Patience, patience and determination, the two words I've been told my entire life. My name is Ryan Miller, I am an American Geneticist specializing in gene splicing at Genetics, Robotics & Advanced Technologies(GRAT) in Kyoto, Japan and my lack of patience nearly destroyed all that I hold dear.
Ryan is in his office once again staying late to find a way to perfect his latest experiment
A knock on the door
"come in"
Kimiko, a young woman in her late 20's peeks into the room, "working late again sir?"
"Afraid so Kimi, I only have a few days left to give the board something of use or they'll pull all funding to my research"
"Didn't you just get a loan a couple weeks ago?"
"Yeah, but they weren't happy that I spent it on a bunch of fossils, they said we're geneticists not archaeologists"
"Well you should try and get some rest, you never know, maybe it'll come to you in a dream"
"Goodnight Kimi" he says in a semi sarcastic way
"Goodnight Miller" she closes the door
thinking to himself "maybe I should call it a night, I'll just run a couple more tests"
But I didn't rest, I kept at it all night, but my persistence payed off, I had something, now to show it to the board, I just need to get the test subject
7am, Presentation Office
A group of four elder men sit at a desk staring down Ryan as he pushes a big square object covered in a white sheet into the room "So, Mr. Miller, you say you have something to show us"
"yes sir, I believe I have finally cracked Cellular Regeneration"
"That's a bold statement, we assume you can prove your claim"
"with the help of my companion here, we will"
he proceeds to pull the sheet revealing a cage, in the cage is a dog, a Husky way past it's prime
The men look less than impressed "Your assistant looks a little worse for ware"
"Yeah heh, his name is Spot, he was a Christmas present for my daughter, he's 19"
"He's also missing a leg" one of the men points out
"yes, and that's what were here to fix"
Ryan reaches into a box and pulls out a vile with a red liquid and a syringe, he then starts to fill the syringe
he injects the dog
nothing happens
"How long are we expected to wait"
"I'm not sure, it should have been immediate"
"Enough, Prof. Miller, you have worked here for eight years and while you showed promise at first, you have yet to show anything from your efforts, it is this boards decision that your employment at this facility is terminated effective immediately, you have till the end of the day to clear out your things, and get that thing out of our office"
back in his lab, Ryan is gathering all of his research from the last few years, a few hard drives and flash drives, he also grabs as much of his mixtures and genetic samples, even taking extra time to scrape out the bone marrow from the expensive as hell fossils he never got to use, the company never kept records of what he had in here so he needn't worry about them looking for missing inventory
A voice from behind "Is I true? are you really leaving?"
"I'm afraid so Kimi, apparently I'm of no use here"
"That's not true, your smart, and fun to be around, and your the only person who isn't constantly flirting with me"
"That's because I'm old enough to be your father"
"So is the VP but he's asked me out like 15 times"
"Hey Kimi, if you ever need me, you know I'm only a call away"
"I know, it just won't be the same here without you"
"You'll be OK, plus if I'm not wrong, you have some work to do"
"What do you mean?"
"Well with me out of a job, your in charge of the group"
"M-me, really, are you sure"
He places a hand on her shoulder "Kimiko Kawazoe, you have one of the brightest minds I've seen, you have what it takes to be a great scientist, just remember the two words I said on your first day, do you remember"
"Patience and Determination"
"Exactly, now run along, your late"
Kimi both nervous and excited bows to Ryan "Arigatou Gozaimasu" she then quickly runs off
As Ryan turns to finish packing Kimi returns with a hug
With a warm smile, "OK, get going"
she lets go and with a smile on her face she gives one last nod to him before running off
Ryan finishes packing his car, packing the front seat with smaller more durable things like his laptop, hard drives and 11 5 subject notebooks
in the back all of his samples and serums
"OK, that's almost everything, and just enough room for you boy" he looks down at the dog looking up at him
He kneels down to the dogs level and pets his head "It's OK boy, it's not your fault, let's get you home, I'll make us a steak"
Living outside the city, it's always such a long drive to and from work, Ryan wasn't bothered by it as he never had to worry about gas, one of the perks he had for being brought to japan by GRAT was they gave him a card specifically for gas with almost no limit, he's gonna miss that card when they call asking for it back or shut it off
Stuck at a red light, behind some old fancy car, Ryan was never much of a car person but could tell it was an American import from at least the 70's or 80's
the light turns green, but the car isn't moving, it doesn't look like it's even running, he honks his horn, the car does nothing
He honks his horn again, he puts the car in park, Spot whimpers, "It's OK boy, I'm gonna see if they can use some he..."
