Kenai Mountains, Alaska
United States of America
MDF Expedition Members
- Karl Walker: Team Leader
- Katherine Petrov: Tech Expert
- Alice Neeman: Pilot and Engineer
- Ishiro Takarada: Combat / Science
A veil of white spread across the landscape as the MFD transports scuttled across the snow Alice was driving one of the Sno-Cats she shook about in her seat “This not like flying a plane” Kit leaned over in the her seat which was behind Alice’s “At least this one is safely on the ground Alice” Alice looked over her shoulder “Hey I crashed ONCE don’t hold that against me, the massive furry flying reptile is to blame for that” Kit laughed “Alright but there’s no Thunder Wing this time” Alice nodded with a smile “I shall keep this upright” as she said that the sno-cat hit some sort of dip in the terrain it shook violently with a bang everyone on board braced themselves with a bit of concern Alice winced a bit from embarrassment “Well…mostly upright” the sno-cat continued to crawl across the snow.
The other members on the cat along with Alice and Kit was their team leader Walker and a new recruit still in training, it was Agent Ishiro Takarada who after Gigarrah’s attack in Japan 24 months ago requested to leave the JSDF and join the Mega-Fauna Division to help in dealing with the creatures that were scattered across the world. Takarada felt a bit uneasy this was his first in the field mission after all the training he went through he still had a few months to go but Walker had requested him specifically for this expedition, Walker could tell he was nervous “Shinkeishitsuna?” Takarada looked from the window “Please speaking in English helps me to learn” Walker nodded “Sorry, although your English is excellent already” Takarada gave a slight head bow “Thank you, so may I ask where are we going?” Walker gave a sly smirk “Now that is a surprise Ishiro” Alice looked into the rearview mirror “I only know the coordinates I’m very much in the dark also” Walker looked to Alice “Then you both are in for a surprise” Walker glanced at Kit and both gave a smirk each of them knew what was at the end of the journey.
The caravan of Sno-Cats and trailers stopped at a large ridge near the Kenai mountains, everyone disembarked shoes crunching in the thick snow Walker pointed to the other teams “Right group one set up the monitoring stations, group two set up the carrier for living quarters, group three establish communications and command centre and group four get to work on the perimeter lighting we are in for some dark nights ahead” all the team members darted off to their assigned duties Walker turned to Takarada “Ishiro stick with me for now and help with setting up the command centre” Takarada nodded in agreement.
United States of America
MDF Expedition Members
- Karl Walker: Team Leader
- Katherine Petrov: Tech Expert
- Alice Neeman: Pilot and Engineer
- Ishiro Takarada: Combat / Science
A veil of white spread across the landscape as the MFD transports scuttled across the snow Alice was driving one of the Sno-Cats she shook about in her seat “This not like flying a plane” Kit leaned over in the her seat which was behind Alice’s “At least this one is safely on the ground Alice” Alice looked over her shoulder “Hey I crashed ONCE don’t hold that against me, the massive furry flying reptile is to blame for that” Kit laughed “Alright but there’s no Thunder Wing this time” Alice nodded with a smile “I shall keep this upright” as she said that the sno-cat hit some sort of dip in the terrain it shook violently with a bang everyone on board braced themselves with a bit of concern Alice winced a bit from embarrassment “Well…mostly upright” the sno-cat continued to crawl across the snow.
The other members on the cat along with Alice and Kit was their team leader Walker and a new recruit still in training, it was Agent Ishiro Takarada who after Gigarrah’s attack in Japan 24 months ago requested to leave the JSDF and join the Mega-Fauna Division to help in dealing with the creatures that were scattered across the world. Takarada felt a bit uneasy this was his first in the field mission after all the training he went through he still had a few months to go but Walker had requested him specifically for this expedition, Walker could tell he was nervous “Shinkeishitsuna?” Takarada looked from the window “Please speaking in English helps me to learn” Walker nodded “Sorry, although your English is excellent already” Takarada gave a slight head bow “Thank you, so may I ask where are we going?” Walker gave a sly smirk “Now that is a surprise Ishiro” Alice looked into the rearview mirror “I only know the coordinates I’m very much in the dark also” Walker looked to Alice “Then you both are in for a surprise” Walker glanced at Kit and both gave a smirk each of them knew what was at the end of the journey.
The caravan of Sno-Cats and trailers stopped at a large ridge near the Kenai mountains, everyone disembarked shoes crunching in the thick snow Walker pointed to the other teams “Right group one set up the monitoring stations, group two set up the carrier for living quarters, group three establish communications and command centre and group four get to work on the perimeter lighting we are in for some dark nights ahead” all the team members darted off to their assigned duties Walker turned to Takarada “Ishiro stick with me for now and help with setting up the command centre” Takarada nodded in agreement.
Night brought a cold darkness with it the camp was illuminated, Walker was talking to other members of the team “Everything all set up?” one of them a woman replied “Yes all equipment is ready to go” Walker smiled “Well done now get some rest we will start up properly tomorrow” the group nodded and went off to the bunks for a good night sleep. Walker wandered to the centre of the camp where a campfire had been set up Alice, Kit and Ishiro were all sat around the dancing flames Walker approached them “Getting warm?” Alice was sat in a fold-up deck chair with a cup of hot chocolate “I thought it would be colder with all the snow” Walker shrugged “Yeah the weather can be a bit unpredictable in this region” he sat down with the all of them with Kit pouring a cup of hot chocolate for him “I’m sorry but you will all have to put up with oak milk” Walker took the cup with both hands to feel the warmth “It’s alright I understand that you can’t have normal milk” Kit poured a cup for Ishiro who gave a quick bow of thanks.
