Thanks, OWP! And just in time.
I finished the first chapter recently, and I’m pretty happy with it. I will give you a few notes on some fancy terms that you will find in this story.
Kaiju: Japanese for “monster” (怪獣) and the name of the race of humanoid shapeshifters. In the real world, you might often hear this word in association with the tradition of Japanese monster movies, such as Godzilla (Kaiju Eiga; literally “Monster Film”)
Matsuri: Japanese meaning “festival” or “holiday” (祭り), and the name of the kaiju home planet. I chose this word because their world appears very “festive” with all the colors and cuteness going around.
Lux Nova: Latin meaning “New Light”, and will serve an important purpose in the story (not gonna spoil it now; read the chapter to find out its importance)
Also, be sure to keep an eye out for a slight MU cameo!
Ok… so, here’s Chapter One!
Chapter One: Walk to Work
6:57 A.M. The beeping ring of an alarm clock sounds as James Sullivan, a man with purple-spotted blue hair and ridged horns is snoring in his bed; his hairy arms sprawled out as his alarm still rings, and the quilted comforter halfway down his hairy torso. He tosses to his side as he yawns deep and loudly. That is when a voice that sounds like the morning radio breaks through the beeping of the clock.
“Good morning Kaiju City!” the voice began to announce, “It’s 6:57 A.M. and it’s turning out to be a lovely sunny morning. Temperature’s a moderate 65°F, which is good news for you reptiles, and it’s looking like the perfect day to, I don’t know, lay around in bed or GETTING UP TO GO TO WORK!!!”
That last line seemed to be spoken through a megaphone, which caused James to fall out of his bed and to the floor due to the shock it caused him.
“Oh, Mike, did you really have to–” James began, looking up only to see a short-statured young man with horns, bright green hair covering one of his eyes, and green pajamas with eyeballs printed on them, standing over him with a megaphone in his hand. This was Michael Wazowski; James roommate, work partner, and best friend.
“You better get up if you want to beat that all-time Scare Record!” shouted Michael through his megaphone again.
The hairy man stood up, dressed only in pajama pants as he trudged over to the bathroom. Michael stood there with his megaphone, tapping his foot on the wooden floor.
“Come on Sulley!” Michael cheered as James was brushing his teeth, “Fight that plaque! Kaiju don’t have plaque!”
After that, James began his morning workout routine, with Michael there to help and motivate him. He started by pretending to roar at twins in bunk beds, the moving on to running away from human dummies Michael had constructed out of cardboard and yard sticks. They finished with some push-ups hanging from the ceiling.
“Come on, 119? I wanna see 120-- oh what’s that? 121? That’s a new record!” Michael cheered with pom-poms, “Come on, we’ve still got time for some morning television and breakfast before we go to work.”
Michael and James got out their TV tables and sat down with their bowls of Spooky Charms marshmallow cereal and blue milk. James also had the addition of a Monster™ Energy Drink sitting by his cereal bowl as he reached for the remote.
“Maybe I’ll be able to catch that special on the History Channel about the so-called ‘Ancient Prophecy’,” James told Michael.
“Sure thing,” Michael answered, “Oh, look! It’s the new commercial!!!”
During the commercial break on the History Channel, an advertisement appeared on TV, featuring a giant factory and people wearing jumpsuits and blue hard hats. A CEO-like voice narrated over the images being shown of energy and power usage.
“Here at M. Energy Incorporated, we pioneer innovative and breakthrough technology to power your city. We warm your home, we light your dark, and our energy is always clean and refined. The window of innocence is shrinking, but we match children on Earth to their perfect kaiju suited to their fears to produce only the highest quality scream energy.”
An image of a person using a virtual reality simulation with glasses was shown on screen roaring loudly as he snuck around.
“I’m M. Energy Incorporated!” one hard-hat worker stated.
“I’m also M. Energy Incorporated!” said another worker.
“I’m M. Energy Incorporated, and I’ve been in this business for quite a while,” Mr. Waternoose appeared on the screen with a cart of yellow canisters, “And I could not have gotten here without the help of all our loyal and wonderful, hard-working employees here; aren’t they just the cutest bunch ever?!!”
The scene then switched from a cutesy, googly-eyed Mr. Waternoose cuddling a plush canister to that of the lobby, where a bunch of employees were featured in a group shout in front of the reception desk, with Michael and James standing up front. The logo for the company appeared on screen, right over Michael’s face.
“Here at M. Energy Incorporated,” began James, “We always make sure that we put our best foot forward to serve a much greater need; to provide the necessities needed for our people to survive.”
“M. Energy Incorporated!” Mr. Waternoose’s voice boomed, “We Scare, because We Care.”