Everything goes black
Ryan wakes to find he's not in his car, he's lying in a hospital bed, he looks over to see Kimi sitting next to him, she notices he's awake
"Ryan, your awake, thank goodness"
"Kimi?, Wha-where am i?"
"Your in the hospital, you were in an accident"
"What happened, the last thing I remember was.. being stopped at a light behind a car, did he reverse into me?"
"I don't know the whole story, but from what I heard you were hit from behind by a delivery truck"
He places a hand on his head "A truck... wait, where's Spot?"
Kimi turns her head, not able to look him in the eyes
It hits him "Noo" unable to comprehend the situation
"I'm so sorry Ryan, he was gone before paramedics arrived, they said it was quick"
"...What about my research, and my serums"
"they have a box of your stuff, but anything not in there is gone, it's a miracle you came out of this uninjured"
"oh, I'd say I'm far from uninjured, I've lost my job, my dog, my car and any chance at finishing my work"
Kimi places a hand on his "Hey if you need anything, all you need to do is ask"
He puts on a half smile "Thanks Kimi, but all I need is to go home and clear my head"
"OK, I'll get the doctor see if we can get you out of here"
some time later, Kimi drops Ryan off at his house, she's actually a little surprised, she expected him to live in some big spacious house, but it's nothing more than a cabin in the woods
in the car, Kimi looks over to Ryan he looks sad, empty
"Ryan, are you sure you don't want to stay at my place for a while?"
"No, I'm fine, I just... just need to rest, clear my head a little, thank you though"
"OK, but please, give me a call soon"
"I will, good night Kimi"
Kimi drives away and Ryan heads into his home
He walks straight to his bedroom and goes straight to bed, it takes him a good hour to fall asleep, the events of the day(that he can remember) replaying in his head over and over, but eventually he is able to rest his mind enough to fall asleep
Morning comes and while Ryan would love nothing more than to sleep in, nature calls him
he grudgingly gets out of bed and walks to the bathroom, on the way out he walks past Spot with an empty bowl in front of him
"Hold on boy, I'll feed you in a minute"
He goes to grab a box of dog food, it takes a few moments before he realizes what he just said, drops the box and turns around
It was true, there he was, just sitting there with that same dumb smile he always had when he wanted food
"S-spot?" he runs to his dog, "my god, Spot, is it really you? how can this be"
Ryan looks the dog over, it certainly looked like him, same fur patterns same body shape, same dumb smile he's always had, but he couldn't ignore the big difference, his leg was back and he looked healthy
Ryan runs to the phone and dials the one person who might believe him
A little later a knock is heard at his door, he opens to see a worried Kimi
"Kimi, your here, come inside"
"What's wrong, you sounded weird on the phone"
"It worked! Kimi, it worked! he's back"
"What? what worked? who's back?"
