Thor fell to his knees exhausted. To the thunder god’s astonishment, his attack once more had no effect on the beast. Jormungand simply shook his head and tossed Thor into the air. Before the Asgardian could attain flight under his own power, Jormungand’s head shot out of the water and swallowed him whole. With his ancient adversary now digesting within his stomach, Jormungand continued his journey to shore.
Hand hold by hand hold, Chimera continued to claw his way up the body of the serpent, moving ever closer to the beast’s head. The climb was exhausting as the wind, water, and sheer strength of Jormungand were working against him. Chimera’s muscles were starting to become fatigued, but the kaiju’s will drove him forward. Chimera could sense that Jormungand was death incarnate. He knew that if the monster reached land, he would kill those whom he considered to be part of his family. Aside from Chimera’s intelligence, and the bonding Luke had worked on with him over the years, Chimera was also partly comprised of the DNA of a lion and a gorilla. Both animals are social creatures and in both of their social structures, it is the responsibility of the alpha male to protect his family. Chimera considered Luke, Melissa, Suzie, Sally, Diana, and even Parsons to all be a part of his family and he was determined to protect them from the huge monster he was currently riding.
After nearly exhausting himself, Chimera had finally reached the top of Jormungand’s head. Chimera continued to climb until he was directly over the serpent’s right eye. Chimera then looked down into an iris that was three times the size of his entire body. Jormungand’s eye shifted up to see Chimera roaring at him. Chimera took the type of deep breath that allowed him to stay underwater for over an hour. He then slid down onto Jormungand’s eye and began tearing into it.
Jormungand violently shook his head as he tried to remove Chimera from the eye he had blinded but rather than being flung off the eye, Chimera forced his way into it. Once he was firmly in Jormungand’s eye socket, Chimera continued to rip and tear apart everything that he saw. Jormungand continued to shake his head in an attempt to force Chimera out of his eye. Chimera was tossed around inside of the World Serpent’s skull, but he refused to allow himself to be thrown out of it.
Chimera was falling down when he dug his claws into Jormungand’s optic nerve to steady himself. The monster felt everything around him shake as Jormungand writhed in pain from the damage being done inside of his head. Just as he had pulled himself along Jormungand’s body with his claws, Chimera used the same method to pull himself along Jormungand’s optic nerve.
Chimera continued moving along the optic nerve until he reached a brain that was nearly a mile in circumference. Chimera attacked the soft gray matter with the fury of an angered silverback gorilla. The hybrid bit, clawed, and kicked at Jormungand’s brain until he felt that the serpent had stopped moving. Once he was sure that Jormungand was dead, Chimera crawled back out along the eye socket he had hollowed out. Chimera emerged from Jormungand’s destroyed eye socket covered in blood and brains. The kaiju looked at the dead form of the World Serpent he was standing on and then beat his chest in triumph. Chimera scanned the sky for the helicopter that was carrying Luke. When he was unable to find it, the monster dove into the water and began swimming back out to sea.
Luke and Pressley were sitting in their inflatable raft watching Jormungand’s seemingly endless body move past them in the distance. They became concerned when what they could see of Jormungand’s body began to shake and convulse.
Pressley pointed at the snake’s body. “Is it under attack? I don’t think as big and as fast as it is that it could have reached land yet.”
Luke shrugged. “Chimera must have gotten to the point where he thought he could attack the monster.”
Pressley’s eyes went wide. “Whatever’s causing it to move like that, it’s trouble for us.” The pilot pointed at a series of massive waves that were rolling toward their tiny raft. Pressley shouted, “Wrap your arms in the chord on the side of the raft. We need to hold onto it. No matter what, the raft will float to the surface, but if we lose hold of it, we’re dead!”
Luke did as Pressley said. When the wave first rolled under the raft, Luke felt himself being propelled upward. He remembered thinking that as a child his parents had taken him to the top of the Empire State Building. The sensation he experienced when going up the elevator to the top of legendary building was the same feeling that he had now. The next sensation that Luke felt was as if he was dropped off the world’s largest roller coaster as the raft slid down the back of the wave. When it reached the bottom of the wave, Luke felt the pull that Pressley had warned him of. Luke felt like his arms were being pulled out his sockets as the wave rolled away and pulled the raft with it. Luke’s arms ached, and he was panting when the wave’s pull on the raft finally subsided. The trainer breathed a sigh of relief and then he gasped when the sky suddenly disappeared from view as a second wave rolled toward the tiny raft.
