The blade pierced right through Shiryu Kai's chest.

Seeing that she had damaged the rouge mechagodzilla right in its processions compartment, Akane pulled Shiryu's chain sword out from the machine and stepped back. Shiryu Kai's eyes flickered as it glitched and lost power, falling to its knees before its whole body toppled down with a heavy thud. Akane let out a tired but relieved breath as she saw that the battle was over...for now. When she calmed down, Akane piloted Shiryu carefully around the fallen body of the rouge mechagodzilla and inspected it, to determine if it was still functioning in some way. When the scanners showed that it had no activity, Akane went to the battery compartment on the side of Shiryu Kai's located on the waist. There, she reached and twisted the handle before, just to make sure, yanked the whole thing clear out of the body. All systems of the rouge mechagodzilla began to shut down completely before all that was left was silence. Akane gave a relieved sigh and hung her head down, thankful that there was no further attacks from the machine.

Immediately afterwards, communications with the outpost and surface were restored all of a sudden, and now Akane could hear and see the transmissions. ["Akane? Lieutenant Akane? Do you read me?"] Colonel Togashi said. "Yes, loud and clear. Shiryu Kai is down. I repeat: Shirty Kai is down." Akane said, smiling a bit. Cheering from the military personnel on both the Argo ship and the command base were heard as they heard the news. Akane's friends also were cheerful, the twins being relieved, Sam as well, and Rick was all of her the place. Simon was also relieved as he had his head placed down on the computer desk he was working on. "Oh, and also...sorry for damaging Shiryu Kai. I...had to impale it in order to damage its processing unit and stop them." Akane apologized as she looked down at the fallen mechagodzilla. ["No worries. We can retrieve it and repair it once this is all over."] Simon assured her. ["Yeah. It's Gigan that owes us a new mechagodzilla. Make sure to beat him up for me"] Rick said, having calmed down. "I will." Akane said to her friend, continuing to hear the diminishing cheering.

When the name Gigan was mentioned, Akane suddenly remembered about the primary objective. She began to scan around for any abnormalities far from where she and Shiryu stood. What surprised her was that the interference had abruptly stopped. Then she remembered that all the signals have been restored once Shiryu Kai was defeated. "Wait...this isn't over yet. Gigan is still out there, but not here..." Akane said as realization set in. ["He is not there?"] Colonel Togashi asked. "You heard me. He isn't here. He is in another part of the Hollow Earth." Akane said, and then frustration invaded her nerves as she slammed a fist on her seat. "Damn it!...it's as we thought...Gigan lured us away from him" she said angrily, looking up at the screens. Colonel Togashi and the other military personnel, even if they were aware of this, began to worry. ["Search for any interference spike in any of the outposts! Hurry!"] Colonel Togashi ordered his men, the personnel getting to work right away.

Just when they were about to deliver the location, interference rose up again. Now some of the screens began to turn red, which meant that Gigan had hacked into the system once again. "I am impressed...that you were able to defeat...my ssservant. It's delightful...that now I can have a true fight. A sssavory one...before I conquer this world...and its inhabitantsss. I shall be waiting nearby...if you have the valor and time...to face me once again." Gigan's malicious voice hissed through the speakers, both on Shiryu's screens and also those on the command center. Then the transmission ended and the screen returned to normal. Shiryu's AI glitched for a moment, a growl escaping from its mouth as the eyes flickered red slightly in anger, before calming down. Akane flinched a bit when that happened, but had to agree with the mechagodzilla. "Yes, I know. It's frustrating. Don't worry. We'll soon get to him and defeat him." Akane assured Shiryu from where she was in the cockpit. Though she had to wonder...how would she get to Gigan and the MUTOs in time before they emerged to the surface? There was a feeling inside of Akane's chest which told her that Gigan was planning something else. They could easily have gone through the nearest portal towards the surface where he emerged, saving time and energy to launch its attack on the surface world without warning. Yet there Gigan went, going through random places in the Hollow Earth while being an evil creep through the communications network. From the perspective of a few, which Akane was slowly becoming one of those few, the word 'random' was definitely not the right one to describe Gigan's pattern of advance. This pattern was calculated, covering the tracks so that they wouldn't be followed or be used to predict the next move. And dealing with an intelligent titan that not only could speak, but had an intellect to use what it had to aid for its plan...meant that it had an objective in mind.

The real question was...in which place would they commence the attack?