"It's Spot, he's alive"
Kimi walks Ryan to a couch and sits him down
"Ryan look, you've been through a tragic event and lost someone truly important to you, but pretending their still alive isn't healthy, I miss Scurvy just as much as you, but you need to realize he's gone"
"ARF" a muffled bark comes from behind Kimi causing her to jump
She turns to see a familiar face holding a toy sword in it's mouth
She places her hand out and the dog gives her the toy, it then proceeds to run into the other room
Kimi doesn't say anything but looks at Ryan who is smiling
The dog returns to the room with a similar looking sword in it's mouth, it then sits down wagging it's tail
Kimi slowly stands, staring at the dog, she quickly points the sword at the dog
"Argh, ye scurvy dog" the dog gets into pounce position, she swings the sword at the dog, just too be blocked by the sword in its jaw, she swings a few more times, each of which is blocked, she then pulls out her other hand in the form of a gun and points it at the dog, it then drops it's sword and balances on it's back paws
"Any last words" the dog gives a series of barks, "Noble" she then makes a firing gesture and the dog collapses to the floor
She can't move, her brain can't possibly comprehend what she is seeing
She turns to Ryan "How?"
"I don't know, I woke up and he was here"
"You need to talk to the board, no, the CEO"
"You mind giving me a ride?"
"You know, your the one person who can get me to come into work on my day off! get dressed, let;s go!"
They arrive at GRAT, Ryan takes Spot and rushes to the CEO's office, luckily his access card still works
he wastes no time barging into his office where he's sitting doing paperwork
"Mr. Matanashi, please forgive my rudeness, but I must speak with you"
"Prof. Miller, I see your uninjured, that's good, what is it you need?"
"Sir, it worked, my experiment worked"
He then brings his dog into the room
"You see, he's better, his legs grown back and he's healthier than he's been in years, if you please give me another chance I can use his blood to try and recreate the serum"
"ENOUGH, I intended on being polite after what you went through, but this.. is down right disgusting! your lucky I don't prosecute you for all the company property you stole"
Ryan's doesn't know what to say and just stares
"Yeah, I know all about the accident, I got a phone call from authorities asking if the chemicals spilled all over your mangled mutt with our name on all the containers were dangerous or not, your also lucky I was able to make the incident and the chunk of liquefied remains you called a dog disappear"
"But, sir"
"Don't but sir me, the fact that you would go through all the trouble to get another dog so quickly just to get your job back shows just what kind of person you really are"
He goes back to his paperwork
"Now, leave my office, I never want to see you in this building again"
Ryan knew there was no point, the CEO didn't spend a year training Spot a trick that would convince him he was telling the truth, he knew that if he wanted to figure this out he had to do it himself
A few hours have passed they've returned to Ryan's house to consider their options while they watch Spot run his newly rejuvenated heart out
"So, you have any idea what your going to do now?"
"Not really, I figure I'll just take it easy for a little while, get my head straight, then I'll likely dip into my saving and start my research with whatever survived the crash"
"You know, things turned out kinda nice"
"How do you mean?"
"Well, other than the accident and losing your job, your life's work worked spectacularly, and now you get more time to spend with the ones you love" - she says as she starts playing with Spot who had wandered towards them
Ryan, happier than he'd been in a long time just smiles in their direction, before he can say anything he hears his doorbell
"Now who could that be?"
As he goes through his house the doorbell and knocking increases
"Hold your horses, I'm coming"
Ryan opens the door to see his ex-boss waiting with two tall men in Police attire
"Sir?"