The flames crackled and popped as the group sat chatting to each other Alice spoke: “So Karl why are we here?” Walker put up a hand “You will find out tomorrow Neeman” Alice hated not knowing “I thought joining the monster club would answer all my questions” Takarada looked to Alice “I thought you worked for MFD already?” Alice turned to the new recruit and shook her head “No I was part of the air force, the MFD doesn’t have a proper military force so they have use of the military whenever needed of Mega-Fauna activity” Takarada looked puzzled “Mega-Fauna?” Kit replied “It’s the term we use for the creatures it’s not clever but it makes sense for overly large animals, in Japan don’t you have the term Kaiju” Takarada nodded “Yes but me and my at the JSDF always called them Titans because we don’t see them as animals these creatures are almost like gods” Walker thought about then replied “Titans does sound cooler” the group laughed, Takarada was curious about the group of people around him he knew nothing about them “Do you all remember the first time you saw one? In-person” the group paused for a moment Walker put the cup down “Bloody hell it was twelve…no fifteen years ago I was working with biologists in the South Pacific as part of a wildlife survey. Our ship was off the coast of Nauru when something struck the hull from below it woke me from my bunk, I made my way on deck and the Professor that I was working for was screaming and shouting at some of the men on deck who had got rifles from the armoury. The Professor was looking out to the water I couldn’t see anything I thought we had struck a reef, suddenly the water burst up high the air and the head of this massive dark red speckled eel rose up. Now I had only studied about Mega-Fauna at University any footage was photos and video so to see this immense animal right before me was something unbelievable and something that I wanted to spend my life learning and understanding” he then looked to Takarada with a more sympathetic gaze “Although it does certainly have its darker moments” Takarada gave the slightest nod in reciprocation, Walker picked the cup again “That was the first recorded incident of The Great Moray then through working with Professor Lance is how the Division found me and it’s been my duty ever since” Ishiro looked to Kit “What about you?” Kit’s was easy to remember “Easy I joined the MFD about five years ago and I started working on the HQs servers because at the time before I arrived they were crap. After the first two years of working in the office, I was getting a bit bored so I requested to join a field team because I wanted to feel like that my job mattered more if I could be out there and I wanted to learn more than just working with machines but to understand the animals we would be seeing, so I got to train with Walker in learning the biology of the Mega-Fauna he took me to one that I thought was unbelievable but that’s a whole other story” Walker took a sip from his drink then looked to the ex-air force pilot “So what about you Neeman?” Neeman sat forward in her chair she pondered; with being part of the air force working with the MFD in several creature incidents became quite common, the military is almost a partner group for the Division.
After thinking she remembered the first time “Right I was twenty one I had finished all my flight training about a year before so I had done several missions and flights, but I was stationed at in Iraq when a caravan of refugees from a village about thirty miles had to evacuate from unknown seismic activity. My squadron took choppers and did a fly over the village to see if it was any insurgent activity but there was no sign of any enemy activity, so after landing the squad that was onboard they went into the village to check that the area was clear but they got about a hundred feet from the helo when the ground began to shake as the men rushed back the ground was cracking all around them, they managed to get back on board and we took off before a massive fissure swallowed us up. Above the village we watched as everything erupted in a huge mass of dust and rock…it was unbelievable, it was terrifying…” Kit looked to Neeman with a hint of concern “What was it?” Neeman struggled to remember the name “It’s was Unk…Ancalsomething” Walker knew the creature she was talking about “Ancalagon…it’s a name of a dragon from a Tolkien story, they thought it was fitting for a massive subterranean desert lizard” Neeman thought back to the village “Massive was an understatement that thing was at the biggest one I’ve ever seen, although Thunder Wing was pretty big too” Neeman took a sip from her drink “Never thought I’d leave the air force and would be joining a science group” Walker sat upright more “That night I saw potential in you, you could handle yourself in a dire situation and I have to selfishly admit a pilot is a something our team is in need” Neeman looked at Walker with a sense of guilt “You remember that I crashed my jet…into your car and one of your team was killed” Walker knew that what happened to Davidson had stuck with Neeman “Like I said this job has it’s dark moments and what happened to Davidson is not and never will be your fault, it’s the risk that comes with doing what we do we mourn those we lose then we get back to the job” Kit smiled “We are the MFD” Walker raised his cup followed by Kit then Neeman and Ishiro then Walker spoke “Alice Neeman, Ishiro Takarada welcome to the MFD” the two newcomers looked to each other and smiled at the adventure they were about to start however something caught Neeman’s eye “What the hell is going on?!” everyone looked over and she got up from the chair “What’s going with the snow!” the group looked to see that the snowflakes had stopped in mid fall just suspended, Ishiro also got up from his chair looking at the snow in utter bewilderment as Walker just sipped his hot chocolate with a very unconcerned look. Neeman turned to Walker “I’m sorry but how are you not seeing how weird this is?!” Walker glanced around at the snow then nodded slightly “Yeah that is weird” Neeman couldn’t believe how calm Walker was being, Walker gave a casual smirk “Hang on a second” he got up from the chair and walked passed the group and made his way to the edge of the cliff which looked out into the vast expanse of black of the night, nothing was visible but Walker stood gazing into the dark he gave out a shrill whistle then folded his arms then slapped his arms together which echoed across the landscape, when the last echo faded away the snow began to fall again Walker smiled as Kit came over and stood next to him he leaned over slightly to her “Someone is in a fun mood tonight” Kit nodded “He always gets excited when you’re here” Walker gave a bit of a chuckle “Well we will have plenty of time to play in the morning” he glanced over his shoulder and Neeman and Ishiro and snorted a bit of a laugh “Neeman’s face was a picture” Kit replied “I almost lost it when I saw her face” Walker gestured to head back “Come on let’s head back” Walker and Kit walked back over to the fire Neeman was still shocked “Come on Walker what the hell was that?” Walker grinned “All will be revealed in the morning, now everyone go get some rest” Walker watched as his team headed to the sleeping cabin for the night but he returned to the campfire to enjoy the snowfall for a bit longer and finish his drink.
The morning bought a fresh crisp dawn the snow had stopped falling and skies were clear, Walker stepped out of the living quarters and took a deep breath of the cold air and gave a big sigh of get the blood flowing ready to start the day, he clambered down the steps and headed towards the cliff where the survey equipment was stationed. At the cliff the rest of the team was waiting by the survey station as Walker arrived he looked to Kit “All the measurement equipment ready?” she nodded in reply “Yep everything has been calibrated and sample containers have been sterilised” Walker gave a thumbs up, Ishiro gazed at the equipment then looked over to Walker “So what is this for?” Walker smirked “Ishiro, Neeman come with me” he wandered over to the edge of the cliff with the two newcomers following behind. Walker was stood where he was standing last night he looked out to the vast landscape in the farthest distance there were two mountains one was very large with a smaller one on the left side of it, Walker looked to Neeman and Ishiro “You ready for this?” Neeman looked puzzled “Yes I want to know what is going on” Walker nodded “Ok then” he looked back out to the landscape he whistled three times clapped his hands twice and yelled out a word in another language that Neeman didn’t understand, Walker stepped back from the edge “Guys prepare to meet Maujaq”.