Some minutes later, the command center contacted Akane once more, and she was ready to hear. ["Akane, listen to me. We have now located an area with high levels of interference. We calculate that Gigan and the MUTOs are now definitely somewhere right under the United States' western coast. Heading towards Outpost 86 in Florida and closing in gradually."] Colonel Togashi announced on the radio and screen. "The United States? Why there...?" Akane said, mainly to herself, as she thought about the reasons why Gigan would be heading there. There was nothing of importance there except populated areas near the Monarch outpost, beaches, swamps, forests, and a couple of cities. Targeting a place like that to emerge didn't make sense for Akane or anyone if they were someone who was trying to wipe out humankind. If they were trying to accomplish that, they would have gone for a much more important place, like a greatly populated area, or even better, a capital city where a government was...

When she thought of that, realization suddenly struck her mind as she gasped. "Command center. What is the closest capital city located near Florida? I think I may know what Gigan's target is. Show me the rest of the American map." Akane said quickly, urging them to show what she requested. ["What are you getting at?"] Sam asked her with puzzlement, while Colonel Togashi and the others pulled up what Akane wanted to see. "Just show it to me" Akane said, soon the screen showing the whole continent. ["Why would Gigan target such places?"] Colonel Togashi asked. "If Gigan wants to do the most damage to humanity, he first has to destroy the leading head first, leaving the rest in disarray and vulnerable without someone to command its military. The strongest out of all nations is the U.S, and it's main center of authority..." Akane said, seeing the screen slowly move to the location of the American capitol. "...would be in Washington D.C." she finished. Hearing and seeing the shocked reactions of the military personnel back at the surface, Akane knew that they understood what she meant. ["Once the strongest human nation is vanquished...they will move on to the next ones...until the weaker ones would be easy pickings for Gigan! Of course! That giant sneaky bastard..."] Rick said with a clap of his hands, understanding the idea that Akane was thinking about.

Colonel Togashi, upon understanding the potential danger that was about to come, was seen wasting no time giving orders in the command center. ["Contact the American government right away! Alert them of the current situation! Tell them to prepare for an imminent titan attack! I don't care what kind of interference there is! Do it now!"] Colonel Togashi barked in japanese, those from the military and Monarch obeying the orders and getting to work quickly. "Wait! Contact all the nations of the world as well. Tell them to prepare for an attack. Just in case that...that..." Akane said, slowly stopping as she began to think. ["Just in case...what?"] Sam asked when he heard that she stopped, Colonel Togashi nodding and doing what was suggested. Akane began to worry once again, thinking of what may happen if it wasn't enough. "Just in case...if I...we...fail to defeat Gigan." Akane said finally, casting a glance at Mothra. The moth titan was currently perched on an ice mountain, wings tucked back and watching Shiryu as if she was expecting something. "It's fine. I will still give it my best shot." Akane said before anyone could say a word, letting go from the controls and looking at her open hand. She began to think about her feelings and her past experiences, reflecting on how far she had come up to this point, and gave a slight chuckle while smiling. "It's weird now. Before I used to be scared or dying in such situation. But now I don't feel it anymore......so let's do it." Akane said, clenching her hand into a fist and looking up. Colonel Togashi was seen in the screen giving an approving nod to her. Chen and Ling were both seen smiling proudly at Akane as they saw her ready to continue.

To prepare for the next battle, Akane went over the options that she had with Shiryu. The last maser blade was melted, now destroyed, due to the attack from Shiryu Kai. Both the railgun and the multi-purpose laser were still functioning, with no damages, though Akane needed much more firepower for multiple options. The two weapon systems would drain out some of the critical energy, including the maser cannon, if Akane were to use them when in combat. When she looked back at the fallen Shiryu Kai, it gave her an idea. "Command center, this is Akane. Is Shiryu still able to port weapons on its option slots?" Akane asked on the radio. ["Yes. The slots haven't been removed or blocked. Why do you ask?"] Simon confirmed to Akane. "I will be borrowing some of Kai's weapons to assist in the fight" she said as she piloted Shiryu closer to the fallen mechagodzilla. Simon guided Akane through the long process of removing the vibrating sword blades and the missile launchers from Shiryu Kai to install them on Shiryu. It took some time to get them off, and attach them without much outside physical assistance, but soon they were equipped and ready to use; the blades on the arms and the missile launchers on the hips. Now, Shiryu was armed to the teeth with these weapons, and Akane piloted the mechagodzilla to begin traveling once more.

Mothra began to fly above of Shiryu, like a guardian angel watching over Akane through the cold regions of the Hollow Earth.