"Prof. Miller, you are under arrest for the murder of Keito Anio"
Ryan is shocked "What? Who is that"
"Sir, Please don't resist, just place your hands on the back of your head and come along peacefully"
"Wait, I don't understand, does this have something to do with the car accident, he hit me"
suddenly Ryan's attention is averted towards his backyard where he hears barking
"Ryan" he hears Kimi yell, he bolts towards them, he's fallowed by the officers
He makes it to the back to see more men one pinning Kimi to the ground and two with animal harnesses trying to hold Spot
He's quickly tackled to the ground by the men behind him and placed in handcuffs
His former boss soon walks into view
"What's going on, why are you doing this"
"Lift him up"
The men pull Ryan off the ground and onto his feet
"After our little conversation this morning, I received a phone call from the company I sent the remains of your pet, apparently the corpse went missing and was replaced by one of my men"
"What? you seriously think I killed him"
"No, but the monster you created did"
"Spot would never hurt anyone"
"You know, I was skeptical at first as well, but then they sent me the security footage, would you like to see for yourself"
Without waiting for an answer he proceeds to pull a small tablet like device out of his inner jacket and places it in front of Ryan
The video shows what looks like the broken body of his best friend laying motionless on a table, the sight aches his heart
shortly a man walks in he's saying something but there is no audio, he moves the body to get access to it's stomach, he pulls a scalpel and starts to slice it open, he opens the stomach and the man is startled by something
he then goes over to the computer and starts typing something
"What's he writing, what did he see"
"It's heart is still beating" he says without flinching
He continues to watch and what happens next both frightens and amazes Ryan
The body starts to move, the hole in it's stomach seals back up, the missing fur starts to grow back and right before his eye it's leg starts to grow back in a matter of seconds
He now looks just like the dog that was no more than 20 feet away from him
The man stops typing and looks at the now living animal standing on his table, the man quickly opens a drawer and pulls out what looks like a 9mm pistol and points it at the dog
The dog jumps down off the table and slowly walks towards the man who blindly starts unloading the full clip into the dog and it collapses to the ground
The man looks like he's having trouble breathing, but he doesn't get long when the dog slowly stands back up no visible bullet holes, the man points the gun back at it but to his horror there are no bullets left, the dog then jumps at the man slamming him through a door that was behind him, all that can be seen are his feet flailing before coming to a stop and falling to the ground still
Ryan is speechless all he can do is look at his dog with disbelief who's just looking back at him ears flat knowing that his master is upset
Matanashi puts the tablet back in his jacket
"Today's your lucky day Prof. Miller, I'm gonna give you your job back, with limitless funding as long as you can recreate and perfect your experiment"
"What if I don't want my job back"
"Well that's fine as well, we already have all your research and your dog, we'll just kill the both of you and do it our self"
Kimi who's still being pinned to the ground "don't do it Ryan, don't help these Assholes"
the man pushes her head back into he ground and places his gun at the back of her head "Didn't your mother ever tell you it's rude to interrupt people when their talking"
"KIMI" he looks back at his captor "Leave her alone, I'll help you"
"Good, you start immediately" he then looks over to the dog who's staring directly at him growling
"Restrain the dog, it's gonna be of use to us"
"Yes sir, move it mutt" the man pulls on his harness but it's no use, the dog doesn't budge
The man pulls out a metal rod and after hitting a switch it's revealed as some kind of stun baton
"I said MOVE" he takes the stun baton and forces into the back of the dogs neck,
The dog doesn't buckle from the onslaught of electricity entering it's body, instead it's body starts shaking and convulsing
Everyone can only stand and stare at the sight in front of them as the dogs body starts growing larger by the second contorting in shape
Ryan watching in horror as spot, now three times his size grabs his assailant with his front paw and crush him under his weight
Without any word all the men pull out their guns and start unloading onto the creature but it\s no use every bullet sinks into it's skin healing almost instantly
The creature attacks the men one by one smashing them into the ground