Out into the wilds, the team looked trying to see something amongst the forest to the left or the wide snow-covered grasslands that expanded for miles towards the mountains but there was nothing when suddenly the smaller mountain began to move. The snow that was a white blanket began to break and fall away into a plume of cloud revealing fur beneath it, under all the snow was something large, something alive, with the snow cascading to the ground the massive head raised high in the air and released and long eerie howl that echoed out into the morning sky, to large paws pounded into the ground and pushed the large body upright. Neeman couldn’t believe it the whole mountain was gone and now this animal was emerging “Holy…shit” Walker glanced over at Neeman and gave out a sly grin, with the snow settled in the mountains place stood and a colossal beast that looked like a wolf with tatty grey fur which it shook to get rid of any lingering snow. The wolf looked into the direction of the cliff where the team was set up Walker warned the others “You guys may want to steady yourselves” the wolf barked and began to bound towards them carving small craters as it ran, the team stumbled slightly from the ground rumbling as the wolf approached but Walker managed to step forward and thrust out his arms wide “MAUJAQ!!!” the wolf continued its run which started to make the ground shake more Walker clapped his hands twice and shouted “STOP!” hearing the command Maujaq slowed down into trot and reached the cliff sitting down at the base of it. Being over 200 feet in height Maujaq when sat down could still loom over the Walker, the wolf looked down at the team panting from the run Walker looked to Ishiro and Neeman “So guys meet Canis Gigantea otherwise known as Maujaq” Neeman and Ishiro were awestruck as the massive wolf’s head came down towards them Walker turned and wandered off to Maujaq with a huge grin but making sure not to show any teeth “Hey boy have you missed me?!” Maujaq let out a whimper and slumped his head onto the ground Walker cocked his head “Oh come on is hasn’t been that long buddy” he stood next to Maujaq’s muzzle and started rubbing the fur vigorously “I got you plenty rubs, you like your rubs don’t you buddy” Walker kept stroking Maujaq’s fur, despite the huge difference in size Maujaq was a sucker for any kind of strokes on his fur making just him seem as tame as a normal house dog.
Neeman and Ishiro still couldn’t believe what they were seeing Neeman took a step forward towards Walker “Oh my god” Walker looked to Neeman “Bet you weren’t expecting this?” Neeman shook her head “Uh certainly not” Ishiro spoke out “So what is he?” Walker looked up to Maujaq “This big furball is very special, his name is Inuit for snow because as you saw last night Maujaq is an elemental and can control snow and ice” Neeman smirked, “Wait that was him?” Walker gave a slight chuckle “He can get quite playful when we visit him” Kit wandered over and stood next to Ishiro “I told you he was excited to see you Boss”. Neeman looked from Kit back Walker “So how did you find him?” Walker replied “It was by chance there was a weather station in the Arctic that was getting weird results of fluctuating temperatures from this region but when they came to investigate they were told by a tribe of Inuit people about a legend called the ‘Winter Wolf’ was behind it. Hearing that they called in the MFD in case the rumours turned out to be true and they were right and that’s how we found Maujaq” Ishiro moved a bit closer towards the massive wolf “Is this expedition used to monitor his threat level?” Walker nodded “We do this expedition for a whole other reason like I said Maujaq is very special not only does he control things like ice and snow he also controls the actual weather of the planet” Neeman gave a confused look “What do you mean?” Walker tried to explain “The polar ice caps and the regulation of the Earth’s temperature are all because of him, however with climate change, it’s becoming a bit of a struggle for him to maintain that control, so we come every couple of months to check up on his health and monitor his activity but he is no threat to us” Neeman was trying to understand how this one creature could control so much “How can he control so much?” Walker paused for moment “Well actually when we spoke to the Inuit tribes about the stories it states that there are meant to be two wolves, Maujaq is the North wolf and down in the South pole is meant to be his mate known in the legend as Sikuaq and they in tandem control the temperatures” Ishiro was curious “Have you seen the South wolf?” Walker shook his “We’ve done a couple of expeditions down to the South region, but we’ve found nothing of Sikuaq” Neeman interjected “Do you think the female exists?” glancing back up to Maujaq Walker gave a slight hopeful smile “I like to think so, I mean he’s here and is real so there’s a good chance that Sikuaq is real too, maybe she’s just shy but I’m hoping that if she does show then we can have the world’s first Mega-Fauna pups and then help heal the world”.
Walker noticed that Neeman was being cautious but was definitely curious about Maujaq “Do you want to come and pet him?” Neeman gave a gasp of excitement but she was hesitant but Walker held out a hand “Come on he won’t bite” she moved forward her feet crunching in the snow, as she stepped closer she noticed that Maujaq raised up and moved his head to look down at her, he then lowered his head slightly and moved closer then began sniffing the air getting Neeman’s scent Walker did the claps then point down to the ground “Come down buddy!” Maujaq placed his head down on the ground as Neeman stood next to Walker who placed a hand of Maujaq’s fur first, Neeman raised a hand up and glanced to Walker who smiled at her “Go on he’s a big fluffball really” she placed her hand gently on the fur it was stir but still soft she ran her fingers along Maujaq’s muzzle “Holy shit this is amazing” Walker did give a slight warning “Two things…one if you are going to smile make sure not to show teeth just like normal wolves baring teeth can be considered aggression” Neeman kept stroking the fur “And what’s the second one?” Walker replied “Don’t let him lick you otherwise you will be drenched” Neeman let out a laugh as Walker noticed Ishiro who was still stood a fair distance away Walker nodded over “You can join in if you want Ishiro it’s perfectly safe” Ishiro gazed up at Maujaq and felt intimidated next to the colossal animal he raised both hands defensively “Maybe later” there was a bit of tension and hesitation that both Walker and Kat noticed with a passing glance they gave each other.