Luke managed to hold on through three more waves before the ocean finally leveled out. Luke rolled over and moaned as Pressley pulled himself up to a sitting position.
The pilot smiled. “We made it. We survived the first set of waves!”
Luke’s face went pale. “The first set?”
Pressley nodded. “Yes, every time that snake writhes like that, we can expect more waves.”
Luke peeked over the side of the raft and took a look at Jormungand’s body. He smiled. “He’s not moving. He’s not even swimming forward. I think he’s dead.” Luke pumped his fist in the air and shouted, “I think that Chimera killed him!”
Pressley smiled. “You’re right! I think he’s dead! What about Chimera? What happened to him?”
As if in response to Pressley’s question, Chimera burst out of the water alongside of Jormungand’s body. Luke cheered and pointed to his monster. The former teacher yelled, “I told you he would do it! I told you Chimera would kill that snake!” Chimera leapt out of the water twice more before he reached the raft and began to circle it. Luke leaned over and shouted, “Good boy, Chimera! Good boy! It will be all that you can eat when we get home!”
Pressley looked out at the circling Chimera. “Why is he circling us like that?”
Luke smiled. “He is protecting us. There isn’t a creature in this world or any other that will dare attack us. All we have to do now is wait for our ride home.”
Pressley was staring at something in the distance with a perplexed look on his face. Luke tapped the pilot’s shoulder to get his attention. “Do you see something out there? Is it a ship coming for us?”
Pressley shook his head. “It’s the weirdest thing. For a minute, I thought I saw a blonde supermodel in a bikini standing on top of the water.” The pilot shrugged. “Must have been a mirage.”
Luke looked out over the water. “Maybe a mirage or maybe you really did see what you thought.”
Chapter 19
The Space Between Dimensions
Atomic Rex found himself falling through seemingly nothingness once more. The monster was experiencing the same sensation of disorientation that he had experienced when he had first been pulled from his Earth and placed on this strange new Earth. The falling sensation came to a sudden stop which slammed Atomic Rex into the ground stomach first.
The nuclear theropod looked up to see a strange city sprawling before him with the sun shining brightly upon it. Standing in front of the city were people like the humans whom he had seen before, with the exception that these people were each thirty feet tall. The people were all holding weapons, including swords, axes, spears, and bows.
The saurian monster roared at the people gathered before him. The kaiju was angered by the constant shifting between worlds that he was being subjected to. Atomic Rex could once more sense that the people standing before him were like the one-eyed giant and the warrior that had attacked him during his battle with Chimera.
Drool dripped out of Atomic Rex’s mouth as he stared at the people who had once more moved him against his will.
The kaiju roared at the people who he was certain were going to attack him or try to invade his mind as the others had. Atomic Rex was moving toward the strange warriors and their city when one of the crowd yelled, “Heimdallr, send him to Cronus before lays waste Asgard!”
A blonde warrior stepped forward and tossed a spear that landed at Atomic Rex’s feet. The mutated dinosaur looked down at the spear which suddenly exploded in a flash of bright white light. Atomic Rex roared in anger as he was once more falling between dimensions. The monster was again shown a kaleidoscope of parallel worlds. He saw images of a strange bipedal monster with a hard caprice and orange sacks bulging out of its body moving toward a city. A vision of giant robotic cowboy fighting a demon and of a massive lion composed of flames fighting a shapeless horror.
When Atomic Rex suddenly stopped moving, he was not slammed to the ground as he had been previously. He simply stopped moving. The monster looked down at his feet to see nothing but pitch-black darkness. He looked up and the only light that he was able to see was a bright red spinning vortex that was nearby. The vortex cast off a blood-red glow that partially lit up the seemingly endless darkness that enveloped Atomic Rex. The monster took a few steps toward the light when he was hit with an overwhelming sensation. Atomic Rex sniffed the air in an attempt to locate the prey that had eluded him for so long. The monster could sense that whatever force it was that had taken from his home, put him on the strange Earth, and tried to control his mind was here with him.