The man holding Kimiko tries using her as a shield causing the creature to stare them down, the man throws Kimi at the monster hoping to use her as bait to escape, but the creature leaps onto the fleeing man no different than a cat pounces on a mouse
The creature grabs the cowering man with it's front paw, the man screaming as his body is slowly crushed
Once the screaming stops the creature turns it's attention towards his master who is now alone, the men are nowhere to be seen
Suddenly the sound of a car starting and screeching away is heard catching the creatures attention causing it to give chase
“We have to follow him” Ryan says to Kimi who nods in agreement
As Matanashi is being chased, he makes a call to his connections in the military to set up the strongest blockade possible at the edge of the city
It takes roughly twenty minutes to reach the city limits where the rather impressive assortment of military vehicles await their arrival
Matanashi exits his vehicle and meets with General Kanou of the Ground Defense Force
“General, always so punctual”
“What on earth is happening that you need this kind of firepower, are we being invaded”
A thunderous roar can be heard from the forest out of town
“I don't think you would believe me”
The creature wastes no time in running out into the open revealing that it's grown larger than before and it's body has gone through even more change, now standing upright on large hind legs and smaller sharper front claws
“What is that?” the general asks in confusion
“It was a dog, now do me a favor and put it down”
The General does as he's told and orders his men to open fire
The creature is assaulted by a hailstorm of bullets of all sizes from standard rifles to vehicle mounted heavy machine guns, all of which just seem to vanish into it's endlessly regenerating skin as it walks closer
The general orders the use of high explosives
A soldier unpacks a sort of rocket propelled grenade launcher and fires it at the beast causing it to scream as a chunk of it's side is blown off
The soldiers start to celebrate, but it may be too soon
The creature staggers as it's body heals a pair of small horns sprout from it's forehead and start to glow a slight shade of red
The soldiers look in shock curious of what is about to happen, the rocketeer of all people freaks out screaming - “RUN” firing another rocket
The creature dodges the rocket, it's newly grown horns now a bright shade of red, it stares at the group of solders in front of him, it opens it's mouth and appears to vomit a thick glob of red/orange liquid all over several soldiers and vehicles
It's not immediately clear what happened but the surviving soldiers look on in horror as what is visible of the vehicles have already turned to a puddle of liquid metal and rubber, whatever this stuff was is either very hot or highly corrosive because the men that were hit didn't even have time to scream in pain
The remaining soldiers don't waste time in running for their lives, the general tells Mr. Matanashi to get to safety and calls in for reinforcements
The creature sets after the fleeing soldiers, who have made the mistake of heading right into the city
Ryan and Kimi arrive just in time to see the carnage and see the general on his communicator, they decide to stop and ask him what happened
“Sir, what happened here” Kimi asks the general
Still on his phone “Not now ma'am, we're in the middle of an emergency” goes back to talking “It's heading into the Minami Ward, continue evacuation and assemble every defense measure we have”
Kimi looks to Ryan while listening to the general talk “It? Do you think he's talking about Scurvy?”
“I believe so, he said he's heading towards Minami, we need to go there”
As they head back towards their car they are stopped by the general
“Hold it, what are you talking about, do you know anything about that thing”
“Yes, that thing is my dog”
“Well, you dog just liquefied some of my best men” pointing at the puddle of goop, blood and molten metal
Kimi looks at where he is pointing and she instantly feels sick
“Look I don't have time for this and seeing as I lack transportation, I require a ride to Minami, you can fill me in on the way”
They agree, and while Kimi drives Ryan tells the general the entire story, from his job at GRAT, his experiment, the accident, his dog, and his last encounter with Mr. Matanashi, the general doesn't ask many questions but does mention that the creature has grown to about the height of a house and it has gained the ability to spit some sort of highly acidic liquid from it's mouth
The car comes to a sudden stop and Kimi interrupts the conversation “Uhm when you said he's the size of a house, were you talking about my house or the Emperors”
Ryan turns to look out the window to see what used to be his dog, now grown to a massive size “What have I done!”