Playtime was over Walker looked to his team “Ok we will have time for fun later, now let’s get to work” he walked away from Maujaq and over to the others “Kit can you take Neeman and gather the data from the weather station” he looked to Neeman “It’s about 3 miles away you up for the drive?” Neeman smiled at Kit then faced Walker “I’m up for a drive” Walker nodded “Excellent Kit will show you how to access and document the data it will help us see Maujaq’s activity on the environment”, Neeman and Kit heading towards the Sno-Cats as Walker spoke to Ishiro “So it’s just the boys then, now since you want to learn to understand the biology of Mega-Fauna I’m going to teach you how to record the morphology data of Mauja” Ishiro gave a stern nod when it came to orders that military training would kick in and give Ishiro the focus he needed to get a job done. Maujaq was still sat overlooking the campsite watching all the people wander about beneath him, he loved all the attention he got from Walker and the team from below came the tree arm claps from Walker which made Maujaq look down, Walker spoke loudly “Alright buddy can you come down here” Maujaq lowered his head onto the ground the closest of his eyes was fixed on Walker “Ok now show us those pearly whites” Walker put his arms together interlocking his fingers and then opened his arms making it look like a mouth opening, Maujaq peeled back the flews of his upper jaw which went into a fake snarl but allowed the rows of teeth to be shown “Beautiful smile buddy” Ishiro was surprised that Maujaq responded to commands he spoke to Walker “You’ve taught him commands?” Walker responded “Yep we trained him with several commands it was surprisingly easy just like a dog at home” Walker stepped closer to the teeth the canine fangs were bigger than any person Walker inspected each one closely “Good, good colouration, no visible signs of disease or infection” he knelt down to the bottom flews as another one of the workers gave him a sample bottle, using a swab he collected several samples of saliva and DNA from Maujaq’s gums to check in detail if there is any sign of gum disease. Ishiro marked each of the bottles and placed them inside one of the sample bags then wrote time the date and time of the samples in the logbook, Walker wandered over to Maujaq’s right side getting closer to his ears the ears were long and pointed but ridged on the inside of the ear and on the neck was a set of two long reddish skin Ishiro pointed to them “Walker what are those things on his neck?” Walker looked to them “Ah yes, Maujaq has ears similar to a bat which gives him incredible hearing and the parts on his neck are a type of Tympanic membrane with fluid-filled bones which are basically ‘extra ears’, when you look at it with the two normal ears at two of the Tympanum on each side Maujaq actually has six ears so his auditory sense near immeasurable” they tested Maujaq’s hearing by making various degree of sounds and seeing how quick Maujaq would respond to them, everything turned out excellent.
After all tests and samples were collected the team were eating in the mess hall that was in one of the trailers, Walker took a bite from one of the MREs whilst Neeman gave out a laugh “Can’t believe you guys have these, I’ve eaten my fair share of MREs in the army” Kit also took a bite “We’ve eaten plenty of these working for the division especially in a place like this so far away from nearest Chinese place” Neeman smiled “Oh I could go for some Mexican food about now” Ishiro nodded “Nah pizza or slow-cooked beef” the group continued laughing. When Neeman and Ishiro had gone to get some rest Walker was with Kit sat in the control centre, Walker leaned back in the chair “So Kit what do you think of our new recruits?” Kit took a moment and then spoke “They are more than suited for this job they both come from military so they can cope with tough and life-threatening situations, I mean Alice went pretty much head to head with Thunder Wing and Ishiro has battled Gigarrah so they’ve had some experience with Mega-Fauna” Walker agreed “Yeah that was what I saw in both of them and the fact that both of them requested to join the MFD” Kit quickly checked the monitors and saw Maujaq was asleep “Although Ishiro seemed rather hesitant to interact with Maujaq” Walker nodded another agreement “I noticed that too, I think to see another one so close after what happened in Japan maybe he’s having second thoughts I should have a talk with him, Kit pointed to the monitors next to her “Well you’ve got a chance he’s outside right now” Walker got up and looked to the monitors and saw Ishiro sitting near Maujaq “Carry on with the notes Kit, I’ll be back shortly” Walker walked passed her to her work.
The night was clear and Walker had left Kit to finish up the notes on the computer and to send the data to HQ, Walker had left the lab stepping outside he saw Maujaq sleeping against the cliff his head resting on the ground the restful breaths from a deep sleep growled out into the night. As Walker wandered over he saw Ishiro was sat on some storage crates with a hot drink watching Maujaq Walker spoke softly “Are you ok?” Ishiro snapped back to reality and noticed Walker standing nearby “Sorry…I was just thinking” Walker came and sat next to Ishiro he noticed that Ishiro seemed to be a bit withdrawn, “I noticed that you seemed to be keeping your distance away from Maujaq whilst we did our work and it made me wonder…he was your first wasn’t he?” Ishiro glanced at him Walker continued “Gigarrah was the first Mega-Fauna that you saw” there was silence then Ishiro spoke “Yes I had seen footage on TV and on Internet but that day in Nakasato was the first time seeing with my own eyes” Walker watched his own feet shuffle in the snow “It’s life changing when you see one in real life but for you, you were thrown in the deep end with facing the worst one of them all” Ishiro took a sip from his cup “I tried everything to protect the people of the that city but I could barely save my own men, I still see those charred screaming faces looking back at me” Walker placed a hand on Ishiro’s shoulder “This is why I brought you here Ishiro, I know it was because of the devastation of Nakasato that powerlessness you felt is why you wanted to join the MFD to try and help people, like what I said last night there will be some days when we will feel useless I’ve felt that recently especially with what happened with Thunder Wing, but there are days like with Maujaq and many others that give a sense of wonderment and excitement and I wouldn’t want to do any other job than working with these amazing animals” he smiled at Ishiro “You are a part of the team now so through whatever nature throws at us we will be there for each other” Ishiro smiled back at Walker “I really appreciate everything you’ve taught over the months, thank you Walker-san” Walker nodded in respect “My pleasure Takarada-san but just to let you know there’s no need for formality with me you only need to call me Walker or Karl”.
Walker looked to Maujaq and saw an ear twitch “Is he asleep?” Ishiro shook his head “No he thinks he’s playing a game where he thinks that I don’t know he’s awake when I look away I know he’s opening his eyes” Walker gave a smirk “Watch this” he stood up and slowly crept over to Maujaq grabbing a hand full of snow which he rolled in his hands forming it into a ball, with a quick step and an impressive heaving throw he launched the snowball fast which struck Maujaq on the nose which caused the big wolf to flinch. Maujaq rose up quickly shaking his head and sneezed from the snow. Walker laughed “Ishiro knew you were faking it buddy” Maujaq gave a frustrated growl at being found out then looked up to the night sky Walker spoke “Now come on don’t throw a huff” Walker gave three claps to get the wolf’s attention, Maujaq looked down and Walker gestured to him “Come down here” Maujaq lowered his head placing the front of his muzzle almost level to the ground Walker began stroking the fur under Maujaq’s chin and he began to whimper happily “See you can’t stay mad at me buddy” he laughed whilst playing with Maujaq.
