic and technological combined. Ruin is fascinating! We thought they worked through electric impulses like the human body, but it’s something else I’ve never seen before!” Meyers came to a door, and rather than use a keycard he took a butter knife from his pocket and jammed it between the plate inside. The door unlocked and opened.
“That’s not great,” you murmured.
Meyers wiggled the butterknife in front of you. “That doesn’t track. And that’s what government funding gets you.”
You walk inside and down a flight of stairs into the main lab. Bright lights flood a massive clear tank that goes up several stories. Inside the tank is what looks like overwatered cherry kool-aid; but it’s actually Ruin.
Ruin shifts and burbles inside and a bit of them opens the top of the tank, waving out to you.
“Their tank is open?” You asked, waving back at Ruin.
“They won’t do anything. They just like being able to change the TV every now and again.” Meyers walked away, heading towards a door while you looked up at Ruin.
“I forgot how big you were,” you murmured.
Ruin tightened up in the tank, taking on the giant bunny dragon form. They waved and hopped around, sitting down so they felt closer to your level. You stood closer to the tank, smiling up at them as they pressed a hand to the glass. You placed your hand in the center, marvel at how big it is.
Meyers returned, carrying something that looked like a vacuum’s dust tank. “This is what I have so far.”
You had no clue. “What is this?”
“Think of it as like a hamster ball, a way for Ruin to join us in the real world! We’ve already been doing some experiments to test if it is possible.” Meyers walked up to the tank as a drop of Ruin’s goo came down from the top. He opened the lid as the goo bit splashed inside. The bunny dragon shape Ruin took melted back into a huge, brightl colored puddle.
The goo inside the small tank writhed and wriggled around, eventually growing to fill up the tank.
“All we need to figure out a way to centralize Ruin’s conscience into this one container,” Meyers explained.
You glanced back at the tank. “You mean, it splits itself?”
“From what I can tell, that’s how Ruin’s species multiplies. It’ll split apart when it becomes injured, thus, turning into an adolescent state and maturing all over again. What we have to figure out is how to collect all of Ruin into this one mass.”
“What about the rest of the mass?” You asked.
Meyers gestured with one hand. “I assume it’ll evaporate with Ruin in it. But that’s mainly what Ruin needs you for. To figure out a way to code them into this pack so we can sneak them out.”
“A cCode?” You asked.
“A cCode that allows Ruin to do like what they did before. Using one of us as a connector. Do you think that’s possible?”
This wasn’t something you ever thought you’d seen in reality. If anything, this was someone that would come straight out of a movie or cheesy sci-fi rag. What Meyers was suggesting was something that didn’t exist, something that never needed to exist. But the more you thought about the more your mind churned and the nerves in your body crackled with excitement.
Ou started pacing before the tank. “...it's not about the specific wireless medium, then. It's the protocol. If that's what you're using to mentally anchor yourself, that's… something completely new.That’s…that’s a whole new thing. A whole new way to think of wireless technology. Not even that. A whole new form of wireless.” You came to a complete stop and stared up at the tank. “Yes! I think we could do it!” You said triumphantly.
The goo inside the tank jumped.
Meyers smiled awkwardly. “What do we need to do?”