The new sense that the kaiju had gained since absorbing the Phoenix allowed him to detect the trans-dimensional beings that hailed from this dimension. Atomic Rex looked directly at the swirling red portal and roared. The nuclear theropod started walking toward the portal when a gigantic humanoid figure stepped out from behind it.
Cronus tossed his robes aside so that he was only in his loin cloth. The titan’s muscles were rippling across his body. At his full height, Cronus was nearly fifty taller than Atomic Rex. Cronus shook his head as he laughed at the monster which had invaded his domain. “I must admit, beast; you have proven to be far more powerful and intelligent than I had ever imagined. I took you from your Earth to act as my puppet and you resisted my commands. Odin then had the foresight to send the Phoenix into battle with you, knowing that you would absorb its power. He hoped to control you as well, but with the enhanced powers of the Phoenix imbued into your body, you were not only able to resist him, but you actually slew the god king.”
Atomic Rex could not understand what Cronus was saying. All that the kaiju knew was that the titan had tried to manipulate him and that alone was enough reason for Atomic Rex to destroy him. Atomic Rex charged at Cronus who stood his ground. Atomic Rex had almost reached Cronus when the Dark One swung out his hand and knocked the kaiju to the ground as he screamed. “I was not finished speaking, beast!” Atomic Rex was attempting to stand up when Cronus punched him the jaw and drove the monster’s face back into the ground. Atomic Rex was lying flat on his stomach when Cronus kicked him in the ribs and sent the saurian creature flying through the air. Atomic Rex crashed back into the ground as Cronus continued his speech. “Surtr and Tiamat tried to warn me. They said that your power may rival even our own. They were correct, your power is indeed great; it was great enough to slay even Tiamat himself. While I was unable to use you to slay the humans so that I could absorb their life energy, your actions have made me even more powerful than I ever could have dreamt!”
Atomic Rex stood up and he once again charged Cronus. The titan tried to swat the mutant dinosaur aside as he done previously, but this time Atomic Rex was anticipating the move. Atomic Rex stopped short of Cronus’ reach and when the titan swung at him, the nuclear theropod shifted his head, avoiding the blow. In a flash, Atomic Rex’s jaws shot forward and closed around the Titan’s fist. Cronus screamed in a mixture of anger and pain. His eyes began to glow even a brighter red as trails of crimson smoke rose out of them. The titan then fired a bolt of energy out of the fist Atomic Rex was biting and directly down the monster’s throat. The blast scorched Atomic Rex’s throat and sent the kaiju stumbling backward. Atomic Rex was shaking his head in an attempt to stop the burning sensation to his throat when Cronus stepped forward and delivered a roundhouse punch to the monster’s ribs that buckled his knees. Cronus then scooped up Atomic Rex, lifted him in the air, and slammed him to the ground.
The titan loomed over Atomic Rex and stomped on the kaiju’s head as he screamed. “Curse you, monster! You have caused me much trouble, but my moment of triumph is at hand and you shall listen to how I attained my greatness before you die! You killed Tiamat and Chimera killed Surtr, allowing me to triple my power by absorbing theirs! You then slayed my most powerful opponent in Odin. With the power I took from my brothers, I freed the World Serpent who killed Thor and is now battling Chimera. One of them will die and I will take their life energy. I shall then kill you and take your power as well. With you power added to my own, I shall crush the winner of Chimera and the World Serpent’s battle! Then Zeus and his pathetic gods will flee before me. Soon, I shall extinguish not only all life on this earth but every Earth!”
Unbeknownst to the titan or the monster, a third individual slipped through the portal that Cronus had been watching. The slender figure shifted back into the darkness and watched the battle away from the eyes of the two combatants.
After several more stomps, Atomic Rex was bleeding from his mouth and nose. Cronus turned away from the monster and started walking back to the portal smiling. “I can sense it! Chimera has slain The World Serpent!” Cronus stood before the portal and he spread his arms above them, “Now, with the power of Jormungand, all reality shall fall to me!”