Ishiro was surprised at the scene over the past decades these immense titans had caused so much destruction, nowhere was one man playing with one it was a glimpse into a bigger world that Ishiro had only seen a fraction of back in Nakasato but a world that he wanted to understand more of. Walker turned to Ishiro and waved him over “Come on Ishiro this is your first chance at touching one of your titans” Ishiro stood up and cautiously made his way Walker coaxed him a bit more “I am serious you are perfectly safe here” Ishiro held out a hand which then made contact with the fur of Maujaq’s muzzle and he began to slowly run his fingers through it, Maujaq let out a slow happy growl Walker smiled “Not so terrifying now?” Ishiro was speechless he just let out a laugh of excitement and touching what the locals believe to be a god “This is incredible Walker” Walker patted him on the shoulder “There will be more days like this to come…welcome to the MFD Ishiro” the two continued to play with Maujaq for a little bit longer.
The days of the expedition had come and gone and now it was time for the team to head home all the equipment and tents had been packed away and the convoy of sno-cats and trailers were ready to leave, Walker was with Maujaq his face completely against Maujaq’s upper flews stroking the fur again Walker always hated leaving “I’ll miss you buddy but it’s time to go” he stepped back and looked up to the giant wolf who gave a sad whimper “I promise it won’t be long and I’ll be back to play some more” Maujaq gave a quick bark which Walker took as an agreement “Alright see you later buddy” he wandered over to the Sno-Cat which had Neeman, Ishiro and Kit waiting for him he looked to his team “Ready to go home?” they all nodded as Kit climbed in “Neeman you take a break and I’ll drive” Neeman nodded “Thanks Kit, after you Ishiro” she gestured for Ishiro to climb aboard first to which he pleasantly agreed, the two sat down and buckled in as Ishiro looked to Neeman speaking quietly “Are you nervous about all this?” she nodded “I am but I’m also excited, we’ve got each other’s backs and it’s going to be an epic adventure” Ishiro replied “It certainly will be an adventure”. Walker climbed onto the Sno-Cat still hanging out looking at Maujaq he banged on the roof “Ok Kit take us home” Kit turned the keys and started the engines “On it Boss”, the Sno-Cats pulled away trudging across the snow Walker leaned into the Cat at the team “You guys will want to see this wind down the windows” Neeman and Ishiro looked out of the windows and back at Maujaq, Walker leaned out and began to howl into the air as he howled Maujaq reared up slightly and threw back his head releasing a long, deep and beautiful howl which echoed as a goodbye to the team as Walker howled in farewell back to the Winter Wolf.
The flames crackled and popped as the group sat chatting to each other Alice spoke: “So Karl why are we here?” Walker put up a hand “You will find out tomorrow Neeman” Alice hated not knowing “I thought joining the monster club would answer all my questions” Takarada looked to Alice “I thought you worked for MFD already?” Alice turned to the new recruit and shook her head “No I was part of the air force, the MFD doesn’t have a proper military force so they have use of the military whenever needed of Mega-Fauna activity” Takarada looked puzzled “Mega-Fauna?” Kit replied “It’s the term we use for the creatures it’s not clever but it makes sense for overly large animals, in Japan don’t you have the term Kaiju” Takarada nodded “Yes but me and my at the JSDF always called them Titans because we don’t see them as animals these creatures are almost like gods” Walker thought about then replied “Titans does sound cooler” the group laughed, Takarada was curious about the group of people around him he knew nothing about them “Do you all remember the first time you saw one? In-person” the group paused for a moment Walker put the cup down “Bloody hell it was twelve…no fifteen years ago I was working with biologists in the South Pacific as part of a wildlife survey. Our ship was off the coast of Nauru when something struck the hull from below it woke me from my bunk, I made my way on deck and the Professor that I was working for was screaming and shouting at some of the men on deck who had got rifles from the armoury. The Professor was looking out to the water I couldn’t see anything I thought we had struck a reef, suddenly the water burst up high the air and the head of this massive dark red speckled eel rose up. Now I had only studied about Mega-Fauna at University any footage was photos and video so to see this immense animal right before me was something unbelievable and something that I wanted to spend my life learning and understanding” he then looked to Takarada with a more sympathetic gaze “Although it does certainly have its darker moments” Takarada gave the slightest nod in reciprocation, Walker picked the cup again “That was the first recorded incident of The Great Moray then through working with Professor Lance is how the Division found me and it’s been my duty ever since” Ishiro looked to Kit “What about you?” Kit’s was easy to remember “Easy I joined the MFD about five years ago and I started working on the HQs servers because at the time before I arrived they were crap. After the first two years of working in the office, I was getting a bit bored so I requested to join a field team because I wanted to feel like that my job mattered more if I could be out there and I wanted to learn more than just working with machines but to understand the animals we would be seeing, so I got to train with Walker in learning the biology of the Mega-Fauna he took me to one that I thought was unbelievable but that’s a whole other story” Walker took a sip from his drink then looked to the ex-air force pilot “So what about you Neeman?” Neeman sat forward in her chair she pondered; with being part of the air force working with the MFD in several creature incidents became quite common, the military is almost a partner group for the Division.
