For reasons unknown, Godzilla has betrayed the people of the "Pacific Rim" universe, after living in their realm for 10 straight years. Marshal Stacker Pentecost and his son, Jake, can only rely on the Gladiator of Gallifrey to discover a way of des...
Shikishima's hands could not stop shaking. They haven't been able to ever since the night he first encountered that giant reptile monster on Odo Island – the monster whose name he learned to be 'Godzilla' from Satoshi and Suri. He glimpsed their way every few seconds, trying to understand what it was they were doing near that unusual, hexagonal control console. Shikishima had never met women like them before, not even counting Noriko, who herself was baffled by their female rescuers. Neither of the Ginza survivors could comprehend the strange vessel they sat in or how its interior space transcended beyond its exterior space.
It didn't ease Shikishima's nerves any with A.J. constantly staring at him and Noriko. The boy just stood across from them, not turning his eyes away for so much as a millisecond. It drove Shikishima to the point of lashing out at him. "Nani wa mi te iru n desu ka?!" ("What're you staring at?!")
A.J. flinched and backed up slightly when Shikishima stood up and advanced.
Noriko grabbed his left arm in a gesture of restraint. "Sheen wa tsukuru no wa yamero, orokamono me!" ("Stop making a scene, you fool!")
Shikishima refused to listen to reason. He kept his threatening gaze on A.J., inching closer to the frightened child, who verged on tears. It looked as if Shikishima would have put his hands on him, if Satoshi had not suddenly blocked Shikishima's way and shielded A.J. Her chocolate-brown eyes meeting with his, she strictly (and boldly) told him, "Kono shou sanako wa chigai masu." ("Not this little one.")
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The fire in her eyes struck Shikishima cold. He had seen that fire before – in his mother's eyes, whenever he did something that displeased her. It was enough to make him yield, cowering back to the corner where he and Noriko sat. He didn't dare look A.J.'s way again afterwards.
Satoshi huffed, grateful that she didn't have to physically force Shikishima to submit. She recognized that the man suffered from PTSD, either from his service in World War II or from his latest encounter with Godzilla...or both.
Hearing her great-grandson sniveling, she turned to him and knelt down to his level. "Hey now, it's okay," she cleansed the tears from his face with the back of her delicate hand. "Your great-granddad's here to look out for you." She reached into one of her rear pockets and retrieved a portable tablet with a multi-touch screen; attached to the sides of the tablet were red and blue controllers. "Your grandmama told me that it's Christmas in your world, so I got ya this."
A.J.'s face beamed from the cool-looking tablet, which automatically switched on from the moment that he took it from Satoshi. There was a game preset to the device – a Sonic the Hedgehog game.
"Did you know that your grandmother and I once met this lil' fella?" she told A.J., who was already too engrossed to listen to her story. Snickering at her great-grandson, Satoshi gave him a peck on the cheek and left him to his game.
