Galaxy of Monsters (Godzilla/Steven Universe crossover)

Chapter 6: Queen of Thorns

"Pearl, Rutile!" shouted Emerald into the growing pandemonium of crumbling stone and the blooming of botanical horror. Snapping roots burst through steel in the research installations around the pyramid, and leafless trunks blocked the main stairway leading to the Parallax's landing pad. 

"We hear you, captain!" Rutile answered, but she was as terrified as Pearl, who was all too familiar with this sort of disaster. The guarding Topaz was on the verge of evacuating them to the remaining elevator before she was snatched by a vicious tendril, and dragged into a crevice in the valley wall. What came soon after was the distinct 'poof' sound familiar to Gems upon their destruction. 

The captain gave the signal to run as fast as they could. In the distance, Biollante emerged from the ground, aiming her tooth-filled maw at the sky and supplanting all other noises with her mournful cries. Her planet was desecrated by these aliens, and by the cyborg she had ensnared. Gigan struggled under the weight of the vines. Inside him began a mechanical whir. 

The buzzsaw in his abdomen sliced the tightening vines in an instant, freeing the unnatural beast and allowing him to return to the sky. From his cyclopean visor he found no heat signature beyond that of Biollante's pulsating nucleus - her anatomical equivalent to a heart. A stream of searing, blood-red light rushed out of Gigan's eye and struck the base of her form, severing a 'limb' in the process. 

 Emerald was unsure of which monster posed the greater threat, but her thoughts were clouded by the torrent of green ooze raining from above. The pungent slime leaked from the cut stumps, spurting like a vile fountain. The captain squeezed her wrist to give a distress signal from her control watch. The Parallax was going to have to perform a manual rescue. 

"We hear you loud and clear, captain!" said Amethyst. 

"ETA five minutes. C'mon, stupid engine! Warm up faster!" Ruby howled. Within the engine room, she pressed her hands against the hexagonal crystal, directing her own extreme temperature into the device. Time was of the essence. 

The bridge of the Parallax shook heavily on an unsteady platform, one that was ready to fall at any moment. The landing pad was not built to sustain the seismic chaos that was going on around it. Meanwhile, Biollante prepared her counterattack. 

She opened her jaws, and forcefully ejected a bright green sap that stuck to the cyborg's blue carapace, eating away at it and turning metal into rust. Gigan screeched and touched the ground with his hooked feet, juddering and convulsing as the acid damaged him. 

However, it was not enough to deter him. Two razor-sharp discs flew out from his chest, cutting deep into Biollante's side and detaching yet another limb. Then, swinging both arms behind his back, he dashed forward with incredible speed and begun stabbing at the monster's core. 

A vine sprung up from behind the cyborg, lacing around his neck and dragging him back a few hundred yards. Gigan thrashed about with his scythes but could not sever the tendril that now strangled him. 

Emerald kicked the glass elevator to get in, and it was not long until Rutile and Pearl joined her. Rutile flipped the hefty switch, sending them up to the bridge they entered from. 

"C'mon, c'mon, c'mon!" the captain muttered anxiously. 

Pearl merely stared quietly in disbelief. This had all happened to her before, and now it was something of a demented deja vu. Was anywhere in the galaxy safe from monsters? 

Perhaps not. 

The wait was almost over. Biollante, despite her enormity, spun around in a great circle with Gigan in tow. The cyborg was being lifted and then whirled, until finally he was released, crashing hard into a distant mountain. It crumbled on impact. 

Gigan's wings were bent and broken, disabling the half-organic beast from flight. He was angry, even more so than before. Another blast from his visor streaked across the sky, this time exploding into a hundred little arcs as they came close to their target. 

Emerald found herself overjoyed at the sight of the Parallax when the elevator came to a stop, with the sliding doors opening on the opposite end from the entrance. The crew rushed to their vessel as it hovered ever so slightly above the ground. 

The side panel went ajar, and within stood Amethyst with her hand stretched out. "I ain't got all day!" she exclaimed.

"Well put!" 

Once she boarded her own ship, Emerald turned around to pull Rutile and Pearl up from the ground and haul them back inside. The doors slid shut as the sky turned green with a second spewing of acid. 

Their ferocity and power reminded Rutile of the exceptional nature of organic life, for when organics fought, they did so while risking the entirety of their being. Their very existence was at stake. The winner lived, and the loser died. It was simple, albeit harsh. 

When Gems fought, they could be spared or 'bubbled' - essentially stored away for later use. Shattering was a last resort of conflict. 

 Rutile wasted no time in returning to the pilot seat, transmitting a frantic stream of information back to Yellow Diamond's flagship before taking to the air. Their next course of action, however, was the captain's decision. 

"Weapons live, Ruby!" Emerald announced to the overly-excited soldier. 

With a satisfied smirk, and a matching giggle, Ruby fixated the Parallax's guns on the cyborg. There could be no chance left for him to escape the planet alive. 

And so Gigan was peppered with lasers, with the attack serving more as an annoyance than anything else. The acid had melted the bottom of his left claw, leaving an uneven, almost saw-toothed pattern of deformed metal. Several of the knife-shaped spines on his back had fallen off earlier in the fight. 

 None of this stopped him from jumping directly in front of his enemy, utilizing his scorpion-esque tail to slash at Biollante's throat during a swift turn. Her cries became agonized gargles. She lowered her head meekly as blood poured like a fountain. 

"Captain, our weapons are having no effect!" 

Emerald did not particularly care for this detail. "Concentrate all fire on the head, see if you can hit its eye!" 

The great cyborg now had an ample opportunity to get rid of these pesky Gems, since his foe was on the verge of death. He was unfazed by the sting of laser fire. Gigan screeched triumphantly - somewhat mockingly - and he prepared his counterattack from the rising glow of his visor. 

Yet before he could unleash his destructive beam on the Parallax, Gigan's head was caught between the jaws of the fearsome Biollante. With all her might, she crushed the cyborg's head instantaneously. Metal scraps fell to the ground like glistening snow. 

The monster bellowed, and she sunk into the dirt halfway to rejuvenate. The crew, deep down, almost wished her well as they ascended into space, another mission complete. 

Aside from the fact that Hessonite now roamed freely across the galaxy. 

Answering to her Diamond for this failure would be difficult beyond comprehension, and the scope of the disaster with the colony could not yet be fathomed. All the captain wanted to do was forget this had ever occurred. 

The Parallax moved to rendezvous with the flagship, seemingly at a leisurely pace. It gave Emerald time to write her report. Likewise, Rutile was in no rush to face her matriarch. She was terrified of being scolded like Ruby and Amethyst were before they all joined the crew. 

What had dawned on the captain was the absurdity of landing on two separate planets inhabited by monsters. That was no coincidence, she reasoned. There had to be an explanation. 

She had to figure out what was going on.