After thinking she remembered the first time “Right I was twenty one I had finished all my flight training about a year before so I had done several missions and flights, but I was stationed at in Iraq when a caravan of refugees from a village about thirty miles had to evacuate from unknown seismic activity. My squadron took choppers and did a fly over the village to see if it was any insurgent activity but there was no sign of any enemy activity, so after landing the squad that was onboard they went into the village to check that the area was clear but they got about a hundred feet from the helo when the ground began to shake as the men rushed back the ground was cracking all around them, they managed to get back on board and we took off before a massive fissure swallowed us up. Above the village we watched as everything erupted in a huge mass of dust and rock…it was unbelievable, it was terrifying…” Kit looked to Neeman with a hint of concern “What was it?” Neeman struggled to remember the name “It’s was Unk…Ancalsomething” Walker knew the creature she was talking about “Ancalagon…it’s a name of a dragon from a Tolkien story, they thought it was fitting for a massive subterranean desert lizard” Neeman thought back to the village “Massive was an understatement that thing was at the biggest one I’ve ever seen, although Thunder Wing was pretty big too” Neeman took a sip from her drink “Never thought I’d leave the air force and would be joining a science group” Walker sat upright more “That night I saw potential in you, you could handle yourself in a dire situation and I have to selfishly admit a pilot is a something our team is in need” Neeman looked at Walker with a sense of guilt “You remember that I crashed my jet…into your car and one of your team was killed” Walker knew that what happened to Davidson had stuck with Neeman “Like I said this job has it’s dark moments and what happened to Davidson is not and never will be your fault, it’s the risk that comes with doing what we do we mourn those we lose then we get back to the job” Kit smiled “We are the MFD” Walker raised his cup followed by Kit then Neeman and Ishiro then Walker spoke “Alice Neeman, Ishiro Takarada welcome to the MFD” the two newcomers looked to each other and smiled at the adventure they were about to start however something caught Neeman’s eye “What the hell is going on?!” everyone looked over and she got up from the chair “What’s going with the snow!” the group looked to see that the snowflakes had stopped in mid fall just suspended, Ishiro also got up from his chair looking at the snow in utter bewilderment as Walker just sipped his hot chocolate with a very unconcerned look. Neeman turned to Walker “I’m sorry but how are you not seeing how weird this is?!” Walker glanced around at the snow then nodded slightly “Yeah that is weird” Neeman couldn’t believe how calm Walker was being, Walker gave a casual smirk “Hang on a second” he got up from the chair and walked passed the group and made his way to the edge of the cliff which looked out into the vast expanse of black of the night, nothing was visible but Walker stood gazing into the dark he gave out a shrill whistle then folded his arms then slapped his arms together which echoed across the landscape, when the last echo faded away the snow began to fall again Walker smiled as Kit came over and stood next to him he leaned over slightly to her “Someone is in a fun mood tonight” Kit nodded “He always gets excited when you’re here” Walker gave a bit of a chuckle “Well we will have plenty of time to play in the morning” he glanced over his shoulder and Neeman and Ishiro and snorted a bit of a laugh “Neeman’s face was a picture” Kit replied “I almost lost it when I saw her face” Walker gestured to head back “Come on let’s head back” Walker and Kit walked back over to the fire Neeman was still shocked “Come on Walker what the hell was that?” Walker grinned “All will be revealed in the morning, now everyone go get some rest” Walker watched as his team headed to the sleeping cabin for the night but he returned to the campfire to enjoy the snowfall for a bit longer and finish his drink.
The morning bought a fresh crisp dawn the snow had stopped falling and skies were clear, Walker stepped out of the living quarters and took a deep breath of the cold air and gave a big sigh of get the blood flowing ready to start the day, he clambered down the steps and headed towards the cliff where the survey equipment was stationed. At the cliff the rest of the team was waiting by the survey station as Walker arrived he looked to Kit “All the measurement equipment ready?” she nodded in reply “Yep everything has been calibrated and sample containers have been sterilised” Walker gave a thumbs up, Ishiro gazed at the equipment then looked over to Walker “So what is this for?” Walker smirked “Ishiro, Neeman come with me” he wandered over to the edge of the cliff with the two newcomers following behind. Walker was stood where he was standing last night he looked out to the vast landscape in the farthest distance there were two mountains one was very large with a smaller one on the left side of it, Walker looked to Neeman and Ishiro “You ready for this?” Neeman looked puzzled “Yes I want to know what is going on” Walker nodded “Ok then” he looked back out to the landscape he whistled three times clapped his hands twice and yelled out a word in another language that Neeman didn’t understand, Walker stepped back from the edge “Guys prepare to meet Maujaq”.
Out into the wilds, the team looked trying to see something amongst the forest to the left or the wide snow-covered grasslands that expanded for miles towards the mountains but there was nothing when suddenly the smaller mountain began to move. The snow that was a white blanket began to break and fall away into a plume of cloud revealing fur beneath it, under all the snow was something large, something alive, with the snow cascading to the ground the massive head raised high in the air and released and long eerie howl that echoed out into the morning sky, to large paws pounded into the ground and pushed the large body upright. Neeman couldn’t believe it the whole mountain was gone and now this animal was emerging “Holy…shit” Walker glanced over at Neeman and gave out a sly grin, with the snow settled in the mountains place stood and a colossal beast that looked like a wolf with tatty grey fur which it shook to get rid of any lingering snow. The wolf looked into the direction of the cliff where the team was set up Walker warned the others “You guys may want to steady yourselves” the wolf barked and began to bound towards them carving small craters as it ran, the team stumbled slightly from the ground rumbling as the wolf approached but Walker managed to step forward and thrust out his arms wide “MAUJAQ!!!” the wolf continued its run which started to make the ground shake more Walker clapped his hands twice and shouted “STOP!” hearing the command Maujaq slowed down into trot and reached the cliff sitting down at the base of it. Being over 200 feet in height Maujaq when sat down could still loom over the Walker, the wolf looked down at the team panting from the run Walker looked to Ishiro and Neeman “So guys meet Canis Gigantea otherwise known as Maujaq” Neeman and Ishiro were awestruck as the massive wolf’s head came down towards them Walker turned and wandered off to Maujaq with a huge grin but making sure not to show any teeth “Hey boy have you missed me?!” Maujaq let out a whimper and slumped his head onto the ground Walker cocked his head “Oh come on is hasn’t been that long buddy” he stood next to Maujaq’s muzzle and started rubbing the fur vigorously “I got you plenty rubs, you like your rubs don’t you buddy” Walker kept stroking Maujaq’s fur, despite the huge difference in size Maujaq was a sucker for any kind of strokes on his fur making just him seem as tame as a normal house dog.