Atomic Rex forced his beaten body to stand. The monster used what remained of his strength to leap onto Cronus back. Atomic Rex bit down hard into Cronus’ shoulder and dug his claws into the titan’s side.
Cronus grunted in pain as he mocked the monster. “Do you truly think that you still possess the strength to challenge me?” The Dark One was reaching to grab Atomic Rex when he suddenly felt a blistering heat on his back. Atomic Rex dug his teeth farther into Cronus’ shoulder and then he unleashed his Atomic Wave on the titan. Cronus was at ground zero of the wave as it unleashed its fury. The titan fell to one knee with Atomic Rex still on his back, as a blue dome of nuclear energy cascading out from him. When the wave ended, Atomic Rex was still latched onto Cronus’ back. The titan’s back was raw where the wave had made initial impact and strands of smoke were rising off it.
The Dark One started to stand as he sneered. “You have used your most powerful attack and still—” Cronus’ thought was cut short by a second Atomic Wave striking him. This time, the wave threw Cronus to the ground face first. The titan screamed as the wave filleted the remaining flesh on his back and arms. Cronus bellowed in anger and placed his hands under his body to push himself back up when a third Atomic Wave slammed him back to the ground and burned the muscles on his back to the bone, and peeled the remaining hair off the giant’s head.
Cronus moaned in pain as the third wave died off. He lifted his head off the ground and he said, “How? How can you have enough power to unleash three attacks like that in such rapid succession?” Cronus’ answer came in the form of a fourth Atomic Wave that slammed his face back into the ground and singed his now exposed spine. The titan screamed in anguish as his exposed nerves were assaulted with nuclear energy.
The Dark One shook his head in disbelief as he realized that since absorbing the power of the Phoenix, Atomic Rex was now powered by nuclear fusion as opposed to fission. With this power under his command, that beast now had unlimited energy and the ability to create as many Atomic Waves as he wished. Blood spit out of Cronus mouth as he whispered, “I bragged of my power, but it is you that has become invincible.” Cronus looked toward the portal for an escape, but he knew that his death imminent. A fifth Atomic Wave shattered the Titan’s spine and burned off any flesh that remained on the back of
his legs. The blast also managed to scalp what little hair was left on Cronus head, leaving nothing but the exposed back of his skull.
The Dark One could feel Atomic Rex preparing to unleash another blast when he saw Allison step out from next to the portal wearing Thor’s belt. The belt had dramatically increased the nymph’s size and power, making her nearly the same size of Cronus. The titan screamed at her, “You! You have the power to transport me away from here! Save me and I shall grant you power beyond your dreams!”
Allison smiled and shook her head at the titan as Atomic Rex unleashed another Atomic Wave. Cronus screamed in both pain and disbelief as his body was disintegrated. With the Dark One eliminated, Atomic Rex roared at the black nothingness that surrounded him. The monster turned toward Allison and she took a step back. “No, monster, you have nothing to fear from me. You have proven too dangerous to be kept around.” She placed her hand on Thor’s belt and drew extra energy from it. “I think it’s time that we sent you home. You have cleared the board of enough game pieces for me.”
A portal opened beneath Atomic Rex that sent him tumbling through multiple realities. The monster saw all forms of other monsters as he fell. When the beast finally struck the ground, he shook his head and sniffed the air. Atomic Rex immediately knew that he had been returned to his Earth. The monster roared once at his victory over the creatures of the other Earth and then he let his concerns over them slip from his mind. Atomic Rex was hungry and his only current concern was hunting.
With Atomic Rex gone, Allison walked back over to Cronus’ portal. She looked into it and said, “A quick trip to Russia and then back to the Congo. It’s time to start tying up loose ends.”
Epilogue
Chimera Base
Luke and Pressley had drifted for nearly ten hours before a rescue plane was finally able to locate them. The two men were flown home where they were greeted by Parsons, Diana, and Luke’s family. As Luke stepped off the plane, his two daughters came running toward him. Luke felt an overwhelming sense of joy and pride at seeing his girls. They sprinted up to him and hugged him. Suzie yelled, “Daddy, Chimera beat up the devil, and a Godzilla dinosaur, and a big, big snake, bigger than the moon to save the world!”
Atomic Rex_The Conquest of Chimera Page 20
