There wouldn’t be enough time to evacuate the entire city, so they didn’t. The only thing they could do was call in help from headquarters and the Korean military. Although it might be difficult to explain the threat and still be taken seriously.

Junior looked out over the water. “It’s going to come out right there at the suspension bridge and run straight through it. It’ll be about… twenty or so stories tall. Baekho, get Aron into position on top of the skyscraper on the other riverside.”

Baekho let Aron hop onto his back and shifted them both. Twi was the usual overcast, gray, quiet spitting image of the real world. They were cut off from Minhyun’s link and Aron’s powers didn’t work. But there was no better way to get around if you had to put the heavy hitter of the team on rooftops.

The white tiger lifted off the ground and Aron clutched him even more tightly. Baekho knew the boy had an aversion against falling from great heights. Well, so did everybody, but Aron’s fear was based on prior experience.

Flying still took its time, barely faster than running, but it didn’t tire him out.

“Aron?”

“Yeah?”

“You think you can handle a…Kaiju?”

“Sure. What would stop me? As long as it doesn’t have one of those force fields that block my powers.”

Baekho chuckled. “Now that you’ve said it, it’s bound to have one. Don’t tempt fate.”

“I better knock on wood,” Aron said and knocked Baekho’s head.

“Ouch! Hey! Why did you do that?”

“Is that… don’t Korean’s do that?”

“Do what?”

“Never mind.”

Baekho dropped Aron off on the skyscraper from where he would have a perfect view of the Kaiju’s projected path. They popped. The water next to the bridge was already turbulent. Something big moved underneath, faintly visible under the surface.

He heard it before he saw it. The moment the short snout broke through the water the air vibrated with a deafening screeching overlaid by whale-like sing song. The head poked out of the water – reptilian and warty. Tiny, pure black eyes glared at the bridge ahead as water ran down the monster’s face.

The torso followed. A hideous mess of scaly, rough lumps strewn asymmetrically across the bloated belly. Six limbs with different numbers of joints rose above the surface.

“Here we go,” Aron said in English.

Nothing happened.

“Aron?” Junior asked through the link.

“I couldn’t tear it apart! I don’t know what happened. It definitely does not have a force field. It must be made from impossibly hard material – harder than diamond. Let me try something else then.”

The boy moved his hands and it was as if the Kaiju had been hit by an invisible fist that matched the monster’s size. The creature’s head was thrown back, its body bending over. It fell backward, splashing into the water.

A tail twice as long as the torso burst through the surface and smashed into the bridge from below, cutting it in half. The steel tore and contorted, cars and fleeing people falling into the river.

“Junior,” Aron sent, “Why didn’t you say anything.”

“I didn’t see any way to save the bridge anymore. It was better to get the first punch in. There’s a five percent chance it’ll just run off, so I suspect we only need to beat it up. There! It’s coming out by the hotel right there.”

Baekho didn’t see it. He wondered briefly if Junior’s prediction had been wrong.

The Kaiju jumped from the river bed right into the hotel, leaping a hundred meters in the air. It was much more mobile than its size had made him believe. It was hard to estimate how many people had been in that building. Baekho was frozen in shock.

Aron huffed. “Can I assume collateral damage isn’t a concern anymore?”

“Just do what you can,” Junior sent. “Kill it at all costs. Secrecy be damned.”

As the Kaiju screeched again, stomping through the rubble of the still collapsing building, Aron aimed his hand. An orb, brighter than the sun, was called into existence.

The American boy shot the plasma projectile towards the monster and the impact on its head produced a heatwave that melted all glass and plastic in the surrounding architecture. The air flickered from the unnatural increase in temperature.

The ultra-hard reptile was unaffected. Barely any scales had been burned. It dashed further into the city, clawing away at a few taller buildings as it stomped along a major road, cars getting wrecked under its four feet. The boys lost sight of it as it entered another district, slipping between high buildings.

“Baekho, bring me closer.”

The white tiger grabbed his companion from behind and shifted them both, carrying Aron bridal style. He wasn’t as fast as the creature, but he could get Aron to an even higher building. The American could extend his power across the whole city as long as he saw where he was aiming.

Popping out on top of the tallest skyscraper he could reach in time, Baekho looked for the creature. It had made its way further into the city, killing everyone who wasn’t fast enough.

“Oh good, you’re back,” Junior sent. “Listen, its behavior is so erratic I can’t give you anything with more than fifty percent accuracy. Basically, I think it’s a frightened animal and any little thing can make it change course.”

Aron raised his hands, hesitated and lowered them again. “I can’t hit it again. I’d only punch it into a building. It’s surrounded.”

“Throw something,” Ren suggested over the link.

“Throw what? The only thing big enough to hurt it are buildings. I’ll try to…come at it from above?”

Aron slammed as much kinetic energy as he could muster into the beast from the top down. It broke through the ground and vanished entirely in an earthquake much bigger than the one that had started it all. Multiple buildings collapsed and cracks in the road widened to swallow entire columns of fleeing cars.

The Kaiju jumped out of the hole and dashed away in a panic, making its way towards the end of the street – towards a school.

“What do I do?” Aron asked, but nobody had an idea. His voice was wavering. He had reached the limit of what his power could accomplish.

“…just… I dunno,” Junior sent. “Punch it into a less densely settled area.”

The creature was closing in on the school.

“Throw me,” Baekho said to the American.

“What?”

“Throw me!”

He wasn’t sure if Aron had understood his intent or simply believed in the white tiger’s ability to handle the situation, but Baekho found himself losing the ground under his feet and accelerating towards the Kaiju.

Aron had guided his flight well and he slammed into the cold, rough skin of the creature with just enough momentum to hold onto the lumpy spikes. He was half climbing a mountain, half riding a dragon.

As soon as he had a firm grip, Baekho shifted.

It was by far the biggest thing he had ever brought into Twi with him. There was no way of knowing in advance if it would work at all, but he had to try to save the children.

The monster didn’t slow down its assault on the city, breaking through the empty replica of the school and out the other side as if stepping through paper.

If he could hold on, he would be able to keep it in Twi until it had tired itself out or run into an unpopulated area. But that was difficult with the creature’s frantic movements throwing him left and right. If he lost his grip he’d make it pop wherever it was. He could only hope Junior was able to give Aron a warning if they had to cut it close.

He had only been riding the Kaiju for a minute or so but he was already feeling the strain on his body. He was fairly sure one or two of his fingers were broken judging by the pain. And the permanent tension he had to keep up was making his legs spasm.

A plan. He needed a plan. First, he’d let the Kaiju out. He didn’t have much of a choice there. And from his spot on the beast’s back, surrounded by fleshy spikes, it wasn’t possible for him to say what kind of area they were roaming through.

Second, he had to hope Aron and Junior were able to take care of the situation until Baekho had been able to explain the idea coalescing in his mind.

He let go. The Kaiju popped out. He rushed to the ground and returned to reality, right into a huge cloud of smoke caused by the creature stumbling into an apartment building and bringing it down around itself. Baekho shifted and flew out of range of the blast before returning to reality again. Minhyun found him immediately.

“Aron!” the white tiger sent.

“Baekho, you’re back?”

“Didn’t Junior warn you?”

“The other three are in a car driving after it. Junior can’t see right now.”

Minhyun sent “We’ll be right there. Can you get Aron? We’re trying to follow it so Junior can predict its moves.”

Baekho ran away from the fallen building while the Kaiju changed its course at random behind it. He had to ask Aron a few questions about his ability before going back into Twi and getting the American off the skyscraper.