Neeman and Ishiro still couldn’t believe what they were seeing Neeman took a step forward towards Walker “Oh my god” Walker looked to Neeman “Bet you weren’t expecting this?” Neeman shook her head “Uh certainly not” Ishiro spoke out “So what is he?” Walker looked up to Maujaq “This big furball is very special, his name is Inuit for snow because as you saw last night Maujaq is an elemental and can control snow and ice” Neeman smirked, “Wait that was him?” Walker gave a slight chuckle “He can get quite playful when we visit him” Kit wandered over and stood next to Ishiro “I told you he was excited to see you Boss”. Neeman looked from Kit back Walker “So how did you find him?” Walker replied “It was by chance there was a weather station in the Arctic that was getting weird results of fluctuating temperatures from this region but when they came to investigate they were told by a tribe of Inuit people about a legend called the ‘Winter Wolf’ was behind it. Hearing that they called in the MFD in case the rumours turned out to be true and they were right and that’s how we found Maujaq” Ishiro moved a bit closer towards the massive wolf “Is this expedition used to monitor his threat level?” Walker nodded “We do this expedition for a whole other reason like I said Maujaq is very special not only does he control things like ice and snow he also controls the actual weather of the planet” Neeman gave a confused look “What do you mean?” Walker tried to explain “The polar ice caps and the regulation of the Earth’s temperature are all because of him, however with climate change, it’s becoming a bit of a struggle for him to maintain that control, so we come every couple of months to check up on his health and monitor his activity but he is no threat to us” Neeman was trying to understand how this one creature could control so much “How can he control so much?” Walker paused for moment “Well actually when we spoke to the Inuit tribes about the stories it states that there are meant to be two wolves, Maujaq is the North wolf and down in the South pole is meant to be his mate known in the legend as Sikuaq and they in tandem control the temperatures” Ishiro was curious “Have you seen the South wolf?” Walker shook his “We’ve done a couple of expeditions down to the South region, but we’ve found nothing of Sikuaq” Neeman interjected “Do you think the female exists?” glancing back up to Maujaq Walker gave a slight hopeful smile “I like to think so, I mean he’s here and is real so there’s a good chance that Sikuaq is real too, maybe she’s just shy but I’m hoping that if she does show then we can have the world’s first Mega-Fauna pups and then help heal the world”.
Walker noticed that Neeman was being cautious but was definitely curious about Maujaq “Do you want to come and pet him?” Neeman gave a gasp of excitement but she was hesitant but Walker held out a hand “Come on he won’t bite” she moved forward her feet crunching in the snow, as she stepped closer she noticed that Maujaq raised up and moved his head to look down at her, he then lowered his head slightly and moved closer then began sniffing the air getting Neeman’s scent Walker did the claps then point down to the ground “Come down buddy!” Maujaq placed his head down on the ground as Neeman stood next to Walker who placed a hand of Maujaq’s fur first, Neeman raised a hand up and glanced to Walker who smiled at her “Go on he’s a big fluffball really” she placed her hand gently on the fur it was stir but still soft she ran her fingers along Maujaq’s muzzle “Holy shit this is amazing” Walker did give a slight warning “Two things…one if you are going to smile make sure not to show teeth just like normal wolves baring teeth can be considered aggression” Neeman kept stroking the fur “And what’s the second one?” Walker replied “Don’t let him lick you otherwise you will be drenched” Neeman let out a laugh as Walker noticed Ishiro who was still stood a fair distance away Walker nodded over “You can join in if you want Ishiro it’s perfectly safe” Ishiro gazed up at Maujaq and felt intimidated next to the colossal animal he raised both hands defensively “Maybe later” there was a bit of tension and hesitation that both Walker and Kat noticed with a passing glance they gave each other.
Playtime was over Walker looked to his team “Ok we will have time for fun later, now let’s get to work” he walked away from Maujaq and over to the others “Kit can you take Neeman and gather the data from the weather station” he looked to Neeman “It’s about 3 miles away you up for the drive?” Neeman smiled at Kit then faced Walker “I’m up for a drive” Walker nodded “Excellent Kit will show you how to access and document the data it will help us see Maujaq’s activity on the environment”, Neeman and Kit heading towards the Sno-Cats as Walker spoke to Ishiro “So it’s just the boys then, now since you want to learn to understand the biology of Mega-Fauna I’m going to teach you how to record the morphology data of Mauja” Ishiro gave a stern nod when it came to orders that military training would kick in and give Ishiro the focus he needed to get a job done. Maujaq was still sat overlooking the campsite watching all the people wander about beneath him, he loved all the attention he got from Walker and the team from below came the tree arm claps from Walker which made Maujaq look down, Walker spoke loudly “Alright buddy can you come down here” Maujaq lowered his head onto the ground the closest of his eyes was fixed on Walker “Ok now show us those pearly whites” Walker put his arms together interlocking his fingers and then opened his arms making it look like a mouth opening, Maujaq peeled back the flews of his upper jaw which went into a fake snarl but allowed the rows of teeth to be shown “Beautiful smile buddy” Ishiro was surprised that Maujaq responded to commands he spoke to Walker “You’ve taught him commands?” Walker responded “Yep we trained him with several commands it was surprisingly easy just like a dog at home” Walker stepped closer to the teeth the canine fangs were bigger than any person Walker inspected each one closely “Good, good colouration, no visible signs of disease or infection” he knelt down to the bottom flews as another one of the workers gave him a sample bottle, using a swab he collected several samples of saliva and DNA from Maujaq’s gums to check in detail if there is any sign of gum disease. Ishiro marked each of the bottles and placed them inside one of the sample bags then wrote time the date and time of the samples in the logbook, Walker wandered over to Maujaq’s right side getting closer to his ears the ears were long and pointed but ridged on the inside of the ear and on the neck was a set of two long reddish skin Ishiro pointed to them “Walker what are those things on his neck?” Walker looked to them “Ah yes, Maujaq has ears similar to a bat which gives him incredible hearing and the parts on his neck are a type of Tympanic membrane with fluid-filled bones which are basically ‘extra ears’, when you look at it with the two normal ears at two of the Tympanum on each side Maujaq actually has six ears so his auditory sense near immeasurable” they tested Maujaq’s hearing by making various degree of sounds and seeing how quick Maujaq would respond to them, everything turned out excellent.
