Persistence

Eager to learn the truth about Taylor’s strange abilities, Bonnie placed the spray cans on the kitchen table.

“So much for being invisible,” Eliza nudged Taylor and left him alone with the persistent girl. Taylor could not rid himself of her.

“How did you find me here?” Taylor asked. “No one in town knows John’s address. Not even his coworkers.”

“Yeah, I figured that out,” Bonnie said. “Luckily, you dropped the receipt from your spray cans. I just went to that store and asked a few questions. Surprisingly, you are one of the few people who still order art supplies from the store. After a little digging, I found your address.”

“Look, I don’t know what you want from me, but --”

“I just wanted to thank you for saving my life, dude,” Bonnie interrupted.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Taylor denied.

“Please! I saw you do amazing things back there. Plus, that monster almost killed us.”

"Seriously, you don’t know what you’re talking about,” he repeated.

“Your stepdad might be a convincing liar, but you, my friend, certainly are not.”

“We’re not friends. I don’t even know you.”

“I know that you saved my life from that jellyfish monster thingy. And I know you took a hit for me,” she replied and lifted the left side of Taylor’s shirt. 

If she could find the scorch mark that was inflicted on Taylor’s abdomen from the creature, he could stop lying to her.

“Hey, where’s the mark?” she asked in confusion.

Taylor yanked down his shirt and swatted her hands away, “You’re completely crazy.” 

“Debatable, but irrelevant,” she shot back.

“Could you just get out of my house, please?” Taylor pleaded.

“Not until I know what happened back there. What was that thing? For that matter, what the hell are you?”

“Forget it, I don’t know what you’re talking about. Whatever you think you saw, it was a dream.”

Taylor started to push her out of the house. Bonnie reached into her pocket and pulled out several pictures of Taylor manipulating water at the waterfront.

“Tell me, does this look like a bad dream?” Bonnie demanded and waved them in his face.

Startled at the sight of his secret on film, Taylor reached out to grab the photos as Bonnie pulled them away.

“Relax, dude, you can keep them,” Bonnie tossed the photos on the kitchen counter. Taylor quickly swiped up the pictures before tearing each one to shreds.

“Of course, I have a million more of them,” Bonnie smirked.

“What the hell do you want from me?” Taylor repeated.

“I want to know what you are. Also, I want to know what that thing was back there. Tell me the truth or I will post these pictures o****e for everyone in town to see. Your choice, Taylor.”

Compelled by her overbearing ultimatum, Taylor reluctantly agreed to Bonnie’s demands, “Fine, I’ll tell you. But not here. Let us go to the roof.”

At the train station on the outskirts of Pierview, Curtis made his daily routine of the operating platform inspections. He looked over the systems as an overweight man in black and grey security uniform climbed the stairs in a hurry to speak with him.

“Hey, boss, we have an emergency!” the man shouted.

“What type of emergency, Ronnie?” Curtis asked calmly.

“It’s probably better if you come down to see it for yourself. I’m not sure how to explain it,” Ronnie answered.

“Okay,” Curtis said. He took the main hub’s elevator to the main floor. Ronnie pushed Curtis’s chair in the direction of the disturbance.

“I hope this is important enough to take me from the booth,” Curtis said. “These terminals need to be inspected carefully.”

“Trust me, boss,” Ronnie said, “this is something that you got to see up close and personal.” 

 Ronnie pointed Curtis to an engraving on the ground of a woman with claws and wings and a snake lower half that was surrounded by a large circle.

“Echidna,” Curtis whispered to himself.

“What was that boss?” Ronnie asked.

“It’s nothing. Where are the other men?” 

“That is another thing, sir. I have not been able to find anyone else all day. At first, I just thought that they were just ditching work, but then I noticed that it was more than just some workers. It was the whole staff. That is when I found this,” he said and pointed at the symbol.

Curtis nervously bit his lower lip as he stared at it and wondered if he had seen the symbol before.

“What do you think, boss? Maybe it is just some rowdy teenagers trying to prank? Let me tell you, I never did stupid stuff like this when I was a kid,” he said with a shake of his head. 

Curtis clutched the left arm of his wheelchair and his eyes slanted left. The pulsing of his heart thumped as loudly as a thunderstorm. Whatever the symbol was, it did not mean good intentions.