Over in Minami the creature is walking through the city watching as people and cars run from it, but it doesn't take long for a bunch of familiar vehicles to start rolling in fallowed by other much larger slower ones, and finally more come in from the sky
Ryan, Kimi and the General have arrived at an outpost on a hill outside the city where they can monitor the situation from safety
The general gets word that ground and air forces are in position and are awaiting further instructions
The general grants them permission to fire at will
The army of gun mounted jeeps, tanks, and helicopters start firing all forms of different caliber rounds into the creature
This does little more than startle the creature as it realizes that it doesn't even feel the thousands of bullets that are sinking into it's body
The creatures horns start to glow once more, this time much faster and if fires a series of acidic goop at the smaller vehicles
the tanks line up their barrels and start firing at the beast, each explosive shell doing only minimal as a chunk of flesh is blown of and quickly heals
Helicopters join in firing a stream of missiles at the creature these doing only marginally better
The creature starts spiting it's goop at the helicopters but they are able to maneuver around them
Suddenly the creature stops moving and it's horns start glowing a bright red, the surviving troops focus all their attacks on it's head, after a few moments the attack ends and the smoke clears to show the monster is unharmed and a line of electricity is connecting the tips of it's horns, it then stares down at the assortment of vehicles and opens it's mouth
A barrage of electricity spews from it's mouth each targeting a different vehicle causing them to explode in a spectacular way, the creature then moves it's head towards the helicopters effortlessly wiping them out of the sky
Over at the outpost a man siting at a computer “General Kanou Sir, all forces have been destroyed”
The general looks towards Ryan “This creature is of your making, do you have any ideas on how we can stop it”
Ryan tries to think “Physical attacks don't seem to do anything, maybe I can talk to him”
This causes a look of confusion from the others
“Now hear me out, Spot always listens to me, if I can get on the emergency broadcast speakers, maybe I can calm him down”
The general is hesitant “normally I would turn that kind of idea down without a second thought, but I'm completely out of options, let me make some calls and we'll give it a try”
It doesn't take long for him to return
“OK, I've gotten you patched in, whatever you have planned better work”
Ryan takes sits down at a computer monitor with a live feed of the creature still attacking troops and is given a headset
“You're on” the computer soldier notes
Ryan takes a breath “Spot”
The creature doesn't notice
“Spot”
Still nothing
“SPOT” he barks
The creature stops attacking, the computer soldier orders all remaining troops to back down
“Spot, listen at me”
The creature looks around for his master but doesn't see him
“Go home Spot, just go home”
The creature looks in the direction of his home back in Osaka but instead starts walking in the direction of his masters voice
“No, I said go home, stop being a bad dog”
The creatures ears drop almost instantly a sad look on it's face
Ryan feeling a bit of guilt as he realizes he's never said those words to him
Without warning the computer soldier announces “General, the ship is ready on your word”
The general shouts a single word “FIRE”
Ryan looks back at the feed just in time to watch the top half of Spot's body explode into a shower of blood and gibbed flesh
“Direct hit sir, target destroyed”
Ryan is in pure shock, he looks to the general “What did you do”
The general with a grin of accomplishment on his face “Top secret US Navy Battleship Mounted Railgun, made a call while waiting for confirmation about your little plan, just so happened to be parked not too far out in the Pacific”
It took everything in his power to not charge the general in anger but he knew it would be a pointless action, not only was the man more than twice his size, he was smart enough to understand that he saw an opportunity to save the city, possibly the country and he took it, but all he could do is stare at the screen at the lifeless body of his once best friend
He gets up and motions to Kimi saying they're leaving
As they are about to leave, computer soldier announces “SIR, The creature is moving, it's still alive”
Ryan and Kimi run back to the monitor to watch as the creature still missing it's upper half stands up slowly growing back but as it's head starts forming it's apparent that it's different, larger more saurian in shape
Once the creature has fully regenerated it stares directly at the source of his masters voice and roars out in anger, suddenly a set of four spikes burst out of it's back, these spikes start extending into a form of tendrils that suddenly stab into the ground
The tendrils start to flow with energy from the ground, the creatures horns start glowing, but instead of the normal red it's a bright white, the creature opens it's mouth revealing a blinding light in it's throat, then in a thunderous blast a bolt of white light flies from it's mouth right into the building that held the loudspeaker, soon the building and everything in a five block radius is engulfed in a ball of white
Once the white is gone and the dust has settled it's revealed that everything in the blast is gone, nothing but a giant hole
The creature now panting lightly in exhaustion walks into the crater does a little turn and lays down and falls asleep
Back at the outpost not a single person can believe the sight they have just witnessed, the creature just destroyed a chunk of the city and fell asleep
The general walks over to Ryan and Kimi
“As of this moment, you no longer work for Matanashi, you are now in employment of the Japan Self-Defense Force”
Ryan looks at the general and then at Kimi who give a simple smile and a nod
“Yes sir... on one condition!”