After all tests and samples were collected the team were eating in the mess hall that was in one of the trailers, Walker took a bite from one of the MREs whilst Neeman gave out a laugh “Can’t believe you guys have these, I’ve eaten my fair share of MREs in the army” Kit also took a bite “We’ve eaten plenty of these working for the division especially in a place like this so far away from nearest Chinese place” Neeman smiled “Oh I could go for some Mexican food about now” Ishiro nodded “Nah pizza or slow-cooked beef” the group continued laughing. When Neeman and Ishiro had gone to get some rest Walker was with Kit sat in the control centre, Walker leaned back in the chair “So Kit what do you think of our new recruits?” Kit took a moment and then spoke “They are more than suited for this job they both come from military so they can cope with tough and life-threatening situations, I mean Alice went pretty much head to head with Thunder Wing and Ishiro has battled Gigarrah so they’ve had some experience with Mega-Fauna” Walker agreed “Yeah that was what I saw in both of them and the fact that both of them requested to join the MFD” Kit quickly checked the monitors and saw Maujaq was asleep “Although Ishiro seemed rather hesitant to interact with Maujaq” Walker nodded another agreement “I noticed that too, I think to see another one so close after what happened in Japan maybe he’s having second thoughts I should have a talk with him, Kit pointed to the monitors next to her “Well you’ve got a chance he’s outside right now” Walker got up and looked to the monitors and saw Ishiro sitting near Maujaq “Carry on with the notes Kit, I’ll be back shortly” Walker walked passed her to her work.
The night was clear and Walker had left Kit to finish up the notes on the computer and to send the data to HQ, Walker had left the lab stepping outside he saw Maujaq sleeping against the cliff his head resting on the ground the restful breaths from a deep sleep growled out into the night. As Walker wandered over he saw Ishiro was sat on some storage crates with a hot drink watching Maujaq Walker spoke softly “Are you ok?” Ishiro snapped back to reality and noticed Walker standing nearby “Sorry…I was just thinking” Walker came and sat next to Ishiro he noticed that Ishiro seemed to be a bit withdrawn, “I noticed that you seemed to be keeping your distance away from Maujaq whilst we did our work and it made me wonder…he was your first wasn’t he?” Ishiro glanced at him Walker continued “Gigarrah was the first Mega-Fauna that you saw” there was silence then Ishiro spoke “Yes I had seen footage on TV and on Internet but that day in Nakasato was the first time seeing with my own eyes” Walker watched his own feet shuffle in the snow “It’s life changing when you see one in real life but for you, you were thrown in the deep end with facing the worst one of them all” Ishiro took a sip from his cup “I tried everything to protect the people of the that city but I could barely save my own men, I still see those charred screaming faces looking back at me” Walker placed a hand on Ishiro’s shoulder “This is why I brought you here Ishiro, I know it was because of the devastation of Nakasato that powerlessness you felt is why you wanted to join the MFD to try and help people, like what I said last night there will be some days when we will feel useless I’ve felt that recently especially with what happened with Thunder Wing, but there are days like with Maujaq and many others that give a sense of wonderment and excitement and I wouldn’t want to do any other job than working with these amazing animals” he smiled at Ishiro “You are a part of the team now so through whatever nature throws at us we will be there for each other” Ishiro smiled back at Walker “I really appreciate everything you’ve taught over the months, thank you Walker-san” Walker nodded in respect “My pleasure Takarada-san but just to let you know there’s no need for formality with me you only need to call me Walker or Karl”.
Walker looked to Maujaq and saw an ear twitch “Is he asleep?” Ishiro shook his head “No he thinks he’s playing a game where he thinks that I don’t know he’s awake when I look away I know he’s opening his eyes” Walker gave a smirk “Watch this” he stood up and slowly crept over to Maujaq grabbing a hand full of snow which he rolled in his hands forming it into a ball, with a quick step and an impressive heaving throw he launched the snowball fast which struck Maujaq on the nose which caused the big wolf to flinch. Maujaq rose up quickly shaking his head and sneezed from the snow. Walker laughed “Ishiro knew you were faking it buddy” Maujaq gave a frustrated growl at being found out then looked up to the night sky Walker spoke “Now come on don’t throw a huff” Walker gave three claps to get the wolf’s attention, Maujaq looked down and Walker gestured to him “Come down here” Maujaq lowered his head placing the front of his muzzle almost level to the ground Walker began stroking the fur under Maujaq’s chin and he began to whimper happily “See you can’t stay mad at me buddy” he laughed whilst playing with Maujaq.
Ishiro was surprised at the scene over the past decades these immense titans had caused so much destruction, nowhere was one man playing with one it was a glimpse into a bigger world that Ishiro had only seen a fraction of back in Nakasato but a world that he wanted to understand more of. Walker turned to Ishiro and waved him over “Come on Ishiro this is your first chance at touching one of your titans” Ishiro stood up and cautiously made his way Walker coaxed him a bit more “I am serious you are perfectly safe here” Ishiro held out a hand which then made contact with the fur of Maujaq’s muzzle and he began to slowly run his fingers through it, Maujaq let out a slow happy growl Walker smiled “Not so terrifying now?” Ishiro was speechless he just let out a laugh of excitement and touching what the locals believe to be a god “This is incredible Walker” Walker patted him on the shoulder “There will be more days like this to come…welcome to the MFD Ishiro” the two continued to play with Maujaq for a little bit longer.
The days of the expedition had come and gone and now it was time for the team to head home all the equipment and tents had been packed away and the convoy of sno-cats and trailers were ready to leave, Walker was with Maujaq his face completely against Maujaq’s upper flews stroking the fur again Walker always hated leaving “I’ll miss you buddy but it’s time to go” he stepped back and looked up to the giant wolf who gave a sad whimper “I promise it won’t be long and I’ll be back to play some more” Maujaq gave a quick bark which Walker took as an agreement “Alright see you later buddy” he wandered over to the Sno-Cat which had Neeman, Ishiro and Kit waiting for him he looked to his team “Ready to go home?” they all nodded as Kit climbed in “Neeman you take a break and I’ll drive” Neeman nodded “Thanks Kit, after you Ishiro” she gestured for Ishiro to climb aboard first to which he pleasantly agreed, the two sat down and buckled in as Ishiro looked to Neeman speaking quietly “Are you nervous about all this?” she nodded “I am but I’m also excited, we’ve got each other’s backs and it’s going to be an epic adventure” Ishiro replied “It certainly will be an adventure”. Walker climbed onto the Sno-Cat still hanging out looking at Maujaq he banged on the roof “Ok Kit take us home” Kit turned the keys and started the engines “On it Boss”, the Sno-Cats pulled away trudging across the snow Walker leaned into the Cat at the team “You guys will want to see this wind down the windows” Neeman and Ishiro looked out of the windows and back at Maujaq, Walker leaned out and began to howl into the air as he howled Maujaq reared up slightly and threw back his head releasing a long, deep and beautiful howl which echoed as a goodbye to the team as Walker howled in farewell back to the Winter Wolf.
END
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