After the commercial finished, Michael stared at the screen in disbelief.
“I don’t believe it…” Michael started off, “I was… IN A TV COMMERCIAL!!!”
James facepalmed as Michael started dancing and singing, “Look at me, I was on TV!!!” all around the room, until the TV announcer said, “And now, for our History Channel special of the day, the Ancient Lux Nova Prophecy: Fact or Fable?”
“Oh boy, it’s on Mike!” James cheered.
“This prophecy was written many centuries ago,” began a professor with glasses and a suit, “Linguists who specialize in historical languages have decoded the text, but unfortunately, not its meaning.”
“Lux Nova literally means ‘New Light’ in the Ancient Classical Kaiju tongue,” the narrator began, “For centuries, historians have tried to figure out what this ‘new light’ could possibly be. Could it be a new era of knowledge on Matsuri? Could it be that our sun will enter a new stage of its star life? Or is it something that is beyond the grasp of even our minds today?”
“The prophecy text is still a mystery today,” started a woman with her red hair done in buns, “It tells of a time coming when a shadow of impending darkness threatens to destroy our way of life, a chosen child from the other realm shall set foot in the realm of the kaiju, and impart on them a gift of new light. It also states that the chosen child will be identified by two things. First, it will be young and incapable of speech as of yet, and second this child shall have three fears, which when manifest together will cause the child much torment.”
“The three fears are: reptiles, serpentine hissing, and invisibility,” the narrator explained as ancient frescos and mosaics were shown depicting a human child in sleepwear glowing and ready to unleash a power blast as a serpentine, lizard-like creature appeared before it, adorned with the frond crest of an iguana and seeming to appeared out of a patterned bedroom wall as it hissed its blue forked tongue; a sinister glare appearing in its glistening green eyes.
“Please Michael, don’t go saying anything on the Energy Floor today, alright?” James asked a favor.
“You know you just ruined the fun of this program, right,” Michael grunted, “Besides, even if we did make note of this to you-know-who, he’d think it’s all bogus anyway.”
“However,” the red-haired woman continued, “It says that with the help of two guardians, this chosen one shall subdue these fears, and only then give the kaiju, that being us, this gift of Lux Nova.”
“As far as the two guardians go, not much is known about them, other than they will protect this child and help it subdue the three fears,” the narrator continued, “which actually, point to one specific race of kaiju: the vanishing lizard.”
“It is surprising that this prophecy would paint a vanishing lizard in such an antagonistic light,” a science specialist named Professor Brandywine began speaking, “Normally, vanishing lizards are quite the opposite; loving, warm, friendly, hospitable, and known to be sweet, cuddly, and adorable beyond all belief. It’s in their nature to crave companionship, warm hugs, and having their antennae petted. So, if this prophecy is true, then it must be mentioning a member of this race that would be an exception, not the rule.”
Footage of rapidly-changing time in a city was shown, as the narrator concluded with, “From the looks of it, this prophecy could just be another bogus legend. Many claim in this day that it is indeed coming true, with a power shortage signaling the ‘impending darkness’. However, none of the other signs have come to pass, and it’s all just probably mass hysteria in the wake of a power blackout. Besides, if a human child were to set foot on this world, can you imagine all the Poison Control center agents that would be scrambled across the world?! In conclusion, this prophecy is a joke. Oh, and by the way, ALIENS.”
Michael sat there, staring at the screen as James switched it off, saying “Well Mike, that was a very educational insight on historical ancient stupidity with their legends of light vs. dark. And now it’s time for us to go to the energy plant where we will work to keep people out of the dark.”
Before they knew it, Michael and James were out the door, walking down the sidewalk, greeting most of their friends as they went their way.
“Are you sure we can’t take the car?” asked Michael.
“Nope,” answered James, “We’ve got a power shortage coming, so it’s best if we save the energy. That’s why were walking.”
As the two continued to stroll along they also greeted a local grocer and some kids playing Double Dutch jump rope. A man passed by reading his morning newspaper, unfortunately sneezing fire on it. A garbage collector walked by the grocery, sweeping up the trash then eating it. James even greeted a neighbor who transformed into a dinosaur-like being with the clucking of a chicken.
“Have a good day, Ted!” James told the large beast as it crossed the intersection. James and Michael followed along.
“This is it Mike,” began James, “Today, I may just break that record. I won’t be mad if I don’t, I’ll just be okay with whatever the results are today.”
The two friends found themselves on the front steps of a giant energy collection facility, the blue “M” eye logo boldly emblazoned on the main tower as if it were overlooking the city.
I’m working on Chapter Two already, which is guaranteed to fill up 10 laugh canisters. Until then, hope you enjoyed the first chapter of this epic tale! (aside from the prologue)