“Hey, boss, you, okay?” Ronnie asked with concern.

“Get me back to the booth. I have to call the police captain about this.”

“Unfortunately, I can’t allow you gentleman to do that,” a voice echoed. 

“Who said that?” Ronnie demanded and turned his head left and right.

“I did,” the strange voice replied. 

 A wide crimson beam of light burst through the ceiling, about 5 feet in front of the terminal engineers. Out of the bright beam stepped a slim, 6-foot-tall man dressed in black pants, a crimson and black trench coat with silver large gauntlets, a black turtleneck underneath, and a skull necklace wrapped with silver beads. The red-headed man’s metallic, long-tail made Curtis catch his breath.

“Who the hell are you?” Curtis asked.

The mysterious man reached out his left hand and summoned an 8-foot guitar with a crimson exterior and an ax built on the left side of it.

“You, gentlemen, may call me Soundhound.”

As Curtis and Ronnie met Soundhound, Taylor and Bonnie climbed to the rooftop of his house. The peaceful breeze and skyline view from the condo eased his mind as he prepared to confess his overwhelming secret to his new purser.

“Wow, you can see the whole town from this place,” Bonnie said.

“I know, right?” Taylor replied as he sat down with his knees going into his chest. “Sitting up here and staring at the town always helps me relax. Even when I’m being blackmailed by some psychopath.”

“Chill, waterboy. I am simply curious about what happened the other day. I can’t stop thinking about it.”

“Okay, first off, please, don’t call me that anymore. Second, I never expected to run into another Kaiju like that.”

“Kaiju? So, they are real?” 

“Yeah, they are real. Not all of them are as friendly as I am,” he warned.

“Where did that Kaiju back there come from? Matter of fact, where did you come from?” 

“Well, I have no clue where it came from, but as for where I came from, that’s a little more complicated.”

“What do you mean complicated Are you an alien? " 

“Not exactly. Aliens come from space. Kaiju come from a different dimension,” he explained. 

“Wait, there are other dimensions?” she asked.

“Yeah. The dimension where I am from is called Ken-Don-Shu. In English, it means the kingdom of monsters.”

“A kingdom? Are you some type of prince?”

“Not a prince, more like a spawn or reincarnation if you prefer.”

“Of what?”

“An ancient Kaiju deity called Zerpla. He was the ruler of Ken-Don-Shu and one of the most powerful Kaiju to exist,” he said.

He continued, “For millennia, he ruled over the other Kaiju as their god until another Kaiju deity, Mason Black, wanted to take the throne away from him. They got into an epic battle and nearly killed each other. Before they died, Zerpla separated his consciousness into seven beings and sent them out to this world. Every spawn inherited an artifact that could grant them access to a portion of his power. Mine is a trident called Barracuda.” 

Bonnie opened her eyes widely with great shock by everything that Taylor had revealed.

“Kind of surprised you’re not freaked out by all this,” Taylor laughed.

“Listen, I just saw a giant jellyfish monster that spits acid fight a boy who controls water. I’m a little bit more receptive to stuff like this now.”

“People say I’m weird,” Taylor joked.

Bonnie playfully punched Taylor on the shoulder and giggled, “Shut up. But wait! If you are a spawn or reincarnation of this Zerpla guy, why do you look --” 

“Human?” Taylor interrupted. “The artifacts make every spawn take on the features of the first life form to touch it. When Barracuda came to Earth, a Japanese woman had touched it out of curiosity. That woman was my human mom, Sandi Yoshida.”

“Wow, dude, that is some crazy story. Where is Barracuda?”

“Hidden,” Taylor responded in a serious tone. “Each spawn was given access to a pocket dimension where they keep their artifacts.”

“Why don’t you use it?” Bonnie asked.

Taylor hesitated with the answer and bit his lower as he looked away.

Before he could respond, Eliza stuck her head out his bedroom window and yelled up to them, “Taylor, we have a problem!”

“Liz? What’s up?” 

“It’s better if you see for yourself. Bring your girlfriend too,” she instructed.

“I’m not his girlfriend, by the way,” Bonnie pointed out as Eliza ducked back inside the house.

“Come on,” Taylor said. “Let’s go.”