Birth of the Phoenix

He could not wait any longer. Lightning struck, and far from civilization, but not from prying eyes, a 500 mile diameter hole burst open in the Earth, and a Phoenix burst forth from it. Smaller and much more blue than usual, they had no idea this was a very, very good thing. As the atmosphere now filled with dust his only instinct was to fly right toward the sun, and he made it to the orbit of the moon (about 13 seconds) before a song started playing in his head, it reminded him that he wished he had stayed, in what felt almost like another life now. He was hungry, and relatively weak. He had no idea how long it might be before she arrived, but he resolved to wait, even if it meant starving on a relatively cold and barren rock. In the night sky he saw his relatives all shimmering, calling for him to join them, but he turned back, and all across the world slow wailing sirens were sounding the alarm.

He knew he would need to make a show of this next card played, his true hand close to his vest. He landed near where he started, but not before an ariel pyrotechnics display, making sure to start a few key fires with a channeled lightning storm, whilst still hovering around jet stream height. He landed and listened in tense silence as his stomach rumbled with an intensity he had never experienced before.  Sure enough, the ruse worked, codes were whispered across the globe, and he stood waiting the nukes' arrival, image still blazing in a threatening display.  As the closest arrived he shot into the sky to meet them, engulfing each fusion bomb at the moment of detonation. It was like a cup of coffee and a hot meal to his weary form. Volleys struck, and he made sure to look a little more injured with each one he absorbed.  So, hopeful for the wrong reasons, they fired them all.  Every. Single. One.

He felt satiated, like he could last a month or more, but as his cells returned from their plasmic nature to the solid matter he was more familiar with, he could not help but stare at the sun, and his hunger burned just as hot. He swore it was a meal he would share though, and only when the time was right. So he sat on the shore and stared out at the ocean, wondering when her ship would come in.